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FREDDIE COLLOCA: I accept it in the sense where, OK, maybe the music is a little bit familiar to those styles of music, but I reject it in their lifestyles, because I don’t compare my life to their lifestyles. I fear God. Sometimes I share I’d rather be compared to maybe David in the Bible.
LISA RYAN: I’ve seen your videos. (laughter)
FREDDIE COLLOCA: Yeah? (laughter)
LISA RYAN: You can’t stand still.
FREDDIE COLLOCA: Oh, I can’t! I’ve tried before. It’s just something that God puts in my heart.
LISA RYAN (reporting): He was born in Argentina and raised in Florida. He’s the son of a pastor, the Latin host of CBN's music video show One Cubed, and, on top of that, he's quite a dance instructor. He’s Freddie Colloca, a man on the move for Christ.
Tell me about your music. What’s your heart? What’s your passion within your music? What do you want people to get out of it?
FREDDIE COLLOCA: Wow, you said a great word. Passion is something that God has instilled in my life, and I think if it wasn’t for that and what God gave me and the passion that He put into my heart through this music, I wouldn’t be doing it. But what a word! Passion is a word that just drives me or drives us to do whatever we do for God and His kingdom. That’s what music is for me. It’s very passionate, an opportunity to be able to minister. I remember I was five years old and I would get on top of that table and sing "Macho, macho man." (laughter) Maybe I shouldn’t have said that.
LISA RYAN: But the Lord redeemed that, huh? (laughter)
FREDDIE COLLOCA: He changed my life at six.
LISA RYAN: Now He’s the macho, macho man.
FREDDIE COLLOCA: Yeah, He is the macho man. (laughter)
LISA RYAN: What would you say is the call on your life, your purpose, your destiny? You obviously live some of that out in your music. What is your goal and your purpose in that?
FREDDIE COLLOCA: One thing I decided to do – I was like maybe 12 or 13 – I decided to serve God. I said, 'God, I want to serve You. I don’t want to do anything else. I just want to serve You and try to reach others for You.' As I kept on growing up and seeing especially what young people go through, I said, 'Man, I want to be a light in this dark world.'
LISA RYAN: What kind of challenges are young people up against today? I think that a lot of the older generation is kind of clueless.
FREDDIE COLLOCA: Yeah, sex is a big thing. Sexual sin – that’s a big thing today for our youth culture. Everyone’s trying to get hooked up with somebody, the whole relationships, boy/girl, which is a normal thing.
LISA RYAN: But they’re starting to pair off so early.
FREDDIE COLLOCA: It’s starting very early. That’s a danger because being so much together so early there are so many temptations. When you’re in the whole boyfriend/girlfriend thing and maybe you’re in the passion or whatever of the boyfriend/girlfriend relationship thing, it can be a danger. That’s where sexual temptation comes in.
LISA RYAN: What about pornography?
FREDDIE COLLOCA: Pornography is a big issue with young men.
LISA RYAN: Are they getting it off the Internet?
FREDDIE
COLLOCA: I think the Internet is the biggest thing now. I don’t think that
was a good invention, but what can you do? That’s one of the things that
is hitting hard. That doesn’t help any because before it was just in the
magazines and now it’s so easy to get on the Internet. Even younger kids
are getting it now. That’s really destroying young guys and bringing them
down because later on if you have a established relationship with someone and
you had been involved with pornography, it doesn’t help because those temptations
are easier. That’s what is killing our generation. We have to rise up and
say, 'We have to fear God and we have to live for God.' It's not something that
we can say, 'OK, I won't do it anymore.' We have to fight. The best way is to
just be close to God in prayer and say, 'God, free me from this. Let me bury this
sin and let me move on and let me fear You as I should.'
I’m very proud to say I’m single. I’m a single guy – still! No, No. (laughter) I’m proud to say I’m a virgin. I’ve kept my virginity. I’m so proud of that.
LISA RYAN: I’m glad to hear you bring up the purity issue for guys, because it seems like a lot of the purity message is directed toward girls, so much so that it seems like the girls even expect the Christian guys to come on to them and try to get away with as much as they can.
FREDDIE COLLOCA: Being a guy, I can tell you that guys have a lot of power over women in the sense that they can easily influence a girl, especially if they have a common relationship with them.
LISA RYAN: Positively and negatively.
FREDDIE COLLOCA: That’s the problem. If guys don’t fear God and have this mentality of being pure, they can easily take advantage of that.
LISA RYAN: Don’t you think it takes more strength and more masculinity to restrain yourself in those areas and to hold out for that special girl?
FREDDIE COLLOCA: It takes more of a person to say, 'I am going to hold off. I am going to say, 'Let's wait until we are married. 'Or to tell the person, 'I am going to wait until I meet the person that I love, marry that person, and then I can share that with her.'
Somebody told me once that it would be like you are involved with someone who is someone else’s wife, not at the moment but in the future. I won’t stop saying that to guys, any guys I can come in contact with and take out this message.
LISA RYAN: Good for you.
FREDDIE COLLOCA: It’s kind of sad sometimes, though. Some of the guys I talk to have lost their virginity already, and it makes me kind of sad. But there are many young men that have kept their virginity, and we have to be strong and keep on living that life until God gives us our wives.
LISA RYAN: You lead the charge. Will you do that?
FREDDIE COLLOCA: I will do my best. That’s what I want. I don’t want to just sing; I want to take a message out. This is my message and –
LISA RYAN: Music is the vehicle.
FREDDIE COLLOCA: Exactly.
LISA RYAN: The message goes to the heart.
FREDDIE COLLOCA: Maybe young men can think, 'Wait, this guy’s singing. Wow, he’s up there or whatever' –
LISA RYAN: He’s a macho guy.
FREDDIE COLLOCA: Yeah, 'He’s pretty macho and he is pure. Wow, look what he’s saying. Let me listen to that.'
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