Thank you for introducing me to Rich Mullins through DoA, though I'm finding that, the more I read about him, the more I'm beginning to wonder, uhh, Joyce has had periods of being confronted with possibly being bi, for Dorothy, staring at Jennifer's chest, etc. Is the belief that Rich Mullins may have been LGBTQ+ part of why he resonated with her? Not that she may even be aware of that, granted.
The dilemma of Rich Mullins is that he’s dead. Of all the other Contemporary Christian Music singers who were once his contemporaries, they’re still alive and performing at maskless Trump rallies. But Rich Mullins is dead, and he was never like them. He never was. He never bought into fundamentalism, and he was depressed and weird and self-hating and you felt that in all of his music except one: “Awesome God,” the single fire-and-brimstone song that people actually liked.
But he was different, and you want him to have grown up to be different, like you. You know you’ve changed, and you’re not like your family anymore, and you have to be alone, and since Rich Mullins is dead, you can pretend he’d’ve been right there with you. You don’t have to give up everything from your childhood. He could still be there. Maybe he’d understand. He was different.
Growing out of your faith, you give up so much. You give up everything. But maybe you can still have Rich Mullins.
Mullins got engaged sometime between the late 70s and early 80s, and wrote the song “Doubly Good to You” (recorded by Amy Grant on her album Straight Ahead) for his upcoming wedding. However, his fiancée broke off the engagement in 1982. In response to the breakup, Mullins wrote “Damascus Road”.
and yeah he was probably super gay
Years later, Mullins shared thoughts about his relationships and personal life in a radio interview with Rick Tarrant:
“I would always be frustrated with all those relationships even when I was engaged. I had a ten-year thing with this girl and I would often wonder why, even in those most intimate moments of our relationship, I would still feel really lonely. And it was just a few years ago that I finally realized that friendship is not a remedy for loneliness. Loneliness is a part of our experience and if we are looking for relief from loneliness in friendship, we are only going to frustrate the friendship. Friendship, camaraderie, intimacy, all those things, and loneliness live together in the same experience.”