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You collaborated with some of mainstream's heavy hitters, like Johnny Lang. How did you track him down?

Chapman Johnny and I met a year ago at a concert in Nashville when he opened for Sting. I had heard his records, owned his first one and thought it was really cool. Live, he's one of those guys who shows his passion and intensity and you can't help but love it. I knew my kids would love him and we went to go meet him before the show. I was thrilled to find out he was a Christian—his wife had actually been a big fan of mine—and he shared that he had really started to get on fire for God this past year. Afterwards I found out more and called him. He came in, was so gracious and played this awesome solo and background vocals. The coolest part was when we were done and I asked if we could pray together. That's really when I found fire in his heart to honor God. Man, when he prayed, he prayed like he plays!

How did you go about meeting Jason Wade from Lifehouse for a tag team on the title cut?

Chapman I met him a couple years ago backstage with my kids. He says, "Steven Curtis Chapman! I've been a long time fan!" That was really wild and freaked out my kids. We talked for a bit, and when I went out to L.A., I took his phone number and debated whether I should call him. I thought, No, that probably wouldn't be right, calling him out of the blue, so I won't do it—even though I really wanted to. But then one day I was walking out of one of the studio and who walks by but Jason! I told him how I thought about calling him and wimped out. He said, "Man, you should have called," and he came the next night to sing on the title cut.

Portions of your past projects were also done in L.A. How were these sessions different?

Chapman I had a lot of work done on Heaven in the Real World, they mixed Signs of Life and I did some tracking for All About Love in California. But this was different because we stayed out there for a whole block of time. It allowed me to be so much more creative than blocking out five or six months where I've got 10 hours a day working in Nashville, but then I have to drive to and from the studio, take a break, see family and then deal with some crisis going on with my kids. You wind up only getting three or four hours work done and it's a real stretch. To spend one intense block of time like this helped me get it all out and stay focused. Plus, you get all sorts of things happening, like Third Day's Mac Powell stopping by and lending vocals to "Believe Me Now" when they had a show in L.A. He lives in Atlanta and is always gone, so chances are I would've never gotten to work with him back home. One of the engineers also suggested getting a female vocalist to support during "I Believe In You," which was written for my daughter Emily's graduation. It turns out they were thinking of someone who had actually cut a Christian record before and it was Kendall Payne, who came in and lent background vocals. I didn't even know she lived there!

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