John Cooper is a professional Christian artist. As the lead singer and bassist for Skillet, he makes his living singing about Jesus and leading other people to worship Christ. When he took to Facebook to voice his concerns about recent de-confessions by other prominent Christians, he got both positive and negative feedback.
John joined me for a candid conversation about his passion for Christ and the irresistible motivation to speak into this cultural moment.
“This was not something I posted to attack somebody out of spite or anger or something like that. This started, honestly, out of sadness. Sadness to see people that have influenced me, influenced my family, my kids. And it was painful, really really painful. It’s depressing and then I’m upset because not only is it painful, not only is it happening, but I’m looking at some of these statements that were honestly…just kind of flippant. They were just kind of like, ‘Ay, I’m kinda losin’ my faith. Honestly the only thing I believe now is nothing and it’s the best/ happiest I’ve ever been.’  I was just upset and I wanted to just plead with anybody that would listen: can we just get back to the preeminence of the Word of God?”
Part of the crisis we face as a culture is a by-product of the Word of God having lost its rightful place in the life of the Church. Until the Word of God is restored to its rightful place, described by John as preeminence, the Church will not have rightful influence in the culture. In fact, quite the reverse. John continues,
Interview with John Cooper of Skillet“We are living in a society that only values emotion, only values emotional arguments – and I’m tired of it. The Word of God is the only thing that never changes. I just want to plead with the Church to go back. I think we’re elevating in culture people who look the right way, they sing the right way, they say the right thing in an emotional song. We’re just not valuing the Word of God as we ought: We are valuing entertainment and we want our ears to be tickled on a Sunday morning with a song that makes me feel really good and like a child again. Why don’t we sing about God and who He is for a change?”
