Radio personality Monika Kelly had the joy of sitting down with Dove Award–winner and Grammy-nominated worship leader Stephen McWhirter, a man whose life God has completely transformed—from addiction and brokenness to global ministry and radical hope.
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Stephen is best known for Come, Jesus, Come, a worship anthem that has now reached hundreds of millions of streams. But as he’s quick to say, its power didn’t come from a studio or a strategy—it was birthed in the “secret place.”
In the early days of the pandemic, Stephen and his wife found themselves weeping in their basement, crying out to Jesus. Scripture was open to Revelation 22:20: “Behold, I am coming soon.”
“It felt like the end of the world,” he said with a laugh. “Maybe I was cramming for the test.”
But the moment sparked something deeper—a longing for Jesus’ return that began reshaping how they lived, loved, and built their lives.
“That longing made us love people better here and now,” Stephen shared. “It changed everything.”
Before God called Stephen into ministry, his life was marked by deep wounds. His father was an evangelist on stage, but a different man at home—leaving Stephen confused, hurt, and convinced that if God was real, He couldn’t be good.
By eleven, Stephen was smoking, drinking, and using marijuana. By fifteen, cocaine and pills. By seventeen, he was addicted to crystal meth—every day.
“If someone mentioned Jesus, I would cuss them out,” he said. “I was the last person you’d expect to ever follow Him.”
But Stephen had something powerful working in the background: praying women—a mother and grandmother who refused to give up on him.
“Prayer works,” he said. “We forget that God is the one who calls people. He’s the one who convicts.”
One day, a friend handed Stephen a copy of The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel. Miraculously, Stephen didn’t throw them out of the house—he tossed the book on his nightstand.
Hours later, at 3:00 a.m., Stephen sat in a dim room—meth on the table beside him—reading a book about Jesus.
“There was no music, no preacher, no atmosphere,” he said. “Just the kindness of a real and loving God meeting a wounded evangelist’s kid.”
In that moment, Stephen told God, “I want to give You my life…but I can’t do this on my own.”
Then came a thought that wasn’t his own:
“Stephen, you won’t do it. I’ll do it.”
He fell to his knees and surrendered everything.
From meth addict to worship leader.
From hatred of Jesus to telling everyone, “It’s real. He’s real. All of this is real.”
Stephen is honest—salvation was instantaneous, but healing took time. Many of his old friends disappeared, and some tragically overdosed or ended up in prison.
But God began rebuilding his life step by step.
About a year and a half later, a small church hired him as a worship leader.
“Never underestimate how desperate a pastor can be for a worship leader,” he joked. “I went from metal bands to singing ‘I Can Only Imagine.’ And I was grateful.”
Stephen still marvels at how God uses unlikely people to accomplish His purposes.
“If you told me back then that God would use my addiction for His glory? Impossible,” he said. “But God writes the best stories.”
One of the most incredible twists?
The Case for Christ book that led him to Jesus came from a friend…
who got it from Stephen’s mom…
who got it from Stephen’s father.
Only God can orchestrate something like that.
And in a full-circle miracle, Lee Strobel—the author whose book helped save his life—wrote the foreword for Stephen’s upcoming book, Radically Restored: How Knowing Jesus Heals Our Brokenness.
Stephen shared a simple invitation for anyone seeking hope:
“The most honest thing you can do is stop right now and say, ‘Jesus, if You’re real, I want to know You.’
Be honest. Talk to Him. Let Him do what only He can do.”
No matter how dark it feels.
No matter how far you think you’ve gone.
No matter how impossible it seems.
There is no heart too broken, no addiction too strong, and no story too far gone for the love of Jesus to rewrite.
Stephen’s life proves it.
