STRYPER: Spreading The Message Of Christ

October 11, 2003

STRYPER singer Michael Sweet recently spoke to the Toledo Blade about the band's decision to reunite this fall for their first nationwide performance junket in more than 12 years.

"The inspiration, more or less, was when we got together and recorded two new songs in January for the compilation album '7: The Best of Stryper'," he said. "We discussed playing one show, or maybe six or seven or eight shows. But then it went up to 33 or 34. We're calling it a celebration tour. There won't be any more. I won't say never, but for now the plans are to do this tour and that's it. And after that, we'll continue doing our solo projects."

According to Sweet, STRYPER — whose name stands for "Salvation Through Redemption Yielding Peace, Encouragement, and Righteousness" — saw themselves as missionaries, in a sense, to America's headbanging youth.

"One night they'd be at a MÖTLEY CRÜE concert and the next night they'd be at a STRYPER show," Sweet said. "Some were drunk, some were even stoned. It was an opportunity for us to perform to the best of our abilities and hopefully and prayerfully the message would go through. We hoped they would leave accepting the message, which is Christ. That's what our message was and is all about: being able to be in heaven for all eternity.

"We were, by the grace of God, able to put together an image and a sound that kids could relate to and they would come out to see us show after show," he said. Read more.

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