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FamilyChristian.com: Can we talk about you latest album Offerings?

Mac: I would love to. I think Offerings was a big surprise to us because it was an album we made for our fans. We had so many fans asking us for years when we were going to make a praise and worship album and [when we were] going to make a live record. So this was kind of a combination of both. We had a little bit of time free so we thought it was the perfect timing to make this live praise and worship record that we always wanted to make. We took a chance and made it.

FamilyChristian.com: What about having the album done is most satisfying?

Mac: From the very beginning, praise and worship has always been a huge part of who we are and what we do. Now we're finally able to make a record [that reflects that]. There's always worship on our records; there's always some praise songs on our records, but this was one that was focused entirely on that. I know there are a couple of songs that aren't "praise and worship" songs like "Love Song" or "Thief," but they're songs that we feel bring people into a time of worship.

FamilyChristian.com: You've included a worship set during your concerts. How has your performance changed with the release of a praise and worship album?

Mac: Usually, worship has been about a third of the show. This last tour, it was more of like a two-thirds instead of one-third. We focused more on the worship aspect of our show and a little bit less on the "get up and get crazy, jump up and down, get down" kind of thing. There's always a place for that. I think we'll always do that stuff, but I think we're kind of growing old and hopefully maturing a little bit. We used to be in the kind of mentality that if someone wasn't jumping up and down at our concerts, they weren't having a good time. I think we're past that and realize that a lot of times people just want to listen to the music and be there in the presence with brothers and sisters worshipping God.

FamilyChristian.com: Is there going to be an Offerings II?

Mac: That's a good question. I've been thinking about that. We haven't really talked about it, but I've been thinking about it in the back of my mind. You never know. I don't think it will be the next thing we release—in fact I know it won't be—but I think down the road there may be one.

FamilyChristian.com: There's one song on Offerings called "These Thousand Hills." There's a story about why you chose to record that song, isn't there?

Mac: There's a band originally from Atlanta called Jacob's Trouble. We were all fans of their music. Whenever they were in town, we would always go and hear them play. They were always very encouraging to us. They were the band we would always go to see and say, "Wow, I hope one day we can do what they do!" When we were able to go and make this record, we said that we were going to do a Jacob's Trouble song. "These Thousand Hills" was a song they did that we always loved.

FamilyChristian.com: What does worship mean to you?

Mac: In a book called Desiring God, John Piper talks about how worship is about us enjoying God and not only giving Him praise and honoring Him with our lips and our hands lifted up, but enjoying our life with Him. We always focus on worship as being music, but worship is so much more than music. That's just a part of it. There's a verse in Romans, chapter 12 that says, "Brothers, in view of God's mercy, offer your bodies as a living sacrifice that is holy and pleasing to God." It goes on to say, "This is your spiritual act of worship." We honor God by offering our bodies as living sacrifices to Him. In other words, we say no to sin and say yes to what God would have us to do. [It's] saying no to our own selfish desires and saying, "God I'm going to do what you want me to do." That's worship. I think we've got to open up our minds a little more than just worship being music. It's living our whole lives just for God. Hopefully our music is not just something that you can sing along with to help you worship God, but the words remain in your heart and in your mind and remind you of your faith and of God and wanting to live your life for Him.

FamilyChristian.com: You produced the first album from the band Forty Days. How did you meet those guys?

Mac: We saw them in Dallas do a few songs and really loved their hearts and loved what they were doing. They gave me a call and they said that they wanted to make a demo with me. I said that I had one week off, "If you come to Atlanta, we'll do it." Sure enough they drove all the way to Atlanta and we spent three or four days and worked on some stuff. It just really clicked and went well. We worked on some more demos and shipped it around and stuff. It was pretty awesome to help them get to a point like that. I really have a heart for unsigned artists and younger artists as far as developing them and helping them to get to where they need to be; getting them in front of the right people and helping them not only develop their musical skills, but their ministry skills too.

FamilyChristian.com: That's a great album. You did some song writing on there as well.

Mac: Well thanks a lot. I'm real proud of it. I'm kind of surprised and saddened that not many people know about it yet. But hopefully after another single or so is released, more people will know about them, and go out and check out the record. It's really good. Hopefully people will talk a little bit more about them and get people to know who they are and they'll go out and listen to the record too.

FamilyChristian.com: What is God teaching you now?

Mac: God is teaching me to relearn some things. I grew up for a long time kind of assuming some things because they were taught. God's kind of taken a simple thing and said, "Is that what you really believe? Go back and see what I really say about it in my Word and through my Spirit to yours."

My wife used a great analogy about it the other day. She said, "Paul talks about how we shouldn't always drink milk; we should move onto the meat." For the longest time when I first really rededicated my life to the Lord I was growing so fast in my faith and learning so much. I look back at that time and I think, "Lord, am I as close to you now as I was back then?" I'm not learning as much. He's kind of teaching me and helping through my wife sharing that analogy with me is that right now, I'm just chewing on the meat and it takes a lot more time to chew on a steak than it does to drink down a glass of milk.

Offerings Third Day

Mac: If we're going to be Christians, if we're going to be who we say we are-followers of Christ-we've got to really dig into the Word and seek Him. The Lord has really taught me through the last couple of years that you find out things from Him through His Word, through His Spirit speaking to you and also through the affirmations of brothers and sisters, people who have gone before us who are stronger in their faith. [You] really need to ig deep into what you believe and find out why you believe that. Don't just do it because of tradition or because it's what you've always been taught, but because you believe it yourself and because you searched it and have sought God's face on it.

Also another thing that God's been teaching me is the unity of the body of Christ. He really wants us to join together. He says, "Just as I have loved you, you must love one another." So it's time that we tear down denominational walls and time that we tear down racial barriers and social barriers and things that separate us and come together hand in hand and start loving one another. That's when the world is going to know who we are. They're going to know who we are by our love for one another. That's what the Lord's been teaching us and wanting us to share with people.

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

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