Kel Mitchell releases debut book: 'I’m going to help others through my testimony’
Former Nickelodeon star Kel Mitchell has released his debut book, Blessed Mode, in hopes of inspiring others who are struggling to stay encouraged.
The actor, who's also a youth pastor at Spirit Food Christian Center in Los Angeles, California, also released a song of the same name to accompany the book.
Mitchell said he wrote the book "because a lot of people are going through anxiety, depression, emotional walls from their past [and they're] worried about the future, and I wanted them to know that if you connect with God, there’s always a blessed breakthrough in every emotional wall,” he shared in a recent interview with Movieguide. “Connecting with [H]im, knowing that you are beautifully and wonderfully made.”
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The comedian, who co-hosts the show “Deliciousness” on MTV, described his book as a devotional.
“A lot of people wanted me to do a memoir at first, but I was like with all the ups and downs in my life, God was there for me in both, but in my downtimes, a lot of devotionals helped me out a lot because I had a busy lifestyle and it was just awesome to connect with God and get ready for my day and preparing for my day to get over this mind of mine that the enemy is trying to take over,” he continued.
Mitchell also encouraged believers to prepare themselves spiritually the same way they prepare for life in the natural.
“Prepare spiritually for what might come up because only God knows,” he added. “We don’t know what’s coming up in the future. We don’t know what might happen, but I know that I want to respond in love and the only way to do that is to connect with God. That’s staying in a mode, which is Blessed Mode.”
The video for the single “Blessed Mode” is inspired by the biblical account of Daniel in the lion’s den.
“It turned out so amazing. It’s fun to be back into music. I always loved music and God loves music, God loves when we praise [H]is holy name,” Mitchell added. “It’s all ministry and I felt like it was just a good companion to Blessed Mode.”
“No matter how crazy it goes, or how crazy it gets, God still loves you, and He’s letting the enemy know, ‘Hey, I’m stomping on your head.’ I am about to get through this. I can get through this battle. And when I get through this, it’s going to be a testimony. And guess what? I’m going to help others as well through my testimony,” he told Deadline. “We know with the grace of God that we can get through everything. We have the victory through it all. And so it’s just a daily reminder and that’s really what I wanted people to get from it and it’s been awesome.”
The iconic “Good Burger” star has 1 million followers on Instagram alone, and he often uses his platform to speak about his faith.
During the pandemic, he said he saw God capitalize on his reach as he led lead people from all over the world to Christ.
“Now, I got people all over the world and from the U.K., fans that know me from Nickelodeon but didn't know this love for Christ that I have, now they're coming over just like 'Oh, I want to come over because he loves orange soda' or 'I want to see him say, 'Welcome to Good Burger.’ But when they come, then they go, 'Oh, wow, I see his faith. I see this love that he has, this grace that has been given to him that he keeps talking about,'” he said in a recent interview with The Christian Post.
"We've had a lot of people give their life to Christ,” Mitchell maintained. “We did a virtual baptism at our church for the first time, which is awesome. It's all these kids that are getting salvation and giving their life to Christ online.”
“That's the thing about it. I know where I'm at is because of what God has given to me. I let others know that I'm not anything special, we're all special and God loves us all. It's just that we have to know that God loves us,” he added. “How can He do that if we're not being speakers? So I'm just letting everybody know, being an ambassador for Christ about this love that we're on.”
Mitchell’s coming to Jesus moment came after years of having to grow up in the entertainment industry.
"I had to adult within Hollywood, and that's even deep for any kid and any child; just adulting anyway can be hard. But when you're in the public eye, it presents a situation where it's like, 'Can I trust this person? Does this person like me for who I am or is it just because I'm on television? he told CP.
"So for me, I went through a lot of different things growing up in Chicago and growing up in LA. And it was one of those things where I created a lot of emotional walls. I made some mistakes and things like that. It was a thing where I was trying to figure out everything on my own, and when we do that a lot, we'll bump our heads.”
In the midst of building all these “emotional walls,” Mitchell said God provided a way out for him.
"He's in the middle of it all. He's there while we're going through the trouble that we're going through and what we're going through. In those down times, when people say in the valley, in those down times, I remember who was with me, and who was with me was God. My faith and my hope were made strong by Him,” Mitchell assured.
The entertainer said his wife encouraged him to share his faith openly in his secular environments after he expressed to her that he wanted to tell others about Christ.
"I want to tell others about how faith can bring you through in those hard times. I would be doing people a disservice if I didn't do that when they asked me, 'What are some keys to life? What are some ways to do it?' The most important is me following Christ and what He can do in your life. So I was just like, 'I want to bring that to others,'” he recounted.
The calling had been on his “life for years,” Mitchell admitted.
"I remember talking to my wife, and she was just like, 'Just do it. Even if there's no one else to look at that's doing it, you just do what God is telling you to do.' And I've done it!” he declared.
Mitchell's book Blessed Modeis now available everywhere books are sold.
Jeannie Ortega Law is a reporter for The Christian Post. Reach her at: [email protected] She's also the author of the book, What Is Happening to Me? How to Defeat Your Unseen Enemy Follow her on Twitter: @jlawcp Facebook: JeannieOMusic
