Let’s clear something up first: Hospitality isn’t about matching pillows or charming dinnerware. It’s not about a spotless home or perfect cooking. Hospitality, at its core, is about making room in your life, and in your community. For people who are messy, hurting, flawed, and sometimes shame-covered. It’s about extending the grace you received from God to someone else.

Alright, pull up a seat, grab a strong cup of coffee (you’re going to need it), and let’s cut straight through the fluff.

I’ve been sitting on this for a while, praying over it, thinking about it, wrestling with it — and honestly, I’m sick and tired of seeing the people of God grab their pitchforks faster than a riot mob in a monster movie. Guys, we’re acting more like villagers in a midnight march than the body of Christ.

So here we are: Michael Tait, lead singer for Newsboys, former DC Talk, Christian superstar drops a confession that made everyone’s jaw collectively drop. He admits to years of drug abuse, alcohol abuse, and touching people in sexually inappropriate ways.

He owns it.

He calls it what it is….. sin….. without making excuses.

He asks for forgiveness.

He steps away from the band and into treatment.

He finds peace in God’s mercy and starts a path toward healing.

And we, the people who were supposed to be the first to show him grace, love, hospitality, and understanding, we abandon him. We cut him off. We scrub his songs from radio. We pretend we never supported him. Everyone runs faster than a sprinter spotting a snake.

Instead of seeing a soul in crisis and a man in need of help, we chose cowardice over compassion.

So let me say it plainly: this is a shame on us, not on him.

When we withdraw from people in their greatest need, we’re not just cutting them off, we’re closing the door on the very opportunity God put in our path to show His love. We’re ignoring the biblical call to “welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you” (Romans 15:7).

How did He welcome us?

He opened His home to us while we were His enemies (Romans 5:10).

He prepared a table for us in the presence of our enemies (Psalm 23:5).

He made a place for us at His marriage supper (Revelation 19:9).

It’s wild, honestly, how much Michael Tait’s song “What If I Stumble?” resonates now. years after it first challenged us to consider this very moment.

He sang:

“What if I stumble, what if I fall?

What if I lose my step and I make fools of us all?

Will the love continue when my walk becomes a crawl?”

He wasn’t just a Christian celebrity writing a clever chorus, he was a flawed human wrestling with the knowledge that we all are a step away from falling. Today, we have the answer. How will we respond when a brother falls? Will we withdraw love and cut him off? Or will we pursue him, restore him, and reflect the grace we ourselves have received?

Picture it: A woman is thrown at the feet of Jesus, condemned by a crowd ready to execute her. He simply says, “He who is without sin, let him cast the first stone” (John 8:7). Every last person drops their stone and walks away. We love this story when we are the woman, when we need mercy, but we become pharisees the moment we find someone else’s sin.

Suddenly we grab the nearest stone, ignoring the huge beam in our own eye.

Think about this for a moment, Judas and Peter both fell.

Judas betrayed; Peter denied.

Judas chose shame and death; Peter chose confession, renewal, and eventual service.

The difference wasn’t the sin….. it was their response.

Judas walked away; Peter fell forward into the grace of God.

This is a powerful picture for us. How we respond to a fallen brother matters just as much as the fall itself.  Are we extending hospitality, a place to heal and be restored, or slamming the door?

How Did Michael Tait Handle It? He Fell Forward Into Grace

Michael Tait made a messy confession.

He fell.

He fell hard.

He crossed lines.

He lived a double life.

He admits it all….. without excuses, what to be frank is better than most of do every day.

He chose to come forward, own it, and pursue healing.

He stepped away from the Newsboys to get help.

He went into treatment.

He addressed his sin honestly.

This isn’t a man doubling down in deception, this is a man choosing the hard path of confession and renewal. This is a man falling forward into the grace of God.

So How Did We Handle It? (Spoiler: We Failed Miserably) Instead of extending biblical hospitality, instead of making room for Michael in the community, we closed the doors in his face. Radio stations scrubbed his songs. His band made a dramatic post, not about reconciliation, but about their shock and their break-up with him. The Christian community treated Michael Tait less like a fallen brother and more like a contagious disease. Instead of addressing this messy reality with compassion, we chose cowardice. Instead of extending a hand, we turned our back.

Don’t get me wrong,  there are consequences to sin. Some people say, “Grace means ignoring sin.” Not true. Hospitality through grace does not pretend sin isn’t real; They confront it honestly, discipline appropriately, and then pursue restoration. Michael Tait made the hard but necessary move to step away from ministry. He went into treatment, got help, and addressed his sin at its root. This was discipline, loving discipline, not rejection.

This is the biblical way: Acknowledge the sin honestly (confession). Provide loving discipline, a temporary removal from certain responsibilities, for the purpose of healing. Provide a path back into community, not permanent banishment. This reflects God’s own character. He disciplines us because He loves us (Hebrews 12:6). He always provides a way back, through confession, renewal, and reconciliation.

Some of you at this point are probably twisted up and yelling at your screen “BUT WHAT ABOUT THE PEOPLE HE ABUSED!” “HOW CAN YOU DEFEND HIM YOU HAVE NO RIGHT!” and the rest already know this, but I was sexually assaulted as a child. So when I first heard the accusations and then Michael Tait’s confession, the touching without consent… it struck me in a raw place. Your first thought now might be: “How can you show compassion toward someone who crossed a boundary like that?”

Here’s how: Because I know sin destroys everyone it touches, the victim, the perpetrator, and the community. Because without the grace of God, none of us are different. Your struggles might not be the same, you might not have crossed physical boundaries, but your soul is just as flawed without the intervention of a loving Savior.

Instead of a culture of shame and rejection, we need a culture of gracious hospitality.

Picture this: Your children, 20 years from now, find themselves in a messy spot, having crossed a boundary, made a huge mistake. How will you want the people of God to treat them? Your answer should shape how you treat Michael Tait and everyone else who falls.

Your response will shape your future too. How we respond when a brother falls says a lot more about us than it does about him. Are we a people who remember we were “dead in our trespasses and made alive by God’s rich mercy”? (Ephesians 2:1-5) Or are we a people who will cut him off and pretend we are pure? Your future, your ability to reflect the character of God, hangs on this.

Because the measure you use will be measured back to you (Luke 6:38).

Picture this now: Your children, your congregation, your community, years from now, will remember how you responded when someone fell. Did you pursue, restore, and love?

Or did you withdraw, destroy, and shame? Not only does your legacy hangs in the balance, but someone’s eternity may as well.

The gospel is messy. It’s unfair in the best way, we get what we do not deserve. The grace of God covers us when we are the most unworthy. So we shouldn’t be surprised when extending this kind of grace looks messy, unconventional, and scandalous, to the world and even to much of the church. But that’s the gospel. That’s hospitality. That’s the God we serve.

Conclusion: Let’s Be The Church We Say We Are

Instead of casting Michael Tait into the wilderness, let’s pursue him.

Instead of ignoring his confession, let’s celebrate it.

Instead of tearing him down, let’s lift him up.

Because that’s what the gospel calls us to do.

So to Michael, if you somehow read this, I want you to know: Your confession was brave. Your path toward healing is messy but worth it. Your future is not defined by your worst choices; it’s defined by God’s ability to redeem. Your greatest testimony might come from this, from falling and getting back up by His grace.

To the church, let’s be who we say we are. Let’s be a hospital for sinners, not a hospice for saints. Let’s pursue, restore, and love, just as we have been pursued, restored, and loved by the Lord.

Stay Salty