How "Come Jesus Come" Songwriter Overcame Addiction for Christ
Inside This Episode
How does someone who once despised everything about Christianity end up writing a worship song now sung by millions around the world? In this powerful interview, Stephen McWhirter shares his raw and redemptive story—from a life marked by drug addiction, anger, and hopelessness to an encounter that changed everything. You’ll hear the heart behind his song Come Jesus Come, how it was written, and why its message is resonating with people across the globe.
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Transcript
Eric Huffman: How does a man who once despised everything about Christianity end up writing a worship song that is now being sung in churches around the world?
Stephen McWhirter: My dad was a traveling evangelist.
[Archival audio – Stephen’s dad preaching]: By the awareness of the sovereignty of God.
Stephen McWhirter: And I hated Christianity, I hated Jesus, I think primarily because I would watch my dad get up, preach about Jesus, and then behind closed doors, I would watch him physically abuse my mom.
Eric Huffman: Artist and songwriter Stephen McWhirter's painful past caused him to spiral into a full-blown drug addiction by age 17.
Stephen McWhirter: I got arrested six times before I turned 21. It is a miracle I am not in prison. It is a miracle I am not dead.
Eric Huffman: What were you really searching for at that point?
Today, the man behind the Grammy-winning song, "Come Jesus Come," reveals how he went from meth addiction to faith in Jesus.
Stephen McWhirter: It is three o'clock in the morning. I literally have drugs on the side table next to me, and I just remember being like, "God, I want to give You my life. I want to quit all this addiction, all this darkness, all this depression, all this anger. God, I want to, but I can't." A thought more powerful than words. And it was, "Stephen, you won't do it. I'll do it."
Eric Huffman: How did your life start to change at that point?
Stephen McWhirter: I quit everything overnight. But the thing I remember the most was when I gave my life to Jesus, I knew the Lord was calling me to do something. That was the hardest thing I have ever done in my life.
Eric Huffman: Stephen McWhirter, welcome to Maybe God.
Stephen McWhirter: Hey, thanks for having me.
Eric Huffman: Glad you are here, man. Now, not everybody might be familiar with your face or your voice or maybe even your name, but they know your song more than likely. The song, "Come Jesus Come," it just took the world by storm recently. It is 100 million-plus streams and views online, made popular especially by the CeCe Winans version, which recently won a Grammy. So a song that you wrote won a Grammy, brother. It is amazing, especially when you know your story about how long... it wasn't that long ago that you struggled to, let's say, even appreciate the church and Christianity. You were disillusioned. You despised Christians not that long ago.
So before we talk about this special song, let's talk about your background there and some of the issues you had. Why was it that you grew to despise Christianity and Christians?
Stephen McWhirter: My dad was a traveling evangelist. So I was an EK, not a PK. And I hated Christianity, I hated Jesus, I think primarily because I would watch my dad get up, preach about Jesus, and then behind closed doors, I would watch him physically abuse my mom. And it was so violent, it was so harsh, it was so traumatic that it made it very hard for me to believe that if God is real, He is good. And I wanted nothing to do with this Jesus guy.
That is when I began down this path of rebellion, where my earthly father and my heavenly Father became the villains in my story. And yeah, I really was throughout years of wild addiction from 11 to early 20s. Everything from smoking, drinking marijuana. I was selling drugs, cocaine, pills. But crystal meth was the biggest part for many years. And during all that, man, I hated Jesus, hated Christians. Would have cussed you out if you mentioned His name around me. If you didn't know me then, you would have pointed at me and said, "If there is ever an enemy to the cross, it is this guy."
Eric Huffman: That's fascinating. And it's really interesting to hear how much of that you trace back to your relationship with your earthly father, who, as you said, was a traveling evangelist. And preacher's kids are notorious for having issues, right? I wonder about evangelist kids, what that's like, because you have the same issues as preacher's kids, but dad is around less and maybe there are issues that come up like abuse that are harder to hold him accountable on without a local church overseeing him. And so I just wonder how bad that must have gotten for you as a kid. It's really no mystery that that would negatively impact your faith. But what kinds of... I hate to make you talk about this, but what kinds of things would you see as a kid? Was it a typical cycle of abuse and remorse and then more abuse? Or what was it like?
Stephen McWhirter: Oh, I would hate to call any of it typical. Unfortunately, it does seem to repeat itself in this world. I think it's because there are broken people everywhere. It just sticks out more when that person is an evangelist or a preacher because of what they represent. Gosh, we would see my mom just get brutally beat in front of us, dragged across the floor. It was traumatic, man. I won't lie. I won't sugarcoat it. And we would see this stuff and there would never be like real repentance or anything like that, it was just, "Don't tell anyone because it'll ruin your father's ministry, his income."
Eric Huffman: That sounds like it came from your mom, then.
Stephen McWhirter: It was both. It was both. But my mom, yes, she was scared. And that is part of that. The abuse isn't just physical. It's psychological. It's all of it.
Eric Huffman: Yeah, of course.
Stephen McWhirter: We would see all this growing up and there was this fear. And I think we see that today still in many situations where these people are famous pastors or whatever, and they fall. And you hear people say things like, "Oh, my faith is gone now because of that." We say, "Well, it was probably on a person more than it was in Jesus." Because when you really get people to know Jesus through your ministry, like you disappear and it's them and Jesus, then whatever comes, they are on a solid foundation. Even if a pastor that they looked up to falls, Jesus is where their faith is. It's where their relationship is. It's real.
Eric Huffman: It's like a lesson we just can't seem to learn, though. Every generation seems to have its celebrity preachers and preachers willingly step into that role. And it's just a matter of time, isn't it?
Stephen McWhirter: I will say, I think in some scenarios, it's a subtle thing that starts to creep in with power and stature in a thing that wasn't intended in the beginning. And in some cases, people are really broken, flawed, with probably some real psychotic issues or narcissistic tendencies that rise to power and we act surprised. And that kind of happens, too.
