Soul Audio » Features » Kristian Stanfill

Kristian Stanfill

I had never even heard of Kristian Stanfill until a couple of years ago when I picked up the latest Passion album at the time and saw this unfamiliar name staring out at me from the credits. And then I heard Stanfill’s stirring reworking of “Jesus Paid It All.” It was a pretty good introduction and I’ve been anxiously waiting for this promising artist’s full-fledged entry into the worship scene.

That entry, Attention, dropped just a week ago to rave reviews from our staff and delivers on the promise touched on in Stanfill’s earlier work. We recently caught up with the rising artist to learn a bit about his background, talk about the new record, and listen to his thoughts on the current state of the Church and the worship scene.

Soul-Audio: For those uninitiated with you outside of your involvement with Passion in recent years, could you give us a bit of background on you? How’d you get started leading worship? How’d you come to the attention to Passion and Louie Giglio?

Kristian Stanfill: I started playing guitar and writing songs when I was 13 years old and began leading worship shortly after that. I was the only one in my youth group with a guitar and a singing voice. It was pretty rough for the first couple of years, but God began growing a passion in me to lead his people to worship him. We had some pretty amazing times with God.

It was the summer of 2005 when I met Louie Giglio leading a youth camp together. We talked about my involvement in Passion ‘05 as a Community Group leader and I’ve been leading with and alongside
Passion Conferences since then.

SA: Now let’s talk, if we may, about your signing to sixsteps. That’s a huge deal, considering you’re the first new acquisition they’ve added in 9 years. Is there any pressure going into that situation? Also, what sort of advice did you receive from any of your fellow labelmates going into the process of making this first record?

No pressure at all. sixsteps is all about helping artists be who God created them to be. I felt from the start that everyone at sixsteps was empowering me to do what was natural for me as an artist. More than a record label, it’s a family of people that my wife Kerri and I love so much and we know they love us too. For this reason, among many other ones, we felt that sixsteps was a great fit for us.

As we started the process of making this record the main bit of advice I received from everyone was to be myself and to let the studio be an extension of what we do on stage. We really wanted to capture the intensity of what we do live.

SA: Now the album is called Attention and releases in just a couple of weeks. What’s the thought process behind this record? What are you trying to say this time out? And what was the creative process behind this recording? Was it made easier because it’s your first outing and therefore you had some songs stored up or.? And how important was Matt Goldman’s help in the studio? What’d he bring to the show?

Kristian: These songs are meant to call people to live passionately and honestly for the glory of God. My band and I have been traveling the country and the world for the past three years and we’ve seen a massive amount of apathy and complacency happening in the Christian life both from stage and in the mirror. We wanted this record to be a cannon blast in the fight against apathy. We are hoping and praying that these songs make their way into the hearts of people and inspire action and
true transformation.

We know this can happen because we believe in the power of God’s Holy Spirit working in these songs. I had been working on these songs for the past few years so when it came time to pick songs for this record, I already had a pretty good idea of which ones I wanted. I really felt that Matt Goldman was the producer that could capture these songs best. I knew I wanted to go outside the
normal Christian music producers so that we could come at this project a little bit differently. I had been a fan of Goldman’s work for a long time and was so excited that he agreed to take on our project. We were amazed at how meticulous he was with each part and sound that
was recorded. It was a great experience.

SA: I’d love to ask you a bit about the worship music scene in general. As a relative “newcomer” to the recording side of things at least, what’s your take on the industry at large? What shifts or trends do you see happening that perhaps others don’t? Also, what is your heart as you enter into the business, if you will, of leading worship? How do you separate the performance side from the worship side and is that even necessary?

Kristian: I think it’s important for every Christian artist to remember who he or she is representing. God has given us this gift to write music and sing it so that people may come to know Him and live for His glory. I hope that I carry that calling well and faithfully until my time here on earth is over. That means that I will do everything I can to make every song I write the very best it can be and cross creative boundaries and do new things. It seems to me that sometimes Christian
music can go in circles creatively.

As far as worship versus performance, I don’t think a separation is necessary. Our purpose will be, whenever we walk on stage, to lead people to worship and adore god.

SA: Lastly, I’d like to end with some questions about the Church. As someone who’s been involved in one of the largest and most active churches in the States at North Point, under a pretty influential pastor as well, what’s your take on the state of the Church? How have your recent excursions with Passion, particularly the World Tour, altered or affected that view? Are there any things that bother you about the current state of Christianity and what are your thoughts on how we might reform?

Kristian: Our band has had the chance to travel all over the world and meet the kingdom of God and see His church. Most everywhere we go we see the Church is alive and growing. We see so much faith and joy and we’re encouraged. If I had one prayer for the Church it would be that we remain constant in our love and obsession with God and His word. In this culture we can be easily swept away by the spirit of self-preservation and self-centeredness. We can become enamored by songs
and movements and let our passion for knowing Jesus become second to being relevant. I pray for myself and the Church all across the world that we hold on to and believe Paul’s profession in Philippians 2:8, “…I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness
of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord…”