PODCAST TRANSCRIPT | EPISODE 250: Interview with Michael Tait (Lead Singer of Newsboys)
LIFE TO THE FULL w/ Nancy Campbell
EPISODE 250: Interview with Michael Tait (Lead Singer of Newsboys)
For 250 podcasts you have listened to Michael Tait as his song “In That Home” introduces and ends this podcast. At last, you are hearing from him in person. You will love hearing the story of this song about his mother and the way she drew so many hurting souls into her heart and her home. You'll also hear some inside stories about our sons, Wes and Steve Campbell. And this time, we will play you the full song.
Announcer: Welcome to the podcast, Life to The Full, with Nancy Campbell, founder and publisher of Above Rubies.
Nancy Campbell: Hello, ladies! And everyone else that is listening today. As I mentioned last week, today I have with me Michael Tait. So great to have you with us, Michael!
Michael: Mama Nancy, I am thrilled as a bug to be here!
Nancy: Oh, that’s so great! As many of you may know, my eldest son, Wes Campbell, owns the Newsboys. My next son, Steve Campbell, manages them on the road. Michael Tait, I am sure you know, is the lead singer of the Newsboys. He used to sing with TobyMac, and then nearly 14 years ago, he came to the Newsboys!
Michael: I’m upgraded, I’m told. [laughter] I upgraded, yeah.
Nancy: Michael is just like part of the family. It is so great to have you here. And it’s time that I got you here, Michael, because, ladies, young people, every single time you listen to this podcast, you listen to Michael. Because we introduce this podcast with your song, “In That Home,” and then we end the podcast with another part of that beautiful song. So, you’ve been listening to Michael for a long time. This is No. 250 podcast.
Michael: Wow!
Nancy: It’s so great to have Michael today. And thank you, Michael. I just love that song. Every time I hear it when it comes on, oh, it has such a beautiful anointing. I’ve talked with you many times about your mom who’s now gone to glory. But every time you talk to me about her, my heart just throbs, because oh, I love the stories you tell about her. I remember how you told me once, because she was a woman who not only raised children, goodness, how many did she raise? She opened her home to hurting hearts, didn’t she?
Michael: The ruler of the home. Mom and Dad raised nine kids. Five girls, four boys. I was told in secret that they saved the best for last.
Nancy: Yes, because you’re amazing!
Michael: I’m going to believe that part.
Nancy: So, you are the youngest.
Michael: Yes, the youngest, the baby. My mom and I had a very, very close relationship, as do most boys with their moms, as I tend to find out, tend to see. My mom lived in the inner city of DC. Our home, Mama Nancy, our home was four blocks northeast of the US Capitol Building. We were right on Capitol Hill, literally.
My dad was a cab driver and a preacher. He planted churches in DC. My mom was a godly Christian woman who raised nine kids. My home would be open to . . . there were kids in the street, good kids, and sometimes there were troubled kids. Mom would invite them in for a meal or for a devotion around the table.
We had on Monday nights . . . Dad would come home. The hot summer nights, my friends would come to the house, kids would come to the house and Dad would preach to them. Some of them we had saved, some would “shuck and jive,” as my Dad would say. It was a real house of love and ministry as we were growing up. Mom was the keynote. Dad was at the helm, but Mom was second in command. No doubt about it!
Nancy: And I love how you told me once how she would take someone’s heart, and she would put it in her heart.
Michael: She had the strangest way with people. People would talk to my mom. She would literally. . . They were like, “We want your mom to be our mom.” Because she had this thing. She could just draw you in and take a piece of your heart. You’re done! You’re stuck! From then on, you have a good healthy addiction to Maxine Tait, because she spoke such truth, such love. A lot of young girls . . . she spoke purpose. My mom would talk to them.
A lot of girls would be single moms, girls from troubled homes. My mom would love on them and speak life into them. They never forgot that. She just had this thing.
Your son Steve, my road manager, and one of my best friends, Steven Campbell. He met my mom on several occasions. He talked about it. He waxed on about my mom like you just did in opening there. “Your Mom, Maxine was so wonderful! She’s so, dah, dah, dah, dah, dah, you know? Because she really was that lady.
Nancy: I know. I wished I could have met her.
