Pass it on – The Drummer, the footballer and IT guy

- We're sitting here together
with Rune, Snorre and Eivind.

And you all had the
privilege of being invested in,

and you have invested in
others and in each other actually.

You were a rock
and roll musician.

-Yeah, I was like a Christian who
called myself a Christian,

but I didn't live the Christian life.

And when Kaizers
Orchestra started moving on

and became very fast one

of the biggest bands in Norway,

it took my life actually
in the wrong direction

regarding my faith.

One of the guys in the
band, he said: "Rune

you're such a cool Christian
because you are like us.

You act like us". It was really, wow.

What is it to be a Christian?
I'm not living that.

I have a brother. He invited
me to Kristent Fellesskap in Bergen,

and that was the first time
I met Knut. He was preaching

I didn't know him. I just
heard him a couple of times.

And he pointed me out in
the crowd of about 500 people.

And he said: "I have some words to you.

You are the drummer in Kaizers Orchestra.

I don't remember your name,
but please come up here.

God has placed you in this band.

You have been praying about this,

but from now on you'll
start serving the Lord."

Right after this
gathering, I was baptized,

and then the new life started.

- Wow. How was this relationship with Knut?

- After this Knut and Elisabeth

moved to Oslo. I lived in Oslo.

- And you were on tour?
-Yeah.

-And you didn't come to
Sunday morning meetings?

- No, I was in a
church that had meetings,

but I was very seldom there

because we were traveling all the time.

So usually I had
Mondays and Tuesdays off

and Knut said: "You can come
to me when you have time".

He started sharing life,

and he invested his time in me.

I think he saw that I was
very different from him.

So he didn't try to invest
in me to become like him,

but more like to become
what God had for me.

He really helped me to focus
on my calling.

-You are in the same family actually.

-He married your sister?
-Yes, I took your sister

- But it's kind of the same story

because you played drums on Sundays

and in the weekends and I played

football.
- He was a professional football player.

- So I couldn't go to church.

So I'm happy that I met
Rune and to see the change

in your life and to actually,
when we were jogging

or drinking coffee, you
could talk about Jesus.

- And also, I remember
when I first met you,

you were very young.

15, 16? - Probably.
- And you were very shy. -Yeah

- It was not easy to find the connection.

I felt after I met you,
I need to know Snorre,

and God put a heart

for Snorre into me.

- So, you saw something in this shy boy.

- Yeah, because it was
easy to see something there

'Cause he was so focused.

The football thing was 95% of
his life. It was everything.

He was playing football,
thinking football,

and you know, it was like this.

- 5% girls or?
- The rest was girls.

- Yeah. Maybe 1% God!
- Okay.

- There was some longing there.
I could see the Lord.

- It was longing.
- I could see the longing,

and I remember we started playing
cards (Cardgame called "Idiot")

And there
we connected by playing cards.

When we were playing
cards, it became competition.

Someone needs to win.

And that really, that's our
language, you know?

- We still have that.
- We still have.

- And he gets angry with me.

- So we could talk while playing cards,

and then the next thing was jogging.

And I tried to find the arenas

where we could connect.

We had some good talks

and we started building
relationship.

- So, how did this change your life, Snorre?

- He always talked
about Jesus and

the way we can be Christians.
The best life with God

is when you actually
decide to go all the way

and not hold back, because then
you get the joy, the peace.

And it was easy for me
as well to always ask Rune for

things I wondered
about, girls or football or

how to do school.

And we could, you know,
have this friendship.

He was really important for me.

- But I really, I remember
the great change also.

I said you were shy.

- Yeah.
- But really, you totally changed.

I remember also when we had
some of those family gatherings

where you decided "I will,
during this dinner,

I will stand up and I will share the
gospel to the whole family."

And you led many of
your friends to Jesus

- And one of them is here.

- Yes.
- And you also started jogging.

So I think this
is the way to win friends!

But what happened?
Have you known each other

for a long time?

- Several years now, yeah.

We got to know each other seven

years ago, I think,

through his wife, which I grew up with

and Snorre really invested in me.

I was 25 kilos heavier and
didn't have too many friends

and was focused on
working, had a longing

for something else,
but had tried religion,

had tried being a Christian,
going to meetings,

but it didn't feel good.

It didn't feel right.

So he started investing
in friendship.

And that was different
from a lot of others who

are always trying to like change you.
You have to become this and this

and do this and that,

and then you will become a great Christian

or great something else.

That was really different

because he started focusing
on just connecting.

