Tony Rossi, Director of Communications
Country Music’s Josh Turner Serves a Savior
Around 25 years ago, a teenage Josh Turner felt a passion for country music and prayed
to God for guidance because he wanted to pursue it as a career. During a
“Christopher Closeup” interview, he recalls God giving him this answer: “If this is what
you want, I’ll give it to you as long as you trust Me.” That’s exactly what Turner did,
even during some very difficult times. Today, he is a country music superstar with an
immediately recognizable baritone voice on hits like “Long Black Train.” And he’s just
released his first gospel album, “I Serve a Savior.”
Turner’s trust in God met its first real challenge when the aspiring singer developed a lesion on his vocal cord. He said, “I was dreaming of moving to Nashville and getting a record deal. All of a sudden, I get this lesion on my right vocal cord that shut me down. I practically lost my voice for quite some time, and it scared me half to death. I was thinking, ‘Lord, why would You conjure up this passion within me, and why would You tell me that You’re going to get me someplace when You take away the one thing that’s going to get me there?’”
But, continued Turner, “I kept thinking back to [God] saying, ‘Hey, just trust Me.’ So, that’s what I did. I walked through it, endured the hardship, and did the work that was required of me, and it actually became a blessing in disguise. Once I went through everything at the Vanderbilt Voice Clinic in Nashville, and the classical vocal training, and going to Belmont University and continuing that training, I started noticing that my voice kept getting healthier and bigger and stronger and richer. Had I not gone through that time, I would never have the voice that I have now.”
With all the success Turner has had since “Long Black Train” became a hit in 2003, he could certainly have a big ego. But he doesn’t. Instead, he remains a humble man who is always open to learning from others and from the lessons God puts in his path.
Part of that stems from Turner’s natural affinity for his elders. He said, “When I was growing up, I would rather sit around the table with my parents and my grandparents and listen to them tell stories than be outside [playing] football with my brother – no offense to my brother. But I just loved hearing the perspective of people older than me. I felt like there was so much I could learn from them. That’s basically been carried on throughout my life. I’m attracted to older men and women who have lived a full life and have so much wisdom to offer.”
One of the pieces of wisdom Turner has picked up along the way has to do with men and the idea that they don’t need anyone in life, that they can be completely self-sufficient. He concluded, “[Self-sufficiency] is an illusion. It’s a lie from the enemy. He makes us think that, ‘You’re strong, you’re in control, you can handle all these things that are coming your way by yourself.’ That’s so far from the truth. We’re made to have community. We’re made to have fellowship with one another. There’s no shame in taking part in that. Some of the healthiest people I know have a good community. They have fellowship with other men, and so that’s something that I strive towards.”
For free copies of the Christopher News Note FINDING CHRIST IN COMMUNITY, write: The Christophers, 5 Hanover Square, New York, NY 10004; or e-mail: mail@christophers.org
