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Another Con Hiding Behind A Collar

A Personal Look at Christian Rock

by Pete Crigler

When I was in high school, I discovered my faith. I’m a Methodist; not evangelical. I don’t wave my beliefs in anyone’s face and I certainly don’t look down on anyone for not sharing my beliefs. I haven’t been to church in a long time, but I still have my beliefs and I hold firmly to them. During high school, I joined a youth group with my friends and we were listening to a lot of Christian music. I had already discovered dcTalk in the late ’90s, as they were the biggest Christian act at the time. I also liked a bit of Jars of Clay, P.O.D. and eventually grew to like MxPx and Switchfoot. My friends and I would listen to such acts as The OC Supertones, Five Iron Frenzy, Slick Shoes, Pax217 and others that I cannot recall. I still listened to metal and punk but would make time for Christian tunes because they made my soul feel good.

By the time I hit college, I had found my church of choice (not too preachy, not self-righteous) and had founded a Methodist fellowship at school with several new friends. Some were heavy into their Christian music, but I wasn’t by this point and to their credit, they never tried to push anything on me. I still had my Jars of Clay and dcTalk songs and that’s what I stuck with. Ironically, dcTalk had formed in the same city I was attending college, Lynchburg, VA. Though thankfully, they formed at Jerry Falwell’s school and not the one I went to. On their last album, 1998’s Supernatural, I had discovered the title track and the mainstream single “So Long (My Friend)” and really enjoyed both. All throughout college, that was really the extent of my CCM playlist. I did go to a TobyMac concert with friends from the fellowship in Roanoke and came away unimpressed; sort of like a Christian Black Eyed Peas. I remember going on mission trips to an apple orchard in the mountains of Virginia and feeling like the odd man out. I was the only guy in our fellowship so I was isolated in our cabins and I was surrounded by kids who REALLY believed in a way that was hard to fathom and understand. So I walked around mostly by myself jamming to Killswitch Engage and Lamb Of God.

School ended, I settled into life and joined the church choir. I had quite a knack for it and was the youngest member of the choir by at least 20 years, which seemed to spark some life into the whole thing. I enjoyed it and was sad when I had to step away due to work obligations. As the years rolled on, I still held to my beliefs and kept up with news in the Christian world. For example, when the singer of pop-punk band Hawk Nelson announced he no longer believed in God, it made headlines and was quite surprising to hear. The band never announced a formal disbanding but haven’t done anything since then. I never branched out and discovered more in the CCM world, though. I remembered reading that singer Sandi Patty was caught cheating on her husband and was banished for a minute. Apparently, it was also a big deal that Amy Grant, Christian music’s sweetheart sunbathed nude or something. A lot of this just made me think of Helen Lovejoy clutching her pearls, saying “Won’t somebody please think of the children!”

Then in January 2025, it was announced that Michael Tait had decided to step away from his lead singer role in Newsboys, a role he’d held for almost 15 years. Newsboys are a massively successful Christian band, originally from Australia, with no current original members. For the secular world, they’re probably best known for the theme song from the “God’s Not Dead” series of Christian propaganda films masquerading as entertainment. Tait had previously been one third of dcTalk and, apart from singer TobyMac, was the group’s most recognizable member; a black man singing upbeat rock songs about Jesus was practically unheard of in the ’90s. When dcTalk went on hiatus around 2000, he started a solo project called Tait that released two records and then in 2009, joined Newsboys. When he first joined the group, they scored a top five album with their debut and a gold album with the follow-up. The band was incredibly successful in their realm and managed to maintain a rather wholesome image. Among other things, Tait was seen singing at the Trump White House and taking pictures with him and supporting him online. Then, as stated above, he announced he was leaving the band early in 2025. The band was caught off guard, with tour dates and new singles forthcoming but pressed onward, drafting the keyboardist to be the new singer.

Then, out of nowhere, a bombshell story was published last month by The Roys Report. The story stated that Tait had sexually assaulted three men separately going back 20 years. It also came out with explosive claims of substance abuse on top of the sexual assaults and alleged that his behavior was one of the biggest open secrets in the Christian music world. What got me was that if so many people behind the scenes in the Christian industry and in front knew about this, then why keep it such a fucking secret for so long. At the initial time of the report, Newsboys released a statement on Instagram, saying among things, “Last night our hearts were shattered when we read the news alleging drug abuse and inappropriate sexual actions by our former lead singer, Michael Tait. While Michael has not addressed these allegations, we are devastated even by the implications.” Almost immediately, there was backlash and Newsboys and dcTalk saw their music being pulled from the playlists of massive Christian radio stations as a result. There was also talk that Newsboys knew more than they were ssaying; being in a band with this guy for 15 years and not really knowing what he was like seems suspect even to me. In the statement, they also said, “When he left the band in January, Michael confessed to us and our management that he ‘had been living a double life’ but we never imagined that it could be this bad…” That just seems weird and the band is in the midst of dealing with the fallout, including being dropped by their record label.

On June 10, Tait made his first public statement since January. Still trying to hide behind religion, he called it “My Confession” and started off by admitting to everything, “Recent reports of my reckless and destructive behavior, including drug and alcohol abuse and sexual activity are sadly, largely true. For some two decades I used and abused cocaine, consumed far too much alcohol, and, at times, touched men in an unwanted sensual way. I am ashamed of my life choices and actions, and make no excuses for them. I will simply call it what God calls it - sin.” Still speaking in that tone you would hear at an evangelical church, he said he had only been sober since January and then spoke about how he had the love of God and His power. For the rest of his statement, he comes across like a wannabe repentant preacher who’s been busted with his hand in the till. Ending with scripture, the statement just sounds ridiculous and feels as if Tait knew he had to say something after being caught and called out for his behavior.

I was completely shocked. I don’t really keep up with Christian music these days and the only time I really hear it now is when I go into Christian thrift stores looking for the oddball punk record. But I had always loved the dcTalk songs from the ’90s like “Between You And Me,” “Supernatural” and “My Friend (So Long).” I found myself so disgusted with what I was reading from Tait’s victims that I couldn’t stand the shit anymore. I deleted all the dcTalk from my hard drive and got rid of the few CDs I still had. Obviously, to some people this won’t be on the same level as steamrolling Sinead O’Connor CDs after she made comments about the Pope in 1990 or whatever but for me, still having my beliefs and seeing yet another “upstanding Christian” proving how fake and full of b.s. he is, it was just too much. But the fallout from the Christian community was far greater, like they had been caught with their pants down, without knowing how or when the pants came down.

Then later in June, a woman came forward saying that she had been drugged by Tait and then sexually assaulted by a Newsboys crew member while Tait watched! So much of this was hushed up and swept under the rug that there’s bound to be more that we haven’t heard of. From the stage of a sold out show at a Christian festival in Arizona, the band said, “’We’ prayed about it and we all felt that God wanted us to move forward. And we felt like we still had a ministry and a mission to do.” Obviously, that’s the path they chose, it’s not like they could just call it quits and embark on their own careers. Of course, Tait will be able to still play Trump rallies and all that because they always overlook any kind of assault.

This should be an eye-opening revelation for the Christian music industry; if something like this is going on, report it and get it out immediately; that way these “Christians” can be exposed to the world and they can stop hiding behind Jesus to relieve them of their “sins.” I hope the fallout over these revelations will be long lasting.