the borders of my city or even my country and reach the whole world .
And I ’ ve been able to go to a lot of different cities , a lot of different places all over the world and see the worshiping church . And it just blew my idea of God up . I had been this kid who grew up in Marietta , Georgia , and now here I am standing on a stage in Manila in the Philippines , and there ’ s 10 plus thousand people worshiping God at the top of their lungs . I ’ m thinking , “ Man , this is a really big story that God is telling ”.
And so , I would say at 15 , it was just this tiny little youth group . And God was asking me to be faithful there . And as I kept saying yes and walking with Him , man , God just allowed my eyes to be open to see how big His story is and how great He is .
[ WM ] And so you ’ ve been an integral part of
Passion for many years , serving as a worship pastor for Passion City Church alongside Louie Giglio . I know that a couple of years ago you confessed to some personal issues . It ’ s a strong testimony to me that your community seems to possess a balance of accountability and grace .
Unfortunately , those church dynamics don ’ t always exist simultaneously . What say you ?
[ Kristian ] Well , I can ’ t speak for anybody else , and can ’ t speak for anybody else ’ s church community or pastoral community , but I can say that in my experience here , as I have been honest with my struggle with alcohol , as I ’ ve been open about that addiction , there ’ s been a tremendous amount of grace and understanding and love that ’ s been extended to me from my pastors here and from my friends .
And as I ’ ve shared my story with other people ,
I find that that happens a lot . We think we have to hide what we ’ re struggling with , and project this image of health , and project this curated image that says that we ’ ve got it all together , when really on the inside we ’ re struggling , and we ’ re broken . And what I ’ ve found in talking to a lot of other people , I think what we ’ ve found is that when we ’ re open about that struggle and we ’ re open about that brokenness , we find a tremendous amount of grace and understanding and love from the people in our lives .
And so , my hope in being honest about my struggle with alcohol , my hope was that it would help other people open-up as well and be honest about whatever it is that they ’ re struggling with . And I think sometimes we need permission . We need permission to say , “ Hey , it ’ s okay to say I ’ m not okay . It ’ s okay to say I don ’ t have it all together .” Perfection is a mirage . It ’ s not attainable unless you ’ re Jesus .