(The Lion) — Not long ago, Forrest Frank was sitting with his wife in their Waco, Texas, home, contemplating a quiet future in business after stepping away from pop music. But then he says God planted a song in his mind. Then another. And another.
He recorded those tracks and posted them online, surprised when they quickly went viral. Two albums later, Frank is now one of the nation’s leading artists – and perhaps the hottest name in Christian music.
He’s also a source of inspiration for countless tweens as a positive role model in a music world often filled with explicit and coarse content.
“The only good thing that we can do in this life is give our life to Jesus and worship Him and serve Him,” Frank told a crowd of thousands of college students at Liberty University last year.
It’s been a breakout 12 months for the 30-year-old Frank. Last fall, he won two GMA Dove Awards for New Artist of the Year and Pop/Contemporary Recorded Song of the Year (Good Day). Just a few months later, he released his second album, Child of God II.
In April of this year, his song Your Way’s Better landed on the much-watched Billboard Hot 100 chart – a rare feat for a Christian artist that placed him alongside mainstream names such as Morgan Wallen, Benson Boone, Drake and Lady Gaga.
Around the same time, Your Way’s Better surged on TikTok’s Top 50 chart thanks to a viral dance craze, with countless tweens moving to the song’s chorus: “Lord, I need You now more than ever, would You put my heart back together? I searched the world ‘til my head hurt, just to find out Your way’s better.”
The song has been featured in more than 600,000 TikTok videos and even caught the attention of the Savannah Bananas baseball team, who performed the dance during a game.
His fusion of pop, hip-hop and worship has set him apart in the CCM scene and resonated with a broader audience. His “Child of God Tour Part 2” spanned 26 cities in the U.S. and Canada, selling out arenas along the way.
“I just can’t take any credit for it,” he said of his success. “God’s just been inspiring songs.”
Frank grew up in a Christian home, but around eighth grade, he says, he began living a double life –doing things behind his parents’ backs that he knew they wouldn’t approve. That lifestyle continued until his sophomore year at Baylor University, when he became a Christian at a Wednesday night church service.
“All the insecurity left me, the depression left me because I knew my identity. I’m a child of God,” said Frank, who is married with one child.
Frank co-founded the mainstream pop duo Surfaces in 2017, but after several years, he felt God prompting him to step away. He was considering a future as a businessman when he posted a string of Christian songs online, first No Longer Bound and then Lift My Hands. They went viral. God, he said, “opened the floodgates,” with faith-centric songs filling his mind “every single day.”
When asked about his future, he responded simply: “Whatever God has planned.”
“Life is so short,” he said. “Once I gave my life to Jesus, I’m complete. I don’t need anything. I don’t need any accolades. And I genuinely mean that.”
