Pam and I just got back from lunch with Jenny Simmons, the lead singer of Addison Road. While I don’t often eat lunch with Christian artists whose songs get radio play, I’ve interacted with enough of them to realize that this girl is the real deal. Over yummy food on the patio at Baja Burrito, she opened up about living out a ministry she wasn’t expecting.
See, she thought that by surrendering her life to the Lord, she’d end up somewhere far away, suffering for Jesus. So when God opened the doors for her to be part of a band that’s been able to do some cool things in some cool places, she said she felt a little guilty. But it turns out, life as part of band is really hard too. She and her husband have brought their 5-month-old on tour, and the difficulty of crazy schedules coupled with handing the baby off to someone they’ve never met to care for their child while they lead worship is tough. To top it off, the van they tour in met its demise when it ran into a recently-fallen oak tree in a rainstorm this past week. Yeah, the van they were supposed to leave in tomorrow. So she’s a little overwhelmed.
But in the midst of that, I saw her sweet spirit, dependence on the Lord, and heart for teen girls shine. It was refreshing to meet a woman who wants to give girls someone to look up to and recognizes the platform God has given her. In Jenny, they’ve got someone real, someone who loves the Lord and His Word, and someone who will point them to Him every time.
I’m thankful to have heard her heart. And good news—soon, you will too! Be on the lookout for some thoughts from Jenny about girls today—what they’re going through, how they think, how they respond to her and her music, and more. She’ll be guest-blogging on this blog in the future. (You know, when she’s not being a wife, loving on her baby, leading worship, traveling, writing songs, and the 11 million other things she does.) But in the meantime, if you’d like to see what she’s up to now, check out her blog.
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