Granger Smith Recalls Salvation Moment: ‘Nothing Looked the Same’
By Movieguide® Contributor
Former country music star Granger Smith opened up about the moment he died to himself and decided to pursue Christ with his whole life.
During a sermon at Liberty University, Smith began by sharing Mark 8:34-36: “Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?’”
“I didn’t deny myself. I grew up in a Christian home very involved in church. I didn’t deny myself though,” he explained. “I played Texas high school football, was an FCA, Young Life, youth ministries, camps. I went to Texas A&M for college, but none of that was denying myself. My friends did that stuff too. The slope downward is deceivingly gradual into the stagnant pit of an unforgiving American cultural Christianity.”
Smith shared that even after he found success as a country artist, he only worked for his own glory. It wasn’t until tragedy struck that his perspective changed.
“Everything that I thought I had built came crashing down. That’s when my three-year-old son River died in my arms,” a tearful Smith said.
“…I hit rock bottom under that grief, shame, guilt. I was physically, spiritually, emotionally falling deeper and deeper until I couldn’t even see a purpose of living. And my cultural Christianity couldn’t save anything,” he explained.
He told Fox News, “we [Smith and his wife Amber Bartlett] went down a journey that I thought I could fix on my own with self-help and self-improvement and exercise and positivity and visualization, meditation and devotionals. I thought I could just mend it, fix it and move on, and I couldn’t.”
He finally found help and salvation in Christ while listening to a sermon in his truck, forever changing his life.
“The old me died in that truck and I was reborn and nothing after that nothing looked the same,” Smith said.
In an interview, he told PEOPLE about how Mark 8:34-36 helped change his perspective on his career.
“I was sitting there looking at that through my broken healing,” he said. “…I was reading this like, ‘Where in country music am I modeling that for other people? Because all I’m doing as far as I see — and I’m not speaking to any other artist — is glorifying myself.’ That’s a contradiction that has built up within me over and over until I had to come to this conclusion that there’s now a turning point, a new direction for my life.”
Smith is currently a pastor in Georgetown, Texas, after leaving his successful music career to pursue ministry.
Movieguide® reported:
Country star Granger Smith recently spoke more about his decision to leave country music and pursue ministry in his local church.
“It sounds like a not-very-exciting news story — the story of a guy who had what I always dreamed of having, and turning it back over,” the singer laughed. “I’m turning it back in for a life at the local church. But I believe that that is what I am called to do.”
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Now more than ever we’re bombarded by darkness in media, movies, and TV. Movieguide® has fought back for almost 40 years, working within Hollywood to propel uplifting and positive content. We’re proud to say we’ve collaborated with some of the top industry players to influence and redeem entertainment for Jesus. Still, the most influential person in Hollywood is you. The viewer.
What you listen to, watch, and read has power. Movieguide® wants to give you the resources to empower the good and the beautiful. But we can’t do it alone. We need your support.
You can make a difference with as little as $7. It takes only a moment. If you can, consider supporting our ministry with a monthly gift. Thank you.
Movieguide® is a 501c3 and all donations are tax deductible.
