BEC Recordings welcomed The Museum to their lineup earlier this year. This compelling foursome took shape when singer Ben Richter and guitarist Geoffrey Ashcraft moved from Texas to Georgia and plugged into a church where drummer/programmer Josh Kirk was the janitor. Soon they were leading local worship services together and then traveling on musical mission trips overseas.

The Museum's uplifting debut album was recorded in Nashville, Seattle, and Atlanta with producers Jason Ingram and Rusty Varenkamp (Tenth Avenue North, Brandon Heath, Sanctus Real), Aaron Sprinkle (Jeremy Camp, Kutless, Hawk Nelson), and Jason Hoard (Shane & Shane, FEE). Let Love Win reflects a clearly talented band that came of age as modern worshipers like Chris Tomlin first broke through. Instantly contagious melodies carrying a scriptural message are supported by layers of guitars that are both sparkling and scruffy.

Lead singer Ben Richter recently called in to speak with NRT's Bill Lurwick about a few of the songs off their debut and how the band got their start.

Let the revolution begin. The Museum is open for business.

So let's first talk about what’s behind the name, The Museum? I’m sure you get asked that a lot...

We do! That’s the first question we get asked. It actually started as we were beginning the band in the early part of 2008. Our drummer, Josh, had a chance to go on a mission trip to Romania and before going there he knew very little about the country, but he quickly found out they were a communist nation until 1989, when they had what was called The Revolution of Romania.

So, he got to spend some time there. He actually played a concert in the city square and right afterwards a guy said, “Hey, I want you to come check this thing out. It’s right over in the corner,” and he goes and shows him this placed called The Revolution Museum. It’s all the things left behind from the Romanian Revolution. The way that the revolution happened was that a group of just ten Christians actually gathered in that same public city square and they began just praying for their nation, and that led to protesting and riots that overtook communism in just a couple of weeks.

So, in that museum, all the things that were left behind were setup to show its impact on the Revolution and Josh was really just affected by it. When he came back, he shared it with us and said, “You know what? That’s exactly what we want our ministry to be about,” and that was right when we were starting the band. We didn’t have a band name or anything and immediately we said, “That’s it. We want to be called The Museum.”


Your first single at radio is right out of the word of God from the book of Psalms, My Help Comes from the Lord. Talk about what that’s all about.

Yeah, that song was birthed straight out of scripture, Psalm 121, and these last few months it’s really become one of my favorite passages. David is speaking, he’s the king and the commander of this army, and I love that he is sitting in the valley, looking to the hills and seeing his enemies and armies surround him. I can imagine if I was in his scenario, I’d probably be just freaking out trying to figure out what I could do to fix this, what I could do to protect us. But he says right in that moment, “I lift my life to these hills, where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord.” As many mistakes as David always made, he was always quick to run back to the Lord, to rely upon Him as his refuge and his strength. That was something that I really related with. Just knowing that in the Psalms, God continuously shows us, “No matter what things look like in our lives, no matter how hopeless they may seem, that He is the rock that we can rest upon. He is our refuge. He is our ever present help in time of trouble.”

So, that song is versed right out of the Psalm and it’s been amazing to see stories about reaching people, and every week it seems like we’re running into people or getting emails and messages from people that are going through really rough times. I recently spoke with a woman that had her leg amputated. Just all sorts of things that people are saying, “I’m going through this tough time, but these words straight from scripture are the Lord using that to just hold my life together.”

That’s so humbling and encouraging to see God using that song for His glory.

Do you think that’s a real learning lesson for artists, and maybe new artists in particular, who may be looking for that song that connects and resonates with people? While they’re searching so many places to find that hook and the right lyrics, maybe all they have to do is open up the word of God?

Absolutely. That’s been a lesson for us too, that so often as artists we’re always trying to put something in front of people that they’re going to connect with and try to find the newest, freshest lyric on things. Just the truth that is found in God’s word is what transcends everything and I’d just encourage any writers out there, whether it’s worship music or any form of Christian music, that God’s word is where the truth is and the more that we base our songs around that, the more people are going to be impacted.

Listening to a couple of cuts on the project, I was really caught by the song "The Call." It's got a huge anthem kind of feel to it, and I believe it’s based on a verse in Ephesians, right?

It is. There are a couple of verses that I was reading which later came up in a conversation that I had with the youth pastor for the church down in Texas where was putting on an event titled The Call. This youth pastor was sharing with me on the phone, “I believe we have to have a sense of urgency and right now living the life that God has called us to.” The very next day I was just reading through scripture and I saw Ephesians 4:1 where Paul is speaking and he says, “I urge you my brothers to live a life that’s worthy of the calling you receive.” That was one of the first songs we wrote as a band where we felt like the Lord was calling us to step out of our comfort zone, to travel and to play music. We felt right away that that’s what we’ve got to be about--living that life that’s worthy of the calling that He’s placed upon us.

So, whether that’s being a musician or being a plumber, a doctor, whatever it is that people do, we always challenge people to know that the Lord has called you to live a life worthy of that calling and that can be your ministry--loving and serving people where you are in whatever profession you’re in.


Now, Ben, I understand that it wasn’t always easy for you to put your faith out there right off the bat, and you wrote about that in the song "The Anchor," right?

Yeah. That again was kind of an early song for us as a band. We wrote that one almost three years ago and that was right as we were starting. For all of us it took sacrifices to kind of step out in faith and start this band, and for me that was the sacrifice of quitting my day job. It was to a point where I was really holding on and struggling with that saying, “Lord, I know you’ve called me to step out in faith, but we want to hold onto things like a steady paycheck and the comfort zone that we live in,” so that was a place where I think the Lord just really led me to surrender that. That song is based off of the scripture Hebrews 6:19 that says, “This hope we have is the anchor of our soul,” and just from reading God’s scripture I was so comforted by that and to know also that in the book of John, He says, “That perfect love drives out fear.”

So, just in surrounding myself in the love of Christ and reading his word and seeing that it’s His hope that we have as the anchor of our soul, that’s what’s going to keep us together in this world. Not any steady paycheck or any comfort that we surround ourselves with. So, that was a song just to be willing to step out in faith and know that God is the one who’s chosen for us.

I appreciate you spending time with us at NewReleaseTuesday.com Ben. God’s blessing to you guys.

Thank you so much for having me. God bless you.