Latest / Crosswalk Talk: Celebrity Christian Interviews / A Generation Rising That Will Not Bend the Knee | Michael W. Smith

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A Generation Rising That Will Not Bend the Knee | Michael W. Smith · Crosswalk Talk: Celebrity Christian Interviews

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Life Audio. Michael, thanks for joining me.
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: How are you?
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Doing well, Michael W.
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: Smith. You're looking good.
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Thanks so much. You are as well, Michael W. Smith,
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  Speaker 1: executive producer of the new movie, Daniel and the Fiery Furnace. Michael,
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  Speaker 1: what made you want to be a part of this?
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  Speaker 1: What made you say yes?
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  Speaker 2: It's all my son's fault, Tyler.
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  Speaker 1: Keep on going.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I remember he told me, he said, hey, dad,
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  Speaker 2: I just got the job because he's a composer and
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  Speaker 2: He said, I got the job to score Daniel and
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  Speaker 2: the Fiery Furnace. I went, that's awesome. That's amazing. So
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  Speaker 2: he's busy doing stuff, doing stuff for Lifeway, doing another
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  Speaker 2: film for Hallmark, whatever. But I was at my studio
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  Speaker 2: one day, it's like eight months ago. And I heard
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  Speaker 2: this music coming. He was up here working upstairs in
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  Speaker 2: one of the rooms at the studio. And the music
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  Speaker 2: was just epic. So I ran upstairs and went, Tyler,
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  Speaker 2: what is that? He said, oh, I'm scoring this battle scene.
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  Speaker 2: from Daniel. I said, can I see it? And it
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  Speaker 2: was like, it was, it was off the chart. I went, Tyler,
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  Speaker 2: that's great. And then I just began to realize, well,
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  Speaker 2: this movie's going to be, if that's any indication of
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  Speaker 2: what this movie's going to be like, this, this could
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  Speaker 2: play well. And so, I was just going to be
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  Speaker 2: on the red carpet supporting my son, you know, just
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  Speaker 2: being a proud dad. And then, you know, the whole
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  Speaker 2: team from the picture, the Cooman brothers, just, just, asking
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  Speaker 2: if I would be involved. Can we be involved as
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  Speaker 2: an executive producer? And so I said, yes. And so
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  Speaker 2: here I am.
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  Speaker 1: Of course, one of the themes of the movie and
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  Speaker 1: one of the themes of the Bible story as well
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  Speaker 1: is standing firm in your faith, trusting God and, you know,
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  Speaker 1: going against the grain. Why do you think that's a
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  Speaker 1: message needed in today's society?
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  Speaker 2: Well, you probably could say that through every decade or whatever,
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  Speaker 2: but yeah, but there's a lot of stuff going on,
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  Speaker 2: you know, I mean, the bad's getting worse. The good's
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  Speaker 2: getting better.
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  Speaker 1: It's all in the book.
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  Speaker 2: Wheat and tares. I mean, there's so many good things
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  Speaker 2: going on with this next generation. I just think it's
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  Speaker 2: just going to invigorate and even inspire these. I think
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  Speaker 2: everybody's going to enjoy it. But I keep thinking about
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  Speaker 2: this next generation of kids. You know all this, but
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  Speaker 2: there's great revivals breaking out in these college campuses. And
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  Speaker 2: so I think these kids are going to watch this
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  Speaker 2: movie going, we will stand up. We will not bend
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  Speaker 2: the knee. We will not bend the knee. We serve
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  Speaker 2: only one God and one God only.
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  Speaker 1: Amen to that. Well, I was going to ask you
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  Speaker 1: about that because I've read your quotes. You think that
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  Speaker 1: we are on the verge of something, especially among Gen Z.
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  Speaker 1: What are you seeing and what makes you excited about
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  Speaker 1: that possibility? You mentioned the college campuses, of course.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I just think there's a revival going on. We
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  Speaker 2: pray for that forever. I mean, we pray for this
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  Speaker 2: kind of move of God. I saw it in the
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  Speaker 2: 70s because I was a part of the Jesus movement.
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  Speaker 2: But wow. I mean, there's something shifting. I mean, there's
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  Speaker 2: no doubt. I've been all around the world. It's not
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  Speaker 2: only happening in America, but it's happening in Europe and
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  Speaker 2: all around the world, for sure.
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  Speaker 1: Well, let's talk about one sign of that. You went
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  Speaker 1: to a Forest Frank concert.
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  Speaker 2: I did.
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  Speaker 1: I went as well this summer, and I was blown away.
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  Speaker 1: What was the experience like from your side? Because for
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  Speaker 1: those who haven't gone to one, it's a stadium full
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  Speaker 1: of tweens and teens. It's amazing. What do you think?
