Cory Asbury credits ‘rebuke’ from Forrest Frank with Heaven ‘gaining another soul’

Worship artist Cory Asbury has said a direct confrontation from fellow Christian musician Forrest Frank brought an end to five years in which he had deliberately walked away from his faith and ministry.

Asbury made the disclosure in a social media post saying his departure began after completing the song “Homecoming,” which he called the last worship project he finished before stepping back from ministry.

He said he made a conscious decision to leave despite knowing, in his words, “where home was.”

The musician compared his experience to the biblical parable of the prodigal son, saying the period of absence more closely resembled that story than the one that had inspired his widely performed song "Reckless Love."

“This running, and His pursuit of my heart in that time, was much more of a true ‘prodigal son’ story than the one that originally birthed Reckless Love,” he wrote.

Asbury said he came to recognize that his public stance and personal conduct during the years away from ministry had caused harm within church communities. He wrote that he had been “doing Saul’s work, persecuting the church, supposing I had the moral high ground even though I was chest deep in my own pig sty.”

The turning point, he said, came through an exchange with Frank that he characterized as a brotherly rebuke. He cited Proverbs 27:6, a verse that reads “Faithful are the wounds of a friend,” as the frame for that encounter. He credited Frank directly, writing that “the rebuke of my brother (Forrest) gained heaven another soul.” He closed the post with the words “I am The One. Thank you, Jesus.”

Asbury is best known for “Reckless Love,” a worship song released in 2017 that became one of the most performed congregational songs in American churches over the following years. His music has been widely used in church services internationally.

The period he described walking away from ministry would have run roughly from 2019 or 2020 through late 2025, though he did not give specific years in his post. His return, he said, took place in the autumn of 2025.

Frank was named Artist of the Year at the 56th GMA Dove Awards in 2025, an annual ceremony recognizing achievements in Christian and gospel music.

Asbury's disclosure comes months after he and Frank had announced, and then abandoned, plans to collaborate with Turning Point USA, the conservative organization co-founded by the late Charlie Kirk, on a faith-based alternative to the Super Bowl halftime show.

In November 2025, Asbury said in a video posted to social media that the two had joined a call with the TPUSA team but concluded the visions were “incompatible.”

The two musicians had floated the idea of a faith-based event they called a “Jesus Bowl” after it was announced that Puerto Rican artist Bad Bunny, known for sexually explicit lyrics, would headline the 2026 Apple Music Super Bowl halftime show.

TPUSA subsequently announced its own production, called the All-American Halftime Show, which led fans to assume the two efforts were connected. Asbury said they were not.

“We want this to be a Jesus moment,” Asbury said in the video. “We’re glorifying the name of Jesus, worshiping, praying. I almost see it like a Billy Graham crusade, a call to the altar, mass salvation across the nation.” He and Frank said they planned to proceed independently and were seeking donors and sponsors, with Asbury estimating the event would cost “legitimately millions of dollars.” He said neither he nor Frank would take payment from the venture.