The 2022 K-Love Fan Awards, hosted by Matthew West and Tauren Wells, airs tonight (June 3, 2022) on TBN at 8pm EST.
The awards show will feature musical performances by TobyMac, Lauren Daigle, Kirk Franklin, Katy Nichole, Maverick City Music, Phil Wickham, Elevation Worship, Dante Bowe, For King & Country, Jonathan Traylor, Walker Hayes, Tauren Wells, Jordan Feliz, Anne Wilson, Cain, Chris Tomlin, and CeCe Winans.
ChurchLeaders caught up with artists on the red carpet, where we asked them to share words of encouragement to church leaders. Christian music icons Michael W. Smith, Mac Powell (Third Day), and award cohost Matthew West offered their insights.
Smith encouraged pastors and church leaders not to “forget the promises of God.”
Smith further said he has been hearing that pastors are getting burned out and quitting the ministry in light of recent hardships, including the COVID-19 pandemic—a trend Smith hopes isn’t true.
“Take a sabbatical,” he said. “Go get well. It’s okay to go get well and come back so you’ll be stronger than ever.”
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West’s father is a pastor, and West said being a preacher’s kid has its stereotypes. But having his dad in the front row for his K-Love Awards performance is a true blessing after having spent so much time himself sitting in the front row of his dad’s church.
West told ChurchLeaders that his encouragement to pastors would be to not forget their family, giving an example of how his parents instilled godly wisdom into his life that kept him from walking away from Christianity.
“One of the biggest things my dad always taught me is when I would see how sometimes the church would treat our family or my parents or whatever, I would be like, ‘Well, that’s what being a Christian is like? I don’t think I want anything to do with that,’” West said.
“My dad and mom were always so good about—Look, you gotta keep your eyes on Jesus,” West continued. “He’s the only one who will never fail you. Even a well intended church, people, and Christians, they might let you down. And you can’t let that affect your closeness of your relationship with Jesus. And those were saving words for me that kept a kid who was on the verge of going, ‘I don’t know if I want anything to do with this thing people call [Christianity].’”
