Brandon Lake addressed some of the criticism he has received from “religious” people for playing and collaborating alongside secular country singer Jelly Roll during he and Phil Wickham’s sold-out show in Hershey, Pennsylvania, last Friday (July 18).
At only the second show of their Summer Worship Nights 2025 tour, Hersheypark Stadium, located next to the Hershey amusement park, experienced 30,000 people worshiping and praising God through songs led by Lake and Wickham.
The night included a brand-new song the two singers just wrote and a new one from Wickham that will be featured on his upcoming “Song of the Saints” album.
During the show, both Lake and Wickham took solo time to sing a couple of their new and most popular songs. It was then that Lake shared how it has been an honor to sing his song “Hard Fought Hallelujah” for audiences who wouldn’t usually sing worship songs due to his collaboration with Jelly Roll.
“There’s one in particular that’s kind of taken me all over the country these past few months. And I’ve been able to sing in some really wild places,” Lake said. “But you know, honestly, I’ve been able to sing it in spaces like this, except nobody came for a church service. Nobody came experiencing worship. But we’ve been able to sing this song of brokenness, but this still gets people to sing out hallelujah, no matter how hard it gets.”
Lake addressed how he has received a lot of hate from Christians who believe he shouldn’t be partnering with a person like Jelly Roll, who is open about drinking a lot of alcohol, smoking weed, cussing, and who is married to a former OnlyFans star.
“It’s funny because the bigger rooms I go in, the more hate it seems I’ve gotten from the religious folks,” Lake continued. “But the last time I checked, and I’ve been reading my Bible, [God] calls us to run into the darkness carrying our light [and] to not be afraid of the darkness.”
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“Because here’s the truth,” he added, “every single one of us were once in the darkness. I love this scripture in 1 Peter, 2:9. It says that we are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation set apart that we may sing the praises of him who took us from the darkness and pulled us into his wonderful, glorious light.”
Lake shared how “amazing” it has been to be able to share his faith with “some really influential people [and] sharing who this amazing Jesus is that saved my life.”
