Holy Ghost and the latest step in Korn’s spiritual journey

Holy Ghost, a new documentary from Darren Wilson’s Wanderlust Productions, spends a sizeable amount of time with two figures we’ve been following here at TC for quite a while: Brian “Head” Welch and Reginald “Fieldy” Arvizu of the metal band Korn.

Both have had highly public, though separate, conversion experiences, ones that have been greeted with a certain amount of skepticism. Let’s admit it: whenever a celebrity publically professes faith in Christ, many of us “mature” Christians instinctively pause. While the angels in Heaven rejoice, some of us hang back, “waiting to see the fruit.”

In 2007, two years after Head’s conversion and exit from Korn, TC’s Andy Rau confessed: “I always get a little nervous about celebrities who go public with their newfound faith soon after conversion; it seems like it's just asking for trouble.” But responding to the radical transformation described in Head’s autobiography, Save Me from Myself, Rau relaxed, “It's great to hear that Welch is going strong. I'm sure he can use the continued prayers of his brothers and sisters in Christ.”

Two years later, TC’s Steven Koster checked in on Korn once again. This time Fieldy, the bass player, had also released a memoir recounting a transformation in Christ so profound he was able to walk away from crippling addictions “cold turkey.” Unlike Head, Fieldy didn’t quit Korn, and that got a lot of Christians scratching their heads. Koster summed it up this way: “These are real people living into the full depths of the messiness of their lives. Yet they are changed, their lives touched by God. And they now stand in a place where their stories bear witness in ways mine never could or will.”

And now in 2014, God’s story continues for the two guys from Korn, documented in part by Holy Ghost (available to stream online for free this Saturday). Head rejoined Korn in 2013 after reconciling with the band and grappling with questions about what a reunion would look like. In promotional interviews for the documentary, Head explains that “there’s a time to follow Him to crazy places, and a time to follow Him back to other crazy places.” And what’s it like for Head on the road with Korn now? No drugs, no groupies, no negativity, no drama; just friends and “reconciliation.”

Holy Ghost – which seeks to document the work of the Spirit in the heart of Mormon country, in the marinas of Monte Carlo, on the banks of the Ganges and at a heavy metal concert - shadows Head and Fieldy out to “front of house,” where they meet fans lined up for their show, pray for people and tell them how valuable they are to God. It’s a practice which has become regular for the rockers. “When we’re onstage with Korn,” Fieldy has said elsewhere, “we’re on our instruments … the only way we’re ever going to get a message is behind the scenes, and meeting fans one-on-one.”

Everywhere Korn goes God is showing up, Head reports. “It's where God has me,” he says. “I'm honored to be there … that's my tribe, those are my people … the metal world … I'm going in there with divine love that's unconditional."