“Do you want to play it?”
I couldn't believe that Jon Foreman, Switchfoot's frontman, was handing me the 1959 Gibson 125 he'd just purchased at the Dallas Guitar Show.
Gulp. “Umm . . . yeah,” I croaked.
That moment speaks volumes about Jon—and the multiplatinum band he leads. But after spending 90 minutes talking with him (as well as his brother and bass player, Tim Foreman, and drummer Chad Butler), I can't say I was totally surprised at his easygoing generosity.
You never know exactly what to expect when you meet celebrities. And despite their humble attitudes, the guys from Switchfoot definitely qualify for that title. Their 2003 album The Beautiful Letdown sold 2.5 million copies and spawned two Top-20 singles, “Meant to Live” and “Dare You to Move,” songs you could have missed only if you were living under a rock that year. Since then, the San Diego quintet has followed up with two more albums, 2005's Nothing Is Sound and 2006's Oh! Gravity.
As it turns out, these guys wear the mantle of success well. If you didn't know any better, you'd think they were simply some of the coolest surfer dudes you've ever met (which is also true). Perhaps that's because the members of Switchfoot have a deeply grounded—and deeply biblical—understanding of what true success really is.
I had the privilege of hanging out with the band in Arlington, Texas, right before the last show on the Oh! Gravity tour in late April. Not only did I get to strum Jon's vintage Gibson and then catch a terrific concert, but I got a brief portrait of the band's history and its somewhat complicated relationship to the Christian music scene. I also learned how these artists’ faith shapes not only their music, but also their convictions about what matters most in life.
Is Switchfoot a “Christian” Band?
I remember exactly where I was the first time I heard a Switchfoot song. I was driving under an Interstate overpass in Colorado Springs when I heard “Dare You to Move.” I wasn't paying much attention when these words jumped out at me: “Maybe redemption has stories to tell/Maybe forgiveness is right where you fell.” Did he just say something about redemption and forgiveness? I wondered. So I tuned in and turned up the radio: “Where can you run to escape from yourself?/Where you gonna go?/Salvation is here.” Wow, I remember thinking, that's gotta be a Christian band.
I was right—sort of.
Growing up in San Diego, the members of Switchfoot had little exposure to Christian radio. So when they signed with Charlie Peacock's Christian label, re:think, in the mid-‘90s, they did so, according to Jon, without much knowledge about the world of contemporary Christian music.
“We were certainly all believers,” he explains, “but being from San Diego, you have no idea of the behemoth that is the industry of Christian culture. You're just thinking, Wow, here are some believers who make music too, just like us. And you dive in, and suddenly you realize that there's this whole Christian industry. When we dove in with Charlie, it was with a very naïve understanding of everything.”
As a result, Tim says, the guys didn't think that they should be making music only for other Christians—but that they could definitely influence the culture with a message shaped by their faith.
“As far as Christian radio goes, we didn't know the thing existed,” Tim says. “We're all pastors’ kids, but we grew up in an environment where there wasn't this hard line between sacred and secular. But there was this idea that if the God we serve is great and wonderful, why wouldn't there be things of beauty and truth—His fingerprints—all over the culture, not just in the guy who’s making music for the church.”
Given that background, Jon says that he’s somewhat leery of the “Christian band” label but eager to claim allegiance to Christ.
“The conversation about ‘What is a Christian band?’ could go in so many different ways,” Jon says. “But at the same time, as believers, we’ve always been honored to be affiliated with the name of Christ. That’s something that for me is a true honor and not something to be taken lightly.”
Confronting the American Dream
One biblical truth the band’s songs often illustrate is how the stuff of this earth won’t ultimately satisfy us. Perhaps the song that best sums up that message is “Meant to Live,” where Jon sings, “We want more than this world's got to offer/ . . . And everything inside screams for second life.”
Throughout the band’s career, Switchfoot has slammed the idea that we can so easily place our faith in material things rather than in God. Two songs into Oh! Gravity, for example, I found myself wincing as I listened to “American Dream”: “I want to live and die for bigger things/I'm tired of fighting for just me.” Ouch, I thought. That really nails it. I do want to live for more than just myself. Still, even though I know better, sometimes I’m tempted to believe that what matters most in life is getting the next thing I want.
