Granger Smith feels 'relief' leaving country music to 'serve' God: 'I need to completely surrender'

Country music star Granger Smith announced that his tour "Like a River," which started on April 13, will be his last. The singer will then devote his life to ministry.

"I have a huge feeling of relief now that… I’ve been able to tell the world exactly what my intentions are and what I’m going to do," the "Happens Like That" artist told Fox News Digital. "For the last few years, a handful of people had known that [I was] probably leaving country music. [And] it’s difficult to get on stage in different environments, in different cities and play music for people knowing, as I’m looking into their eyes, that I’m probably going to tell them in a few months that I’m not doing this anymore. That’s a difficult way to live. And so, there’s a big sense of relief now that I’ve told everyone." Stephanie Nolasco covers entertainment at Foxnews.com.

The star admitted that for a while, he yearned for a new sense of purpose. Eager to devote himself to his faith, Smith is currently working toward a master’s degree from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. While some in Smith’s circle encouraged him to share his faith through song, Smith felt it wasn’t enough.

"I wrestled with the idea for a long time that this doesn’t feel right," Smith admitted. "A lot of people will probably think, ‘Why don’t you just sing country music, but talk about God on the stage?’ Or, ‘Why don’t you sing a couple of hymns on the stage? And that fixes everything.’ I wrestled with that for a couple of years… A lot of pastors and preachers told me, ‘Country music is your ministry, brother. You’re in a dark world. You’re bringing light to a dark world. You’re going into bars and stages where people might not have heard the message of Christ and you get to speak it – that is your ministry.’"