|PIC1|Casting Crowns has quickly become one of the most successful and popular Christian bands in the US. Despite receiving a Grammy award and multiple Dove Awards, lead vocalist and youth pastor Mark Hall claims to be a normal 'goof' who is a dc talk fan, likes to create songs in the car, and lead small group Bible studies at his local church. Here's an interview with Hall in Nashville during the GMA Music Week.

CT: Your song "Who am I" had a tremendous impact worldwide. What inspired you to write that?

MH: A lot of times when I write songs, it's just me in the car. Because I'm pretty busy - I'm a youth pastor - and I'm always around people, so the car is the only place I'm by myself. A lot of songs just come out of worship times in the car. I was coming back in the car from a holiday, the kids were asleep, Melanie (wife) was asleep, and I was just thinking, 'It's me and Jesus having some time together.' And I just started getting a picture of how small I am. I mean, I'm in Alabama, this small country road that no one could find if they tried to, and I'm singing up to the God of the universe expecting Him to hear me, and realising that He really does. It really just started reminding me of how small we are, and the fact that we're not who we are because of anything we've done. He chose us. So it's just a picture of that.

As a youth pastor what kind of activities are you involved in?

We do small group Bible studies, worship experiences together, and we try to involve all of our students in ministry, creating some sort of ministry for them to do themselves. Whether it be drama or music or sports. Our message is that anything you do can be ministry - to show them that you're needed, you have a value, and you've got a purpose.

How different is it being at your church and being on tour?

The message of our songs are more discipleship-oriented, so where God has us as a band is really singing to the church. So when we go to a town, the people who come mostly already are believers, and they're dealing with the same things we are in our church, so it's pretty much the same. The only difference would be, it's 'hello' and 'good-bye' in one night, which could be tough sometimes.

Tell me about your new project.

We just put the last pieces together a few days ago. It should be out in August. It seems like it takes forever for us to come out with a new project so it better not be too bad!

It should be worth the wait.

I'm a big dc talk fan. And I'd be like, 'It's been two years. When are they gonna come out with something?' Now here we are taking two years. (laughs)

Casting Crowns has been the 'shining star' of the last few GMA Weeks, especially at the Dove Awards. How do you feel about that?

If anything, it really brings into perspective how ordinary anybody is. When you get elevated, you're like, 'Wait a minute... I'm just a goof. But God decided to use me.' And then you look around at everyone and realise, we're all just normal people. God let's you do this and that. But it's always great to be here and be encouraged to keep doing what we're doing. At the same time, it's humbling as well. To know that the only reason you're here is to connect people with God through a song that we write.