Mac Powell on Faithfully and Creatively Serving God

When Mac Powell was a teenager, he finally achieved his lifelong goal of being in a band. It was called—he kids you not—Nuclear Hoedown. He was the lead singer, and his friend Mark Lee played guitar.

However, something else was happening in Mac’s life around the same time. He had grown up in church and accepted Christ at an early age, but he never felt like he was progressing in his faith beyond that initial experience. About a month before he graduated high school, God started to work in his life.

“Someone said, ‘You should read the Book of Romans,’” he recalls. “I’d never really dug into the Bible. It was almost like, ‘I’m not good enough to do that, or I’m not strong enough to do that.’” But he followed the advice, looked up where Romans was in the index, and started reading. What he read changed his life. “God’s Holy Spirit just opened up my heart and helped me to understand the full truth of the Gospel, the full truth of God’s grace and mercy.”

Suddenly, Mac didn’t feel like he could keep singing with the band. As much as he loved it, God was calling him in a different direction. He was incredibly conflicted, desperate to chase his dreams and chase after God at the same time. Mac explains, “I was distraught by it, I was saddened by it, but at the same time, I was so in love with Jesus and wanting to surrender everything I did.”

Finally, he told Mark he was going to have to quit the band because he didn’t feel like it glorified God. In response, Mark said something that would change the course of Mac’s life and the course of Christian music forever: “Why don’t we start a Christian band?”

That band would be called Third Day, and it would go on to be one of the biggest, most influential Christian bands ever formed. Mac would win Grammys, tour all over the world, and sell millions of records. And it all began with an act of faithfulness.

On this episode of STEP INTO THE STORY, we talk with Mac Powell about his experience in Third Day, his new solo album, and his constant desire to use his creative gifts in service of something greater than himself.