Grammy-nominated Christian singer Rhett Walker says the grace extended to him by a church during a teenage pregnancy is the reason he sings today and also the reason he found salvation. Walker is a five-time Dove Award nominee but says he likely never would have entered Christian music had his church not displayed love when he and his then-girlfriend April—now his wife—became pregnant.
"We've been married for 20 years this year," Walker told Crosswalk Headlines. "We were a teenage pregnancy at 17, and I watched the church rally around us, which led to me getting saved. And I was like, man, if I can share my story and it resonates the same way the church rallied around me as a teenager …that's what I want to do. So I don't write songs for radio to play it. I hope they do. I love it when they do. [But] I write songs off life-lived and lessons learned and hope to help somebody along."
Walker received a Dove nomination this year for his song Man on the Middle Cross, which was up for Bluegrass/Country/Roots Recorded Song of the Year and is part of his new EP, Days that We Dreamed Of. He previously received a Grammy nomination for Where Mercy Found Me and landed in the Billboard Christian Airplay Top 5 for Gospel Song.
He acknowledged that "not everybody has good church stories," but he hopes his story shows how grace and love can change lives.
"You never know what anybody's walking through," said Walker, who is currently on tour. "We've all had grace and mercy in our own life, so let's do our best to extend that any way we can. And there's times you gotta call sin out and be like, 'Hey, let's hold each other accountable.' But if we don't lead with grace and mercy, then we don't need to be in the conversation."
Jesus, he said, changed his life.
"We can't earn it, and we surely don't deserve grace. It's only Jesus."
WATCH: Rhett Walker - Days That We Dreamed Of (mini-documentary)
Photo Credit: ©BEC Recordings
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.