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The curious case of Forest Frank
One singer's public declaration of his decision to not attend the Dove Awards sparked both controversy and thoughtfulness.
I fear writing this post may ostracize me with undiscerning Christian music lovers. Let me just confess that I have tapped my foot and enjoyed the merry innocence of several of Forest Frank’s songs, especially Lemonade. But to offer perspective on a beloved artist that has achieved great fandom is to tread lightly. I don’t want to raise the ire of Frankfurters (my own moniker for Forest Fans) anymore than I want to stir up Swifties.
Frank made headlines this summer when he said that his broken back had been miraculously healed by God. I had a decent eyebrow raise over that. When I looked into it, I have no explanations other than what Frank claims. In an injury that should have taken three months to recover, the singer has X-ray evidence that his back showed no fractures after only two weeks.
Prior to the skateboarding accident, Frank said he’d sensed the Lord leading him to put away social media. He was off for two months. Then the accident. It was during his recovery that he wrote two songs that quickly became successes – God’s Got My Back and Lemonade. He picked social media back up to promote the songs and to declare the miracle of his healing. He also filmed himself often during his two-week recovery and posted videos of him being in pain as he tried to move.
Since then, I’ve paid attention to Frank. He’s been everywhere. He’s vocal about his faith and radical about its application. He has posted publicly that he doesn’t care if he loses followers after his declaration of support for Charlie Kirk. And yet…
While I want to admire his boldness, I am hoping and praying we are not witnessing another Kanye moment. There’s something about Frank that I can’t put my finger on. Please know that my commentary is simply IMHO. I’ll continue to tap my foot and sing along with his tunes. Dadgum, they’re just… hypnotically catchy.
However, when Frank posted about not participating in the Grammy Awards, 1, I was disturbed. Josh Nadeau over at Sword and Pencil captured it well:
Here is Frank’s post about it:
Jelly Roll, in contrast, was at the Grammy’s and posted a retort on Instagram (since deleted) in which he said, “I thank God that I can see the forest for the trees.” I laughed out loud when I watched it the first time. Did he just take a jab at Forest Frank, I wondered?
I didn’t have to wonder long. Jelly made his opinion about Frank’s position known in a very public back and forth on social media. 2
“Won’t receive trophy for something from Jesus for Jesus but will take the profits from something from Jesus for Jesus. Maybe I’m missing something here lol.” (Jelly Roll post)
Forest graciously responded to Jelly’s post in this way:
View this post on Instagram
As so it goes… I may have a similar opinion to Jelly Roll, but his caustic sarcasm was disappointing. Forest showed class as he responded to the criticism. Honestly, I don’t care what Forest does with his money. I hope he is generous and sacrificial with it. But that’s up to him and the Lord.
I think Josh Nadeau may have said it best in his Instagram post:
If I see one more person crying on screen…
One more person using public prayers and giving and whatever as a way to show how holy they are…
Worship for eyes to be on them.
To prove their good character.
To display their morality.
Piety signalling.
It’s brutal… (read the rest here)
Nadeau referenced Jesus’ words in Matthew 6:1, and they’re a profound caution for any public, platformed Christian:
“Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. Otherwise, you have no reward with your Father in heaven.
Jesus continued, “…you must not be like the hypocrites, because they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by people.” 3
As I mull all this over, I’d be interested in your take. In the meantime, for some reason I’m thirsty for some lemonade.
- Grammy-nominated Christian artist refuses to attend awards shows over personal conviction (Fox News: October 12, 2025) [↩]
- Forrest Frank pushes back at Jelly Roll over controversial debate on music, money and faith (Fox News: October 15, 2025) [↩]
- Matthew 6:5[↩]
Jeremiah 17 is an amazing chapter on this. I’ll quote a few verses here. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jeremiah? ?17?:?9? ?ESV??)
Fame is a dangerous thing for many reasons, especially this one.
“I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.” (Jeremiah? ?17?:?10? ?ESV?)
A strong connection to the Lord and good local church accountability is God’s antidote to the problem of fame. We need both to temper the wickedness of our hearts.
These verses are wonderful supplements to the article. Thanks for reading and commenting!