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  Speaker 2: Oh, it was remarkable. I mean, I had a really
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  Speaker 2: great time hanging out with Forrest. It was really good.
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  Speaker 2: We'd really never connected, so we hung out for about
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  Speaker 2: an hour before the show. But yeah, it was just incredible.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, just, you can't, it's like an enigma. You know,
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  Speaker 2: it's like, I don't think you can get a bunch
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  Speaker 2: of people in a room and you've got to take
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  Speaker 2: this guy who's super talented and this is what we're
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  Speaker 2: going to do. I don't think you could ever do it.
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  Speaker 2: that with him. He just, it just connected. I mean,
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  Speaker 2: I don't know what to say. I mean, it's such
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  Speaker 2: a God thing. And I've never been in an arena
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  Speaker 2: and hearing six to 14 year olds singing all the
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  Speaker 2: songs like a kid's choir. It wasn't U2 or Coldplay.
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  Speaker 2: It was like, and they knew every word to every song,
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  Speaker 2: every word to every song. I mean, and to watch
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  Speaker 2: him be, he's so bold. I just, I really like him.
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  Speaker 2: I think he's got it dialed in and I mean,
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  Speaker 2: I always worry about people who, when the success goes,
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  Speaker 2: you know, when it goes that fast, you know, it's like,
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  Speaker 2: it's just, if you're not careful, it can be too
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  Speaker 2: much for you. I think he's got it. And I
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  Speaker 2: think he's, I think he's going to be okay. But yeah,
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  Speaker 2: to watch him and just, he just gets up there,
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  Speaker 2: just sharing the Christ and kids are getting saved every night.
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  Speaker 2: I've never seen anything like it.
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  Speaker 1: You play it. It's a stadium full of young people
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  Speaker 1: bold in their faith, kind of like what we're talking
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  Speaker 1: about in this movie. It's just, it's so encouraging to watch. Well,
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  Speaker 1: particularly for someone who helped launch the modern CCM movement, though,
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  Speaker 1: what does it mean to you just from a musical perspective,
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  Speaker 1: from a Christian music perspective, to see someone like him
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  Speaker 1: drawing crowds like that?
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  Speaker 2: Well, I don't know if I started the CCM thing.
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  Speaker 1: You were one of the first, but anyway, keep on going.
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  Speaker 2: No, I mean, I'm happy for those people, especially if
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  Speaker 2: they're If it's not about them, you know, I have
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  Speaker 2: a little issue sometimes with celebrities. And I just think
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  Speaker 2: we've got to be so careful. Gosh, we've got to
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  Speaker 2: be careful. But to watch, I think he's got a
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  Speaker 2: pure heart and to watch him fill these arenas. And
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  Speaker 2: I think his number one goal deep down inside his heart,
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  Speaker 2: he's supposed to see his kids get saved. I mean,
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  Speaker 2: that's a lot to congratulate somebody for. And he's got
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  Speaker 2: a good team around him. Pastors and the whole deal.
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  Speaker 2: But I think it's exciting. I think it's exciting for our,
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  Speaker 2: if I can say this in the purest way, I
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  Speaker 2: think it's exciting for the genre. Because Christian music, gospel music,
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  Speaker 2: what are we doing this thing for? If we're doing
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  Speaker 2: it for all the right reasons, we want to see
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  Speaker 2: a move of God. We want to see people get saved.
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  Speaker 2: We want to see people get healed. And to see
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  Speaker 2: revival come. And say to ourselves every day, as artists
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  Speaker 2: on this stage, it's not about us. This is not
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  Speaker 2: about us. I said in an interview, I got a
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  Speaker 2: lot of hits on it and I don't do stuff
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  Speaker 2: for hits. I don't really get on social media. I
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  Speaker 2: try not to get on it. But I said something
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  Speaker 2: and it kind of lit up the social deal. I
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  Speaker 2: was with Michael Olson, my friend, and he said, we
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  Speaker 2: were talking about the whole worship thing. And he looked
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  Speaker 2: at me, he said, you know what? He says, God
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  Speaker 2: doesn't share his glory with anybody. I would never, I mean,
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  Speaker 2: my knees kind of buckled because I got convicted, honestly.
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  Speaker 2: And he was right. So, I didn't mean to get
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  Speaker 2: carried away on all that because you asked me about Forrest,
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  Speaker 2: but I think Forrest has got it dialed in. I'm
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  Speaker 2: excited for him, and I think it's awesome.
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  Speaker 3: If you enjoyed today's interview, please make sure to subscribe
• 7:01
  Speaker 3: and share the episode with a friend. A big thanks
• 7:04
  Speaker 3: to the team at Life Audio for their partnership with
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  Speaker 3: us on the podcast. If you go to lifeaudio.com, you
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  Speaker 3: will find dozens of other faith-centered podcasts in their network.
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  Speaker 1: See you next time.