Archive for November, 2007

Sara Groves No. 1 Christian album on iTunes

As singer/songwriter Sara Groves’ latest, “Tell Me What You Know” (11.6) holds in as the No. 1 Christian album on iTunes for over a week, the project also scanned 33% above her last record, debuting at No. 3 on CMTA’s Digital Album’s SoundScan chart, as well as No. 8 on Christian Retail and No. 14 on the Overall Christian Retail chart.

Sara Groves

Groves’ current radio single, “When the Saints” continues to build momentum at Christian radio with over 35 reporting stations on board already. The song was also recently chosen to be a Discovery Download on the iTunes Store, and was one of the top downloads ever for a Christian song. In addiiton, Groves currently has the No. 1 video on the Gospel Music Channel with the song ‘I Saw What I Saw’ based on her life altering trip to Rwanda.

As always, Groves’ is a magnet for critical acclaim with her poignant, though-provoking and eloquent songs. Groves’ recently spoke with fellow songwriter Carolyn Arends for Christianity Today’s Christian Music Today cover story, writes regular columns for Radiant Magazine, has features in upcoming and current issues of CCM, Christian Single, Women First and Aspiring Retail, and continues to garner incredible support from media with reviews including:

“Sara Groves’ thoughtful songwriting about hope amid hopelessness combines well with radio-friendly roots pop, yielding her most satisfying album to date.”
*ChristianMusicToday.com

“It’s impossible to over-rate this gripping, thoughtful, delightful album. Straight from the front lines of battle, it is one of the year’s most important contributions.”
*CMCentral.com

“Groves has perfected the art of creating warm, intimate pictures of life, love, and faith. ‘Tell Me What You Know’ adds to her catalogue of excellently crafted folk/pop”
*JesusFreakHideout.com

“’Tell Me What You Know’ is Groves at her best, and it enraptures from the first track.”
*CBNMusic.com

“This is simply a wonderful project that should convince any listener that Sara Groves is a compelling, important artist who needs to be heard by a wider audience, and has perhaps just given us one of the best albums of the year.”
*Tollbooth.org

Groves will also be touring this fall on the Behold the Lamb of God Christmas tour with Andrew Peterson, Sara Groves, Bebo Norman, Jill Phillips, Andrew Osenga and Andy Gullahorn. Groves will be performing songs from “Tell Me What You Know” as well as previous projects, and join Peterson and the rest of the line up in the second half of the evening featuring Christmas music. The tour will be hitting the following markets (all dates subject to change):

11/27/07: Bethany Lutheran Church / Elkhorn, NE/

11/28/07: Immanuel Baptist Church / Wausau, WI/

11/29/07: Christ Community Evangelical Free Church / Leawood, KS/

11/30/07: Christ United Methodist Church of Sugarland / Sugarland, TX/

12/1/07: The Heights Baptist Church / Richardson, TX

12/2/07: Bellevue Baptist Church / Cordova, TN /

12/3/07: Grace Covenant Church / Austin, TX /

12/5/07: Southwood Presbyterian Church. / Huntsville, AL /

12/6/07: World Gospel Church / Terre Haute, IN /

12/7/07: Countryside Church / Michigan City, IN /

12/8/07: New Milford High School / New Milford, CT /

12/9/07: Faith Evangelical Free Church / Milford, OH /

12/10/07: Merrimack Hall Performing Arts Center / Huntsville, AL /

12/11/07: Oak Mountain Presbyterian Church / Birmingham, AL /

12/12/07: Mecklenburg Community Church / Charlotte, NC /

12/13/07: Ryman Auditorium / Nashville, TN /

12/14/07: Christ Community Church / Tampa, FL /

12/15/07: Imperial Theatre / Augusta, GA /

12/16/07: Christ Church / Jacksonville, FL /
###

Since her debut release in 2001, Conversations, Sara Groves has become one of the most critically-acclaimed artists in the Christian music industry, receiving rave reviews across the board for each recording by the likes of Billboard, and consistently topping year-end reader’s polls and album of the year nods from the likes of CCM magazine, Christianity Today online and more. On her new album, Tell Me What You Know, Groves explores what she has learned over the past two years, lessons on the value of long defeats, and the defiance of hope in the face of insurmountable odds. Since the 2005 release of Add to the Beauty, Groves has been questioning just how, exactly, she is called to do that. Her answers came in a series of global conversations and experiences, from the flood-ravaged gulf of Louisiana, to the genocide memorials of Rwanda, to the testimonies of Southeast Asia sex trade survivors. These experiences showed the disparity between some of the American pursuits of comfort and wealth and the joy of joining the difficult work of social justice and engaging in the suffering of the afflicted.

