Welcome to the world of Kirk Franklin, a celebrated gospel musician, songwriter, and choir director whose words resonate deeply with audiences worldwide. Kirk Franklin’s journey in the realm of gospel music has been nothing short of extraordinary, marked by his innovative approach to blending contemporary sounds with traditional gospel elements. Through his music and public speaking engagements, Franklin has become known not only for his exceptional talent but also for his profound insights and uplifting messages.
With a career spanning several decades, Kirk Franklin has garnered acclaim for his thought-provoking lyrics that touch on themes of faith, resilience, and the power of love. His words have the ability to inspire and uplift, offering solace and encouragement to those who listen. Whether through his chart-topping hits or his motivational speeches, Franklin has established himself as a beacon of positivity in an often tumultuous world. As we delve into the wisdom of Kirk Franklin, we invite you to explore his quotes below, where you’ll find inspiration to lift your spirits and fuel your journey through life.
I’ve worked with kids in a youth ministry in California. Kirk Franklin
Well, one thing that I’ve learned is that love and fear cannot occupy the same space. So, one of the weapons to defeat fear is love. Learning the power of love and being loved by the creator of love. Being loved by God himself. Kirk Franklin
I’m an advocate for therapy. Kirk Franklin
Religion, throughout the years, has become a very oppressive thing that doesn’t allow people to get to know the God it was created to try to lead them to. Kirk Franklin
It’s very hard to grow up in the African American church and for music to not be in your veins. It’s just part of the fabric of who we are as people, especially black musicians. Kirk Franklin
People are hungry for something to remind them that life is bigger than the hell they’re going through. Kirk Franklin
If anyone has a problem with me, they can just take it up with God. Kirk Franklin
Real people live with, you know, being Christians with cancer, Christians with AIDS, and Christians coming back home with limbs missing from war, and Christians being evicted, and Christians losing their homes. And if you don’t paint that picture, too, then I think that you are misrepresenting what the faith really can look like. Kirk Franklin
My phone bill is four thousand dollars when I’m out of the country. Kirk Franklin
Being raised in the church and being raised in hip-hop, it was just a really natural marriage. Kirk Franklin
Gospel music is not a sound; gospel music is a message. Gospel music means good news. It’s good-news music. Kirk Franklin
I am a Christian. With all my being. My heart loves Jesus 100. Kirk Franklin
Whatever my lens is, it’s always going to be trying my best to see something through what I believe is going to be God’s word, and not God’s word in the essence of dogma or in the essence of religion, or to be right and to make other people wrong. Kirk Franklin
Christian music, gospel music, sometimes you’ll fall asleep at church but music wakes you up, the song can speak to you in a way that’s puts a fire in you. So if I’m working with a mainstream artist I’m trying to find a bigger purpose. Kirk Franklin
Wanting to be happy is something that every human being aspires to have. Kirk Franklin
I believe that if the Bible calls anything a sin, it’s listed in the same category as you would list pride, as you would list hate, as you would list any other thing. Kirk Franklin
My point is that I am pro-life but I still believe that I do not have a right to force a woman to do anything with her body, the same way that I can’t force somebody to come to Jesus Christ. Kirk Franklin
Sometimes I long for the parents I didn’t have; that’s a recurring nightmare. Kirk Franklin
I don’t want to fall – I want to stay prayerful, I want God to stay pleased with my life. Kirk Franklin
Music for me should be more like a mission. Kirk Franklin
There’s no truth without love and love can’t exist without truth. Kirk Franklin
The Bible is not a book that’s an attack on gay people. It’s not a book written to attack gay people. Kirk Franklin
I’m always trying to find innovative ways to be able to keep God famous. For all the properties I’m involved in, that’s been my agenda. Kirk Franklin
God is a God of truth, I believe that God’s love is the truth. Kirk Franklin
That’s why gospel will never be pop music – it’s not something that’d be everyone’s cup of tea. Kirk Franklin
I preach Christ, whether people want to hear that or not. I preach it in the spirit of love, you know, not in a spirit of hate, for whoever wants to listen – black, white, Jew or Gentile. They are all my brothers, you know? They are all my sisters. Kirk Franklin
I am just always trying to pay attention to how to communicate things that may not always be the hot topic issues and ways they can be entertaining and engaging. That’s what I think has always been my passion, even if it comes to the type of music that I do. Kirk Franklin
My mama didn’t want me; my daddy wasn’t there. So there were a lot of insecurities and low self-esteem. Kirk Franklin
What I want to say about the Kanye thing is that whoever wants me to be in their life – whether it’s a rapper, celebrity, janitor, banker, newsman, teacher – my job is to be a light for God and Christ. Whoever I’m with and whatever I’m doing, that’s my purpose. Kirk Franklin
