Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey there, I'm Priscilla. I'm so glad that you're joining
me today. It's going to be a great episode of
the Chat. This is the place where we come and
we just hang out together talk about things that are important.
And today I've got a couple of folks that are
important not only because they are known by lots of people,
they minister to a lot of different people, but because
of their private lives, the integrity that they hold in
(00:20):
their private lives as husband wife team that are serving
the Body of Christ and doing it. Well, we're going
to talk to them about marriage. We're talking about your marriage,
why marriage is such a beautiful thing, and how God
can even take your messes and make a miracle out
of them in your marriage. It's going to be a
great show, so stay tuned.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Well, it's good day to be tuned in.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
Because we are talking to a couple of folks that
really are incredible people. Have you heard of the group
Casting Crowns, Well, yeah, of course you have, because who hasn't.
They've been around for quite some time and have been
creating incredible music that people the world over have been enjoying.
There's an incredible couple as well as others. But this
couple that we're meeting today today, they're kind of at
(01:27):
the core of Casting Crowns and we're gonna be talking
with Mark and Melanie Hall. Will you please help me
to welcome them today. Hey, thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
For being here.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
So you'd like to take the prep here and then
you're gonna sit down talk to me for a little while.
This is actually our first time meeting each other, so
we get to have a first time conversation right off
the bat. This is your newest recording of Casting Crowns.
Is that right?
Speaker 3 (01:50):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (01:51):
Would you tell us before we talk about Casting Crowns
and just where you've come from and how God has
brought you this far? Just tell me about Thrive And look,
I love this.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
This is the roots of the tree.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
You wanted us to see the roots of the tree.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
And reaching out. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (02:04):
Well, I'm a youth pastor at Eagles Landing, first battist
in Atlanta.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
I've been a youth pastor half my life.
Speaker 4 (02:09):
And the name of our student ministry is called Thrive
because of a mission trip we took about eight years ago,
went off to Alabama and somewhere in Alabama, was it
Geneva Geneva, Alabama. We come up upon this tree, this
monumental tree. You can see giant old trees anywhere else
in the country, but not in Alabama.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
They're all pines and the tornadoes just knock them over
every year.
Speaker 4 (02:29):
So we see this tree that's three hundred years old,
and we'd never see anything that's big before. The kids
are climbing and the limbs are so big they're coming
down to the ground, and it's just a really cool moment.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
And a farmer that was with us told me, he said,
you know, if you.
Speaker 4 (02:44):
Were to wipe all the dirt away from that, you
would see just as many roots as you do limbs,
and he kind of did this thing.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
It's kind of like this when you look at it.
Speaker 4 (02:52):
And right at that moment, someone hit me and I thought,
this is what we need to talk about, and I
gathered all the kids around. I said, you know, some
believers are all roots and they want to know more
and learn more and learn new words and new theologies
and new beliefs, but they don't have any love in them,
so that they're not worth a law on the upside, right, Yeah,
And some people are all reached. They want to save
(03:15):
and rescue and feed and do and go, but they
don't have any depth of their faith. So the first
storm of life blows by, they're gone.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
So you got to have both.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
You gotta have both.
Speaker 4 (03:25):
It's the Psalm One is our verse and about being
a tree planted by streams of water, digging into the Word,
and reaching out.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
To the world.
Speaker 4 (03:34):
So it's always all of our songs you've ever heard
from Crowns have been something I've been teaching first and
they've sort of evolved into the songs. So what you
have here is I took twelve songs and I wrote
six songs about digging deep and getting into the Word.
Because if you don't get into the Word, you're gonna
make up God for yourself, and you're gonna come up
with a God who's mad at you and whose team
(03:56):
you're never going to be good enough to be on.
That's the God you're gonna come up with on your own.
You get in the word, you see a God who
uses messy people and he's bigger than we. Glad that
he will tell me. So that's about digging deep. And
then what does it look like to reach out? Not
to go reach out to the world. So God will
love me, but to do it because he does, and
(04:17):
just letting God bear the weight of holding you together
and you just go be.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
So that's what the record is.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
Well, listen, I want to tell you guys that what
is so great about the two of you and about
those others that are a part of Casting Crown, is
that y'all are the real deal. That there is integrity
that when you you know, it's kind of refreshing. I
was talking to a friend of mine just this morning
on the way here, and I said, listen, I get
so excited when I see somebody from Afar that I
admire and applaud and they've received notoriety or awards for
(04:46):
what it is that they do, but then when you
meet him, they're just like regular people who just like
for real, love God and if they're passionate about His
people and serving and just the fact that you all
are on staff at a church. It's not like you're
so busy that you you can't be firmly rooted and
planted and get your your roots down deep somewhere. And
you guys have a loving marriage and family.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
That is that that.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
Is sometimes unheard of, unfortunately, that folks are so rooted
as you are. We appreciate that we meet people we
can point our kids too, and that we can look
to that aren't just about the show, but also have
the roots underneath that, And we really appreciate that about
you guys. Tell us how it all started, Melanie. Where
did this all come from the whole casting Crowns and how.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
Did it begin?
Speaker 5 (05:28):
Casting Crowns started in daytona beach worship band started as
a youth praise band. Mark was there and several of the
other members were there and at the time, and then
it kind of grew from there.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
You're better at this story than I am.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
Well, she's better than I'm the talker.
Speaker 4 (05:48):
She's the one that tells me later what I need
to say, right, So it's really good.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
So I'll start the story that marriage, like, is he
the talker?
Speaker 3 (05:55):
Is he the one that you know?
Speaker 4 (05:56):
She's a smart one. I lead with my mouth, you
think first, So when she's thinking, I just jumped out,
and then she goes, well, actually there's eleven things wrong
with that.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
But so I'm gonna get that. I'm gonna get this right.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
Just so you know, my husband wishes he had your
situation where I would think, yeah, I'm just always got
something to say.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
I'm really talking.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
He's the one that's sitting there going.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
See that's what God does? And then good, how God
does that?
Speaker 4 (06:19):
Let's balance this out a little bit, right. But so
I went to be youth pastor of Daytona. I've always
been a music guy, and I found that I could
teach better with songs because maybe they'll know you'll be
done in four minutes.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
Maybe that's what it is.
Speaker 4 (06:33):
But for whatever reason, I would use my Stephen Curtis
Chapman tracks and whatever solo tracks. I had to try
to teach these students that this is a relationship with God.
