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You mentioned finally feeling recognized by the industry for your Group and Artist of the Year Dove Awards. Why was that important to you?

Carr It really didn't have anything to do with winning awards, but was more of a chip on our shoulder. We're not artsy artists; we're just guys that love music. But you become very vulnerable in creative expression. At the slightest hint of dislike or people not saying anything at all about it, we start to think that people don't like it or that we're not doing well—you get defensive. All the questions of, "Man, I wonder if people care about us?" came to a halt with those awards and we're like, "OK, let's just shut our mouths." It was very humbling.

Since that lesson, when we don't win, it's honestly OK, because we've won before. I guess you get to a point that you want to celebrate this work with others. There are so many others now who are doing great things and we think it's great to let them have it. We don't want to sound cynical to a new artist, but we want to make the point, "Don't hang your hat on this. Enjoy it when it comes and don't fret when it doesn't."

Some people start bands nowadays with the intent of having a career. But you mention in the documentary that that wasn't the case for you guys.

Carr Starting out, we were young enough to do this band thing and just have fun with it. None of us took it serious enough to hang our hats on. Still, we were motivated and wanted to see it flourish, and then suddenly it was like, "Oh wow, we have a career now."

So you rode the momentum?

Carr Yeah, and I think that adds to the purity of the songs and message. This was just about a love for God and the music. But after you're out there long enough and made several records, you're married with kids, and it's your job and ministry, then you start to think a little more career-minded. As grown men, you have to look at it from that perspective. But you can never get rid of the faith element, even as the business side grows.

You try to balance the two.

Carr Along the way, we've discovered that Christian music fans can be very finicky about the message their artists give. They are very into how artists classify what they do. Fans will say, "The thing we love about Third Day is that it's all about the ministry and music is secondary." We appreciate the heart behind that, and we mean what we say. But that idea is not entirely true because music is powerful and we still love making music. We've tried to make it clear that we wouldn't be doing this if music were merely a medium for which to share a message. Being career musicians does mean something to us.

Is there any one thing to which you can attribute your enduring popularity?

Carr I'd say that we've worked hard, but not super hard to make things happen. It's never felt like grueling work that completely wears us out. God has opened up doors to us that other bands spend years to see happen.

We were a band early on that prayed together a lot. In the early days there was a real camaraderie, before we even tried to hit the stage. We're brothers. You spend about three percent of your time on stage and the rest riding together on a bus or in van, or hanging out in a basement practicing.

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