“God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords.” (1 Timothy 6:15)

My brother is a huge Elvis fan, so I knew gifting him and my mom with tickets to a local Elvis festival concert last December would be a huge hit. What I didn’t anticipate was the impact our Elvis weekend would have on me.

Of all the concerts held over the three-day event, we attended the “Elvis Christmas Show,” which promised to include gospel favorites. This event was no amateur hour. These singers were all either Ultimate Elvis Champions or award-winning Elvis Tribute Artists (ETAs), and they were phenomenal. Their voices, outfits, and dancing moves would have made Elvis himself proud.

What blew me away, most of all, though, were the testimonies. These singers didn’t just honor the King of Rock and Roll; a few of them stood unafraid in a theater filled with hundreds of fans to proclaim their faith in the King of kings before singing their favorite gospel songs in a Presley-style manner.

Bill Cherry’s version of “How Great Thou Art,” in particular, gave me goosebumps with its passion and conviction. When Ultimate Elvis Champion David Lee testified about his faith and invited the audience to a free concert on Sunday morning at a local church, my family and I agreed we had to attend.  

As we rode home after the show, still basking in the fun experience that none of us will ever forget, I pondered Elvis’s faith journey. Was he a Christian? From his later years, it may have been hard to tell, but perhaps he had lost his way in all the adoration and expectations that doubtlessly comprised his life.

Upon researching this topic, I discovered that Presley was raised in the church but didn’t seem overly interested in Christianity until the late 1950s. After skyrocketing to fame, Elvis purportedly felt empty and longed to discover a deeper purpose in life. It was in 1956 that Presley encountered the gospel singer Jake Hess, who drew him into the genre’s evangelistic lyrics. Not long afterwards, Elvis sought Christian counseling and began reading the Bible on his own. It was then that Presley started talking about his faith to his friends and family.

In 1977, Elvis was baptized at Memphis’s First Assembly of God. Unashamed of his transformation, Elvis began incorporating more Christian songs into his repertoire and eventually recorded several gospel albums.

Presley’s stepbrother, Billy Stanley, wrote a book about Elvis’s faith entitled The Faith of Elvis: A Story Only a Brother Can Tell.

“He was a Christian, and most people don’t know that,” Stanley told CBN. “When I say ‘Christian,’ he was a Bible-carrying Christian…wherever he went, he took the Bible with him.” Stanley should know, as he was often tasked with making sure Elvis’s Bible was always with him on tour.

“He read the Bible almost every day,” Stanley said.

Still, the pressures of fame haunted Presley. “I always thought…he had the devil on one side, and he’s got God on the other side, and there was a constant battle going on inside of his head.”

Only God knows who won the battle in the end.

After seeing the Elvis impersonators in concert the night before, it was a bit surreal to see David Lee, still looking every bit like the icon – from his pompadour and sideburns to his gold-brocade-trimmed jacket – casually talking to parishioners before his morning concert at a local church. I had no idea what to expect, but it was the faith this man expressed on stage that drew me to his secondary event. It must be hard for these ETAs to shed their stage personas, I mused, after making a career out of living, breathing, and becoming the legendary rocker at regular events across the country.

While he didn’t provide the full details of his conversion, Lee testified during the service that the only time he was in church growing up was during occasional Vacation Bible School sessions. Consequently, he surrendered to Christ later in life. He now uses his platform as an ETA to share his faith with others, hoping to bring his fans closer to the Heavenly Father who saved him. “My job may be singing like Elvis,” Lee said, “but the most important thing I do is to perform at events like this, where I can share my faith and hopefully help someone else find Jesus.”

“It must be hard to walk around in public with that hair and sideburns,” I later mused to my husband, David, “knowing he’s always going to get looks and have Elvis fans fawning over him. He can’t hide that persona.”

Case in point, one of my church friends later told me that she and her friends spotted Lee at a local buffet, after the service. “He seemed nice,” she said, adding that they had all spoken to him.

All of this leaves me wondering who we, as Christians, are emulating. We may not sport pompadours or flashy outfits, but who do we embody when others see us? Do our lives exemplify our faith, or would our friends and co-workers be surprised to hear that we are Christians? Are we closet-believers, fearing “offending” others with what we believe, or do we live our faith out loud, standing bold in our convictions, unashamed in our beliefs, and confident in our salvation?

Elvis Presley will always be known as the King of rock and roll, but Jesus Christ is the King of kings and Lord of lords. It’s indisputable who changed the world more profoundly.

We don’t need to sermonize to stand for our Savior. We don’t need to dress in sandals to walk a path of conviction. It is our humility, kindness, and dedication that will speak volumes to our colleagues.

The world desperately needs King Jesus. As Christians, we need to live, breathe, and emulate Him on the stage of our lives so that everyone we encounter will see Christ in everything that we do.