M: Well, we did a record called "The In Between Time" right after I did the first "City on a Hill" record. I paid for "The In Between Time" myself , so we made it really fast and put it out on Galaxy 21 Music. A lot of things happened with distribution and blah, blah, blah. During that time a couple of the other guys started playing in a band called The Rugs (which they are still in) and they were trying to get a mainstream thing going and Drew started working for a Christian radio station in Florida. So, I guess it ended around the time "The In Between Time" came out but you can't write anything off! Things may happen! We may go back in the studio if I need to get something out of my system! (laughter)

C: I would have to say not really for me. With my first solo record I was under the delusion that you could make a really alternative record and have it sell well in the Christian market. Looking back, I think that was just a young girl's dream.

M: I'm not bitter now. I was for awhile though. When I made "The In Between Time" I got a lot of it out. We really enjoyed making that album. We had no expectations at all. If it sold 500 copies that was fine with us because I have come to realize that you can't make music because you want a bunch of people to hear it. You have to make music because you make music. Right now, on the side, I'm working on instrumental music and I realize that no one will probably ever hear it but I get a buzz from doing it. I love doing it. With Common Children you have to realize that you are dealing with a band that was playing clubs and then did three Christian shows. The third, at Cornerstone, created a huge buzz and when we got back to Nashville we signed with Tattoo Records and then we were opening for Cheap Trick and Better Than Ezra and our music was getting played on MTV shows. Then the owner died and the company went up for sale. You just kind of realize that you can't live for the adoration of strangers. What matters the most is what the people around you think. This record, and the stuff we are working on now, is about being a part of a community of artists and people who want to express their faith. So, as long as we're making music that we are happy with and that we feel expresses where we are we're happy. There's also a part of it that is simply the fact that we are aware of who the audience is this time around. There's a long story that goes along with that. I was bitter, very bitter, around the time of the second Common Children record. I have slept on couches and floors, I have slept in the desert because I'm a musician, I have sacrificed or whatever for the purpose of my music. It took me awhile to get back to the place where I could see the purpose of Christian music and not be this pretentious person that is cooler than everyone else. The kind of guy that doesn't understand why no one is "getting" him. Before I even knew that there was a "City on a Hill" coming up, I opened up the Psalms and started singing to God for the first time in a long time. I was realizing that this still served a purpose. I went into a Christian bookstore, after about a year of not being able to set foot in one, for the sole purpose of finding a book that would feed my faith. It was like a light bulb went off that day! I was like, "This is what this is here for." It's here to remind people they are not alone and that there are other people that share their faith. After "City on a Hill" and writing "God of Wonders" and all that stuff that happened, I got to know some more "mainstream" artists and my skepticism dwindled. I came to realize that these people really mean what they do and they have great intentions. Our community is not just for musicians, it's for normal people. It's for the person with a mohawk, the person that wears a suit, the person that shops at the Gap, that's the body of Christ. This record isn't really us sitting down and making a record, it's a collection of songs that express where we were at the time.

 M: Could be, it's a weird thing for me to go from being completely unknown and obscure to having 3 or 4 songs in the Top 30 AC songs of last year. I have been writing for a lot of people. I'm getting calls now from people who need an AC single and think "Let's call Marc Byrd up". When we started this record though, we didn't say "Yeah, let's make a worship record." That wasn't it at all. We went into this record with 24 songs. We had a song taken off and 2 songs added but we're proud of every song that's on the record. I don't think that it's necessarily a worship record. My idea of worship is not "Let's get together and sing some songs." That's the reminder portion of worship to me. That is the kind of thing that reminds you what you believe and who you believe in. Your act of worship is really more about going out and taking care of the least of these, loving your enemies, putting others before yourself, and trying to be Christlike. For me, "Tonight (I Want to Live in Your World)" , "Peace to You", "Everywhere I Turn", "Wake Up", "Mercy", "Wounded Healers", those songs, more than half the record is more about encouraging people. Whereas "God of Wonders" , "I Stand Amazed", "Jesus, You Are Beautiful", those are definitely worship. I also have to be careful to say that I don't think that there is anything wrong with worship. I think we were designed and made for worship and the bizarre thing for me is to know that I was involved in a worship group form 1989-91 and all of a sudden, year's later, people are acting like it's a brand new thing. It's not, it's as old as the Christian church. Some people maybe don't understand , maybe it doesn’t do anything for some people, maybe some people don't like the music, but the point is that we all need to be worshipping at some point, whether it's when we are alone or with people or quiet or with songs. The way I look at a large part of this record is, "Hey, thanks you guys for embracing 'City on a Hill'. Thank you for loving 'God of Wonders' so much. I don't want to alienate you." I don't want to make a record that only I understand. I don't want to sing about my problems, I want to sing about the growth that has occurred over the last few years in my walk with Christ.

C: A big part of it comes from us just getting involved in a church and worshipping alongside our fellow Christians that we are completely different from or that we are very similar to, people that we don't like and people that we do like. It's about feeling connected to the body of Christ and wanting to explore that connection and the commonalities between us.

