Note: This article contains descriptions of predatory grooming and sexual assault. 

It’s been called Nashville’s worst-kept secret. For decades, allegations have circulated that Newsboys frontman Michael Tait, formerly of DC Talk, had groomed and sexually assaulted numerous victims.

And after a two-and-a-half-year investigation by The Roys Report (TRR), which included interviewing more than 50 sources, TRR has documented Tait’s alleged predatory pattern with stories dating back more than two decades.

TRR also has corroborated allegations of Tait’s alcohol and substance abuse with multiple sources.

Three men spoke to TRR, alleging that Tait befriended them individually on Christian music tours in 2004, 2010, and 2014. They were all 22 years old at the time.

Two men stated that they were drinking alcohol with Tait and later woke to him fondling their genitals. One alleged Tait also offered him cocaine while on the Newsboys tour bus. The third told TRR that Tait gave him a back massage while skinny dipping and later invited him to share his king-size bed. There, Tait allegedly non-consensually massaged his anal region.

TRR reached out repeatedly to Tait for comment with no response.

From DC Talk to Newsboys

Tait’s music career has been nothing short of spectacular, starting with the band DC Talk.

Winning four Grammys before their hiatus in 2001, Tait, along with fellow Liberty University alumni Toby McKeehan (Toby Mac) and Kevin Smith (Kevin Max) made history in contemporary Christian music. In their 2019 book “Jesus Freak,” Will Stockton and D. Gilson call the band “nothing less than the Beatles of Christian music.”

DC Talk’s 1995 album “Jesus Freak” spent 79 weeks on the Billboard 200 list and sold more than three million copies.

Since the band’s never-ending “intermission” starting in 2001, mystery has shrouded the future of the Christian music stalwarts. And despite all three artists collaborating on multiple songs, a Jesus Freak Cruise, and a reunion on Toby Mac’s latest album, “Life After Death,” the band never got back together. And it seems it’s unlikely it ever will.

Tait began looking toward the Newsboys, a band founded by former leader singer Peter Furler and George Perdikis in Mooloolaba, Australia, in 1985. The band found success after moving to Nashville in 1991, releasing 14 studio albums and receiving four Grammy nominations before Furler stepped down in 2009.

Tait then became the lead singer for Newsboys, and Newsboys manager Wes Campbell became sole owner of the band.

“It’s not an exaggeration to say that for many evangelical teens who came of age in the nineties, the Newsboys were a core part of their evangelical Christian experience,” said Leah Payne, professor of American religious history at Portland Seminary.

“They re-formed in some ways as an ongoing supergroup, most notably (recruiting) Michael Tait, who was one third of DC Talk. They’ve really had a second life . . . that sort of gives voice to American conservatism.”

During Tait’s time with the band, the Newsboys would score four number-one albums on the Billboard Christian charts, with 2011’s “God’s Not Dead,” reaching gold status. The album, and the subsequent lead song’s success, led to cameos in the multi-million-dollar film series, “God’s Not Dead.” The first film alone secured $64 million internationally at the box office for Pure Flix Entertainment, multiple successful Newsboys tours, and a swath of merchandise sales for the band.

Although there have been rumors of misconduct, Tait and his network’s influence and ability to blackball people from the industry have squelched them, sources say. The tide shifted Jan. 15, when TikTok influencer Azariah Southworth, who famously outed journalist Jonathan Merritt in July 2012, said in a video reel that Tait is gay. (After it garnered 250K views, that reel was removed by TikTok for “violent extremism.”)

Southworth did not provide evidence and went against journalistic ethics by publicly outing Tait’s alleged sexuality without consent. But it was enough to disrupt the status quo in Nashville, where the heart of Christian music’s power and money reside.

The following day, Tait announced he was stepping down.

In a statement posted on Newsboys social media, Tait stated that stepping down from Newsboys was “a shock to even myself, but amidst prayer and fasting, I have clarity that this is the right decision.”

The announcement came after the release of the Tait-helmed new single, “How Many Times,” and two days before their first show of the year at Poplar Bluff, Missouri.

Band member Adam Agee told Fox58 the band was “scrambling” to re-record the single, and a new version of the song, led by Agee, was released soon after. The chaos left Newsboys fans asking for ticket refunds on social media or expressing confusion at the quick turnaround of lead singers.

