Michael Knott once sang, “How can we be forgiven if we don’t live our lives?” I remember that idea circling around my brain during Michael English’s “fall from grace.” When your attentions lie with the Christian market musically and arguably it’s biggest name (numerous Dove awards, millions of records sold, etc.) is seemingly blackballed for an affair, you can’t help but be unjustly fascinated by it. I was just as fascinated as everyone else but then he was gone and I naively thought the story was over. Thankfully it wasn’t.
The early part of The Prodigal Comes Home covers English’s time as a boy being managed in a quartet by his father. I love the honesty of this part of the book in particular because he talks a lot about the problems that still plague Christian music today, the things people don’t want to say out loud. Things like the fact that artists are often coached into giving/exaggerating testimonies in certain ways and that sin often goes unspoken if cash is coming through the door.
It’s the second part of the book though that is likely to be the reason you pick this up. It covers his life from being the biggest star in Christian music to being strung out on prescription painkillers, wrapping himself tightly in the taboos of the world. I wasn’t expecting so much brutal honesty from English but he really delivers his story with passion and conviction, unafraid to detail everything that was going through his mind during all of this. I was surprised to learn that he used his affair as a vehicle to end the marriage he so desperately wanted out of, and more surprised that he would tell that here. The biggest shock for me though was the list if names of the people who committed massive acts of grace and understanding even when English was at his lowest point. People like The Judds, Mike Curb (who bought out his contract after the affair and is still releasing Michael English records), Mark Lowry, Bill Gaither (possibly the classiest man in this industry), and even Michael W. Smith, among others.
This book is such an inspiration. It is the untold story of a man who, for years, was considered abandoned by the Christian music industry. As it turns out the fans and the speculators only had it partly right (like usual!) and English sets the record straight here in a heartbreaking way. Despite the heartbreak and the massive amounts of “wow, I didn’t know that” moments though English proclaims victory. When you couple this book with his new album you have one of the most powerful testimonies any Christian artist has ever offered, making this a must read for anyone who needs a little grace extended to them.
Reviewed by Mark Fisher
