A seemingly innocent post-tour gym photo has landed Christian music stars Cory Asbury and Forrest Frank in the middle of an unexpected modesty debate.
Asbury, the Dove Award-winning singer behind the massive worship hit "Reckless Love," has apologized and deleted a shirtless workout photo featuring himself, Frank and another man after some followers complained that the image was inappropriate and potentially a "stumbling block."
And Asbury wants everyone to know one thing: don't blame Forrest.
The photo appeared as part of Asbury's social media recap following "The Jesus Generation" tour, which featured Asbury alongside Frank and Tori Kelly. According to Asbury, the picture was simply meant to capture another part of life on the road-working out and trying to stay healthy.
"A few days ago, I posted a recap of [the] tour with Forrest, and one of the pictures was a picture of a couple of us working out, shirts off," Asbury explained in a follow-up video. "Honestly, I didn't think much of it."
Asbury said the touring culture had emphasized "mind, body, soul, health," and the guys had been working out regularly. The photo, he explained, was essentially a celebration of their progress.
But once the picture hit social media, not everybody saw it that way.
Some followers reportedly questioned whether Christian artists should post shirtless photos, turning an ordinary gym snapshot into a larger conversation about modesty, influence and what public Christian figures should-or shouldn't-share online.
Asbury ultimately decided the picture simply wasn't worth the controversy.
"There was no intention for anyone to stumble or be a block of offense at all," he said.
After discussing the situation with Frank and the other man pictured, Asbury decided to remove it.
"That doesn't need to live on the internet as a thing of offense that could possibly be a stumbling block," he explained.
Rather than launching into a theological defense of shirtless gym photos, Asbury acknowledged that Christians have widely differing ideas about modesty. For him, the bigger issue became whether keeping the picture online served any worthwhile purpose.
"It doesn't matter that much for us to post what we're looking like if it's causing people offense," he said. "It's just not necessary."
Then came Asbury's very public defense of Frank.
"I also want to make it clear: I posted that photo," Asbury stressed. "Forrest didn't post that photo. It was from my account, so lay off my boy. Give him some slack."
That distinction matters because Frank has become one of Christian music's most visible young stars, attracting a huge audience with his genre-blurring Christian pop and hip-hop and frequently speaking publicly about his faith. The controversy also arrives after Asbury and Frank spent time together on tour, where their friendship became increasingly visible to fans.
Asbury insisted that removing the photo wasn't some carefully calculated damage-control exercise. Instead, he framed the decision as an act of humility: if a picture that meant very little to him was genuinely troubling other believers, he was willing to let it go.
The episode nevertheless raises a curious question for Christian social media culture: Can a shirtless workout photo really cross the line of modesty-or has the internet turned another harmless post into a spiritual controversy?
Asbury appears happy to leave that debate for another day. For now, the photo is gone, the apology has been made, and he has made sure Frank isn't left carrying the blame.
