Rock for Life
Been There, Done That
Brian Kemper was born into a broken family. As an infant, he had spinal meningitis. He was pronounced clinically dead and revived. Considered retarded, he participated in the Special Olympics. He was on ritalin for being hyperactive, abused as a child, and went through a “pretty hellish childhood.” A drug addict by age thirteen, he dabbled in necromancy, conjuring demons, “for fun.” But God, he’s quick to add, has taken him out of all that. Today he directs Rock For Life, a highly effective and controversial outreach that marries music to the pro-life cause, and the story of how he got there would strain the imagination of the most creative X-Files writer.
The story began when he overdosed at a Bob Dylan/Grateful Dead concert in 1987, having taken so many narcotics he was virtually a walking drug store. Ironically Dylan, inspired by his friendship with Keith Green, was performing Gospel songs from his album, Slow Train Coming, Brian’s first introduction to a message that would prove life-changing. Kemper peaked for 26 hours on a mix of drugs: methadone, pcp, marijuana, LSD, crystal meth and mushrooms. When he came down, he found himself in the hospital, where the doctor tried to witness to him. The next Monday, Brian was swimming in the ocean when a boat chanced by. Incredibly, it belonged to the fireman who had put Brian in the ambulance in Anaheim, California, and now he also took the time to tell Brian the Good News.
The next Thursday Brian was getting ready to get high when he broke down crying. He didn’t know why. Reaching in his pocket, he found a phone number someone had given him, and the following Monday found himself at Set Free fellowship in Anaheim. They said, “we’ll take you in and help you get sober,” Brian recalls, “we just want you to give your life to Jesus.” I basically said, ‘OK God, I’ve tried everything else; let’s give this a try.” The second night Brian started going through withdrawals. “Everyone prayed over me and within an hour I was fast asleep, and I woke up the next day in love with Jesus. It was like I said, “OK God, I’m giving you a try,” and He proved Himself, and I just woke up in love with God.”
From day one Brian began working in Christian music. He put on a concert in Anaheim with Crucified, Cross, Vengeance and Deliverance back before anyone knew who those bands were — before Vengeance was “Vengeance Rising.” He worked as a roadie for Vengeance, Barren Cross and Precious Death, contributing background vocals on the first Precious Death album. In 1988 he started going to Sanctuary in LA. That’s when a problem arose. Like many young believers, Brian was put immediately in charge of ministry, and admits that the first few years of his Christian life were like a roller coaster, alternately up and down. “I never went back to drugs,” he explains, “but I had no foundation and wasn’t discipled.” Discipleship began in earnest in 1993, when Brian “really got serious” about what he was doing.
Rock For Life
Brian loved roadie-ing for bands and putting on concerts, but he had a dilemma: as much as he loved working in Christian music, he felt a strong call to pro-life mission work. Heeding the call, he went to join a pro-life missionary team. “I really believe that God was waiting for me to be obedient, and as soon as I did that, He gave me back the music in the way He wanted me to do it, with the vision of Rock For Life. He wanted me to do pro-life work, and I wanted to do music, so He gave me a vision to do both.”
If Brian still had doubts about his calling, an eye-opening experience he had as a pro-life missionary cemented his resolve. He had snuck into an abortion clinic undercover and was putting pro-life flyers in magazines when someone opened the door to the procedure room. There he saw a woman laying on the table with her face toward him and tears streaming down her cheeks. “I watched the abortionist put his hand between her legs and kill the baby,” Brian remembers. “That affected me as nothing else has. I ran crying; I fell to the ground weeping, not knowing what to do. I actually watched a baby murdered before my eyes, and I wasn’t able to stop it. I think that’s what God used to wake me up to what’s going on in this country, and I know that’s His call on my life — to save my generation, as many of them as I can.”
Rock For Life came from a vision Brian had in the fall of 1993. He’d seen many bands booked for pro-choice and abortion benefit concerts, and was very frustrated. He called Phil Kim from Raspberry Jam and Chris from Precious Death about doing a pro-life concert, and they were both enthusiastic. Kim’s group ended up not playing that night, having helped out with the arrangements, but the line-up for that first California concert ended up including Christafari, Cranium, and The Blamed, with Focus and Plankeye later joining the bill. Brian decided to call the concert “Rock For Life,” but he wasn’t sure how many people would attend. As it turned out, nearly 600 people showed up, MTV did three spots on the concert beforehand, and “a baby got saved that night.” As Brian told HM, “it blew me away.”
Over the next year Brian would work for a while, save up money, and then do an RFL event. In the Summer of 1994 Rock For Life was invited to tour with Lollapalooza. That was due to the stipulation made by Perry Farrell of Jane’s Addiction that every opinion about any subject was allowed to have a voice at the festival. RFL planned to do the entire tour, but since Brian had to pay the expenses himself, he could only accompany the bands for three weeks. Back then Brian found it very hard to get support. He couldn’t be a missionary in America, he was told; missionaries had to go overseas. Pro-life support was also at an all-time low. Newscasts carried the story of a man who had just shot some abortion doctors, and in spite of Brian’s adamant stand on non-violence, and the 100% commitment to non-violence in Rock For Life’s mission statement, critics painted his organization with the same brush.
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