This isn't a building you're visiting once a week, This
isn't a worldview, this isn't a diet we're trying.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
This is who you are.
Speaker 4 (06:48):
And worship is prayer. Prayer is conversation because this is
a person. So I've got to always go back to that.
So music has always been a part of it. And
pretty soon I just started kind of singing these songs
in the car, just started kind of coming out of nowhere.
I'd never really set out to do anything like that before,
and I started singing them to my kids, and all
of these songs like if We Hear the Body or
(07:10):
Voice of Truth were just me and my youth group
in the youth room. I never really thought anything past that.
Speaker 3 (07:16):
So in Daytona went on.
Speaker 4 (07:18):
Staff, met Juan and Melody, wh were in the band.
They were engaged, they were leading worship.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
I said, hey, can I sing with you guys? And
they was like yeah, I guess you know.
Speaker 4 (07:25):
So I came in and we started writing songs together
and just building this worship band. So Casting Crowns is
a Wednesday night worship band, and the cool thing is
we still are That's what we do Sunday through Wednesday.
We're home and we're pouring into the church. And so
God really kind of brought Crowns to us. Mark Miller
is the singer for a country group called Sawyer Brown.
(07:45):
They've been around for years. They were the first band
to win Star Search.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
I remember that's where I remember them.
Speaker 4 (07:51):
That's crazy guy with like cowskin pants on singing country music.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
That's crazy. So way way back I was like two
and a half. But anyway, uh, I've just seen this
on YouTube. I wouldn't even a lie.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
But anyway, but Yer Brown do you all remember that name,
Sawyer Brown.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
They're still rocking it, they're still hitting it hard.
Speaker 4 (08:10):
And uh so he hears our music through a college
kid who just ran into him at a basketball camp
and found out who he was, because you need to
hear my youth past. And we gave him our little
CD that we were given to our youth group every week.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
And uh and that's how this started.
Speaker 4 (08:24):
He calls me, says, hey, I'm at the beach with
a friend of mine, Stephen Curtis Chapman, and I'm like, okay,
I've heard of him.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
Yeah, yeah, you know that kind of thing.
Speaker 4 (08:34):
And uh literally, just I'm eating pizza with my teenagers.
I walk outside, answer the phone, and this is what
I hear. We want to start a label. We want
your music to be the first thing we we do.
Speaker 5 (08:45):
Do.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
Your name At that point, already casting crowns for the
group is already. So I want you to finish the story.
But tell us what does casting crowns mean.
Speaker 4 (08:54):
Well, when we were in Daytona, we're trying to we
were starting to play outside of the church every once
in a while for the youth rallies or Disciple now weekends,
that kind of stuff. And then they realized we need
a name, right, not just the band. And a big
worship song for us at the time was we fall out,
we lay our crowns, and that was a good, a
cool song for us and our students in our prayer times.
(09:15):
And then the verse in Revelation four where it talks
about the twenty four elders around the throne, how they
cast their crowns before him and there really was no
other name or no other That's the one that just
came out of scripture for us, and uh, and that's
what we became.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
So Bara Miller, Stephen Curtis, Chapman, they say, come aboard,
join us, Come aboard to join us, and you don't
say no. When Stephen Curtis cha.
Speaker 4 (09:37):
Yes, sir, she still reminds me of my answer. He goes,
I've never heard anything like this before. But I said,
can I still be a youth pastor? And he said
he paused, and he said yes. And he tells me now,
even then he thought he's not going to be able
to keep doing this, but we really were going to
keep doing this. I don't think you would have Crown's
(09:58):
songs if we weren't in the church. Every song you
hear is something that's happening right now. You know, if
I lived in a bus i'd just be writing songs
about my old songs.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
But we live in real worlds. So yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
And then in the midst of all of this, the
two of you came together, fell in love, got married.
How did that work out? Because you guys, okay, we
got to talk about this. Y'all work together because you
manage a lot of all this craziness that is casting crowns.
You're the manager behind all that, and the tour manager
and all that stuff. So we got to talk about
this whole working relationship and loving each other at the
(10:31):
same time, relationship.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
That y'all have going on.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
But how did that relationship even start?
Speaker 2 (10:35):
How'd y'all meet my husband? My husband?
Speaker 5 (10:39):
My father came as a minister of music to the
church where Mark and his family went to church. When
I was in I was in middle school and you
were in middle school. Yeah, ish, to be exact, you
were in the seventh grade and I was in the
ninth You.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
Were in the ninth grade. Older woman. But we.
Speaker 5 (11:02):
Were friends for a really, really long time and just
got to be really good friends.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
Yeah, he says that now no guy is your friend.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
No guy is your friend.
Speaker 4 (11:13):
If you just need to know he's not your friend.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
He's not.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
All guys are just like no just waiting.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
Okay, you get single women casting Crown's Wisdom. It sounds
like a book to me.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
Brother.
Speaker 5 (11:32):
So we were just really good friends for a really
long time through middle school, grew up in the youth group,
sang in the choir together, and in ensembles together, and
sang in weddings and stuff.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
We did a lot of things together.
Speaker 5 (11:44):
And then one day, uh, the Lord just kind of
turned the light on and did some things in Mark's
life and in my life and just it's it's almost
like he said, you know, here's the light, cue the curtain,
and here's where we're about to start a ride that you're.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
You have no idea what's what's ahead of you.
Speaker 3 (12:05):
It could have been some me.
Speaker 4 (12:06):
I mean maybe I had like turned on the smoulder that.
Speaker 3 (12:08):
Day or something.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
Yeah, that was it. Have you seen that commercial?
Speaker 1 (12:11):
Have you seen that?
Speaker 4 (12:12):
She tells the stories like God told me I had
to marry him waiting, come on, like I had to
you know, the light hit just.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
Lure where this guy is standing He's probably like in
a coffee shopper. So I don't even remember what the
commercial's for.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
But this guy's just standing there.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
People are getting coffee stuff and then he goes here
comes the sexy boom.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
Well I don't have a boom boom. I got no boom,
so boom.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
Yeah, Well, apparently you had some boom because she fell
in love with you.
Speaker 5 (12:39):
That's the thing with Mark and I is that because
we have been such great friends for so long, it
was like God had used all of that time and
our relationship together over the years too.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
It was God and the boom. It was God, understand,
we got it.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
And it was the smolder too. It was the Smolder.
Speaker 3 (12:54):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
And then you guys have been married how long? Twenty
three years?
Speaker 1 (12:57):
And in the midst of those twenty three years, how
any of those years have been casting, crowns management, singing,
writing this wild life?
