- Are you hearing me? What's up with that? Do you know that I wanted to be a rock star too? I was a lead singer in a band, and worked as a roadie for Metallica. I wanted to be a rockstar. But you know what? I GOT SAVED! I BECAME A NEW CREATION IN JESUS CHRIST AND I NO LONGER WANTED TO BE A ROCKSTAR! Do I need to go farther? No, but I will!

WHAT DO THIRD DAY'S APOLOGISTS SAY?

- The Third Day converts (their fans) will point out that Third Day also sings "But, to you I'm something, Something so much more." They (Third Day) are supposedly saying they mean so much more in the eyes of God, and with that I agree, but the overwhelming statement of the song is "I wanna be a rock star." If you placed a billboard in your town that had two naked people on it, and then also wrote in small letters "Jesus Saves", what do you think would be noticed? Sure it says Jesus Saves, but, will anyone see it? Sure the song says their "Something so much more" quote, but then it immediately returns to "I wanna be a rock star." As we travel the U.S., we find that very few young people get the "hidden" message.

- THIRD DAY'S DESIRE TO BE A ROCK STAR GOES BEYOND THE LINES TO A SONG. Read this from Bassist Tai of Third Day:

AS OF FEBRUARY 24, 2006, THE FOLLOWING ARE EXCERPTS QUOTED DIRECTLY FROM
WWW.THIRDDAY.COM/WWA

""...A few weeks ago we had the opportunity to go see U2 at Philips Arena in Atlanta. We had already bought tickets ahead of time. But, the folks at DATA hooked us up with some passes so that we could go backstage and talk with Bono before the show. Since I knew this was coming, I immersed myself in U2 fan geekdom for a solid week. I listened to all my records, I watched DVDs, I even read a new book called Bono: In Conversation where Bono pretty much lays out his life story, faith and philosophy. As I was reading the book, we were out on the road doing the All Access tour. Every night after the show, we'd sit at an autograph table for over an hour signing cds and talking to fans. I was kind of living out both sides of the fan experience. I was receiving it every night after the concerts with countless stories of inspiration and appreciation. But, I was also experiencing the other side of fandom as I was getting prepared for the U2 show and our meeting with Bono. All week, I was really questioning what it means to be a fan. It is short for fanatic you know. What do fans really want? What did I really want from Bono? As I was reading the book, one part really spoke to me. Bono was talking about meeting Bishop TuTu and asking for a blessing. He went on to say that he's always craved the blessings of older men whom he respected. Everyone from Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, the pope, and Billy Graham have given Bono what amounts to a blessing. Bono even talked about how Jacob tricked Isaac to get the blessing from Esau. Why didn't God intervene? Maybe it was because Jacob valued the blessing more.

Picture is directly from www.thirdday.com/wwa under the heading -
November 29, 2005 - Tai's journey into "Fandom" and U2

Well, the light bulb turned on. What do fans want? Fans want a blessing. Fans want to be appreciated, they want to be acknowledged, they want to be lifted up. I turned to Mac in the front lounge of the bus, and told him that I knew what I now knew what I wanted from Bono. I wanted a blessing. I wanted my hero to validate me. Lofty, I know. But, musicians are supposed to dream big.

...Then it happened. After Where the Streets Have no Name, Bono started talking about how great it was to be in Georgia. How a lot of great music has come from Georgia. REM is an incredible band. Third Day is here tonight. ... I didn't hear anything else. I stood there with my mouth open. My wife looked at me with her mouth open. Did Bono from U2, the biggest band in the world, just mention Third Dayin the same sentence as REM? As Bono talked about Africa, and the band started to play ONE, tears streaked down my cheeks. Bono asked us to get out our cell phones and text our names to Unite to sign up for the One Campaign. Well, since I had signed up a year earlier, I took the opportunity to text Mac with this sentence.

We got our blessing.

Tai""