The process of writing All or Nothing was a very different process for me this time around. Usually I just write what's on my heart, and then later, after all the songs are recorded and put on an album, I see a theme throughout the songs. This time around God put a theme on my heart from the very beginning of the process: all or nothing!

"All or Nothing" was the very first song I wrote for the record, and it shaped the entire album. As a band and as songwriters, we long for people to understand the goodness and greatness of our Savior to know Him fully and to be fully known. These are all things that the devil tries every day to keep us from. If you are anything like me, you struggle with actually accepting that God really does forgive you and that He really does call you a son or daughter of the King. I have spent most of my life wrestling with these truths, and you can hear it in my songs.

(1 Corinthians 13:12, Psalm 103:12)

When writing this album, I almost felt militant in the approach. I felt the need to make bold statements that would remind me of the truth of the cross and what Jesus says about me. There is a song on the record called "Everything You Say," and this song speaks specifically to what Jesus says about us.

In this world there are millions of different people and ads trying to speak into our lives. Have you ever stopped to think about what they are telling you about yourself? Next time you watch TV, think about all the commercials that pop up. What are they saying? What are they trying to tell you about yourself or what you need? When writing "Everything You Say," I decided that I wouldn't let the world tell me who I am, but instead I was going to only let Jesus tell me who I am. When you take this stand, it's crazy how different you view yourself and others around you. The bridge in this song is a reminder of what Jesus does say about us: "set free, redeemed, holy, beloved." Next time you find yourself believing what others have to say, stop yourself and speak truth into your life. Go ahead and say out loud what Jesus has to say: "I am everything that YOU call me."

(Psalm 139:13-16, 1 Peter 2:9, Jeremiah 29:11, Psalm 139:1-4)

I have always tried to be extremely honest when it comes to the songs that I write, but this album contains my most honest song to date. The song "People Like Me" talks about something that I haven't really talked about until this record, and that's the testimony of me and my family and our dealings with addiction. For so long I let the devil make me believe the lie that if I talked about the dark spots in my life, people would walk away, especially in the church. As I have traveled around the country and started talking about this, I have found that the devil is a LIAR! When we bring dark to light, it is no longer dark, it is now REDEEMED! 

My family, really for generations, has always wrestled with addiction, specifically with alcohol; and my immediate family didn't escape it. At 11 and 12 years old, I wasn't the one drinking, but my whole life was affected by it. What I have found is this... It doesn't matter if it's your mom, dad, brother, sister, aunt or uncle; when it comes to addiction, everyone around that person is affected.

The other thing I have come to learn about addiction is that there are really only two roads to choose: one that leads to life, forgiveness, redemption, and healing; and one that ultimately, for a lot of addicts, can lead to death. That's the harsh reality when it comes to addiction.

I can remember praying prayers like, "God, why is this happening to families like mine?" We went to church every Sunday, and on the outside everything seemed perfect, but on the inside there was a lot of hurt going on. I can remember the week that the road my family was going to go down was being chosen. I can remember the fear of not knowing if the family I had always known was going to look the same or not. As I have gotten older, I have been able to put myself in the perspective of the addict, and what I have realized is that they are asking a lot of the same questions. "God, why me? Why am I the reason a family is falling apart? Why am I the one who has to deal with this?" 

If you hear nothing else from this post, please hear this... There is power in the name of JESUS to break EVERY CHAIN! It was when my family hit rock bottom that we were forced to finally let go of control. It was on the other side of open hands that the miracle we had been praying for for so long finally happened! I know all addiction stories don't end like this, but it was only a week after that moment of not knowing, that rehab entered the equation and the long, hard road of recovery started. As of this year, my family gets to celebrate 20 YEARS of sobriety! You guys, God is faithful!

(Isaiah 9:4-7, Psalm 36:5-6, Psalm 89:2)

My prayer for this album is that it will encourage and inspire a generation of believers who know what they believe and why they believe it! My hope is that we will be able to stand together and say that we might not have it all figured out, but one thing we do have figured out is our eternity, and because of that we are sold out, on fire, and ready to give ALL OR NOTHING!