Singer Montell Jordan Is Now a Pastor: 'God Can Change and Transform' People
- Michael Foust Crosswalk Headlines Contributor
- Updated Jan 13, 2023
The Grammy-nominated singer who climbed the charts with the 1995 hit single This Is How We Do It is now a pastor who wants to take the gospel to those "outside of the church."
Montell Jordan received a Grammy nomination in the 90s for This Is How We Do It, which spent 29 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, including seven weeks at No. 1. Today, though, the 54-year-old Jordan and his wife Kristin are founding lead pastors of Master Peace Church in Dacula, Ga., which streams its services.
The church's mission is to "see people come to accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior," to "see marriages and families restored through the power of God," and to "equip people to become disciples of Christ," according to its website.
"I used to think music defined me," Jordan told Vlad TV, a YouTube channel. "And I had to learn that music doesn't define me. I define music. Music doesn't make me – I make music.
"And that's when I really started to find who I was – not based on other people telling me who I am, but based on God being the one who tells me who I am. My identity being in Him, my identity not being in my blackness, my identity not being in my accolades or my fame or my notoriety, but my identity being a ... son of God."
Jordan and his wife co-authored the 2017 book, This Is How We Do It: Making Your Marriage A Masterpeace, which details how God saved their marriage. Today they conduct marriage ministry to couples facing a crisis.
"God restored us, and … we have one of the most powerful marriages," Jordan said.
His goal in telling his life story, he said, is that "somebody that doesn't know Jesus, that doesn't know God, that they'll see this. And they'll be like, 'I want to know what Montel knows about that.'"
"God can change and transform a man's heart," he said.
Jordan still tours as part of the I Love the 90s Tour. Singing in arenas, he said, gives him the chance to spread the message of Christ.
"The touring allows me access into the world of people who may have been lost like I was," he said. "... I become a pastor to the artists I'm out on the road with, I get to go into places that are outside of the church."
Jordan and his wife have four children. He and Kristina are fans of the hit Bible-based television series The Chosen and attended last year's Atlanta premiere of The Chosen film.
"We watch it together, and we discuss it," he told Christian Headlines of his family. "We love the way the Bible comes alive through the different characters."
Photo courtesy: ©The Chosen, used with permission.
Video courtesy: ©djvlad
Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