Speaker 4 (13:06):
Well, the writing in the ministry and stuff was almost immediate.
I mean we got married. I was I was twenty.
Speaker 5 (13:11):
Oh yes, and we were married, and Mark went to
Bible College while during our engagement.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
Process he which was very short by the way.
Speaker 5 (13:20):
Months four months, but but we already we worked together
during that time.
Speaker 6 (13:24):
We done friends.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
We've done all the jobs together, and he was the
Easter Bunny once and.
Speaker 3 (13:29):
I took the pictures and they at the mall.
Speaker 5 (13:31):
We worked at the basket store at the mall. We
worked at the stationary store at the malls. And we
kind of did that as friends for years. And so
then it was like when when God said now, we realized, well, yeah,
of course, because we just it was.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
It made the most sense.
Speaker 5 (13:44):
And he was also time to get married, and he was,
and to be honest, he was.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
He was. He was exactly and I hadn't seen it.
Speaker 5 (13:50):
Before because it wasn't time for God me for it
wasn't time for me to see it. But I realized
that he was exactly what I had asked God for,
you know, and every that I had asked for them to, like,
God sait, okay, now it's the time.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
And yeah, Ellie, I got to tell you I had
that exact incense with Jerry that I met him. We
you know, we were in a dating relationship, but I
was kind of you know, arm's length. And then one
day I was on an airplane and I had fallen asleep,
and I mean it was like the word woke me
up out of my sleep and I sat straight up here.
I was kind of debating whether or not this guy
for me, and the Lord said, everything you have written
(14:23):
down on that little mental list of viewers that you
prayed for. When I started thinking about those individual things,
like Jerry, was it right down to the tall and dark,
chocolate skinned guy that I was looking for, I mean,
he was it. It's amazing how God does that answers
our prayers and we don't even we don't even remember
we prayed the prayer. Oh yes, And he's all about
the business of trying to answer those prayers, are answering.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
Them, you know.
Speaker 4 (14:44):
For us, we were both in relationships. And I shared
a lot with my students that if God really is
in control of your life, then he knows where this
is headed. Yeah, that's where the song already there comes from.
That way, right that God's ahead of you right now
looking back on your life. The future is a memory
to him. So you're worried you're going to pick the
(15:04):
wrong person. So you're going and trying all these relationships,
which is basically divorce practice.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
Is what modern dating is that.
Speaker 4 (15:13):
And it's let's bond, let's covenant. No one let's contract
without covenant, and try to just be this thing that
you can't lean on your trust in. You just how
the other person's feeling today until it's not working, and
then you're done.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
Then you go try again. You're training yourself to give
up later.
Speaker 4 (15:29):
And that's the culture that I had fallen into. And
what I try to tell my teenagers is you're worried
that you're with the wrong person or that you're going
to marry the wrong person when God is sitting on
the front porch with you right now, watching your grandkids
play with you.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
He's way ahead of this. So if you could just walk.
Speaker 4 (15:48):
With him now and thrive where you are instead of
trying to be warm tonight or be held or just
have somebody at Valentine's Day, people will start dating and
enter in too bad marriages and have a hard time
and realize.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
It was because they wanted to prom date they got
them unto all this.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
Yeah, you don't really need one little night, one little
decision that causes you to make a decision that the consequences.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
Your heart is very, very fluttery. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
Yeah, my father once said to me, I've never forgotten
that your emotions don't actually have intellect, So do not
follow them because they are not smart.
Speaker 4 (16:24):
Don't put yourself in a position that's going to happen.
And we had done that, both of us, and we
both crashed.
Speaker 1 (16:29):
And they've done that.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
Anybody been there and done that?
Speaker 7 (16:31):
Yeah, Auto and then an under song and.
Speaker 6 (17:36):
Auto under an under song an outdoors and outdoors on the.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
Past, Change the old fell one, change the world.
Speaker 3 (18:30):
Orphans don't need stuff, Orphans need families.
Speaker 4 (18:37):
Join me, Stephen Curtis Chapman and show hope as we
help provide orphans with forever families.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
You guys have a it is not perfect, I'm sure,
but you have a successful marriage. And I don't know
about y'all, but I have lots of friends that are
getting to it's it's odd because they're getting to the
twenty and twenty five year mark and their marriages are
falling apart. There are a handful of marriages that I
can say I look at in the distance of twenty
five years, thirty years, and I go, wow, not only
(19:12):
are they still married, but they're happily married. They're friends,
they are enjoying each other. I want you guys to
tell us because you've been.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
Married how long? Twenty three years?
Speaker 1 (19:21):
Okay, at twenty three years, what would you tell a
younger couple they could that maybe you would go back
and even do differently, or that you did well that
has enabled you to thrive right now at twenty three
years in your marriage.
Speaker 3 (19:34):
Good.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
I think that.
Speaker 5 (19:38):
There's one thing that there are a lot of things,
but there is one thing that definitely helps the marriage, because,
like you said earlier, there are times in marriage that
are easy, in times that are difficult. There are times
when children are doing what they're supposed to do, there
are times when parents get sick, and you know, people die, and.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
There's so many buggles in marriage because there are struggles
in life.
Speaker 5 (20:04):
But there's one thing besides obviously that we're both rooted
and grounded in faith and in our relationship with Christ,
and that is that we are.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
Together in ministry, and so we.
Speaker 5 (20:19):
Have this common bond that kind of holds us together
even in those moments when you're like, why did you
just do that?
Speaker 2 (20:27):
And why are we here?
Speaker 5 (20:28):
And what is this thing this common mission that brings
you through that rocky point in the road or the
or that moment in the road when you know that
that's difficult and and it but it carries you through
because it's this common bond that we share, this passion
and this desire and this focus to to to minister
the gospel to people, and the passion that God has
given us for teenagers and for for people that are
(20:50):
looking and searching.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
So because I feel like marriage has gotten a bad rap, honestly,
I feel like people are single people can be a
little bit discouraged when they look at married people sometimes
because there are not a lot of married people that
are just having fun. You guys are having fun together.
I mean, yeah, I'm sure there's struggles because you work together,
you live together, you travel together. You know, you're always together.
I've got very much the same scenario as you all have.
(21:12):
But you're showing that marriage still there's still a beauty
of marriage that is worth having despite the struggle. Why
do you think that marriage has taken such a hit
in our culture today? And what can we do to
fix it? Because it's a beautiful thing.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
What do we do to fix it the image that
it has?
