I am born to preach the gospel
and I sure do love my job
Took me some time to come in from the rain
and from running around with the crazy mob
But I dried out, and I slowed down
when I heard my name in a stranger’s town
I am born to preach the gospel
and I sure do love my job

I am born to preach the gospel
and I sure do love it well
Keeps me up at night, gets me into fights
but out of a hopeless hell
Yes, I’druther be leadin’ your stubborn people home
Just don’t let me do it all, Lord, on my own
I am born to preach the gospel
and I sure do love it well

I am born to preach the gospel
it’s the damndest thing I ever knowed
How you can’t tell the high side from the low
when you’re walkin’ on heaven’s road
A lowly barn can birth a king
A castle gives rise to lesser things
I am born to preach the gospel
it’s the truest thing I ever knowed

I am born to preach the gospel
so wash me in that pool
I’d rather be a dirty drippin’ child of God
then some clean-talkin’, growed-up, straight-laced fool
I’ll put my life with the Jerusalem waif
’cause I’ll catch my death here playin’ it safe
I am born to preach the gospel
so wash me in that pool