As Christians, it is so easy to go through the motions. It’s easy to check things off of your list: Bible study, church, worship music, volunteering- the list goes on and on. The issue with this “service-based faith” is that while we do all of these things, we still feel disconnected from God. In this blog, Chad Mattson from UNSPOKEN discusses the moment he realized that time spent with God was the most important thing in life.
Hang Out With God & Be Transformed
I grew up in a Christian home, went to church and got saved when I was twelve. I absolutely believed I was a sinner and that God, through Jesus Christ, was the answer. But somehow along the way, I got into doing my own thing. There’s a scripture that says,
“There’s a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.” Proverbs 14:12
After tripping over my own feet throughout my childhood and into college, I finally got to the place where I couldn’t do it anymore. I said, “I can’t do this. I can’t win. I don’t know how to walk with God.” I knew my life was either headed towards death in the world or towards life in Jesus. The problem was I didn’t know how to connect those two. I didn’t know how to walk in that truth.
One day my brother brought me a card from a missionary. I picked up the phone and called the missionaries, asking “Can I come hang out with you? My life is a mess and I think I need this.” The missionary reached out to my pastor and my immediate thought was, “Oh no, you do not want to do that.” The pastor was gracious and straightforward saying, “God is working in this kid’s life, but he is a wreck right now”.
I went to the Dominican Republic and for the first time in my life, I started to read the Bible, pray, and really seek God. I had gone to church, youth camp and all of these other things in the past- expecting those things to empower me to live for God, but I had never truly hung out with God. I realized that this was a relational journey. Church, service, camps and music and all of these things are secondary to knowing God. There is no way you can come into the presence of God, seek His face and not be changed by His spirit.
We at UNSPOKEN have had the same goal from the beginning: Hang out with God and watch our lives be transformed.
“The same spirit that raised Jesus from the grave, is waiting for us to let Him in.” – Chad Mattson”
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Howdy my name’s Abigail. I’m leaving this message here in hopes Unspoken would see as I couldn’t locate any type of fanmail contact from them. I wanted to say to them that the song Reason really touched me. I was going through a short period of discouragement and was feeling sad overall due to a couple of recent disappointing events. And I was praying to God to help me bounce back because I was tired of feeling the way I felt. Then on my way to work I had my radio on and I began to take notice of the music playing. I’ve never heard Reason play before and when I did, I realized God was answering. I was reminded that everything’s ok because He’s got it under control and I shouldn’t worry. I just wanted to say thanks to not only God but to Unspoken for producing this music and would definitely want to encourage the band to continue what they do. God bless
Hi.
I attended the Reliance Benefit concert on 9/7/25. I appreciated your story and loved the song about “better than church.” So often, we put our best face on in church. I have been part of an Al-Anon recovery group but often sense that Christians feel they should only study the BIble and that recovery groups are somehow outside of God’s will, I’ve even had someone tell me, “It’s a cult.” The mutual sharing and honesty in my group has been very beneficial to me. I also attend Bible studies, which my church encourages. I study on my own as well and have benefited from an online Christian counselor. I need all the support I can get! If I could connect with a Christian recovery group, I would. When I have gone to one of those, it has been short-lived and sparsely attended. I guess there are just not enough people who have hit the bottom and are desperate enough to say, “God, help me!” However, I run into people who tell me their lives have been affected by addiction and alcoholism. I’m glad you are speaking out about it. Keep up the good work!