One on One with Jeff Frankenstein

Introduction

I was born in Detroit in June of 1974. My birthmother, due to her own circumstances, gave me up for adoption. I lived in a foster home for a couple of weeks before being adopted by my family. My mom was a cancer survivor. This led her to adopt me because she could no longer have children.

Both my mom and dad were very new Christians at the time of my adoption and both of them came to the Lord through extraordinary circumstances. Through my mom's battles with cancer, she came to know the Lord through our next-door neighbor's witness. My dad came to know the Lord through an accident that occurred while he was working as a foreman at Republic Steel in Ferndale. He broke his neck while attempting to fix some sort of machine and had a miraculous recovery through the prayers of my mom and the church. My dad's life was changed and now both my parents are pastors at Oakland Christian Church in Oakland Township.

I went to school from second grade through graduation at a small Christian school in Troy. It was an extremely strict school that was affiliated with Bob Jones University. They had policies that would get you expelled if you listened to Christian music, went to movies, or were caught dancing. My parent's church on the other hand actually encouraged dancing -- especially during services!! So there was always a contradiction -- both places calling themselves Christians but the two would never get along if placed in the same room.

I pursued music throughout my childhood. My mom was the musical director at my church and was very encouraging in that area. My grandparents also supported my musical interests.

I played in a few bands along the way, while at the same time trying not to get in trouble with my school for playing Christian music. It was a very weird situation. I would play in bands on the weekend and then sit through chapel services in school, which had "alter calls" encouraging kids to come down and repent for listening to Christian music.

I finally graduated in 1992 and went on to Wayne State University where I attended for a year and a half. Wayne State was like a breath of fresh air. I made lots of new friends and really enjoyed being out from under the intense legalism. It was a great year of spiritual growth for me, going from a graduating class of 21 to a freshmen class of about 8000. My faith was challenged and I realized that I actually was different from the norm. My faith took root and I could tell that people noticed I was different. I really wasn't sure what I wanted to do with my life, beside play music, but coming from Detroit, you realize that the chance of being able to do that for a living would be rare. I pursued journalism and public relations. I kept praying and asking God to use me.

PAGE 2 - How did you start to work with the Newsboys?