We talked about finance,
investments, business,

talked about our jobs and training.

We ran our, my first marathon,

half marathon together.
Before I met Snorre

I couldn't jog for five kilometers.

So yes, a lot of things
changed on the physical part,

but also on my character

and my relationship with God as well.

- So how do you remember
this Snorre? The beginning.

- I thought, hmm, I
want to give him this life,

but I also want to be his friend

because I think that's
a really good start,

to just care for people.

And I think I decided
at that place

that I want to invest
and to give my life

and at least to be a friend.

- And I probably wasn't the
most easy person to change

because I was really good at hiding, like

what was happening on the inside.

And I remember I've
always been a good chameleon,

changing to the environment.

When Snorre said something, I
was like: "Yeah, that's nice.

I know the Bible.
I have heard the stories."

So I think Snorre
had a hard time trying

to like help me.

- It was not easy!

It was sometimes...
- It was not easy helping you either.

- It's only you Rune.
- I think if Knut was here,

I think he will still
say it is not easy.

- But this is really important

because you... What made you open up

or become honest and real
about where you were at?

- I think a lot of it was time.

It takes, sometimes it
takes time to build trust.

For me it was unnatural to open
up to someone I didn't know.

In a lot of ways it was
unnatural to open up to anybody,

because I was so used to changing.

I lived a double life during all my youth.

I was really Christian when I came home

and was really not
Christian when I went out.

What changed was Snorre. He
lived a transparent life.

He shared things,
difficulties with his wife

when they started dating.

I actually got to know
him before he was married.

And I heard a lot of the
things that were going on,

and for me it was
great to see that he opened up

and he had faith in God, and he prayed,

and he, there were so many
things that I saw that

with time started to build trust

and started to change me as well.

- What do you think about this when you
hear that your struggles helped him?

- It's nice to hear that I
actually was open with my life,

and that you could see the
principles and values that I had.

- And I think one
important part as well is

that there were a lot

of people, including
Snorre and Rune, who prayed.

And I think that that's
probably the main reason

that something started to change as well

because it's not only words

and how you live, it's...
He invested time in praying,

and I know my sister did
the same and my grandmother

and so many people were in
the background praying,

and wanting some change in my life.

- You've seen answers to prayer in

so many areas of your life.

And you received
help also from Knut in

not just to be a good Christian,

but to be a good musician,

a good leader, a father, a husband.

And this is what you...
-Yes.

he invested in me
in so many areas of life.

- So what have you
received from this training?

How has your life changed?

- In many ways.

One example is when I started
dating my wife, Kristine.

We had some troubles in the start.

So to have Rune, but also
other people to help us in

actually building a good relationship

because that can be hard,

was really important.

- Live transparent and
ask for help.

So, we also saw the same thing, like

if you try to fix everything yourself,

and I think that's very
common in today's society

because we're so individualistic.

So you're supposed to be a
"one person hero", fixing everything.

And one of the things I learned is

that you're not supposed
to fix everything.

There are so many people who are

better than you in some areas.

And then you should ask them
for help in those areas.

That's what I saw in Snorre as well,

and asked for help.

- And you are living
these principles

that you have learned from the Bible?

- Every day.

I think this also works great

for when you are leading others.

There are a lot of principles
in the Bible that say

how you should lead, being a
servant leader for example,

pray for people,
care for people.

And this, I remember the
first time being responsible

for nine young IT
developers who were supposed

to start their career.

And I remember praying
for each one of them.

Every time I was talking to
them, I was preparing by praying

for them first for the
conversation to go well,

to understand their
desires and their goals

and then invest in them.
-Wow!

-They are so privileged
to have a boss like you!

It really sounds like
all of you have seen,

you've observed some attractive
lives that make you think: "OK,

I wanna be like,
the person I see".

- Absolutely.
- That you saw something in Rune

- I saw a lot of faith

in business or Kaizers, in his life,

and I also wanted to be
a faith person.

- Yeah. And you have become
a faith person.

- I think so, yeah.
- Now you've started your own business

and you have five employees,
in two years

and you, you just sold
out 56 concerts

in 15 minutes?
- Yes.

- We didn't believe it would
go so fast, be so good...

More than we prayed for.

And this is so interesting
life, living with God,

and when you asked about the
change after meeting Knut

and got trained, I believed I
would be stuck in religion

and in my own strength, but this
living the life in faith,

living according to the purpose, living

to see the kingdom come is
so much more interesting!

And this life we
want to pass on.

- That's a fun life.