Why Forrest Frank Resonates
A personal reflection on a huge sensation
Showers taken. Teeth brushed. Bedtime is near.
My son and daughter, now in their jammies, are jumping and swaying as the speaker plays, “Oh, oh! Your way’s better!”
In the Zacchio household, after the bedtime routine, it’s extremely typical for a speaker to be playing music for our impromptu dance party. And it’s not untypical for Forrest Frank to be part of the playlist. We know the words. We saw him live—needless to say, we’re fans.
But isn’t this just eye-roll worthy, shallow CCM music? Why does his music seem to resonate with so many, even deep thinkers?
We hear his music on the radio, church social media pages, and even Reformed Baptists and Theonomic Presbyterians are giving him more than just a nod. I’m not about being “trendy” or following what’s popular. But when someone has such a broad reach and enormous influence, we had better pay attention.
Here are 3 reflections on this huge sensation among the next generation.
A Personal Reflection
Growing up in the broader, non-denominational world in NYC, I was introduced to Christian hip hop at a young age. Guys like Ambassador, Crossmovement, Lecrae, Trip Lee, Shai Linne, and Beautiful Eulogy shaped me as they lyrically provided a robust theology of God, Christ, and His salvation. I couldn’t get enough.
As I got older, my passion for music only grew when I learned to sing and play guitar. From that point forward, the Lord was pleased to use me in music (or worship) ministry for 15 years. While in high school, I grew to like most of the CCM music, but Christian hip hop began to crest. To this day, things are just not what they used to be. Jaded, I turn off a lot of the new stuff (Thank you, Shai Linne and a few others for still holding the line!).
Enter stage right, Forrest Frank.
He officiated a marriage between two genres that I loved since I was a kid. Is he as precise as he should be on other doctrines? No. Could his music be perceived as shallow? Perhaps. He comes from a different church tradition than mine, and I have disagreements. But I’m not convinced that “shallow” is the right word. What’s often dismissed as shallow may actually be simple.
The Psalmists paint not only with deep colors but also truly simple ones. Psalm 131 and Psalm 117 are extremely short, filled with praise, and simple enough for a child to understand. Simple songs, when added together, form a corpus that is filled to the brim with truth to drink deeply from. I wouldn’t sing these songs while gathering on the Lord’s Day, but during the week, it’s a part of my enjoyment of Christ. In fact, I’ve found that the longer I walk with the Lord—and the more steeped I am in Scripture—the more meaningful these simpler expressions become. They give new believers something solid to stand on, and seasoned believers something warm to return to.
Recovering a Theology of Gift
Another reason he resonates with the next generation is that he is displaying how to enjoy the things of life, without turning them into idols, something my generation (perhaps) was not taught to do very well. In other words, music like this can help Christians recover a theology of “gift.” In his song “Good Day,” Forrest talks about enjoying his family, living in the present, but roots his ultimate happiness in the fact that God knows his name.
Pastor Joe Rigney points out how, on the one hand, we know that God transcends all. He’s supreme and should be the supreme object of our love and delight.
And yet on the other hand, we see the good around us, whether in material blessings or creation (what we sometimes call “Common Grace”), and we like them, but we don’t want to like them too much. So, the overreaction is to stiff-arm God’s blessings, a kind of “asceticism.”
This comes from what Rigney calls the merely “comparative approach” to the world around us. Meaning, we compare God to His gifts, and we rightly declare, “Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever” (Ps. 73:25–26). This is absolutely true; it’s the first step!
But this isn’t the only approach.
We can “keep Jesus first” and still enjoy all of His secondary gifts in this life. Rigney calls this the “integrative approach.” We enjoy everything in God and enjoy God in everything since all the gifts we have point us to His character. Indeed, “The heavens declare the glory of God,” and His divine nature has been “perceived since the creation of the world” (Ps 19; Rom. 1:20). It all points us to His infinite majesty, and, for us who know Scripture, they remind us of the gift of His only begotten Son.
Everything in reality is an invitation—our food, our family, music, hiking, baseball—to enjoy and know God more deeply. There’s a way to worship the Creator without worshiping the creation; that’s why you need a theology of “gift” that helps us look through the gift and out to the gift-giver. Forrest is helping us recover that.
A Recapitulation of Ecclesiastes?
Related to this, Forrest gave me a renewed appreciation for the book of Ecclesiastes. In another Forrest song, “Live Your Life,” he sings,
“Joy comes with the morning sun
Just look what God has done
Hey, you’re gonna be okay
Don’t let a little gray sky
Rain on your parade
Hey, you’re gonna be alright
Don’t spend all of your daylight
Waiting for the night.
Just go live your life.”
You may roll your eyes. But here’s the thing: the younger generation is latching on to this for a reason.
You may well know that Gen Z is an increasingly anxious and depressed generation. No doubt due to societal pressures, economic collapse, and social media, one study1 found that High school students report persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness (42%), which is much higher than in earlier generations at the same age.
Thus, when a young artist comes out singing songs that give people a vision of living in and enjoying the good things God has made, this is a breath of fresh air.
It’s very…how do you say…Ecclesiastes. Whether or not he acknowledges it, his songs are very much echoing the shouts of this obscure book of the Bible:
“I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God’s gift to man” (Ecc. 3:12–13).
The point of Ecclesiastes (I believe) is to point to the utter elusiveness of life. From wisdom to riches to pleasure, everything is a mere breath (hebel), and to seek ultimate satisfaction in them is like “grasping for the wind.” But if we live in light of death, we can fear God and enjoy this life as God’s gift. We are called to “live life backward,” so to speak,2 recognizing that the brevity of life enables us to stay in the moment with Godward joy. In other words, you don’t truly experience life to the full until you live it backward, living in light of the end and the satisfaction that is ultimately found in fearing God and keeping His commandments.
Eternal matters are the end of the matter, which is all that really matters (Ecc. 12:13). While having that as a backdrop, we can live “in the present—not woulda, shoulda, or could.” Life is painfully short, and Ecclesiastes shows us how not to live every moment as if the other shoe is about to fall.
We can enjoy this life as a “gift,” not as an ultimate “gain.” While we seek to find our true gain only in Christ, our anxieties dissipate as we pursue our hobbies, swing our kids around, go to class, and have a picnic—all to His glory and for our joy.
Take the advice above. Quit spending all of your daylight waiting for the night. Recognize that life is a breath, God created you for His glory, and therefore, you can enjoy Him while enjoying the day.
See Living Life Backward by David Gibson.
This article was somewhat edited using AI
Both practical and encouraging. Wilson and his teachings on Christian Cheer are one of the more recent things to make an impact on my walk with Jesus. I’m an upbeat person. I’m generally happy but yet something about joy being a Christian responsibility and privilege just seemed new, and life giving. Thanks for sharing!
Love this! I read something recently about Gen Z seeking a correction from trends that deemed sincerity cringe & affirmed disliking something as cooler than liking something. It seems like all too often, the hope and optimism he and others model are cast aside as naive. Honestly, Forrest Frank is not always my personal taste in music, but I value that as an adult, he's modeling what it looks like to celebrate good news & hope.