Skillet’s John Cooper Talks Split With Former Church: ‘I Am Not Doubting My Faith — But I’m Like, ‘Man, How Can People Hurt Each Other This Bad?”
Categoria: Musica
The fracture inspired the band's new EP, 'After the Storm.'
Por Billboard | 09/10/2026
As Skillet celebrates its 30 th anniversary this month, the Christian rock band is dropping one of the most vulnerable, angst-ridden collections of its storied career. After a tumultuous season in frontman John Cooper’s life, Skillet has emerged with the appropriately named After the Storm, a six-song EP out Friday (Oct. 9) that takes an unflinching look at hurt and betrayal, yet continues to serve up a message of hope that has become the band’s signature. “We definitely have talked a lot about mental health and depression in our past. This EP has a lot more of that,” Cooper says. “[The songs] are honest about the hurt and the difficulties of life and the ups and downs, but there is hope. Even the title, After the Storm , gives you hope: ‘Okay, I’m still here.’” Skillet members Cooper (lead vocals, bass), his wife Korey (guitar, keys), Jen Ledger (drums, vocals) and Seth Morrison (lead guitar) have built a successful career in mainstream rock while continuing to grow their fan base in Christian music. They have been certified for moving 30 million equivalent albums by the RIAA, and the band’s seven-times platinum 2009 hit “Monster” has surpassed five billion global streams, while becoming the first Christian song to surpass a billion streams on Spotify, according to the streamer. Following an international run, Skillet is on tour in the U.S. through Nov. 10 on their Comatose 20 Years, Still Screaming Tour — in celebration of the band’s landmark 2006 album Comatose , which Cooper credits with “changing the trajectory” of the band’s career. Obviously, career success doesn’t make people immune from personal challenges — and After the Storm was inspired by Cooper’s fractured relationship with the church he and his family had helped build and had attended for years. “It was just a really tough couple of years seeing, I think, just some of the worst of Christianity,” he says. “Of course I’m still a Christian. I have my faith and am not doubting my faith or shaken in that way, but I’m like, ‘Man, how can people hurt each other this bad?’ . . . I just don’t understand it. But it’s not like God doesn’t know. It’s not like it’s a surprise to Him that you are angry and you’re not doing good, so tell Him and ask Him to help you. It was a real exercise of faith to me. God is my refuge and He is my strength and He’s not going to let me down.” Though Cooper declines to go into specifics about the situation at his church, he more broadly adds he feels there are church leaders who think they know “what’s best for everybody else and if you don’t do what they say that you’re going to be in spiritual danger. Or to disagree with the church leader that you’re coming against God himself….There are a lot of churches who want to create rules on top of the Bible’s rules and then say, basically, ‘You’ve got to do our rules to be a Christian — and if you don’t, you’re not welcome.’ It’s just stuff like that and it’s happening everywhere. I just think that we’ve got to