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Your lyrics are very open. Is there a time to be subtle in the message and a time to be overt?

Barlow Being too overt turns people off, like overbearing Christians that are only trying to get people saved. If we're just about seeing souls saved, we're not teaching them about a loving relationship with God or about the things he's done in our lives. Yet on the flip side, it just seems so popular now to say, "Don't talk about God outright. Just be a good person. And by being such a nice person, then eventually someone will come to you and ask you about God." Which [to me] is like saying, you want me to not talk about or even mention the man who came to earth to die for me, simply because that will make some people uncomfortable.

So then do you believe that boldly proclaiming Christ to everyone is always the best way to evangelize?

Barlow People say, "You talk a lot on stage about God. Sometimes you're pretty out there with what you believe in." I could also be on stage and say, "Live a good life and be a good person, be nice, and do nice things just to be popular with a crowd." But if I have 45-60 minutes to talk about the love of my life, I'm not going shut up about that, because that's an opportunity to talk about the hope I have in my life.

We don't always give a salvation message, but we do talk about who God is and what he does in our lives. That's not to say that people can't get saved because we only tell people who God is and what he can do. There is a balance. This isn't about just living the example and not shouting about it in their faces, but it's also about not being afraid to mention his name.

Do people ever call you naïve because of your convictions?

Barlow I don't know what reaction people have to How Can We Be Silent yet, but in the media I don't think so. I think they're seeing the album as a broader range of topics. I don't see anyone pigeonholing us with this record.

Overall, I don't know if people are like that. We have gone through a lot of stuff in life, though maybe we haven't been exposed to some things. In fact, we have lots of people come to us and say, "This is what I was exposed to, so how do I get to where you are at?" Or someone might ask, "How do I pursue God from where I'm at now?" We're happy to tell them and share with them that it's never too late to get a second or third or fourth chance. We honestly believe that message ourselves.

What other ways are you putting wheels to this message for fans?

Barlow We started the Speak Out campaign, which works through message boards and the Speak Out website. It's about the question of how can we be silent. It's for people in their everyday lives—how they can speak love, forgiveness, and hope to their worlds around them. With this CD, people can be a part of the campaign and speak the idea with other people. This is about checking yourself—"Am I speaking forgiveness and loving others?"

How have you grown musically with this album?

Barlow We decided to go out on a limb with a few songs on this record, like "One More Round," for example. We all love jazz, and Becca was playing around with this awesome riff. So we tried this jazz-meets-rock style, and it's one of my favorites. Will we ever be able to play it live? I don't know, but it's cool. It's been good to branch out some musically. The harder songs are edgier, and the softer songs are very mellow. We wanted to branch out more into the different song styles that we listen to.

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