Michael: And then the Lord stole her from us. But He can have her back. We’re going to meet her there one day.
Nancy: Amen! Amen. You only just get a few of the words when we introduce the podcast. But just let me read some of them to you. I love it.
There was a home in town
Where broken kids, the lost and found
Would come from miles around
Just to see, what love was all about
‘Cause Mamma had a way of makin' things okay
I want to cry already!
Michael: I know, I know.
Nancy:
She'd cook us our favorite meal
Sit and listen to how we feel
Oh, how the pain was real
How many families will the devil steal?
Momma had a way of makin’ things okay
In that home
We knew we were safe
To be young enough to dream
Find the faith to believe
And in that home
Love, it had no end
It's where we learned to forgive
In that home
Momma always had the music on
Sometimes loud [maybe as loud as the Newsboys! She liked it loud!] sometimes soft
When I asked her 'bout her favorite song
She opened the Bible to the book of Psalms
She always found a way to talk about grace
And on that day I got the news
That Momma's stay here was almost through
I stayed all night by her side
Held her hand, looked in her eyes
And said, Momma
When you're home
I know you'll be safe
Strong enough to see
The faith that you believed
And in that home
Life will have no end
I know I'll see you again
In that home
Oh, what a song! It’s my favorite! Well, maybe. I know that “God’s Not Dead” is the most popular Newsboys song.
Michael: Ever.
Nancy: Ever. There’s been many popular ones, but that was THE popular one. Of course, they’ve done three movies, God’s Not Dead. I hope you’ve seen them all, because they’re all so amazing. But I have to say, that song is my favorite because it just touches my heart about a mother and the power of a mother.
She not only raised you, and I guess she couldn’t even imagine just how many, literally thousands and thousands, that you’ve sung the words of truth from the gospel to. She raised her own children. She touched so many others. And she didn’t have to go out to do it. She did it in her home! It was IN THAT HOME.
IT’S IN YOUR HOME
I want to encourage you today, moms. It’s in that home. It’s in your home. It’s in your home that you can accomplish everything that God wants you to accomplish. Because in your home, you are in the very perfect will of God. You are where He placed you. He placed mothers in homes. He didn’t place them out in the career world. He placed them in homes, to raise children in homes.
Because this is where God wants us to raise our children, in our homes. Not in daycares by someone who doesn’t love them like we love them and places where they have all these little children. They haven’t got enough time to really love on each little baby and toddler and understand their most inner fears and heartaches. Oh, the power of motherhood is incomprehensible. It can never be made up.
You see children, children who haven’t had a mother, their mothers have abandoned them, or they’ve been through . . . women on drugs. Their children get dragged up. Those early years of missing out on that, that bond of motherhood can never be made up. They’re never the same. There is something missing. It makes me realize more and more the power of motherhood but THE POWER OF THE MOTHER IN THE HOME! Amen!
Michael: Yes. You say it so well, too. By the way, just a little sidebar. I can hear Mama Nancy talk for centuries and never get tired. You’re so eloquent, and you’re so poetic and colorful and passionate! I love you. But that aside, aside from the fact that I love you lots and lots, I find motherhood so interesting because you say moms in the home. Our mom was in the home.
Later on, she worked because we needed the money and Dad was struggling. But she was there for those formative years when I was a youth. I watch animals. I watch mama bears. I watch lions and lionesses. There’s something special about the mother and her cubs that is so primally beautiful and so natural and so secure. I like the way you put it too.
Nancy: It’s interesting, Michael, that you should say that, because I’ve just been studying recently the relationship of mammals and their young.
Michael: But you save the world!
Nancy: But I’m astounded, because their intensity of love and commitment to their little babies is often more than we who are humans! You can’t believe it! They nurse their babies longer than human mothers. There’s such an incredible bond. I think of that Scripture which says, “Doth not even nature itself teach you?” It should be natural to the human mother, even more than the normal mammal.
But we are so, sadly today, people are so indoctrinated by our culture, that even the instinct of motherhood is brainwashed out of them. It’s there, but they’ve got all this brainwashing. So, they don’t live in the fullness and the joy of how God created them to be as a mother. It’s lovely to have examples like your Mom and have a song about it! Oh, I think we need more songs about mothers!