Despite this chaos, Tait has been out of the public spotlight since his exit and has not posted on social media since his statement. There is no evidence Tait stepped back from the band due to Southworth’s allegations. But the timing alone was enough to give Christian music pause—and survivors impetus to speak out.

Tait accused of ‘love bombing’ young musician

In September 2010, 22-year-old “Steven,” who asked to remain anonymous, was living the dream. (TRR has a policy of not revealing the names of alleged sex abuse victims.)

As a touring musician for the Chris Sligh band, he walked onto festival stages every night and played guitar to crowds of screaming teenagers. Growing up in a conservative Christian family with missionary parents, this was surreal.

“I was a huge DC Talk fan. (And Tait) was just kind of like a weird idol,” Steven told TRR.

As a kid, Steven had played DC Talk’s “Jesus Freak” on repeat, even though it was outlawed by his parents. So, when the Chris Sligh band was offered a slot opening for the Newsboys, with Tait as lead singer, Steven was in awe.  But things took a turn when Tait seemed to take a special interest in him.

Lead singer Chris Sligh recounted to TRR the moment Tait first saw Steven, saying he was “intensely focused” on the 22-year-old while their band played on stage before a Newsboys set in Columbia, Maryland, on Sept. 17.  

“Most of the time, big stars do not hang around and watch the opener show,” Sligh said. “I remember sort of being peeved that Tait cared more about my (bandmate) than he cared about me.  And then it slowly evolved into something that I felt was weird.”

Initially, Steven and Tait met briefly backstage during a pre-concert prayer led by Tait.  After the tour ended, Steven worked as a clerk at a store in Brentwood, a suburb 10 miles south of Nashville. It was here he encountered his childhood ‘idol’ again two months later, and this time Tait gave him his phone number.

“It started out we were friends,” Steven recalled. “We went to a movie. He picked me up and then we would usually just play darts at this bar in Nippers Corner.”

Steven wasn’t fazed by the 21-year age gap between him and Tait. But Sligh, who was both his bandmate and house mate, was acutely aware of it.

“It felt like a weird, like attraction sort of thing,” Sligh told TRR. “They were texting all the time, and they got really close really fast. It was just love bombing, Tait was pouring it on to Steven in really interesting and kind of gross ways, looking back.”

“He would call (Steven) last minute. He would take him to steak houses and pay for the meal and get him very expensive shots of alcohol. I have this vague memory that there was like a back room at a restaurant that he took Steven to. That kind of stuff is really impressive to somebody who grew up as a poor missionary kid, especially with someone like Tait who you think you’re safe with.”

Tommy Lee, bass guitarist for the Chris Sligh band at this time, heard Steven describe the relationship between Steven and Tait.

“(Steven) would go out on the road with us, and he’s like, ‘Yeah, I hung out with Michael Tait,’” Lee said. “And we’re like, ‘Oh, yeah, that’s cool.’ But it was kind of weird too, you know?  I didn’t know anything about Michael personally. I just assumed maybe Michael was just being a nice dude, you know, trying to help him out, or something. But then he was hanging out with him more, and I did think it was kind of weird at the time.”  

By early January 2011, Tait and Steven had become fast friends, and Steven didn’t think twice when Tait invited him to meet at his home in Brentwood – a four-bedroom, three-bathroom mansion, sold by Tait to his former Newsboys bandmate Jeff Frankenstein later that year. Steven presumed he and Tait would meet there before going out to a bar, but Tait invited him inside instead.

Steven told TRR they sat in the kitchen, and Tait offered Steven a drink.

“He was real, hush, hush,” Steven said. “I later found out that he had a family living with him, and they were unaware that I was there.”

Steven said Tait poured him high ball glasses of Makers Mark bourbon. He drank three, with Tait egging him on, Steven said. Tait also reportedly drank alcohol heavily.

Then, feeling sick from the alcohol consumption, Steven vomited over the second-story balcony. Feeling dizzy, he went downstairs and lay down in the backyard. Tait followed him.

“Everything was spinning,” he told TRR. After a short time, Steven and Tait went back to the second floor, and Tait led him to the living area.

“I was super embarrassed, because this dude’s like, my idol at the time, and I’m super out of it,” Steven said. “I’m super sleepy, so he has me get on the couch, and he was like, ‘I’ll give you a foot massage.’”