Eric Huffman: Sure. The crazy thing about your dad is I did a little looking and Stuart McWhirter was a pretty well-known evangelist to the extent that 50 years later, his stuff is still on YouTube, some of it. And I've listened to a couple of his sermons and dude was a great preacher. I mean, an artist with words and everything was just-
Stephen McWhirter: It was awesome.
Eric Huffman: And you could feel the room like people getting changed by the preaching, you know?
Stephen McWhirter: Well, I think God is kind and He is gracious and He loves people and He wants people saved. And I believe there was a gift in my dad that really was from the Lord, but it was corrupted by what I think was some psychological problems, if I am going to be honest, potentially demonic. I don't want to get too weird into that, but that is real. I think those two things were factors in keeping my dad from fully walking into what God had called him to.
Eric Huffman: Well, at that time in your life at a young age, did you think your dad was a fake Christian or just a flawed Christian?
Hey, everybody. Thanks so much for watching today. We share stories like this because people need to know they are not alone and that healing is possible even after years of pain. So if Stephen's story resonates with you, if you've been disappointed or hurt by people of faith, or if you've been caught up in addiction and unforgiveness, I hope you'll subscribe to Maybe God. Subscribing helps us keep telling these stories and it helps these stories reach the people who might need to hear them the most. So thank you in advance for subscribing. Now let's get back to my conversation with Stephen McWhirter.
Stephen McWhirter: Well, in that time of my life, I thought it was all fake. I thought it was all broken. So, yeah, totally. I absolutely did. I thought everyone, because of what I saw, that said they were a Christian was putting on a mask.
Eric Huffman: One crazy thing about your story, and I haven't mentioned it yet, but I know you are not here to sell books, but you did write an awesome book called Radically Restored, and I've read it. It is a shocking, amazing story, starting with some of the stuff you've already shared, but your experiences at church camp. As I read it, I was just like, "What kind of church camp was this?" Because you describe it as like a jailhouse yard sometimes with the hierarchies that take form and you have to prove yourself early in the week or you will get taken advantage of the whole week. And of course, that was where you had your first run-in with a Playboy magazine and with drugs and things. How old were you at that time when you started getting introduced to these things?
Stephen McWhirter: Of course you would ask me that. I was very diligent on trying to do this right when I was reading the book, but it's hard to remember it all off the top of my head. I was pretty young. I mean, I was around 11 or 12 around that time. That was when I first started at church camp, man. If you think about it in the 80s is what that would have been. 80s coming into the early 90s, it would have been, there were a lot of kids that got sent there that people were like, "Hey, you're messed up. We're going to send you to church camp."
Eric Huffman: "It's going to help fix you."
Stephen McWhirter: You know what I mean? Yeah, y'all fix it. So, yeah, it wasn't hard to find people that were as angry as I was, as dysfunctional as I was. So yeah, man, it's crazy.
Eric Huffman: Who supplied the evangelist kid with porn and weed at church camp? I mean, did it come from other kids?
Stephen McWhirter: You have got to know. I mean, you are an innocent man.
Eric Huffman: I went to church camp and never saw any. I mean, I lusted over a bunch of the girls there, I guess, but I never had a joint in my hand.
Stephen McWhirter: It's not hard to put that stuff in a bag and bring it with you. That's all I'm saying.
Eric Huffman: Yeah. So it was just something that happened.
Stephen McWhirter: No, I mean, like, seriously, you just put it in a backpack, bring it with you. I mean, there wasn't much more to it than that.
Eric Huffman: There is not a TSA check.
Stephen McWhirter: There wasn't a TSA pre-check or a checkpoint where they were like, "Take your shoes off, open up your bag." It was...
Eric Huffman: Right. Maybe I'm naive, man. Nobody-
Stephen McWhirter: No, no, no. You're good. That's good. Think the best.
Eric Huffman: We'll talk about your family in a minute. I'm just curious, as a parent, do you send your boys to church camp?
Stephen McWhirter: I don't send them. They go because they want to, but yes, they have gone there. They've had a great time. It's different.
Eric Huffman: So even given your experience, you're not an anti-church camp or anything?
Stephen McWhirter: My kids have been... We have a 21-year-old, we have an 18-year-old, we have an 11-year-old. They're all boys. And we've been blessed to see them all fall in love with Jesus and us not have to force it.
Eric Huffman: Beautiful.
Stephen McWhirter: And I think this isn't about me, but I think it's just meaning it when nobody's watching, and when you make a mistake, you own it up. You know, that's it. You go, "Gosh, I'm sorry. That was so stupid."
Eric Huffman: That's right. No, that's so true. Intentional household public repentance, you know, like going to your kids and saying, "When Daddy did this, he shouldn't have. And I'm so sorry. And I want to do better." Like that's so important to the process of discipling children. It sounds like you didn't get any of that when you witnessed those things in your own household growing up and obviously it affected you in all kinds of ways.
By 11 or 12, you're smoking and drinking. How did the use of drugs develop into an addiction and how quickly?
Stephen McWhirter: Oh, man, it was very quick. Smoking and drinking was like right away, and not long after that, of course, marijuana. And then it was just, "That feels good. Everything disappeared. I like this." All the issues, all the problems, all the concerns. And I'm also going through the hormones of a teen, right? Coming into my teenage years, you're a total emotional mess.
So you add all that onto the trauma of what I have been brought up around at home and stuff, I was just like, "Numb it all. Let's go." Whatever is going to make me feel like I am happy, even if it's a lie. I mean, you put anything in front of me other than a needle, I was going to do it. And that was basically only because I was squeamish of needles.
Eric Huffman: Yeah. You mentioned all kinds of other drugs you were using before, but what did you end up landing on as your drug of choice?