Good old fashion Christian fun

Debra Lee Patteson said she couldn’t wait to get to the civic center Saturday night for some good old-fashion Christian fun.

Patteson and her granddaughter, Kaitlyn, 8, were two of about 1,200 people gathered at the B.E. “Mac” McGinty Civic Center for the seventh annual Sheriff’s Gospel Sing.

They came to listen to gospel and bluegrass music by the Isaacs, the Kingsmen and Kevin Spencer.

“This I love,” said Patteson, a Pascagoula native. “Gospel is close to my heart. Especially the Isaacs. They sing a lot of bluegrass. I was raised on bluegrass. We didn’t have things like this when I was growing up. We just played music in the backyard — bluegrass music. And we danced — a lot.”

Patteson is a pianist with the Wade First Church of God. She said she loves to hear other artists play and attends the sheriff’s sing each year.

“This is such a great event,” Patteson said as she hugged her granddaughter. “We listen to Christian music all the time and it’s great to see it live.”

Sheriff Mike Byrd organizes the event each year as a way to ring in the holidays and proceeds benefit local Christian youth programs. This year’s proceeds will be donated to the Accendo Academy in Gautier.

“I give tonight’s show an F’ rating for family fun,” said Byrd, who was pleased with the turnout for the event. “I’m just glad to see everyone here.”

Byrd said the annual event features upbeat, gospel music all about praising the Lord.

“I love this music,” Byrd said. “The people love it and it’s a great start to the holidays.”

Jeanie and Michael Jordan of Pascagoula brought their 6-year-old twins, Tabitha and Taylor, to the gospel sing to listen to one of their family favorites, the Isaacs.

“I heard them first at my dad’s church in Mobile,” Jeanie Jordan said. “They’re great and this is a great family night. A lot of our church members are here too.”

Paul White took his wife of more than 50 years to the gospel sing. He said the event reminds him of his youth.

“I like the old-timey gospel,” White said, laughing. “The real stuff, not none of this modern stuff.”

Reporter Cherie Ward can be reached at cward@themississippipress.com or 228-934-1442.

Christian diversity

GUYTON - This weekend should be a “moo-ving” experience for many local Christians.

Some members of the college class at First Baptist Church of Rincon are organizing a free, overnight, outdoor Christian music festival, called The Ingathering, they hope will become an annual event. The event will be held in the pasture of Bill Hill’s farm on Highway 17 in Guyton beginning Saturday and is open to all young people in the area.

Although the event was conceived and is being organized by some of the members in the college Sunday school class at First Baptist-Rincon, the event is nondenominational and open to everyone, including college students, ages 18 to 25.

Eleven local bands and musicians are scheduled to perform in four different blocks beginning at 3 p.m. and lasting until around midnight, including the Mel Washington Band, IRONY9, The Family, Remidee, This Rock, K.O.S., Church Boi, Ashes of an Empire, Bella, JP Rock, Cheryl Burgess and Arise Awaken.

Special guest speakers will be Philip (Pip) Knight and Steve Penatello, both adult Sunday school teachers, and Dave Oldham, owner of Resurrection Ink in Savannah.

“On the streets, young people are OK with Jesus, but not always with organized religion,” Penatello said. “Because denominational walls can divide the body of Christ, we wanted a way to celebrate the diversity of those who follow Jesus.”

Penatello said he believes following Christ is not about religion or wearing the right clothes or being at the right place on Sundays. He knows music is something young people relate to and thought a music festival would be a great way to reach out to those who might actually be “on the fence” concerning their faith.

“That’s why we’ve invited diverse musical groups, because the body of Christ is diverse,” Penatello said.

The idea for a music festival came about just a few months ago when Penatello and his college students became familiar last year with the “Feast of Tabernacles” as described in the book of Exodus.

The group learned the celebration was also called the “Feast of Booths,” or Sukkot, and was an annual event that called for the Israelites to build shacks outside and celebrate the fall harvest. They also slept in their shacks, or sukkots, in order to remember the conditions their ancestors lived in during their exodus from Egypt. It was a time for reflection, appreciation, celebration and worship.

