When Kirk Franklin assembled a 17-member vocal ensemble of neighborhood friends and associates he dubbed The Family, he was a young unknown gospel artist. Infusing R&B and other genres into his music, he shattered records and became the first gospel artist to sell more than a million units. Since his 1993 debut album, the musical trendsetter has won seven Grammy Awards and numerous other accolades.
Despite his success, the now 40-year-old, multiplatinum artist still dealt with the resurgence of past issues, feeling a sense of emptiness, and seeking a deeper purpose. In his new book, The Blueprint: A Plan for Living Above Life’s Storms (Gotham Books; $25), Franklin shares his personal trials and triumphs and how he used them to propel him to success. The Fort Worth, Texas, native talked to Black Enterprise about enduring hardships, the importance of living an honest life, and how a strong foundation changes everything.
You’re very candid about your childhood–having an absent father and a mother who said she wished she’d aborted you. How did that impact your life?
I really believe that we will never fully understand the development and growth that we rob from our children when we do not parent them and give them the affirmation they need. I watch my son when he’s outside throwing his ball. He’s always peeking out the side of his eye to see if I’m watching. I intentionally give him a thumbs-up because I know it’s important for a son to have affirmation from his father so that he grows up not always longing for that, but he’s groomed to know that he is important to this earth. People want to belong, and people want to feel like they have a part in this life’s chain.
In one chapter of your new book, you said that people don’t like to tell on themselves. But you have made your struggles public. Why is it so important for you to be transparent?
I want to share how my life has been transformed. Having a painful childhood affected my mindset and how I viewed girls. I was just very promiscuous. It was hard to get through during my teenage years and 20s. I’ve come through this, and now I’m on the
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other side of it and have the freedom of being able to be committed to one woman. People fail because there are not enough teachers able to take off their jacket or their robe and sit next to you in the classroom and say “me, too.â€
So you are practicing what you preach, which is to take faith out of the pews and into people’s real lives?
It’s very important to me to take off the holier than thou stigma and for people to see that we Christians have a real honest type of lifestyle. A lot of people come to church with masks on because we can’t afford to allow others to see our real faces. So if the sermon is more like a pep rally with three points that help you get through your day, you get those points, clap, say amen, and then leave never having to take your mask off and never getting to the root of the problem in your life. The real work comes when we take off the mask, get uncomfortable, roll up our sleeves, and look deep into the mirror of what was really behind that.
Having been through that real, uncomfortable work yourself, how did you develop a blueprint to change your life?
The core of change is that defining moment of peace–peace that you begin to have deep inside of you that is not based on a new car, new purse, or a new boyfriend or girlfriend; but when you are alone and you are able to rest in being exactly where you are. I had to learn how to figure out the job of Christ inside me and allow Him to be the foundation that everything else would be built upon. Once He became that foundation, I was able to make room for my wife, Tammy; my career; children; and relatives. But when you don’t have that foundation built right, you’ll have the bathrooms on top of the roof and a toilet that is turned upside down.
Shenelle Wallace is a freelance contributor to Black Enterprise.com.