Stephen McWhirter: Probably the biggest thing that hit me, and this isn't an endorsement... What's your favorite? Oh gosh. Where do we start? No, gosh, it's been so long ago, but yeah, it was definitely crystal meth. That was the one when I fell into that. That was many, many years of that. Almost every day using. Just crazy, man. I remember being up for three or four days straight without sleep and thinking, "Man, you're going to die from this young for sure, but you're not going to quit." So it's okay.
Eric Huffman: This is still in your teens when it was at its worst.
Stephen McWhirter: Yeah. Yeah. I was still in my teens when it was at its worst and on up into my early 20s. Yeah. It was dark, man.
Eric Huffman: Did mom and dad know?
Stephen McWhirter: You know, I don't think my mom knew about the meth. I think I tried to hide it or she did and didn't know how to deal with it. One of the things I tell in my story is like, "Dad can't know, Dad can't know," because he can't handle it. It's just like an emotional stability of a child. You know what I mean? Can't take it. Don't tell him.
And so, you know, there was a big part of me wished almost to get out of those things. If I look back on it subconsciously, I didn't know I was doing this, but if I look back on it, there was a bit of, I wished he would have done something. I wish he would have known and reacted and came in as a father and went, "We're going to save you and get you out of all this." And then another part of me was like, "Because of you, I'm doing all this." And it's kind of like giving them the middle finger. So it was a little bit of both.
My mom, God bless her, she just went through total trauma and didn't know what to do other than to just try to appease everybody and make everything okay.
Eric Huffman: Hold it together.
Stephen McWhirter: Yeah. And try to just tell me God is real throughout it all and Jesus loves me throughout it all. I mean, it was really hard. But yeah.
Eric Huffman: What do you think you were looking for when you were running to drugs? I know you could say you're just a teenager and teenagers do this kind of thing and hormones and all that, but what were you really searching for at that point?
Stephen McWhirter: I always tell people—most people in addiction because I travel a lot speaking and stuff always—you're always trying to find something good. You know, you want to feel good or you want some kind of... there is a numbing, but the essential thing is, "Will this make me feel good? Will this make me happy?" And it's counterfeit, of course, because what I didn't understand... when I thought of God, I thought if He is real, what He wants for my life is good for Him, but it's bad for me, but I should want it because He is God, right? Very messed up theology there.
And what I didn't understand is that Moses, when he goes up on the mountain, he says, "God, show me Your glory" in Exodus. Of all the things that God said, He said, "I will let all My goodness go before you." He was the source of goodness. So I was searching for what I didn't know, which was like deep, deep down I was searching for Him and didn't know it. And I was trying to fill it with all these broken things.
Eric Huffman: Dude, that's deep. And you know what it makes me think of is what you said earlier about preachers that end up being celebrity preachers that end up being fallen celebrity preachers and how it starts out as something good or not nefarious. It seems good and right in the beginning. And then you get addicted to the thing: the fame, the attention, the power, the money, whatever, and then it becomes something bad. That's a lot like addiction. I mean, I've never done meth, but I can only imagine you start out with the best of intentions, believe it or not. People that aren't addicts don't understand that it starts out one way and ends up a whole another thing, you know?
Stephen McWhirter: Yeah.
Eric Huffman: What do Christians watching right now that might have a judgmental or condescending view of addicts, what do they need to know about the heart and mind of an addict?
Stephen McWhirter: I mean, is it about just being an addict? I think I would say... because I don't consider myself an addict. A lot of people say once an addict, always an addict, I'm always in recovery. But as a believer, I believe the whole "you're a new creation; the old is gone, the new has come." And I know that we live in a fallen world and I know that my sin nature will creep in. But the reason that sin feels wrong to me now is because I have a new nature. Otherwise, it would feel great. I have no problem with it like I did before.
Eric Huffman: That's right.
Stephen McWhirter: So, yeah, there is that part of it. And I think it's people in general. We were in San Quentin recently in the prison with all these people and they were in there for life. It was crazy, these guys. And I remember just telling them, "Dude, people matter. And that's why you guys matter." And they just looked like, "Man, I'm".... And this isn't about me. Just saying. They were like, "Gosh, it's so good to hear you say that. Like we are just people, we're in here." And so, yeah, an addict is not a different kind of person. It's just another person that matters. C.S. Lewis said you have never met a mere mortal. Everyone is forever. Everyone you've ever met matters because everyone you've ever met, even your worst enemy, the Lord 100% loves.
Eric Huffman: Yeah. Wow. It is a great word, man. I think a lot about that sin nature versus Christ nature, that Romans 7 stuff where Paul is like, "I just keep doing the things I know I shouldn't and the things I hate, I can't stop doing." And you know, "I know it's not me doing this, but it's the sin nature in me."
Stephen McWhirter: And it's important to identify that he says the things he hates, he keeps doing. He knows they are wrong. They feel wrong because you have a new nature. You're literally going against your new nature. But we like to tell ourselves, "Well, once a sinner, always a sinner, always a gross, you know, we're all worms, right?" The Winston Churchill quote, "We're all worms. But as for me, I'm a glowworm.
Eric Huffman: Did he say that?
Stephen McWhirter: He's got so many good ones. But, yeah, it's just important to know who you are in Jesus.
Eric Huffman: Amen. You ever run into legal trouble? I mean, I know you wrote about it some in the book, I just want you to talk about how much of that was part of your life.
Stephen McWhirter: Man, I got arrested six times before I turned 21. It was pretty crazy. It is a miracle I am not in prison. It is a miracle I am not dead. God had something He wanted to do. Here I am.
Eric Huffman: Six times before 21. That's pretty good.
Stephen McWhirter: I was on probation in two different states counties at the same time without the other one knowing about it.
Eric Huffman: What?
Stephen McWhirter: And had they known about it, I would have probably been in jail for a while.
