Despite touring with big names like Brandon Lake and playing for thousands of people on any given night, Phil Wickham still thinks of himself as a “worship leader” — just with a much bigger platform.
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“I haven’t always been perfectly faithful, but I think as, as a whole, I’ve always just wanted to take steps in the direction of doing what I thought God wanted me to do in the moment,” Mr. Wickham recently told the Washington Times’ Higher Ground. “And God, He just seemed to give me a little bit more to take care of every year as time went on.”
The 39-year-old musician was just 13 years old when he started leading worship, and he has seen the Lord’s hand in his life through all the twists and turns that has come his way ever since. Now, after 25 years of using his singing and songwriting talents to glorify God, Mr. Wickham fully believes his music is a way to share his testimony with the world — especially his new album “I Believe.”
“I wanted to shout it from the rooftops that I’m proud of Jesus. I want to boast in His work on the cross in the empty grave,” Mr. Wickham said. “There’s so much power in our testimony: ‘This is what Jesus did for me. This is why I can’t stop singing about him [be]cause I believe he did this and this and this’ … I try to write other songs, but I can’t like, I mean, I can, but I just don’t want to. I just want to write songs about how amazing Jesus is because He’s changed my life and He continues to.”
The three-time Grammy nominee noted that at a time when more and more people are looking for hope and answers in our chaotic world, speaking the truth of what God has done and can do is just what our society needs.
“I just find so many people are searching for Jesus … and they just need someone that’s normal, and kind, and loving, not condescending, just to tell their experience with knowing Jesus,” he explained. “I’ve seen Him heal people. I’ve seen Him set people free from addiction. Literally right in front of my eyes. People go from being on full on addiction to pornography or drugs. And God’s just taken that desire away when they asked Him. He’s changing people’s lives in front of my eyes.”
With a new “I Believe” tour starting later this month, and many dates already sold out, Mr. Wickham hopes the good news he shares through his music will make a profound impact on people’s lives when they need it most.
“There’s truth in [this album],” Mr. Wickham concluded. “So I think people are searching for and wanting … a group of people that say, ‘I believe in Jesus cause he’s giving me hope. Would you like to come into the story with me?’ And people need that now more than ever.”
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Marissa Mayer is a writer and editor with more than 10 years of professional experience. Her work has been featured in Christian Post, The Daily Signal, and Intellectual Takeout. Mayer has a B.A. in English with an emphasis in Creative Writing from Arizona State University.
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