There are certain bands that grab your attention from the moment you hear them. I remember when I was in high school, my friend Jason Lewis stayed at my house one night and he brought over some Christian music. He popped in a tape and when I heard the opening for Consuming Fire, I was hooked. For years, Third Day has continued to have the same effect on people as God has used them to lead others into worship.

They have become the headlining band in the Christian music world and with each recording, they continue to reestablish themselves as a major voice for the truth. I recently caught up with Brad Avery, guitarist and background vocalist from Third Day, to get his thoughts and opinions on music, the life of Third Day, and the overall landscape of Christianity in our world today.

The Band

Third Day began in Atlanta, Georgia with a passion for the Lord and a passion for music. The combination of talent within these five men has led to an amazing career that continues to rise, never seeming to plateau. Brad Avery, Mac Powell, Mark Lee, Tai Anderson, and David Carr started on a journey to use their God-given talents to glorify the Lord and what has resulted is a generation who has experienced one on one contact with the Holy Spirit through their music and concerts.

Q â€" What keeps you guys grounded, even with all of the success that you have achieved?

“Family is one thing. We all have good families. We all are still grounded in church and we are connected with the body that we worship with. We also keep each other accountable. We know each other’s faults and each other’s downfalls, so God has His ways of keeping us grounded. People think that it’s hard being out on the road and staying strong in your faith, but it’s a whole lot easier to live out your faith when you’re surrounded by your buddies and we all have a common goal. It’s a lot harder when you’re at home, when you’re tired with all the daily things going on in life. We all just try to keep a routine in our quiet times and make sure that we’re spending time in church regularly. When we go out on the road, we bring pastors with us to spend time with them and continue to press forward in our faith.�

Q â€" Who are some of your favorite artists that you’ve worked with?

“We’ve had the opportunity to be with a lot of people out on the road. For years, we toured with the Newsboys and we’ve enjoyed touring with Michael W. Smith. The neat thing is that we get to see our friends all summer long as we do festivals and each time we do a festival, we’re with a different artist. We’ve pretty much gotten to work with everybody in the industry and they’re all good people. We’ve been out on tour with David Crowder and we really enjoy those guys. Last year, we spent the whole year with Toby Mac and we’re tight. We play a lot of golf together and enjoy our time together. This year, we have Hyper Static Union out with us which is a new band that we signed and we’re looking forward to mentoring them and teaching them the ropes.�

Q â€" There are a lot of people who feel like you guys (Third Day) took the mantle after DC Talk went to doing solo projects. You guys rose up and when people think of Christian music now, Third Day is one of the first names that comes to people’s minds. Does that bring any pressure to you guys?

“No, not really any pressure. We’ve always challenged ourselves to never become complacent…to do what we do and do it excellently. We feel that it is a very important calling to create great music and to better ourselves as much as we can. We’ve enjoyed having the mantle because we’ve enjoyed mentoring other artists and groups along the way because we’ve had people along the way mentor us. It doesn’t necessarily put pressure on us but we definitely feel the need and urge to do things better and better and not just to stick to the status quo. “

The Music

I always enjoy talking to artists about their music and music in general. I like to hear their plans and their opinions, as they are so passionate about their art. Brad is a passionate musician, which anyone can tell if you see Third Day in concert or if you ever get the chance to talk to him.

Q â€" What is the biggest change you’ve seen in Third Day, musically and as well as spiritually, since you started?

“Musically, I don’t think we’ve changed a ton. I don’t think we’ve drastically changed from the beginning except maybe we’ve matured a little bit as musicians. I think spiritually, we’ve grown a lot. We’ve endured life and gone through changes in our own lives. Whether we’ve endured hard times, or seen family members endure hard times, or even friends endure loss, those things have grown us and changed us and challenged our faith. We’ve had a lot of opportunities to grow as brothers…to grow close to each other and those things have impacted our writing. So, maybe, when it comes to music itself, sonically it hasn’t changed, maybe we’ve gotten better at recording things, but lyrically, as we have grown in our faith, hopefully our lyrics have grown and challenged people more. As we’ve grown in our faith, our eyes have been opened to things in this world and we’ve wanted to use our platform to point people towards other organizations that are doing God’s work, trying to encourage our audience to get involved.�

Q â€" Why do you think contemporary Christian music and Christian rock music are so important today?

“I think it’s something that we need…music that encourages us and lifts us up. It lifts our spirits and with everything that we’re bombarded with, that’s why it’s really important. Also, when you put Scripture and the Word of God to music, it helps memorization. For some reason, music just seems to have more of an impact on us. I don’t know if it’s the art of it or what, but when you combine truth to music, it really seems to move us.�

Q â€" What can we expect from Third Day for the rest of this year and next year?

“We’re out on tour this fall with David Crowder and Hyper Static Union. We have a Christmas record coming out during the holiday season. That will be out in October, I believe, and people can catch us doing some traditional songs and we did some originals that I think people will enjoy. Then, next year, we will probably start recording a new record. So, we will be doing some international touring and recording a new record, so people can look for that.�

Q â€" What is your favorite Third Day song?

“We have been playing it for awhile, but my favorite all along has been Consuming Fire. It’s my favorite song. It’s a rocker and it’s also a worship song. I’m a very passionate kind of person and that one rings true with me.�

His Advice

We talked at length about different aspects of the Christian life. I asked Brad what people should do who feel like they are not as influential as a major Christian rock band but they still want to help. He said, “We encourage our listeners to pray.� He also talked about how people need to connect to God each day and commit their lives to God each day. “He wants to do something special, everybody has a special purpose. We are all called to do different things. That’s why we are called the body of Christ, that’s why He used the body as an example. We all have different tasks and no task is more important than the other tasks. We are all out there doing the work of God.� I personally found that encouraging, as we wonder sometimes if anything we do truly makes a difference.

Q â€" What is your favorite Bible passage and why?

“One I’ve clung to is Psalm 37:5-6 which basically says “Commit your ways to the Lord and He will make your righteousness shine like the sun.� For me, I’m kind of a perfectionist and growing up, I always kind of beat myself up. Sometimes, I struggled with my faith…whether God was really going to give me a home in heaven. That verse has not only been an encouragement to my faith but has also been an encouragement for my daily life knowing that I can’t live perfectly, but I know that God is going to make everything work out. He is going to be glorified and He is going to do great things in my life because of His promises.�

Q â€" In your opinion, what do you feel is the biggest problem facing Christian men today?

“That’s a good question. I think, in this world, we can get really busy. God created men to work. That’s kind of what He gave us in the garden was to work the garden. He created Adam and gave him the garden to work in. We get fulfillment from that but sometimes we generate too much fulfillment from our work and being busy and we miss out on the little things. We need to be reminded that the moments that we have with our families and moments to relax are important and to not always be pursuing work or pursuing our goals. It’s easy to be sidetracked from that with all the things that we see in the world.�

As I prayed with Brad, I could feel the presence of the Holy Spirit. The men from Third Day have given their all to God and God is continuing to bless their ministry because of their devotion to Him. They understand where the glory goes and they understand the charge of God to praise Him with all that they have. They also understand the importance of passing on what they have learned for the sake of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

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