When Zach Williams reads The Parable of the Prodigal Son, he sees himself within the story.
Like that wayward son within the Bible story, Williams walked away from his household as a younger grownup, rejecting the religion and values that had been instilled in him from beginning. He received maintain of marijuana. He grew to become a heavy drinker. He shaped a Southern rock band and toured the world. After which he realized that he had a gap in his soul that solely Jesus may fill.
Williams particulars his journey to redemption in a brand new e book, A Rescue Story: Religion, Freedom, and Discovering Your Approach Dwelling, which will likely be launched on February 27 (Zondervan). The Christian artist has had a string of hits in recent times which have impressed thousands and thousands of individuals, together with 5 that hit No. 1 on the Billboard Christian Airplay chart. (Chain Breaker, Outdated Church Choir and Jesus was there — a collaboration with Dolly Parton — stayed on the prime of the charts the longest.) He even received two Grammys.
“My father was a worship chief. My mother sang in church,” Williams informed ChristianHeadlines.
He skilled God in church as a youth, he mentioned. Nevertheless, at different instances he wouldn’t really feel effectively throughout providers and would go to cover in the bathroom till it was over.
“Once I was 18, I ran as far and as quick as I may for quite a lot of years,” he mentioned of the church. Williams grew to become a partisan.
“I used to be a type of guys who didn't go a day with out smoking for about seven, eight years of my life, and that's how I lived and functioned,” he mentioned. “My dad owned a development firm. And for me, that was the one factor that made driving on the development web site enjoyable. It was like, 'If I wish to do that, I’ve to be this excessive all day.'”
Williams then switched from marijuana to alcohol.
“I began ingesting extra. I used to be extra of a binge-watching kind of occasion man,” he mentioned.
His dependancy to alcohol solely worsened when he shaped the Southern rock band Zach Williams and The Reformation in 2007. The group launched two albums. She traveled the USA and Europe. He was doing what he all the time wished to do – singing music within the highlight. However he discovered the expertise unfulfilling.
“You went on stage, at a celebration, off stage, at a celebration, wakened in a distinct metropolis on a distinct sofa, in a distinct lodge room,” Williams mentioned. “…I received to the place I used to be sad about it.
“Within the two or three hours I used to be there, it was actually the one time in my life that I felt full,” Williams mentioned. “After which I might stroll off the stage and there can be this vacancy that I might seek for the remainder of the time. And I feel that's the place medicine and alcohol are available in, since you're attempting to numb the sensation that you’ve got only for a couple of moments day-after-day.”
A turning level in Williams' life and profession got here in 2012, when he was making ready for a tour. His spouse gave him an ultimatum.
“I left for Europe in 2012 [my wife] mentioned, 'In case you can't change for your loved ones, [and] you'll come again worse than you had been, we're achieved.” And I didn't wish to lose my spouse and my children. My spouse was pregnant with our daughter,” he informed ChristianHeadlines. “And I bear in mind leaving on that journey and we had been there for a couple of week and I used to be so sick of being in these locations. And I mentioned, 'God, if you happen to're actual, show it if you happen to can [then] I’ll stroll away from all this.'
The subsequent day, Williams felt God's presence.
“We had been on an eight-hour bus trip throughout Spain and our driver was scanning the radio stations and I heard a Massive Daddy Weave tune on the radio and stopped on the station lengthy sufficient to listen to the lyrics. .”
The tune was Massive Daddy Weave Redeemed.
“And I received to my lodge room and seemed up the tune and began listening to the lyrics. And in that second I noticed that God noticed me in a approach that I might by no means see myself. And I referred to as my spouse and informed her about it. And I mentioned, 'Once I get house, I'm achieved [with the band].' And I got here house from that tour, I left the band, and on June 10, 2012, I gave my life to the Lord. We began going to this church and inside a yr I used to be requested to assist open a campus. And I went to work for them and started to guide providers. I began writing Christian music and was invited to Nashville to put in writing some songs.
Throughout a type of songwriting expeditions in Nashville, he wrote chain breaker, which spent 15 weeks on the prime of the CCM chart in 2016.
Williams credit his dad and mom for loving him by means of his prodigal years.
“I'm simply grateful that I had dad and mom who exemplified Christ — who cherished me by means of and thru, who by no means judged me, who continued to wish and consider and belief that God had a plan for my life,” he mentioned.
The theme of Williams' life and e book, he says, is hope.
“I pray that individuals will stroll away from this and see how a lot God loves us,” he mentioned. “…If he may do it for me, he can do it for anybody.”
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Picture credit: ©Zondervan
Michael Foust has coated the intersection of religion and information for 20 years. His tales have appeared within the Baptist Press, Christianity Right this moment, Christian PoHoly, and Leaf chronicle, and Toronto Star and and Knoxville Information-Sentinel.