Ben Tankard: Celebrating God’s Mercy

Tankard grew up playing the drums, but in middle school took up the tuba. He excelled at this throughout high school, even ranking No. 2 in the nation as an All-American. After high school he had quite a choice. He had 30 scholarship offers for music and 20 scholarship offers for basketball. He ultimately decided to pursue basketball because he wanted to go to the NBA so he could take care of his family.

His first year in camp in the NBA, he suffered an injury and was cut from the team. But God used this to draw Tankard to Himself. “I went back to church because I was depressed. And it was there that I really accepted God and He anointed me to play the piano the same night. … I’ve been walking in God’s mercy since then because He gave me this ability to play the piano from nowhere. It’s been 16 albums, all these awards, and gold albums, [platinum albums]. It’s just the mercy of God. It’s nothing I did; it’s just God’s mercy.”

Tankard is an instrumentalist, but he includes several vocal songs on his new album. He co-wrote the track “My Lips Shall Utter Praises” and likes this song because it serves as a reminder that no matter what we’re going through, everything will work out if we will praise Him.

This musician, artist, writer and pastor also encourages us to be careful with what we confess. “We need to go back to guarding the words we speak over our lives and not participate in the script that the enemy gives us to say about ourselves.”

He challenges us that while we are walking in God’s purpose for our lives, we need to make the commitment to serve the underserved. “If we serve the underserved we will fulfill the destiny in our lives. You can never go wrong by serving the underserved.”

Visit bentankard.org for more information.

Click here to purchase Mercy, Mercy, Mercy.