In a culture rapidly losing its Christian identity, a secular music group joyfully proclaiming the Gospel seems more shocking than seeing one of their peers cavorting around the stage dressed in Satan themed fetish gear.
And yet, that’s just what happened on the red carpet with the popular acapella group Pentatonix.
Speaking to The Christian Post at the Nov. 3 premiere of the movie “Journey to Bethlehem,” Pentatonix members Matt Sallee and Kevin Olusola expressed that they perceived themselves less as celebrities, and more as “Daniels” called to “infiltrate” our corrupted secular culture.
Olusola and Sallee described how they see their career as a means to be a light in the darkness of their culture and exemplify what it means to live the Gospel joyfully.
“I think for us, the goal is just to be a light in culture and show people how beautiful and joyous and cool the Gospel is,” Olusola said.
Sallee echoed this thought: “Whether we’re in Madison Square Garden, whether we’re at a children’s hospital, God is everywhere, and He uses us, and He uses so many different people in different areas and arenas to just spread His love and because they choose to choose Him. It’s really cool, and I’m really passionate about it.”
Though neither would describe Pentatonix as an explicitly Christian group, their faith still infuses all aspects of their work.
“Music was created by the Creator. So, when you align to the Creator and how He’s purposely using it, then you get the true strength of what it’s called to be. [We] pray so much before shows together because we want to be aligned to our Creator, that even though people may not see Jesus physically on the stage, they’ll feel Jesus through us,” Olusola said.
Olusola explained to The Christian Post how the beauty of music makes it a uniquely powerful evangelization tool, demonstrating the preeminence of the word of God in their music and, indeed, their lives.
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During the interview, Olusola further expressed: “I think there’s a lot of stigma around the Gospel; that ‘it’s just not for me,’ ‘it can’t be.’ But actually, Jesus invites every single person into a relationship.”
A smaller Christian band having the temerity to make such a proclamation would be nothing strange or shocking.
But Pentatonix is not just a niche group with a cult following.
Since 2011, they have sold over 10 million albums, garnered millions of subscribers on their YouTube channel, and continually tour the globe, even performing at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in 2023.
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For a group with such global success and almost universal acclaim, such an unapologetic profession of faith is almost unheard of.
Hearing their members express their profound Christian beliefs and their desire to spread their faith through their music comes as a more of a shock to our jaded ears than any leftist virtue signaling or sexual degeneracy displayed by their peers in the secular music world.
The irony is that Sallee and Olusola are simply expressing beliefs once shared by the majority of Americans.
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Sam Smith can publicly worship the devil, and Olivia Rodrigo can publicly castigate the Supreme Court justices about abortion rights without so much as raising an eyebrow, but Pentatonix professing their deeply held Christian values is absolutely jarring.
Though the more cynical might see this as a sad commentary on the state of our culture, a more hopeful observer could instead choose to take heart in Sallee and Olusola’s beautiful public profession of faith.
While currently few popular music groups have the courage to tell their audience how that a relationship with Jesus is something open to everyone, that Sallee and Olusola do so openly might be enough to start a trend.
After all, if a musical group as beloved, successful, and universally acclaimed as Pentatonix can share their faith and the Gospel message openly and unashamedly, why can’t we?
