Half an hour before midnight, it’s finally time: the US Christian rock band Disciple takes the main stage at the Loud and Proud Festival at the Kulturwerk in Wissen, Germany, on Saturday, September 28, 2024. Around 1,500 fans had been waiting eagerly for this set. Disciple was the day’s headliner, and seven other bands had already played.
Disciple is going all out, the mosh pit is in full swing, and it’s well past midnight by now when frontman Kevin Young delivers his message from the stage: he talks about the huge challenges and problems of our time, about how many people are struggling with mental health problems, depression and suicidal thoughts.
The room goes quiet. Kevin asks the crowd how many of them are struggling with thoughts and problems like these. Dozens of hands go up, maybe 100, maybe 200, in any case a lot. Then Kevin starts into an encouraging message from Ephesians: “God wanted you as his masterpiece. Even before the world was created, he thought of YOU and chose you.” Now Kevin is all in: “No matter how many mistakes you’ve made in your life so far, no matter how much sin you’ve piled up and how serious your sins are: you are not a MISTAKE!! Your life has meaning, your life has a purpose, your life is important, your life matters, and if you woke up this morning, there’s a reason for that: God isn’t finished with your life yet!” (Kevin’s words from the stage, paraphrased.) And with these powerful words, Disciple launched into the song Promise to Live. All the fans joined in together, in this promise, in this powerful song.
“The idea for ‘Promise to Live’ was birthed out of an old message I used to give,” Disciple frontman and founder Kevin Young told the music magazine Jesus Wired.
“It’s the idea that we all are in this world together, and are all in recovery together, from the trauma of this world and this life. We’re not fighting alone. (…) When we’re in our addiction state, or just irrational state, where we’re listening to our emotions, we’ll make all kinds of crazy decisions. But right now, while we’re in this rational state, right now when we’re thinking clearly, we’re going to take this option off of the table. Suicide is one of those things. We’re going to take it off the table and just make a promise to live.” (Kevin Young, Disciple)
Along with this idea, Disciple launched a social media campaign asking fans to share why they promise to live, using the hashtag #IPromiseToLive. Solid Rock Radio published some of the responses:
“Ever since I’ve been saved, I’ve always remembered two things, my promise to live and that Christ is with me always. His promise.” (Ethan)
“I promise to live to beat the anxiety, depression, sadness and anger that I’ve endured this past year to the point where I felt like I couldn’t breathe… that God has a purpose for that pain.” (Megan)
“I promise to live because my anxiety, self doubt, depression and wrong impressions I leave are not me.” (Katie)
“I promise to live by fighting for my life keeping God and my sobriety as a number 1 priority.” (Cassidy)
Disciple shows us that we absolutely have to address this difficult topic in our youth groups, because the mental strain at this age is especially high. We have answers because God has answers, and we have the opportunity to pass this message of hope on to young people in our churches and youth groups. Together, let’s make the promise to live, because God isn’t finished with you or with me yet.
Ask your teenagers:
- How do you deal with difficult emotional situations?
- What helps you keep looking ahead when everything seems to be falling apart?
- In what situations has music given you new hope?
English version: October 2026
