Remembering Rich Mullins
Posted on September 19, 2007
Filed Under Jason Boyett |
I am not the fanboy type. But the closest I ever came to it was upon discovering Rich Mullins in the early 90s. I’m not generally an emotional kind of guy — especially the kind of person who really feels it when a stranger passes away — but I remember exactly where I was when I heard that Rich died. I was at a computer (a PowerMac/Performa 6400), laying out a newsletter using an early version of QuarkXPress. My wife called. Her mom had heard on the local Christian radio station that, overnight, Rich Mullins had flipped his Jeep, been thrown out, and gotten hit by a truck somewhere in rural Illinois. His friend and traveling buddy Mitch McVicker survived the wreck, barely.
“I’m really sorry,” my wife said, as if she had just informed me of the death of a good friend.
It was ten years ago today…September 19, 1997.
I realize, of course, that a lot of you readers were, like, 12 years old back in 1997. And so maybe the only thing you know about Rich Mullins is that he was the guy who wrote “Awesome God.” And “Awesome God” is one of those worshippy songs that got sung way too much back in the day, and the chorus is trite and the verses are pretty dumb and you’re wondering why all these people in their 30s liked the guy who wrote “Awesome God” so much.
The first thing you should know is that Rich Mullins agreed with you. He didn’t think “Awesome God” was a very good song either, but somehow it got popular. Youth groups sang it around campfires. T-shirts were made. Inspirational posters appeared. Toward the end of his career, he mentioned on a couple of different occasions that he got really tired of playing that song at concerts. It was, he admitted, one of his worst songs. So don’t hold “Awesome God” against him, because Rich Mullins was one of the good ones. Here’s why.
1) Rich hated the limelight. His typical concert uniform was jeans (with holes in the knees) and a t-shirt. No shoes. No socks. In fact, he was known for sneaking onto the stage before being introduced, because the glowing introductions always made him uncomfortable. It was not uncommon for the audience to think the guy walking out onto the dark stage and sitting at the piano was some sort of pre-concert piano tuner. Then he’d start playing, and the lights would come on, and everyone would go “Oh, that’s him!” and the concert would start.
2) Rich was a genius musician. I had never heard of the hammered dulcimer until I bought the cassette tape of The World As Best As I Remember It (Vol. 1) when it came out in 1991. There was this brilliant sound on some of the songs — a droning, dancing, rhythmic theme that sounded like a cross between an acoustic guitar and a piano — and it mesmerized me. I figured out that this must be the “hammered dulcimer” mentioned in the liner notes. Within a few years, I had my own hammered dulcimer and had learned to play it. Never anywhere as good as Rich, but still entranced by the beauty of it. Rich introduced a lot of Christians like me to the depth and simplicity of Appalachian music…and the Irish folk music that inspired it.
3) Rich was a 36-year-old college student when his career really began to take off. From 1991 to 1995, one of the bestselling Christian musicians was enrolled at Friends University in Wichita, Kansas, pursuing a B.A. in Music Education. He played French Horn in the band, for Pete’s sake. And he remained there until he graduated and received his teaching degree. Now, imagine Chris Tomlin deciding suddenly to enroll at your local community college so he can study physical therapy — because he truly wanted to help people by becoming a licensed, practicing physical therapist — and then actually graduating with a degree…while still writing and recording music. It was kind of like that.
4) Rich was a “new monastic” before we knew what that meant. Before guys like Shane Claiborne came along, Rich was pursuing an uncloistered, semi-Protestant monastic existence. Upon graduating from college, he moved to a Native American reservation in New Mexico, near the Arizona border, where he taught music to kids in the local school. He made hundreds of thousands of dollars through album sales and royalties, but Rich only ever saw a fraction of that money. Early in his career, he set up a team of advisers to handle his finances. They paid him a yearly salary — as I remember it, it was something in the mid $20,000 range, equivalent to that of a common laborer — and the rest went to various charities. He didn’t know what his music and career were worth, and didn’t want to know.