Last year, the college students held their own “Feast of Tabernacles” celebration and built their own sukkots in Penatello’s back yard, where they enjoyed an evening of music and fellowship. This year, Penatello challenged his class to “put legs on their faith” and think bigger than his back yard. From the moment the group decided to organize a nondenominational music festival, the event took off like wildfire, Penatello said.

Using MySpace and word of mouth, the requests to participate and help started rolling in from bands and individual volunteers. With very little financial support, the group is organizing the event and operating strictly on faith alone.

Garrett Cox, one of the event’s organizers, said they are relying on prayer, word of mouth, posters and their Web site to bring the crowd.

Penatello’s group has also enlisted the help of Chuck Waldon’s No Name Concerts to provide staffing for gate admission, parking, security and stage crew assistance. Waldon is best known for his association with Shout Fest, an annual, one day, traveling Christian music festival known throughout the United States for featuring some of Christian music’s hottest artists.

“It normally takes a lot of money, which we don’t have, to get something like this going,” Cox said. “We just want it to be something that honors and glorifies God, so we’re trusting him to provide what we need.”

Described as a “grassroots effort,” The Ingathering is not a Baptist event, a Jewish event or even a “religious” event, Penatello said.

“Our goal is to unite followers of Christ for a common purpose - to honor and glorify God.”

He said The Ingathering is a whole new way to celebrate an ancient Christian tradition that is still recognized in modern day Israel.

Participants are welcome to bring tents, or build their own temporary sukkot shacks, and camp overnight. Lights, portable toilets and security will be provided. The group also plans to sell food, bottled water, the artists’ CDs and The Ingathering T-shirts to help recoup some of their expenses. They suggest people might want to bring flashlights, chairs, warm clothing and a carload of their friends.

There are only five rules, Penatello said: 1. Loud music only; 2. No one under 18 without a parent or legal guardian; 3. No bonfires; 4. No alcohol, weapons or drugs; and 5. No mixed-gender sharing of tents (unless you’re married).

“We want this, like the actual Feast of Tabernacles, to be a time for worship, celebration, remembrance, self-reflection and sacrifice,” Penatello said. “Some people think that only Jews can celebrate this event, but it wasn’t created by the Jews, it was ordained by God.”

Cox, who has studied extensively on the subject, said he believes Jesus participated in the annual Feast of Tabernacles.

“He probably had a pretty cool sukkot,” Cox said. “After all, he was a carpenter.”

The Ingathering will begin about 3 p.m. Saturday in Guyton at the intersection of Ga. 17 and Clark Road, north of the city limits, and wrap up early Sunday morning in time for Sunday services at area churches.

Power of the Cross Festival

Last year, Austin resident Jim Butt followed what he said was God’s call to spend $100,000 of his savings on a Christian music festival. He also believed that God would bring about 40,000 people to Auditorium Shores to hear praise and worship bands for what would become a Christian South by Southwest.

But the Power of the Cross Festival didn’t draw the numbers Butt had predicted — he estimated that a few thousand people attended. Nearly broke but driven by faith and a desire to bring divine healing and Christian unity to Austin, Butt is trying again today. And this year, he said, God is moving people throughout Austin and the country to offer money, donations and services to make the second Power of the Cross Festival a success.

We hope to present a side of true Christianity that most people have never seen before and to reach out to the people that most people don’t reach out to,” Butt said. “Religion blocks the door in many cases to people experiencing what really is the kingdom of heaven on earth and that is Jesus Christ. … The best of Christianity will be on display at this festival, and it’s not going to be about religion.”

The lone sign on the main stage will say “Jesus Loves You.”

Butt sent hundreds of e-mails to generate interest and support, but in the months leading up to the festival, the outlook was bleak.

Butt persisted, and bit by bit, people started contributing. Condos for out-of-town musicians. A truckload of food.Money for advertising.

When Adam Gonzales, owner of Adam’s Canopy Service, heard that Butt was struggling, he prayed about how he should help and then donated $4,000 in tents, chairs and portable toilets.

“My family and I are Christians ourselves,” Gonzales said. “I personally felt this was our way of giving back.”

Butt said the 24 bands on the schedule, all of which are playing for free, are racially diverse and play a range of musical styles, from hip-hop to hard rock.

Maria Long, a Christian rock musician in Hot Springs, Ark., was surprised when she stumbled upon the festival’s Web site.

“I’ve got tons of friends in Austin who aren’t super close to God,” she said. “I didn’t think there would be a Christian festival in Austin. It seems like a big music scene, but it doesn’t seem like a big Christian music scene at all.”

