That rejuvenated attitude likewise carried over to bandmates Noah Henson (guitar), Lester Estelle (drums), and Kalel (bass). “I think everyone’s more unified now. This last tour we did, I don’t remember having that much fun onstage,” Beckley says. “We’re smiling all the time. We’re joking around. We’re having a good time. If something goes wrong, nobody gets mad. If monitors aren’t working, it’s like, ‘Whatever.’ We just rock harder. Attitude-wise, it’s just a whole different world.”
Beckley’s renewed passion was further fueled by his love of sports. As a former baseball player who once had aspirations to play professionally, he has become friends with such athletes as major league pitcher Mike Maroth. After a game in Kansas City this past summer where Maroth was pitching for St. Louis, the two talked about how blessed they were to do what they love. From that conversation came the groundwork for
Pillar’s fifth studio project, For The Love of The Game.
“The Love is the passion,” Beckley explains. “The Game is the pursuit of Christ. So basically,
For The Love of The Game is all about the passion to pursue Christ.”
Beckley says this is “the most effortless” project he’s ever written and recorded. He also acknowledges that, at the risk of sounding cheesy, his ability to get “in the zone” was divinely inspired. “When it’s that easy,” he adds, “I know it’s not me.”
Beckley is also working on a book by the same title, each chapter explaining the songs through the stories of various Christian athletes who have personally inspired him. And as Pillar (whose
Reckoning album was nominated for a 2008 GRAMMY® moves forward, the band does so with not just an invigorated drive, but also with a clearer understanding of its mission and its identity.
“Before we started working on this record, we sat down and had a meeting and we were very blunt,” Beckley recalls. “I just said, ‘Guys, I don’t want to do this anymore. I want to be a Christian band.’ When somebody asks, I’ll tell them, ‘I’m in a Christian band.’ I don’t have a problem saying that. I don’t want to debate, ‘Are you Christians in a band or are you a Christian band?’ It’s the same freaking thing. It’s not a debate we’re having. We’re both. I’m a Christian and I’m in a band and this is a Christian band.”
Chad Bonham is an 18-year veteran freelance journalist, published author and volunteer youth pastor from Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. He is also producing a sports television show and a documentary about the Christian hip-hop industry for his company, Name Brand TV. myCCM.org/chadbonham.