5) Rich was theologically curious, and religiously ecumenical. True story: I grew up in a pretty tight bubble of very conservative Southern Baptist theology and practice. I owe a lot of who I am to that upbringing, but I also recognize that much of who I am comes from the steps I’ve made outside of that bubble. And I was given the freedom to take those first steps by Rich Mullins. The stuff he wrote and sang about from 1991 to 1995 — the end of my high school years and beginning of my college years — set me on a path toward re-understanding a lot of theology. It wasn’t until he started talking about this book by a guy named Brennan Manning, a Catholic writer none of my friends had ever heard of, that a little book called The Ragamuffin Gospel became the Blue Like Jazz of the mid 90s. I devoured The Ragamuffin Gospel. I started reading all of Manning’s other books. Then I started reading all the authors — Henri Nouwen and Frederick Buechner and Thomas Merton and Flannery O’Connor and G.K. Chesterton and Bonhoeffer and Moltmann — that Manning listed in his footnotes. And when a sheltered Southern Baptist boy starts reading Catholics and Anglicans and other suspicious thinkers, the Gospel gets a whole lot bigger. When Rich Mullins described listening to a cassette of Brennan Manning speaking about grace, he told of having to stop his pickup truck, pull to the side of the road, and weep. That hooked me, and it set my feet on a path I’m still on today. (Always rebellious and controversial, Rich ended up converting to Catholicism before his death, by the way. EDIT BY JASON: Actually, no, he didn’t. He was ready to convert — and had even been attending catechism — but died before he could actually join the Roman Catholic Church. Terry Mattingly gives some background in this article.)
6) Rich was messy. It was generally suppressed (for our safety, I suppose) while he was alive, but after Rich’s death we began to learn that he had a fondness for cigarettes, light beer, and the occasional dirty word. This sort of behavior is, perhaps, more readily accepted among CCM artists in 2007, but back in the mid-90s, we needed to be protected from the less wholesome activities of the guy who wrote “Awesome God.” So no one ever talked about it. But there were always rumors, and Rich Mullins was as human as people get. That’s always good to know.
Rich Mullins asked hard questions and didn’t always offer answers. He rebelled against the establishment. He was a quiet, humble prophet in a culture of screaming TV preachers and Christian musicians wearing glittery jumpsuits. He refused to clean up his act — or his wardrobe — for record labels. He wrote songs about the color green, preferring to record offbeat music with densely metaphorical lyrics played by a Ragamuffin Band of unkempt, scruffy, outcast musicians rather than release a polished, radio-friendly pop song. He made lots of money but never saw it. He loved Saint Francis of Assisi and “Adagio for Strings” by Samuel Barber. He grew up Quaker. He drove an old pickup truck and taught himself to play the cello. He talked of grace as often as possible. We were strangers, but I feel like we were companions during a very formative time in my life. I never met him, but he influenced me more than just about any other non-relative I can think of.
Thank you, Rich. You left us too soon. We’ve missed you. You suck, by the way, for not wearing a seatbelt.
Say “hi” to Francis for us.
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53 Responses to “Remembering Rich Mullins”
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I actually remember the day I was looking through my dad’s old tape box and found a tape simply labeled “songs” I popped it in, put on the headphones of my oh so stylin sony walkman and had to stop and sit and listen as I was blown away by these huge symphonic arrangements, I was intrigued to find out that the instruments that my dad built in an appalaichan woodship could actually be cool. I can’t contribute rich directly to a change in my life, but I remember buying “a ragamuffin gospel” simply becuase i thought it had something to do with rich… my walk has never been the same. So here’s to you rich, for never wearing a badge, shoes, a tight halo, or a seatbelt.
Ten years ago tomorrow I was sitting in my friends upstairs loft playing guitar when a friend said abruptly, “Oh, did you hear that that guy who wrote “Awesome God” died yesterday?” I said, “Rich Mullins?” He said, “I think that’s his name.” I immediately got quiet and teared up a bit, and the others in the room were looking at me like, “did you know him or something?”
I saw him in concert, but never actually shook his hand or anything, but like Jason, he effected me on a deep level. Even now when I watch the VHS(old school I know) “Homeless Man: The Restless Heart of Rich Mullins” I still cry every time. I miss you Rich, thanks for the honesty.
