Anne Wilson, Katy Nichole Producer Gave Up Dream to Trust God’s Plan

Published: October 16, 2023

Anne Wilson, Katy Nichole Producer Gave Up Dream to Trust God’s Plan

By Movieguide® Contributor

Songwriter and producer Jeff Pardo shared with Mathew West how giving up his dream of singing allowed him to discover God’s plan for his life.

Music has interested Pardo since he learned to play piano in third grade. By the time he was a freshman at Bellmont College, he had been writing songs for years and dreamed of becoming a full-time musician.

As he shared his music and collaborated with others at Bellmont, he realized that while people enjoyed the music he created on his own, they loved the music he created in collaboration with others. By his sophomore year, he felt prompted by God to focus on behind-the-scenes work rather than try to forge his way as an individual act.

“It really was this Lord-led thing where I felt it was like, ‘Jeff, if you keep holding onto this dream that you’ve had, you’re going to miss the bigger thing.’ And so I remember kind of laying down Jeff as the artist, and it felt like this little death, you know, it felt like, oh, I’m letting go of something that I’ve thought about for a long, long, long time to embrace something that I don’t fully know what it means yet,” Pardo explained on West’s podcast.

“It was significant, but very quickly it became evident that this is what I was actually made for, and I’m not made to be the person at the front of the stage. I’m made to be the person at the back of the stage that’s helping to equip the person at the front of the stage to go out and feel confident with what they’re doing,” he continued.

He’s thankful that God changed his direction when He did because shifting his focus during college allowed him to make incredible connections early on in his career.

“If this hadn’t happened here, this decision that led to this whole other way of living my life that I didn’t know was gonna happen, I probably wouldn’t be sitting here,” he said. “Cause I would have held on too long…I want to be an artist, and I would have missed out on these other relation[ships] – what became foundational spots in my career.

The music world is certainly better to have Pardo as a songwriter and producer. He has been a collaborator on dozens of hits, including “Rise Up” by Cain, “My Jesus” by Anne Wilson and “In Jesus Name (God of Possible)” by Katy Nichole.

Pardo collaborated with West and Wilson on “My Jesus,” which became Billboard’s No. 1 song on the Christian charts when it was released in 2021.

“There’s just moments when you write that…I feel like God gives you something,” he said of the song. “I think though…if there’s anything I can point to, I just think it’s there truth in the song.”

“I think it just feels true for a lot of listeners, and as a writer…it’s incredibly life-giving, and I’m incredibly grateful that our listeners are connecting with it the way they are,” Pardo added.

Movieguide® previously reported on Nichole’s song “In Jesus’ Name (God of Possible)”:

Christian singer Katy Nichole recently shared a TikTok video of her debut single, “In Jesus Name (God of Possible),” which amassed 80 million views.

After an influx of offers and an appearance of the song on K-Love, the 21-year-old artist signed on with the Christian label Centricity Music. Nichole became the first artist to stream a song on K-Love before being signed by a label.

Nichole recently shared the story behind “In Jesus Name,” which came from journal entries after a scoliosis diagnosis.