Tucked smack-dab in the middle of John James’ new book — a memoir of his rise and fall with the Newsboys — is a gritty and vulnerable truth: “I had disqualified myself.”
That honest admission from James’ forthcoming book, “Newsboy: My Story of Hope and Second Chances,” offers a window into the unique view he has amidst the Newsboys’ latest scandal, disturbing allegations of sexual misconduct at the hands of its disgraced former lead singer, Michael Tait.
Another piece of the story is, before Tait took on the role of frontman, there was Peter Furler, and, before Furler, there was James.
James, a native of the coastal suburb of Mooloolaba, Queensland, in Australia, recently appeared on CBN’s Faith in Culture Podcast, where he spoke openly not only about his own past — the double life that led to his undoing — but also the heartrending legacy of the Christian rock band he helped create with Furler and Wes Campbell in a garage some four decades ago, in 1985.
Now in his early 60s, James is sharing his own testimony, an honest revelation coinciding with Tait’s downfall. At the height of the Newsboys’ early success, James’ own life was falling apart: he was caught up in the instant-messaging craze of the 1990s that led him into several compromising conversations, which quickly devolved into internet-based emotional affairs rife with sexual dialogue.
That, coupled with a growing struggle against alcoholism, led James to an uncomfortable confession to Furler while the band was working on its seventh studio album, “Step Up to the Microphone,” released in 1998. After his exit from the Newsboys, James’ life continued to unravel. His first marriage dissolved, illicit drugs became an escape, and a deep depression took over.
Now remarried and dedicated to missionary work, James said it was “authentic repentance” that restored him, healing him from his drug addiction, breaking the cycle of shame over his past sexual sins, and lifting the heavy weight of depression that had crippled him.
“It wasn’t because of anything I could do,” he said, “but it was the mercy and grace of God, that He constantly and lovingly drew me back to the foot of the cross in repentance.”
“That was more than just a prayer I said [at the altar],” James continued. “[It was] allowing the Holy Spirit … to address the brokenness and the sin in my life.”
From there, he added, the singer “started to bear fruit in accordance to repentance.”
James, now a missionary to the U.S. alongside his wife, Tanya, cautioned, though, the path to healing isn’t one that can be traveled “overnight.” It was — and is — “a long journey.”
That perspective, one that is aware of the need for accountability while making room for Bible-based redemption, gives James — who parted ways with the Newsboys 30 years ago — a unique opportunity to speak into the devastating Tait scandal that has dominated Christian news over the last year and a half.
Looking at all that has unfolded, James said, “It breaks my heart to see the legacy end this way.”
“My heart goes out to the people who were wounded, the victims, the people who were betrayed, just absolutely tragic,” he began, noting there are “absolutely” consequences to sin but that “no one is beyond redemption.”
He continued, “I carry the consequences and the scars of my mistakes and my sin that shipwrecked my time with the Newsboys. I carry those scars for the rest of my life. But we cannot take redemption off the table.”
“My prayer for everyone involved with the Newsboys tragedy is that, somehow, God would weave a redemptive story out of it,” James said. “I don’t know how, I don’t know how long, but one day, we would look back and think, ‘Man, that was the worst thing that ever happened. But man, what a testimony, God, of forgiveness, of repentance, of mercy, of grace, of healing that You brought out of that.’”
Redemption from sin, he added, is God’s “specialty.”
Listen to our entire conversation with James in the Faith in Culture Podcast episode above.
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