I am one those 30 something’s who was greatly inspired and touched by the music and life of Rich Mullins. The gospel is about Jesus saving fallen people and Rich was one the people in the spotlight who always directed your view towads God and not themselves. I thank God for honest people of faith like Rich, Philip Yancey and Brennan Manning. If we all lived such transparent lives, maybe more people would view Christians as people of love rather than judgement.
I’m only 22, but I remember Rich Mullins and his music very well. (Blame it on the long family road trips where we listened to CCM allllll the way). Though I don’t remember where I was or what I was doing the day I learned of his death, I do remember the album that came out afterward of beautifully rough recordings of songs he was planning to put on his next project. The song “My Deliverer” is one of my all time favorites, and it became my father’s anthem after he was laid off from his job and our family was in crisis.
“He was a quiet, humble prophet in a culture of screaming TV preachers and Christian musicians wearing glittery jumpsuits.” …we need more people like Rich today.
We just played his song “Hold Me Jesus” at church last Saturday and it struck me, once again, at how powerful his lyrics are and how timeless his songs have become.
Thanks for the wonderful tribute, Jason.
Thanks Jason. I remember where I was as well. I was driving in to my new job out of college. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
About a month later there was a tribute that an old show called 20: The Countdown Magazine did on Rich. I have the CDs of the show and listen to them around this time each year. Rich was an amazing thinker.
Below is one of the quotes from Rich that hit me the most. I’ve also posted a link to the entire transcript of the show below this excerpt.
“… Those are the people God can use. And I want to be one of them. If God should use me, that would be great but if He doesn’t there is a very interesting thing you can do. In the gospel of Mark or in any of the four gospels, you go through the gospels and you say, what people are absolutely essential to this story? So Mary is essential to the story because Mary had to give birth to Jesus. And you could say, well someone else could have. But lets say that if she wouldn’t have done it then the story wouldn’t have happened. So, you have God who chose to become flesh, you have Mary who gave Him flesh, you have Jesus who was God in the flesh or who was the child of Mary and God, you have Pontius Pilate who had, in an artificial sense, the power to kill Christ, you have Judas Iscariot who betrayed Christ and handed him over to the bad guys, you have whoever it was that nailed Him up to the cross. Out of those people that God used to accomplish His will in the gospel, only a couple of them were very nice people. Most of them were bad people. We all want to be useful to God. Well, its no big deal. God can use anybody. God used Nebuchadnezzar. God used Judas Iscariot. Its not a big deal to be used by God and the shocking thing in the book of Mark, and the reason why it is so shocking is because Mark is the briefest of all the gospels but he has these terrific little details and one of the little details is that it says, “and Jesus called to Him those that He wanted.” And you realize that out of the twelve people that He wanted, only one was essential to His goal in coming to earth. The other eleven people were useless to Christ but they were wanted by Christ. And I kind of go, I would much rather have God want me than have God use me.”
http://www.kidbrothers.net/rmml/rmml189.html
peaceLOVEchocolate.
Thanks for the background on Rich. I had no idea. I’m the one you were talking about in the intro by the way. I was fifteen in 1997 just so you know. You can make your corrections later.
My association with Rich Mullins is mostly comprised of memories of my mom cleaning the house every Saturday, listening to him and to Amy Grant while she mopped the kitchen floor and I got in the way. Your tribute is touching and eye-opening, and I appreciate it.
I continue to be influenced by Rich’s life & inspired by his words and music. I surrendered to Christ in late ‘91 at the age of 15, and Rich Mullins was the first Christian artist my friends could convince me to listen to. I never stopped listening. I was sitting in the computer lab in college in ‘97 when I received a “listserve” email about what had happened. A friend was reading over my shoulder and we both were crying. We had lost a good one… and He was happy.
I heard about Rich’s death a few days later as I was driving to church - and it was hard to lead worship that day for the youth group I was a counselor for. There are only two people that I didn’t know personally who I cried for when they died - Rich Mullins and Johnny Cash. Hold Me Jesus is still one of my favorites, and the song that comes to mind when I am wishing I could crawl into my Father’s arms. Thanks Jason for helping me remember.
