FamilyChristian.com Exclusive Interview
Avalon: Just Breathe ...continued

FamilyChristian.com: Last year you took trips to El Salvador and Costa Rica. How did that come about?

Janna: There are actually two different organizations. We went to El Salvador with World Vision. The other ministry is Big World. It basically recruits teenagers and young people to go on a mission trip and do street ministry and witnessing and drama.

FamilyChristian.com: How many people did you have last time?

Janna: [We had about] 250 people. It's neat to see kids that young really wanting to get involved with ministry.

Jody: They don't know each other really before they come. They fly to Miami and go to a training camp for three days and get to know each other. [Then] they break off into groups—usually it's about eight or nine groups. They don't know each other but by the time it's over they're friends for life.

The interesting thing is none of these kids know how to speak the language and so it is all done through drama and communication through the arts. That is something that's very neat to see and it works. We have interpreters [that] help present the plan of salvation but people really do see the Gospel through the drama.

FamilyChristian.com: How have those experiences affected you?

Michael: [We've learned] how fortunate we are as Americans to have the blessings that we take for granted every day—clean water, good shelter—the basics of life. The people that we come into contact with in these other countries have so little that just the basics are a blessing. It helps us to put things in perspective.

FamilyChristian.com: Jody, your father passed away last fall. How have you been coping with that?

Jody: I don't think about it as much. I think that God created our minds [in such a way] that we do have a place where we can tuck things back or else we would go crazy. I think about my father and I miss him but I worry more about my mom. That stuff is natural. We've been very, very blessed and He's helped us through it.

FamilyChristian.com: If you could ask anyone in the group any question, what would it be?

Michael: I'd probably ask what everyone's first impression of the other was. I know my first impression of Cherie. She was following us to our concert in Chattanooga to see us and for us to meet her. She was in the car behind us. We stop on the roadside and she's in the backseat [of her car]. I go to the car and [it has] tinted windows and she was looking like she was chauffeured somewhere. [I thought], "Who is this chick [who] won't even take her sunglasses off?" (laughs).

Jody: She was so sweet. We sang at Lee University that night and afterwards she was so sweet. She said, "You guys were great and it'll be so great to be in the group." I just remember you being so nice. We all got in the bus and were like, "She's awesome."

Oxygen by Avalon

Cherie: It was an overwhelming time so I didn't really make heads or tails of anybody personally. The whole thing was just overwhelming. I probably questioned for the first six months, daily, am I doing the right thing? Is this really your will God?

I never really had any formal audition [and] I didn't have a formal demo tape. It was so unconventional and so God. Through the first six months, it finally became very clear to me that this is exactly where God wanted me to be.

FamilyChristian.com: Cherie, you've been in the group for three years but sometimes still considered the "new girl." What have you learned in the past three years?

Cherie: I think the biggest lesson that I've learned in being in this group is to be in God's perfect will is better than anything. Anything the world can offer you is nothing in comparison to what God can offer you when you're following His will and seeking His face, even when it doesn't feel comfortable. But even when things are uncomfortable, I'd rather be uncomfortable where God wants me to be than be comfortable in a place where God isn't.

Jen Abbas, a writer in Grand Rapids, Mich., originally conducted this interview for Family Christian Stores' All Access music catalog.

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