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HBO: Tell us about what led you to start the Hard
as Nails ministry.
Justin Fatica: It started with just choosing to live for Christ.
When I was 17, I thought I got a girl pregnant.
And when that happened, I asked myself,
what are you going to do with your life? I was
struggling in school, didn't know where I was
headed, or who I wanted to be, or how I was
going to live my life as a young teenager.
And I basically decided to say, "Hey, I'm going
to give my life to Christ." And I went on this
retreat, and I realized for the first time that I
was loved, not because of where I lived or
what car I drove, that I was loved for who I
was, not what I had, or what I did, or how
perfect I was, or how imperfect I was. That I
was loved no matter what. What mattered
was that I had a God, and he cared for me.
And whether you believe in God or not, that
reality that a young kid finally knows that he's
loved no matter what- I was pumped. I was
excited. I was excited to bring this to every
person, 'cause I knew how many people didn't
know they were loved out there.
HBO: And so that evolved into Hard As Nails?
Well, I first started as a campus minister, and
I would tell the kids, and they'd kind of laugh,
I was like, "I'm going to bring MTV Jesus in
your face. And you're not ready for it!" I
didn't know people were going to think that
this was something real.
But when I said that, I meant, look at how
passionately these TV shows bring it with
everything they got. And one of the focuses of
Hard as Nails is what I call "MTV Jesus". It's
an in-your-face way to say, "Hey look!
Whether you like it or not you're going to
listen, and you're going to hear the message."
'But that's not what it's like for the church.
That's not what it's like for faith in America.
People can just tune it out. My goal was that
the kids that were in front of me would listen
and be open to the message of love. And
loving who? Loving everybody, no matter
what.
HBO: Your message seems to really resonate with
troubled youth. Why do you think that is?
Justin Fatica: I believe that we need to really hear the hearts
of these kids, and what they're going through.
We need to ask ourselves, are we living for
what's important? Most groups I speak in are
a mixed group. There are kids that have had
a good foundation, and there are kids that
have no foundation, they don't have much of
anything. It's all different kinds of kids from
different places.
What I believe is that the young are going
through something. And it's something
serious. And while we spend all this time
trying to gain money, wealth, fame--all these
things that matter for some people. But the
goal is, to get the message out that we need to
get back to the basics, and love the young
people of America.
And my goal is that no matter what they
share--if they shared that they have an
amazing family then great. I'm going to
encourage that. Give it up for the family! And
let's appreciate what we have.
If somebody shares that they've been cutting--
how many of you have been cutting? And
maybe five, or ten, or fifteen kids will come
up. And I want to get the message- hey, look
what's going on. Are we going to do
something about this? I never cut myself. I've
never been through that. You haven't been
through it, but we can help each other, and
we can get through this together, whether
Muslim, atheist, Jew, Hindu, Christian,
Catholic. We're in it together. We gotta live in
this world together. So why are we putting so
many divisions up where we don't love each
other together?
HBO: Why do you think faith is so important in
today's world?
Justin Fatica: Let's say somebody's addicted to something,
or somebody's got a challenge with a family
member. Or somebody's got so much hurt
and the pain in their lives. What am I going to
be able to do as Justin Fatica, in their life?
I'm going to be able to give them an inspiring
message, right? But then I leave. What faith
does is it gives people a relationship that they
have with God when I'm not there.
And I think it's so important right now for us
to take faith as an importance, not faith as a
judgement. And I think that that's the
separation we need to make; Faith as a gift- a
guide, a tool, an encouragement. Not faith as
a judgement, like, you're not involved with
this, so you're not a part of it.
Christ demanded love. Love your enemies.
Love your friends, love all people. And the
other thing he demanded was, do not judge.
Love no matter what, and please, don't judge
anybody.
And what I think about faith in America is if
we can stop the judgment and start the loving,
I believe we can have a transformation in our
country where we can come together and care
for each other. And that goes on both ends.
We gotta have our core essence be of love.
And I believe God and faith in America can
help us do that.
HBO: What does the future hold for Hard as Nails
ministry?
Justin Fatica: Well, I have a book coming out in the fall,
which is exciting. The book is a way for people
to understand more about the ministry. But
honestly, I don't know what's going to happen
after this film. I don't know how people are
going to react, and personally, all I care about,
is that I stay true to my message--to love
people, and to go where people don't want to
go. I go to the strip clubs. I go to the barber
shop in the inner city. I hang out with these
suburban kids where a lot of their parents
aren't hanging out with 'em. I just want to
love all people from different walks of life, and
carry that message.
There's two things I know. One, I know I'm
loved by God, and two, I know that I'm not
him. So, if I were to tell you the exact future,
I'd probably be lying. And I don't want to lie to
anybody. I just want to be an encourager. I
know what it feels like when somebody's
looked down upon. I'm hoping that people will
learn to love everybody, no matter what.
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