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A few months ago the UK was the target of terror attacks in London. The British are involved alongside the U.S. in the Middle East. Has the political climate within the UK added anything to your message or changed your message in any way?

Smith These sorts of things have happened in many places throughout Europe; it's almost commonplace. You think of Ireland where they happened all the time. Those terror attacks are probably kept outside of what we do [with our music], but definitely alongside of what we do. We consider a lot of what is concerning our culture and what we're doing here, because when things like that happen, people press major questions like, "What is life about? What is this all about?"

Your lyrics convey your meaning and your mission, but they also tend to sound like normal Delirious-style worship songs. How do you expect listeners globally to get their heads and spirits around the ideas and the challenge, to gain your sense of urgency? Delirious can't speak face-to-face with each listener, so to what point do you work to share and convey this message?

Smith The best way to convey the message is to play live and try to get around to as many places as possible. I think the message translates into the live experience best. I do think the album itself carries a weight with it and draws people in. A line like "my Chinese takeaway could pay for someone's drugs" stops you. Whether you're at a gig or know the band, a provocative lyric that like causes people to think.

We have been touring the record in the UK so far, and South Africa as well. There have been some fantastic nights of worship and great reactions. People are very excited by it. The record carries on fantastically and takes the band deeper. Some people close to us have been revering this as our best record yet.

Ultimately, when God gives you songs that you feel you need to put out on the next record, you don't have a choice. The strangest of lyrics can come out that we don't understand, where we say, "We'll write this and hope this makes sense on stage." The nature of what we do and what we're going on is that these are God's songs.

Talk about some specific songs that work as a rallying cry to the church.

Smith A pastor we met, Reinhard Bonnke, inspired "Paint the Town Red." He said, "We're going to paint this world red with the blood of Christ." I adapted it. It's obviously a graphic example [of what we mean] but people have gotten ahold of it.

On "Our God Reigns," I had the chorus for about five months, and I was expecting to write some pretty little ditty for the church—but ended up with a paradox. The verses seem to say, "Our hand has lost the rope. We're defeated." But God still reigns. God can do some fantastic things. It's undisputed. As the church, people are to be stewards and start to get real because there is work to be done.

"All This Time" came as an idea that when people outside the church watch us, it's almost like we are God's TV. They are seeing what it's like to be a Christian and to live a godly life. You can sense the tension of living. We carry so many flaws, but here's something we want from life. Some of its autobiographical, others part are not. It certainly can turn into something that strengthens.

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