Telling TRR this seemed “kind of weird,” Steven said he then passed out.

Steven said he woke up around 4 a.m.  to Tait “fondling my genitals, and then he was also kissing my mouth.”

Saying that he went into “freeze response” and that he “didn’t know what to do,” Steven tried to pull away multiple times to stop Tait’s behavior. It didn’t work.

“I started stirring, and he kept kissing me while touching my penis,” Steven said. “Eventually I just moved my head, and he stopped, and then he just kind of froze, too.”

Fifteen years later, Steven still remembers what time he left Tait’s house because it was done in secrecy.

“(I left) before 6 a.m. (This is when) I figured out that he had a family living with him,” Steven said. “He needed to get me out the door before the kids started waking up for school.”

When Steven arrived home that morning, he told Sligh that he had slept over and that Tait had given him a foot massage. He only told his girlfriend about what followed.

TRR has viewed text messages between Steven and his then-girlfriend, corroborating that they discussed  the incident with Tait multiple times throughout their relationship before they broke up.

Two weeks later in the tour, Steven told his bandmates about Tait giving him a foot massage but refrained from sharing the rest of the details because he was embarrassed.

“I very much did not want to be excommunicated (from Christian music),” he told TRR.

Severity of incident overlooked

By his own admission, Sligh says he didn’t realize the severity of the incident—something he now deeply regrets.

“When (Steven) told us originally about the Tait incident, we played it off, like, ‘Oh, you’re so gay. You probably brought this on yourself,’” Sligh recalls.

Lee also remembers this conversation, but was not aware Steven was also allegedly sexually assaulted by Tait.

“He was in the van with all of us, telling all of us his story—(how) he threw up, and then (Tait) gave him a foot massage,” Lee said. “I did think that was incredibly odd, you know, but I didn’t (do anything) at the time.”

Like Sligh, Lee also didn’t realize how negatively the incident impacted Steven.

“I had told other people about this story because I thought it was so hilarious at the time,” Lee said. “And I thought, ‘Well, that’s kind of odd, you know, like, if you’re trying to help a young Christian kid out.’ I just thought it was a kind of a bizarre way (for Tait) to do it.”

The story about Tait’s foot massage and fondling became an inside joke with the band, causing Steven to turn inwards. But he stayed in contact with Tait, believing him to be his friend and calling him his “idol.”

“(Tait was) basically the top of the food chain,” Steven said. “He could either (help me) get jobs, or he could not get (me) jobs. I didn’t want to screw myself.”

But he still sought answers.

“The only time that I even approached the topic with (Tait) was about a week or two later,” Steven said. “We went out to a bar in east Nashville. When we were walking in, I was like, ‘Hey, man (I) feel like I kind of need an apology.’ He was like, ‘What are you talking about?’ And I was like, ‘What happened?’ He (said), ‘Oh yeah, sorry about that,’ and then brushed it off like it wasn’t even a thought.”

Steven’s contact with Tait slowly dissipated, and their friendship ended when he left the Christian music industry and moved out of state. But the story of Tait’s foot massage became a part of Nashville’s rumor mill as his bandmates misunderstood how violated he felt.

It took another two years, before Sligh realized Steven had also been sexually assaulted.

“A friend of mine, who’s in the industry, had said, ‘Hey, you know that that Tait thing with (Steven)—that happened, right?  It happened to another friend of mine, and I think it’s like a real thing. It’s serious,’” Sligh said.

Sligh spoke to Steven and learned about the full details of the incident with Tait, including the non-consensual fondling of his genitals and kissing.

Sligh and Lee eventually apologized to Steven. And 15 years later, with Steven’s consent, they are choosing to put their names on the record in a show of solidarity with their friend.

Steven’s brother, who has chosen not to be named so Steven can’t be identified, was also told about Tait’s foot massage during an international phone call in December 2012. He learned about the assault when he visited Steven in Nashville the following spring.

“We (Steven’s bandmates) made a big joke about it for a long time,” his brother said. “And in this post-#MeToo era, I look back and I’m like, ‘. . . How did I think that was a joke? Why was everybody so cowardly about this? (Tait) was untouchable, and nobody wanted to mess with him.”

