With All My Heart

'I wrote this song about a year-and-a-half ago, and I didn’t even expect us to use it,' says Chrissy. 'We like to call it our worship song. The Bible says to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind. That’s basically what we’re saying in the chorus: with 100 percent of who I am, I want to worship You.'


Even If

'Our producer Tedd T and Lynn Nichols had written this track that we just loved,' says Alisa. 'We were on an airplane, and the words just started coming. The lyrics are very appropriate in light of Sept. 11. The words say, 'Even if the stars fell like rain / Even if tomorrow never came / Even if the world I know should crumble / Nothing’s going to stand in my way / Even if the sun left the sky / Even if these tears never dry / Even if what’s left of me is taken / I will not be shaken.' It's so amazing because we weren't even sure if the song was going to make the album or not. Then when all of this came down, we thought, 'Okay, this is totally God. This song has got to be on the album because it's so poignant for such a time as this.' Musically, I think it’s a song people could sing and would breathe life into their spirits especially in these uncertain times.'


Dismissed

'This is our response to temptation,' says Chrissy. 'When we perform this song live, we have two dancers, one wearing a shirt saying 'temptation' and the other 'deception.' So we kind of sing it to them. It’s basically our song to Satan to say, ‘You can try and pull me down, but I have in me the authority to say no and the power to pronounce you dismissed.'


Waiting

'We think of this as the evangelistic song on the record,' Chrissy explains. 'It talks about now being the time and place for salvation. Today is the day. Don’t wait for tomorrow. It’s about how God is looking down and constantly watching each one of us and just waiting for us to come into His arms. I think it will be a great tool to use live after we give the message of salvation.'


R U Sure About That?

'It was Chrissy’s idea to take a well-known classical Beethoven lick, ‘Fur Elise,’ and put this funky Latin beat behind it and write a song over it,' Alisa explains. 'This song talks a lot about uncertainties, about a boy and a girl. The girl gets her heart broken. It’s really about saying, ‘You have to let it go for the real love that’s coming.’ The song basically questions if all the things you think are real and truth in your life are actually that way.'


Ordinary Day

'This was another song where we had the track and we loved it so much we wanted to put words to it,' says Alisa. 'It talks about the idea that in every single ordinary day, there’s life. The second verse paints a picture of someone walking down the street and locking glances with someone else. It’s a really fun song with a great dance beat and is a reminder that God is a part of every one of our days.'


Plain

'We had talked about the concept of writing a self-esteem song, and I just couldn’t get it out of my mind,' Kristin recalls. 'I started working on it right away. I began thinking about the times when I felt plain, looking through magazines. I just wanted to say to young girls that we all look in the mirror and criticize ourselves, but we are God’s creation. Every one of us is made special. When we went on the mission trip with Brio Magazine, I heard all these young girls talking about how they were ugly and worthless. That’s just such lie. They were all beautiful and there was something unique about each one of them. I want them to realize they’re special, that God looks at the heart. I just thought this was a big issue, especially with all the magazines and videos out there telling us what we need to look like to be loved.'


Nick of Time

'Tedd T. had given me the track, and I loved it,' Kristin recalls. 'I just started thinking about a person who had literally been at rock bottom and was saved by Christ in the nick of time and the miraculous transformation that is. The second verse refers to a drug addict. I was thinking about how Jesus changed the water into wine and just kept comparing that to the miracle of changing someone’s life from a mess to something worth living again. I wasn’t thinking about anyone specific. It was probably more a mesh of stories we’ve heard.' Alisa adds, 'When Kristin sang this song for us, Chrissy and I were on the floor. This song is so amazing.'


Forever 17

'I wrote this song with my mother,' says Chrissy. 'It’s a story inspired by a girl in my hometown. She was 17 - the time when you’re so excited about life and having a car. A week after this girl got her license, she was hit and killed by a drunk driver. Our town is real small, so this was devastating to everyone. We couldn’t believe that this beautiful girl so full of life was gone. I didn’t know her, but my sister did. When you’re young, you don’t think about the fragility of life. So we wanted to get across to these kids listening to our music that no one is guaranteed a tomorrow. Hopefully this song will open a few eyes out there to take advantage of the time we do have here.'


Here and Now

'This was one of the first songs we wrote for this record,' Alisa says. 'We were sitting in Chrissy’s bedroom, and I kind of felt like we really needed a song that kids could rally around. If there were going to be a song played at a youth camp, it would be this one. I think often Christian artists can get so wrapped up in writing for the non-Christian that they forget to write to Christians. I really believe that we’ve got a generation of youth group kids who are just as lost as the kids in the world. So the song says: ‘Here and now/we will stand with one voice hand in hand/we will never back down/we will never give in.’ We did that song ages ago, but it’s so poignant for right now because our whole nation is saying this. It confirms to me how God completely fashioned this album for such a time as this.'


The Truth

'I wrote this song on the same day I wrote 'I Believe' on our first album,' Alisa says. 'This is my song to this generation. It says, 'They called you a failure / They called you a lost cause / They said you’d never be anything at all / But when I look in your eyes / I see the prize that's yet to be claimed.' The song was actually inspired by my work in inner-city ministry. One night I went to choir practice and saw this young girl there with this big smile on her face. When I looked at her face, I noticed she had been beaten up so badly. Someone explained to me that she had become a Christian the week before at church, and had been in a gang and wanted out. This means that she had to be ‘jumped out,’ where the whole gang beats you until you’re almost dead. She had this amazing countenance about her. It occurred to me that when adults in the church see kids like that, they think 'hide your wallet.' But because of all the work I've done, when I look into the eyes of a kid like that, I see the next Billy Graham or Nicky Cruz. That’s why this song is so poignant for me. I want it to give hope to this generation.'