Butt told Long that he didn’t have any money to pay her.

She decided to come anyway.

Though he’s not predicting turnout this year, Butt said he’s sure that God will work miracles today.

“That this festival is taking place is a miracle,” he said.

eflynn@statesman.com; 445-3812

Power of the Cross Festival

Power of One Christian music festival

The Power of One youth event, billed as Wisconsin’s largest one-day Christian music festival, is at the Resch Center today.

If you’ll be there and want to share your thoughts on the event or your photos, send them to metro@greenbaypressgazette.com.

Doors open at 12:30 p.m., and the event runs through 11 p.m., with bands, comedy, an all-you-can-eat pizza bash and a guest speaker. Headliners Flyleaf, whose self-titled album reached the Top 10 this year for hard rock albums and ranked No. 1 among Christian albums, plays at night. Other performers will include Hawk Nelson, Tree 63, Jonah 33, HappyFunTime and Cycle Down.

Find more information at www.powerofoneon line.com or by calling (800) 955-5433.

Barry Winslow finding fulfillment in Christian rock

Barry Winslow of Houston, who was famous in the 1960s as lead singer for the rock ‘n’ roll band the Royal Guardsmen, is now finding fulfillment in Christian rock

Barry Winslow and his wife, Teena, work about 50 hours a week making airplane parts for Hart Aero, a friend’s ultralight aircraft business in Pomona, a small town southeast of Springfield. A flexible schedule with the family-owned start-up allows the couple to also perform Christian rock music, written by Winslow, at regional churches and concerts.
The fact that Winslow, who lives in Houston, has found a way to pursue two lifelong passions �airplanes and music — brings his life and career full-circle, in a way.

Winslow was nationally famous in the 1960s as lead singer for the rock ‘n’ roll band the Royal Guardsmen, which had a hit about a fictional World War I airplane duel set to music. Winslow was 18 when Laurie Records released “Snoopy Vs. The Red Baron” in November 1966. The song eventually went gold.

A year later in 1967 — 40 years ago this month �the Royal Guardsmen recorded “Snoopy’s Christmas.” The song, in which Snoopy and the Red Baron share a moment of holiday spirit, was No. 1 on Billboard’s Christmas chart for five weeks.

Winslow grew frustrated with the record industry in 1970 and quit the band, which soon broke up. The six original members reunited in the mid-1970s to play the club circuit. After about two years, Winslow quit again �this time turning his back on music.

It was God’s intervention and a renewed faith, says Winslow, 59, that inspired his return years later. In the late 1980s, he wrote a song which was recorded on “A Child’s Gift of Lullabies,” an album that went platinum. And he wrote seven of eight songs he performs on the aptly titled “Transition,” a contemporary Christian rock album recorded in 1994 when Winslow lived in Nashville. He’s writing more songs for “Remnant,” a new Christian album he and Teena will record.

Turning to Christian music saved him in more ways than one, Winslow says: “It was the first time in my life that I was able to write anything I felt. No one told me how I had to sound, or how to be. I just let it out.”

In 2004, he reunited for a third time with original Royal Guardsmen members, who occasionally perform together. They opened for the Commodores in 2005 and were a featured act on a cruise ship in 2006.

In 2006, before the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks, they wrote and recorded a new song, “Snoopy Vs. Osama.” Band member John Burdett came up with the idea, Winslow says. “And I said, ‘Are you out of your mind? No one is doing this anymore.’ Very few acts have done new music. But we did it. We did it for the guys and gals overseas. … It was to give them something to hold on to because of what they do to keep us safe and free.”

The song, now on iTunes, is getting air play, Winslow says, especially overseas. It compares to their old Snoopy tunes, most of which were penned by another songwriter, but it has a more contemporary feel.

“The vocals are, unfortunately, older than they used to be. With a little more seasoned edge,” Winslow adds with a chuckle.

Quiet about past fame

Dressed for the autumn chill permeating the old building in Pomona where he works, Winslow cuts one long strip of hollow metal tubing after another. He bends each into a “rib” for the growing number of aircraft on order.

Nearby, Teena, 44, cuts smaller metal parts.

Business owner Doug Hart, on the other side of the building filled with door-length work tables and the skeleton of one ultralight aircraft, discusses a custom order with a new client from Mississippi.

