Catching Up with Steve Green
02-05-2008
by Kevan Breitinger
It took a bit of doing to finally catch up with Steve Green, but our conversation was worth the wait.
CMCentral (Kevan Breitinger): Hi Steve, thanks for making the time to talk.
Steve Green: Absolutely, sorry for the repeated re-scheduling.
Ah, a little thing called life, I know all about it. Your long period of service has covered so many different aspects of ministry. It made me curious: is there any project that you’re still longing to do?
We just finished a live concert DVD, and it’s the first one I’ve ever done. So that was kind of a milestone, and that will be out later on this spring.
What is that called?
What is that called…. (laughs), that’s a good question. Oh, it’s gonna be called “Journey of Faith.”
Obviously you’re a busy man.
Yeah, but that’s not necessarily a sign of spirituality (laughs.) it’s easy to be busy, anyone can be busy. Hopefully we’re keeping step with what God has for us and taking care of the essential aspects of life.
Well, your ministry certainly does have the ring of authenticity and sincerity.
Again, I’d have to say that God continues to be the One to hold us and preserve us. I’ve concluded that He uses the least likely people to display his power and his grace. And I am in that category, in my opinion the least qualified and least likely to be doing this. For some reason God has chosen to use us, and it’s a great honor.
Don’t you just love that about Him? I absolutely love that quality of His, and I’m very grateful for it as well.
That’s right, I feel the same way.
But you had a lot going from you from the get-go with the example of your amazing parents.
I did. I do come from a great home, but I’m quick to add that there is no such thing as a perfect home. There’s sometimes the tendency to romanticize missions and missionaries and elevate them to the status of super-saints. And that’s just not the case. Truth be known, all of us are leveled before the cross. Every life needs real grace because we are all real sinners.
Even in my upbringing, although my parents did more right then wrong, I’m sure, there’s still mistakes they made and I’m sure motives that weren’t the best. Even in Christian service that happens. Pastors are often workaholics who ignore their families. I’m realizing as I look over the whole of my life too, I look back and think that probably much of what I have done was at times self-serving, or with wrong motivations. That’s why, at the end you think, good heavens, God is so condescending and so gracious to let us bumble along in our service to Him (laughs). While we want to find human heroes and human examples to follow, in the end it is Christ and Christ alone who is our hope and our example.
All that to say that I did have a great blessing in my parents and their example and my heritage, but it wasn’t without baggage and its own set of hurts and difficulties as well. Growing up in a South American boarding school, all that takes its toll.
The Word says we see through a glass darkly. We vacillate between idealizing things and being overly cynical. It’s very hard for us to see things as they really are.
I think of all the sermons I’ve heard that say even in the Bible we want heroes. So we’ll elevate people like Moses and Abraham instead of realizing that the only hero of every story is God. All of those people had blatant weaknesses and flaws and we’re trying to find someone to emulate. And we do that in the Body of Christ also. There are people who maybe pretend to have figured it all out, and we think they’re the ones who have gotten it all right. So we buy their tapes, and we read their books, and we want to be like them. They also either have great weaknesses or they hide their weaknesses well (laughing).
And God includes all the dark information about those supposed heroes very intentionally, to let us know not to look to them.
Absolutely. We need to be honest with each other. Yes, I’ve been around for along time and God has let me sing some really great songs, and my family is whole, but if all of my sin was uncovered, no one would listen to me. So I have to point to Christ and hold on to Him, and make confession that He is the One who holds me and keeps and preserves me, so in the end all praise must be His.
From your point of longevity, you have an interesting perspective on a lot of things, among them the Christian music industry. I love the way the new album (read review of Always: Songs of Worship here) pulls from several points of reference, from Babbie Mason all the way up to Martin Smith. Are you equally comfortable in both areas?
I think so. My wife Maryjean and I picked the songs after living with them for almost a year. Listening to them on our iPods as we walk and exercise and traveled, and we came up with this group of songs we just liked. Some are new and some have been around for a while but I like them all.
I especially like the closing song of penitence, “Father, Hear Your Children.” I was really moved by that and wondered if the placing of that as the closer was deliberate.
I didn’t know where else it would fit. It seemed like a good way to end. I found that lyric in an old Lutheran hymnbook that I have on my desk right now. I was just reading through some of the old lyrics and that one caught my attention and seems to be a frequent prayer of my own. So I adapted it and wrote a chorus to it and picked up my guitar and started writing music, and that’s what came out.
Are you touring much, Steve?
We do. I don’t go out on extended tours but I do go out almost every weekend. And we’ve been doing that for quite a long time, flying if long distance or on the tour bus. I have guys that help me and Maryjean also travels with me. We head out on the weekends and come back and spend the week at home (Franklin, TN).
So that’s what is comfortable for you after all these years?
(Laughing) Well, I don’t know if it’s comfortable. It’s a lot of traveling and preparing for conferences and realizing the grave responsibility of it all. It’s my task, I believe, the thing I was prepared for and given to do. And I do it gladly, but I’ve never really liked traveling (laughing). It’s not my thing.
What would your ideal day look like?
Staying home. (laughs).
I like an honest artist.
I do love home, I love my family. My kids are out of the house so it’s a bit more peaceful. I like our community, our church. But I’ve been out here a long time. My first release came out in 84, so it’s probably 24 years. And I’ve done close to thirty records, between the Spanish records and the children’s projects.
It’s beautiful that you don’t know the exact figure off the top of your head. (Laughing) A nice sign of humility. Thanks you for your time, Steve, I really enjoyed speaking with you.
You’re welcome, you too. Take care.
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