I am a student minister and tonight we happen to be talking about taking steps in our Christian faith. I had my praise team play Sometimes By Step by Rich Mullins. Then afterwards I am looking at Relevant and realize today is the 10 year anniversary of Rich’s death. Wow! I had no idea it was today! Thanks Rich!
The path that my life has taken is due mostly to Rich’s influence. He burned in me something I can’t erase, and I’m so glad. Because since his death, so many things have changed, even in a lot of my thinking and beliefs. However the things I find not changing are the things I learned from watching, listening to, and reading Rich. I can’t believe it’s been ten years. He’s got a head start on the party.
[…] Jason Boyett remembers Rich at RelevantThe Rich Mullins Wiki […]
You got me Jason….I so need to go pop that VHS in that many of Rich’s friends recorded after his death, “Homeless Man - the restless heart of Rich Mullins”. thanks for giving us perspective,and in a way, reminding many of us to be the people Rich’s songs challenged us to be.
I was more into Bride and Whitecross in my youth… but I don’t remember a day in my life that my mom didn’t have at least one radio our house tuned to the local CCM station… so I think I had to endure “Awesome God” every single day of my life back then.
It was not until Rich had died… and specifically blessed us from above with “The Jesus Demos / Record” that I realized what a nearly-Holy relic Rich’s collection of works truly is.
He had definitely been key in changing the way that I think and write about issues of my Faith.
What a loss for those of us who are forced to stay behind and continue walking…
PS. Thou Shalt Wear Thy Safety Belt.
Thanks for this great article about a great man. Has anyone ever read An Arrow Pointing to Heaven by James Bryan Smith?–It’s one of my favorites. Rich was simply and authentically a follower of Jesus, and an example to us all.
Great read, I was a freshman in college when Rich was killed…I remember it all to well, I too find great comfort in knowing he was “real”. Thanks for the article dedication and the walk down memory lane.
i was only 12 when he died, but i’d discovered his music a couple of years earlier. and i bawled when he died. we were in the car, either on the way to our from a camping trip, and i cried the whole time. it was then that i started journaling. and when people ask me who my heroes are, rich mullins and keith green are the two first ones out of my mouth. both with profound stories, i keep their biographies next to each other and my Bible.
thanks for the tribute
Remembering Rich Mullins : 10 Years Later
A look back at Rich Mullins. He definitely is more than just the guy who wrote Awesome God. I and He agree that was not a good song. Why is it that often the popular things aren’t good, quality things?
Awesome God, Awesome Guy
September 19th marked the tenth anniversary of the tragic death of Rich Mullins, contemporary Christian music writer and modern day monk. Though best known for his worship choruses “Awesome God” and “Step by Step,” Mullins was a versatile and talen…
Thank you for the well written article. I actually knew Rich. My husband was a friend of his. He was everything the article said and more. I remember when he had us sit in his living room and listen to a cassette tape of the songs he had just recorded. They were so powerful. I was always blown away at how God had something to say to his people and Rich let him say it through him.
When people would come into town I would ask if they wanted to see where Rich lived. People always expected a huge house or cattle ranch like all the other big name singers had. They were always shocked when I took them by this little, ugly white house in the almost bad section of town.
Good job, Jason. To live a life worth remembering…
Thanks for reminding us what an amazing man of God Rich was. I miss him still.
One correction: According to James Bryan Smith,a close friend of Rich, Rich did not convert to Catholicism. He was intrigued by the devotion and holiness of the Catholic monks and investigated Catholicism, even attended catechism. But ultimately he decided not to convert.
A must-read for all Rich Mullins fans: Rich Mullins: His Life and Legacy by James Bryan Smith
Hello,
Ten years ago, I was at my desk, looking for some information on Rich and any new tours, etc. - and I saw that he had been killed in the accident. It was so long ago, but I remember it like it was yesterday.
First the shock. Then feeling as if someone I knew had died. I think a lot of people felt that way, because you could know so much of the man through his music and his stories.
Rich’s work took me to the place where I began to undersand the importance of simplicity. I remain forever grateful.