Michael: I often say in concerts, I say to the crowd, “Where are all the moms? Moms, raise the hand. Where are the dads? Dads, I’m a man, not a dad, but I love you. I’m glad you’re part of the family. Mom couldn’t have done it alone, couldn’t have done it by herself. Dads are needed, but Moms are the bomb.” I say, “Moms are the bomb.”
I always had, because of my Mom, respect for women on another level that parent their kids well, that raise them well, that teach them the way of faith. Because Dad’s the enforcer, but Mom shapes a lot of what the kid, in the home, what the kid is to become, what the kid can become.
Nancy: You wouldn’t be where you are today, without your mother.
Michael: No two ways about it!
Nancy: Oh, yes! Well, let me ask you something else. All you wonderful ladies, you know so much about me, and you know so much about my daughters. They write in Above Rubies. Of course, most of you know about Trim Healthy Mama, so you’re all involved in that.
Serene and Pearl have their new thing that they’re doing now, for Treasure Hunters. You can click on that and be part of that and you’re finding everything about them, what they’re doing every day, every moment of their lives. In fact, I only got onto Treasure Hunters myself just recently because I was getting so jealous, because everybody else was telling me things that my daughters were doing. I didn’t have a clue, because they’re so busy! Goodness!
Although we long to be together, often we’re so busy, we don’t even get time to talk. I thought, “Wow! I can get on, so I’ll be observing every moment of their every day.”
But not many of you know very much about my sons, because my sons aren’t going to write in Above Rubies. You don’t get to hear about them so much. But Michael, you are working with my son Steve every day!
Michael: I know all the skinny!
Nancy: Oh, wow! What secrets have you got about him that I don’t even know?
Michael: Steve Campbell reminds me most of all your sons I know but I know Wesley and Steve the best. They’re two of my besties. Steve reminds me the most of you because he’s a storyteller. On the bus, Sidney came with me today. Sidney knows the dirt on the bus. The show’s over with. We hit the bus. We bus through. We start talking about life, the concert, and just random stories. Steve is the most colorful storyteller on the planet!
Nancy: Well, he is just the most colorful person!
Michael: He really is. He’s right up there with you, Mama Nancy. He’s right up there with you. Steve has such a servant’s heart. He aims to please and he serves the Newsboys. He’s too much of a servant. I love his little heart. When he doesn’t get something right, and he kills it, and I go, “Hey Steve, we needed this,” or “I wanted that.” Maybe he goes, “Oh, Tait, did I really mess up?” He wants to make it right. He’s been that way for 30 years plus. Any dirt on Steve? Nothing really bad on Steve. He’s a good kid. I’m sure you took some dirt about me so I won’t throw it back.
Nancy: He’s a good kid? I think he’s older than you!
Michael: Well, yes, but I still call him a kid. [laughter] The Bible says, in Psalm 103 that we are all young in His Presence. We’re all kids. We’re going to live forever. He’s a great husband. I watch how he loves his wife.
Nancy: Yes, he’s a great husband.
Michael: That says a lot about a man. He loves his wife and his kids. He loves, he cherishes Simone. That speaks volumes about him.
Nancy: That is a beautiful thing, because it’s not an easy life on the road.
Michael: It isn’t.
Nancy: He’s been on the road their whole marriage.
Michael: He comes off the road. We came off the road on Sunday and today he left. Up in the mountains with his wife, on the motorcycle ride.
Nancy: Oh, yes! That’s the beautiful thing, especially as the children grew, and they’re all older now. The moment he comes in off the road, he’s with Simone, and they’re going off on their motorbike, off to some little place, hiding away.
Michael: His flower, his little rose.
Nancy: They have a beautiful relationship. They have the most wonderful life. They have the most adventurous life together.
Michael: They do.
Nancy: It’s so wonderful. But we love it when Stevie comes out, and they come out for a meal. Oh, goodness me! It’s not boring! It is hair-raising! We usually get into politics.
Michael: We do too, yeah!
Nancy: Well, Simone doesn’t really like that. She knows it’s going to get loud. And Simone is soft and sweet. She doesn’t really like it getting loud. But we get loud! Louder and louder and LOUDER!
