Eli...this is one great guy. Was straight with me. He has a folk rock style that some would call adult alternative or adult contemporary. Both are poor claims to a great musician. And besides, if it weren't for him, I'd still be really harsh on Forefront records(That...and the fact that I am a closet DC Talk fan). This is the long form of my interview with Eli(Who has a new CD entitled Second Hand Clothing, due out on Forefront records this fall. I have been listening to it with pure glee since it came in the mail)from the October 1998 issue of Release Magazine .

The pictures of Eli that have been shown so far seem to look quiet and introspective. A relaxed "California guy"(which he is, Eli has only been a resident of Tennessee for a few years.). The long flowing hair and some tattoos, and a gentle look in his eyes. Eli the man, however, is a bit more intense. Eli's mind seems to race at at an intense velocity, often seeming as if his mind is a million miles ahead of his words.. He is also very honest and human, with a servant's heart.

The servant's heart is evident in Eli's attitude toward his art. He wants people to feel a connection with his songs "I don't know about you, but when I hear all these high and lofty tunes..well, that's not my life. I struggle. I beg, I borrow, i feel. You know, I have...I worry, I deal with wondering when I'm going to eat. I deal with wonder how i am going to pay the Bills. I deal with feeling like a failure before God. After listening to a song...those things DON'T go away.. "

"The thing is, the people out there are not looking for someone to say, 'Okay, here is the answer in a quick little nice package." Eli adds then, with more then a little indignation in his voice,"That's insulting." Rather, Eli feels the best approach is the honest approach.The approach of experience."Here's where I'm at. I wrote that song Captain, it's about drowning, and it says " I wonder if this will be the time where You're not going to be there" Biblical or not, that' how it is to be a Christian. Period. And anybody who says that they don't go through that is either, um, Deity or a liar."

When it comes to ministry, Eli doesn't believe theres a formula. Why?" We could philosophize about what ministry is and this and that, but you know what? But the sad fact of the matter is..we don't know. Because, you know what? There have been times where i said three words to a guy, and he writes me a letter six months later, and i had no idea..it was so unspiritual sounding. And there have been nights where i stood up and gave dissertations that I am sure that if Billy Graham were there he would have gotten saved all over again. And then not a person peeped...they just looked at me like I was an idiot."

"We all have our jobs. Some of us set up the chairs, and some of us fill em. And i just want to know that whatever i am doing is being affective for the Gospel.I don't have a problem with the guy whos called to go on MTV and be #1...Dude, go.COOL! I am totally up for it You know, be excellent whatever you're going to do. And if God's called you to do what I do, and if all i've done is, if all i ever do is some coffee houses and encourage a few old ladies along the way...Dude, that's great. God may not have called us all to be rock stars. Revelation, man, God may not be calling me to play for millions and millions of people. Whatever God has called me to do though, He will be faithful and just in seeing that to fruition if I just, basically...try. I believe so much in His mercy that it's like...look, I'm not perfect, but i think it comes down to knowing what your calling is. I believe there are people who God has called to go out there and be stars. But i don't think God's calling all of us." And Eli offers another feeling, one almost never heard within the confines of the Christian music world,"I would venture to say, there's probably a large group of people out there doing Christian music who God hasn't called to do Christian music."

"I was asked by a guy what i think of the notion when people say "we're not a Christian band, we're Christians in a band." My only response to that then would be:Just make sure you aren't exploiting the Christian market and the Christian people then. See, I have a huge problem with that. You don't want to be associated with Christian Music, then don't sign with a Christian record deal, don't do Christian magazines, don't play all the Christian festivals. They don't need you there. There are times where it's like,"make room for the people who want to be here then. " If your just using it as a platform...move. I don't hate you, I don't even dislike you. But you know what? Get outta here. Go do something else then. And same thing with non-believers who wanna do the Christian thing." He adds with a laugh, "I'm fair about it."

