American Idol finalist Dixon encourages audiences to ‘work through noise,’ focus on God

American Idol finalist Dixon encourages audiences to ‘work through noise,’ focus on God

After placing in the top seven on “American Idol” in 2012, Colton Dixon captured the attention of audiences as he used his platform for God’s glory.

Through it all, Dixon has remained unwavering in his commitment to shine the spotlight on Christ.

“When I was on ‘American Idol’ my goal was to show and spread God’s love,” Dixon said. “I learned it was so much more effective if I shared about what God had done in my life rather than telling people they weren’t living the right way.

“Most people already know they aren’t doing what is right, but they may be unaware of God’s redeeming love and forgiveness.”

Doors opened, flooded with responses

“God opened doors for me to share about my faith, whether it was through interviews or just not doing what everyone else was doing,” Dixon said. “It was so cool when people realized that I had something deeper and something they wanted in their own life.”

With his new album “Anchor,” Dixon desires to connect audiences to Christ as their source of strength and stability during life’s storms.

By sharing messages of hope and inspiration through his songs, Dixon has been flooded with responses from around the world.

“God promises that He will never leave or forsake His children,” Dixon noted. “I want people to grab hold of that message and cling to that promise. It’s a constant comfort during life’s toughest moments.

“My prayer for any album or any concert is that people would see Jesus in everything that I do. Yes my concerts are entertaining, but at the end of the night I want people to have an encounter with God and leave different than they came. I want people to go deeper than they have before. I want people to grow closer to Jesus through these songs. That’s my constant prayer when I’m working on these songs and performing them.”

The successful release of “Anchor” follows Dixon’s 2013 groundbreaking debut “A Messenger,” which set the record for biggest first-week sales by a new solo Christian act and was the top-selling album of the year by a new Christian artist.

Dixon’s current single “Through All of It” points directly to God’s faithfulness in the midst of life’s trials.

As the song resonates with listeners around the globe, Dixon has created a social media campaign #ThroughAllOfIt. The campaign is designed to encourage people to share personal accounts of seeing God at work in the midst of trials and triumphs.

Dixon recently dedicated the music video for this song to the victims of the June 17 church shooting in Charleston. The video has reached nearly 2 million people on social media with countless testimonies of God’s unconditional love, forgiveness and grace.

While maintaining a busy touring schedule including Christian music festivals and tours such as WinterJam, Dixon performed concerts for more than 800,000 people in 2014.

Dixon’s music and message are being well received. In 2013, Dixon won a Dove Award for Best Rock/Contemporary Album of the Year. This fall he will join Christian recording artists TobyMac and Britt Nicole on the “This Is Not a Test Tour.”

“During concerts I hope people are challenged to dig deeper and grow closer to God,” Dixon said.

“I was really inspired by an analogy that I heard from a youth pastor who used this illustration: imagine two cups of water. One cup represents you and anything you put before God — it could be entertainment, work or family. The water in the other cup represents God. What God wants to do with us is to fill us up with more of Him. God wants us to grow closer to Him and be stronger with Him.

“What I’ve realized is that if we truly want to experience the full potential of God’s love and power at work in our lives, then we have to empty our cup first. We have to make more room for Him in our lives and surrender completely.”

‘He is worth it’

“This is something that I challenge myself with daily because I want to experience more of God each day. The only way that’s going to happen is if I direct all my attention on Him.

“Although there are distractions, you have to focus and work through the noise because He is worth it all.”