Here’s the truth about the Forest Frank and Jelly Roll controversy—it’s revealing way more about us as believers than it is about them. Let’s get real about personal convictions, ministry money, and why we need to stop casting stones at our own people.
Personal Convictions Aren’t Universal Rules
When Your “No” Doesn’t Mean Everyone Else’s “Yes” Is Wrong
Forest Frank was nominated for seven Dove Awards this year and won two. But right before the televised broadcast, he made a personal announcement on Instagram: he wasn’t going to attend. His reasoning? He felt there was “a line in the sand of being of the world versus having your 100% tried and true focus on Jesus.”
Forest explained that while he may dress of the world and his music may sound like of the world, “the ultimate trophy is salvation in Jesus Christ.” He didn’t feel comfortable receiving a trophy for doing what Christians are called to do—spread the gospel. Even last year when he won, he felt uncomfortable having everyone clap for him and holding that trophy.
This wasn’t Forest trying to make a statement about everyone else. This was his personal conviction. And there were thousands of positive comments supporting his decision. But somehow, this became controversial when Jelly Roll took it personally.
The Dangerous Game of Christian Comparison
Here’s where things went sideways. Jelly Roll commented on Forest’s post saying, “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.” That comment alone got 636 replies, and suddenly we had Christian drama.
The problem isn’t Forest’s conviction or Jelly Roll’s question—it’s that we’ve created this environment where every believer’s personal decision becomes a judgment on everyone else’s choices. Forest never said other artists shouldn’t attend awards shows.
He was talking about his walk with Jesus, not prescribing rules for the entire Christian music industry.
“Personal convictions are exactly that—personal. We don’t know how Forest feels. Only he does.” – Maren Crowley
Money and Ministry: Time for Some Truth
God Doesn’t Want You Living in Poverty
Everyone seems to have this idea that if you’re a Christ follower, you’re supposed to be like “alms for the poor,” that you can’t have anything nice or treat yourself. I take serious issue with that because I don’t believe that’s what God intended. He didn’t intend for us to live in poverty just to follow him, or that we don’t deserve nice things for all our hard work.
Think about it this way: we have no idea what kind of tithing Forest does, what I do, or what you do. And we shouldn’t know, because when we do things for others, we shouldn’t be talking about it and bragging about it. It takes away from the thought behind it in the first place.
It’s like those people who have to be first to post what their husband got them for Valentine’s Day. It feels performative and insecure.
Talent + Platform = Income (And That’s Okay)
God gave Forest and Jelly Roll the talent of music to share the gospel with others. But creating albums, going on tour—all of that costs serious money. Not to mention the time these artists sacrifice away from their families. Brandon Lake was just talking about how it had been 11 days since he’d seen his family while on tour. That’s a long time.
I don’t take any issue with Forest earning income from this being his career path. The conversations about money started spiraling after this controversy. People were talking about the price of Forest Frank’s worship services (you can call them concerts, but they’re worship services), saying they charge crazy amounts.
But here’s the thing. That’s not Brandon or Forest setting those prices. Those are scalpers taking advantage of popular events.
I paid $170 to see Brandon Lake and was literally in the second row. Meanwhile, when I went to see Morgan Wallen, we paid $300 per ticket through the Hard Rock Stadium manager, and people around us probably paid $800 or more. If I had the same seats for Morgan Wallen that I had for Brandon, those probably would have been $5,000 seats. It’s all about demand and scalpers, not the artist’s pricing.
Your Left Hand Shouldn’t Know What Your Right Hand Does
Forest addressed this money question head-on. He said he didn’t want to make a business of worship music and struggled with the concept of making money from talking about his faith. But he prayed on it and felt like God told him to release one song he had written. It was self-produced and self-written, so legally it goes to him.
What he does with that money, he’s never going to tell anyone—nor should he. As he said, “your left hand isn’t supposed to know from your right,” so we’re never going to know what he does with his money. That’s his personal relationship with Jesus. Maybe he gives away 10% or 90% or somewhere in between.
