If you know me, you know I’m a person who loves music and attends my fair share of concerts. It is one of my favorite things to do in the summer. Each year, my husband and I start putting together the concert line up and it is something I always look forward to.
So, naturally I had plenty of Coachella content in my feed recently. I’ve never been to Coachella (I don’t think I’m cool enough) but I did keep seeing posts about Justin Bieber’s set. And even though I was a little too old for the full "Bieber Fever" in the 2010s, I’ve always enjoyed his music. And now, I get to listen to my high schooler and her friends sing every word of “Baby,” which honestly cracks me up.
But his recent performance at Coachella really caught my eye.
A lot of the conversation around it centered on how stripped back parts of it felt. At one point, Bieber pulled up older videos of himself and sang along with them. And when he sang “Everything Hallelujah,” people seemed especially drawn to the emotion of it. For a performer known for pop icon status, this moment was really different.
It was less like a polished performance and more like a person showing up honestly in the music. It was less about the image and more about the emotion. And people seemed to lean in because of it.
That made me think about what is real.
Real does not always mean loud. It does not always mean flashy. And it definitely does not mean perfect. Sometimes real is what happens when the extra layers fall away and people are able to actually connect with what is being said. And that matters for church leaders and communicators.
In trying to make a message impactful, we sometimes try to add more words, explanation and polish. But often, the most meaningful communication is not the loudest. It’s the clearest. It is the most human. It is the kind that feels honest and makes room for people to actually hear what matters.
When the message we carry is the good news of Jesus, we do not need to overproduce it. We need to share it with clarity, care and trust. Because sometimes less really does say more. And sometimes being real is exactly what helps people listen.
