Studio Stories: God Of The Second Chance
by Chad Gerber
I like to think most people have a moment in life where they experience a true epiphany, a moment of enlightenment where they know exactly what they are meant to do. For me, that moment was when I first heard the Newsboys’ song “Shine” on the radio. I was just a kid, years deep into classical guitar lessons that didn’t really excite me, but in that exact moment, music finally made sense. I understood how it worked. I heard every single layer of the band as the song played, including the keys, the guitars, the drums, and at the front of it all, the vocals.
I obsessively learned every single Newsboys song. I bought their VHS videos and watched them on repeat, studying everything from songwriting structures and guitar tones to vocal attacks and stage presence. Seeing frontman John James command the stage connected with me early on, lending itself to my own performances years later on the Vans Warped Tour and many other projects. To me, John was bigger than David Bowie or Prince. He was the absolute rock star.
Then, one day in the 90s, with no warning, John James simply vanished. I went to my first Newsboys show when it came to my hometown of Billings, Montana, expecting to see him fronting the band. To my surprise, he wasn’t there. The show was still amazing and monumental to my development as a musician, but it bothered me that he unceremoniously disappeared. I tried looking online, but each web page took five minutes to load. All I could gather back then was that he had apparently moved back to Australia to do youth ministry.
At the beginning of my musical journey, all I ever dreamed of was playing guitar in the CCM world. Early on, I cut my teeth playing guitars for the Tooth and Nail hip-hop duo ill Harmonics. My ultimate dream was to open for the Newsboys, but God had different plans for me. I was pulled out of that space and dropped directly into the major label commercial music world, which was about as far from church music as you could get. Still, I embraced where God put me. I strived to be the best musician I could be, and while I have been incredibly grateful for the gold and platinum records, deep down I always dreamed about the “what if.”
As the years went on, going in and out of studios, tours, press junkets, and music videos, John was always on my mind. He was a weirdly unresolved issue in my musical brain. It bothered me that he vanished, and it bothered me that nobody else seemed as bothered by it as I was.
One random day, I was searching YouTube to show someone the music that shaped my life when I saw it, a recently released “Where Are They Now” feature on John James on The 700 Club. I have never been glued to something so intensely before, let alone something on The 700 Club. After all those years, I finally got to find out what happened to the frontman of the Newsboys, the iconic green face inside the Take Me To Your Leader CD case.
Hearing his story, his testimony, and his redemption completely floored me. I was so floored, in fact, that I tracked down his email and fired off a half-baked message just saying I was glad everything worked out for him. I signed off with: DON’T EMAIL ME BACK. I’ve met some of my heroes over the years, and more often than not, it’s a great disappointment. I was determined to avoid that.
Despite my warning, I woke up to an email from John. Part of me hoped it was an automated response, but it was not. It was John, thanking me, telling me he looked up my music, and saying he wanted to talk to me about a project. I should have been stoked, but I was terrified. My stomach dropped when I got further down and he asked to jump on a call. Instantly, I was 12 years old again. Time vanished, and it was like that green Yoda face inside the CD case was speaking directly to me. I contemplated ignoring it or replying with a “no thank you,” but I knew I would regret it. Next thing I knew, I was on the phone with John.
Come to find out, he had a new album in the works, which was his first music in over 30 years after his massive fallout and departure from the Newsboys. And he wanted me to play on it.
The irony was not lost on me. The very guitar I owned was bought used on the advice of Newsboys guitarist Jody Davis, whom I had cornered backstage at a concert when I was in high school. Now, that exact guitar was going to be all over John’s new record.
It didn’t take long for me to get over my 12-year-old self and lock into the music. John started sending me song sketches, I would fly in guitar and synth ideas and send them back, and this went on for months. It was wild — not only was John an incredibly talented producer, but the tracks had the exact vibe of Take Me To Your Leader — almost as if John was picking up right where he left off. I couldn’t believe how much of that early Newsboys sound was purely him. It was effortless, and I could hear exactly where every guitar part and synth accent needed to go. It was like being back in my childhood bedroom, except this time, I had input.
But outside of the music, my life was in absolute chaos. During the writing of this album, I was experiencing so many massive life changes that I was afraid I was going to have a full mental breakdown. I lost the neighborhood where the majority of my life took place during the LA fires. My entire life was in storage, and I was bouncing between Airbnbs and hotels. At one point, I was even airlifted to a hospital after a near-death experience.
I literally worked on this album from my hospital bed because it grounded me. The nurses came in regularly to tell me to get some sleep, but I was dedicated. Every bone in my body needed to see this project to completion.
Once the album was shaped with scratch tracks and bass lines, John headed into a freshly christened studio in Tampa to begin tracking with producer David Evans, the former Hillsong worship pastor. I flew in for my sessions.
I’m not one to name-drop, and I’ve worked on some pretty cool projects in my life without an ounce of nerves, but walking into that cozy studio with John and David, I had to take a moment to get myself together. Luckily, nobody noticed. My guitar tones were mostly natural, coming straight from my Gibson Les Paul Custom running through racks that pulled out the sound David Evans was looking for, and my playing naturally fit the vibe, because I had learned my foundational rock chops from Newsboys songs. It was the best session of my life. The ultimate highlight was finishing a pass on a track and seeing John give me a thumbs-up. My 12-year-old self freaked out, but the “cool” adult me just gave a chill head nod.
To say I’m proud of this album is a massive understatement. All the tracks are amazing, but I’m incredibly biased toward the song “Drive,” since I did some writing on that one beyond just guitars and synths. I finally got to write a part specifically for John’s voice, and it turned out incredible.
John’s vocals on this album are far stronger than on any of the old Newsboys records, so much so that people have actually questioned if he used AI to enhance them. He didn’t. It’s all John’s raw vocals, layered in that special sauce that made the early days stand out. It is also worth mentioning that the album features the original B3 organ player from the Take Me To Your Leader album.
I had given my old childhood dreams to God years ago, and that was enough. But to have this chapter open up felt as if God was fulfilling a promise I didn’t even deserve. I got to have my cake and eat it, too. Ironically, the entire theme and title of this album is God Of The Second Chance. Though it was written from John’s experience, trials, and journey, it applied to mine every single step of the way. Themes of being lost in deserts, wanting to go home, and God coming through were happening in real-time in my own life.
Though my second chance wasn’t from a place of redemption in this context, I was given a second chance to complete a childhood dream. God’s timing on this entire thing has reshaped how I see reality and flipped my brain upside down on how I approach patience. Nothing is too far gone for renewal, and it’s never too late for the desires of the heart to be made whole. All the years of struggle, navigating the music industry alone with nobody to guide me, all of it made sense when making this album. Out of the many records, singles, studios, and tours in my career, this is the most significant album of my life. It checked every box I ever had, and I gained an incredible friend.
God of the Second Chance by John Joseph James, is available June 2, 2026