I grew up going to church. My dad was a pastor. I knew that God had a plan for my life. I knew that Jesus was the only way to Heaven. But I loved sin. The Bible says that sin is pleasurable for a season and I loved it.

When the stock market crash, a lot of people realized that the American dream was not all it was cracked up to be. They'd been living for this thing and it was kind of a façade. It wasn't real.

I'm pretty positive that if I started singing songs that were for my fame, the God would probably make me tone deaf again. I know why He gave me that voice. I know why He gave me my ears.

I don't write for Christians. I write for people. I write so that if a Christian hears my music, they're going to be encouraged because I'm writing from the Christian worldview.

As I look back now, I really feel like God has called me not just to speak into the lives of believers but, even broader than that, to speak into the lives of people that are outside of the Church.

The Bible says that God uses the foolish things and the base things of the world to accomplish His work. He apparently uses the tone deaf of the world to do something too.

I rebelled during my high school years really bad. I started messing around with drugs and having relationships with girls and partying. And I used to tell God, "Hey God, after college I'm going to serve You because I know that's what I want to do with my life. I know that's the best way. I know that's why I was created. But right now I want to sin because I love it. I want to have a lot of fun."