Winslow met Hart last January when both were assigned to fix a twin engine turbo airplane for a local company. A month ago, when Hart needed help with his ultralight business, he called Winslow.

“It takes so many ribs to make an airplane. It’s labor-intensive and has to be done by hand,” Winslow says, more interested in talking airplanes, it seems, than about his historic music career.

Winslow rarely brings up his past, says Hart, who didn’t know about any of it until after they’d become friends. And then he heard about it from someone else — not from Winslow. The singer is just like anyone else you’d meet, Hart says: “He’s a very friendly, very nice guy.”

But if you ask, Hart says, “or start talking about it, he will tell you about it.”

‘I never thought of us as stars’

Winslow lived in Ocklawaha, Fla., when he auditioned for the Royal Guardsmen in the spring of ‘66. By summer of that year, the six-member cover band was being asked to play larger and more prestigious area gigs. They were one of the best bands around, Winslow says.

At one big concert, record producer Phil Gernhard approached the band with a song scribbled out on yellow legal paper. It was the lyrics to “Snoopy Vs. The Red Baron,” written by Gernhard and Dick Holler.

“And he says, ‘Here, see what you can do with this.’ … He said to give it a military cadence feel. So we took it home,” Winslow says.

The teens were less than excited about working up a silly song they considered beneath their talent. After all, they covered the likes of the Beatles. They came up with something on the fly, recorded a demo they disliked and gave it to Gernhard.

“And he absolutely loved it.”

So did Laurie Records, who had them record the song in a studio.

“Then we were kind of pumped. It’s a silly record, but our first,” recalls Winslow, who has since grown fond of the song and other “Snoops” they played.

Within two or three weeks, in November 1966, “Snoopy Vs. The Red Baron” was being played by a major Chicago radio station.

“It was so weird,” Winslow says. “They would play it every hour. Then every half hour. Then every 15 minutes.”

With the record’s success, Laurie Records wanted more Snoopy. And a full album.

“Literally, we were thrown from kids being in a hobby band into the world of big stuff. Big time. It was scary,” Winslow says.

And exciting.

“Snoopy Vs. The Red Baron” climbed the charts, and by January had landed at No. 2 behind the Monkeys’ “I’m a Believer.”

During winter break from school, the Royal Guardsmen took off for their first national bus tour with other popular acts of the day, including Sam the Sham and Tommy James & The Shondells.

Over the next couple years, they met many big acts, including the Beach Boys and Jimi Hendrix.

“When we toured with Sam and the guys, it was like what you see on television, where they pull into the place and there are people screaming and hollering. And jumping up and down,” says Winslow. “You get mobbed. And mobbing is scary. They came at us with pens and pencils, and one of the guys, Tommy, got his shirt ripped. It was nuts. It was frantic. I never really expected it. And I never thought of us as stars.”

The next year they recorded the hit “Snoopy’s Christmas” �probably their most enduring song. All together, they recorded four albums, ending with “Snoopy for President.”

Done with the music business

Winslow quit the band, he says, because he felt the record company reneged on a promise to let the Guardsmen record Holler’s “Abraham, Martin and John,” which instead went to singer Dion. Winslow had hoped the song would move them beyond Snoopy.

“I was disillusioned more than anything,” he says.

Winslow sold Jeeps until the mid-1970s, when a music promoter convinced the guys to reunite and play clubs. They played their own songs and covered others, pleased that audiences seemed to remember them.

But in 1978, Winslow burned out on the long, endless nights. And he knew the drinking was getting out of hand when the first thing he started wanting each morning was a shot of tequila.

“And one morning,” Winslow says, “I looked up and said, ‘What are you doing? Are you out of your mind?’ And it just hit me. I just threw the thing in the garbage and went cold turkey.

“I said, ‘I’m done.’”

Finding fulfillment in Christian music

For the next 15 years or so, Winslow lived in Nashville, sold cars and, after obtaining his aircraft mechanics license, worked on airplanes. He was married, and had a daughter.

In the late 1980s he co-wrote “I L.O.V.E. Y.O.U.,” sung by Christian artist Tonya Goodman Sykes for “A Child’s Gift of Lullabies.”

In the early 1990s, finding Jesus led him to Christian music, Winslow says, and by 1994 he’d recorded “Transition.”

In 1997, he moved to the Willow Springs area to be near his brother. Two years later, he started working on helicopters for an Ozarks company.

And in 2002, a now-divorced Winslow met Teena, who was waitressing at a local restaurant.