Michael: I will add this point: one thing about Steve Campbell that sometimes I want to grab him around the neck and choke a little bit, is when the morning comes on the tour bus, he gets up early. When he gets up, you might as well wake up, because he TALKS SO LOUD AND EVERYBODY HAS TO BE AWAKE! “HEY MICHAEL, YOU’VE GOT A MEETING AT ONE O’CLOCK! ARE YOU AWAKE?” “Well, I am now, Steve!” [laughter] He has a powerful voice.
Nancy: And he keeps everything going, doesn’t he?
Michael: He does.
Nancy: Really, it’s interesting, how he’s always been a hard worker and a servant. In fact, it was just that way. Wes and Steve have always been so close. But Wes was getting the great ideas. Steve was told what to do! [laughter] He’d be always doing this, and Steve would always do it! He could never accomplish anything without Steve because he was the one who did it!
Michael: It takes two, you know?
Nancy: It takes two. And that’s the amazing thing, isn’t it, with our children. It’s so amazing. Not one is the same. Everyone is unique, and everyone has been God-ordained and God-planned. I look at those two, and how they’re so different, unbelievably different, but how their whole ministry blends together. They work together.
Michael: You spoke earlier about a mom’s being home, and the importance of a mom being home, at home, with their kids, raising their kids, not just dropping them off into a daycare five days a week. But I can see the mark Mama Nancy Campbell has made on Steven Campbell and Wesley Campbell. I’ve known them for 30-plus years. I know them very, very, very, very well. I can see you in both of them in different ways.
Nancy: Wow!
Michael: It’s always fun to come to a gathering with the Campbells, or to Michael’s birthday a couple of weeks ago. I missed your sixtieth; sorry about that.
Nancy: Yes! I was like, “Why didn’t you invite Michael?” It was a surprise, so I didn’t know who they were inviting! Wow! They missed out!
Michael: I could have sung you a song.
Nancy: I missed out! You could have sung for us!
Michael: I know it. I would have.
Nancy: It was so terrible.
Michael: I would have because you’re my sweet darling, Nancy. I sure would have.
Nancy: You’re going to come to our seventieth wedding anniversary!
Michael: We’ll do it! Is that the jubilee? The jubilee is fifty, right?
Nancy: Yes, fifty is the jubilee, yes.
Michael: But you definitely made an impact on your kids. I know Rocky . . . I kind of know Rocky a little bit, but I know Steven and Wesley better.
Nancy: Well, you work with them all the time. What about any secrets about Wes? He’s quite different from Steve, isn’t he?
Michael: Oh, Wes Campbell? He always has a plan. I’m not sure what it is, but he always has a plan. And they usually work. Don’t tell him I told you that, or he’ll get the big head. [laughter] I think he’s part genius. He really is.
Nancy: How is Newsboys going?
Michael: Newsboys is going great. We’re on a new tour. It’s probably my favorite tour, Mom, in 14, 13-1/2 years.
Nancy: Really? Why is that?
Michael: It’s AN EVENING WITH THE NEWSBOYS. Something about the evening. . . well, we do 28 songs which I’ve never done in my life.
Nancy: 28?? In one concert? Help!
Michael: Yes, honey. Help, yes. 28, and sometimes we do four shows in a row. Last week there were five shows in a row. This whole thing, Duncan was hurting. His vocal part was very tired. But it’s so inspiring, it’s so encouraging to watch the people respond, because we do a power set of all the big pop songs. You know, “Magnetic,” “Something Beautiful,” “Jesus Freak,” “Miracles,” “’Born Again,” and then we do a broken-down set. We all come to the front of the stage in one line, all five guys, Adam Agee is part of the band now.
We do an acoustic set. We do stuff like “Entertain Angels,” we do “Shine,” we do “One” by U2. We do “In the Light.” It’s all broken down acoustically. We do the last thing we did, “The King’s Song.” “Amazing Love,” and it’s just a God-moment. The Holy Spirit permeates the whole building. Then we take a break from that.
We come back out, and we do a total power worship set. Songs like “I Speak Jesus,” “We Believe,” “He Reigns,” “Your Love Never Fails,” “God’s Not Dead,” “The King is Coming.” People leave there filled up to the hilt because we pray it in, and we pray it out, and we get up there, and we do what we do, Mom.