Sarah
When I heard that Rich Mullins had died in a car accident, I thought, “God, not again! Why do you take the best ones so early?” When Rich died, I felt much the same way as when Keith Green died in a plane crash in 1982. These two Christian artists are the ones whose lyrics move me, cause me to examine my life, and move closer to the Lord. I look forward to sitting in on their jam sessions some day.
A great tribute to a great musician… thanks for posting it. It’s hard to believe it has been 10 years already…
I was literally new to Christian music when Rich Mullins died (like, I had only discovered and been listening to CCM radio for a week) I had no idea who he was, but when the morning show hosts talked about it on the air and played “Awesome God,” I made the connection (because yes, I was 14 and only knew him then as “the guy who wrote ‘Awesome God’”). A couple weeks later my mom found a copy of “Songs,” and I discovered what a great musician and songwriter he was.
Ten years later, I have a new respect for him. I work for that radio station now, and yes, we still play “Awesome God” a lot. But just yesterday I pulled out “Songs” and listened again… the sound of the hammered dulcimer and the lyrics of songs like “We Are Not as Strong as We Think We Are” and “Calling Out Your Name” are still as breathtaking as they were a decade ago.
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For some reason, I discovered Rich Mullins later in life. I was one of the many songwriter-singer mighthavebeenneverwas types from the 70s (yep, I’m a fifty-something guy). My writing took a breather during a decade of missions and church ministry, until I was introduced in the mid-90s to Rich. I had heard his music, but not really listened.
About the time I came alive to his life and music, and music came alive in me again, he was gone. But his music has since deeply influenced my life, writing, and thinking. For many years, his music was the sountrack of our family life at home and on long car trips for ministry. My now “relevant” children, also musicians and writers, refer to Rich as one of their most profound musical influences.
Of course I love all his music, but every time I hear “Not As Strong As We Think We Are,” or “The Love of God,” I am silenced and humbled by the devastating honesty and lyrical power of his music. Rich was a CCM Mozart–an artist with such distinct gifts that they could only come from God, but taken from us early by that same God.
There have been and are many great Christian songwriters since Rich, but we are all like the Salieri’s of the Mozart story. Not one, in my humble opinion, has ever come close to being in the spirit of Rich. A decade has not produced a “new Rich Mullins.” And I hope it stays that way, at least a while longer, so a new generation can get to know Rich’s music. I thank God for the “reckless, raging fury that we call the love of God” that was the life of Rich Mullins.
I love you still Rich Mullins, your awesome, and I was impacted greatly by your music. You are an example I will follow. I work with children and don’t get paid much, but GOD wants me there. I cried when you died; I could hardly believe it. I love St. Francis too.
I was 14 at the time, but didn’t hear of Rich until college. When I read the book about his life I got a glimpse into how real following Christ was supposed to be.
He’s one of the people I look forward to having a conversation with in heaven, after I see my dad.
My devotion to God was born with three artists: Keith Green, Rich Mullins and Michael Card. I was in my late teens, in the first years of 00s. I was downloading their songs with Napster, then Audiogalaxy. Thank God.
I remember where I was when I heard, also. We were in southwest Colorado, and as we drove I had been searching for radio stations, and I finally found one that came in clearly, and they played three or four Rich Mullins songs in a row. I was a big Rich Mullins fan, but I was surprised because they were playing some of the songs you didn’t often hear on the radio. Then the announcer came on and said that Rich had been killed in a car accident. I cried. I didn’t know him personally, but hearing he was dead made me cry. (Though I think, Rich longed for heaven. He’s gone on before us, but was he really sorry to leave? And now I’m older than he was when he died.) What I miss about Rich is his devastating honesty. There was no pretension with him. He was who he was, warts and all…and recognizing that let him be open to grace. There are one or two other songwriters today who have that quality: Todd Agnew comes to mind. But I miss Rich. I wish he had left us more songs.
I would like to add my thanks to Jason along with all the other people who posted comments. I knew the 10th anniversary of Rich’s death was coming up, then forgot about it, but seeing the link to your blog from the Gospelcom.net website and then reading your reflections brought back all the emotions and memories I have of that year when Rich died and every time I listen to his CD’s. Like many here, I also cried when I heard the news in 1997 that Rich had been taken from us–I wasn’t sure why since I had never met him or even seen him in concert. I’m glad I was not alone. He was truly a musical prophet that conveyed the profound truths of the Gospel and demonstrated honest devotion to Christ.
