Granger Smith feels ‘relief’ leaving country music to ‘serve’ God: ‘I need to completely surrender’

The country music star, whose son River died in 2019, has written a memoir titled ‘Like a River: Finding the Faith and Strength to Move Forward After Loss and Heartache’

Granger Smith is stepping away from his successful country music career – and he’s relieved.

“I feel a huge sense of relief that… I’ve been able to tell the world exactly what my intentions are and what I’m going to do,” the “Happens Like That” artist told Fox News Digital. “A few people have known for a few years that [I] might be stepping away from country music. [And] it’s hard to go onstage in different environments, in different cities, and play music for people to know, when I look them in the eye, that I’m probably going to tell them in a few months that I’m not going to do this anymore. It’s a tough way to live. And so, I feel a huge sense of relief that I’ve told people.”

The star admitted that for a while, he yearned for a new sense of purpose. Eager to devote himself to his faith, Smith is currently working toward a master’s degree from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. While some in Smith’s circle encouraged him to share his faith through song, Smith felt it wasn’t enough.

“I wrestled with the idea for a long time that this doesn’t feel right,” Smith admitted. “A lot of people will probably think, ‘Why don’t you just sing country music, but talk about God on the stage?’ Or, ‘Why don’t you sing a couple of hymns on the stage? And that fixes everything.’ I wrestled with that for a couple of years.… A lot of pastors and preachers told me, ‘Country music is your ministry, brother. You’re in a dark world. You’re bringing light to a dark world. You’re going into bars and stages where people might not have heard the message of Christ, and you get to speak it – that is your ministry.’”

“I believed it,” he continued. “And part of me still does believe that. But here’s the deal – it wasn’t ever about that. It wasn’t ever about finding the best platform to tell people about Christ. The first thing that needed to happen was I needed to make myself smaller because I was exalting myself on the stage. I was glorifying myself. I was seeking praise from people. And by doing that, it doesn’t matter if I was proclaiming Christ, because I was doing it the wrong way. I was proclaiming Christ from a self-exalting platform. And that was the contradiction I finally had to come to terms with. I might have a stage down the road, but right now I need to completely surrender that and give it over to God.”

Smith said he’s eager to be an active member of his church, one that would allow him to give back to his local community and connect with those who are feeling lost in their lives. It’s a feeling he can easily identify with.