{"id":27086,"date":"2023-08-01T11:57:50","date_gmt":"2023-08-01T15:57:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/?p=27086"},"modified":"2023-08-01T11:57:50","modified_gmt":"2023-08-01T15:57:50","slug":"country-star-walker-hayes-shares-his-journey-from-atheist-to-faith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2023\/08\/country-star-walker-hayes-shares-his-journey-from-atheist-to-faith.html","title":{"rendered":"Country Star Walker Hayes Shares His Journey From Atheist to Faith"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Kathy Hutchins\/Shutterstock.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Country musician Walker Hayes credits his friendship with a pastor for helping him change his life from an alcoholic atheist to a sober follower of Christ. In an interview on Fox News, Hayes shared, \u201cI\u2019m eight years sober this October. I woke up one day when I was working at Costco. I worked at Costco from 4 to 11, then wrote and then played shows. And man, it caught up to me. And honestly, I had been drinking since I was probably like 13.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hayes\u2019 awakening came before his success. One weekend after feeling he would die, he quit cold turkey and never looked back. He said, \u201cI woke up one Saturday, and I just felt like I was going to die. I felt like physically, if I did one more day, something was wrong. And so I stopped, and then one day turned into two, and then two turned into a week. And then a week turned into a month. And then I did the whole high on sobriety thing and got into working out and stuff. Kind of traded a bad addiction for some good ones.\u201d<\/p>\n

While still struggling with alcoholism, Hayes shared that he and his wife lost their seventh child, a daughter named Oakleigh Klover, who died shortly after being born. On top of the family\u2019s challenges, Hayes lost a recording contract and repossessed the family van used to transport their children.<\/p>\n

However, an encounter with a pastor would change his life, eventually converting him to a believer in Christ. Craig Allen Cooper, the founder of Glad You\u2019re Here Ministries, had committed to love on the country star and his family during their lowest point. Hayes was initially skeptical but said he was shown the love of Christ by Cooper, who even gave the musician his minivan.<\/p>\n