“We discovered that we both had a love of music and a lot of things in common,” Teena says. “And we got together and started hanging out.”

They were best friends who fell in love and married last December, she says: “It’s good when you marry your best friend. There are no surprises.”

Though they tried to put a band together, Winslow and his wife say it was easier to put Winslow’s tracks on CD and sing to that in churches and for concerts.

“With the response, we must be doing something right,” Teena says.

Winslow is also happy to be working again with his friends from the Royal Guardsmen. All of them but Tommy Richards, who died in 1979, reunited after performing a short set at a 2004 reunion for their high school band.

He thanks God and his wife’s support, he says, for helping him find new meaning in his life.

“All these years there was this hole. And I didn’t know that filling it was (supposed to be) music. Now I feel whole,” Winslow says.

“I really think this is where we’re supposed to be.

Cheryl Sherry Annual Christian music festival

Cheryl Sherry Annual Christian music festival - So what’s The Big Deal?

Blaine Howard knows the answer.

“I think teenagers constantly make something a big deal in their lives — whether it’s relationships, looking hot on the hotness scale so they can measure up, sports and grades — and there’s a lot of stuff vying for their attention,” said Howard, new director of festivals at Life Promotions. “We want kids to know at Power of One this year that God has said that they are the big deal.

“Their heart is the big deal, and the fact they can in a way that counts is a big deal. God has said you are more than your grades or how other people look at you or whether or not you fit a magazine cover. Your heart is worth everything, and all that other stuff is just a small aspect of who you are.”

An equally big deal, he said, is God.

“Kids discover their true worth when they look at the giver of worth and make following God a big deal in their lives,” Howard said. “You are worth something because your creator made you.”

The 17th annual Power of One The Big Deal Christian music festival — the largest one-day fest in Wisconsin — takes over the Green Bay’s Resch Center Saturday. Bands include Hawk Nelson, Tree63, Jonah33, Cycledown and headliners, Flyleaf, the nationally recognized alternative rock bank whose self-titled album has spent 83 weeks on the Billboard 200, which ranks the best-selling albums in the county.

“Where they are at in their career right now, they are exploding,” Howard said. “They have been on a slow burn for a while. Their (first) album, which is approaching platinum sales, has been around two years and the song ‘All Around Me’ has just started hitting in the last six months. … They are all over mainstream rock radio.”

Members of the five-piece Texas band also are very serious about their faith, although they don’t view themselves as a Christian peg trying to fit into the mainstream of alternative rock.

“When we started, we didn’t have an agenda on what we were going to do,” said Sameer Bhattacharya, one of two guitarists in Flyleaf. “We just wrote songs and played shows wherever we could. The inspiration for the songs was life. And being a Christian, your faith should impact every aspect of your life. But we don’t categorize ourselves as anything. Everyone is going to make their own judgment and their own labels and we’ll go with anything.”

Bhattacharya says fans appreciate the bands’ musicianship as well as lyrics such as these from “All Around Me”:

“I can feel you all around me

Thickening the air I’m breathing

Holding on to what I’m feeling

Savoring this heart’s that’s healing.”

In the song, “I’m So Sick,” which was the first release off their album, Flyleaf references the world today, which Bhattacharya calls “a real sick place.”

“But the song says just because that’s the world we live in we don’t have to grow up and become that,” he said. “All those experiences in our lives we can learn from and rise up because of.”

Yes, Power of One is all about the music, but equally important will be the messages offered by speakers including Josh Finklea, a nationally known Christian speaker who serves as executive pastor and youth minister at the Crossing, a nondenominational church in Quincy, Ill.; Life Promotions media coordinator and musician Tammy Borden; Kent Hulbert, state director for Youth Alive in Wisconsin and northern Michigan; and Vince Lichlyter, lead singer of Jonah33.

From drug addition to eating disorders, these people have been through it, Howard said.

Borden, who personally dealt with an eating disorder in her early 20s, will discuss “Escaping Your World of Secret Sin.”

“Through Life Promotions I receive a lot of phone calls from kids that are seeking advice or just seeking some help with an issue they have. Almost always it’s an issue that they are keeping a secret,” she said. “Behavioral addictions like cutting and eating disorders, some kids that already addicted to porn, kids already using drugs and drinking and a lot of relational addictions with sex and things like that. And these are teenagers.

