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By the time the red carpet is rolled out for entertainment award shows—from the Oscars to Christian music's Dove Awards—several honors have already been handed out at modest, untelevised ceremonies.

Christian rock band Third Day knows this well. "We were always the band that won the smaller awards," says lead singer Mac Powell. "We were the pre-telecast band."

But that changed at the 2001 Dove Awards. The five-man Georgia band visited the stage five times—during the televised ceremony—for honors including group of the year, artist of the year, and praise and worship album of the year.

The success of Third Day did not happen suddenly. In fact, three well-embraced albums and a strong live presence had already built a devoted Third Day fan base and earned three Dove Awards and two Grammy nominations.

But the 2001 Dove Awards did mark a pivotal moment.

"When we stood up on the stage, it really felt like 'Okay, now, Third Day, people know who you are,' " drummer David Carr says. "More than ever, we felt like we'd become part of the industry."

Before this, band members felt that the CCM culture perceived them as just a rock band. Now Third Day has proven—like bands Petra or dc Talk before it—that it can reach beyond its music genre to a wider Christian audience. It is no longer just a rock band.

The difference was Offerings: A Worship Album (2000). For years, Third Day fans called for either a live or worship album; Offerings combined the two. The album dominated Christian charts for months, went gold (500,000 sales) in less than a year, and led the way for the band's most successful tour. "People who weren't familiar with us finally had an album they could listen to," Powell says. "But we didn't do anything differently than we normally do. I guess it was all in presenting ourselves in a different way. Worship has always been a big part of what we are all about, and on Offerings we could communicate that."

Third Day plays driving, casual Southern rock in the tradition of Lynyrd Skynyrd or the Black Crowes. Third Day believes that being a rock band is its calling, but this is a rock band that worships.

Praise music has always been a major part of both live shows and albums. In fact, three tracks on Offerings are from the first Third Day album.

Half the songs are live versions of original tunes. "We never even thought of a couple of them as worship songs until we saw people at concerts with their hands up worshipping God to them," Carr says. The other half comprises unreleased tunes and cover songs including Bob Dylan's "Saved" and a little-known Christian rock ballad, "These Thousand Hills."

"If you had a professional worship leader grade the album, he would probably give it a D-minus," bass player Tai Anderson says. "We wanted to show worship could be different."

Members say the band has been different from the beginning. "What set Third Day apart and why we wanted to start the band in the first place was that we were excited about our faith," guitarist Mark Lee says. "And as simple as that sounds, everything has extended from that."

While still high school students in Georgia, Lee and Powell started a garage band, Nuclear Hoedown. At the same time, their faith was beginning to grow. They felt God wanted them to quit. But they loved music.

One night, Lee asked, "Hey, do you want to start a Christian band?"

So they did. A year later, they played at a church where drummer Carr and bassist Anderson were members of the youth group's band. A few years passed until guitarist Brad Avery hooked up with Third Day at a benefit concert.

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February 4 2002, Vol. 46, No. 2