Speaker 4 (21:28):
Well, it's hard because teenagers are growing up seeing it
used to be just love God and your your marriage
won't go away, but they're like, hey, we've been in
church since I was a kid, and my parents' marriage
is going on, and so maybe none of this is
real anyway, And that's the thing that we're going to
(21:50):
have to.
Speaker 3 (21:52):
One of the things I see that Melanie.
Speaker 4 (21:53):
And I accomplish with our students in our youth group
is they get to see what it looks like. And
I think a lot of kids are growing up not
seeing the model of what it's supposed to look like.
They don't have something to go to. All they hear
is we go to church, nobody has any problems. But
when we come out of church, nobody's married anymore. So
we go back to church again and everybody's all dressed
(22:14):
up and sitting great and doing fine. But out in
the hallway they're different people. One of these things isn't real.
Speaker 3 (22:20):
Which one is it?
Speaker 4 (22:21):
And so for us it's our teenagers need to see
what a marriage looks like.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
This is what a couple looks like. This is what
this is what it looks like when it's hard.
Speaker 4 (22:32):
This is what so being really transparent and being around them.
If you're in a church right now and you're a
believer and you're an adult. Congratulations, you're called to student ministry.
You may not teach, Yeah, but they're just walking around.
Those little road tones that are marking on stuff and
tearing the church up are also going to be the
(22:52):
adults soon and they.
Speaker 3 (22:53):
Need to see nothing. Not by teaching, but just by
hanging out.
Speaker 4 (22:57):
You got some in your neighborhood to have them, have
some of the kids kind of do life with you
and see how it works.
Speaker 5 (23:02):
Good.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
That's good.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
So Melanie, would you please tell us the real deal?
We need to know what it is like to have
to work with, travel with on a tour bus. I'm
assuming you guys travel on tour bus sometimes, so you
got to work with you have to do tour bus
stuff with. You've got to live with the same person
all the time. There are some people that are watching.
(23:25):
There's a wife right now that's watching.
Speaker 3 (23:26):
That's going.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
I'm so glad my husband goes to work eight hours today.
I don't know what I would do if we weren't
apart for a little while. But you guys, look at you,
smiles on your faces and.
Speaker 2 (23:35):
You're actually together all the time.
Speaker 3 (23:37):
Yeah, it's just so awesome all the time, all the time.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
But I'm saying somehow you've made it through the un
awesome parts? Did I just make up a word?
Speaker 2 (23:44):
I think I just mean you can do one awesome.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
Parts and you're here, So could you just give us
melanie from a woman's perspective for a woman that's watching
and she's going, you know what, I want to love
my husband well, but I want to be able to
know how to deal with the struggle times of the togetherness.
Sometimes it's just hard to be together, you know, So
tell us how that looks in your life and you
know how you work through it.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
I think that just to go back to what I
said earlier, I really.
Speaker 5 (24:09):
Think that there has to be a common bond, a
purpose in your walk with Christ and your focus in ministry.
If you're if everyone's going this, they're separate ways all
the time, there's nothing to draw you together.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
So I really believe that that's the thing that that
holds us together.
Speaker 5 (24:26):
That you know, kind of like love covers a multitude
of sins, and it's the same way with the with
the passion for ministry that we both have in common,
you know, and that's what we cling to find we
have in common, and the fact that it's something that's
beyond you know, tennis or you know something.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
You know.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
It helps to to put it all in perspective.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
But do you get the kids just like, make sure
you separate your dating life from work life, because sometimes
you can be together so much that you forget. Oh,
we actually haven't gone out on a date. We haven't
actually talked to each other. We've just been together doing
business stuff and getting the kids here and you know,
and planning the tour. But we haven't actually had a
candlelight dinner and looked at each other and Todd.
Speaker 4 (25:08):
And if we do have candlelight dinner, usually it's Hey,
I'm going to look at our dates for next.
Speaker 3 (25:12):
Week and see so yeah, we'll tell you if we
figure that out. I mean, that's something you're always working at.
Speaker 4 (25:18):
So there'll be some times when we can keep crowns
off the table or not talk about homeschool for a while.
But at the same time, that is who we are too,
So I guess you got to see the beauty of
all of it. I need the hangtime just you and me,
but the homeschool needs to be you and me, and
everything needs to be you and me.
Speaker 3 (25:37):
So I need to be engaged in school.
Speaker 4 (25:40):
And hearing and thinking through all the stuff she's working
on and being absolutely no help with math. Dyslexic dad
is not a lot of help with math. But I
need to see the value of what she's doing, and
I see it by diving in it. I can do
words and Instagram posts about how awesome a husband I
am all day long, but she knows if I am
or not. So uh, this is the only one I
(26:01):
got to impress here, So I'm good with words. I
can just gab it all up. So she's she's not
hearing that, darling, you know so magical that this, Oh
I love it.
Speaker 3 (26:11):
She's like, you ain't been here in a whole day,
you know. So I got to meet her. That's right.
Just dive into some math, so that helps. I think.
Speaker 4 (26:21):
Another thing that helps is we find commonality. But we also, guys,
have to see the beauty of the opposites in us.
Like you were saying, you your husband are different, she
and I are different. It took a long time for
me to appreciate her left brainness and her to see
my right brains is okay, because I was threatened by
(26:42):
how sharp she is. And you just say hey, when
we do this tomorrow. Well, and she'll she could see
a month out right now in her head. She's probably
planning an event for next week.
Speaker 3 (26:52):
So she's awesome at that. And it threatened me.
Speaker 4 (26:55):
So I'm new youth pastor all head up in the clouds.
Wouldn't this be cool?
Speaker 5 (26:59):
Guy?
Speaker 3 (26:59):
Is everything I do?
Speaker 1 (27:00):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (27:00):
And she would figure out why it needed to be different,
and it would threaten me, so I would push her away.
And that made for some rough years, yeah, because I
couldn't see that God sent her on purpose.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
To put some structure to all of your ideas and vision.
We need those opposites, but it does cause for some
rough years. And those rough years are what we're going
to talk about. In the second half of our conversation.
We were having two different opportunities to speak to this
incredible couple. You've just watched part one, so you're gonna
want to make sure to tune into part two. Will
you please help me to thank these incredible people, Mark
(27:36):
and Melanie Hall for.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
Doing the today.
