FamilyChristian.com Exclusive Interview
Spelling Out A Mission ...continued

FamilyChristian.com: You've been blessed with an awful lot at a young age. How do you guard yourself from taking all of it for granted?

Ben: I don't really take myself too seriously. I take what I do seriously, as far as the ministry side of things, but I don't take me too seriously. I'm just a kooky guy that has a funny sense of humor. There are days when [I] get really frustrated. I'm doing a tour here and [my fiancée] Kara is calling me and she's miserable because I'm not there and there's nothing I can do about it. Or when you play ten consecutive shows and nobody knows who you are. You get frustrated in your situation but then somebody like my dad or my roommate, who plays drums for me, or Kara reminds me, "Hey, just remember how lucky you are to be here." Right now, I really haven't had too much trouble realizing that. For some reason, God's been really, really gracious to me and has blessed me more than I could imagine. I don't understand why He's chosen to do that [but] I'm thankful for it.

FamilyChristian.com: What are you passionate about?

Ben: I'm passionate about my family. I love my parents and my brother and my grandparents. I'm passionate about my fiancée. [We're getting married] November 30th. She's a great girl and I love her a lot. She's been real supportive. We do the distance thing but it's great to come home to her and spend time not talking about music or anything and just shooting the breeze about everything in life but what I do.

FamilyChristian.com: How long have you been together?

Ben: [We've been together] just about a year. I think when you know, you know. I knew on the first date. [After our] second date I wrote her a letter. I didn't give to her until we got engaged. It said, "I know you're my wife. I'll give you this letter someday when we get engaged or when we get married."

FamilyChristian.com: Have you written a song for her yet?

Ben: I have. I'm saving the best for the wedding, even though I haven't written it yet. I wrote her one called "Missing You Tonight."

FamilyChristian.com: Your song "Dancing with Cactus" addresses the allure of temptation. Unfortunately, Christian music has taken some hits in the last several years when artists have struggled with different issues. Now that you're on a national stage, how do you safeguard yourself?

Ben: Right now I wear a wedding ring out on the road. I wear that to show Kara, "I'm faithful to you." It's hard because we do shows on Sundays every week so my dad mails me tapes of his sermons. I listen to those, whether it's on a plane or in the van or the bus or wherever. I think that's so important. [I] touch base with my roommate. He's a great guy, a great accountability partner [and we ask each other,] "Hey, what's going on?"

I think it's real easy to get totally out of focus. You're doing ministry 24-7 [and] if you're not getting filled up and you're not focusing on, "Why am I here?" then what's your purpose to begin with? I've got an article about an artist that took one of those hits a few years back. I cut it out of the paper and stuck in my Bible so that every time I flip through it, I see it. I don't feel tempted by the same sort of things, but we're human and things can happen. I think [you need to realize] that you're fallible. It comes down to not taking yourself too seriously and realizing [that] it's ridiculous to be able to get paid to play the guitar.

FamilyChristian.com: "Welcome to America" is song that is pretty critical of our culture. What inspired you to write it?

Ben: I was out here in Nashville. I was watching TV and flipping through the channels and this same kind of theme runs through television. It's just this godless junk. Everything on TV is so full of sex. If they took the sex out, there'd be nothing left. There's this whole [mindset that says,] "If you don't like this, then just tolerate it. If you don't like it, then don't watch it." [But I say], "Let's not fight the problem by killing the effect; we've got to kill the cause. We live in this world that says we should tolerate sin but nobody wants to tolerate the fact that we don't want to tolerate sin. It's kind of a cynical song.

Writing Christian songs does not mean that they always have to be "praise ye" this and "praise ye" that. I love worship music and I love to praise the Lord. But being a Christian is also about not being afraid of conviction. I think that ["Welcome to America" is] a song of conviction, saying, "Stand up for what you believe in." There are certain things that are wrong that we don't have to be apologetic [about it].

FamilyChristian.com: You've been touring with Mark Schultz this spring. What have you learned from him?

Ben: I've learned a ton. When you see Mark on stage, offstage he's the same guy. I've had a great time traveling with him. He saw me one of the first few nights and [said], "You ought to smile more when you play. I know your songs can be serious sometimes but they can be fun too, so smile." It's revolutionized my live show. I've gotten into the habit of just coming out there grinning.

FamilyChristian.com: What is God teaching you now?

26 Letters by Ben Glover

Ben: A whole lot of things! God's teaching me how to be patient with a lot of things in life. [He's teaching me to be patient] in regard to Kara with doing the distance thing and being far away. He's constantly teaching me that I'm a weak vessel. I never really went through [a] rebellious phase. I grew up in a Christian home so sometimes you can [think], "I don't have any huge areas of weakness." [The song] "Running After Me" talks about prodigals and I feel like that song's about me. We're all prodigals. God's teaching me, "You are a weak vessel and you've got a lot to learn."

FamilyChristian.com: As a new artist, what's the most important thing that you want someone to know about you?

Ben: I want people to think I'm real. It's great if somebody thinks I'm a nice guy and that's important to me. But more importantly, I want people to look at me and say, "Man, that guy understands Christianity because he understands Christ."

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

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