Really, at the end of the day, if I want to keep God part of the conversation then I will do everything I can to make that happen. Kirk Franklin
I’ve never wanted to be a liar because truth heals me. Kirk Franklin
I hope in telling the truth, I can heal others. Kirk Franklin
I think at people’s core, everybody’s just looking to be healed inside because we all coming with childhood trauma, especially people of color. Kirk Franklin
I can go to a movie theater and sit there all day. I love movies. They intrigue my brain and they relax me. I am a movie buff. Kirk Franklin
My job on Earth, the reason why Kirk is created, is to make God famous. I just want God to be well-known. And I think it’s created a dialogue – I think it’s opened up conversation, and people have started to talk about what religion is to them. Kirk Franklin
All Scripture is God-breathed… but what we have to understand also is that the Canon of Scripture still is coming from a place of a loving God. Kirk Franklin
Well, I feel that the pursuit of trying to know who God is, and trying to be known by God, can be lost in religion. Because religion, all that it is, is man’s attempt to try to put a definition on something that is very hard to define. Kirk Franklin
I’m very committed to a diet and very committed to exercise. Kirk Franklin
There’s nothing as a Christian black man that I fear that the average white male wouldn’t. Kirk Franklin
The kids, they want to come to spirituality. But we have to meet them where we are. Kirk Franklin
We’re trying to create content that is very culturally forward without compromising the push of the gospel. Kirk Franklin
I don’t work with an artist to try to blow up, but to see if the music can be medicine, if it can be therapeutic and serve a bigger purpose. Kirk Franklin
Since Jesus is the truth, if you follow him, you must be truthful, no matter what the personal cost. Kirk Franklin
I just keep trying and failing and I will continue to keep trying to see what I can do to try to keep people engaged in the conversation about our Lord and Savior, man. Really that’s all I’m trying to do. Kirk Franklin
If we were not sinners, Jesus would not have had to come. If he didn’t see us as sinners, he could have loved us without dying for us. He died for our sins. So if we’re all sinners, that means everybody’s in the pot together needing the same love, the same grace and the same forgiveness. Kirk Franklin
My heart really is about making sure that the conversation of Jesus Christ is something that can be a relevant conversation regardless of where culture finds itself. Kirk Franklin
Hate and bigotry should not be carrying a Bible and dressing up like a so called child of God. Kirk Franklin
I prefer being flawed and I prefer being seen flawed. Kirk Franklin
I want young people to realize that they don’t have to go to the world to find joy and peace, they can find it in the church. Kirk Franklin
Sometimes it feels very homophobic when people try to make their stance and their beliefs, and there’s been some very painful, ugly things that have been said… that not have always been in the essence of a heart for Christ. Kirk Franklin
My first triumph was turning Elton John’s ‘Benny and the Jets’ into a gospel tune. Kirk Franklin
I’m borderline vegan. Kirk Franklin
While we fight and argue about abortion and sexual orientation, we apparently forgot one of the greatest sins that God continuously acknowledges He hates: pride. Kirk Franklin
I am a student of good and bad, and I’ve always been inquisitive. I never want to be the know-it-all in a room. I want to be in the room of those that are thinkers and people that are compassionate, people that have drive and ambition. I’m always driven by it. Kirk Franklin
A lot of times we make God to be this protagonist to our hope and our joy, and to be this old, grumpy man with this long beard and white robe. That is so counterintuitive to the heart of God. Kirk Franklin
I wasn’t trying to be no national name or nothing. I didn’t have that idea to even think that was possible. Kirk Franklin
I would never say that claiming you’re a Christian is wrong. I understand that there is a human aspect of being able to identify people whether it’s African American, Hispanic or Asian. But the definition doesn’t define the relationship, meaning you can be married and still not know intimacy. Kirk Franklin
Whether it’s Kendrick Lamar or J. Cole or Common there are a lot of artists, especially rappers, who come from a background with a faith-based substance, and it’s time for that substance to be celebrated and appreciated. Kirk Franklin
I’m very cautious to not be too observant, or too consumed with what works and what doesn’t work, because I think that’s when you fail. Kirk Franklin
What saved me from the hood was Christian faith motivated by music. Kirk Franklin
I celebrate my weaknesses. Kirk Franklin
I think that sometimes we have compromised quality content for the fear of Christianity, and I think that they both can co-exist. Kirk Franklin
My main message is to preach God’s word, pure and truthful. But also make it swaggalicious. Kirk Franklin
It makes you feel good when you do a song that, sonically, can fit right next to Drake. But our audience, they don’t care. And it hurts that they don’t care! Kirk Franklin
You can’t lose with truth. Truth transforms. Kirk Franklin
