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When I got into college, an English professor at Baptist College of Florida said, "You're dyslexic, aren't you?" I said no, and I remember calling to ask my mom, who told me, "Yeah you do have a little of that." At the time, I was like, "Good grief, why didn't you tell me?" Now I look back and realize that she did it so I wouldn't build my identity around the label.

Why is it so important not to make the disorder an identity issue?

Hall There are so many parents that come up to me now, and right in front of the kid, they say, "This is Billy, he's a little bit different, he's got dyslexia just like you." It's like that child's whole personality becomes, "Hey, I'm ADD." "Well, hello ADD, I'm Mark." If you're not careful, you build their world around these things, and that becomes who they are.

Jumping ahead, how has all this affected you as a songwriter and performer?

Hall I think this thorn has made it easier to live [trusting in God] because when you're limited in an area, you're dependent. I've never walked on stage and thought in my head, Let's rock! Instead, it's more like, God, I'm going to blow this, and I'm going to forget all my words. It's those little thorns in your flesh that make you dependent on God, praying, "Lord, please help me."

I don't think anyone anticipated the incredible level of success of your first album. Considering the enormous reception and all the accolades, were there any additional pressures in making this new record?

Hall There was a point probably four of five months ago when I started really connecting to people and hearing what they were saying. I kind of realized one day that God is giving us the ear of the church. Suddenly I was like, "Hey, are we going to blow this because we think we need to make a cool record?" I went through some introspection on all of the songs and why I'm singing each of them. Now that I have everyone's attention, what am I saying now? Is it just to make a new record where you're writing songs without words? Is this just about music or what?

[Third Day's] Mac Powell called me one night in the studio and asked me how things were going. I said, "Dude we're recording these new songs and they sounded so good in my head, but now they don't sound good to me anymore." He just gave me some of the coolest encouragement: "It's about the songs and what you're trying to say to people. You've got to stay there. Don't get lost in whether or not people are going to like it." That was very crucial for me to have heard!

So did all of that yield a specific album theme for you on Lifesong?

Hall I think there are several themes on it, but a lot of it comes down to the heart of a person—not so much on the outside, but more along the lines of stripping all the religion away and dealing with issues of the heart. It's about fear, faith, and being able to trust God with something when it's not going the right way—how to have peace with God and stop doing bad things. Every time I teach, every time I sing, every time I write songs, it's always, Let's just get away from all that and talk about the heart of all this. Here are the 18 ways I've blown it today.

What type of stylistic approach did you take to supplement these ideas?

Hall I think "Stained Glass Masquerade" is probably the heart of where we're trying to go live. It's just one of those really upbeat songs. There's another one called "Father, Spirit, Jesus" that's one of those big, jump-up-and-down worshipers like "Glory" was on the last record.

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