Christian music has given us some undeniable bangers over the years. But for every soulful worship anthem or stadium-sized rock ballad, there’s a deeply awkward, painfully earnest, or hilariously low-budget music video lurking in the archives. These videos capture a very specific era of Christian pop culture—one where frosted tips, overdramatic slow-motion shots, and extremely literal biblical metaphors ran wild.
From early 2000s boy band aesthetics to CGI choices that should’ve never seen the light of day, here are 15 Christian music videos that are so dated, they might as well come with a Left Behind DVD box set.
1. Carman – “Satan, Bite the Dust” (1993)
You haven’t lived until you’ve seen a Christian spaghetti Western where Carman literally challenges Satan to a duel in a dimly lit saloon. It’s got everything—cartoonish villains, dramatic gun-slinging and enough ’90s machismo to make John Wayne blush. It’s a fever dream, and we’re just along for the ride.
2. DC Talk – “Jesus Freak” (1995)
An absolute anthem, but let’s be honest—this video looks like an X-Games promo crossed with a youth group skit that got way too much budget. It’s grainy, chaotic and features a lot of unnecessary jumping. Also, why does every Christian music video from this era feel like it was filmed in an abandoned warehouse?
3. Newsboys – “Shine” (1994)
If “quirky” Christian alt-rock had a manifesto, it would be this music video. The Aussie band throws together a bizarre collage of Twilight Zone-level randomness—old-timey TVs, levitating vegetables and a whole lot of grinning straight into the camera. It’s charming. It’s weird. It’s exactly what ’90s CCM was all about.
4. Jars of Clay – “Flood” (1995)
The sheer amount of rain in this video would suggest that they actually did summon a biblical flood. Wet, distressed flannel-clad band members wail about grace while standing in a full-blown monsoon. It’s peak mid-90s moody Christian rock, and it works.
5. Audio Adrenaline – “Big House” (1993)
This song was every youth kid’s favorite jam, but have you seen the video? It’s basically a Christian Full House intro, complete with oversized denim, questionable dancing and a visual interpretation of heaven that looks suspiciously like a cheap summer camp.
6. Petra – “Beyond Belief” (1990)
This one has layers. We’ve got sci-fi CGI, dramatic keyboard solos, and a very intense plot about a man searching for meaning (while driving through the desert). It’s the closest thing Christian rock has to a Blade Runner knockoff, and it deserves respect.
7. Rebecca St. James – “God” (1996)
Rebecca St. James pioneered Christian girl-power anthems, but this video is a masterclass in ’90s CCM aesthetics—random wind effects, weird desert backdrops and that very specific brand of overexposed lighting that makes it look like she’s singing from inside a sunbeam.
8. Point of Grace – “Keep the Candle Burning” (1996)
Christian women’s quartets in the ’90s had one rule: you must stand in one spot and emote dramatically. This video delivers that in spades. Flowing dresses, synchronized swaying and the kind of earnest sincerity that could bring a tear to even the most jaded Gen Z viewer.
9. Steven Curtis Chapman – “Dive” (1999)
If Windows ’98 had a worship screensaver mode, it would look exactly like this. Instead of the epic adventure montage the song seems to demand, the video gives us Steven Curtis Chapman standing in front of a truly atrocious greenscreen while stock footage of waterfalls, rivers and oceans plays behind him. The effects are so bad it looks like he’s presenting a PowerPoint sermon illustration that got way out of hand.
10. Delirious? – “Deeper” (1997)
Christian Britpop tried to be a thing, and honestly, Delirious? kind of pulled it off. But this video? It’s 50% fisheye lens, 50% constant spins and 100% a product of an era when music videos only looked cool if they were filmed on a random rooftop.
11. Plus One – “Written on My Heart” (2000)
Ah, Christian boy bands. The synchronized dances. The pastel outfits. The meaningful stares into the camera. Plus One was CCM’s answer to NSYNC and Backstreet Boys, and their debut music video is a time capsule of Y2K cheesiness.
12. ZOEgirl – “I Believe” (2001)
Christian pop’s answer to Destiny’s Child had some iconic tracks, but this video is peak early-2000s energy—glossy outfits, choreographed walks through dimly lit hallways, and enough lens flares to power an entire season of J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek.
13. Skillet – “Best Kept Secret” (2000)
Before Skillet became the go-to band for every Christian who secretly wanted to be a Guitar Hero champion, they made this incredibly nu-metal music video featuring neon hair, dramatic guitar flips, and an energy that screams “we just discovered Korn and we love it.”
14. TobyMac – “Extreme Days” (2001)
If the early 2000s were a video, this would be it. The entire thing looks like an homage to The Matrix—a weird sci-fi subplot, freaky technology, and that rap-rock fusion that TobyMac refused to let go of. It’s like Mountain Dew sponsored a worship night.
15. Hillsong United – “One Way” (2003)
It’s easy to forget that Hillsong United started off looking like a youth group that just got its first video camera. “One Way” is filmed in a single room with zero budget and maximum enthusiasm—basically, a worship service that was one step away from being filmed on a Nokia flip phone.
Christian music videos have come a long way since the ’90s and early 2000s, but there’s something beautifully nostalgic about these relics of a simpler time. Were they cheesy? Absolutely. But they also carried a kind of earnestness that’s hard to find in today’s hyper-polished, algorithm-driven music industry.
And let’s be real—no matter how much we poke fun, if “Big House” comes on, we’re still singing along.