I remember hearing about Rich Mullins’ death when I randomly got a free copy of CCM, but it wasn’t until about a year later that I discovered what an amazing musician he was. I’d say his music brought me a lot of comfort and peace during some rocky times during my teen years. Now in my early twenties, his music will always have a special place in my life.
I have heard people say that Rich Mullins’ song Awesome God is not a good song-well every time I hear it I just bust out in tears. Before I became a christian I would hear it and have some sort of emotional meltdown, and I still do to this day. I just can’t seem to get enough of it. I thank the lord for that song and Rich Mullins. It got me to thinking about God and Jesus again at a time when I so desperately needed salvation and forgiveness. Thank you Rich, and thank you Lord God.
Rich’s music and his life had a profound impact on me as I walked through my first years as a new Christian in the early 90’s. I also remember very well where I was when I heard the he had died - I was in my car, had changed the channel to a local Christian channel and a song of his I’d never heard before (Elijah) was playing and as soon as it was over, they announced that he truly had “gone out like Elijah”. I couldn’t believe it. I grieved as though I’d lost someone I actually knew. This morning as I was driving in my car, listening to his music I asked the Lord to tell him I sure do miss him. Maybe he’s found himself a ragamuffin band in heaven and they’re making a bunch of new music we’ll be able to ejoy when we get there!!
wow jason. i just found your blog…and this is a great article on rich. my dad listened to rich mullins when i was a kid and i always wondered why…i didn’t understand it or like it until i was given his biography (An Arrow Pointing To Heaven). that book, and the story about rich it contained, shaped me in ways i am still trying to understand. thank you so much for writing about this guy. i don’t think he would have liked being talked about like this, but it is nice to find someone else who is influenced by his example.
Though I’m a Christian and a musician, and I try to immerse myself in a lot of different music, I never got into Christian music much . . . regretably. However, the one guy that I did and do listen to even now, is Rich Mullins. He lived his life without boundaries and his music reflected the way he lived. The lyrics to his songs were almost as good as the musical arrangments. There is a depth to his music that keeps bringing me back. As I read about him, I am finding that there was a depth to his personality that was just as aloof, just as profound.
Great column!
Thanks for a great article. I too was sitting a a computer when I heard the news. I have to admit that I had to slip out into my backyard so that I could have a good cry. I had the pleasure of spending about four hours with Rich before a concert that he performed once in a nearby city. I was working for a ministry that put on CCM concerts. At the time, I had only recently heard of Rich Mullins. I had no idea who he was. I had seen and met many artists back then including Carman and Steven Curtis, but Rich was different and you knew that immediately when he put his hand out for you to shake. After getting something to eat we sat around just outside the building and backstage talking about life, love and the pursuit of happiness. I learned so much that evening about those three things as I sat and soaked up Rich’s “teachings”. There were things we talked about that day that I still share with other people, and then there some things we talked about that I will take to my grave. What a wonderful representation of Christ Rich was. He was so down to earth and easy to talk to. I miss him. He truly was….one crying in the wilderness.
Rich came to our church in the early 90s and I can still see that beat up truck he drove with his dog Bear riding in the back of the truck. It was neat to pet a “canine celebrity”.. celebrity being a word Rich despised.. while being able to talk very briefly with Rich.
We’ll miss you Rich. At least the angels have a hammer dulcimer player to sing along with.
It’s not just a 30s thing — I’m in my 50s, and I remember standing in the Christian bookstore, listening to “if I Stand” and weeping.
I’m not easily given to public displays — I’m a lawyer — but the soaring humility of Rich’s take on grace laid out my soul.
Through the next decade, he was the poet/prophet of my life, always challenging, always pointing the way on to a God whose love defied explanation.
We’ve not seen his equal.
As a devout Catholic man, I have never been into CCM, but I have been deeply touched by Richard’s words to music and it was unfortunate that I only discovered Rich Mullins, twelve years after his passing.
