Flashback: J.'s Vision for ApologetiX in 2014
Fri., Jan. 26. 2024 2:04pm EST
What a difference a decade makes! We first published this on January 30, 2014. It's interesting to re-read now, knowing all that's happened for us the past 10 years. God is good!
J.'s Vision for ApologetiX in 2014
J. Jackson, lead singer and lyricist for ApologetiX here.
Sometimes when you're trying to live for Christ, you have to go with your God-guided gut -- even when it's scary and you wonder afterward if you've just done something stupid.
One of those times for me was in early 1992, when Andy and I drove to a popular new Christian coffeehouse and gave the manager a demo tape of our unpolished, unconventional, unnamed band.
Another time was early 1995, when I bought a bunch of modern-rock cassettes in an attempt to write parodies that would better relate to the younger audiences people kept asking us to play for.
Yet another was late 1998, when I left a good job where I'd worked for almost a decade, because ApologetiX needed somebody to handle day-to-day operations full time.
All of those decisions look like "no brainers" now, but they didn't feel that way back then. And there have been plenty of others. In fact, I'm in the midst of another one right now. People often ask what my vision is for the future of ApologetiX. I usually tell them I take it one day at a time. But I do have a vision for 2014:
This Friday will be my 26th born-again birthday. One of my biggest influences musically as a new Christian was a guy named Keith Green. He died in a plane crash six years before I ever heard of him, but he left behind a wealth of great Christian music to inspire me. I've now lived over 20 years longer than he. Thankfully, Mick Jagger still has 21 years on me, Steven Tyler has 15, and "Weird Al" has five.
I hope to live to see my five kids all grow up and have families of their own, and I'd love to keep doing ApologetiX for many more years. Nevertheless, I feel compelled to put out as much music as I can this year. Over the years, I've written many more parodies than we've been able to record. I believe this is the time to get it recorded and out there.
We already have about 40 songs in the works for 2014, and I'd like to put out more. I believe God has given us some very powerful songs to share. This is a big matter of faith. It costs money to make the music (paying musicians, producers, manufacturers), and we're making more of it available at lower cost.
Moreover, in the last year, we've made several musical projects available to fans for a donation of any size. We want to do more of those, including the two new songs we just introduced this week. That's something Keith Green tried, and I know from reading his biography that it wasn't easy. But I'm going with my God-guided gut and plenty of prayer. Please keep us in your prayers, too.
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