A few months ago, DC Talk did that radio thang with Dawson McAllister on Dawson McAllister Live! and it was dope ‘cause it gave kids from all over the U.S. of A. an op to dial up the program and ask da boys a question voice-ta-voice, if ya know what I’m sayin’.
Those phone lines lit up fast. Thousands of kids tried to call the program, but Justin, Steve, and Julie actually broke through and talked to the Talk, live. Here’s how their calls played out into the airwaves from sea to shining sea.
That’s all we are--two white boys and one black brother out there serving Jesus.
Dawson: You’d better call early because tonight, in the studio, DC Talk! These guys are the number one Christian rock, rap, and soul group in America. Their last two albums have sold almost three-quarter of a million copies. They’ve been on Arsenio Hall. They’ve been on Entertainment Tonight. They’ve taken the sound of the street, and they’re using it for Jesus Christ. Let’s go to the phones. Justin, are you there?
Caller Justin: Yes I am.
Dawson: What do you got for us, Justin?
Justin: I just want to know what made you decide to use music as your ministry, and how did you learn to play instruments?
Kevin: Well, Justin, I’m the only one in the group who plays an instrument right now. Toby is trying to learn how to play. Aren’t you trying to learn how to play something?
Toby: I program drums.
Michael: I’m learning the guitar right now, and I’ve always sang growing up, and so has Kevin, and Toby’s always done music and drum machine stuff and rapped and sang. So we’ve always been kind of musical our whole lives--well, our short little lives.
Kevin: We definitely all enjoy music to the point where, when we met each other in college, we were all doing different forms of music. I was singing in kind of a contemporary pop band, Mike was singing some soul music and Toby was into rap. We all decided to come together and do music that we could do and speak our message to people our own age and older people. So that’s how it came together--because we all love music so much.
Michael: The cool part, Justin, is that God has given everyone a way to share the Gospel. I mean, for you it may be just talking to one of your friends at school--maybe he or she lockers next to you--and you talk to them about God or about church or about your Christian walk or whatever. And some people rap like DC Talk. Or some people sing, like Petra.
Toby: It doesn’t matter what you do in life, our job as Christians is to tell other people about Jesus. It’s important for us, number one, that people don’t look to us and kind of glorify us. And number two, that people don’t glorify the music. The music is simply a tool to tell other people about Jesus. It’s as simple as that.
Dawson: OK, Justin, well thanks for calling, bud. Good question.
Michael: See you, my brother.
Dawson: Steve, are you there?
Caller Steve: Yeah.
Dawson: Go ahead.
Steve: I was wondering how you guys got on Arsenio Hall.
Michael: Those little people called publicists. Actually, they’re big people. It’s a person who goes around and tries to get you in every magazine and get you on TV and anything the public will see.
Toby: Arsenio actually saw us on Entertainment Tonight. He had requested us.
Kevin: His people asked for our people.
Toby: I think he saw some controversy there, you know, a group that goes out and uses rap to tell people about Jesus. He found that quite odd. Some Christians might find that quite odd.
Steve: Yeah, I know some.
Kevin: I’m sure you do.
Toby: But ultimately, no matter what the means, we’re all in this thing trying to tell more people about Jesus, no matter how we do it.
Kevin: We’re just two honks and a Negro serving the Lord.
Dawson: Well, did Arsenio--what did he say to you? Did he say, "Now, guys, I want you to tone this down, tone this down about Jesus?" Or what did he say to you?
Michael: He gave us free reign. He invited us to the show. He told us a little about his father being a pastor and growing up in a Christian home. And I guess he was trying more to show us that he was from the same vein, and that he understood us. But he let us have our way.
Kevin: There was nothing told to us before the show that we couldn’t say.
Toby: He said, "Do what you do." And we did it. We talked about Jesus Christ being our Savior pretty blatantly.
Dawson: I was going to say--how strong were you?
Toby: I mean, our songs speak for themselves. Like you’ve already said tonight--rap is explicit. And we explicitly proclaimed Christ as King.
Dawson: I didn’t see the show. What song did you do on the show?
Kevin: We did a number of them.
Toby: We got to do like six or seven songs.
Kevin: Actually, we opened up with "We’re Two Honks and A Negro Serving the Lord."
Michael: Then we opened the show up with "Lean On Me" into "Nu Thang." We did "Walls."
Toby: So, every song was in your face. Well, all our songs are, so, no matter what we did, it was going to be in your face. But we gotta say this too: We don’t exactly endorse Arsenio. He says he was raised in a Christian home. Obviously he’s fallen away from that to a degree. We prayed for Arsenio, and we could ask you to do that too. Because I know he knows the way, it’s just a matter of him getting back.
Kevin: Things that make you say, "Hmmm."
Dawson: Boy, it would be something if he would either receive Christ for the first time or get right with God. I don’t know where his spiritual condition is. He’d have a lot to give up, wouldn’t he?
Kevin: Yeah, but that needs to happen. It’s one of the most popular talk shows in the nation.
Michael: But, let’s face it. Then it wouldn’t be popular anymore. My dad always told me, and the Bible in some ways says, that basically Christianity is not popular. It won’t be popular and it shouldn’t be.
Dawson: Well, Steve, thanks for calling.
Dawson: Let’s go back to Pennsylvania. Julie, are you there?
Julie: Yeah.
Dawson: Go ahead.
Julie: I know a lot of Christian artists are going mainstream.
Dawson: Now explain to me what you mean by "mainstream."
Julie: Well, for example, Amy Grant and Michael W. Smith and people like that are on the Top 40 charts. I just wondered--what are your feelings on that?
Toby: If someone wants to take our music, without changing our lyrics, and broadcast it to the whole world--we feel like that’s our job; we’re fulfilling the Great Commission at that point. We’re letting the whole world know about Jesus Christ. So, I mean, as long as they’re not trying to change what we’re saying and our lyrics. Now, if they’re watering down the message just to get on mainstream, that’s one thing. But if the world wants to broadcast our message--do it, man. Just like Dawson McAllister uses radio to broadcast his message, we will use anything we can to get the message, the gospel out to the people.
Kevin: Julie, the ultimate example was Jesus in that He was not scared to go in the middle of the marketplace and to go where the people didn’t believe what He believed. And the harlots and everybody else, the criminals, He wasn’t scared to rub shoulders with them and tell them about what He was about. And that’s the same thing we’re saying here.
Toby: I think I can speak for all of us. The artists that do choose to go in that direction--it’s so hard for me to say. You want to know why, Dawson? Because, I know Amy Grant, you know what I mean? And I know Michael W. Smith. And I know them as people. And they love Jesus. OK, I don’t know what they’re doing, as far as their ministry, and I’ve never gone up and gotten into anybody’s face. But it’s my duty to pray for them, to pray that everyday they’re seeking Christ in their prayers and seeking His direction. But, I mean, I see Jesus in their lives, so I can’t sit back and judge them. I just know that it is our duty, as DC Talk, to go out there and proclaim Christ.