P. Diddy, Epstein and The One Who's A Little Too Close (aka Michael Tait)

Michael Tait Breezy Baldwin, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

For 20 years I sat behind the mic at a Christian radio station, talking and laughing it up between songs. Part of my role that I most enjoyed was researching the latest Christian news. I am still a member of CCM radio groups, and follow the Christian music industry news.

But, I'm grateful to be far enough removed from the Christian music industry to feel like I can speak freely.

My paycheck is in no way connected to how people feel about the artists or pumping up the audience to hit the local station's Sharathon goal. I am a mad fan of Christian radio, Christian music, the artists, and the industry that I was a part of for 20 years. I'm hoping that allows me the freedom to call it out when necessary.

By now I'm sure you've heard the stories that are trickling in about Michael Tait's homosexual indiscretions. Michael Tait started out as a member of dcTalk in the 1990s and was more recently the lead singer o f the Newsboys. A real person of influence. Industry "hanger oners" and "wanna bees" got a little too close to Tait, in hopes of making it big in the industry. As the story goes, he drugged them and used them in ways that would make Sodom blush. At first we heard his homosexual acts were just in the 2000s, now stories are coming in that date back to his dcTalk days.

My 18-year-old self has a broken heart as I remember using a credit card for the first time to purchase tickets to see Michael W. Smith and dcTalk at the Rosemont in Chicago. My 22-year-old self mourns as I think about the hours I spent listening to that "Jesus Freak" CD over and over in my college dorm room. My 51-year-old self weeps as trust is once again broken.

P. Diddy, Epstein and Michael Tait

Those politicians and celebrities are all having nasty parties and abusing children... Who is out there we can trust!? Boy am I glad to tune it all out and listen to Christian radio!

I titled this blog as I did because I sense an unsettling similarity in each of these stories. A man mistreats others, it's both widely known and kept quiet, individuals are blackmailed or shamed into silence, and there's pressure to safeguard the reputations of beloved celebrities... justice seems to be minimal at best.

John Cooper from Skillet said on this "Cooper Stuff" podcast, "Without an unwavering condemnation of Tait’s alleged actions, the larger Christian “testimony to the world is at stake,” adding that the victims of the singer’s choices should be “prioritized.” Some artists such as worship leader Cory Asbury have said that Michael Tait's homosexuality and indiscretions are the worst kept secret in the Christian Music Industry.

Hayley Williams, the lead singer of Paramore, expressed her anger over reports that Christian music artist Michael Tait has been accused of sexual assaults in past relationships with young men. In an Instagram post, she wrote: “I hope the CCM industry crumbles. And f--- all of you who knew and didn’t do a -- thing.”

While criticizing those in the Christian music industry who she believes concealed Tait’s alleged actions, she also empathized with the former Newsboys and DC Talk singer, noting that he has spent decades in the public eye while “needing gay-affirming support." Unfortunately, Williams does not identify as a Christian and describes our faith as a "faulty structure of self-hatred," suggesting that embracing open homosexual sin might have shielded Tait from a life of concealed predatory sin.

Thanks, Hayley, but that's not the answer...

The Fix No One is Suggesting

We corporately cry out for justice. Cooper and others point out the need to emphasize the pain of Tait's victims. I have to agree with Rhett Walker and others who have said Tait needs to go to jail, but cautions against the idea of dismantling the entire Christian music industry.

People seem to be obsessed with the idea that "dismantling" is the answer to what appears to be "systemic" problems. If Michael Tait's homosexuality and predatory behavior were widely known and covered up in order to save the face of the Contemporary Christian Music industry, I would call that a systemic problem.

What makes Tait's situation unique is we don't need to call out perhaps an inept justice department (P. Diddy, Epstein), we need to call out The Church.

"Christian" is not a music style, it signifies a lifestyle of surrender to Christ and accountability. What makes Tait's situation unique is we don't need to call out perhaps an inept justice department (P. Diddy, Epstein), we need to call out The Church. Where was Michael Tait's church over the last 20+ years? Where are his accountability partners? Where is the call to repentance at the big "where all the artists go" church in Franklin, TN? Where is the call to confession and revival? Are there road pastors for all the tours and times of prayer and the priority of spiritual growth?

Spiritual revival and justice from Michael Tait's victims is the two-fold response that will allow forward progress in this industry we so love.