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Your music reaches across all barriers. How do you approach your music, and songwriting?
Darlene: We're all probably different in that respect. In my role of leading worship in my church, there's an area of writing that we concentrate on in giving the ordinary, just the everyday guy, a way to sing, a way to express - if he can't sing - a way to express a deeper cry of his heart to God. So, we don't try to be too clever, but let the greatest thing be authenticity - because I feel if it's coming from a place of truth, usually that is the thing that is far greater than the song. The anchor of truth in a song has a great ability to help gather and capture the hearts of just ordinary people who have been longing for a way to say that, and have just been dying to say that, but they could never find a way. We as a church, try to use the word more, instead of just our thoughts on the word. Sometimes our thoughts and our feelings are so fallible, I think we just need to be reminded of the truth. So as a congregation, we'll try to just sing the word of God and speak truth because it's the word that sets people free. And if the pastor is preaching a great message, we try to thread that message to a melody. Because we lose that message so quickly. If we can take the crux of it and put it to something, and help it live it in there, that is just so powerful for the ordinary man and woman - the mom that's been up all night, the business man, the man without a job, the homeless guy. If we can thread the power of the message of the Gospel, and put it to a melody that they can claim as their own - and give them a way to express what they've been dying to say - it's a powerful thing! That's the great thing about worship because it's inclusive, not exclusive. It's not for the talented, the beautiful, and the highly gifted - it's every man, every woman, every child, every nation, every tribe, every tongue. It comes in every form you can imagine. That's the power of the worship. It's totally inclusive. It gathers, it doesn't exclude. If we can keep the worship song that strong and focused, it has an amazing ability. I'm sure we've only seen the tip of the iceberg as far as what that can bring about on the earth.
Currently, Christian music is spreading. It is becoming more and more popular. Do you believe that Christian music will continue to grow and will possibly affect the culture today?
Chris: I would start by saying I don't think it's the job of Christian music to change the culture. It is the job of Christians connected with the Creator to be involved in the culture and that is where change will come. We have exalted a tool and said this is God's way of doing what He is going to do on our planet. And I think we've missed the fact that by exalting the tool we've lifted certain people up to be the only spokespeople for God. The reality is that we all need to take whatever we've been given, whatever station we've been given, and represent Christ in those places. Yes - I believe music is a very powerful way to communicate. It's been quoted over the centuries from different people, but one particular Irish politican said 'I don't care who writes the laws of the land, let me write its songs.' He was hitting on something very powerful. All that laws do are change people's behavior outwardly saying this is your limit, do not cross this point. But he knew there was something powerful about the music. The repetetiveness. The way that music injects something deeper into you than just hearing it spoken. He was keying into something that music has a way of changing a culture internally and affecting people that way. What I would say is, is that yes, music is a very powerful thing. Christian music - that title that we've put on something in the past thirty years or so - has a very important place, but it is not all there is to music or to God's work. I think again, as musicians, as writers, as people who are affecting our culture through the one tool of music we need to be aware of that, but at the same time we need to use those tools to make everybody aware we all have a spot. We all have access to a very powerful God who will use us to affect our culture and change it in much less visible ways but in much more important ways than music ever will.