Some of our strongest critics, especially inside the church, said we had turned our backs on traditional gospel music and were just contemporary R&B artists exploiting Christian lyrics for the money. But that’s not true. Kirk Franklin
Every human being was wired with the desire for happiness. And we will try different things all in the pursuit of that feeling. Kirk Franklin
If you start as a Christian artist trying to be mainstream, you’re done from the beginning. Kirk Franklin
When you look at the decline of church attendance in America, or when you look at the decline of millennials that are not going to church in America, you want to have the conversation that a lot of times people are hit more with religion and rules and the systems than they are with the love of God and having a personal relationship with Christ. Kirk Franklin
If I want to wear a V-neck T-shirt and some jeans with a little sag – not hood sag, then I’m just being me. Kirk Franklin
People come to my concerts from all walks of life. I tried to break barriers down. Kirk Franklin
I trust that if God gives me music for someone else, that’s what He wants that person to have. I have to trust that that’s what they’re supposed to do and that’s the music that should specifically be released for them and their ministry, for their career and for their audience. Kirk Franklin
I was adopted when I was 4. The woman who adopted me, she was 64 years old. Kirk Franklin
We’ve gotta be able to change that climate so that people feel more comfortable to be honest about their wounds. Kirk Franklin
I want my private life to reflect what I preach publicly. Kirk Franklin
When people are taught, especially at a young age, that they’re created for something bigger, that gives them hope. Kirk Franklin
Love cannot exist without truth, but truth cannot exist without love. Kirk Franklin
My goal is to try to lead people to the manufacturer of their souls. Kirk Franklin
Some people’s healing and transformation may take years, and that does not mean that they’re not in deep pursuit, you know? Kirk Franklin
Let’s let people heal. Kirk Franklin
More than anything, I’m trying to peel back those layers that keep people away from God and keep people away from experiencing the love of God and knowing God’s love as a father. Kirk Franklin
It is horrible that we have made it where the Bible is a homophobic manual. That’s not what the Bible is. Kirk Franklin
Music was always a part of me. Kirk Franklin
You can’t sing about Jesus too long without Him changing you. Kirk Franklin
Most gospel music is very vertical. And there’s nothing wrong with that – there’s nothing wrong with, you know, ‘God, we praise you,’ and ‘hallelujah.’ Those songs are very important. But I also like to do songs that are very horizontal, that kind of fit within the fabric of people’s everyday life. Kirk Franklin
It’s important for a gospel artist not to try to be mainstream. Kirk Franklin
You know, when you read stories in the Bible – you know, Samson, the story of David or the story of Moses – you know, there’s conflict on the way to the victory. Kirk Franklin
I really love New York. I just love the aesthetics and the spirit of New York. I’ve just always loved the energy of it. When you’re flying into New York and you look out of the window, it’s like you’re flying into another planet. I’ve never stopped being amazed at it. Kirk Franklin
When we go through being rejected and abandoned like I did as a kid, you have a lot of fear and anxiety issues that you didn’t even know that’s what it was defined as. You live your life a lot of times living with the ghost of fear. Kirk Franklin
You could always tell intent by how people spend their money. How people spend their money is a reflection of their heart. Kirk Franklin
I’m not trying to be a spiritual leader to the stars. I think that title is very gross. Kirk Franklin
The core of what we do is the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and my music is a reflection of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It’s not as much inspirational as it is spreading the Gospel. Kirk Franklin
A lot of times the thoughts of religion are not all bibliocentric, sometimes they’re cultural. Then it becomes cultural to say, ‘it’s wrong to do this and it’s wrong to do that.’ It becomes a misinterpretation of scripture. Kirk Franklin
I’ve seen people fall in love with God, or come to see God loving them, through a relationship. Kirk Franklin
Anyone that has a microphone, that temptation for the voice to be bigger than the message is always there. Kirk Franklin
If we are so holy and so perfect and never interact with people that may not go to church or may not be where we think we are, then how will they ever get light? Kirk Franklin
What’s funny is that in the ’90s, growing up in the black church, everyone around you was older, so your swag became older. Kirk Franklin
I think it’s unfortunate that we don’t go into the non-churchy places to be what I believe Jesus was. Kirk Franklin
If I’m writing and doing music celebrating the Creator, who is the most creative being in the world – I mean, when you look at nature and when you look at all of the beautiful created things – why should I be limited in expressing myself? He’s creative, so why shouldn’t my music be creative, too? Kirk Franklin
There’s always a new experience that has to be communicated. Kirk Franklin