“But I was able to find my way back to the foot of the cross and this incredible redemptive miracle of such grace and mercy that God picked me up and started me on this journey of redemption,” he explained. “You know, if you’d said to me not that long ago that I’d be sitting here with you talking about my redemptive story, I would have thought, ‘Mate, never in a million years.’”
“But isn’t that the power of the gospel,” James said, “that no one is so far lost or broken that can’t be reached by the love of God, by the mercy, by the grace, and can’t be reached by the redemptive power of an amazing God?”
James shared how the local church played a pivotal role in his redemptive story:
I wish I could say to the folks that it was an overnight quick fix, but dying to self—you know God took me back to Australia to die figuratively speaking because even when I lost anything, the arrogance and the pride and self-entitlement [still remained]. So that journey of healing—it’s a process and a journey and dealing with the hurt, the betrayal, the anger, the resentment, and the bitterness—it’s a day-by-day journey, and I thank God that I had good people in my life. I thank God that I was adopted and brought into a wonderful local church in Australia that just loved on me. I wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for the miracle of the local church. When local church is done properly, mate, it’s the most redemptive, the most healing, the most incredible miracle on the planet. When God’s people, the local church, can really be that hospital, that recovery, that redemption place—that they can partner with people. They just loved on me for just being me, a person who was broken. And I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for the miracle of the local church family that were a part of that redemptive journey with me. Some days, mate, I got to be honest to the viewers, the listeners, some days it felt like two steps forward and other days it felt like three steps backwards. But you keep going, mate, and you surround yourself with good people and you take responsibility for the brokenness and you continue to find yourself daily at the foot of the cross in intimacy with him.
The “Not Ashamed” singer emphasized that it was God’s mercy that drew him to repentance.
“I can’t shout about how amazing John James is because I found my way back,” he said. “It typifies this incredible God who in his mercy drew me to that place of repentance.”
‘Newsboy: My Story of Hope and Second Chances’ Releases in June
Almost 30 years after his career with Newsboys came to an end, James is releasing a book.
“I guess it’s been 30 years in the making,” James told ChurchLeaders. “It was the most surreal experience for me writing the book over several months.”
“It was the most heart-wrenching, the most naked, the most transparent, the most vulnerable, but the most intimate time,” he said, “of communion and healing and intimacy with the Lord that I’ve had in a long time.”
James said writing the book allowed him “to be honestly transparent about the whole journey,” from growing up in what he describes as a “crazy, big, loud, ridiculous, dysfunctional Italian family” in Australia to forming Newsboys and eventually moving to the United States.
“Not only was I pouring my heart out to tell my side of the story, but it was also healing for me,” James said. “Hopefully the book is going to be an inspiration of redemption and healing to all who read.”
“There were days I just stopped writing and was just balling my eyes out with my wife because of the willingness to allow the Lord to give me the courage, the integrity, and the strength to be blatantly honest and transparent,” he added.
James said readers should not expect the book to expose the Christian music industry.
“If you’re looking to buy a book that is going to pull back the curtain on all gossip in the Christian music industry, don’t bother buying the book because it’s not that,” he said.
“I was just blessed to be a supporting actor in this incredible redemptive story called life,” James said. “[For] so long I used to think it’s all about me, my story, but I realized, man, all our stories [are] just a reflection of this incredible God.”
