10 Questions with ... Stephen Christian

1. Brief History/Synopsis

Born Kalamazoo, Michigan but raised in Winter Haven, Florida. My first two jobs were working at pizza places and met a bunch of guys in high school and started a horrific punk rock band. We evolved and started Anberlin. We had a great run, then realized I would rather be off the road than on. I took a job as a worship pastor in New Mexico and now live in Corrales, a little village full of horses and farms.

2. What does a normal day at home look like for you?

Coffee, feed animals, read, write, hold my children on the couch while listening to the band 'hammock'. I go to work, check in on the studio (write or record), go to a few meetings, plot the future, go home, have dinner, kiss my wife, put the kids to bed, stare at the sky, go to bed.

3. What's the song that you just can't get out of your head right now?

Paramore's single "Hard Times," it is the best thing they have ever put out, modern 80's and rebranding have done wonders for that incredible band.

4. How much do you travel, what are the challenges?

I used to travel 8-10 months a year and now I only travel a weekend a month. I was horrific at juggling the band and home life; it was the nail in the coffin of Anberlin.

5. What Artist & Pastor have had the greatest impact on you?

• Artist: The Beatles,
• Pastor: Erwin Lutzer, Skip Heitzig, Jim Thomas, and Phillip Yancey.

6. What's the last book you read?

Thomas Merton- Contemplative Prayer.

7. Funniest or most embarrassing moment on the road?

Fell on my face many, many, times and each time is more embarrassing than the last. The worst was in New York, I was wearing boots and it was our first show with Fall Out Boy. Randomly there was some sand on stage and I ate it right in front of the whole band on side stage!

8. Take us through some of the songs on your latest project, "WILDFIRES".

• Trust- My personal anthem after leaving Anberlin
• Gloria- God is massive, his originality is boundless
• Wide Eyed Wonder- My hearts desire, I want to live a life of AWE of Him
• Light Rise Up- I want to see a revival, like a Wildfire across this world
• Hope Has A Name- It is a dark world, but there is a Hope, and HE has a name
• Atmosphere (feat. Sarah Reeves)- I long to feel the Spirit move
• He Is Anthem- my identity is wrapped in Christ alone
• Undone- I must dissemble so that he may increase
• One More Moment- When the Spirit falls there is nothing like it.
• All I Need To Know- In the fear of the unknown there is someone who holds the future.

9. Persons you'd most like to have a discussion with, living or dead...Deities are excused from this question.

Barrack Obama, Ronald Reagan, Morrissey, Robert Smith, Brennan Manning, & Paulo Coelho

10. Favorite Bible Verse.... life verse?

Proverbs 3:5 & 6

1. How & when did you become a believer?

A Teen Mania trip to the Ukraine.

2. What's the biggest "God moment" you've ever experienced? Personally or professionally, when has God shown up in a powerful way?

I feel like every day I am walking in a God moment. My life feels orchestrated and I love every moment of it. At the end of the day He alone is good.