Come&Live! | An Interview With Chad Johnson
Written By: Jameson Ketchum

ell us a little about your decision to leave your long time home at Tooth N’ Nail Records.

Chad Johnson: My decision was quite abrupt as I felt a very clear directive from the Lord to put in my notice and trust Him 100%. It was a challenging decision and one that I can recall very distinctly. I went to bed on a Thursday night feeling huge knots in my stomach. I awoke the next morning and just had a total peace in my spirit that God was with me and that I could trust Him to work out the details. As much as I loved and learned in Seattle, I was haunted by Jesus’ final command to “go and make disciples of all men”, a commission I had felt early on in my Christian life but one that I had turned my back on. I felt somewhat akin to Jonah trying to run from God. I knew He had placed a calling on my life and it was time to fully obey. I believe the Lord still used me where I was but my heart’s desire was to focus 100% of my time, money, and resources on growing with Jesus and helping others do the same. My years at the nail were incredible – I love and wish all those guys the very best. I have many warm memories of a very special time in my life.

We’ve seen support from August Burns Red, As Cities Burn, Oh Sleeper and other major acts. Do you see bands of this caliber eventually maybe breaking away from bigger labels and grasping a hold of your vision?

CJ: It’s honestly just way too early to say. We’re still in the very early foundational stages of living out this vision but what is so liberating to me, is that as much as I would love to work with some well-known acts, I’ve always enjoyed helping bands from the ground up. So many of the acts that I worked with in the past required years of development before they took off, so I see this as an investment in bands that might require a lot of work early on, but have huge potential to impact others, in the end.

Come & Live is a missionary label and you plan on giving all of your profits to different charities. How will this work in terms of financially keeping the label and its bands afloat?

CJ: It’s currently (and likely always will be) as simple as seeking God’s presence and then trusting Him to breakthrough for us. Taking God’s word seriously in giving all our hearts, minds, souls and strength and then laying our lives down for our friends. I believe this effort is easily worth our while even to the point of doing it all over again even if just one soul came into the reality that God is everything. That apart from the forgiveness of Jesus, they don’t stand a chance – not just of entering His courts for all eternity – but even of living life full of abundance on earth. We are serious about this message of hope, and are willing to make sacrifices to share it. The truth is that we are all missionaries, whether we are in rock bands, working as plumbers, living on the streets, working for a mega-church, etc. etc. None of us escape the calling to set all selfish priorities aside and follow Christ completely.

What charities have you been working with so far?

CJ: We’ve mostly been scoping out charities that we’re considering working with but we have experience and relationships with wonderful charities focused on helping others, both physically and spiritually.

Tell us a little about your current roster.

CJ: I prayed the Lord would bring me twelve artists and we currently have sixteen. I couldn’t be more pleased by the quality and caliber of our roster. Many of them are very young and most are relatively unknown. But I see potential and opportunity in every one of them. They’re all just brothers. This is a brotherhood or community of friends and believers who are convinced that our topmost priority is loving and living the example of Jesus to others. Period. Everything else in life is secondary.

It’s no secret that major labels have a problem with the personal touch and care when it comes to dealing with their bands. How will your label achieve this?

CJ: Trust. Major labels don’t have as much of a problem with personal touch as they have a problem with personal trust. I don’t believe that most artists truly trust their labels. By focusing on a Non-profit missions group, rather than purely a record label, we’re able to look to the overall success and needs of our artists rather than just one element of what they do, which for record labels is obviously the recorded music component.

What will set the actual bands apart from other indie label bands?

CJ: Hopefully their pursuit of Jesus ahead of everything else will be the determining factor that sets them apart from most bands. The objective behind C&L! is to raise missionaries out of artists. We don’t believe that it’s enough to just raise artists (something that I’m all too familiar with). What good is it if we raise artists that sell millions of units but don’t have a vibrant relationship with Jesus?  I’m certainly not implying that our bands are the only ones that are passionately seeking the Lord but I know they exist for one thing and one alone – to worship the Lord and bring others into the joy and intimacy of His presence.

What is some of the criteria you keep in mind when deciding whether or not to sign a band?

CJ: Do they love the Lord? Are they willing to leave everything behind to seek out the revival of broken down hearts? Are they gifted musically? Do they love others and serve sacrificially?

What are some things that the average music fan can do to help out Come & Live?

CJ: Stay tuned for a full-blown website where you’ll be able to start downloading our artists’ releases totally free of charge. In the meantime, check out the Myspace (http://myspace.com/comeandlive) or the blog (http://comeandlive.blogspot.com) and then help us spread the word! Pray for us and ask the Lord to keep filling our hearts with faith, opening doors of opportunity, and establishing the work of our hands. Be massively encouraged that God is for you and with you. He has a plan, a hope and a future for your life. He will deliver His chosen and He is Trustworthy!