Eric Huffman: Dang, that's wild. So give us just how long did the addiction go on for before we move on from this part of your story? Like, how many years are we talking about?
Stephen McWhirter: Almost 12, over 11 years or more. It was pretty consistent, pretty dark.
Eric Huffman: So was there a moment in your life when you remember the lights coming on? Like maybe not a Damascus Road experience, but something like that, where you woke up for the first time in a long time.
Stephen McWhirter: I wouldn't go as far as to say I'm Paul, but it wasn't too far from a Damascus Road situation. People were praying for me, like really praying for me. My mom, one of them. Like really praying. I believe the Lord really does do what we can't as we pray. He was after me. And somebody came and gave me this book called The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel. I don't think this is in this book because I found it out afterwards, but my dad gave the book to this person-
Eric Huffman: What?
Stephen McWhirter: ...and it got to me.
Eric Huffman: Bro, that's a twist. Did he give it to them for you or he gave it to them and they gave it to you?
Stephen McWhirter: Both.
Eric Huffman: Wow.
Stephen McWhirter: For me.
Eric Huffman: It's like, "Read this and give it to Stephen."
Stephen McWhirter: Yeah. Because at this point in my story, my dad hadn't physically touched my mom, like abused her, for many years. He'd gotten some help to an extent. So it was very interesting. I'm not condoning it. We'll get into that in a minute. But long story short, that's crazy. I did not know that. I probably would have never accepted it had I known that, right?
Eric Huffman: Yeah, right.
Stephen McWhirter: But because I told you how much I hated Jesus, so the fact that I accepted this book is definitely the most miraculous part of the story. Because actually, it was through my sister, I think, to somebody that gave it to me. And so I get this book and I didn't cuss him out or cause a scene, which is like a miracle. So I was like, "Cool, whatever. Give me the stupid book." Threw it in my bedroom.
Fast forward, it is three o'clock in the morning, I literally have drugs on the side table next to me. Nobody's playing piano softly and quietly in the corner, creating an atmosphere to make everything seem more spiritual. But it is the kindness of a very, very real God to meet a wounded evangelist kid in a place like this. This is an offensive place to a lot of people for it to happen like this.
And I just remember knowing He was in the room. Like really knowing He was in the room. I don't know how else to explain that other than that. It's just this wild sense that I knew God was in the room. As I'm reading this book written by my friend Lee Strobel, that's The Case for Christ. It's about evidence for the resurrection of Jesus. And I'm reading this book, and I just remember being like, "God, I want to give You my life. I want to quit all this addiction, all this darkness, all this depression, all this anger that I've known for so long. God, I want to, but there's literally no way I can do it."
Like I said, 11 years or more of addiction. I couldn't imagine who I was outside of this destructive person I have become. I couldn't see another version of me. So I just remember being like, "God, I want to, but I can't." And in a thought more powerful than words—like I didn't audibly hear the Lord, but I knew it wasn't me—and it was, "Stephen, you won't do it. I'll do it." And this is—I know now, I didn't know it then—this is Ephesians 2:8: You're saved by grace. This isn't something you can boast about, but it's a work of God. He does it, right?
There's something you and I can do, and it is what Jesus says in John 6:29. He says the only work the Father asks of you is to believe. And that is what I did.
Eric Huffman: Wow.
Stephen McWhirter: I took God at His word. I believed Him like I believe I'm breathing air right now. And I fell to my knees. I gave my life to Jesus. I went from addiction to redemption, from meth addict to worship leader, from death to life, boogers coming out of my nose, ugly crying on the floor. And the rest is kind of history. But I will say I quit everything overnight, which a lot of people don't like hearing that in certain fields because they're like, "You can't say that; it doesn't work like that." I'm not going to lie, but I am also going to say this: that in the Gospels, if you read them, Jesus never healed anyone the same way twice. Every story has a purpose. If it takes you five times, ten times, and you fall at the feet of Jesus and you surrender your life to Him, He is going to use your story to draw many people to Him.
Eric Huffman: Amen. Gosh. Did He just take your appetite for it away? Like, did you lose your desire for the thing that had held you captive all those years overnight?
Stephen McWhirter: I don't know if I'd say I lost my desire for it as much as I desired Him more. Here's the truth. It had to have been Him because you don't become a meth addict and because you have strong willpower. I mean, what else do you want me to say? That blows my mind. Could I have just like suddenly gone, "I'm just going to pull myself up by my bootstraps and I'm just going to make myself perfect"? I guess I could have done that, but it seems astronomically unlikely. And I would say that what I learned from that moment on was this like wild, "Oh my gosh, God is real. It's all real. Jesus is actually Lord."
Eric Huffman: Dude.
Stephen McWhirter: And that was kind of the beginning of the super-simple reality that hit me that changed my life forever.
Eric Huffman: What you just said struck me because it's exactly what—if anybody's heard my testimony—it's exactly what I was repeating on the shore of the Sea of Galilee in Capernaum: "It is all real. Oh my God, it's all real." And it just occurred to me that I had lived my life as if it was fake and I was real, but I was the fraud. And that story of Jesus is real. How did your life start to change at that point? Wit all at once? Was it a process? What changed?
Stephen McWhirter: I mean, the addiction stopped in that way overnight. Really, I literally quit everything. Crazy. But there was plenty of messed up things to deal with with me for years to come, like emotional, mental. It was whatever. But the thing I remember the most was when I gave my life to Jesus, I knew the Lord was calling me to do something, that was the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. And that was to forgive my dad.
You know, Eric, when we give our lives to Jesus, man, it's like a pebble in the ocean. That moment is the beginning. It's like a pebble in the ocean that becomes a tsunami of grace that starts to hit parts of your life that you never even imagined. And that's what happened. I just remember being like, "Okay, I'm going to go forgive my dad."
