Dangers of the Double Life
By now, there’s been dozens of news items, blog posts, YouTube commentaries, and other social media posts regarding the allegations and circumstances of Grammy-award winning vocalist, Michael Tait, Tait, former lead singer of the Christian pop group, Newsboys, and founding member of the popular pop/rap group, DC Talk, has confessed to extreme and far-reaching substance abuse and sexual misconduct over the last two decades—a period of their greatest Christian success and influence. It’s still another instance of a Christian celebrity who lead a double life—holy and grounded and wholesome in public, but pulled by dark and shadowy forces in private.
It is at once disturbing, deceitful, reckless, sinful, tragic.
And while the details of this continue to unfold, and allegations continue to pile up, it’s not my intention to go into any specifics. What I want to discuss are the circumstances that led to this situation, one that is far too common in the world of Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) and in public ministry in general. Why the “Double Life”?
The Oxymoron of “Christian Music Industry”
The words “Christian” and “Music Industry” have seemingly been at odds with one another since the very beginning. Consider how the music industry markets songs that are intended to glorify God—with big-budget marketing campaigns, hyped-up social and print media, album release parties, schmoozing media executives and radio stations. Consider how worship concerts and the like aren’t fundamentally designed to reach the most people—they’re designed to maximize the most ticket sales. And consider how today’s worship songs aren’t primarily produced and arranged for churches—they’re produced for airplay.
So a Christian artist working in CCM, no matter how pure their motives, often ends up fighting the battle between ministry and industry. And in the process, compromises are often made.
As it relates to Michael Tait, there were many people who understood that he was living a life contrary to the message of his music. But because exposing his sin would jeopardize the music machine that was the News Boys, because exposing his sin would profoundly hurt popularity and profit, the music industry turned a blind eye, and allowed it to continue. For decades. The compromise in this case was the soul of Tait, and his many victims and co-conspirators.
The Oxymoron of “Christian Celebrity”
I’ve blogged previously about the Evolution of Fame, how what once was an incidental aspect of accomplishment or character or virtuosity has now become an aspiration unto itself. People no longer need to do great things or be great people to achieve fame—fame can now be attained for the most ludicrous of reasons.
And the fame that comes from being a Christian recording artist is perhaps just as ludicrous. Consider the degree to which Christian pop stars inadvertently steal the focus from Jesus just by being in the modern spotlight. Big sound, big lights, big stages, big crowds, adoring fans—it’s easy for anyone in that situation to start believing things about themselves that are inflated and unreal. We start thinking we are special, or above it all. After all, we might reason, no one knows the intense and constant pressures placed on us as stars. And so we may slip into an air of quiet superiority over others, or become more prima donna demanding, or become more reclusive. And sometimes, it apparently slips into the quiet abuse of alcohol, drugs, and sex. We may justify our actions by convincing ourselves that the burden of fame is a part of furthering the cause of Christ. We may even create elaborate internal mechanisms of false humility or sin management to justify them. There is indeed an artificiality to celebrity.
I’m always at a quandary behind all the Christian vocalists who go on American Idol. Isn’t wanting to be an idol, by definition, a sin?
The whole point of Christian worship and music is to decrease, so that He may increase (John 3:30). I often remind worship leaders that the word “I” is not in the worship of the book of Revelation. It is purely centered on the Holy, Holy, Holy One. But it’s an extremely difficult thing for mere mortals to be inundated with constant adulation and flattery and not have it warp one’s soul in some inflated way.
The Danger of the Double Life
As fallible human beings, we’re all susceptible to hiding behind our false self, that outer persona that we hide behind and spin to suit us and even fool ourselves with into thinking that is actually who we are. I believe many CCM artists act this way more than they care to admit. After all, there are complex and deeply personal reasons why we’re drawn to the applause of a crowd. Pride, insecurity, neediness, acceptance, control issues. None of us are whole and complete in and of ourselves.
This is further exacerbated by the Christian subculture we live in. Modern Christendom has made the great mistake of not creating a culture that encourages sinners (which we all are) the grace-filled opportunity to admit sin (which we all do). So we act nice (when we’re often not) and put on the proper airs (at least in public) and say all the right Christianese words (that we hide behind). We’ve made pretending an art form. This is true of churches, Christian schools and institutions, Christian media, and the overall Christian subculture in general. So instead of living authentically flawed lives, we hide behind a “niceness” that is predicated on certain boundary markers like no smoking, no swearing, and no R-rated movies. And then we call that being Christian.
And it’s amplified for the CCM artist. Part of the job of the CCM artist is to carefully curate one’s “brand,” which is essentially a public “false self.” This is the persona that is carefully managed through stage presence and personal appearances and social media. It’s a requirement of the job. So their “niceness” is always curated and publicized and promoted. And in a way, it has to be. CCM can’t market an artist who is overly sharing of their struggles and sin.
There are many, many Christian figures whose double-lives have resulted in tragedy. More than just the sin of different individuals, I believe there’s a systemic problem that exists in CCM that exacerbates the sinful nature of ordinary men and women. Now I do know good-hearted people that walk a strong faith and have solid careers in CCM. So I’m certainly not saying that it’s all bad. But it takes a solid foundation and the grace of God to resist the many temptations out there.
Great Art from Flawed People
I asked my good friend, Chris Long, for his opinions which he graciously shared with me. Chris is an executive, producer, and publisher, and has been in the music business (both secular and Christian) for a long time. Here’s some of the wisdom he shared:
“I have always felt that the most Christian of artists I observed was Johnny Cash. He was deeply flawed and made no pretense to hide it. It was all summed up for me when Columbia Records released a box set entitled, “Love, God, Murder.” The title is a great summation of Cash’s songs. It is also close to summarizing his life and interestingly is spot-on in describing the life of King David, a man after God’s own heart. Cash could never have been on a Christian record label—too much sex, drugs, anger, and alcohol, but boy, did he feel the weight of his sin and stand naked before all in confessing it and then with courage, venturing out one more time into the spotlight to use his gift.”
“The problem is that the Christian Music Industry is optimized to make safe art for Christians—so they can live in a safe world. Most of its products are weak art, because it turns out that great religious art isn’t made for Christians, it is made for God. And the Christian Music Industry is all about making people feel safe and entertained by safe people. The bottom line is that if you sing well and the camera likes you, you can have a career in the Christian Music industry, if you keep the messiness of life away from the crowd and camera. The problem is that great art is made by flawed people…but our industry can’t allow that.”
Where Do We Go From Here?
To Tait’s credit, he is, at least publicly, taking responsibility for his actions. And, at least publicly, he is seeking the proper professional and spiritual guidance to hopefully move forward in his life. But the damage is done. And the ripple effects continue.
Say a prayer for him. And for ourselves too.
[Banner Photo by Mitchell Koot on Unsplash. Upper inset photo by Luis Morera on Unsplash. Lower inset photo by De’Andre Bush on Unsplash.]
