Former Creed Frontman Reveals Faith
In a recent interview with ChristianMusicToday, Scott Stapp -former lead singer of the multi-platinum rock group Creed- publicly declared his faith for the first time and reflected on his walk with Christ throughout his ten years as a musician.
“I was a Christian in Creed, but nobody ever asked me... [b]ut I'm glad nobody asked, because my life wasn't right with God,” says Stapp. “I didn't really want to come out and be identified as a Christian, because I didn't want to be a hypocrite, because my life wasn't right. I didn't want to make any kind of public profession until I felt like my heart was right.”
Although Stapp says his, “life will never be right,” his venture as a solo artist has allowed his to be open about his faith. “I'm a solo artist now, and I don't have a band to hide behind. So when someone asks me if I'm a Christian, I have to say yes, because I am.”
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Concerning his faith while he was in Creed, Stapp, as revealed in songs like My Own Prison and What’s This Life For, tells a story of doubt and frustration: “I always believed in God and Christ, but I was in rebellion—trying to make my relationship with God fit into my life instead of making my life fit in with him. I was stubborn.” After the release of Creed’s most recent album, Weathered, Stapp, who was trying to cope with being a single father along with the, “trappings of fame, was feeling just that: “I was broken down to the point where I had no other way but to look up. I couldn't handle it all. I was asking a lot of questions—of myself, of God—looking for answers.”
The new freedom that Stapp has found in his faith has been expressed in his latest project, the song Relearn Love on The Passion soundtrack: “[M]y personal life and my spiritual walk were kind of coming full circle around the same time I was asked to be involved in the project. I had been shedding all the callousness and the weathered state that I had been in, personally and spiritually, even prior to seeing the film. Seeing the film just kind of closed the door and allowed that song to be born.”
In the personal nature traditional in Stapp’s lyrics, Relearn Love, communicates the newest life lessons the singer has learned: “It's giving without expecting anything in return. Prior to this, the way that I loved people around me, I always expected something—even if that was just expecting them to treat me like I treated them. But now I understand that real love is just giving without expecting anything. That's what love is to me, and that's what I feel that Christ showed us.”
While experiencing such a spiritual renewal, Stapp says he doesn’t yet feel that his music will be explicitly evangelical: “I don't feel I've been called to that yet. Now, that could change. There's no telling what kind of call God will put on my life.”
For the full interview, go to:
www.christianitytoday.com/music/interviews/2004/scottstapp-0804.html