Now, context at this point in my life, my dad hadn't abused my mom in over 10 years or more. And I don't feel like there had been a repentance or anything like that. It just kind of stopped because if you read my story, there was a point where she left, we all left him and my mom went back, which I absolutely hated. I thought, "This is it. We're free." But she went back when I was younger and we sat there and we knew that she was never going to leave him. But he also didn't do that again. Now, there was emotional, there was just this tension from like, "Don't tell, never tell. Don't talk to your father about it. He can't handle it."
So I don't condone it at all. And if you are someone that hears this and you're not safe, get safe. But for whatever reason, my mom stayed with my dad, and I knew the Lord was calling me to forgive him. And for many people, you hear that, that is the most offensive thing I have probably said in this whole podcast. But I went to him, and I remember walking in the room to talk to him and he was sitting in the quintessential dad in his Lazy Boy kind of situation. And I'm like, "Hey, we need to talk real quick, Dad." And he stands up, and I tell him, "Hey, I just want to forgive you for all the things we went through as children," blah, blah, blah, all this stuff. And he's just looking at me like reality is cracking and falling in front of him. And he just looks like a deer in headlights and he looks at me and he's just like, "Oh, okay, thank you." Like that. I'm like, "Okay, bye." I just get in my car and leave.
It wasn't a moment you would put in a movie. There was no beam of light shooting through the window or a bird on my shoulder. It was just awkward. But I knew that God had done something in that moment beyond what I could see.
Fast forward, my fiancée, which is my wife now, said she was watching me, by the way, to see if I meant it for a few months, because I moved out, by the way. We were living together and all that kind of stuff. And I was like, "I got saved." I was like, "I believe in Jesus. I am going to move out. We are still engaged, but I am going to stay on a friend's couch." She was like, "Are you insane?" So she was watching to see if I meant it. She ended up giving her life to Jesus too during this period.
Eric Huffman: Wow.
Stephen McWhirter: And before the wedding, she is like, "Hey, I want your dad to baptize us. I feel like that is what the Lord wants." I am like, "That's insane. Okay, fine. This is a terrible idea." But on our way to get baptized, her and I got in the worst screaming, cussing match we have ever been in. On our way to get baptized. I think God was up to something. He was trying to get us there. The enemy was trying to keep us from going.
Eric Huffman: Of course.
Stephen McWhirter: And so we get there, we get baptized. My mom tells me later, my dad wept all night after baptizing us because he thought, "Is it possible that God is going to redeem and restore what I had broken?" Fast forward again, my wife is like, "Hey, I want your dad to perform our wedding ceremony." I am like this, "This wedding may not work out if you keep having these ideas." But anyways, my dad performed our wedding ceremony. Just wild, man.
Eric Huffman: What do you think your wife was pushing for all of that?
Stephen McWhirter: I believe it was the Lord, man. I think He really was putting it on her. And there was some bigger redemption story going on that's still unfolding to this day. So he does that. Now, at the time of us talking right now, man, my dad has passed from cancer, oh gosh, maybe 12 years or more now. And when he was in the hospital, hospice care had brought him in. It was the final stage of things.
You know, when you're in those situations, I don't know if you know anybody that's gone through this, but you go into a coma, the person goes into a coma, they are unresponsive, and hospice and the doctors will tell you, nurses, "Tell them it's okay to let go." They can't respond, but they can hear you tell them it's okay to go. And normally people pass after that. They'll hold on because there's a subconscious thing in us, I believe, that's just holding on like there's unfinished business. I don't know.
But I knew they had told us that, but we had done that and it had been weeks still sitting with my dad and I am alone in the hospital room with him at one point. And I see him in this bed struggling to breathe. And I thought about where Peter goes to Jesus, he says, "How many times should I forgive my enemy? Seven times?" That's a lot. He's like, "Is that enough?" Right? And Jesus is like, "No, seven times seventy-seven." Like you don't, it's complete and it's ongoing and just don't even try to count. You know, just keep at it.
And I thought about that. And so I went up to my dad and I leaned in alone in the room with him, tears in my eyes, I said, "Dad, I love you for real. And I actually do forgive you. It's okay." And I watched him breathe his last breath and his soul left his body. And that was it in that moment.
Eric Huffman: Wow.
Stephen McWhirter: And I knew that what God was teaching me, I didn't know it, but I figured it out over time, the most Jesus-like thing we can do on this side of eternity is forgive. It's crazy. Forgiveness. There's a reason why in the Lord's Prayer, it's like, "Forgive us our debt as we forgive those who trespass against us," and all that. There's a reason why this is such a fundamental part of what it means to follow Jesus.
Now, forgiveness is about a debt. Let me clarify this. Forgiveness is about a debt, a legitimate debt that someone owes you or you owe someone. But as someone who's owed that debt, you have the ability to take it and rip it up and throw it away. Just like Jesus did. He paid for it. It's done. Right. But that doesn't mean you're always going to be in a relationship with that person on this side of eternity. It doesn't mean you have to stay in that marriage. It doesn't mean that you have to stay in that place. But you can forgive. That's reconciliation, which is wild because Jesus is reconciled to us.
Eric Huffman: I think it has to be all about Jesus. Forgiveness has to be all about Jesus and not about how nice I can possibly be to this person who has wronged me. I think you mentioned earlier that it's offensive maybe to suggest that you forgave your abusive father because I think people connect forgiveness with enabling behavior. And that is not it at all. From our point of view, what we're saying is Jesus already forgave all sin at the cross. All sin, the debt for all sin was paid. And so whatever debt we're still holding onto over other people's heads, it's because we have yet to understand the fullness of Christ and what His sacrifice really means. And we're the ones who suffer whenever we hold debts other people owe us. I love one part of your book you said that forgiveness is often about the forgiver. Letting go and being free instead of letting the forgivee off the hook.
Stephen McWhirter: Yeah. You're honestly punishing yourself more than you are them by not forgiving them.
Eric Huffman: That's right.
