Even with all his awards, touring with big names and appearing in a major motion picture, singer-songwriter Micah Tyler has a quote he often thinks about regarding his career: “We’ll never stand before Jesus one day and hear Him say, ‘Well done, good and successful musician.’
“Our calling is to be faithful with what is in front of us.”
Being faithful in the little things may have led to him “making it,” but it wasn’t a planned course.
Late start
Tyler didn’t even play the guitar until he was a youth pastor who needed a worship leader. He bought a guitar, hoping someone in his group would play it. When no one stepped up, he decided to try. Though he felt nervous his first time leading worship for his group of 35, he found that he loved it.
Other youth leaders started asking him to lead worship for their groups. Over the next seven years, Tyler became the on-call local worship leader for area camps and retreats.
Then at 27 years old and in his seventh year of marriage with two children and one on the way, he felt called to full-time music ministry. The couple sold more than half of all they owned and bought a singlewide trailer. Tyler started doing odd jobs — substitute teaching, driving a sausage delivery truck and mowing grass.
“And then every once in a while I got to do a little music,” he said.
After five years as an independent artist, his songs started being played on the local Christian radio station. They began recommending him to be the opening act for Christian performers coming through the area.
Unexpected opportunity
After opening for Phil Wickham, he was asked six months later about doing it again in Tyler, Texas — a much bigger platform than he had done before.
However, 15 minutes before the show’s start, he was told that Wickham’s plane had been diverted. Meanwhile, he was hearing attendees of the sold-out show shouting, “Phil! Phil! Phil! Phil!”
They needed Tyler to do the entire show.
“Because I felt like my calling was not to be successful and to try and win everything — instead, it’s just to be faithful — I walked up there and said, ‘All right, Lord. Whatever You want to do this night, You can do.’
“I ended up playing every song I ever wrote. I stalled with every story I ever knew. It was one of the most special nights of my entire life.”
The next day Wickham’s manager called and asked what happened. Tyler said he was “just trying to survive” and then found out that they kept getting message after message about how great the night was. This led to touring with Wickham and signing with his management, his record label and his booking agent.
“So when young artists come to me and say, ‘Hey, how do I get a record deal?’ I say, ‘Well, you’ve got to make sure that Phil Wickham doesn’t show up for a show,’” Tyler said, laughing.
Rocky path
Even after that record deal, Tyler’s path was rocky. Expenses outweighed income.
Wickham’s team would leave Nashville on Wednesday, drive to each performance and then arrive Monday in Nashville where they lived. However, to get home to Texas, Tyler had to fly.
Once, when finances were especially tight, Tyler asked if he could sleep on the bus. He awoke on Monday morning in a dark, sweltering bus. Apparently, his request had been forgotten.
But his phone was blowing up. It was full of messages of congratulations. His first single, “Never Been a Moment,” had hit the Top 20.
Then his wife called. She frantically told him not to spend any money. She had accidentally paid the light bill early and after getting groceries, they had 87 cents to their name.
Having $40 in his pocket from merch, Tyler reassured her they would be okay until he got paid.
After hanging up, he walked a mile to buy a loaf of bread, ham, cheese and a case of water. He got back to a dark, hot bus, sat down and said out loud to the empty space, “Well, I made it.”
“But the thing is, it was in that moment that I’m realizing that if we hinge all of our faithfulness on the results of the work we’re putting in, we’re going to be disappointed at times.
“I’ve had days when things have been really tough. I feel like I’ve got one foot in the valley and one foot on the mountain at the same time.
“But over and over again, I’ve realized that God provided me a meal that day on a day when I didn’t have much. Hundreds of miles away from my house, God was still showing me His kindness in that moment. Even though it was a weird situation, I got to celebrate with my wife.”
That song eventually climbed to No. 1, but Tyler isn’t looking for the next No. 1 song.
Next steps
“It’s fun to get awards. It’s awesome to hear my songs being played on Christian radio. But at the end of the day, my first calling is to be a husband and a dad. Those are the moments I’m looking to in the future — the things that God started when I took these kids home from the hospital and while serving with my wife of 20 years — to see what the next steps are going to be.”
Tyler’s musical journey continues by playing at Winter Jam ‘25. For more information go to www.jamtour.com. To learn more about Tyler and his music go to www.micahtyler.com.
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