Defying all expectations, and with the grace of God, Mark Hall (seated, center) and Casting Crowns have quickly risen to the top of Christian music.

When Mark Hall was first diagnosed with dyslexia, a learning disability, early in elementary school, he thought it was cool that he got to go to a special class. But as he grew older, he began to feel some of the weight and stigma of the label, and tried to hide it from his friends. Today, as frontman for the hugely popular band Casting Crowns, Hall sees his disability as a "little thorn in my flesh," but doesn't let the label define his identity. Instead, he says it helps him rely more fully on God. And now, as the group prepares to release their sophomore album, Lifesong, on August 30, Hall looks back at how his challenges—with God's help-have shaped him, discusses how he's balancing the demands of the band with his job as a youth pastor at his home church, and talks a bit about the new album—and the high expectations on the heels of their platinum-selling 2003 debut.

When were you first diagnosed with a learning disability?

Mark Hall: I think it was in second or third grade. I got tested, but the whole time it was happening I didn't know what was going on. My mom was different in her approach about this than I think most parents are. There were times that I really questioned how she handled this whole thing, but now I see it as such a blessing. My mom never told me I was dyslexic. She didn't walk around with a big sign and hang it over my neck.

Were there any indicators back in school that led to the testing?

Hall: The teacher told [my mom I wasn't] keeping up and that there were certain areas she needed to look at. So I took the test and remember meeting with the counselor and standing outside the room hearing them talk about me. My mom was like, "What do you mean?" and it kind of hurt me for a little bit, but my mom didn't build my life around this big label. She told me "Mark, here's what we're going to do. You're going to go to a totally different class for part of the day and they're going to work a little closer with you on your reading and your math and then you'll be back with your class."

It must have been tough for you to be separated from your friends and classmates.

Hall: I thought it was kind of cool I got to leave class, and I actually thought at the time, "Hey suckers, I'm out of here!" I went to that class and I never remember it being a degrading thing. It was just a different class I went to. When I got bad grades, I got in trouble. When I didn't do my homework, I got rode on. It was never something to where they said, "Here's your label, you don't have to try as hard as everyone else and if you do bad, here's why." I never got that. Instead [my mom] was always like, "You better get on and get going!"

Did you ever come to recognize it as a problem?

Hall: Up through middle school I started realizing what was going on. At the same time, my friends never knew I was in those classes because once I figured out that it wasn't a cool thing, I hid it from them. They never knew why they didn't have classes with me. I had to become a master of changing the subject and moving around.

I was almost out of tenth grade when I got frustrated because they weren't helping me. It was sort of a catch all class—anyone that was struggling got in, and I came to regard those classes as boring. It wasn't like I was stupid. I just don't learn the way the others did. In those classes they'd slow everything down and I turned into a behavioral issue.

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.

And there's also one called "In Me" that talks about the power of Christ in me. If you think about the last record, even though it had some upbeat stuff on it like "If We Are the Body" and "American Dream," there were still a lot of heavy issues. I think about the record like I think about my youth group: Here's what we've got to deal with, so how do we do that and keep everyone alive? We need to do it, but we need to come up for air here and there.

You continue to serve as a youth pastor at your home church after 14 years. How are you able to balance that with all of your newfound success?

Hall: That all comes from a team. For me (on the Casting Crowns side of things) I sing, I go on the road, and I do concerts. My wife is our road manager and our kids travel with us, but she's the left-brain in all of this. On the church side, I have a co-youth pastor and he's incredible. We've got around 400 kids and 40 youth workers, a secretary, and directors of everything. I've been in this long enough to know it's all about building a team, not going in there and being a one man show, because if I was, we'd be dead by now and the kids would all be gone!

I'm there every Wednesday night and we do Fellowship of Christian Athletes on Thursday. Saturday I'm not there so I don't get to go to their football games, but they understand that. All the big outreach events are Wednesday when the kids come. This year I think it's going to be better than before since we're traveling less, which is totally a God thing.

The day when my wife and the kids aren't [top priority] is the day when I know I need to quit all this. And the day when I can't minister in a church, I'll know it's wrong because that's my next priority. Casting Crowns is third. In other words, this isn't my life, this is a ministry God has for me—it's a season, but it's not me.

For more about Mark Hall and Casting Crowns, visit our artist page for the band. Look for our review of Lifesong, which releases on August 30. To listen to soundclips and purchase the music, visit Christianbook.com.

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