Stephen McWhirter: You're keeping yourself in bondage, which is a wild thing to think, right?
Eric Huffman: Where do you think your dad is today?
Stephen McWhirter: I believe he is with Jesus for sure. Those last years with him, he was as repented as he could be, and as honest as he could be. I don't know that there was full, like totally done the right way at all. But...
Eric Huffman: It's just a reminder that it's not us who does it, right? It's Jesus.
Stephen McWhirter: Right. I believe that there was real remorse, and I believe there was real, yeah.
Eric Huffman: Did you have to forgive your mom, too?
Stephen McWhirter: I guess. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Totally. I've had some of the best conversations. Like God is using this in such a beautiful way. She's literally here right now in my house. This is my studio in my house. And so she's here right now and God's used it in a really powerful way. It's really beautiful, man.
Eric Huffman: What did you feel like you had to forgive her for? Because obviously she was the victim in this situation at home, but...
Stephen McWhirter: Yeah. No, I think it was more of the being afraid of people's opinions and afraid of leaving him because of what it would do to the ministry and just hiding. I wanted her to leave him and she didn't. And I think I held that against her. That's not really fair to her, I will be honest with you. Maybe you might hear that and other people hear that and they go, "Oh, you're right, she blah, blah, blah." These situations are so much more complicated for the people going through them than for people watching it from the outside and judging it like that is not fair for me. Even though, you know, I went through it and felt the trauma, but she went through it in a way I never did. Could there have been things she should have done differently? 100,000%. At the same time, she survived it and she's... you know.
Eric Huffman: I think the bigger point is just how forgiveness gives away the healing in our relationships with each other and with God. And you had to get past all of that resentment that had built up and let it go, tear it up, like you said, write off the note.
Stephen McWhirter: And with all that going on, she still prayed and believed that Jesus could do something in me. That's amazing.
Eric Huffman: Yeah, it really is. And now you're a dad, as we mentioned briefly earlier. You and your wife, Tara, have three sons. What kind of father are you?
Stephen McWhirter: The most embarrassing kind.
Eric Huffman: Are you the awkward, embarrassing... the TikTok dad that pranks his kids?
Stephen McWhirter: No, no, I don't know, man. I don't feel like that's for me to say. That's for them to say. But at the same time, I do feel like I just want to be authentic. I want them to see that who I am when nobody is watching is who I am on a stage. It's who I am in general. And so I don't have like a stage at like a thing. This is me and this is what I do. Even in front of 20,000 people, which like their tours and stuff we've done, it's just me, just be me. Just love Jesus. Get out of the way.
Eric Huffman: Yeah. Now that your stage has grown, though, let's say it's been recent years, has the thought entered your mind? Do you ever worry about, I don't know, giving your boys any reason to run from God like your dad did you? I know you're not that kind of father, but do you ever worry about giving them reason to run?
Stephen McWhirter: No, no, I don't. That sounds boastful of me, but it's not about me. It's about them and knowing Jesus. And that has been huge for us. Like we really do constantly say like, "Who you are when nobody is watching matters, and Jesus is real. It's all real. You get to be with Him. You get to talk to Him." This has just been a fundamental part of our home, you know? I don't know. I feel like they are in good hands. They are not my hands. They are Jesus' hands and I'm along for the ride. That's been good.
Eric Huffman: It's important for Christian parents to remember that we're just stewards of our kids. And one day we'll be brother and sister in Christ with our kids. And they're really God's kids.
Stephen McWhirter: You know, there is something about, like I said, just being willing to go, "I'm sorry. I made a mistake, or I did something wrong, or that was stupid of me. I'm so sorry." You know, it's funny, as people in the church today, the word "repentance" sounds very taboo. Like we hear it and we go, "Uh oh, I'm going to be in trouble. Everybody's going to know the terrible thing that I did. And once they find out, they're never going to talk to me again. I'm going to lose everything." Right?
But in the Bible, every time you see repentance, you see a blessing. I'm not talking about health and wealth or anything. I'm talking about like real blessing from the Lord. Like Deuteronomy, "If My people who are called, My people will turn from their wicked ways," which is repentance, to turn from. That's literally what the word means, to turn away from one thing to the other. "So they have turned from their wicked ways and turned to Me, I will then hear their prayers and I will heal their land." There's something God is wanting to do that's good on the other side of repentance.
When Peter in Acts 3:19-20, he says, "Repent so that the time of refreshment will come from the Lord." We just assume the worst things are going to happen to us if people find out and we tell them what we did. But there's something really good that God is trying to do on the other side of repentance.
Eric Huffman: That's right. Amen. Hey, with our last few minutes here, I want to talk about music in particular. When you think about music and what it means to you and your faith, do you consider it a calling, a specific calling to do music as opposed to preaching like your dad did or evangelizing? Is it your calling?
Stephen McWhirter: I do both. My last name, McWhirter, literally means son of the harpist.
Eric Huffman: Really?
Stephen McWhirter: Yeah, in Scottish. There's a family crest with a harp at the top. It says, "Te Deum Laudamus," "God, we praise Thee," in Latin. And I think I'm doing exactly what I'm supposed to be doing. Yeah. But I also think there's a part of it where I'm the son of the harpist, but I'm also the son of the evangelist that he was meant to be. And I share my story everywhere we go every time I do an event and we see 20% of every room come to Jesus. And so I believe there's a grace on my life for that. You know, it's just being authentic.
Eric Huffman: What do you mean 20% of the room comes to Jesus? Is that a sort of, on average, what you see room to room place to place?
Stephen McWhirter: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We almost see everywhere we go about 20%. That's just me being approximate. I mean, I don't know how to sit there and count exactly. Sometimes it's a lot more than that, but roughly that's it. We see a percentage of people come to Jesus. I do like an altar call legit. We just have everybody in the room pray for them, connect them with the ministries and then-
Eric Huffman: So, Stephen, the way most people know you today is through this song, "Come Jesus Come," which has really just taken the world by storm in recent years. How long did it take from the time you and your wife wrote it to where the world really started hearing it now? A hundred plus million streams and the Grammy and all of that. How long was the lag time?
