Jan Willem Vink interviews the Jesus rock veteran.

"I never felt part of the Christian industry. When I was on Capitol Records and MGM I never even heard of Word Records. I didn't know there was such a thing as a religious record industry. I didn't know that Bible bookstores sold music, I thought they just sold Bibles. I never even went into a Bible bookstore because I already had a Bible. So I don't feel neglected by them. I don't read this magazine you mentioned, and I don't know what artists have mentioned records. I don't really feel part of the gospel, commercial, industry. I feel that Christian music is a subculture directed towards the Christians. It's not really being exposed to non-Christians and it's not really created for non-Christians so non-Christians almost never hear any of this music. It's just a subculture, a religious subculture, and it really doesn't have much meaning beyond the Christian community because of the way it's written. The lyrics don't transcend the topicalism and Christian myopia to a place where the non-believer could identify with the song. So it's an enculturated and limited form of communication, and that's not where I'm interested in being. That's not the kind of music I ever would like to make. So the fact that I don't get played on Christian radio is pretty much a delight to me. The only few songs they've ever played that I found out about were 'I Wish We'd All Been Ready' and 'Messiah', and that was not by my choice. I never sent promotional copies to Christian radio stations in my life. It's not what I'm interested in."

Couldn't a Christian or secular music company give you a bigger platform for your music?

"Well, as I was kind of saying before, although I believe that music is not limited and I believe music can support a deeper message, the music is not the finest implement for preaching the gospel. The greatest tool is preaching, is talking. So the fact that I don't have larger record sales has nothing to do with me talking. Only in a concert situation do I have access to people directly to preach to them, and I don't believe that the bigger your platform is, the more people will pay attention. If you look at someone, a great artist like Cliff Richard, who has a gigantic platform; I'm not sure that the masses of people that come to see him are listening with the same intensity that they might if he were a smaller, less popular artist. There's a lot of silence in my concerts when people are listening and I'm speaking. There's a lot of focussed attention when I'm singing and it's kind of like a party, a quiet party. When someone like Cliff is performing people are so excited and they're jumping up and going to get a programme or a T-shirt or a Coca-Cola or something. That's not something that, I think, that is helpful to what I want to do. So I don't want the largest possible platform. If I had crowds the size of U2 concerts I couldn't communicate very much at all to them. So I'm only trying to help a few people to become converted. I'm not trying to popularise my music to thousands of people at one time. That's why I used to say that Solid Rock was 'music for the minority'. I'm trying to reach a minority on a certain evening in a certain town. I'm fishing for men with a certain kind of bait, and the bait that I am offering is not a candy; it's a very specific thing that I'm offering, which is a deep gospel and a deep conversion. So I wouldn't even like hundreds of people to come forward. Billy Graham was asked, 'How many people became Christians at your last meeting?' and he said, 'Ask me again in twenty years.' I want only the few that God is calling to come forward. I don't call anybody. I let the Holy Spirit call people and then I just give them the opportunity to pray and ask for a conversion in their spirit."

Is that why your stage act has become more standardised?

"When I have an audience come and see me, it's very often people who never even heard of me. Their friends, who have my records, are dragging their neighbours to the concert. I'm singing some of the exact same songs that have, I would say, a more refined medicine. There's something like 'I Wish We'd All Been Ready' or even sociological argumentation like 'Why Should The Devil Have All The Good Music?'. America's still a problem. The Christian community does not like rock and roll, for the greatest part. So I'm singing some of the same songs because what's the point of writing another new song that says exactly the same thing as a song I've already written? Why not sing this song originally? Then anything else I write that's new will talk about something completely different. I'm writing new songs and performing them but I'm never going to stop performing the old songs. In fact, Cliff Richard told me that when he performs he always does two old songs and then a new song, then three old songs and a new song. He never does one old song, one new song, one old song, one new song. He believes people want to hear what they're already familiar with. I agree with that. People want to hear what they know, and then they want to hear something new."

What subjects are you writing about today?

"You'll have to wait and see, when the record comes out. What I'm writing about is the things that I want to be heard within the format of the music, because the music is also part of the expression of the idea. It's not just the lyrics. Lyrics without music might be poetry, or it might not be, but poetry that is really meant for music has more power than the printed poem on the blank page. So you can hear what I'm writing about when it comes out. One thing I'm writing about is the churches in the world, the different kinds of churches, the different kinds of emotional orientation that people have toward the gospel. Some people are legalistic; some people are very affected by their experiences which often doesn't follow very closely to scriptural theology. So, that's one song examining different kinds of thought, and the outcome of that thought is that people take certain kinds of actions based upon their theology. So the person that believes God likes it when you have two or three cars and a big house and you're happy and you all have clean clothes and stuff; those people may not be giving very much money to the poor. Based on what you believe God wants from you or for you, you then enact your Christianity in a certain way. So that's what the song is examining. See how boring it sounds when you explain it? The song is really a funny song, and a vicious song, and a kind, gentle song all at the same time. I even attack myself in the song, just to make it fair to all the other types of Christians that I'm lacerating."

Compared with previous tours you seem happier and more relaxed on stage.

"Oh yeah, I'm having a lot more fun in my last few years. I would think that's because I see my relationship with God as being different than I had imagined it. I don't live my life as a Christian with trepidation, feeling that perhaps I've failed to give the best gospel possible on each occasion, but realising that God's taking care of a lot of that through his Holy Spirit. I'm just making myself available, and I don't have to worry that God is disappointed in my message or my preaching but that God is happy with me, even if I do nothing. He doesn't love me because I'm working for his kingdom; he loves me because he loves me. So that's why I'm having so much fun in life. I realise how much joy it's possible to have as a Christian."

How's your son doing?

"He's doing really well. He's a really happy kid. He likes everything; he enjoys music and sports, he likes mathematics and he loves words. He likes to find out what words mean and he likes to know, 'What's the name of that tree?' and, 'What's the name of that bird?'. He seems interested in everything. He's recovered from his encephalitis - quite well. Well, he was sick; I thought that was what you meant, 'How's he doing.' He had a problem, called encephalitis, for several years where he stopped speaking and it seemed that he wasn't aware of what was going on around him. That's all been healed, and he's a very avid student of everything around him."

Have recent events entailed a reorientation of what you're supposed to do?

"No, I'm supposed to do the same thing I've always done. Just let God guide my path, and follow him and let it lead where he takes me."

Do you feel you can do it with the same intensity?