LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Forrest Frank laid bare the emptiness he said years of chasing the world left behind before pointing nearly 20,000 worshipers gathered at the KFC Yum! Center toward the only lasting answer: Jesus Christ.
During the chart-topping Christian artist’s arena concert on July 28, Frank openly recounted his search for fulfillment before Pastor Jonathan “JP” Pokluda delivered a Gospel message that culminated in an invitation to salvation, and thousands lifted illuminated wristbands to signify decisions to follow Christ.
“We have an opportunity tonight to potentially give the Lord Jesus the loudest praise in the entire day,” Frank told the crowd. “We got 20,000 believers in here. Can we give Jesus the loudest praise in the entire day?”
Throughout the evening, during which Frank performed hits including “Your Way’s Better,” “Good Day” and “Jesus Generation,” the artist stepped away from performing to share his testimony, telling the audience he had spent years searching for satisfaction before discovering faith.
“I’ve tried everything,” he said while seated alone at a white piano before performing “No Longer Bound.” “I’ve tried the world. I’ve tried to satiate myself in every way. I tried to fill this void in myself for years in every direction.”
“From the bottom of my heart, every part of me, Jesus is the only answer,” he continued. “Jesus is the only one who satisfies.”
The 31-year-old husband of two, who got his start as one half of the mainstream group Surfaces, reflected on writing his first explicitly Christian song, which includes the lyrics “You came to set us free/ I am no longer bound.”
“I wasn’t trying to make a song,” he said. “I was just trying to connect with the Lord.”
As he demonstrated the progression on the piano, Frank likened the ascending and descending chords to humanity’s search for fulfillment.
“We keep trying things. We keep thinking that something’s going to satisfy us,” he said. “But every time we fall down until we finally come home, which is the place of Jesus.”
Grammy-winning worship leader Chris Tomlin opened the evening with a set featuring songs including “Holy Forever,” while Grammy-winning singer Tori Kelly also performed before the night’s headliner took the stage. Later, concertgoers heard an evangelistic message from Pokluda, along with appearances from Cory Asbury and viral worship collective The Figs, who performed “Lemonade” alongside Frank.
One of the evening’s most emotional moments came during “Somebody Prayed,” Frank’s collaboration with Tate Butts, when the singer asked those seeking breakthrough in their lives to raise their hands as others gathered around them in prayer.
As thousands extended hands toward family members, friends and strangers, a young boy standing near the stage held a sign reading, “I was born blind, but now I see because somebody prayed.”
Later in the evening, Pokluda, lead pastor of Harris Creek Baptist Church in Waco, Texas, delivered a Gospel message centered on salvation as a gift rather than something earned and the reality of Heaven.
Using concert tickets as an illustration, Pokluda asked audience members to consider why they had been admitted into the arena.
“If they stopped you and they said, ‘Why should we let you in?’ you would say, ‘Because I have a ticket,'” he said. “And if they said, ‘Did you pay for the ticket?’ you’d say, ‘No, it was a gift to me.'”
“Our place in Heaven was purchased for us by the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ,” Pokluda told the crowd. “For it is by grace you have been saved through faith. It’s not of yourself. It’s the gift.”
Pokluda then asked attendees to privately consider two questions: how certain they were they would go to Heaven if they died that day, and what they would say if God asked why He should allow them into Heaven.
“If God said, ‘Why should I let you in?’ what would you say?” he asked. “The reality is, friends, our place in Heaven was purchased for us by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.”
Inviting those responding to the Gospel message to raise illuminated wristbands distributed at the entrance, Pokluda looked across the arena before leading the crowd in a prayer of commitment.
“I want to join the Jesus generation,” he said. “Jesus didn’t die for 90 percent of your sins. He didn’t die for 80 percent of your sins. Jesus Christ died for all of your sins.”
The service-like atmosphere continued as Asbury joined Frank onstage, leading the audience through a medley of worship songs including “The Heart of Worship,” “Nothing but the Blood,” “No Longer Slaves,” “Worthy of It All” and “Goodness of God.” Following Pokluda’s message, he sang “Amazing Grace” before closing his appearance with “Reckless Love.”
The Louisville stop came as Frank’s Jesus Generation Tour continues to shatter expectations. The tour recently ranked No. 5 on Pollstar’s LIVE75 and No. 12 on Global Concert Pulse, averaging more than 18,000 tickets sold per show and placing Frank alongside global touring acts such as Bad Bunny and BTS. It is the highest-charting arena tour by an artist performing primarily in arenas within the Christian music space.
“As long as I’m putting the truth of the Gospel in the songs, and if I can recognize the Holy Spirit in the music, then I know that He’s going to be doing the work because I don’t put any pressure on it,” Frank told The Christian Post in a 2024 interview.
“Jesus is my Savior, and I’m alive when I worship Him,” he said. “Once I started making Christian music and worshiping Him, going back to making pop music is like air. There’s no substance in it for me personally. The fact that I get to wake up every day and worship Jesus and then just record it, and other people get to worship Jesus, too, it is so fulfilling and so life-giving, and I’m here to stay.”
Leah M. Klett is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: [email protected]
