Barry Graul’s Christian path took a detour in his teens.

The longtime Mercyme guitarist grew up in the Baptist church and accepted Jesus Christ around 11, but in his teens, once he started playing music, he felt nudged in a different direction. He admits the notion of rock stardom enticed him until his early 20s.

“I started playing clubs, and I wasn’t walking the biblical and spiritual way my parents probably wanted me to at the time,” Graul said from a tour stop in Chicago.

But then he got his head straight, he says, and he met his now wife, who also had something to do with it, and he began learning about Christian music, which he never knew existed. He moved to Nashville, where he worked in the maintenance department of a hotel until he landed his first gig, which happened to be in the Christian rock genre. He never strayed again. And why would he? He’s doing what he loves — writing and singing about his faith.

“What we do does a lot of good,” Graul said. “It’s unreal the stories we hear from people about how our music has touched them in some way — people have decided to not commit suicide by listening to our songs. I’m doing something good with my life. That’s what keeps me doing it, and I get to play music all the while.”

The Dove Award-winning Christian rock band Mercyme, along with opening acts Taya and Micah Tyler, will perform Thursday at The Broadmoor World Arena.

“Always Only Jesus,” the band’s 11th album, was released in October. It finds the guys going back to their roots and making corporate worship music, which Graul defines as songs during which the musicians and their listeners worship at the same time and sing lyrics about God to God.

“You’re praising God for who he is,” Graul said. “It’s not a song about maybe causing people to accept Christ or some theological discussion in a song. We’re reflecting on who God is.”

Founded in 1994, Graul joined Mercyme in 2003. From the beginning its five members wanted to make worship music, though much of their focus is also on making songs to help people get through those tough times. Their biggest hit, Graul says, is the 2001 song, “I Can Only Imagine,” written by lead singer Bart Millard about his abusive father, who died of cancer.

“That song has transcended through the years and will be a legacy,” Graul said. “That’s how we’ve been from the beginning, with some fun stuff mixed in. That’s one reason I’ve loved being in the band for so long — our albums will be diverse. We’ll do an acoustic song and then we’ll do a piano song.”