Nearly a decade ago, Christian artist Cory Asbury released “Reckless Love,” a worship song that was as controversial as it was popular. This week, Asbury said that when he wrote a song “about a love that leaves the 99 to chase down the one,” he didn’t think that he “would be the one.”
Asbury, who reflected in a recent social media post about his upcoming album, said that he was originally planning on pivoting away from Christian music to release a country album. That is, until he heard a “whisper” from God.
“Basically, I was running from my calling,” said Asbury. “I was really frustrated by the industry of it all. Making money from worship music and the gospel was just such a weird feeling for me in my soul.”
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“Like, I can’t charge $100 a ticket to come to my ‘worship thing,’ because I’m good at singing to Jesus. Like, that’s so weird. I just couldn’t settle the issue in my soul,” he added. Asbury also said that he “was really thrown off by the dirtiness of the industry. Honestly, the sin in it was rampant, the biggest names. Stuff that you would never wanna see, I was seeing it.”
While Asbury did not mention Newsboys, the allegations of sexual misconduct and drug abuse against former frontman Michael Tait have dominated headlines. This week, Newsboys announced a sweeping defamation lawsuit against The Roys Report, Christian concert promoter LiveCo/TPR, World Vision, MercyMe, and several other Christian music artists.
“I just ran, ran as far as I could,” Asbury said. “I said, ‘You know what, man? I’ll retire. My family’s taken care of. I don’t have to do any of this stuff.’”
“And in that running, I was just getting cynical and jaded and bitter and frustrated at the church. The truth is, though, no one wants to live in that place,” said Asbury. “No one wants to wake up every morning wondering how they can tear it apart.”
“I was kind of doing Saul’s work,” he continued, referring to the Apostle Paul, who persecuted Christians prior to his conversion. “I was on my high horse, thinking I was better. You know, Jesus is like, ‘If you want to point out the speck in someone else’s eye, you better pull out the log in yours first.’ So that’s where I’ve kinda been.”
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Asbury said that he had accepted a $500,000 advance to produce a 20-song country album, but that as he was finishing work on the record, God convicted him.
