Singer Chynna Phillips urges husband Billy Baldwin to 'call upon the Lord'

Singer Chynna Phillips hopes her husband, actor Billy Baldwin, will embrace a personal relationship with Jesus as the couple considers how their differing religious views will affect their marriage.

Baldwin and Phillips discussed their differing views on religion in a new episode of their podcast "Holding On: Billy Baldwin & Chynna Phillips," published Sunday. During the episode, the couple addressed headlines about their marriage that strongly implied the gap between her faith and his comparative lack of it was causing a rift between them.

Phillips shared her desire for her husband to "start to call upon the Lord," noting that "in the Bible, it says even if you have a mustard seed of faith then you can call on God." She assured him that, "You have more than a mustard seed."

"You and I have this sort of systemic problem in our relationship, which we've been very honest about from the beginning, which is that you see your life and the world through a very different lens than I do, and sometimes that tends to cause ruptures in our relationship and little chasms," Phillips said. 

"And we are trying our best to be able to navigate those differences in our marriage," she added.

Phillips described the "Christianity aspect" of their relationship as "a glaring issue," saying it has "sort of overtaken my life in many ways." She suggested that her Christian faith has "maybe even perhaps made you question whether you and I can really make it in the long run," asking, "Would we be able to stay truly happy and connected and thrive with me being on this trajectory, this Jesus … trajectory?"

Baldwin responded by suggesting that she had a "fantasy" of the two of them becoming "like a revival team" that would "travel the country." Phillips said that characterization was not accurate, and Baldwin assured her, "I still absolutely love you, absolutely adore you and completely support you in your faith."

"That's why I'm sitting here now. That's why we go to church together. That's why we pray together. That's why we talk about faith together," he said.

Phillips asked her husband to confirm: "You don't have anything against Jesus, per se?"

When Baldwin said he did not, Phillips asked, "How could you know that there is a God and to really believe that wholeheartedly and yet not make your quest to have a relationship with this God a priority in your life?" Baldwin responded by expressing reservations about what would happen "if I go down this path."

After Phillips stressed that she wanted him to begin his "faith journey," Baldwin replied: "It's not like I'm not on any faith journey. I'm praying with you. I'm going to church. I believe in God. I acknowledge and see the existence of God. I just don't know in what form that takes."

Apparently responding to past feedback from viewers, Baldwin said "everyone is always cheering" and pointed to descriptions of himself as "in the Jesus waiting room" and a "baby Jesus believer." He defended the current state of his faith: "I do believe that I lead a life for the most part, not entirely, but I lead a life that is consistent with … the teachings of Christ."

"But do you understand that the teachings of Christ say that there is absolutely nothing you can bring to the table, that Jesus did all the work on the cross and that all you have to do is say yes because you will never, ever, ever, be able to offer God anything that would be … of any significance to Him other than your soul?" Phillips asked.

Holding her husband's hand, Phillips told him, "Just know that God actually desires to draw close to you," adding that "sometimes what happens is our own walls and our own barriers prevent us from hearing God's voice and from … having an encounter with God."

"I could talk to you till you're blue in the face about God, but until you have the encounter with God, it's all going to be words," she said. "My experience will never be your experience. You need your own encounter with God, and I can't force that upon you. You can't force that upon yourself. It's only by the grace of God … and the sovereignty of God."

After the couple declared their love for each other, Baldwin said he would rather spend his retirement doing activism on other priorities such as "trafficking," "homelessness," "addiction," and "mental health issues." He invited his wife to join him.

"I want this to fall in our lap," he said.

Phillips raised the need for them to prioritize "something personal that we both feel very passionate about," predicting that "finding that one thing is going to be the challenge."

After she encouraged him to "pray about it" with her, the episode concluded with Phillips thanking God for her "most awesome husband" as well as his "intelligence and his wisdom and his beautiful heart." She also expressed gratitude "that he is so willing to listen to me and to support me and to trust me even when he's unsure and … to be sensitive to the words I'm saying … even if there's a little resistance and a little rub, I really appreciate it."

Phillips asked God to help them find "that one thing that the two of us could work together on" that "that ignites the fire inside both of our hearts that makes us feel passionate." Baldwin added to the prayer, thanking God for "bringing us together and keeping us together and keeping it so much fun."