Let’s “Roll” with It
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Let’s “Roll” with It
By: Pastor David Grove
Here’s a question for you, what does Jelly and a Roll have to do with our Christian faith? Makes you think, doesn’t it? Recently the artist known as Jelly Roll took to the stage at the 2026 Grammy Awards and made a strong speech, statement and stand about Jesus. He started by saying “Jesus, I hear you” after he won for best contemporary country album for the album “Beautifully Broken”. He then shared that when he was in prison it was a small Bible and a little radio that kept him going and knew that he could endure the circumstances that he was in. He had been arrested approximately 40 times for robbery to drug possession. He needed help, he was broken. It was the situations that he faced in life that brought about his award-winning album. Without any surprise the liberal media, Hollywood elites and the everyday online bashers went to town degrading him and his message along with anyone who supported him. Honestly, that’s to be expected. But what is not expected and should not be tolerated is when other Christians bash him. Why are they bashing him? Maybe it’s because of the tattoos he has, his actions, his language, the type of music he sings, and the list goes on that people say about. One Christian writer online answered the question whether Jelly Roll is a Christian, this is what he said, “No, Jelly Roll is a pastry.” I don’t’ respond too often to these types of things because sometimes we can get caught up in the drama that the world loves to be a part of. But I do have to say I’m truly thankful for what Jelly Roll did and what he said. Let me say, if you are one of the Christians who don’t think Jelly Roll is a Christian because of the things I listed above then I say, Shame on You. The Bible speaks clearly on this,
1 “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”, (Matt. 7:1-2). There are too many Christians who have so many opinions about other people that they themselves are forgetting about their own things in their own lives. I have found in my own life that people like to spend more time talking about what they think others are doing wrong because they don’t want to look at their own life to see what they’re doing wrong. I have been the recipient of Christians making slurred remarks about myself because I along with being a Pastor I as well sing, Rock-N-Roll Oldies, Country, Elvis, Gospel and do a comedy routine as Gomer Pyle. It’s amazing how people are so quick to judge without knowing what I do during my performances. Not long ago a group of people accused me of “groping myself” while I perform and they had video to prove it, when I asked them to show me, they said they couldn’t find it. They couldn’t find it because I never or ever would do something like that. A Pastor one time accused me of sending people to hell because of my singing even though once again, he never attended any of the concerts.
My point to all of this is, even though people like this have attacked me and people that attack Jelly Roll are individuals who are too busy judging others and are not willing to see or look at what they have in their own lives, they need to get right with the Lord. No one is perfect and the only one who is perfect is seated at the right hand of the Father as you are reading this, His name is Jesus.
Just as Jelly Roll, others and I take to the stage to tell people about Jesus in a way that may be done in a different way than you’re used to, it doesn’t mean that it’s wrong and that it’s not effective. Paul told Timothy in 2 Timothy 1:7-8, “7 For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline. 8 So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me His prisoner. Rather, join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God.”
If there is anyone that is quick to judge others who are sharing Christ in a way that may not fit into your “traditional” view of spreading the Gospel I have one question for you, “when was the last time you stepped out in faith to share the Gospel with people who doesn’t fit the traditional mold or in a traditional place and by doing this you knew that you would get backlash, scorned, judged and be laughed at?” I believe that we must never lose our witness for Christ and we should celebrate the times in which a fellow Christian takes a stand for the Lord. It takes more than guts to do what Jelly Roll did and what anyone else will do outside of the norm to tell someone about Jesus, it takes the leading of the Holy Spirit and takes having a strong enough faith in Christ to know that we don’t live by fear but we live by a faith of strength that is given to us and promised to us through the power of the Holy Spirit. Here’s your challenge, stop talking and ripping others down and take that energy to step out and tell someone about Jesus not in the “traditional” way and “traditional” place and see what God can really do when we, “Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to all creation.” (Mark 16:15).
Keeping, “JESUS FIRST In ALL THINGS”,