walking with people .
[ WM ] That ’ s wonderful . Well , it took a lot longer for me to realize that truth . As an older man , I can tell you , you ’ re better off as a younger man to have realized that already . That ’ s great .
[ Kristian ] Well , thank you for that encouragement . Thanks .
[ WM ] “ Another Praise ” again is a brilliant composition , filled with truth . What ’ s the backstory on this ?
[ Kristian ] The backstory on “ Another Praise ” is that I went a lot of years and I struggled for a lot of years and wasted a lot of time and missed so many things that God wanted me to see . I probably missed a lot of things that God wanted me to do because I was hurting and there was so much brokenness in my life .
And so , I look back on those years and I think , man , there ’ s just so much time that I wasted . This song , “ Another Praise ” was just a way of almost to say , again , in a fresh way , man , life is that long . It ’ s just a blink and it ’ s over . And while I ’ m here , while I have breath , while I ’ m alive , I want every moment , every conversation , every time I lead worship , every connection with my wife or my kids , I want it all to bring glory to God . And not in a human striving kind of way , but just in a surrendered , I ’ m surrendered to God . And I believe that He ’ s working in all things in my life to bring Him glory and for my good .
So , this song was really just a way to say , just for me to communicate to God , that I ’ m here and I ’ m surrendered to You , and I want you to use every part of my life for your name and for your glory .
[ WM ] Do you write songs with the same Gibson guitar that you use leading worship ? What model is it ?
[ Kristian ] Oh , yes . Well , yes and no . I played a Gibson J-45 for a lot of years . Recently , I ’ ve
Another Praise
been playing a Martin . I think I have had my Martin now for four or five years , six years . It ’ s a 000-28 Vintage Series . So , it ’ s got the slotted headstock without a pick guard on it . It ’ s just kind of a cool-looking guitar .
But I played a J-45 for so long , and it ’ s such a sound . It ’ s such a big dreadnought sounding guitar . I got my Martin because I needed something different . Sonically , I needed to hear something different . So , I got my Martin and I love it . But yeah , I write pretty much all the songs either on that Martin or on the piano .
[ WM ] What is your hope for Make It Out Alive ? How do you hope for the songs of this project to impact listeners ? What are you looking forward to in 2023 , God willing ?
[ Kristian ] Well , what I hope is that people will hear the record , Make It Out Alive . And it will inspire honesty , it will inspire vulnerability . It will remind people that they ’ re not alone , that the grace of God is real , and that we need people . That would be my hope .
And I ’ ll just say it again , being somebody in my position as a worship leader in a church and leading conferences , I hope that people can feel the vulnerability and the honesty , not just in the record , but even in us talking right now . And they could think , well , man , if he can be honest , maybe I could be honest as well . If he can be real about his struggles in this life , maybe I could be real as well .
And the reason I want that for people is because I know how healing and how freeing it is on the other side of that confession . And I know how
healing and freeing it is to live in connection with people . And so I just want that so bad for people . And I lived for so long thinking that I ’ m all alone , I ’ m on an island , I ’ m isolated in my struggle and in my brokenness . But the whole time , I wasn ’ t struggling . We all live in the same broken world , and we all need each other . So that would be my hope .
My prayer for ‘ 23 and what I hope to see . My wife and I have four kids . We have a 16-yearold son , and then we have three daughters , 13 , 10 , and 8 . And they are incredible , they ’ re the deepest blessing that I have on this earth . And my wife and I are trying to be great parents . We ’ re trying to be a good Mom and Dad , I ’ m trying to be a good husband . We don ’ t get it right every time . But I think in ‘ 23 , we ’ re just praying for our family that God would lead us in all different ways , school for our kids and what my wife and I need to be paying attention to in our marriage . And then in ministry , man , I just hope it ’ s another year of just being real with the people that we lead with , real with the people we ’ re leading , and writing songs that are gritty and authentic . So that ’ s what I hope . We have Passion ‘ 23 coming up , and I have a real high expectation for this conference and just praying that students will come through the doors hungry to meet with God , just wanting to see God move in a powerful way .
[ WM ] God bless you and your family , and grace and safety and peace be with all of you . Okay ?
[ Kristian ] Thank you , Alex . It ’ s great to talk to you today . Thanks , man .
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