In our special WE LOVE Christian Music Awards editorial series, members of the NRT staff have a back-and-forth discussion about this year's nominees.

In Part 5 of our series, NRT Executive Editor Marcus Hathcock and Associate Editor Mary Nikkel ponder the merits and outcomes of the nominees for the philanthropy-heavy Mainstream Impact Award. 

MARCUS: One of my favorite categories every year is the Mainstream Impact Award. At the outset, we created this category to honor the artists whose work has resonated outside the Christian music sphere, but I've been really excited to see how the category has evolved. Now it's become a way to celebrate the believing creators who are affecting culture--for the Kingdom--in many different ways, not just music. This year's crop of nominees shows a decidedly philanthropic bent. 

So, Mary, what are your thoughts on these nominees?

MARY: I totally agree that this category is one of my favorites every year. And I have also been observing the sheer range of nominees; there's a lot of variety this year, a lot of variation in the unique ways each of these nominees is choosing to further the Kingdom in spheres outside of the music industry.

Right from the start, there's some part of me that wants to see Switchfoot win the award or some high percentage of the vote just because they're heading into a break and who knows if or when we'll have a chance to recognize their contributions again. But any one of these artists could realistically take it, each for very different reasons.
 
MARCUS: Switchfoot is a natural fit for this category, and I believe they've been nominated before (or at least Jon Foreman has?). This year, they earned it for a few different reasons, including their constantly growing Bro-Am surfing contest and fundraiser for at-risk kids in the San Diego area, but also for their participation in the post-Hurricane Harvey relief efforts. I loved seeing them perform for families at a shelter, and then release the collaboration with Lifehouse, "Shine Like Gold" (also nominated for a WE LOVE Award for Best Collaboration), to benefit charity. 

They're a name-brand in the philanthropy department, and are a band who makes a splash inside and outside of Christian music. Safe bet, for sure. But for me, I'm split between two other nominees who have made a tremendous impact specifically in 2017. 
 
The first one is Natalie Grant. Her nomination comes from the way she rallied the Christian music community so beautifully for the Together For Texas streaming fundraiser concert/event. It was groundbreaking on so many levels (and inspired the way we're going to announce these awards this year), and gave us a heart to the industry as a whole that we don't get to see too often. Unity is powerful, and she brought that to us while raising more than half a million dollars for hurricane relief!

The other nominee I'm zeroed in on is David Zach of Remedy Drive, but I'm sure you can speak to that, Mary!

MARY: I'm sure we're 100 percent on the same page there! David Zach has truly transformed what it looks like for a band to support a ministry with the way Remedy Drive has become almost exclusively a vehicle for justice and songs of counter-trafficking. His work with The Exodus Road has been incredibly challenging and inspiring to observe, and I've even heard from other bands who have been prompted to re-evaluate their own models based on what Remedy Drive has done. This year, he really took it to the next level by having all of their merch sourced from rehabilitation centers, and by becoming increasingly involved in the college club speaking circuit to mobilize students (one of the groups most receptive to the message, I think). I'll confess that he's my other default vote for sure. 
 
MARCUS: And I'll add to that David's ability to be a voice for justice here at home. He was recently in the news for protesting racism and police brutality. There was a brilliant video of him, his kids at his side, calling on people to have a radical selflessness and to pursue peace. This guy is the real deal wherever he goes. 

What else captures your attention here?

MARY: One of the slightly different nominees in this category that I've been intrigued to watch all year, however, is Tauren Wells. He's perhaps more the kind of artist we've traditionally nominated in this category, and he's earned it: his tour with Lionel Richie and Mariah Carey was I think a milestone moment in proving what happens when you make music so good it's impossible to ignore. I have a feeling you were instrumental in adding him to this category too; thoughts on where he fits with the others?

MARCUS: Yeah, Tauren is doing exactly the opposite of what many of us thought he'd do once he went solo. He left Royal Tailor because it was too time-consuming and taxing, and everyone was sad because RT was one of the bands everyone expected to break through into the mainstream. Such talent there. But then, Tauren does things on HIS terms, with more time for family, ministry and speaking engagements, and then all of the sudden he's everywhere! Goes to show that God's plan is better than the best ones we come up with. It's awesome to see him out on the road, in places most artists would never dream of performing, singing about the love of Jesus. Tauren is one of our most nominated artists (sharing that with Hollyn), and he impacts inside AND outside our industry. He's made a lot of waves in a short amount of time. 
 
Let's talk about the oddball and final nominee in this group: YouTubers Dude Perfect. I know why they were nominated, but do you think they can win? 

MARY: I think them pulling a win would require their audience really being clued in to this happening in a major way; the unique thing about them is that their audience really doesn't overlap a lot with the audience of all these other nominees. They've done an incredible job slipping Christian music subtly into their videos to get their audience intrigued, but the reverse (Christian music fans finding out about them) hasn't happened quite to the same extent I think. Which it should; YouTube is such a massive artform in its own right at this point, especially in reaching a certain younger age demographic, so for anybody to be creating positive content in that space is massively important.

MARCUS: We see this nomination as an opportunity to connect the dots there, even if they don't win. The truth is, their contribution to elevating Christian music to their sizable fanbase is noteworthy, and we wanted to celebrate and acknowledge that. But I agree; they're too big to really tell their fanbase about it, so I don't give them much chance of winning.
 
I've been watching the voting patterns, so I know who's winning, but if I were to pick one artist that I think should win this, it would be David Zach. You've got Switchfoot, Mary?

MARY: To be honest, I'm super torn between David Zach and Switchfoot. If it were not for the impending Switchfoot hiatus, I would say David hands down, but I'm sentimental about recognizing them as they head towards a quiet era (that might be quite a while). I haven't seen the votes so I don't have information to go off, but I would anticipate Switchfoot or Natalie taking this one purely based on name recognition. Of course, the great thing with a category like this is that we really can't go wrong; every single artist here deserves to be honored for their contributions to the Kingdom, so I'll be happy with whoever takes it!

Now it's up to you! Who do you think impacted culture the most? You can vote as often as you'd like in this and 23 other categories now through January 26, 2018, at weloveawards.com! Vote now, vote often!