By Movieguide® Staff
Worship artist Kristian Stanfill says the only thing you need to be a Christian is a “heart pursuing” God.
“God finds those people…that are seeking Him, that want Him, that want to meet with Him and see His face,” he said during an episode of “The Matthew West Podcast.”
Stanfill shared that, as he’s gotten older, he’s felt pulled back to a more simple view of his faith, saying, “[God is] going ‘That’s all you ever really needed to be Christian…just your heart pursuing me.’”
He also touched on the pitfalls that can come from being a successful Christian artist.
“I think the thing that leads us away is our pride,” Stanfill explained. “You start getting more opportunity, maybe the stages get bigger…I don’t know if anyone’s really equipped to handle that kind of thing.”
He added, “The Lord was really gracious to me in 2020. Toward the end of that year, I just had a real humbling. In His kindness, the Lord exposed a lot that was going on in my life just underneath the surface that had gone unnoticed, untreated, [and] ignored for so many years.”
“He was just like, ‘Hey, it’s time to deal with this,’ and man, it hurt so bad,” Stanfill recalled. “But I look back on it now, and it’s the greatest gift that my Father has ever given me.”
Related: This Worship Leader Got Sober. Why He Wishes Churches Would Talk About Alcohol Addiction.
Stanfill has been open about his struggles with sobriety and his celebrations of another year sober. In a 2022 post marking two years sober, he wrote, “I have taken every step of this journey WITH people. my wife, close friends, pastors, counselors…it takes a village! community and connection is where we experience the power of Grace and begin to heal.”
“One step at a time, one day at a time until I see Jesus face to face and the struggle ends,” he concluded.
In an interview with CBN, Stanfill discussed his songwriting process, explaining, “Where I’ve been operating from in the past two or three years especially, is just being honest and authentic with what God is doing in my life and being honest and authentic with what God’s doing in our church in the world.”
“I think it’s for me right now, it’s just being real and honest with what’s happening right now and writing the song that God gives, making it the best it can be, and then giving it to the church and giving it to the people,” he concluded. “If God wants to breathe on it and send it to the far reaches of the world, that’s amazing.”
Stanfill’s message is a reminder of the importance of rejecting pride, in favor of pursuing God with an open heart.
Read Next: How Losing His Voice Changed Singer Phil Wickham’s ‘Inner Life’
Questions or comments? Please write to us here.
- Content: +2Share:
- Content: +2