Steven’s brother also saw firsthand the toll the alleged sexual assault took on Steven’s life.

“A couple (of) years after that, he kind of talked about it again,” the brother said. “(He) broke down, sobbing about it, because he was making like $150 a show (as a musician). Michael Tait was this big star, and he thought that this guy wanted to be friends with him. And (he felt) betrayed.”

Steven’s brother later apologized for not being more sympathetic.

“It kind of went from like this thing that had been this joke for years to, all of a sudden, it got super serious, real fast,” the brother said. “And at the time, I didn’t expect that, but it just totally makes sense, because if that had happened to me, I’d be freaking pissed.  I guess you don’t understand it until it happens to you or someone close to you. You can kind of be more sympathetic and less of an ass about it, I guess.”

Steven told TRR that he chose to speak up about it now because, “There are multiple people who have had similar experiences. I would like to share it if it helps other people. I (have) moved on from that trauma.”

Skinny dipping and sleepovers

This wasn’t the first time Tait allegedly groomed a young male. Six years earlier, the rock star swapped phone numbers with a worship musician named “Phillip” (not his real name) at a gig in the Midwest. This time, he invited the 22-year-old to stay at his house.

It was spring of 2004, when Phillip first encountered Tait. Growing up in the Midwest in an Assemblies of God church, he joined a moderately successful worship band right out of college.

Due to this, Phillip and his peers spent time on the Christian tour circuit. It was through this, he met Tait, who had launched a solo career in 2001 under the band TAIT. Tait and his drummer and housemate Chad Chapin were touring TAIT’s sophomore album, “Lose This Life,” when Tait met Phillip at the band’s merch booth at a show in Oklahoma.

“I just went up and said hi, because I was a massive DC Talk fan, obviously, given my upbringing,” Phillip said. “(Tait) was just super nice. We chatted for a little while, and I brought up that I was working on my own music.  He was like, ‘Awesome, you got anything I can hear?’ And I was like, ‘I do. It’s on my laptop up in my hotel room.’ We did go up to my room, but he was just super supportive, listened to my songs, gave me encouragement, and then that was it.”

Phillip and Tait traded phone numbers after this encounter, and Phillip saw it as a friendship and mentoring relationship. Tait was 16 years his senior and could open a multitude of opportunities for Phillip in Christian music. They texted casually over the next year, and Phillip was excited when Tait invited him to Nashville for a weekend to “hang out” and stay at his place. This happened twice.

Phillip lived eight hours away and concedes now that the invitation was a bit unusual given the distance and age gap but thought nothing of it at the time.

“(I’m) 22 and I had a lot of downtime when I’m not on the road. I would probably do that for, like a regular friend, but a new friend that was in one of your favorite bands? Of course, I’m gonna go hang out,” Phillip said. “I did that twice, and both hangs were pretty similar, just a bunch of bros drinking and playing darts and just being silly.”

Nothing caused Phillip concern during his first weekend at Tait’s, so his guard was down the second time he visited in the winter of 2005. He recalls there being, “lots of beer and cigarettes,” while the group spent time together at Tait’s place.

Phillip felt in control and was sober by choice. This was a requirement in his religious upbringing and for his standing in the worship band he played for. Despite this difference, Phillip was accepted and felt comfortable among Tait’s friends.

He recalls that late into the night during his second stay, someone suggested they go skinny dipping in Tait’s spa. Phillip remembers what happened next viscerally.

“Everyone just starts shucking off their pants and jumping in. And I was like, ‘Oh, wow, they’re actually doing it?’ I’m the new guy, and I’m not very shy about that stuff. So, I did it too, and hopped in.”

But when people started leaving, Tait became more intimate with Phillip.

“The guys started peeling off relatively soon after that, and at some point, it may have just been me and Tait left in there,” Phillip said. “And he started giving me a back rub.”

This type of behavior wasn’t unfamiliar to Phillip, or the Christian music industry. According to multiple sources who have and currently tour in Christian music, this type of locker room behavior, often involving nudity, massage, beer, cigarettes, and in this case skinny dipping, has frequented Christian music spheres of influence for decades.