Speaker 4 (27:38):
That's good stuff for good stuff
Hey there, I'm Priscilla. I'm so glad that you're joining
me today. It's going to be a great episode of
the Chat. This is the place where we come and
we just hang out together talk about things that are important.
And today I've got a couple of folks that are
important not only because they are known by lots of people,
they minister to a lot of different people, but because
of their private lives, the integrity that they hold in
(00:20):
their private lives as husband wife team that are serving
the Body of Christ and doing it. Well, we're going
to talk to them about marriage. We're talking about your marriage,
why marriage is such a beautiful thing, and how God
can even take your messes and make a miracle out
of them in your marriage. It's going to be a
great show, so stay tuned.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
Well, it's good day to be tuned in.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
Because we are talking to a couple of folks that
really are incredible people. Have you heard of the group
Casting Crowns, Well, yeah, of course you have, because who hasn't.
They've been around for quite some time and have been
creating incredible music that people the world over have been enjoying.
There's an incredible couple as well as others. But this
couple that we're meeting today today, they're kind of at
(01:27):
the core of Casting Crowns and we're gonna be talking
with Mark and Melanie Hall. Will you please help me
to welcome them today. Hey, thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
For being here.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
So you'd like to take the prep here and then
you're gonna sit down talk to me for a little while.
This is actually our first time meeting each other, so
we get to have a first time conversation right off
the bat. This is your newest recording of Casting Crowns.
Is that right?
Speaker 3 (01:50):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (01:51):
Would you tell us before we talk about Casting Crowns
and just where you've come from and how God has
brought you this far? Just tell me about Thrive And look,
I love this.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
This is the roots of the tree.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
You wanted us to see the roots of the tree.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
And reaching out. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (02:04):
Well, I'm a youth pastor at Eagles Landing, first battist
in Atlanta.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
I've been a youth pastor half my life.
Speaker 4 (02:09):
And the name of our student ministry is called Thrive
because of a mission trip we took about eight years ago,
went off to Alabama and somewhere in Alabama, was it
Geneva Geneva, Alabama. We come up upon this tree, this
monumental tree. You can see giant old trees anywhere else
in the country, but not in Alabama.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
They're all pines and the tornadoes just knock them over
every year.
Speaker 4 (02:29):
So we see this tree that's three hundred years old,
and we'd never see anything that's big before. The kids
are climbing and the limbs are so big they're coming
down to the ground, and it's just a really cool moment.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
And a farmer that was with us told me, he said,
you know, if you.
Speaker 4 (02:44):
Were to wipe all the dirt away from that, you
would see just as many roots as you do limbs,
and he kind of did this thing.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
It's kind of like this when you look at it.
Speaker 4 (02:52):
And right at that moment, someone hit me and I thought,
this is what we need to talk about, and I
gathered all the kids around. I said, you know, some
believers are all roots and they want to know more
and learn more and learn new words and new theologies
and new beliefs, but they don't have any love in them,
so that they're not worth a law on the upside, right, Yeah,
And some people are all reached. They want to save
(03:15):
and rescue and feed and do and go, but they
don't have any depth of their faith. So the first
storm of life blows by, they're gone.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
So you got to have both.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
You gotta have both.
Speaker 4 (03:25):
It's the Psalm One is our verse and about being
a tree planted by streams of water, digging into the Word,
and reaching out.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
To the world.
Speaker 4 (03:34):
So it's always all of our songs you've ever heard
from Crowns have been something I've been teaching first and
they've sort of evolved into the songs. So what you
have here is I took twelve songs and I wrote
six songs about digging deep and getting into the Word.
Because if you don't get into the Word, you're gonna
make up God for yourself, and you're gonna come up
with a God who's mad at you and whose team
(03:56):
you're never going to be good enough to be on.
That's the God you're gonna come up with on your own.
You get in the word, you see a God who
uses messy people and he's bigger than we. Glad that
he will tell me. So that's about digging deep. And
then what does it look like to reach out? Not
to go reach out to the world. So God will
love me, but to do it because he does, and
(04:17):
just letting God bear the weight of holding you together
and you just go be.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
So that's what the record is.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
Well, listen, I want to tell you guys that what
is so great about the two of you and about
those others that are a part of Casting Crown, is
that y'all are the real deal. That there is integrity
that when you you know, it's kind of refreshing. I
was talking to a friend of mine just this morning
on the way here, and I said, listen, I get
so excited when I see somebody from Afar that I
admire and applaud and they've received notoriety or awards for
(04:46):
what it is that they do, but then when you
meet him, they're just like regular people who just like
for real, love God and if they're passionate about His
people and serving and just the fact that you all
are on staff at a church. It's not like you're
so busy that you you can't be firmly rooted and
planted and get your your roots down deep somewhere. And
you guys have a loving marriage and family.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
That is that that.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
Is sometimes unheard of, unfortunately, that folks are so rooted
as you are. We appreciate that we meet people we
can point our kids too, and that we can look
to that aren't just about the show, but also have
the roots underneath that, And we really appreciate that about
you guys. Tell us how it all started, Melanie. Where
did this all come from the whole casting Crowns and how.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
Did it begin?
Speaker 5 (05:28):
Casting Crowns started in daytona beach worship band started as
a youth praise band. Mark was there and several of the
other members were there and at the time, and then
it kind of grew from there.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
You're better at this story than I am.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
Well, she's better than I'm the talker.
Speaker 4 (05:48):
She's the one that tells me later what I need
to say, right, So it's really good.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
So I'll start the story that marriage, like, is he
the talker?
Speaker 3 (05:55):
Is he the one that you know?
Speaker 4 (05:56):
She's a smart one. I lead with my mouth, you
think first, So when she's thinking, I just jumped out,
and then she goes, well, actually there's eleven things wrong
with that.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
But so I'm gonna get that. I'm gonna get this right.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
Just so you know, my husband wishes he had your
situation where I would think, yeah, I'm just always got
something to say.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
I'm really talking.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
He's the one that's sitting there going.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
See that's what God does? And then good, how God
does that?
Speaker 4 (06:19):
Let's balance this out a little bit, right. But so
I went to be youth pastor of Daytona. I've always
been a music guy, and I found that I could
teach better with songs because maybe they'll know you'll be
done in four minutes.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
Maybe that's what it is.
Speaker 4 (06:33):
But for whatever reason, I would use my Stephen Curtis
Chapman tracks and whatever solo tracks. I had to try
to teach these students that this is a relationship with God.
This isn't a building you're visiting once a week, This
isn't a worldview, this isn't a diet we're trying.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
This is who you are.