Nancy: So beautiful. But I want to come. Are you close to Nashville?
Michael: We’re going to be, this weekend we’re in Bowling Green, Kentucky on Friday night, Franklin, North Carolina on Saturday night. Sunday night we’re going to be in Bristol, Tennessee. But look at maybe the next week after that. I think it’s the last four shows on this particular tour. No, we have eight more shows after this weekend.
Nancy: I always love coming to a show.
Michael: I love it when you come to a show. I love it when you come.
Nancy: I love every moment of it. I was talking to Steve. He said that perhaps the one that’s the most current at the moment is “I Speak Jesus.” Sing us a little bit of it.
Michael: [singing]
I just want to speak the Name of Jesus
Over every heart and every mind
I know there is peace within Your presence
I speak Jesus
Your Name is power…
You know it.
Nancy: Yes, amen! That’s so beautiful. So beautiful. That’s a beautiful song.
Michael: It is. People cry. I saw a woman the other night, Mom. She had her hands up and she was just bawling through the whole song. I’m sitting there watching them. I’ve done a million concerts in my lifetime. From DC Talk to my solo band, Tait Band, to The Newsboys. The Spirit’s always there, but sometimes it’s just heavier than other times. A few nights ago, it filled that building. I kept the biggest Johnny Appleseed in my throat. I could barely even sing, because the Spirit was so heavy and people were praising God. Post-pandemic, Maskless.
Nancy: Praise the Lord for that!
Michael: Yeah, right! Hands in the air, just really, really loving the fact that we can serve God in our beautiful America. Although we’re divided at times, we’re still America, and God bless this country. We get to serve Him and praise Him freely like that. That’s the best part of my night.
Nancy: Amen. [coughing] Sorry for my little cough that I have.
Michael: You’re allowed to have a cough. You’re human.
Nancy: I love the way also, you Newsboys, you took a stand against all vaccinations and all that junk that was going on. Of course, it was a hard time for you. You couldn’t do anything. Even just recently, you had a tour down in New Zealand, but you cancelled because you refused to take the vaccination.
In fact, I remember one night, Stevie telling me, “You know, we were talking about the vax on the bus.” He said, “I thought I’d just be the devil’s advocate.” He didn’t mean it, but he said, “Well, maybe, if I had to save my wife or something, and I had to be vaxed for that, well, I’d take it.”
He said that before he had got the words out of his mouth, every single guy, all the Newsboys band, on the bus, they all had him down on the ground, pummeling him, that he would even say such a thing! He was just being a devil’s advocate. [laughter] But it shows you that they were strong about it.
Michael: Yeah, yeah.
Nancy: And I love hearing that.
Michael: Mom, it’s just another cold, another flu. The covid thing is just another trend.
Nancy: It’s another flu. In fact, one time I got the flu. Really, I’ve got it now. But you know, seasonally, you get these things. I was saying, “Wow! I’m just absolutely famous! I’ve got the flu, and nobody gets the flu, but I’ve got it!” [laughter]
But everybody said they were having the C. Well, I don’t even say the word, because I’m not going to ever get into their . . . I’m not going to even plug into their mandate in the slightest! Or ever will. Even whatever they try do, well, we’re going to resist! Amen?
Michael: Amen! [laughing] Oh, you’re the best!
Nancy: I love coming to the Newsboys, because I will get to see you. We’ll always have a special hug together.
Michael: It’s always good to see you and Papa Colin out in the crowd, smiling. I look at you guys, and I think, “Man! What a beautiful example of God’s grace and God’s providence in your life.” Sixty years of marriage. Tons of kids, tons of grandkids. Vibrant.
Nancy: We have 52 now!
Michael: Good golly, Miss Molly!
Nancy: But then we have loads and loads of great-grandchildren too.
Michael: And then on top of all that, Above Rubies. What a fantastic name for a ministry and an encouragement. Above Rubies says it all. Rubies are a special thing. Above rubies.
Nancy: I know. That’s what God says of a woman. Her price is not above, it’s FAR above rubies. And guess what? Nowhere else in the Bible can you ever find a Scripture that says a man’s price is far above rubies. Wow! We are so special. This is how God sees women and yet now, we’re living in a culture where they want to cancel women.
