10 Questions with ... John Cooper of Skillet

1. Share how it feels to perform live.

Performing live is awesome fun. You start to feel the adrenaline when you’re about to go onstage. We made it our mission when we first started that if there were 10 people in the audience or 10,000 people, we would do the same show for both. We would have the same energy and same excitement because it is about the power of the music. It’s about what God can do through the lyrics in someone’s life. God’s going to bring who he wants to the show, but my job is the same. I need to perform for the glory of God. It’s not hard work anymore because the crowds are big and loud and it’s an absolute adrenaline rush.

2. Share a challenging part of the past year.

The most challenging part of last year for me to be honest has been watching people that I love just fall into fear. It’s been hard to watch people live their life in a bubble. Some have fallen into depression, some have fallen into alcohol abuse, and others loneliness and isolation. That’s been the saddest thing to me. I just think we have a big job to do as Christians to speak about joy. He’s not a God of Chaos and He is very capable. It was strange being home, but I didn’t mind being home. I’m not depressed but it certainly took a toll on a lot of people I know and love.

3. Some really great advice you received recently was…

Really great advice I received recently was from an author and friend of mine. His name is Lucas Miles, and he wrote a great book called the Christian Left. Miles said, “we have the answers, we just have to find the best on-ramp for people to hear it.” I thought that was good because sometimes when you speak the truth sometimes it can hurt people and I think we can do a better job at speaking the truth in a nicer way. This would make it easier for people to hear what we’re saying. I like speaking truth boldly and sometimes I do not do the best job at saying it in a nice and loving way.

4. How do you continue to deepen your relationship with Jesus?

The best way to do it is to love the Word of God. And I know that that sounds like a Sunday School answer. Everybody says ‘yeah we already know that, what else?’ The truth is it’s sort of like how you get in shape. Everybody knows that you can get in shape by not eating sugar. Don’t eat as many carbs, don’t eat any sugar, and you’ll probably be ok. You probably don’t even have to work out all the time as long as you watch your diet. But nobody wants to watch a diet, they want something else cause everybody still wants to eat the cookies. It’s the same with the Lord. You have to love the Word of God and the more you begin to read the Word of God, you begin to find out that it really is refreshment to your bones, which is actually something that is said in the book of Proverbs, I believe. I would tell people to read the Word of God, memorize little bits of the Word of God, memorize something in Proverbs. You will find it just revitalizing your soul. It’s all so peaceful, because all of these things are going on in the world whether they are political, in the civil realm, vaccine mandates, or what do I think about this so-and-so thing at my kids' school, or at my school if you are a young person. What do I say about this, what about evolution, what about sexual issues and gender issues? Whatever the issue is, the Bible has an answer for it because the Bible tells us what God loves and what God doesn’t love. It brings a lot of peace rather than not knowing how to live, the Bible will tell you how to live and how to please God and that is a wonderful, wonderful place to be.

5. Share about that new song of yours.

We have a song out called “Surviving the Game.” Who doesn’t feel like they’ve been surviving the game the past two years? Everybody feels like that. It’s been really hard and I don’t know what that trial is in your life. We all are going through the same trial obviously with the pandemic, but it's gonna play out differently in people’s lives. Some people have lost their jobs or their jobs were on hold for a year, or they were in lockdown. Some people had kids and they had to learn how to help their kids through school during isolation and lockdown or whatever your situation may be. People are suffering in different kinds of ways, so I don’t know what the game is for you, but “Surviving the Game” is a song that is about not giving up, but it's also about not just staying on defense, it's about going on offense. That is, facing your fear head-on. Facing the issues of your flesh head-on, whatever those issues are, whatever your pet sin in your life is – that thing that you don’t want to give up to God. Rather than constantly being on defense, why not go on offense? Why not wake up in the morning and attack it and pray and ask the Spirit of Christ to help you fight that battle in your life: ‘Jesus, will you fight for me today against fill-in-the-bank’ – whatever your issue is. That’s what “Surviving the Game” is about.

6. Tell us about someone who you really respect and why.

Someone I really respect – I respect my wife, Korey Cooper. She’s also in Skillet, some people don’t know that. Korey, of course, we have two kids, so she’s a mom, she’s a rocker – she’s absolutely awesome, and I respect Korey for too many reasons and we don’t have time to say what they all are. Korey is someone who does not like to be in the spotlight, she does not like for people to pay attention to her or brag about her like I am now… she’ll be embarrassed when she hears this. She just looks for none of the glory and I’ve always loved that about her. She’s someone who genuinely lives her life to please the Lord and that was very attractive to me, and in some ways, very different from me. I just found that my wife was very Godly in a way that I wasn’t and I was very attracted to that, and I wanted to be more like her. She does all that stuff and just crushes at being a mom and never gets the praise or the ‘attaboy,’ or the pat on the back. She just quietly goes about her life pleasing the Lord and I think that that is the best thing.

7. What's one thing most people don’t know about you?

Most people do not know that I love carpentry. I’m not very good at carpentry, but I make furniture and desks and things. I create my own pieces out of wood and other materials as well. But I do love carpentry, I do love the creative side, but I also enjoy the exactness of it all. Even though I am not good at the exactness of it all it has actually taught me a lot about life because to anyone who’s done carpentry, you should know if you don’t measure properly, if you don’t do it exactly like it’s supposed to do, the measurements are not going to work out. Your piece of furniture is not going to be flat or there are going to be gaps between the wood, things like that. And I think that there is a lot to learn about life in that about adhering to the Word of God. If you try to cut corners and if you don’t measure properly – so to speak metaphorically – if you don’t measure properly or if you don’t do everything that the Word commands, then you actually are going to suffer consequences. And it's not that God doesn’t love you anymore, I don't mean that, it just means that you suffer a little bit of pain because God’s way is best and what God tells you to do will produce the best results in your life, and you will be more fulfilled in your life. It’s the same with wood-working: if you don't measure correctly and you make the cut improperly, when you are done somebody is going to be able to tell that it's a little bit off balance, it's a little bit not flush, it's not exactly the way that it needs to be.

8. What’s on your nightstand?

My nightstand has several books. I read constantly, and I put up on my Instagram page, if you want to check that out @johnlcooper, most of the books that I read last year which I really loved. I just finished reading a book by Carl Trueman called The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self and that is what is going to be on top of my nightstand because I literally just got done with it.

9. What’s something you’re looking forward to?

I am looking forward to the world opening back up again. We don’t know what the future holds; I don’t know when that is going to be, but I am very optimistic about this year – I’m optimistic about what God is going to do this year, and the gospel is going to come out to many, many people I believe. I believe many people are going to get saved because they are looking for answers and the world – all the answers of the world are failing, all of them are failing. Some of those people are then going to turn to God. That’s what I’m most looking forward to.

10. What do you do to unwind?

To unwind I usually read a book or listen to a podcast. I love reading; I devour books and I devour books about the Bible, theology, sociology, social science, politics, and things like that. To unwind I sit down and read, or I like to listen to podcasts. I like to listen to great preachers who can explain the times, and of course, explain the Word of God. Some people don’t know how much I love to read, I’m a huge fan of books, as well as I wrote my own book, and I am working on another book now. So, if people are interested in my book, it is called Awake and Alive to Truth. You can get it on Amazon and you can get it on my website johnlcooper.com and there is also an audible version as well now.