Speaker 4 (06:48):
And worship is prayer. Prayer is conversation because this is
a person. So I've got to always go back to that.
So music has always been a part of it. And
pretty soon I just started kind of singing these songs
in the car, just started kind of coming out of nowhere.
I'd never really set out to do anything like that before,
and I started singing them to my kids, and all
of these songs like if We Hear the Body or
(07:10):
Voice of Truth were just me and my youth group
in the youth room. I never really thought anything past that.
Speaker 3 (07:16):
So in Daytona went on.
Speaker 4 (07:18):
Staff, met Juan and Melody, wh were in the band.
They were engaged, they were leading worship.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
I said, hey, can I sing with you guys? And
they was like yeah, I guess you know.
Speaker 4 (07:25):
So I came in and we started writing songs together
and just building this worship band. So Casting Crowns is
a Wednesday night worship band, and the cool thing is
we still are That's what we do Sunday through Wednesday.
We're home and we're pouring into the church. And so
God really kind of brought Crowns to us. Mark Miller
is the singer for a country group called Sawyer Brown.
(07:45):
They've been around for years. They were the first band
to win Star Search.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
I remember that's where I remember them.
Speaker 4 (07:51):
That's crazy guy with like cowskin pants on singing country music.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
That's crazy. So way way back I was like two
and a half. But anyway, uh, I've just seen this
on YouTube. I wouldn't even a lie.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
But anyway, but Yer Brown do you all remember that name,
Sawyer Brown.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
They're still rocking it, they're still hitting it hard.
Speaker 4 (08:10):
And uh so he hears our music through a college
kid who just ran into him at a basketball camp
and found out who he was, because you need to
hear my youth past. And we gave him our little
CD that we were given to our youth group every week.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
And uh and that's how this started.
Speaker 4 (08:24):
He calls me, says, hey, I'm at the beach with
a friend of mine, Stephen Curtis Chapman, and I'm like, okay,
I've heard of him.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
Yeah, yeah, you know that kind of thing.
Speaker 4 (08:34):
And uh literally, just I'm eating pizza with my teenagers.
I walk outside, answer the phone, and this is what
I hear. We want to start a label. We want
your music to be the first thing we we do.
Speaker 5 (08:45):
Do.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
Your name At that point, already casting crowns for the
group is already. So I want you to finish the story.
But tell us what does casting crowns mean.
Speaker 4 (08:54):
Well, when we were in Daytona, we're trying to we
were starting to play outside of the church every once
in a while for the youth rallies or Disciple now weekends,
that kind of stuff. And then they realized we need
a name, right, not just the band. And a big
worship song for us at the time was we fall out,
we lay our crowns, and that was a good, a
cool song for us and our students in our prayer times.
(09:15):
And then the verse in Revelation four where it talks
about the twenty four elders around the throne, how they
cast their crowns before him and there really was no
other name or no other That's the one that just
came out of scripture for us, and uh, and that's
what we became.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
So Bara Miller, Stephen Curtis, Chapman, they say, come aboard,
join us, Come aboard to join us, and you don't
say no. When Stephen Curtis cha.
Speaker 4 (09:37):
Yes, sir, she still reminds me of my answer. He goes,
I've never heard anything like this before. But I said,
can I still be a youth pastor? And he said
he paused, and he said yes. And he tells me now,
even then he thought he's not going to be able
to keep doing this, but we really were going to
keep doing this. I don't think you would have Crown's
(09:58):
songs if we weren't in the church. Every song you
hear is something that's happening right now. You know, if
I lived in a bus i'd just be writing songs
about my old songs.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
But we live in real worlds. So yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
And then in the midst of all of this, the
two of you came together, fell in love, got married.
How did that work out? Because you guys, okay, we
got to talk about this. Y'all work together because you
manage a lot of all this craziness that is casting crowns.
You're the manager behind all that, and the tour manager
and all that stuff. So we got to talk about
this whole working relationship and loving each other at the
(10:31):
same time, relationship.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
That y'all have going on.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
But how did that relationship even start?
Speaker 2 (10:35):
How'd y'all meet my husband? My husband?
Speaker 5 (10:39):
My father came as a minister of music to the
church where Mark and his family went to church. When
I was in I was in middle school and you
were in middle school. Yeah, ish, to be exact, you
were in the seventh grade and I was in the
ninth You.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
Were in the ninth grade. Older woman. But we.
Speaker 5 (11:02):
Were friends for a really, really long time and just
got to be really good friends.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
Yeah, he says that now no guy is your friend.
Speaker 3 (11:11):
No guy is your friend.
Speaker 4 (11:13):
If you just need to know he's not your friend.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
He's not.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
All guys are just like no just waiting.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
Okay, you get single women casting Crown's Wisdom. It sounds
like a book to me.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
Brother.
Speaker 5 (11:32):
So we were just really good friends for a really
long time through middle school, grew up in the youth group,
sang in the choir together, and in ensembles together, and
sang in weddings and stuff.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
We did a lot of things together.
Speaker 5 (11:44):
And then one day, uh, the Lord just kind of
turned the light on and did some things in Mark's
life and in my life and just it's it's almost
like he said, you know, here's the light, cue the curtain,
and here's where we're about to start a ride that you're.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
You have no idea what's what's ahead of you.
Speaker 3 (12:05):
It could have been some me.
Speaker 4 (12:06):
I mean maybe I had like turned on the smoulder that.
Speaker 3 (12:08):
Day or something.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
Yeah, that was it. Have you seen that commercial?
Speaker 1 (12:11):
Have you seen that?
Speaker 4 (12:12):
She tells the stories like God told me I had
to marry him waiting, come on, like I had to
you know, the light hit just.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
Lure where this guy is standing He's probably like in
a coffee shopper. So I don't even remember what the
commercial's for.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
But this guy's just standing there.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
People are getting coffee stuff and then he goes here
comes the sexy boom.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
Well I don't have a boom boom. I got no boom,
so boom.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
Yeah, Well, apparently you had some boom because she fell
in love with you.
Speaker 5 (12:39):
That's the thing with Mark and I is that because
we have been such great friends for so long, it
was like God had used all of that time and
our relationship together over the years too.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
It was God and the boom. It was God, understand,
we got it.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
And it was the smolder too. It was the Smolder.
Speaker 3 (12:54):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
And then you guys have been married how long? Twenty
three years?
Speaker 1 (12:57):
And in the midst of those twenty three years, how
any of those years have been casting, crowns management, singing,
writing this wild life?
