After several years as a worship leader, Lindy Conant-Cofer, along with her band the Circuit Riders, has recently released her newest live album, Driven By Love, which features "Obedience," "We Will Ride," "Not Ashamed," and the standout title track. The 15-track collection, available now with Bethel Music's imprint, Heritage Music, sees Lindy & the Circuit Riders empowering the next generation of believers to cultivate a culture of action.

According to a news release: "The album's title track was birthed out of a response of worship after Conant-Cofer listened to author and speaker Andy Byrd preach about a generation who is driven by love to a room full of young people at YWAM in Kansas City. Conant-Cofer and her husband, Chase, both felt called in that moment to take in children. Now fostering a baby with the heart to adopt, Conant-Cofer recently opened up to FoxNews.com about their experience sharing, 'The Lord started to speak to us. If we won't take in these kids, I actually don't know who will?'" I had the chance to speak with Lindy about her song, "Driven by Love."
Please tell me the personal story behind the song.

"Driven by Love" was inspired after I heard Andy Byrd, who is one of our leaders at Youth with a Mission (YWAM) in Kansas City. He was preaching and sharing scripture about how the love of Christ compels us. He was speaking to a generation who is driven by love to a room full of young people. That was the first time this chorus was sung as a spontaneous response to that message.
 
There was no song that captured what Andy was preaching. So I just started singing this chorus: "Driven by love till all have heard/We'll carry Your name/To the ends of the earth." This is a love song to Jesus. And a prayer to Jesus for God to help us to be driven by love, until all have heard and carry His name to the ends of the earth. That's how the song was started. We took that chorus and sat on it for over a year. We wanted to craft it into an activating message and also a worship song to Jesus. The verses are gospel-centered.
 
Without love, we are a clanging cymbal. That Bible passage from 1st Corinthians 13 has always pierced my heart. If my motivation is not love, then I add to the noise, chaos and distraction. I prayed to God that I can't do it on my own strength. It's only when we surrender to Him that the love of Christ fills us, and He loves through us. It's not through our own strength or might, but by His Spirit.

Which Bible verses connect to the message of the song?

Matthew 28:18-20 (VOICE): "Jesus came forward and addressed His beloved disciples. I am here speaking with all the authority of God, who has commanded Me to give you this commission: Go out and make disciples in all the nations. Ceremonially wash them through baptism in the name of the triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then disciple them. Form them in the practices and postures that I have taught you, and show them how to follow the commands I have laid down for you. And I will be with you, day after day, to the end of the age."

2 Corinthians 5:14 (NIV): "For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died."

Acts 1:7-8 (MSG): "He told them, "You don't get to know the time. Timing is the Father's business. What you'll get is the Holy Spirit. And when the Holy Spirit comes on you, you will be able to be my witnesses in Jerusalem, all over Judea and Samaria, even to the ends of the world."

Acts 1:8 (NIV): "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
 
Philippians 2:14-16 (NIV): "Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the Word of life—in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing."

1 Corinthians 13:1-13 (ESV): "If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love."
 
Isaiah 6:8 (NLT): "Then I heard the Lord asking, 'Whom should I send as a messenger to this people? Who will go for us?' I said, "Here I am. Send me."

What is the takeaway message?

Andy preached about the generation rising up; the generation who will be compelled and driven by love. That's how unreached people will be reached. That's how children will have homes. It's not from a huge business plan. But being compelled by the love of Christ. The Great Commission is in every gospel. In John, it says, as the Father sent His only Son, Jesus is sending us. John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world, He sent His only Son." He's commissioning us to be sent in the motivation of love.
 
As said in Matthew 9:34-38, when Jesus saw the crowds, He had compassion on them. Then He prayed the Lord would send the workers out into the harvest field. 

Jesus was motivated by love. Those became core scripture passages for us as we wrote this song and the songs on this album. There's simplicity in saying yes to Jesus. We want people to be activated to share about the love of Jesus. My prayer is that people who listen to these songs meet Jesus, find His heart and fall more in love with Him. 

We have heard it one thousand times. But let's keep letting it sink in: "Without love, we are clanging cymbals. Without love, we just add to the noise." This isn't a love that we, on our own strength, can conjure up. It's a love that comes from surrender and being poor in Spirit, so Love Himself can love through His people.
 
Lyrics:
To know You and to make You known
This is the anthem of our souls
Send us out and we will go
Anywhere You lead us Lord
 
Driven by love
Till all have heard
We'll carry Your name
To the ends of the earth
We'll carry Your love
Shine with Your light
Till the whole world knows You
And lifts You high
 
Our eyes we set on Jesus
As we obey the great commission
As the Father sent His only Son
Jesus You are sending us
Jesus You are sending us
 
To a broken world around us
Let us be Your heart oh God
To the unreached and forgotten
Let us be Your healing arms
The task it is not over
And Your voice we can't ignore
You said, "Go into the nations"
As Your final words
 
To a broken world around us,
Let us be Your heart oh God
To the unreached and forgotten
Let us be Your healing arms
The task it is not over
And Your voice we can't ignore
You said, "Go into the nations"
As Your final words
 
Driven by love
Till all have heard
We'll carry Your name
To the ends of the earth
We'll carry Your love
Shine with Your light
Till the whole world knows You
And lifts You high

Closing Thoughts

I'm completely convicted by the strong lyrics in "Driven By Love." But, I find immense comfort in this song filled with biblical truth. I was immediately hooked by the emotional and prayerful tone of this song. 

This song is a sincere offering of praise back to the Lord. And an expression of desire to seek His face, feel His peace and hear His voice. Jesus loves us so much that He came down and took our punishment, so that we can be with Him forever. He wants to give us life and never let us go. What a reason to have comfort in our Savior and know that He's by our side. We can move mountains; we can give away everything we have to the poor.
 
The bible tells us that if we don't do those things in love, it is meaningless. For me, the reverse of that is true. We can't have money, or fame; however, if what we're doing has the right motives, and if we're treating people with kindness and patience, God sees that, and that matters to Him. There are days when I wake up and feel convicted to live out the words of the song and that scripture passage. Today, I'm going to be patient. Today, I'm going to be kind. 

Biblically, we're commanded to spread the Good News of the Gospel in the Great Commission. In Mark 16:15, Jesus commands: "Preach the Gospel to every creature." There are no conditions or exceptions in that command. It's more of a lifestyle that Jesus calls us to live as Christians. This worship anthem is just the type of infusion that the church needs with its honesty and bold lyrics. It provides a great opportunity to reach the lost for the Kingdom of God, with the declaration, "Driven by love/Till all have heard/We'll carry Your name/To the ends of the earth/We'll carry Your love/Shine with Your light/Till the whole world knows You/And lifts You high."
 
I get swept up in the profession of "Driven by Love." It reflects the cry of my heart with lyrics that connect to my life verse Isaiah 6:8: "Here I am, send me." I think the key for me is how that Isaiah 6 passage comes alive in this song. That bible verse stirs me to answer my calling as a Christian to do God's will.

I'm consistently praying that I have the courage to say, "Here I am, send me" when God calls me. This song is a great prayer and answer to that call. All we need is faith, and God will show us what He has planned for us. He's the author of our lives and knows what's best for us, much better than we do. As I listen to this song, I'm challenged to seek God's face, lifting my eyes to the Lord, and sing: "The task it is not over/And Your voice we can't ignore/You said, 'Go into the nations'/As Your final words." Amen to that.