Grace Bigger Than Me: Among the Thirsty Talks About Grace, Suffering, and the Making of Their New Album

New BEC Recordings' band AMONG THE THIRSTY has just released their label debut "Who You Say I Am."  This release follows the highly successful radio and digital single, "Completely," which has sold more than 50,000 singles. This album is a personal reflection of a journey of hitting rock-bottom and finding God's gift of desperation there and through grace seeing one's worth to God. The poignant ballad and radio single "Completely" is centered on surrender.  

Hallels: Why did you choose to call yourselves "Among the Thirsty"?

The band name honestly came out of thin air.  Brock and I were teenagers and trying to come up with a band name.  We were attending a worship event/concert, and the band leading worship was called "Jimmy Lumpkin and The Grain" as soon as he got off stage we asked him "Hey man, what should we call our band?"  He quickly responded with "How about Among The Thirsty?"  and it just stuck.  Years later he found us on Myspace (showing our age here) and we reconnected, about where that band name suddenly came from, and he let us know that he was simply just thirsty from playing a show.

Hallels: How's this brand new album with BEC Recordings different the albums you have made independently?

Doing an album with a label is a much different experience than doing something independently.  With a label there is a lot more red tape and it's a constant game of "hurry up and wait", There are a lot more hoops to jump through, but they're good and necessary hoops! You have a team of people making sure you put out the best product possible, rather than just being trapped inside your own head and not having anyone on the outside telling you that something works or doesn't work.  Nothing but love for the folks at BEC Recordings. 

Hallels: Many of the songs on this new album came from a very difficult time. Can you share with us a little of some of the challenges you have had faced while making this record?

My biggest struggle with making this album came from how personal and how straight forward some of these songs were.  I was writing music to help heal my soul, not make an album.  These songs were not written in an attempt to share, but to help me cope.  The song "Completely" is a great example.  When I wrote it, I didn't want it on the record because it just felt way too personal, and I was afraid that no one would get it.  At the end of the day however, I'm glad that I was able to share my honest heart, and I am still eager to see what kind of results come from my sharing my honest and difficult story.

Hallels: How has suffering shaped your view of God and the Gospel?

My view of God is something that I don't have enough words to describe.  The Gospel on the other hand is very simple: Grace unfair and illogical, but it is bigger than me, greater than my faults, stronger than my pride, and more overwhelming than my list of sins. - Ryan

Growing up I knew who God was. At least I understood the basic message of Jesus. As you grow up you learn more and more about that story because you experience life. Which can give you moments of hurt, bitterness, regret and remorse. Which go right along with happiness, joy and bliss. My view of God has turned into much more than just "loving" Him and "following" Him. It has because a respect factor. Our God is like no other. He is literally everything that we are not. We say we forgive, but sometimes we truly do not. We say we love unconditionally, but we don't know the real meaning of that word. We may strive to be like Christ, but we will never be. And, that is the beautiful thing about God. He DOES forgive us and He does love us unconditionally. We can never do enough "wrong" that He decides that we are unworthy. He just continues to show that He is merciful. All the while, we have this one chance at life and the opportunity to give it to Him. And if we do we will be rewarded. And that's just exciting. - Brian

Hallels: How have these lessons you have learnt reflected in the songs on this record?  

I think it will be evident in the songs.

Hallels: For our readers who may not have heard your new single "Completely," what is the song about?

I was on this journey of coming clean, losing, and finding out who I am, and who I'm not.  I wrote a lot of these songs on that journey and it became clear that the real deep issue was "identity." I, like many others, struggle with identity.  I had tied my identity and who I was and what I was worth in things that I shouldn't have.  I learned the hard way that you cannot bond your identity with anything that can be taken away.  When we draw who we are and what we need from ANYTHING other than The Father we will eventually start to feel empty.  It's a slow burn, it's a long process but it's a fact.  The thing that I was drawing from was a relationship.  It wasn't healthy because I wasn't healthy.  I didn't love myself, and I didn't know who I was and I didn't treat myself and the one's I loved the way they needed and deserved.  That relationship came to a bitter end and when it did my whole world turned upside-down.  Rock Bottom is not an enjoyable place to be, however, it is one of the most precious gifts.  God knew my every step, He knew where I was, and He allowed me to go through that, because it was at "Rock Bottom" that I found God's "Gift of desperation" I surrendered everything, I gave up my freedom, and though the process was difficult, it was the most freeing and incredible experience and it saved my life.  

Hallels: For our readers who would like to purchase your new album or/and find out more about you, where can they go?

You can find out more information on our website http://www.amongthethirsty.com and our social media pages: Facebook: www.facebook.com/amongthethirsty

Twitter: twitter.com/AmongTheThirsty

Instagram: instagram.com/amongthethirsty

 

 

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