Speaker 4 (13:06):
Well, the writing in the ministry and stuff was almost immediate.
I mean we got married. I was I was twenty.
Speaker 5 (13:11):
Oh yes, and we were married, and Mark went to
Bible College while during our engagement.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
Process he which was very short by the way.
Speaker 5 (13:20):
Months four months, but but we already we worked together
during that time.
Speaker 6 (13:24):
We done friends.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
We've done all the jobs together, and he was the
Easter Bunny once and.
Speaker 3 (13:29):
I took the pictures and they at the mall.
Speaker 5 (13:31):
We worked at the basket store at the mall. We
worked at the stationary store at the malls. And we
kind of did that as friends for years. And so
then it was like when when God said now, we realized, well, yeah,
of course, because we just it was.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
It made the most sense.
Speaker 5 (13:44):
And he was also time to get married, and he was,
and to be honest, he was.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
He was. He was exactly and I hadn't seen it.
Speaker 5 (13:50):
Before because it wasn't time for God me for it
wasn't time for me to see it. But I realized
that he was exactly what I had asked God for,
you know, and every that I had asked for them to, like,
God sait, okay, now it's the time.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
And yeah, Ellie, I got to tell you I had
that exact incense with Jerry that I met him. We
you know, we were in a dating relationship, but I
was kind of you know, arm's length. And then one
day I was on an airplane and I had fallen asleep,
and I mean it was like the word woke me
up out of my sleep and I sat straight up here.
I was kind of debating whether or not this guy
for me, and the Lord said, everything you have written
(14:23):
down on that little mental list of viewers that you
prayed for. When I started thinking about those individual things,
like Jerry, was it right down to the tall and dark,
chocolate skinned guy that I was looking for, I mean,
he was it. It's amazing how God does that answers
our prayers and we don't even we don't even remember
we prayed the prayer. Oh yes, And he's all about
the business of trying to answer those prayers, are answering.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
Them, you know.
Speaker 4 (14:44):
For us, we were both in relationships. And I shared
a lot with my students that if God really is
in control of your life, then he knows where this
is headed. Yeah, that's where the song already there comes from.
That way, right that God's ahead of you right now
looking back on your life. The future is a memory
to him. So you're worried you're going to pick the
(15:04):
wrong person. So you're going and trying all these relationships,
which is basically divorce practice.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
Is what modern dating is that.
Speaker 4 (15:13):
And it's let's bond, let's covenant. No one let's contract
without covenant, and try to just be this thing that
you can't lean on your trust in. You just how
the other person's feeling today until it's not working, and
then you're done.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
Then you go try again. You're training yourself to give
up later.
Speaker 4 (15:29):
And that's the culture that I had fallen into. And
what I try to tell my teenagers is you're worried
that you're with the wrong person or that you're going
to marry the wrong person when God is sitting on
the front porch with you right now, watching your grandkids
play with you.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
He's way ahead of this. So if you could just walk.
Speaker 4 (15:48):
With him now and thrive where you are instead of
trying to be warm tonight or be held or just
have somebody at Valentine's Day, people will start dating and
enter in too bad marriages and have a hard time
and realize.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
It was because they wanted to prom date they got
them unto all this.
Speaker 1 (16:06):
Yeah, you don't really need one little night, one little
decision that causes you to make a decision that the consequences.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
Your heart is very, very fluttery. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
Yeah, my father once said to me, I've never forgotten
that your emotions don't actually have intellect, So do not
follow them because they are not smart.
Speaker 4 (16:24):
Don't put yourself in a position that's going to happen.
And we had done that, both of us, and we
both crashed.
Speaker 1 (16:29):
And they've done that.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
Anybody been there and done that?
Speaker 7 (16:31):
Yeah, Auto and then an under song and.
Speaker 6 (17:36):
Auto under an under song an outdoors and outdoors on the.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
Past, Change the old fell one, change the world.
Speaker 3 (18:30):
Orphans don't need stuff, Orphans need families.
Speaker 4 (18:37):
Join me, Stephen Curtis Chapman and show hope as we
help provide orphans with forever families.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
You guys have a it is not perfect, I'm sure,
but you have a successful marriage. And I don't know
about y'all, but I have lots of friends that are
getting to it's it's odd because they're getting to the
twenty and twenty five year mark and their marriages are
falling apart. There are a handful of marriages that I
can say I look at in the distance of twenty
five years, thirty years, and I go, wow, not only
(19:12):
are they still married, but they're happily married. They're friends,
they are enjoying each other. I want you guys to
tell us because you've been.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
Married how long? Twenty three years?
Speaker 1 (19:21):
Okay, at twenty three years, what would you tell a
younger couple they could that maybe you would go back
and even do differently, or that you did well that
has enabled you to thrive right now at twenty three
years in your marriage.
Speaker 3 (19:34):
Good.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
I think that.
Speaker 5 (19:38):
There's one thing that there are a lot of things,
but there is one thing that definitely helps the marriage, because,
like you said earlier, there are times in marriage that
are easy, in times that are difficult. There are times
when children are doing what they're supposed to do, there
are times when parents get sick, and you know, people die, and.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
There's so many buggles in marriage because there are struggles
in life.
Speaker 5 (20:04):
But there's one thing besides obviously that we're both rooted
and grounded in faith and in our relationship with Christ,
and that is that we are.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
Together in ministry, and so we.
Speaker 5 (20:19):
Have this common bond that kind of holds us together
even in those moments when you're like, why did you
just do that?
Speaker 2 (20:27):
And why are we here?
Speaker 5 (20:28):
And what is this thing this common mission that brings
you through that rocky point in the road or the
or that moment in the road when you know that
that's difficult and and it but it carries you through
because it's this common bond that we share, this passion
and this desire and this focus to to to minister
the gospel to people, and the passion that God has
given us for teenagers and for for people that are
(20:50):
looking and searching.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
So because I feel like marriage has gotten a bad rap, honestly,
I feel like people are single people can be a
little bit discouraged when they look at married people sometimes
because there are not a lot of married people that
are just having fun. You guys are having fun together.
I mean, yeah, I'm sure there's struggles because you work together,
you live together, you travel together. You know, you're always together.
I've got very much the same scenario as you all have.
(21:12):
But you're showing that marriage still there's still a beauty
of marriage that is worth having despite the struggle. Why
do you think that marriage has taken such a hit
in our culture today? And what can we do to
fix it? Because it's a beautiful thing.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
What do we do to fix it the image that
it has?