Andrew Welch, a former member of the Christian rock band Disciple, described this type of behavior as “horse play,” stemming from boredom and being in close quarters. He told TRR that it was a way of bonding and didn’t seem harmful at the time. While there are more reserved bands, this culture makes it normal for there to be “naked bands” on tour. While the Newsboys were not classified this way, he added, Tait was known for wearing less clothes.*

For example, in a report from a security debrief at the Willmar, Minnesota-based Sonshine Festival in July 2011, security chief Jeff Quigle wrote, “The band’s (Newsboys) manager came over to the trailer the guys were in, banged on the door, and told them it was almost time to be on stage. Soon the trailer door swung open and standing there, dressed ONLY in a towel, was Michael Tait. (The female security escort) quickly turned her head and covered her eyes.”

As to the normalcy of such behavior in Christian contemporary music (CCM), Phillip was naive. According to his wife, whom he was dating at the time, “Phillip doesn’t think anyone has any nefarious intentions, unless he has a reason to (do) so. He’s just like the most laid back (guy).”

 So, in 2005, when Phillip was in a hot tub with Tait, he thought nothing of giving the rock star permission to massage him.

Looking back, Phillip recognizes that “(this was) obviously a little strange that you’re not wearing any clothes and you’re in a hot tub,” but that, “It was essentially fine.  I wasn’t thrilled about it, but I also wasn’t in that mindset of like, ‘Oh, he’s hitting on me.’ I was just like, ‘Some guys are more touchy-feely than others,’ so that was that.’”

A short time later, when everyone had left, Phillip and Tait left the hot tub, dressed, and began listening to music. That’s when their conversation turned.

“I don’t even know how this comes up, but (Tait) was basically saying, ‘My urethra is way bigger than normal size. Mine’s like, two or three times what it should be,’” Phillip recalled. “And he just, whips it out and shows me,” recalls Phillip.

Not long after, they decided to go to bed.  There were no spare rooms in Tait’s house, so Phillip had to share a room with Tait. His host offered him a sleeping bag beside the bed but also said he was welcome to share Tait’s king-size bed. Phillip thought nothing of it—something he attributes to life on the road— where it was common for him to share bunks with bandmates on tour to save money.

At first, Phillip said he took the sleeping bag but then changed his mind to be comfortable. Tait made room for Phillip, and they began to “chit-chat” as they fell asleep. That’s when Tait began to give the 22-year-old another back rub, this time without consent.

“He starts giving me a back rub again, and at that point I started getting nervous,” Phillip said. “He’s giving me a back rub for three or four minutes, and it’s just slowly getting lower. . . . In the hot tub he had stopped at my lower back, but he just kept going lower until he was, like, actually massaging my butt cheeks.  And I’m (laying) there, like, kind of frozen. It’s a new friend, and you look up to him. (I) don’t want to blow up a friendship.”

Without consent

Phillip told TRR he was unsure what to say to Tait because he didn’t want to “offend (Tait) or make him mad.” However, Phillip said after 30 seconds of Tait massaging his bottom, Tait put his fingers in his anal region, and Phillip spoke up.

“I was just like, ‘Hey, man, I’m not into that. That’s not cool with me,’” Phillip recalled.

Phillip said that Tait stopped, apologized, and turned over. He assumed that Tait was embarrassed and equated it to non-reciprocal romantic encounters with women from his own life.

Considering this, he said he was not scared or afraid of Tait, and he fell asleep.

When he woke up in the morning, Tait was gone, and Phillip never heard from him again, despite reaching out to him multiple times over text.

Phillip mentioned the incident to his now-wife soon after, and put it down to “a weird, failed romantic effort that (he) didn’t see coming.”

“(The incident with Tait) has come up from time to time,” she told TRR. “It was probably within a couple of weeks that he told me about it.”

She told TRR that she and Phillip had not come forward sooner because they did not want to out Tait.

“It’s always kind of been like, okay, obviously, (Tait’s) gay,” she said. “He’s a huge name in CCM. I’m sure he feels like he can’t come out of the closet or he’s going to lose everything that he has. So, we just kind of felt bad for him, in the sense of, you know, that sucks to not be able to be yourself.”

Phillip would continue to work in the music industry, though, and recalled the incident to friends he made on tour during their long drives between gigs. It quickly became a part of the slew of Tait-inspired stories that saturate the Christian tour circuit.

