Rich Mullins: Love Talks Radio Interview (October 1988) | Ragamuffin Archive: Classics

Ragamuffin Archive: Classics Rich Mullins: Love Talks Radio Interview (October 1988) This intimate, 40+ minute interview with Rich Mullins on Love Talks in late 1988 remains one of my personal favorites—and a must listen for any fan. Thanks to Christina Marie for contributing this rare gem to the Ragamuffin Archive collection. In one of the most intimate and far-reaching interviews of his career, Rich Mullins joined Foster Braun on Love Talks for an hour of unfiltered storytelling, musical reflections, and hard-won insight. Recorded in October 1988, just days before his 33rd birthday, this rare broadcast captures Mullins on the cusp of national recognition for “Awesome God,” fresh off the release of Winds of Heaven, Stuff of Earth—but with his eyes already set on something far beyond music industry success. The conversation opens with humor as Rich recounts how his earliest piano skills suddenly made him popular among classmates. “When I could play ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand’… Rosella Ross kissed me. I’ll never forget it.” Yet, the talk quickly turns deeper, with Mullins reflecting on the difference between public heroes and personal ones. While many lauded cultural icons like John Lennon, Rich’s own heroes included his great-grandmother (“a Quaker who wore tons of tacky beads”), his coal-mining grandfather who moved the family to Indiana, and his father, whose farming taught him a new kind of creativity and resilience. “If you can’t be proud of where you come from, you ain’t never gonna have no pride.” Throughout the interview, Mullins returns often to the tension between the external trappings of success and the internal shaping of the soul. His critique of American prosperity theology is searing. “I think you gain a soul by suffering and you lose your soul in luxury.” He speaks candidly of leaving Nashville—not in protest, but in self-preservation. “It brought out the badness in me… all of the things that I wish were not there.” The broadcast includes unexpected glimpses of Rich’s humor and humility. A caller requests one of his earliest unreleased songs, “Seminary Girl.” Rich groans, “I hate you! I forget it… God has been kind.” Later, Foster and friends surprise him with a birthday cake decorated with a dog—a nod to the pet featured on Winds of Heaven—and the greeting: “Full of wind, Stuffed with cake.” Among the most powerful moments is Rich’s account of a mission trip to Thailand, where he saw a starving woman with a child at the feet of a lavish idol, denied help by bystanders due to Buddhist karma beliefs. “Karma destroys any hope for grace,” he says. It was there, among the displaced, the oppressed, and the overlooked, that Rich says he found the most authentic expressions of Christian compassion—something he hoped to return to. “I want to end up being a missionary… I think it would be great to be martyred.” He doesn’t say it flippantly. By this point in the interview, it’s clear he means it: whether through music, ministry, or quiet faithfulness, Rich wanted to live and die for something more than acclaim. “If I want to be like Jesus, then I must be willing to give my life.” This Love Talks session is more than a conversation. It’s a window into the soul of a man still in process, still full of contradiction, wit, passion, and fire. Before the Ragamuffin Gospel was a movement and before “Awesome God” became a youth group staple, Rich Mullins was already telling us what really mattered—and living it the best he could. We're thrilled for this interview is now a part of our Ragamuffin Archive: Classics series. Listen to it now on YouTube or on Mixcloud. Note: This interview originally contained roughly 3 additional minutes of clips of various Rich Mullins songs. Unfortunately, those clips caused the video to be blocked worldwide, so I had to remove those clips in order to share the interview on YouTube. That said, for the first time ever, I'm sharing the full unedited recording via the Ragamuffin Archive Mixcloud page. Link below: https://www.mixcloud.com/upload/ragam...