From recording their own gospel albums to including God in awards-show speeches and thanking Him in album credits, country singers have almost never shied away from sharing their faith with their fans.
“Country Faith,” a new book compiled by local CMA Award-winning journalist Deborah Evans Price, allows more than 50 of the genre’s biggest stars to get even more personal with their testimonials.
Artists including Brad Paisley, Carrie Underwood, Florida Georgia Line, Miranda Lambert, The Band Perry and Alan Jackson contributed their favorite Bible verses along with short stories about why the lines are so meaningful to them.
Paisley used the opportunity to share James 2:17 which reads, “Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.” The words inspired “Those Crazy Christians” from his “Wheelhouse” album.
Jackson cited 1 Corinthians 13:13, which says, “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” Jackson previously used the verse in his song “Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning).”
Lambert chose Proverbs 12:4, “A wife of noble character is her husband’s crown” following her first year of marriage to Blake Shelton.
Miranda Lambert
Jimmy Wayne, formerly a homeless orphan, used James 1:27. He says he lives his life by the verse, which reads, “Religion that God our father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”
“For me it was a no brainer, pretty simple,” says Wayne, who had a three-week No. 1 hit with “Do You Believe Me Now.”
In 2010, Wayne walked from Nashville to Phoenix to raise awareness of at-risk teens aging out of the foster-care system. He started a campaign called Project Meet Me Halfway to keep his message alive and he saw the book as another way spread the word.
“Anything my name is attached to, it’s always going back to Project Meet Me Halfway,” he says. “In my mind, being a star isn’t about being a famous. It’s about being a light to shine for other people.”
“Country Faith” is available online and in stores now.
Wayne will play a benefit for the 30th anniversary of CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) for children at 6 p.m. Sunday at Nashville First Church of the Nazarene, 510 Woodland St. Tickets are $15 for adults and $7 for children at www.casa-nashville.org.
