all of us , that I wasn ' t expecting , that I didn ' t foresee happening in my life . And when I really needed God ' s grace the most , he brought it . And so , realizing is one thing to talk about it , but it ' s another thing to live through it . In a sense , even though I ' ve been a believer for a long time , and truly believed the things that I was talking about and singing about for 25-plus years , there ' s something quite significant when you actually have to live through it .
[ WM ] And your testimony song , “ 1991 ”, includes the phrase ‘ I was born again ’. That ’ s really refreshing to me because more-oftenthan-not , far too many churches have moved away from that requirement or terminology . Any thoughts on this ?
[ Mac ] Yeah . I think there are sometimes we try so much to be . We try to fit in so much and so often . I ' ve been and probably still am guilty of that , that we try to shy away sometimes from those cornerstone-kind of thoughts and ideas of our faith . Actually a few years ago Third Day had a successful radio song called " Born Again ." I forget exactly what year it was , but I still play it to this day , that I loved taking those terms that sometimes we as a church that we ' ve either gotten away from or forgotten about , or that we ' ve lost the meaning of those terms . And so , I definitely don ' t mind saying that .
It may not be in vogue , but that doesn ' t mean that the power and the truth in that saying , in that message , has lessened .
[ WM ] Very cool . Well , tell us about the song " River of Life ." You were a co-writer on that , correct ?
River of Life
“... Even though I ’ ve been a believer for a long time , and truly believed the things that I was talking about and singing about for 25-plus years , there ’ s something quite significant when you actually have to live through it .”
[ Mac ] Yes , I co-wrote every song on the record . " River of Life " was probably the first idea that I worked on . I specifically remember going in and saying , " Guys , I ' ve been kind of bringing the idea to the table every time for weeks now , and for over a year . I ' m ready to kind of just hear what somebody else has to say and start afresh with something someone else has ." And Ethan Hulse , an incredible writer who I don ' t think I even realized at the time who he was and the great songs that he had written , was there . I remember , I had just gotten connected with him through my manager , and I called my manager after we were done writing together and said , " I don ' t know who this guy is , but I want to write with him again . He ' s really good ." And then I went on to realize he ' s one of the bigger Christian songwriters in Nashville . But we had talked about this idea . There ' s that
old kids ' kind of camp song “ I ’ ve Got a River of Life ”.
And I just thought , or he had said , " What if we do something that ' s like that , but it ' s a new and fresh idea ." And so , I loved the feel of it and the thought of it , and we just kind of worked on that and developed it . As a songwriter , I think you probably can relate to this , that often you don ' t always know what the song is saying until later . Sometimes it ' s more often what happens after the song is recorded .
And for me , and that may sound silly and weird , but sometimes you don ' t really quite understand the fullness of the message of the song until you ' ve lived with it for a while . And I feel like " River of Life " is just simply an invitation . It ' s an invitation for everyone to partake in that grace and mercy that he offers us .
You talked about 2nd Corinthians 5:17 being your life verse . I feel like my life ' s message is what Jesus said , " I ' ve come into this world to give you life , and to give it to you abundantly ." And we miss out on that abundance so often . And I ' m not talking about non-believers . I ' m talking about believers missing out because we settle too often for less than what he has to offer us . And so , I believe " River of Life " is an invitation into that abundance , into that mercy , into that grace .
[ WM ] “ Everlasting Arms ” is a really nice worship song for worship leaders to consider adding to their Sunday morning set list . What can you tell us about this song ?
[ Mac ] I did something really kind of unexpected and something I wasn ' t looking for . Just after
Everlasting Arms