Stephen McWhirter: This was during the pandemic that my wife and I, like six years ago at the time of recording, we sat in our basement and we were worshiping Jesus. We were weeping with Revelation 22:20 open where Jesus says, "Behold, I am coming soon." Right after that it says, "Amen, come Lord Jesus." And we were weeping and we were learning what it means to actually for the first time, I think, learn what it means to really want Jesus to come.
And we started singing the first parts of that first verse and all that, just praying. It was just a prayer. We weren't trying to write a song. We were just worshiping and praying and going through this, but we knew something was on it. She knew something was on it. My wife did. And I took it to some friends, Brian Fowler, Hank Bentley, great friends of mine. And we kind of... the Lord crafted the song as it is today.
Now, I took it after it was recorded, which is funny. Like the biggest version I have of it is the version that I recorded with Brian Fowler. And I took it to my label and I said, "Hey, I think God is breathing on this." And I won't say who the label is. But I said, "I think God's breathing on this." And they passed and said, "No, we're good." And then I ended up getting dropped from my publishing deal with them a couple of weeks later because God is good and He knows what He is doing.
Eric Huffman: Wow.
Stephen McWhirter: So I was like, "Okay, fine." So I sent it around to some radio people and some different people in the industry and crickets. Nobody cared. So I was like, "Fine, Lord, it's just for You and me." And that's good. So I just worshiped, I hit record on it and did a bunch of different things. And I was putting it out there for people. And eventually on TikTok and different places, it went viral like four years later, four years later, this acoustic version or whatever me singing went viral. And I was like, "Okay, God is doing something." And it wasn't people going, "Wow, cool song," blah, blah, blah. It was like, "Man, I really want Jesus to return."
During this time we started going live on all these platforms because of this and we started just worshiping Jesus and sharing the gospel, sharing my story and we saw 40,000 people come to Christ on live streams, connecting them with all these people we had across the country that were praying for people and connecting with ministries. We had that happen in a year, in one year.
Eric Huffman: Gosh.
Stephen McWhirter: And it was all because of this longing for Jesus to return. Fast forward, with all that happening, by the way, like people started going, "Oh, hey, what's up with this song?" This brand new song that is four years old. I ended up paying for everything myself to do like a radio version that went to K-LOVE. They picked it up and it got nominated for like Song of the Year with K-LOVE and stuff. And it was like God was breathing on it. Then CeCe put out a version. Of course, we won a Dove Award and then the Grammys. She wins the Grammy, which by the way, I don't win a Grammy. She wins a Grammy. None of the writers get Grammys. That's a whole other thing, which is so hilarious to me. I take it as a gift from the Lord to go, "Okay, I do mean it. I want You more than an award." That's right. You know, I'm being serious. It sounds like I'm being overly spiritual.
Eric Huffman: I hear you. No, I get it.
Stephen McWhirter: Don't get me wrong. There is a part of me that's like, for four to five years, no one cared. And I just was pouring into this song with the Lord and then all of a sudden it wins a Grammy and it's... yeah, that's okay. God knows what He is doing. Right?
Eric Huffman: He disciplines those he loves, bro.
Stephen McWhirter: And I don't know if it's discipline. I feel like it's kind... I really mean that. It sounds like I'm being overly spiritual. It's a gift. So honestly, this is how crazy it is. It's astronomical to... not astronomical. A lot of things have to line up for you to win a Grammy, like politically within the Grammys because it's not a Christian thing per se. But for your song, because I sing "Come Jesus Come" on the Brooklyn Tabernacle record that won a Grammy this year as well. And "Come Jesus Come" with CeCe Winans' Gospel Song Grammy. So the song won twice. Like the whole projects won with that song on it twice, Grammys. And I don't get a Grammy for either one of those, which is fine. So that's astronomical for that to happen.
So I have to go, "Okay, God, I think this is a gift from You that a lot of people don't get in this way to actually say, "And God, I really mean it when I keep saying I don't want an award, I want You."
Eric Huffman: It goes back, brother, to Christ.
Stephen McWhirter: I didn't go to the Grammys. I didn't go to the Grammys. I didn't go to the Doves. I'm not anti per se. I just don't go to those things. I don't.
Eric Huffman: But I think the principle I'm sort of driving at here is that had God blessed you with all this fame in your 20s rather than your 40s, you might be soaking in it and addicted to it. And there's a grace in His delay. There's a grace in losing, or there's a grace in not being recognized for something you have done, publicly recognized.
Stephen McWhirter: That's right.
Eric Huffman: I even think once you are living in Christ nature, as we talked about earlier, versus the sin nature, like you start to see grace everywhere. Like I, as a recovering addict myself, not to substances, but to the porn and sex and all that, I've talked a lot about it, but I even see grace in addiction and how it's weird. And people that aren't in Christ and understand this will hear this and think I'm nuts or I'm being dismissive of the awfulness of addiction. I'm not.
Just saying, when you are addicted and you know it and you get free from it, you realize you have a closer view of hell and the consequences of godlessness in eternity than the average person might, because you've seen what a sort of perpetual attachment to lesser things leads to. So God has given you a glimpse into that. I'm not saying His will for you was to be a meth addict or mine a porn addict or whatever. I'm just saying He is able to redeem any and all things. And His grace infuses everything when we let it. I mean, that's part of what your story points to. What do you think it is about this song in particular that impacts so many people?
Stephen McWhirter: I think it's something very simple, and this is going to sound dumb, but I think the Lord wants His bride, wants His church to long for Him to return. In the Gospels, in the Bible in general, the cross is referenced and mentioned 28 times, which is awesome. Thank You, Jesus, for the cross, the atonement for our sins. But the return of Jesus is mentioned 318 times. I mean, I am not a theologian, really. I have a biblical studies degree and the debt to prove it.
