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Five years ago, six teenagers from different parts of the country arrived at Belmont University in Nashville, each intending to study music, each hoping to develop their respective solo acts. But by the time they were seniors, their talents and interests had coincided to the point that they were regularly providing back-up vocals and accompaniment for each other at various gigs. Soon the six of them—Rachel Harlow, Devon Graves, Jonathan and Emily Martin, and Patrick and Molly Lockwood (there are now two married couples among them)—decided to create their own group, Mosaic—a fitting title considering the variety of pieces that make up the whole. They've since released a Christmas album (Until the Son of God Appears) and, just recently, a worship album (As Long As It Is Day).

Mosaic is Jonathan Taylor Martin, Emily Martin, Devon Graves, Molly Lockwood, Patrick Lockwood, and Rachel Harlow

We caught up with five of them (Devon was in France) to talk about their new CD, their joys and challenges, and their shared passion for serving the church.

What was the impetus for Mosaic?

Emily: We didn't start thinking about doing group things until senior year. One day, Patrick was doodling around on the guitar on "O Come, O Come Emmanuel" and we all just chimed in and were like, This is cool, why don't we make a Christmas CD?

Jonathan: For me, it's been a lesson in how God leads. There wasn't a big moment. We did the Christmas album for fun and did a three-week tour. God was really opening doors for us as a group. It surprised all of us to go into full-time together.

Rachel: It was God's prompting. It resonated in all of our hearts to minister together.We all have a heart to minister to churches particularly; we love to help in any way we can with their Sunday morning worship.

Patrick, you were diagnosed with MS [multiple sclerosis] last year. How do you deal with it?

Patrick: I was diagnosed in January of 2009, right after we decided to start doing music together. The Christmas album took about nine months to finish, and one of the reasons is that it took me a long time to record the guitar for one song. In the middle of recording I'd have an episode where I'd lose control of my fingers.

Molly: I couldn't believe what was happening. I couldn't understand why it was taking a whole day to record a song. It took me awhile to have patience with it. I wish I could have gotten in his head and understood truly that he really couldn't see straight. But that was just really confusing and hard for us to learn how to communicate when things were happening in his body that were strange.

During that time we were at his family's cabin in North Carolina, and his dad and stepmom wanted him to play the guitar, but he couldn't finish a song. About every 30 seconds that he would play, his fingers would just stop playing. All of a sudden he would start hitting the wrong strings and wrong notes and stuff.

We're out on the porch at the cabin and he just had these two or three chords that I believe God gave to him the ability to play for his own comfort. It was strange, 'cause he couldn't really play anything else, but he could play these chords. They were the chords to "Give Me Jesus." We ended up arranging that song [for the Christmas album]. It's a really cool story, how the Holy Spirit uses music even when your fingers shouldn't be able to play it.

Patrick: God used the MS in my life as a good thing. Right now I'm not feeling any symptoms so it's a lot easier to say, but back then I just learned that sometimes God puts trials in your life—diseases, loss of loved ones, loss of money, loss of whatever—for our good. I learned just to trust him and rely on him when I couldn't talk or see right.

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