For All The Skeptics: Kanye West’s pastor confirms the rapper’s conversion to Christianity is real [VIDEO]
Article By Rebecca Johnson // EEW Magazine // Faith
For some, it is hard to believe that superstar Kanye West has embraced the gospel and genuinely converted to Christianity. But the rapper’s pastor confirms that this is, in fact, the real thing.
Adam Tyson, senior pastor of Placerita Bible Church and graduate of the Master’s Seminary, spoke at length about the “Jesus Walks” lyricist’s path to knowing Christ on the Apologia Studios podcast.
Kanye West’s pastor, Adama Tyson (Credit: Placerita Bible Church)
“He started visiting our church back in mid-May,” said Tyson during an in-depth discussion with Christian co-hosts Jeff Durbin and Luke Pearson, going over details of how the two met. “After he had visited two or three times, he stands at the back of the church. He wants to talk to the pastor, and so I’m like, ‘Hey man, my name’s Adam. What’s your name?’”
At that moment, Tyson, who recently preached a 12-minute sermon based on Isaiah 6 at West’s Detroit show, said the 42-year-old told him, “Pastor, I’ve got to talk to you for a minute,” and announced, “About five weeks ago, I got radically saved.”
Though some would have immediately rejoiced, welcomed the new convert into the fold, gave him a brotherly hug, pat him on his back, and encouraged him to keep on coming to church, Tyson didn’t stop there. Instead, he questioned West further about what he meant by getting “radically saved.”
According to the leader of the California congregation, the multi award-winning rap artist opened up.
“He just started telling me a little bit of his testimony. It basically went something like, he was raised knowing that God existed. He was told about Christ, that his dad was a Christian counselor, that he had been in church, and that he’d been running from God. You know, and he had made it big in the industry as an African-American rapper and just [got caught up in] all the popularity and all the fame. He just started chasing all the things of this world, but he said that, basically, he just felt a weight of sin and a guilt, and the guilt of sin brought him down low,” recounted Tyson.
A couple of weeks later, the pastor said the two met up again, and West talked to him for three hours and exhibited a real doctrinal understanding of salvation through Jesus Christ.
“He seemed to just have a pretty good beat on soteriology,” explained Tyson, which is the doctrine of salvation. “He just wanted to talk about God and His word.”
Kanye West at Pastor Jamal Harrison Bryant’s New Birth Atlanta church (Credit: New Birth)
West, who has taken his “Sunday Service” worship ministry to outdoor venues and churches across the nation, is soon to release his first gospel album, Jesus Is King. The new Christian is now so passionate about his relationship with Christ, Tyson said, he considered walking away from Hip Hop altogether, because he viewed it as a tool of Satan.
“One time, he told me that he wasn’t going to rap. I said, ‘Why not?’ He said, ‘Well, that’s the devil’s music.’ And I said, ‘Hey man, rap is a genre. You can rap for God,’” Tyson told the musician who has sold over 140 million records and won 21 Grammy Awards.
Though the preacher who has been helping disciple the global phenomenon encouraged West not to abandon his music altogether, Tyson said he does not take credit for the producer’s decision to repurpose his massive platform to tell others about Jesus.
“I think he was already thinking about it a little bit, but I just definitely said, ‘Hey bro, I think you need to use your talents that God’s given you, and use that platform for God,” Tyson said.
Watch the full interview below to get a feel for Tyson’s doctrinal positions, West’s views on faith, and the new Christian convert’s zeal and passion for God’s word.