“They’re ashamed in dealing with this … and everyday wake up saying, ‘Today is going to the day,’ but they can’t make it through that day without the release. … The more you try to keep it a secret, the more it will try to control you.”

People can’t “do” life by themselves, Borden said.

“We weren’t designed to live alone and to make ourselves attain fulfillment on our own. We were designed for relationships with other people and with God; if either one is struggling, the other will struggle, too.”

“The big message of Power of One is there’s a God who knows every last secret you’ve got and shares with you and wants you to feel whole and loved and rock out,” Howard said.

Although Power of One is a different venue from Oshkosh’s Lifest, where a 16-year-old Menasha girl died during a giant swing ride, Howard said Life Promotions has “acknowledged the concerns of public perception and discussed it as we move forward with Power of One. We have everything in place that anticipates any kind of questions from the community.”

MercyMe’s new album

Consider this: ever since MercyMe made their debut in 2001 with Almost There and their runaway hit “I Can Only Imagine,” they’ve somehow managed to release a new album every year except 2003. An impressive feat, though some would object by saying the band hasn’t offered anything new over four albums (and one Christmas project). Bart Millard and his fellow band members see it differently—MercyMe is simply trying to be who they are, and with their sixth album, they feel more comfortable being themselves than ever before. Millard told us about the creative challenges that arose in putting together All That Is Within Me, and why they’re so happy with the results.

Mercyme

Let’s start with the title. How did you come up with All That Is Within Me?

Bart Millard: This is probably the first time we really sat down as a band and started asking questions like, “What is MercyMe good at? What is it we are called to do? Where is our place in the grand scheme of things?” We realized that for whatever reason, our call is to reach out to the hurting, to help people get through difficult times, and if possible, to be part of the healing process. We just decided this is who we are and what we are called to do. This is all of who we are and all of what we do. We want to give all of ourselves to God.

It’s an interesting album cover. How does the photo mosaic relate to the theme?

Millard: It’s not your typical MercyMe cover. With the album title in mind, we bought a bunch of disposable cameras, giving them to all the guys with instructions to take pictures of what consumed us—what meant something to us, either serious or lighthearted. Then we gave them to the graphic artist and he did his thing. [Millard’s pictures include the grave of his father and a St. Louis Cardinals baseball cap from the 1996 World Series given to him by Albert Pujols.]

Did you know what the theme was going to be when you started writing for the album?

Millard: Not really. I had the title for it even before Coming up to Breathe. Originally I first thought the album was going to be like a full-blown Third Day worship album, where part of it was cover tunes, and part of it stuff we’ve written ourselves. It definitely would have been a lot easier to do that way. Our biggest goal was to write songs that the church would be singing long after we’re gone.

Two weeks before we went in, I was thinking if I can just get five songs done, then we can cover the other half. But then when we got in the studio, the songs started coming, and everybody got into the zone. It got to where I didn’t want to do covers for the other half of the album. I just wanted to keep writing, and the next thing you know, we had a whole album. We even had to cut a couple of songs because we wanted to keep it at ten.

Lots of people these days download singles rather than buy entire albums. Is there a place for thematic albums anymore?

Millard: I don’t think we know any other way, to be honest with you. I know everything is about the single, but writing these songs is the most important thing I do in MercyMe. I don’t know how else I could get my thought across without trying to put together songs that aren’t initially related.

Do you download singles?

Millard: I always do whole CDs—I never download singles. Sometimes I wish I would have, but I’d rather give the artist the benefit of the doubt. If I’m a fan of the artist, I can’t get enough of them. Even if it’s bad, I’ve got to hear the whole album.

When you’re writing, do you ever feel trapped by “I Can Only Imagine”?

Millard: No pun intended, but I couldn’t imagine not singing it in a show. You know, it’s still special when you can see on people’s faces that maybe they’re hearing it live for the first time, or that they’re being touched by it because of something that recently happened in their lives. I don’t think we’ll ever feel trapped [performing it].

If there ever was a dilemma with “Imagine,” it was that it went mainstream. It was so blatantly Christian, yet it blew up in the mainstream, which all logic says shouldn’t happen. But then we were in kind of a weird place because we weren’t sure what to do next as a band. You do kind of get hungry for mainstream radio once you’ve tasted it, and you start wondering, “Can we do this again? Can we get on Leno again?” We had to go through Undone and Coming up to Breathe to get to the point where we don’t care whether we get on Leno again or not. We sing about Christ in a bold way—this is what we’re called to do and what we’re most proud of.

