Heavy Metal Guitarist Brian Welch Shares Testimony
By Movieguide® Contributor
Brian Welch, lead guitarist for the heavy metal band Korn, shared how God saved him from addiction and the work he is doing now to spread the Gospel.
Like many entertainers, Welch became addicted to drugs during his rise to fame. He would often perform while on cocaine, methamphetamine, or another heavy drug. These substances allowed him to cope with the heavy metal lifestyle and endure the difficulties of long nationwide tours.
When he first got into the drugs he expected to keep control over his usage, however, he quickly got to the point that he was unable to quit, even though he wanted to. After his daughter was born, he got serious about getting sober but was told by multiple rehab facilities that they would be unlikely to be able to help due to the extent of his usage.
“By that time, I was like, ‘I do not want to exist anymore,’” Welch told TBN. “’I’m a shell walking around with nothing of substance inside. And I got all kinds of money in the bank, but I just don’t want to wake up when I go to sleep. I just with that I could stay asleep.’”
“The only thing that made me want to breath and live was my daughter,” he explained. “So I [was] thinking, ‘I just need to get off the drugs so I could be the best person for her.’”
Inevitably, he would return to the drugs, and when he was coming down from his highs, he would often face suicidal thoughts. He believed that his daughter may have been better off without him.
It was in this season that Welch found Christ.
After completing a real estate deal, he was invited to church. Welch accepted the offer because he just wanted to be around people who were sober, but he could have cared less about religion. During his first Sunday, God opened up his heart.
“I hear about this Jesus Christ, who’s the real Son of God. Who died on the cross and raised from the dead and would come to live inside of me,” he said. “I [was having] a hard time wrapping my head around that.”
“I’m like, man, these people are either crazy, or they have the meaning of life… I went home and I started praying to God like I had been a Christian for 20 years. I was desperate,” he continued.
After three or four weeks of going to church, he had a conversation with the pastor that would change his life forever.
“Come to church while you’re messed up,” the pastor told him. “Bring all your garbage here and God will come and clean you out.”
That conversation made him realize that he wouldn’t have to fix himself before he could be a Christian. God would give him the strength to overcome his struggles; he wouldn’t have to do it alone.
From that point on, Welch was all in on his faith.
“I had some intimate encounters [with Christ] right away. So I was instantly addicted to that relationship,” he said. “So the first year was amazing… it was focused on Christ and my daughter, that was it. I wanted to learn this life, you know, and get to know how to walk with Him.”
While Welch’s conversion to faith was immediate, his addictions were not beaten overnight and as time went on, they started to creep back into his life.
“There [were] a lot of conversations I had with God about Him taking His time in healing me,” he explained. “But then I would come back to my senses and be like, ‘I did this damage to myself, why am I mad at you?’”
Eventually, Welch was able to get off of drugs and he understands that God’s timing is perfect even if it doesn’t seem so to him.
Welch’s band Korn still tours and Welch now uses his platform to share the Gospel. When he meets with fans after the show, he shares his story with them and highlights the way that God was shown up in his life and presents to Gospel before praying for them.
In a section of the music industry that is largely void of Christians, Welch is a shining light that is changing lives. It is amazing how God pulled him from a life of sin, something he does not take for granted, and now God is using him to save others from the same life he had been stuck in.
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