 M: I also feel like people don't realize how hard it is to write a good worship song. Yeah, you could write a worship song in 5 minutes but it wouldn't be a very good one. Your trying to express things that have been said for 2000 years! When Steve (Hindalong) and I go to work on "City on a Hill" we are very aware of the fact that it has to come from the gut. We can't be like, "Well, we have to write another hit." "God of Wonders", "Holy is Your Name", "With Every Breath", when those were written there was no "City on a Hill" record. They were written because I needed to get it out and it connected with people. I think it connects with people because they are hungry for worship. I always want to be careful of that because I don't want to use worship as a marketing tool, it just so happens that I have written some songs like that that have "stuck", for lack of a better word, in that genre. It's been a blessing. For me, and I know Steve and Christine would say this also, it has forced us to be more aware of God in our writing. Not in the background but in the forefront and that has been great for us spiritually. Like Christine says, a lot of these songs come out of those private times where we are alone with God. It so easy to become familiar with Christianity and the Gospel and not be shocked that a dead man got up and rose. The God of love is at the center of this thing that wants to have a relationship with us. You've got to breathe life into these things. At the point where I was when I started writing for this record, that's what it was like. Things were new to me again and I was hearing the good news from a fresh new perspective. That's what I try to, get outside of what I was raised in and study and experience this stuff from a brand new perspective. It truly shocked me and challenged me like I hadn't been in a long time.

 M: To me, it remains to be see if we are in the mainstream or not. A lot of our "artistic type" friends, like Sixpence None the Richer, really seem to like our record. Things like that are usually signs that "Hey, this might not sell!" (laughter) I think that as far the sing along thing goes, there has to be a difference. If you go into Tower Records, your going in their to buy music. Your going in there because you are challenged by music or want an interesting listening experience. If you go into a Christian bookstore and most of what is sold there is for the edification of the body, period. It's not just for music lovers, it's not just for musicians. I wish that everyone could be as in tune as most musicians and some music critics, but they're not. I mean, the mainstream market is really horrible too right now. You have all this pop stuff and then you have these few moments of bright talent that you see shining. It remains to be seen still whether those talents will be embraced or not. I realized a long time ago that my favorite kind of music is not even going to be embraced by the mainstream mainstream. I think that we made a record that appeals to everyone. Jesus didn't usually hang out with smart people. Most of the people he hung out with would probably love these sing alongs because they were farmers and fisherman. They didn't know any better, they were just simple people who understood the love of God that was being expressed through Christ

. C: There's a place for both. Of course, I believe in music that stretches and challenges people and I believe in Christian music that does that. I have two sides to me though. I enjoy singing worship music and I enjoy being in church and lifting up the name of God in a simple song with a simple melody. Simple doesn't have to mean inadequate. Marc and I have both of those sides to our creativity and it's only natural that we explore both sides of ourselves.

M: Like Paul said, "Some preach the gospel in vain and for selfish ambition and some preach it with good intentions, nevertheless I rejoice that the gospel is being preached." Whether or not the gospel is being preached in Christian music right now remains to be seen and is open to interpretation. I would have to say that I don't listen to a lot of the mainstream Christian music out there. I also definitely think that we should shoot for high standards musically and that we should shoot for being creative but it should never be surprising that people in the church don't embrace change or that which is cutting edge or creative. It's been that way for 2,000 years! Th church is always the slowest to change. I don't think that's a bad thing because the church is the guardian of the truth and it's supposed to proceed with caution when any changes come along. What shouldn't happen is that the artists shouldn't flee the church and leave it to burn because they are not be accepted. You have to get in there and be willing to accept the people who don't get you either. We don't go to church to be around people that act like us, think like us, dress like us, like all the same music that we do, we go there to experience diversity and worship God with people who express that in different ways. I can't be guilty of saying, "Your music is inferior because I don't understand it." because then I would just be doing what other people have done to me in the past. I have to be careful that I don't judge people like I have been judged in the past. Some people are moved by these worship songs. The idea though that worship is just when you get together and sing sing alongs, that's got to be rooted out and stopped. Your lifestyle and everything about you should be an act of worship.

 C: I definitely do. It's one that Marc wrote called "Mercy". He wrote it by himself and he sings it. It's just a beautiful song. It's just the story of his journey.

 M: For me it's just what separates Christianity from the other world religions. It's grace and mercy and forgiveness and if I had to sum up my journey with one word it is "mercy". It started, believe it or not, when I was in the desert stranded with Common Children. It just kind of took off from there. My other favorite song is "Wounded Healers" , which is a song Christine wrote, that is based on a book called "Wounded Healers". It's basically saying that we worship a wounded healer and by his wounds we are healed. Instead of hiding or wounds , so many people stay away from Christians because they don't have it all together and they think Christians do, let's come together and join together in our brokeness and our suffering and rally around our suffering lord. I love that song and I think it's Steve Hindalong's favorite song on the record too. C: It was just so important to us to offer hope to people with this record. I think Marc said it earlier, we don't really consider this a worship record because so much of it is talking to our fellow Christians and just offering them hope and a hand to hold. It hopefully offers them someone to walk with in their suffering. I think a lot of that comes from us getting married and having each other. We use our own wounds and our pasts to help heal each other. Offering that and having that offered to me has meant so much, especially to me these last few years. From being dropped from that first record deal and losing everything that I though was so important and having people there with me to support me and to help me through when the bottom falls out. Through all that the one that was still there was Christ.