So would you say the band has been on a journey of self-discovery?

Millard: No question. Absolutely. This is the time we realized that there’s no reason to make apologies for what we’re doing. So in that way, it was like a light came on for us. It was liberating—for the first time we were comfortable in our own skin.

A friend was showing me [in a review] where someone had written that our new song “God with Us” sounds just like every other MercyMe song. If it sounds like another MercyMe song, it’s because it’s the same exact band. It is us. This is who we are. This is what we excel at. That used to bug the heck out of me, but that was exactly what we were going for on this record. We deliberately wanted it to sound like MercyMe. We do want to push the envelope and we want to be creative, but this is who we are.

I hear you had to hurry a bit to finish this album.

Millard: We had plenty of time to write the album, but we were on tour with Audio Adrenaline this year, and every day with them is like being with the circus. We just never got anything done on the tour because we were having so much fun. The next thing you know, the tour’s over and we’ve got three weeks to get into the studio. We didn’t have a single idea or a single note. So we were freaking out to say the least.

We got into an old Sunday school room and started playing some jam sessions. I would take it home that night and see if there was anything to write lyrics to. So when we went in to the studio, we only had one song finished and a couple others where we had some possible ideas for a chorus. Yet we were pretty stunned at what came out of [the recording sessions]. It was totally a God thing, because there was no chance for us to make something this good in that little time.

What did your producer Brown Bannister think?

Millard: We’d show him what we had in the studio—four chords that might be good for a chorus and me humming something without any words. He’s like, “That’s all you got?” and we said, “Yeah, it’s going to be great.” And he’s about to pass out, saying, “I’ve never done anything like this in my life!”

As the band’s primary lyricist, do you feel extra pressure to deliver?

Millard: A ton of pressure. Sometimes I thought I was going to have a breakdown. The process was so backwards. The music was already done and in the can. So if I wanted something else musically, I couldn’t change it. It was recorded and set in stone. It really pushed me to be creative.

One of the bands you’ve cited as a musical influence is U2. Is there a Christian band today that doesn’t claim U2 as an influence?

Millard: (laughing) I don’t think you’re allowed to be a Christian band today and not have U2 as one of your influences! I’ve been a fan my whole life. I bought War and October together and got hooked. I remember going to the Unforgettable Fire tour, hearing [Bono] end the whole show singing “Amazing Grace” a cappella, and thinking he’s [like] Billy Graham just for doing that!

Do you ever go into the studio thinking that you want a certain song to sound like a certain artist?

Millard: I don’t think so. There will be times when someone will start playing something and we’ll say, “Oh, that sounds like The Fray” or whoever. But we all listen to so much music that it’s always going to sound like someone else. We started playing “I Know” as a full band, but then I suggested we scale back to do kind of a piano/vocal thing up front, sort of like a Fray vibe. We’ll do that quite a bit, [adapting a style but never copying it.]

You close the album with a song called “Finally Home.” After “Imagine” and “Homesick,” why write another song about your Dad up in heaven?

Millard: I’ve been wanting for a long time to write a song that was sort of a closure for “Imagine,” but I didn’t want it to be a sappy piano ballad. When we were in the studio, the guys started playing music that had this Train kind of vibe—it was the kind of thing my Dad listened to. As soon as they started playing it, I started writing down the first lines, “I’m gonna wrap my arms around my Daddy’s neck and tell him that I missed him.” Then I ran in to the studio and started singing it. That song was literally written within five minutes from beginning to end. We breezed through it.

I remember singing the first two lines and just bawling. Then the guys were bawling. And Brown was bawling because he had lost his Dad about five years ago. At the time, I didn’t think it should go on the record because I never wanted to be accused of aiming for the heart just to get a reaction. Brown was like, “Are you kidding me? You made a grown man cry. This song is going on the record. I don’t care what you think.” It’s just one of those moments where the lyrics and the music seem to fit perfectly.

Do you ever wonder how your Dad will respond to these songs someday?

Millard: I know people mean well when they say stuff like, “You know he’s looking down from heaven and proud of you.” But I sincerely don’t believe that. I think he’s got better things to do than watch me—like worshiping before the throne of God. There’s no scripture that says they pull the clouds back and look down on us. So I’m pretty sure that’s not how it works. I do believe there’s going to be a day when I see him and can tell him about everything that’s taken place. And I think he’s going to love all this and probably blush when he sees all the fuss that’s been made about him.

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