In 1998, the Christian rock band Pillar was formed in Oklahoma. They have been widely received by Christian and non-Christian media alike. They have released four major recordings. The fifth called “For the love of the game” will be released on February 26, 2008.

Pillar’s leader, Rob Beckley, formed the group after serving in the United States Army. “I grew up my whole life in Hays, Kansas.” Rob explains. “When I was twenty-one I joined the army and went to Virginia for a year. I came home when I was twenty-two. All my life I’ve always been a small-town boy.”

Being a small town in the Midwest, Hays was also a religious community where church and Jesus were a way of life. “Everybody went to church in my hometown, even if they didn’t want to because there was nothing else to do. It was a social thing.” Rob adds. “Sometimes in church not everyone listens and I was one of those kids who didn’t necessarily listen, but I was there.”

“It wasn’t until I joined the Army and came back from basic training that I had an encounter with the Holy Spirit.” Rob remembers. “Someone asked me what my position was in regards to God. I had never really thought about it until then, but later when I was alone, I started thinking about the question. As I was thinking about it, I started to feel really guilty. I was alone, so no one was telling me what to say or pray, but I felt it in my heart and knew what I had to do, so I started asking God to forgive me.”

Shortly after this, Rob became interested in music. He was about to form new relationships that God would use to change their lives and use them for his purpose and glory. “A few weeks after I gave my heart to Christ, I got together with some guys from Fort Hayes State University who were musicians and we started a band.” Rob remembers. “After we’d played a couple of times, we decided that since we were all Christians, we could pursue this in a more spiritual way instead of just focusing on the music. That’s where Pillar started.”

“When we started in 1998, we played in the Hays Kansas area.” Rob explains. “After each show, we instantly booked another one. People would come up to us at shows and ask us to do more shows for them. We’d ask them to give us a date and we’d book it. Eventually we were playing everywhere.” been doing eight to twelve shows a month while we were trying to go to college. We realized that we were doing better playing shows than working our part-time jobs. We quit our part time jobs and started playing shows for money like we were attending college. Finally, in May 2000, at the end of the semester, we signed a record deal. We made the decision at that point to drop out of college and do it full time.”

Since signing their record deal in 2000, Pillar has achieved success and been widely accepted in the Christian music market as well as more secular mainstream markets. In the last eight years, Pillar has toured with just about everyone at one point or another. They even found themselves playing at a music festival, where Slipknot were the headlining act, however these days they choose to play to a more predominantly Christian audience. “The wish for us really is to not be out there anymore.” Rob explains the noisiest places. “We all have families. My wife and son travel with me most of the time, and I don’t even want to bring them into that environment.”

Pillar’s music has also come full circle with a renewed focus. “We really have a desire again to write music for the church and more hymns for the children.” Rob nods with conviction. “Music people can cheer up and hopefully draw people to the Lord who have never done it before. We just finished a new record called ‘For the Love of the Game’ and that’s what we’ve accomplished with this one.” .

As he deals with the grueling pace of the road, Rob takes time to feed spiritually and worship the Lord. Modern technology makes it possible. He also brings his local church anywhere in the world. “My church has an online community, so if I leave home I can watch my church live online.” Rob explains. “You can watch everything from the worship band to the sermon. They also have an internet campus pastor who oversees everything. He’s great!”

One of Robs’ wishes is to introduce non-believers to Jesus through his music. Since Pillar is a popular band among Christians and non-Christians alike, Rob has a unique opportunity to share this. Rob tries to encourage people to experience Christ, but worries that the attitudes of some Christians may discourage non-believers. “From an outside perspective, it is very easy for a non-believer to want nothing to do with the church because of how we as Christians treat one another and how we as Christians judge those who are not called to themselves Christians”. Rob explains. “We in the church sometimes have judgmental attitudes but no matter what, there are some wholehearted people in the church who have such loving hearts that they serve and love others in ways we will never know.”

The judgment is wrong and discourages non-believers. Take the advice of the Apostles on the matter. Paul wrote in Romans 2:1 “You, then, have no excuse, you who judge another, because at any point that you judge another, you condemn yourself, because you who judge do the same things.”

Peter wrote in 1 Peter 4:8 “Above all, love one another deeply, for love covers a multitude of sins.” Peter just hit the nail on the head. What is his message? Don’t love judgment!

Non-Christians sometimes reject the message of Jesus because of what they see in Christians just because they are not perfect. For example, if a powerful man of God known to many falls into sin or becomes embroiled in a scandal of one kind or another, non-believers view Christianity as a hypocritical religion and turn away from Christ. The truth is that we all sin and are prone to stumble; however, when we claim to be Christians, the world begins to scrutinize our lifestyles and actions. We are living witnesses and when we do not live up to our claims of faith, the cause of Christ suffers.

“I just want to challenge people not to judge God based on those who call themselves believers.” Rob urges. “Just because we call ourselves Christians doesn’t mean we don’t have flaws and flaws. The only thing that separates a non-Christian from a Christian is that we accept Jesus as our savior and choose to follow him. Christians and non-Christians can have many of the same faults, but we choose to acknowledge them and draw closer to Christ and seek redemption for those faults so they can be cleansed and eventually disappear. a work in progress.”

Throughout the summer of 2007, Pillar has been the headlining act at Shoutfest and has been preparing for the release of her new CD “For the Love of the Game”. No doubt they will take their musical message of hope on tour again once the CD is released.

Rob Beckley’s music is tough and bold, but more than that is also his message, that Jesus Christ is your savior, and that he is not afraid to go out and confess Christ before men.