On “Burn Out Bright,” Jon suggests an alternative: “If we've only got one try/If we've only got one life/ . . . Then before I die/I want to burn out bright.” When asked what this song means to them, the guys were quick to point to how Scripture teaches us to serve others’ needs.
Tim says of this track’s meaning, “I think our society teaches us that burning out bright is going out with a lot of toys or a lot of recognition, at the peak of stardom, whatever that looks like. I think in the kingdom of heaven, it looks completely the opposite. The person who couldn't care less about what he’s wearing but who’s devoted to serving the people around him—that’s a star.”
“When I first heard that song,” Chad adds, “I thought of this experience I had when I was a kid. I went to London to see Mother Teresa and Francis Schaeffer speak. I remember my parents telling me about Mother Teresa and the work she was doing [serving the poor in India]. Then I remember years later when she died, feeling like that’s the model, that’s the bar that’s been set of someone who was living for others to the very end of her life.”
From Shadows to Light
Another thing I appreciate about Switchfoot is the fact that they’re not afraid to admit that life and faith can be tough. On “The Shadow Proves the Sunshine” (from Nothing Is Sound), Jon quotes Psalm 22, singing, “Oh Lord, why did You forsake me?/Oh Lord, don’t be far away/Storm clouds gathering beside me/Please, Lord, don’t look the other way.” He sings, “We are crooked souls trying to stay up straight,” a description I can relate to on my harder days.
Clearly, these guys are no strangers to doubt and struggle, and they’re not afraid to sing about those subjects. So what place does doubt have in the life of a Christian, and how should Christians respond to those emotions?
“First I would say that [we’re] in good company,” Tim says. “Throughout Scripture there are heroes, mighty men and women of God, who are completely comfortable with not only doubting but with shouting their doubts to the Almighty God of the universe. That’s a pretty heady concept, to think that we’ve been given this privilege of being able to groan to the God of the universe about our struggles. But that’s exactly what we have been given.”
Still, while Jon thinks it’s healthy to tell the truth about hard times, he doesn’t want to dwell in them—or to wallow in music that reinforces those feelings too long.
“Certain songs are depressing, and certain periods of life are depressing,” Jon says. “I feel like it’s healthy to be able to sing about that and have an avenue for it, but I find that you can sing about it too long. It becomes like, You know what? That was a few months back, and I'm tired of singing a depressing song. I want to sing about something bigger than that. I want to sing about something more redemptive. I’m really thankful that these other songs are in the repertoire; they’re a part of what we can do. But we’ve been given a much more beautiful song to sing than simply depression.”
Making It Count
As the sun set over the University of Texas at Arlington stadium, Switchfoot took the stage. I shifted my feet on the squishy synthetic turf, drew a deep breath of Texas’ moist air and smiled as Jon and Drew Shirley (who hadn’t been present for the interview) kerranged through the opening power chords of the hit “Stars.” The guys seemed as down to earth onstage and genuinely pleased to be there as they had been in our interview—perhaps the best proof that being rock stars really hasn’t gone to their heads.
More proof came in the extended intro to “Meant to Live,” as Jon told the audience, “So as we tour around the country, it becomes exceedingly obvious that every moment has a purpose. And I've come to the conclusion that this is potentially the first and the last time that we will ever play on this football field. Right? So I want to make it count.”
Those words reminded me of one other important thing Jon had told me about combating doubt and difficult times: Remembering to focus on the fact that we’re part of a story much larger than our own.
“The message of much of the Old Testament is: Remember. Remember. Remember,” Jon said before the concert. “Remember what has gone on already. Remember that you’re a part of a bigger picture. Remember the story, because that’s all we’ve got. We’ve got the story. We’re telling the story. Every day, we wake up and tell a little bit more of the story. We think that this story is so huge and so massive. You know, I’ve been a part of this band for 10 years, and that’s the story. I’m married to my wife, and that’s the story. And then I wake up a little bit and think, Wow, my story intersects with thousands of other stories. And actually, I’m a part of a story that’s been going on since the dawn of time.”
Jon Foreman and his bandmates are absolutely right: We were made to live for so much more—abundantly more, in fact, than anything this world has to offer apart from the epic story that God has invited each of us to participate in. 
