Granger Smith announced that he is leaving the Country Music industry and moving into ministry.
Smith has always had a heart for defending the Christian faith and wants to help believers in the pews do the same.
Smith posted on social media that he enrolled at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky.
His new book, Like a River: Finding the Faith and Strength to Move Forward After Loss and Heartache, is scheduled to be released Aug. 1
A major tragedy occurred in Smith’s life in 2019 when his 3-year-old son, River, died in a drowning accident. Smith said through that horrible tragedy, it sparked a period of intensive spiritual growth.
“God has a way of cultivating soil within hearts, and He does that in all different ways. And there is no doubt, looking back, that losing our son was something that exposed – critically exposed – my cultural Christianity, and my nominal Christianity. I could confess the gospel intellectually, understand what Jesus did, believe that I was saved and going to heaven … [and] could articulate a decent prayer, too. And could even have some memorized Scripture. And I had done that my whole life, as long as I could remember, until I realized through that tragedy, that I didn’t have a saving faith, I didn’t have the fruits of a mature Christianity, that was actually biblical, that would actually save me, that was actually a true conversion. And that was shocking. … It was shocking to realize I wasn’t saved before that.”
Throughout the interview Smith says he feels in todays world there is a lot of people who attend church, sit in the pews, but get nothing out of the service. Smith even says, “I think there’s a lot of people sitting in the pews, in the seats, that think they’re Christians that aren’t.”
Smith says he doesn’t know exactly what the future holds, but he is letting God write his story and continuing to glorify him.
“I’m gonna focus on today and try to be as faithful as I can to Him and glorify His name and be faithful to His Word,” he said. “And wherever that leads – if I’m pursuing my responsibility on those two things, then whatever He leads me to do after that, I’ll trust Him.”
Photo: Reuters
Source: Christian Headlines