A friend introduced me to him after, I discovered a calling to the priesthood. The first song, I heard was, “Creed,” I was instantly moved, hooked and wanted more. In talking further with my friend, I was surprised to find out that, at the time of Richard’s death, he was days from full conversion and to enter, The Roman Catholic Church. Reading this story brought tears.
Truly God is a mystery, to bring Richard so close, only to take him, days before…I am and will forever be touched by this man’s words to music.
May God continue to bless those who hear Richard’s music, that they may encounter God, if not for the first time, again.
In Christ,
Jerry
In case you are interested, the link to the article discussing Richard’s conversion: http://tmatt.gospelcom.net/column/1998/05/06/
I can vividly remember exactly where I was and what I was doing when I learned of Rich’s death. I was newly involved in a church young adult group when someone mentioned casually, “Did you guys hear that Rich Mullins died?” I had to excuse myself and go into the bathroom to weep…and wandered through much of the next several days, weeks and months feeling a keen sense of loss.
I got turned onto Rich towards the end of high school…and in my early college years found that his lyrics touched my soul in a way no other Christian music did. I began to devour, not just his songs, but articles that he had written and writings of author’s he recommended. I had several opportunities to hear him in concert and attend his retreats. I had begun my walk of faith on a very judgemental and pious path….and thanks to God’s Grace (using Rich) I quickly learned about mercy, grace, and just plain being “real.” Though I suspect Rich would hate being characterized like this, he was an amazing theologan and a person with an extreme and beautiful talent to take the stuff of God and make it real to all of us.
It sounds strange, but I feel a sense of loss over Rich Mullins to this day…and even tonight sang “If I Stand” to my two year old son at bed time. I actually can’t begin to express how impactful his life and music was to me…and I am so thankful that God put Rich on this earth for a short time.
Tonight, here in Somerville, Ohio…I giggled as I ran across this site. Wayne would be, well…embarrassed. Embarrassed that people are still “talking” about him. He would be concerned that they were not talking about Jesus. Yet, what Richard Wayne did not understand, was that his life, as much as his music, kept people talking about Grace, Forgiveness and Love, more than he knew. More than he ever knew, his impish smile, his boyish giggle and his sometimes hurtful honesty made me want to know Jesus…and that was the power of Wayne…I loved that he was not perfect; it gave me hope. And…he hated seatbelts; we had some of our best arguments over them. Here’s to your chariot of fire, my friend…and I hope the stars were like candlelight in Central Park! Looking forward to seeing you again!
wow, i am so excited to actually get into print my feelings about rich mullins. on october 2, 1997 my 22 year old son was killed in an auto accident. shortly after that, wile going through the most painful time in my life, i read somewhere about a christian musician who’d been killed in september in an accident. i immediately bought a cassette. i was working home health at the time and would listen and weep while driving anywhere from 100 to 150 miles a day to visit my elderly patients.
i eventually obtained every album he ever recorded. he ministered to my soul in such a powerful way. my son was an awesome guitar player. the beauty of the music, and the comfort of god’s love, brought me more comfort that i can ever express . I thank the Lord for Rich every day of my life. I can just imagine him dancing around the throne and look forward to joining him when the Lord calls me home. I like to imagine him and my son Wayne playing music together. i miss my son so much, but i can only imagine the joy they share before the King of Kings.
I love you Rich.
[…] 37. Waiting - Rich Mullins […]
I was 16, and still discovering what it means to be a Christian. A girl from fellowship invited to her birthday party and she got a Rich Mullins tape as a present. In my mind I thought, “who’s that?” She stuck the tape in, and played Awesome God. I didn’t know what he was singing, but when the verses ended with “Our God is an awesome God,” caught my attention because of the phrase and melody. The girl grabbed my hand to circle around with friends on the chorus part, and it made me happy because I enjoyed the chorus even more. Later I found there was such thing as a christian store, and the girl for the name of guy who sang that song so I could buy it. Turns out that I already knew a few songs written by him which means realize I already had learned a lot about faith through him without knowing who he is. I didn’t there was christian music industry, so I only knew them as church songs. So fast forward to 97, I was shocked that he died. I like mourned for two years at least. I listened to The Jesus Record demos almost exclusively everyday, because the lyrics and music touched me so. The only music that makes me causes me to love Jesus so much more. I watch Homeless Man once in a long while to remind and refresh my perspective on being follower. I always end up tearing up or crying in the end. Especially seeing how much the kids love Rich and how they miss him. I like Brennan Manning’s sharing too. Once in while while I’ll think of a current issue, topic, trend, or innovation and think, “I wonder what Rich would think of this? What
would he say?”
