Zach Williams plays the St. Augustine Amphitheatre

Zach Williams is a multiplatinum, two-time GRAMMY® Award-winning, Christian-rock music artist.

Blending southern rock with country music and gritty guitar riffs with gravelly vocals, his music speaks to the power of the redemptive heart of God.

At the time of this report, the Nashville-based international superstar was scheduled to performed Friday night at St. Augustine’s Amphitheatre.

No stranger to the seduction of the eccentricities of rock stardom, today, Williams sings of finding his faith as someone who knows.

Early in his career, as the front man in his own band, Zach Williams & The Reformation, Williams lived through years of alcohol and drug addiction; a lifestyle of excess he described as his perception of what was expected of him.

“I created a personality to be in the band, thinking that I had to do or be a certain way to hang out with people in social settings,” he said. “I thought I needed alcohol and drugs to have fun. Over time, these things became a necessity. And over the years, the necessity became an addiction.”

It would take 15 years for Williams to reach rock bottom and walk away from it all. Born and raised in a family of  faith, he returned back to his own family to achieve sobriety and regain a family strong-hold.

“I kept telling myself that it would all work out,” he said. “I understood that somehow, someway, God had a plan for all of this.”

Bent but not broken, Williams sidestepped music to embrace sobriety and pursue his newfound connection with his church. Describing this second chance as a gift, nothing meant more to him than the promise of change.

Despite setting music on the back burner, “God”, he said, kept showing up through melodies and lyrics playing in his head. With musical stories of redemption, humility and the power of love, he stepped back on stage as a Christian singer.

But the ride still wasn’t the smoothest.

“My anxiety kicked in when I started touring as a Christian singer,” Williams said. “There was a voice in my head that kept telling me ‘You don’t belong here; go back to what you were doing before.’ The voice told me I had no place here. And yet, I continued writing Christian songs out of my own need to sing over myself.”

Williams turned those songs into anthems of courage, self-reflection, and enlightenment.

In 2016, Williams signed with a record label as a solo artist. “Chain Breaker,” his first solo single, topped the Hot Christian Songs Chart at No.1., and on Christian radio’s Top 10 list. Chain Breaker was released a year later as a full-length album.

Williams received his first GRAMMY Award for Chain Breaker.

In, 2019, Williams released his second album, “Rescue Story.” which included “There Was Jesus”, sung with Dolly Parton, which garnered GRAMMY number two.

“A Hundred Highways,” Williams’ third album, blew up the airwaves with his hit single, “Heart of God.” And “Up There, Down Here” was sung by American Idol’s Warren Peay during season 21.

Williams admits, that while there are certain aspects of his past that he’s not proud of, “Things I wish I could take back, things I’ve said and done,” he also believes that God allowed him to walk through these circumstances to give him a platform to share “How much God loves us.”

“The Lord never left me,” he said. “Even in my darkest times. I wouldn’t change what I went through because then I wouldn’t have a story to tell.”

Williams shared what living life as a Christian artist is like.

“I let God lead the way,” he concluded. “I stay grounded in The Word. I write from life experiences. I’m transparent and true to myself. I can talk to Him about anything even when I’m driving down the highway by myself, which I do a lot.

“I pray, I thank Him, and I ask for repentance. Having a relationship with God is like having a relationship with your best friend.”

This article originally appeared on St. Augustine Record: Zach Williams plays the St. Augustine Amphitheatre