Granger Smith Announces Summer Tour is His Last, Leaving Music to Pursue Ministry

Country artist Granger Smith has announced he’s trading in music for ministry and calling his upcoming tour his last.

The “Backroad Song” star recently shared the news with fans in a video on social media in which he detailed his decision. “This message is so difficult to post,” he prefaced the news in the post’s accompanying caption. “Not because I don’t believe in the truth of them, but because this marks the end of the longest era in my life! Touring…24 years of it.”

In the video, Smith makes eye contact through the camera to state, “This summer is my last ever tour. I have felt a strong desire to pursue ministry. This doesn’t mean I’m going to start a church or a crusade, or a revival. This means that me and my family are going to serve our local church. We’re going to pour into that church as members and have my pastors and elders pour into me and disciple me and teach me as I sit under their wise teaching. Then Lord willing, one day they can affirm me into the next steps of what that might look like to glorify God best from my platform.”

He also shared that he has been attending Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He said pursuing his master’s degree there has taken up much of his time, adding, “This is a time of learning and growing for me, and that may explain to some of you all why I’ve appeared maybe distant, especially to music lately.”

He also said has a book on the way that touches on living through the tragic loss of his 3-year-old son, River, in 2019. “That message is so important to tell,” the singer said of the book, titled Like a River. “It’s the most important piece of media that I could ever release, that I ever have released.”

He quotes the Bible’s Mark Chapter 8 and uses it as an example in his own life and for the decision he’s making now. “I can’t go to seminary and be poured in by my pastors and elders and then go out on the weekends and try to be exalting myself,” he explained. “I think that’s a contradiction … I want to be able to sacrifice.”

His Like a River Tour kicks off on Thursday (April 13) and will come to a close on Aug. 26. His book, Like a River, will be released along the way on Aug. 1.

“This tour’s not about me,” he exclusively told People ahead of his announcement. “This tour is going to be about the people that have supported me for so long. And, selfishly, I will enjoy it more if they’re enjoying it more. I think they’re going to enjoy it more if I just make it, ‘Hey, what’s an old song we haven’t done in a long time? Let’s play that. Let’s make sure that we get as many people on the stage as we can. Do you want to sing one of my songs? Has your dream always been to sing the chorus of my song? Come on up. Here’s a microphone. I’ve done it a thousand times, now you get to do it.’”

Watch his full message below.

Photo by Stephen J. Cohen/Getty Images