I don’t really have a favorite movie and don’t think movies and TV will be significant in the scheme of life. Having said that, the right person/company needs to make a movie about the life of Rich Mullins. The theme song should be “I See You”.
I met Rich once…only briefly…he was hanging out with Caedman’s in a local pub in Houston…it was a long time ago. Anyway, I remember the intensity of his gaze and the honesty of his words…which still move me to this day…and which caused me look at life ina whole new way…thank you Jesus!
I was introduced to Rich’s music by a friend in 1991, when we were both missionary English teachers posted to Japan. I was in my mid-20s, living on my own in a foreign country where I barely knew the language. I learned the meaning of being lonely for my faith in those years and also what it was to grow spiritually. Rich’s music was the soundtrack to those years. I felt that, more than any of his contemporaries in the Christian music business, really saw to the heart of what it meant to truly walk the path of Christ. I never knew Rich except through his music, but I regard him as my brother in Christ. He, along with Keith Green (who also died a tragic young death in an accident) are my two most respected mentors in faith. Why God would choose to take these two men in the prime of their lives when they were so totally engaged in His work is a mystery that only He knows.
I remember watching Rich’s video ‘On the other side of the world’ in the 700 club as a 11 year old and even though as a young Kenyan boy that is not the music i was accustomed to, my heart gave way…i got hooked instantly, and my soul continues to bear witness. Am an avid Rich music enthusiast! I just acquired the Legacy dvd with a couple of music videos and all i can say is i cant get enough! The tribute given here was great too, i learned a little bit more of this vessel clled Rich, thanks. Cant wait to watch the Here in America Dvd when i find it….Rich, your music has and continues to help me find my own expression in life, love and faith, though i have never met you, i feel you must have been quite a character…thanks and see you on the other side of this grey.
The first time I heard the news of Rich Mulins’ passing was at work. I was listening to a morning show on a local “new rock” radio station. They were doing their regular “Celebrity Deathwatch” segment, peppered with their usual crass comments (not as bad as Howard Stern, but crass, nonthless) The radio personality read the press release that started, “Christian music artist Richard Mullins died last week….”, and suddenly, I felt numb. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Grief, as well as anger at the radio personality for his insesitivity at my “friend’s” tragic, untimely death, and shame for listening to such an inapropriate program all hit me at the same time.
I had never met Rich Mullins in person, nor had I seen him in concert, but I felt a personal connection to him through his music and poetry, in a way that I had never felt with any other artist up to that time in my life. Brother Rich, you are a beautiful soul, and I still miss you!
I especially like that Rich was human. OMG he smoked….cigarettes? Drank Beer, swore?
Sounds like another flawed individual I have looked up to as a real faith hero, Martin Luther the Worlds’s Worst Augustinian monk.
Rich Mullins was a flawed real human disciple of Christ. I only hope the same can be said about me at the end of my life.
I also agree with the author of this article.
Rich you suck for not wearing a seatbelt.
Feeling like you’ve lost a close friend when a stranger dies - that’s a God thing. I had lost my husband of 11 yrs, also killed in an auto accident, 4 yrs earlier. Our two children were only 2 & 3 at the time. Rich Mullins reminded me so much of my music loving late husband when I became a big fan: same age, blue jeaned humble spirits with big hearts, and something about the eyes. Time heals all wounds, grief is a process, finding closure — all psycho-babble. My Lord, my Bible, C.S. Lewis (especially A Grief Observed), Christian TV, Rich Mullins lyrics…they were lighting a path when I couldn’t see where I was going. “Hold me Jesus cause I’m shaking like a leaf…won’t you be my Prince of Peace.” I never met Rich Mullins but I keenly felt his loss. Yours is a wonderful tribute. I’m glad to have stumbled upon it. God Bless You. — a sister in Christ