3 Doors Down lead singer stops concert to share the Gospel with thousands: 'Jesus Christ loves you'
Brad Arnold, the lead singer of the 2000s rock band 3 Doors Down, paused a recent concert to share the Gospel with thousands of fans and remind them of their value as children of God.
During their Aug. 23 show in Hershey, Pennsylvania, where the “Here with Out You” hitmakers performed alongside Creed, Arnold wore a T-shirt with the word "YESHUA,” according to footage of the concert shared on YouTube.
Before performing "Away from the Sun," he addressed the audience, saying: “I feel like I can identify with this song more than most of our songs. ... This world surrounds by a message we’ll never be good enough, we’ll never be strong enough, we’ll never be beautiful enough, we’ll never be rich enough.”
My friends, I just want to take a second to tell you, that’s an absolute lie. You are loved. You are enough, and you will win. Not only can you win, but you will win. You’ll always be enough for one reason. And that’s because Jesus Christ loves you.”
“Jesus Christ loves you so much that He made you just the way you are, just the way you’re standing there right now,” the 45-year-old singer continued. “He also loves you to let you know that you’re not complete. I promise you there’s more, and you will win.”
“I failed all day today. You failed today. But you’re still the one that Jesus loves,” Arnold said. “Repeat after me: I am the one that Jesus loves. Amen, my friends. Thank you so much.”
He then led the crowd of tens of thousands in a chant, saying, “I am the one that Jesus loves.”
Formed in 1996, 3 Doors Down is known for hits like “Kryptonite," "Be Like That” and “Not My Time." The group has sold 16 million albums globally, received three Grammy nominations, and won two American Music Awards and five BMI Pop Awards for songwriting.
Though the band is not overtly Christian, Arnold often shares his faith on social media, along with prayers and Bible verses.
On the National Day of Prayer, Arnold urged his followers to pray for the country’s leaders.
“Today is our National Day of Prayer. Let’s put aside our politics of who we voted for and who we want as our next leaders and pray for our country as it is at this moment. Our nation won’t change at the polls, it will change first with our hearts. God bless America and the world,” he captioned the photo of a lengthy prayer.
In January, the singer credited his faith for his sobriety, sharing a photo of his AA sobriety medallion, which has the words "To thine own self be true" and "unity, service and recovery" engraved around the Roman numeral for the number eight.
“January 19 is a special day for me every year,” he wrote on Instagram.
“It marks the start of a new year of a new life, a life without a bottle in my hand. I feel like a different person than I did eight years ago ... and it feels so good. Without question, God took that burden from me. I was so tired of carrying it. I couldn’t carry it any more so I gave it to God and I’m not taking it back! If you’re struggling with something, give it to Him. He’ll gladly take your burden and you’ll never have to carry it again.”
In 2018, Arnold told the New Hampshire Union Leader about his decision to stop drinking and credited the “grace of God” for his continued sobriety.
"The biggest thing about it was I could trace almost every problem in my life to alcohol, even while I was drinking. I got to a point that I knew that I was drinking too much, and I needed to stop. And our guitar player — he's in recovery, and he'd been through his own addictions, and Greg [Upchurch], our drummer, had been through alcohol [problems] as well. I'm sitting [there] miserable all the time and feeling like crap all day, every day [...] I started drinking earlier and earlier,” he said.
“So many of those guys that I went to treatment with out there. They had lost everything — I mean, their families, their jobs, everything that they had. And by the grace of God I never had to do that. You don’t have to lose everything that you have to have that moment,” he added.
Leah M. Klett is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: [email protected]