Chapel Snapshots
Daily chapel gives the NWC community opportunities to be encouraged and challenged by distinguished speakers.
JUSTIN REDMAN
BY JENNY COLLINS ’05
Brian “Head” Welch
Former Guitarist with Korn; Author and Musician
The first chapel of 2012 featured Brian “Head” Welch, interviewed on stage by NWC Church Relations’ Tim Elrod. While on campus, Welch also visited with youth pastors at a lunch Q&A and sat down with the Pilot for an interview. Following are excerpts from those conversations.
W
ith the right costume and matching eye patch, Brian “Head” Welch could pass for a pirate. But ever since he “encountered the God of eternity” in 2005, Welch’s treasure has transformed from fame, money and drugs to the joy and peace of being a child of God. Today he exudes an inner light that seems to set many of his tattoos aglow—opting for body art that reflects his faith. For more than a decade, Welch’s success with the heavy metal rock band Korn catapulted upward, while his personal life spiraled downward with addiction. When his wife walked out on him and their daughter, he found himself in a new role as a single father. After visiting a church with a business partner and surrendering to Jesus Christ seven years ago, he threw away the drugs, left Korn 10
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and, for the first time, told his daughter he’d be home to take her to school. Now living in Nashville with 13-year-old Jennea, Welch is pursuing his music with a similar sound but a radically different spirit. In 2007, he released the album “Save Me from Myself,” along with a book of the same title.
Tell us how your faith and music work together. I’m a scary Christian, I guess. I love metal, all right? God changed my heart, but my music…the metal is shouting. I read the Bible, and it says, “Give a shout to the Lord.” And I love other kinds of music. I listen to Kim Walker and Jesus Culture and Misty Edwards. That’s my favorite type of music. But my gift is the metal. I tried to do the softer [music], and He [God] was like, “Come on!” Like a smack on the head. “That’s not you.” [On my new album] the songs are the best songs I’ve done, I think. But my relationship with the Lord is first.