Easter of last year , I got an invitation to become part of the worship team at a church . I never thought I could do that , just because I ' m gone all the time and , I just never thought I wanted to do that . And when I got the invitation , I just thought , " Thank you . I ' m honored , but I don ' t really , I can ' t do this ." And then all-of-a-sudden , a week later , all my summer shows were canceled due to Covid closures . The Fall tour I was supposed to be on got canceled . So , I called the pastor back and said , " Maybe I do have time to be in church on Sundays ." And what a gift that it ' s become for me to be able to still make music with a great worship team and to lead on Sundays and have great studies and time with that team throughout the week .
The reason I brought that up is that it ' s a great church . We do modern worship , but we also go back and do hymns as well . And I grew up , as I told you earlier , singing hymns . I love combining that in a church service . And I think it ' s important that we as a church don ' t miss out and don ' t forget about hymns . These are strong songs , written by great men and women of God through many years , have great love for God and great , strong theology in those songs .
And so , I love being able to go back and do those songs . And so “ Everlasting Arms ” came from an old hymn , the thought and the idea , came from that old hymn . And we kind of touch on it towards the bridge , “ Leaning on the Everlasting Arms ”. I grew up singing that as a kid , and now to be able to kind of restructure that in a way and do a fresh new thought and idea of that song , it also ends up being one of my favorite songs on the record .
[ WM ] Yeah , it ' s great . I appreciate you bringing the topic of hymns into this interview because the older I get , the more I appreciate hymns . I didn ' t even grow up on them , but what a wealth in the lyrics . When you can just read the lyrics and that ' s enough .
[ Mac ] Right . Well , they ' re so much more poetic than we are today . I ' m not trying to make them out to be something that they ' re not , but there is a bit more , it seems like there ' s a bit more poetry . And perhaps that just comes with history and words that we use now , as compared to then , but it ' s poetic and it ' s definitely heartfelt . I do feel like , and sometimes there can be a little bit stronger theology in those old hymns . You know , if they ' ve lasted for this long , that means there ' s something good to them .
[ WM ] And you ’ re back to touring ! You ’ ve got a huge touring schedule with Steven Curtis Chapman as well as the K Love Christmas Tour . What ’ s that feel like to be back on the road ?
[ Mac ] It feels good . I ' ve been touring some . Even through Covid , a year ago I was out with Steven and Michael W ., and we did a tour we called The Three Amigos . But it was a drive-in theater tour . It ' s the only way we could safely distance and tour , but it was very different . And yet I was happy to be continuing to make music , and especially with two of my favorite people in the world . And even though touring has gone away quite a bit , I still had a chance to do some things here and there , and especially , like I said , leading worship on Sunday . Even though that ' s not touring , I still continue to make music with people . But it is good to kind of get , I don ' t know if we ' re back to normal , and who knows if we ever will get back to " normal ," but it does feel good .
I love Steven . I ' ve told people many times of the many friends and family that I have in Christian music , he ' s at the top of the list . Like , literally , he ' s my favorite person . He ' s an amazing man off stage and off stage , and such a great brother and mentor to me . And I think we ' ve been able to pour into each other ' s lives and encourage each other . Just an amazing man . And just an honor to be out with him and the great musicians that are touring with him , and great people . Yeah , it ' s a lot of fun . I ' ve said often I feel like that little kid , a spoiled brat , I was that kid that somebody pulled up on stage and said , " Hey , who wants to sing a song ?" And I got up on stage and I just never left .
[ WM ] What issues do Christian artists face today that did not exist 20 years ago ? What opportunities are there now over 20 years ago ?
[ Mac ] Okay , let me think out loud . Give me a moment to take back my statement if I ' m wrong , because I ' m thinking out loud . I don ' t know if there ' s anything new under the sun , so I don ' t know if we face anything different than was around 20 years ago . I think , of course , with the invention of the internet , things are probably more accessible . Any kind of issues and temptations and struggles that would come with that , but like I said , I don ' t know if that ' s any different than things were 20 years ago .
I think the issue of probably pride and wanting to self-promote has definitely been amplified , because of the internet and social media . I don ' t think that ' s really different because that was always there in life as long as humans have been around , but perhaps it ' s multiplied .
Now the second half of your question … I guess you take the good with the bad . I think , also , on the bad side of that , but on the good side also is that you can get your music out there more than ever before . Now there ' s also a lot more , what ' s the word ? I don ' t want to say noise , but there ' s a lot more stuff . There are differences . Think about this . There ' s a difference in sound , and there ' s a difference between sound and noise . They ' re both audio in nature , and they both affect us through our ears . And yet , if I ' m on a beach hearing the waves , that ' s a beautiful sound , and birds overhead singing , that ' s a sound , but if somebody comes driving by in their truck and it ' s real loud , that ' s a noise . And I think there ' s a lot more noise than sounds right now , if that makes any sense .
And with the internet , you can find both . You can find pleasant sounds , and you can find noise . And with , I think I mentioned the bad part , but the good part is we can get our music out there . Even though I ' ve stepped back quite a bit with social media in the past year , there is something about being able to connect with