Michael: Yeah.
Nancy: It’s unbelievable. But why?
Michael: I won’t let that happen. We can’t let that happen.
Nancy: No! The reason is because Satan is behind it. Satan is actually scared of women. That is why he wants to cancel women. Because just think about it. Everyone sitting here in this room, and ladies, there’s quite a lot sitting in the room today! Here we are. We are all unique. We are all doing different and amazing things. You are doing what God has appointed you to do. The thing is, how did we arrive in this room today?
Michael: Through the womb of a woman!
Nancy: You are good! You got it! You got it!
Michael: And not a man. A man cannot be a woman. A woman cannot be a man. I said downstairs Matt Jett earlier. We were talking. He has six daughters. I find it interesting that most of our friends that have kids, the girls are more popular, I think. When couples have babies, it seems that there are more girls in the world than guys. I think God planned it that way. It’s not a mistake. The women are very plenteous on the planet and I like that.
Nancy: Well, the thing is, nothing will happen in this world without the womb of the woman. It was through the womb that Jesus came. God chose to send His beloved Son through the womb of a woman. That is the greatest thing that we could ever, ever even imagine. Mary was so privileged. But we, in a lesser way, we still bring forth the godly seed that will come forth to bring Jesus and His truth into the world. It’s all through the womb of a woman!
Michael: It’s crazy.
Nancy: No wonder the devil’s scared of the woman and scared of the womb!
Oh, Michael, thank you so much for coming today! What we’re going to do now, well, you won’t hear it, but we’re going to play your whole song. We usually play part of it at the beginning, part of it at the end. But today, I want to hear the whole of that beautiful song that Michael wrote about his mother. Thank you. Thank you for coming out. You only had a little bit of time in between.
Michael: I’m glad it worked out. We talked about maybe doing it later in the week, and I was like, I’ve got to make this happen at the beginning of the week, because I’ve got such a busy week. But I wouldn’t have missed this, because you know, you’re my Boo-Boo. As we say in the black world, “You are my Boo-Boo.” Or my “Moo-Moo,” as in my mama.
My mama’s in heaven. My mama’s expecting you to take care of me, Mama Nancy. So, if I do that, I have to take care of you. I thought I’d come in today and be with you because you’re so stinking sweet! I love the idea of this podcast. I love Above Rubies, and that’s why I’m here.
Nancy: Hallelujah! Thank you.
“Lord, we just thank You so much for your goodness. Thank you that Michael could fit this in today, between appointments. Thank You, Lord, that you have raised him up to sing Your Words to multitudes. Thank You for this, Lord God. We thank You for every precious, beautiful child that comes through our wombs.
“Oh, Lord, God, thank You. I just ask that You will bless every mother listening, every young person listening. Lord, pour out Your blessing upon them today. Lord, help us all to live according to Your biblical culture, not according to the culture of this world. We ask it in the Name of Jesus. Amen and amen.”
Michael: Amen.
[music]
There was a home in town
Where broken kids, the lost & found
Would come from miles around
Just to see what love was all about
'Cause Momma had a way
Of makin' things okay
She'd cook us our favorite meal
Sit and listen to how we feel
Oh, how the pain was real
How many families would the devil steal?
Momma had a way
Of makin' things okay
In that home
We knew we were safe
To be young enough to dream
Find the faith to believe
And in that home
Love, it had no end
It's where we learned to forgive
In that home
Momma always had the music on
Sometimes loud, sometimes soft
When I asked about her favorite song
She opened the bible to the book of Psalms
She always found a way
To talk about grace
In that home
We knew we were safe
To be young enough to dream
Find the faith to believe
And in that home
Love, it had no end
That's where we learned to forgive
In that home
And on that day I got the news
That Momma's stay here was almost through
I stayed all night by her side
Held her hand, looked in her eyes, and said:
Momma...
When you're home
I know you'll be safe
Strong enough to see
The faith that you believed
And in that home
Life will have no end
I know I'll see you again
In that home
In that home
In that home
Blessings from Nancy Campbell
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Transcribed by Darlene Norris * This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.