One of these friends was a bandmate he met in 2006. The bandmate asked TRR not to name him for legal purposes but said he recalled Phillip telling him about the incident when they met on tour.

“He said that Tait tried to put his fingers or his hands in (his) butt and just fondled him a little bit jokingly, under the guise of it being playful,” the bandmate said. “And of course, that made (Phillip) very uncomfortable. (Phillip told me that he) rejected this advance.”

Today, the bandmate sees it as more than a failed romantic attempt.

“(This is) essentially what I would consider assault, a move that was obviously unwanted and unprovoked,” he told TRR.

Phillip has chosen to speak out now after hearing multiple stories about similar misconduct from Tait from friends and connections in the industry.

“At the time, I thought Tait’s behavior was an anomaly,” Phillip told TRR. “. . . But the more time I spent in Nashville circles, the more it sounded like a pattern and that I might‘ve actually gotten off easy in my awkward encounter.

“When the anecdotes I was hearing started seeming more dangerous and scary, instead of just sexual or romantic, I wanted to help put a stop to this potentially happening again to others.”

Cocaine and benders on Newsboys tour bus

In 2014, the same pattern of grooming and assault happened again. This time, Tait’s alleged victim was a 22-year-old crew member named “Taylor,’ (not his real name) and it happened on the Newsboys tour bus.

Taylor entered the music industry with a passion for Jesus and production. Initially hired by the New Zealand band Rapture Ruckus, he was head hunted by Newsboys lighting director Matt Brewer.

In early 2013, Taylor became a member of the close-knit team, which already included band members Tait, Duncan Phillips (drums), Jody Davis (guitar) and Jeff Frankenstein (keyboard and music director), as well as Newsboys tour manager Steve Campbell and a variety of crew. Together, they traveled on a 12-bunk tour bus to approximately 136 tour dates a year.

“To get to work for a mildly bigger band right off the bat, (it) kind of felt really cool,” Taylor told TRR. “I was stoked to be working for Brewer, honestly, and the Newsboys were kind of just the medium. The band was all super nice, and some of them were quiet, but they were all really nice people, and (I) loved the accents.  (It was) like, sweet, this is my new life.”

Taylor built rapport with the Newsboys family fast, and one of the easiest ways of doing this was by drinking alcohol. The band and crew had a hard and fast rule against letting any females stay on the bus overnight, except for Wes Campbell’s daughter Grace, who occasionally performed on tour. But there was no rule against alcohol consumption.

“Everyone could drink. We (would) pretty much drink at least a little bit every day,” Taylor said. “There were probably a couple days we missed, but there was pretty much always, like a bottle of wine or some vodka (on the bus). We always had cranberry vodka.”

So, Taylor didn’t think twice when Steve Campbell paid for everyone to have a drink and dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings after a Newsboys event on April 11. The band was celebrating the upcoming “We Believe Spring” tour and had finished packing the bus at 11:30 p.m. From here, the tour bus left for a gig at Kosciusko Junior High School in Kosciusko, Mississippi. Plans were to arrive by 7 a.m. to set up for a show at 7 p.m. the next night.

Slowly, everyone peeled off to their bunks, leaving Tait and Taylor in the front with the bus driver. This was not unusual, Taylor told TRR. They, along with Brewer, Phillips, and any crew members who smoked, would often stay up late at the front of the bus drinking and laughing. Sometimes, Tait would give Taylor an unsolicited arm rub.

But Taylor didn’t think much of it. “In my family, we all grew up giving each other massages,” he said. “So, I thought he was being a nice guy.”

By the time the bus arrived at their next destination, they were the only ones still awake, and they were both heavily intoxicated.

Taylor realized it was nearly 6 a.m., and he had to be awake in one hour to unload.

“I was like, ‘Dang. I messed up. I’m pretty hammered. Then I went to the back of the bus (to sleep),” Taylor told TRR.

Taylor headed to his makeshift bed. As the least senior member of the crew, he was relegated to this position whenever Grace or an additional merch person was on board. But this time, Tait followed him, presumably to pick up his jacket.

“I went to the back and Tait came with me, and was like, ‘Hey, want to try something?’” Taylor recalled. He said Tait then opened some foil with cocaine in it. Taylor declined and is unsure if Tait used some or not. Taylor then went to bed and quickly fell asleep.

