Country music artist Cole Swindell has a desire to spread his Christian faith more now than ever before.
There’s been an undeniable movement of Christians being more outspoken about their faith in recent years. Athletes like Houston Texans QB CJ Stroud and actors like The Terminal List star Chris Pratt have led the push for Christ followers to share their stories and their testimonies in public.
And country music artists have also been a part of that, and one in particular even helped a Christian song land on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Back in May, there were two Christian songs that made the Hot 100 – the first time that’s happened in over a decade. One is Forrest Frank’s viral smash “Your Way’s Better,” and the other just so happened to be the Christian-country crossover that you’ve probably heard: “Hard Fought Hallelujah” with Christian artist Brandon Lake and rapper-turned-country-singer, Jelly Roll.
There’s also been a lot of country music artists talking more about their faith in response to the assassination of political activist Charlie Kirk. Multiple songs have been penned in the Christian’s honor, and one that’s really landed with folks is Cole Swindell’s “Make Heaven Crowded.”
The country music star recently sat down on the Isabel Brown Show to talk about how Kirk’s death personally affected him, and inspired him to write the song that puts faith front and center. He credited some well-established country artists for spreading Christianity before him, and ultimately said that Charlie Kirk’s assassination was a bit of a wake up call for him spiritually:
“A guy just got assassinated for believing how I believe, except that he was a little more bold about it. That’s what got me. It made me look in the mirror: someone that’s living like I am should be living and spreading the Word as a Christian, what I should be doing with the platform that I have.
People like John Rich and Jason Aldean have kind of led the way on that. There’s a whole lot of us that are just fed up with feeling like we can’t say how we believe. There’s no harm in that.”
Swindell feels as though he’s always lived his life as a Christian, but he realized that he needed to do more than that. With his platform, he could help lead people to the Lord, and tell people about Jesus, potentially reaching individuals that would consider themselves to be unbelievers.
That all came together in his song “Make Heaven Crowded,” which he penned and released in the days after Kirk’s death:
“I’m a loving person, I’m not judgmental, I kind of stay out of the way and do my own thing and try to be good to people. That’s just not good enough anymore. I have to influence other people and be good to people and keep doing everything I can. I never got the chance to meet Charlie, but I’m learning a lot more about him everyday.
Even (my song ‘Make Heaven Crowded’) was inspired by a clip of Erika the first time she spoke after (it happened). That is what really hit me the hardest. I had heard make heaven crowded, I had seen the phrase, but it never hit me like when I watched her say that.”
The song has a truly moving message if you’ve never heard it, and the lyrics of the track provide a message of hope and a desire for our actions here on Earth to make Heaven a place that is packed with plenty of people:
“I’ve blamed my sinning on ‘I ain’t no saint’
I’ve bit my tongue, said that it ain’t my place
I’ve kept Jesus in the backseat, but I can’t any longer
After what we all saw last week, I can’t help but wonder
What if churches had a longer line outside
Than all them bars on Friday night
What if people prayed for people who ain’t on their side
What if good ran off the bad
Them streets of gold up there’d be packed
This ol’ world would look a lot better than we found it
If we make Heaven crowded”
And here’s the track that Cole Swindell wrote and released shortly after Charlie Kirk’s assassination if you want to check it out:
“Make Heaven Crowded”