Speaker 4 (21:28):
Well, it's hard because teenagers are growing up seeing it
used to be just love God and your your marriage
won't go away, but they're like, hey, we've been in
church since I was a kid, and my parents' marriage
is going on, and so maybe none of this is
real anyway, And that's the thing that we're going to
(21:50):
have to.
Speaker 3 (21:52):
One of the things I see that Melanie.
Speaker 4 (21:53):
And I accomplish with our students in our youth group
is they get to see what it looks like. And
I think a lot of kids are growing up not
seeing the model of what it's supposed to look like.
They don't have something to go to. All they hear
is we go to church, nobody has any problems. But
when we come out of church, nobody's married anymore. So
we go back to church again and everybody's all dressed
(22:14):
up and sitting great and doing fine. But out in
the hallway they're different people. One of these things isn't real.
Speaker 3 (22:20):
Which one is it?
Speaker 4 (22:21):
And so for us it's our teenagers need to see
what a marriage looks like.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
This is what a couple looks like. This is what
this is what it looks like when it's hard.
Speaker 4 (22:32):
This is what so being really transparent and being around them.
If you're in a church right now and you're a
believer and you're an adult. Congratulations, you're called to student ministry.
You may not teach, Yeah, but they're just walking around.
Those little road tones that are marking on stuff and
tearing the church up are also going to be the
(22:52):
adults soon and they.
Speaker 3 (22:53):
Need to see nothing. Not by teaching, but just by
hanging out.
Speaker 4 (22:57):
You got some in your neighborhood to have them, have
some of the kids kind of do life with you
and see how it works.
Speaker 5 (23:02):
Good.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
That's good.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
So Melanie, would you please tell us the real deal?
We need to know what it is like to have
to work with, travel with on a tour bus. I'm
assuming you guys travel on tour bus sometimes, so you
got to work with you have to do tour bus
stuff with. You've got to live with the same person
all the time. There are some people that are watching.
(23:25):
There's a wife right now that's watching.
Speaker 3 (23:26):
That's going.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
I'm so glad my husband goes to work eight hours today.
I don't know what I would do if we weren't
apart for a little while. But you guys, look at you,
smiles on your faces and.
Speaker 2 (23:35):
You're actually together all the time.
Speaker 3 (23:37):
Yeah, it's just so awesome all the time, all the time.
Speaker 1 (23:41):
But I'm saying somehow you've made it through the un
awesome parts? Did I just make up a word?
Speaker 2 (23:44):
I think I just mean you can do one awesome.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
Parts and you're here, So could you just give us
melanie from a woman's perspective for a woman that's watching
and she's going, you know what, I want to love
my husband well, but I want to be able to
know how to deal with the struggle times of the togetherness.
Sometimes it's just hard to be together, you know, So
tell us how that looks in your life and you
know how you work through it.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
I think that just to go back to what I
said earlier, I really.
Speaker 5 (24:09):
Think that there has to be a common bond, a
purpose in your walk with Christ and your focus in ministry.
If you're if everyone's going this, they're separate ways all
the time, there's nothing to draw you together.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
So I really believe that that's the thing that that
holds us together.
Speaker 5 (24:26):
That you know, kind of like love covers a multitude
of sins, and it's the same way with the with
the passion for ministry that we both have in common,
you know, and that's what we cling to find we
have in common, and the fact that it's something that's
beyond you know, tennis or you know something.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
You know.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
It helps to to put it all in perspective.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
But do you get the kids just like, make sure
you separate your dating life from work life, because sometimes
you can be together so much that you forget. Oh,
we actually haven't gone out on a date. We haven't
actually talked to each other. We've just been together doing
business stuff and getting the kids here and you know,
and planning the tour. But we haven't actually had a
candlelight dinner and looked at each other and Todd.
Speaker 4 (25:08):
And if we do have candlelight dinner, usually it's Hey,
I'm going to look at our dates for next.
Speaker 3 (25:12):
Week and see so yeah, we'll tell you if we
figure that out. I mean, that's something you're always working at.
Speaker 4 (25:18):
So there'll be some times when we can keep crowns
off the table or not talk about homeschool for a while.
But at the same time, that is who we are too,
So I guess you got to see the beauty of
all of it. I need the hangtime just you and me,
but the homeschool needs to be you and me, and
everything needs to be you and me.
Speaker 3 (25:37):
So I need to be engaged in school.
Speaker 4 (25:40):
And hearing and thinking through all the stuff she's working
on and being absolutely no help with math. Dyslexic dad
is not a lot of help with math. But I
need to see the value of what she's doing, and
I see it by diving in it. I can do
words and Instagram posts about how awesome a husband I
am all day long, but she knows if I am
or not. So uh, this is the only one I
(26:01):
got to impress here, So I'm good with words. I
can just gab it all up. So she's she's not
hearing that, darling, you know so magical that this, Oh
I love it.
Speaker 3 (26:11):
She's like, you ain't been here in a whole day,
you know. So I got to meet her. That's right.
Just dive into some math, so that helps. I think.
Speaker 4 (26:21):
Another thing that helps is we find commonality. But we also, guys,
have to see the beauty of the opposites in us.
Like you were saying, you your husband are different, she
and I are different. It took a long time for
me to appreciate her left brainness and her to see
my right brains is okay, because I was threatened by
(26:42):
how sharp she is. And you just say hey, when
we do this tomorrow. Well, and she'll she could see
a month out right now in her head. She's probably
planning an event for next week.
Speaker 3 (26:52):
So she's awesome at that. And it threatened me.
Speaker 4 (26:55):
So I'm new youth pastor all head up in the clouds.
Wouldn't this be cool?
Speaker 5 (26:59):
Guy?
Speaker 3 (26:59):
Is everything I do?
Speaker 1 (27:00):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (27:00):
And she would figure out why it needed to be different,
and it would threaten me, so I would push her away.
And that made for some rough years, yeah, because I
couldn't see that God sent her on purpose.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
To put some structure to all of your ideas and vision.
We need those opposites, but it does cause for some
rough years. And those rough years are what we're going
to talk about. In the second half of our conversation.
We were having two different opportunities to speak to this
incredible couple. You've just watched part one, so you're gonna
want to make sure to tune into part two. Will
you please help me to thank these incredible people, Mark
(27:36):
and Melanie Hall for.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
Doing the today.
Speaker 4 (27:38):
That's good stuff for good stuff
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