Singer Micah Tyler has had a successful career in Christian music, but his path to stardom is one that only God could have orchestrated.
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“It’s one of those weird things,” Tyler recently told “The Billy Hallowell Podcast.” “I feel like I have just stumbled into one room after another over the past few years.”
He first hit viral fame in 2016 with a Youtube video poking fun at millennials:
The singer explained that music was always a part of his life growing up, but that it wasn’t something he seriously considered as a profession until he entered ministry and God guided him on a fascinating path — one that required some major sacrifices.
“I actually was a youth pastor and felt called to that ministry first,” he said. “When I was 17 years old, [I] surrendered my life to that calling.”
Listen to Tyler share his incredible story below:
Tyler started working at a Baptist church in Texas when he was just a teenager and held that job for nine years.
“I actually became a youth pastor at 18, right out of high school,” he said, going on to explain how he started integrating music into his work in an effort to connect with the kids at his church. “I bought a guitar because I wanted someone to start leading worship on Wednesday nights.”
None of the kids were able to play, so Tyler decided he’d learn the ropes.
“I figured out how to play one song … it just kind of turned out me leading worship with them,” he said.
Over time, Tyler’s friends in ministry started asking him to come in and lead praise and worship, and he obliged. It wasn’t long before God placed yet another calling on the then-youth pastor’s life and Tyler made some tough decisions.
“After nine years of youth ministry, I was 27, we had two kids at the time, had been married for about 7 years — we ended up feeling like we were supposed to be stepping out and doing music full-time,” Tyler said. “I ended up selling over half of what we owned [and] stepped down as youth pastor.”
That prompting required a major step in faith, as the family had to move into a mobile home trailer. Tyler became a substitute teacher and started driving a sausage delivery truck to make ends meat all while pursuing God’s promptings to go into music.
“In the midst of that [God] was just faithful,” Tyler said. “[And] in the midst of that just one crazy thing after another happened.”
Tyler ended up landing a gig opening for singer Phil Wickham and the rest is, well, history. The path wasn’t easy and trust was essential, but Tyler is overjoyed with the path God has taken him on.
“I’ve learned so much more from closed doors than I have open doors,” he added.