Never underestimate the power of a simple invitation.

For nine-time Grammy nominee and three-time GMA Dove Award Winner Matt Maher, who will soon be in concert in Phoenix, that’s especially true. In 1995, he left his native Newfoundland, Canada, home and settled in Phoenix to be near his mother.

A cousin, active in Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish in Tempe, Ariz., invited Maher to attend Mass with her.

“The reading was from the book of Hosea. And it was God talking about how He said to Israel, He said, ‘I will allure her back into the desert and speak to her heart.’ And it was kind of one of those moments where like the hairs on your arm stand up and you’re like, ‘oh, God’s close,’” Maher said in an interview on “The Bishop’s Hour” podcast.

“I grew up Catholic, but didn’t have a very strong, deep commitment to the Church or to the Lord,” he continued.

All of that was about to change.

Maher’s cousin was deeply involved at Mount Carmel and introduced him to her friends, including Chris Muglia, a Catholic musician.

“Immediately I just started hanging out with her and all her friends because I didn’t know anybody.”

The group of friends was active in ministry at Mount Camel and the All Saints’ Catholic Newman Center at Arizona State University. About a year later, after completing his degree in music, Maher began serving at St. Timothy Parish in Mesa, Ariz.

Then, in 2008, Maher broke through and became a national star. That was the year he sang for Pope Benedict at a youth event in New York. His major-label debut that year led to multiple radio successes and songs that Catholics and non-Catholics alike sing at church regularly. From “Lord, I need You” to “Your Grace Is Enough” and “Because He Lives,” Maher’s music hits home and strikes a chord with those in need of God’s touch.

One such person was a young girl in need of healing. Her favorite song was Maher’s “Your Love Defends Me.” After contracting a deadly virus, the girl wound up in the hospital fighting for her life.

“She went from being perfectly fine to out of nowhere, being in intensive care and losing a leg,” Maher recalled.

For the family, it was a terrifying ordeal. Maher was on tour and left the venue to visit her in the hospital and sing her favorite tune.

“The next time I was passing through — I believe this is in South Dakota — they all came and she was walking.”

Maher said moments like that have stayed with him down through the years. He also spoke of a call from a physician who let him know his father was in danger of dying. At the time, Maher’s iconic “Because He Lives” was at the top of the Christian music charts.

The refrain in that song, “Because He lives, I can face tomorrow; because He lives, every fear is gone,” was ringing in his mind as the doctor gave him the heart-rending news.

“That’s a transformative, life-changing moment that you’ll never forget, where I’m singing something that I wrote that’s applying to a specific point in my life … what I’ve come to understand now is that there’s probably, every time I sing live, there’s one person almost guaranteed who’s going through something like that.”

Maher fans will have an opportunity to hear him sing live Oct. 17 at Ss. Simon and Jude Cathedral in Phoenix during his Cathedrals: Kingdomtide Edition tour with Catholic artist Sarah Kroger. The 14-cities tour spans the continental U.S. and is “really about calling the faithful back to the heart of the Church, which in a very real, physical way is the bishop’s seat.”

For tickets and more information on the Cathedrals tour, click here.