Eric Huffman: Same.
Stephen McWhirter: But I believe that just, you know, it's in there that many times because it might be important. There's a reason why Paul says in Philippians 3:20, I think it is, he says we're not citizens of this world, but we're citizens of heaven. And we eagerly anticipate, eagerly anticipating the return of our Lord. This is the hope set before them.
Eric Huffman: Yeah. So for every one mention of the cross in the New Testament, there are ten-plus mentions of the return of Christ. And yet, if you look at most churches and sermons and songs today, I would flip it: for every one mention of the return of Christ, there are ten-plus mentions of the cross, probably more. We don't talk about the return of Christ.
Stephen McWhirter: It's really both. It's really all of the above. It's like, you know, the Gospel is the good news of Jesus coming, paying our sin debt, dying on a cross, and sending the Holy Spirit and returning.
Eric Huffman: Yeah, that's right.
Stephen McWhirter: Those things all go together.
Eric Huffman: That's right. You know, as I was, I listened to your dad's sermons and then I listened again and read the lyrics of the song, "Come Jesus Come," and... I hope what I am about to say doesn't come out wrong and offend you. But what I hear in that song is the heart of an evangelist.
Stephen McWhirter: Yeah, no, I don't. I'm not offended by that at all.
Eric Huffman: Like a traveling evangelist could preach the lyrics of this song and it would be a perfect fit.
Stephen McWhirter: Yeah, no, that's the Lord's redemption through the whole thing. That is even the point of this book. I mean, the whole writing of it is this arch of restoration and God's redeeming plan for everything. Even the things that we think are completely and utterly unrestorable or unredeemable. So good. He is so kind.
Eric Huffman: He is. Has your rise to notoriety and attention and fame made you more or less cynical about the Christian music industry or about Christianity and Christian leaders? How has it affected your heart?
Stephen McWhirter: Pass. I'm just kidding.
Eric Huffman: Did you say pass? No, I'll let you pass. You're our guest.
Stephen McWhirter: No, I'm just kidding. No. It's 50/50. Some people you meet and you go, "Wow, that was disappointing." Other people you meet and you go, "Wow, they really mean it. Praise God." But that is this world, man. I mean, the way is narrow. We won't be surprised when there's only a few that mean it.
Eric Huffman: What would you say to somebody who might be where you were, where I was, which is just suspicious and maybe hesitant or even cynical about Christian hypocrisy and leaders that, you know, fall from grace and all that stuff?
Stephen McWhirter: There are broken people everywhere in this world. They just stand out more in the church because it represents something that is the cry of the human heart. It's the cry of the heart for it to be real because it is real. Here's the thing. You can't know who you really are until you give your life to Jesus. That's the real you. You think you know who you are. You're like, "You're not going to trick me. I know who I am." Trust me when I say you don't know who you really are until you give your life to Jesus. The real you is the you fully alive. The real you is the you free from addiction, the you free from hopelessness, despair. That's the real you. The real you is the you fully alive. That's not just a nice thought. It's true. It's like long after you have been watching a podcast or been in a service and you go home or you're in your car, He's real. It's all real.
Eric Huffman: Amen. And I think as you've mentioned and alluded to earlier, it's important to discern and distinguish the message from messengers, and messengers are human and will let you down and disappoint you. But the message is what matters. And even going back to your dad, his message in most cases was right on. It was the messenger that was flawed. And I could say the same for me in my sermons. If I am honest, like I tell my congregation, "Don't get attached to me. It's just the message." And you know, I just want to preach the Gospel, die, and be forgotten. That's my motto.
Stephen McWhirter: I will let you down, Jesus won't.
Eric Huffman: That's right. When you wrote this book, Stephen, as we close, you didn't just write your story in it. Again, it's Radically Restored for anybody that's interested. You included two appendices at the end with the simple explanation of the gospel and, and basic steps for how somebody can come to Christ. Why was that important for you to include in your book about your story?
Stephen McWhirter: Otherwise, I really am just trying to sell books. I want to build a kingdom. There's nothing more important than people come to Jesus. I've been in this place where, you know, I have lots of followers on social media, whatever, songs that do well, all these things, but when I get to eternity, I'm going to look back and I'm going to go, The only thing that mattered were people. People matter.
Eric Huffman: One last question. And it's for the people that might be on the fence or just kicking the tires on Christianity. As you think about that person watching or listening right now who may not... they may have heard the word Gospel, they may have heard Christians talk about the Gospel, but they don't really know what it is. How would you explain it in just a few lines? What is the Gospel, and how can it change someone?
Stephen McWhirter: I think it's what I've said before, but it's also simple. It's like you are literally dead without Him, and you're alive with Him. And you can't make it happen, He did it for you, but the only thing you have to do is believe. That's it. Just believe. Fall at His feet and let Him lead the way. Don't try to fix your life. Let Him show you that He's restored and redeemed your life.
Eric Huffman: I was thinking as you were talking, I was honestly, a couple of words of your dad's popped back into my mind because I was listening this morning early to his sermons. And one of the lines was, "The Gospel isn't just a mystery. It's God's history of salvation." And the world is full of good views, but the Gospel is really good news for everybody, no matter how sinful you have been. And yeah, it's amazing. Grace and the Gospel are amazing and will change your life like nothing else. So if you're watching or listening and Stephen's story has inspired you, hope you check out the description of this episode and we'll put some links in there to get more connected with Stephen and his ministry and his book and music.
Stephen, I can't thank you enough for being with us today, brother. I know we kept you longer than we said we would, but I'm grateful for the grace.
Stephen McWhirter: It's awesome. All right, brother.
Eric Huffman: Talk to you soon.