John Waller's Crazy Faith an Honest Journey

Brutal honesty. It is a quality that many people possess but when used the wrong the way can sometimes destroy a person’s confidence.

Not so for John Waller.  The musical artist who penned and performed the internationally acclaimed hit song “While I’m Waiting” for the movie Fireproof is brutally honest with himself.  Older, wiser, and just a tad grayer from nearly 25 years in the music business, Waller realizes that his days as a bonafide musical star may be fleeting.  Yet, every time he feels that his musical career might be fading away, God seems to put just one more brick in his path to keep him going.

This is the position he finds himself in with the release of his fourth studio recording as a solo artist, Crazy Faith.  Recorded nearly three years ago, the album never made its way into mass distribution.  But then something happened.  Two filmmaking brothers from southwestern Georgia decided they wanted to use the title track as a featured song in their new movie.  That film, War Room, has earned more than $67 million dollars at the box office to date.

God has placed one more rather large brick at John Waller’s feet. 

I recently sat down with John to discuss what it’s like to be the father of nine children, what the song “Crazy Faith” means to him, and how God makes a way even when there seems to be some rather large obstacles in your path.

Crazy Faith is your first album in four years.  Why such a long wait between projects?

I recorded these songs, two and a half years ago and I had several potential distribution opportunities.  None of them came through so I just kind of toured with it.  I didn’t really release it in a big way.  The Kendrick Brothers are good friends and they believe in me. So when they were making War Room they heard some of the songs.  They heard “Crazy Faith” and they’re like, “Man, we love this song. If there’s a way we could use this in our next movie, we definitely will.” And so once they did, we decided that we need to kind of re-brand what I had recorded and release it. I was like, absolutely, let’s do it.

As a singer-songwriter you have a hand in virtually every song on your album.  Bebo Norman once told me that his records were really just a reflection of what God had been teaching him during the time between album releases.  Would that be an accurate statement for you as well?

Yes. Man, I probably couldn’t say that better than he said it. With Crazy Faith, if you open it up and read the synopsis behind this record, this is just my journey documented over the last three years. It’s what my family and I have been going through, what we’ve been learning and the experiences that we’ve had.  I just choose to put it to music and do it in a way that hopefully can encourage other people who are going through the same thing.

The album’s title speaks to the idea of taking chances based on something you truly believe in.  Crazy Faith. Why do you think people struggle so much in staying true to their faith, or just having faith in something, period?

I’m not sure, but I don’t count myself out of that equation, because I do too.  I’ve been doing this for 24 years.  There are times where I’m just like; I just don’t want to do this anymore. I don’t want to do this ministry thing.  But at the end of the day you just need to have faith in what God has called you to do.  And God has called me to tell stories through music.

Speaking of telling stories through your music, lets break down a couple of songs from Crazy Faith.  What can you tell me about “I Know My God”?

I wrote “I Know My God” right before we finished our adoption, and I was in a hotel, and I just had this thought that what if I can’t do music anymore, how am I going to pay for these kids? How am I going to afford to feed them, because I really don’t know how to do anything else? And so I almost had a panic attack in my hotel room. Then, I went to sleep, woke up the next morning and I had this thought that I don’t know what tomorrow holds. I don’t know how I’m going to make a living if I can’t sing, but I know my God. I know He will take care of me. I know He’ll save me. I know He’ll provide.

You have adopted four children over the last few years to go along with your five biological children.   Simple math tells me you have 11 people living in the Waller household.  Wow!  Please tell me about “The Orphan Song”?

Just going through the whole process of adoption, it was lengthy. It’s amazing how much you go through to adopt a child, how much money you’ve got to raise to make it become a reality.  We’re over in Ukraine and I’m thinking, I barely knew this country existed a couple years ago and here I am in this country, and I just had this thought that, Lord, you’ve got to really love these kids that you would move Heaven and earth to bring them into our family. And so that’s where the idea Jesus hears the orphan.  He moves Heaven and earth for one child.

So, rolling back the clock about seven years, your song “While I’m Waiting” became a huge hit as part of the movieFireproof.  Now, the title track of your new album, Crazy Faith, is a focal point of the new hit movie War Room.  How did this song find its way into the movie?

I have some relatives that live down in Albany, Georgia, which is where Alex and Stephen Kendrick live. Several years after Fireproof, I was down there (my uncle’s a dentist there) and we were hosting our two kids that we adopted.  We brought them down to see my uncle for some free dental work and when we were driving down I was like, I’m going to text Alex and see if maybe we could have lunch or breakfast.  Sure enough he got back to me.  So, we had breakfast and hung out, and when we were done he said, “What can we do for you? How can we help you?” And I said, well, I’ll be honest, I really feel like a new album is on the horizon.  When I was done I was back down in Albany, and I went over to Alex’s house and gave him some CDs, and of course he heard “Crazy Faith” and loved it.

From your perspective, what is the song “Crazy Faith” about?

“Crazy Faith” is just real faith. Authentic, genuine faith in God does not make sense to the world. It does not work on paper. It’s not something where you can make it work, make it happen with your own gifts and resources. It’s when God calls you to do something you can’t do, you literally can’t do it without Him, but you know that He will somehow make a way, and you have to trust Him. You have to rely on Him every step, and that’s what “Crazy Faith” is to me.

As an artist, what is your greatest hope for Crazy Faith?  After people listen to it what do you them to take away from that experience?

You know, when I was younger I used to get so nervous when I released an album or a single, I would be so scared that people weren’t going to like it.  It’s kind of weird to say this, but I’m at a point where I’m okay with whatever happens, I really am. So like, if it does great and I’m surprised, then hallelujah. If it doesn’t do much at all, I feel like I know where I’m headed in my life in this season. I don’t care if radio embraces it or not, I’m used to radio not embracing my music just because it’s such a small window to be able to get in that fraternity.  I hope that God will use it, I know He will use it and it will not look how I’ve ever felt. There’s always going to be something that I just didn’t see coming.