Zach Williams is opening up about his rock and roll past, as well as how he met God while listening to a Christian song, in his new book Rescue Story.
Before Willaims was singing about the gospel he was living life to party. The singer was in high school when he started dabbling in drugs. Shortly after he joined a rock band and started touring.
"We started traveling and touring, which that just led me down an even darker path," said Williams in an interview. "I thought, in order to play music, I needed to live a certain lifestyle. If I was gonna be in a rock band, that meant you did drugs and you use alcohol on a daily basis and you live this reckless lifestyle."
WIlliams continued down this path of destruction for over a decade, even though he met a woman, got married and became a father. The singer was raised in the church with both parents both highly involved in church life.
Coming to the end of himself, sick of being tired of running from the Lord, Williams asked God to prove Himself while he was touring one day.
"I was riding in a van one day and the guy driving the bus was scanning radio stations and, out of nowhere, I hear this song called ‘Redeemed‘ by Big Daddy Weave come across the radio and, man, that song just hit me; it struck a chord. I listened to the lyrics when I got to the hotel room and I called my wife and I said, ‘Hey, I’m done. I’m out of here,’ and she couldn’t believe it. But I came home from that tour and quit my band and I cancelled all my shows."
Roughly a year later Williams was asked to be the worship leader at a new church campus in Nashville. That's when he started writing Christian music.
"I love writing songs from places in my life that I’ve been hurt or I’ve experienced joy. I think, for me, [sharing my story] is a good thing."
Rescue Story will be available February 27, 2024.
Sat, May 18, 9:00 AM
Full-time, Agriculture, Labour