But Eli becomes concerned with the tendancy to simply judge artists when they fail to meet our expectations. "You know when your livin' in a community of believers where there is just a genuine attitude of gratefulness for what God has done to them? You find very little strife. You find very little judgement. Instead you find people who say,'Hey, come one come all'. But at the same time there's the balance of 'But these things are not pleasing and these things are not right...but rather than hitting you when you'redown, we're gonna help you.' Like the Word says...like Paul says know... "restore that brother Lift him back up and help him." And that is something Eli finds lacking in the industry's hometown. "I tell you. It's weird livin' in this part of America, because Christians here are a different breed. And it is a frustrating area to deal wit.

I can't tell you the weird kind of things that have happened to me. People think Californians are so liberal and this and that. You know what? There is more of a spirit of fellowship and of accountability, and of true tenderness and love for one another in California then there is in some of the areas around here. Where there's just this angry, Hateful religion. And it's just so ugly, and you're like "What's up?" I've got guys literally, aggressively screaming at me because I've got long hair and tattoos. Um, How dare i call myself a Christian. I'm thinkin' "Uh, Dude, are we in the sixties here? What's up? Wake up,dude, y'know?" Just all this crazy like fanatical legalism. And the thing is, like Jesus said, the poor you will have always...we're still gonna have the religious-case in point, once again...how many times did Jesus rebuke a sinner? Never. The only people he rebuked were the Pharisees."

"For me, my thing..my joy is to sit there and to instead, even when i meet other Christians who i think-you know, i'll meet some other guys in a band who maybe there's not fruit in their ministry or whatever. I can see some things that they are doin' wrong. You know what my funnest thing to do is? Build a relatioship with em. And encourage them in the Lord. And to show kindness to the when they throw you a bad attitude. And instead to disarm them and let them realize,"You know, instead of feeling like we're all fighting each other...guess what? We got friends. Instead, we are more powerful when we are united in purpose. And I got your back. I love you. I'm prayin' for you..." Does it work? "It's like, man, I see God start to shake things in their ministry. And some of them have gone on to do very popular bands and ministries. And others of them haven't. Others of them, God called other directions. Sometimes God calls the guys and their wives to go back and preach the Gospel in their hometown. But whatever it was, there was a peace there. Because instead of defending themselves all the time, they had the chance to stop and seek the Lord..with joy. And God gave them a joy and a peace."

When it comes down to it though, Eli puts his place in our world quite simply."As for me, dude? I chose a Christian label. I am a christian artist. I love Jesus Christ..You know what? I want people to know" Eli wants to be more than the hit artist of the month, forgotten shortly thereafter. "...It is my desire to be someone who puts an album out that people will relate to. Who people will come and feel like i'm a friend. I hope that this album, and the other albums-my desire is to put out an album-or albums-that people don't want to get rid of. That their gonna put and say,'I'm gonna keep this, because there is something here that feeds me.' And no matter how much they listen to it, they say' I am keepin' that one, because there is a lot of substance there. And i can always go back to it if i need it." I want this album to be relevant in five years. I don't want to follow the trends or the fads, because trends and fads go. Two years ago, people told me, 'Eli you're never gonna make it if you aren'tin an alternative band'. Well, guess what??? God didn't call me to be in an alternative band. Why am i gonna do that? it is so ridiculous. If everyone starts to go ska now, am I supposed to go ska?! Why?! Did God call me to that? NO. Do I have faith in God? Yeah. Well then, do what God has called you to do."

Eli is also a realist, about his expectations and hopes for the future...boils down to God's call, and whether God is using Eli's art. "But my thing is this. You may not see me in a year if this, these two things don't happen:When i go to a concert, I don't see lives getting touched, cause i don't do altar calls or anything like that, I mean if God leads me, I'm gonna do whatever God says, i don't care-if God tells me to go stand on the roof upside down, I 'm gonna do it, i don't care. If i don't see lives being touched? I'm outta here, man. I'm gone."

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