He woke up a couple of minutes later to a shocking discovery.

“I woke up but didn’t (fully) open my eyes, and I just realized that Tait was rubbing my penis through my pants, on the top of my jeans,” Taylor said.

Like every other survivor TRR spoke with, Taylor said he froze when he realized what Tait was doing.

“I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is actually happening. Damn.’ (And) I just felt bad for him in that moment. I (thought) ‘This guy’s pretty f—ed up.’”

Taylor told TRR that while Tait was assaulting him, he moved his body slightly to make Tait think he was waking up and would leave. He did.

“I thought, ‘Wow, that’s crazy,’ but I was still tired, and I knew I was still going to load in in the morning no matter what,” Taylor said. “So, I (decided) I’m gonna go to bed. Looking back (I realize) . . . that was a sexual assault.”

In retrospect, Taylor says his choice to fall back asleep immediately was due to his alcohol consumption. He only started processing what happened properly a few hours later when he called his now-wife.

“Taylor had called me, and he was already in the back of the bus, and just told me, ‘Hey, I don’t know how else to say this, but this just happened. We’ve been up (late). We’re all just drinking.’ ” Taylor’s wife told TRR.  “. . . Then he (told me), ‘Tait offered me drugs.’ I’m pretty sure it was cocaine at the time. And he was like, ‘Absolutely not. I don’t want to do that.’ ”

His wife, who was also involved in Christian music and touring with another major artist, said Taylor then went into detail about being groped by Tait.

“He said, ‘I was asleep, and the next thing, I wake up, and he’s just rubbing my penis with clothes on,’ ’’ she remembers. “ ‘(Then) he just got up and left, and nothing was made of it.’ ”

Taylor’s wife was no stranger to the underbelly of the Christian music industry. She had joined around the same time as Taylor, and the two were saving up to get married. She told TRR, “The Christian industry kind of shocked both of us a little bit (with) the double standard, but we kind of got over that kind of quickly.”

However, neither of them expected sexual assault.  She continued, “I asked him how he felt, and (Taylor said), ‘He’s just a very broken man.’ That’s his immediate response. . . . We were young, and it was like, do you say something? Do you not say something? And I felt that it wasn’t my story to tell.”

Ultimately, Taylor made the decision to forgive Tait and not report the incident to Steve Campbell or Matt Brewer. He decided never to go drinking that heavily with Tait again. He told TRR that Tait’s physical contact towards him seemed to lessen after that incident, and he no longer massaged him or gave him bear hugs.

Taylor said he and his wife decided to come forward now—11 years later—in solidarity with an alleged sexual assault survivor whose story TRR will be reporting soon.

Both Taylor and his wife have left the Christian music industry and say that telling their story brings back tough memories.

“It honestly was a big shock because I think we felt like we were grieving in a way, for a couple days after you had called (about the story),” Taylor’s wife told TRR.

“Taylor and I very much love the Lord, and I personally believe that whenever the Lord wants to expose it, and God is ready to shine the light, he will,” Taylor’s wife said. “And so, I’m just like, ‘Okay, Lord, if this is what we need to do, we know we need to share this part of what we know,’ then, I believe God will protect (us).”

TRR approached the Newsboys for comment about the allegations towards Tait. The band responded via a statement through Nashville attorney Samuel D. Lipshie of Bradley Arant Boult Cummings.

“While we are aware of unsubstantiated aspersion cast via internet towards Mr. Tait and Newsboys by one particular individual, because your questions revolve around the alleged behavior and actions of Mr. Tait, it would be inappropriate for Newsboys to speculate or comment,” it read.

“If what you allege can be supported with evidence, we would imagine Mr. Tait and his representatives will have something to say about the matter.”

Following publication of this story, the Newsboys responded in a social media post on June 5: 

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*A spokesperson for Disciple stated after publication of this report: “Welch’s comments were stated to show the different types of behavior he witnessed in the Christian music industry. They do not specifically reflect Disciple’s former or current culture as a band, and Disciple do not participate in any of behavior mentioned.”

Correction: This story was updated to accurately reflect that Mr. Southworth’s reel was removed by TikTok rather than deleted by him and to correct a misstated date.

Jessica Morris is a music journalist, podcaster and author based in Melbourne, Australia.