It starts with a dream. “One day I want to be a…” We all do this. When I was a child, I wanted to be a fireman, then a doctor and then a policeman. However few of us ever have the courage to follow our dreams and do what we love. Fewer still have the faith and wisdom to open our ears and hear God calling us.

Jeff Johnson is no exception. From an early age, Jeff knew that he wanted to be a musician. Born in Dallas, Texas and growing up in Las Cruses, New Mexico, music was always a part of Jeff’s life.

“Growing up I was part of choir and I always sang,” Jeff explains. “I wanted to be a country music singer. That was always my dream.”

Jeff grew up in the church. He and his family attended a Lutheran Church, but Jeff never felt like he had a relationship with Christ. Church was simply an obligation that one fulfilled like paying taxes.

“I grew up in the Church, but I didn’t really know who the Lord was,” Jeff offers.  “I was doing my checklist of rituals.”

That all changed when Jeff was a junior in college. In college, the faith that had been given to him became his own. This miraculous transformation shook Jeff to his core.

“I came to the Lord in college.  That’s when everything in my life changed: all my passions and all my desires. I just wanted to sing about the Lord and lead people in worship.”

Jeff still loves country music and credits the genre as his major musical influence, but he was forever transformed by his “mountain top” experience. As a result, his faith has shaped how he views both music and worship. This eventually led Jeff to a career not as a Country Music singer, but as a worship leader at 121 Community Church in Grapevine, Texas, which combined his two passions: performing and his faith.

Shortly after joining the staff of 121, Jeff felt called to test his skills by auditioning for the television show, American Idol. Jeff was a season 4 contestant that made it to Hollywood. Despite not going any further in the competition, Jeff quickly realized how much of an impact American Idol had made on his life and his ministry.

"When I didn't make the cut, at first I thought, 'Why did I go through all of this? What was the purpose?' But when the show aired, it promoted my ministry to 30 million people. I had never thought of that. God was working the whole time,” Jeff said in an interview in 2005 for crosswalk.com. “It's working out as part of God's plan for what He has called me to do."

Jeff defines success a bit different than most people. Despite having a song on the Christian charts, releasing several albums and having his music featured on the recently released Christian thriller, Paranormal, Jeff doesn’t see these things as success. Instead, success is found in the rare opportunity to follow your true calling. “Success is finding what you love and doing it to the best of your ability. Pleasing God is success at the end of the day.”

Surrounded by family and an amazing group of friends, including his band mates, Jeff lives every day grounded in his faith and focused on his ministry. It is this emphasis on living every day for Christ that Jeff shares with others through his music and his ministry.

“Every day counts. At the end of your life, it is the sum of every single day. Whenever you run after sin, those things accumulate to make you who you are.”

Like the Apostle Paul, so many of us walk along through life with scales over our eyes. We live so grounded in tomorrow and yesterday that we cannot see today. When we look at life through the lenses of Christ, we begin to see that every day matters. Have faith that Christ will illuminate your path, just like he has done for Jeff and so many others that have let go and let God.

To learn more about Jeff and his amazing music, visit his website:

Jeff Johnson Band