I saw some rage bait accounts saying they wanted “accountability” from Forest — that as consumers of his music, we deserve transparency about where the money goes. Excuse me, what? What people do with their money is not our business.
I’ll never forget years ago, my husband and I were paying rent to someone who we knew was using it to gamble on football and college basketball games. It didn’t matter—he could have burned that money as soon as we handed it to him. It wasn’t our money anymore.
“Biblical stewardship is a concept that all things, including our time, our talents, our possessions, they’re all entrusted to us by God, and we’re responsible for managing them faithfully for his purposes.” – Maren Crowley
Meeting People Where They Are
The Scotty Scheffler Effect
Think about Scotty Scheffler—he’s the number one golfer in the world, possibly breaking Tiger Woods’ records. God gave him the talent of golf, and Scotty is always the first to give thanks to his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ when he wins. He’ll say, “I do this only by the grace of God. All glory to Jesus for my success.”
His caddy is known on Instagram for Sunday worship reels. On the Netflix documentary “Full Swing,” they showed Scotty preparing for events, and he’s in Bible study. This is how we reach people in the secular world to know Jesus and have a relationship with him.
People who know nothing about God watch that documentary and think, “Oh wow, that’s part of Scotty’s routine.”
Who are we to say that Scotty doesn’t deserve a $28 million Nike deal or earning $104 million in 2024 alone? He’s playing golf and providing entertainment, he’s not putting his life on the line, but God is using him to spread the word. The 18th green at Augusta is Scotty’s platform to reach the masses about Christ, just like standing on stage with a microphone doing viral TikTok dances is Forest Frank’s platform.
Touch Points Matter in Faith Too
I coach my students in social media courses that you need touchpoints to promote your brand or product. It takes at least 50 touchpoints to get someone even interested in your product. Now imagine a relationship with Jesus where people have been convinced they have to be absolutely perfect, totally sinless to even know God.
They’re intimidated and scared. They’re literally afraid they’ll walk into a church and everyone will know everything they’ve done wrong, like there’s a scarlet letter on them. The enemy is trying to keep them away from this relationship. God loves us endlessly, but the enemy doesn’t want you to know that.
But if someone hears these songs and they’re touched by it, leading them to want to learn more about God, who are we to stop that? I read one comment where someone said they heard “Hard Fought Hallelujah” because they recognized Jelly Roll from secular music (they didn’t know Brandon), and they said the song saved their life. They were thinking about committing suicide and the song helped them not to do it. How do you put a price on that kind of impact?
Stop Playing Holy Gatekeeper
Christians are so quick to throw stones at others.
It’s ironic because they forget Matthew 7:3-5:
“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there’s a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”
That’s all of us, because there’s only one who is without sin. Not me and not you.
People were calling out Jelly Roll for his lifestyle. Listen, is it my lifestyle? No. But I’m getting sick of hearing Christians literally casting judgment. Jelly Roll had a rough upbringing, been arrested, battled with drugs and alcohol—lots of different sins. He was thinking he wasn’t worthy of forgiveness, and that’s part of his testimony.
At the Dove Awards, he said he was standing there because people took time to be with “the least.” He went on to say, “The world is hearing about Jesus like they haven’t in decades. There’s a revival happening in the United States of America.” He encouraged the audience to “put faith on their feet and their feet on their faith.”
“If someone hears these songs and they’re touched by it, and then that leads them to be hungry and want to learn more about God, like, who are we to stop that? That’s his plan.” – Maren Crowley
Action Steps
Time to take action on this mindset shift:
- Check your judgment – Before commenting on another believer’s choices, ask yourself if you’d say it to their face
- Take social media breaks – The algorithm is designed to keep us in fight-or-flight mode and perpetuate division
- Focus on your own walk – Worry about the plank in your own eye before pointing out specks in others
- Support fellow believers – Instead of tearing down, lift up those spreading the gospel in their own way
- Remember the mission – We’re supposed to be reaching the lost, not attacking the found
Bottom Line: God uses different people in different ways to reach different audiences—and that’s exactly how it should be for maximum kingdom impact.
