If Jared Anderson's wife, Megan, overhears you ask him to name the most played album on his iPod, she beats him to the answer: "Silly Songs with Larry." Jared laughs—and adds Fleetwood Mac's "Rumors." But the unmistakable sound of kids playing in the background reinforces Megan's point: these days, Jared's life is as much about raising kids as it is about recording albums.
Those kids—Everett, 3, Beckett, 2, and Francie, 1—cannot literally be heard on Where Faith Comes From, Jared's second solo effort from Integrity Music. But Jared says their presence fills the record. “’Promises’ is definitely their song," he says. "Kids just love to dance around and sing, 'Oooohhhh, I can’t forget about it!'"
Popular musicians are road warriors, and Jared's schedule is doubly packed in support of his solo work plus his role in the popular worship band Desperation. What does that mean for this husband and a father of three? "Not touring full-time," says Jared. The 28-year-old singer-songwriter in him might want to be behind a piano each night; the worship leader in him might want to be in front of a crowd each night; but the father in him wants and needs to be beside his wife and children, and the Andersons have let certain creative career opportunities pass by in favor of the chance to create a home.
"I balled my eyes out so many times driving to the airport by myself," says Jared of the times he had to leave for days at a time. "That’s a season I don’t want to see again for quite a while."
The choice to focus on family life has kept Jared grounded. The Andersons have pledged to be committed to their local community, both by remaining rooted in a nearby church where Jared serves, and by seeking out the needy people to whom Megan feels especially called.
Since 2001, Jared has served full-time on the worship team at New Life Church in Colorado Springs, about 10 miles north of the singer's downtown home. While on that team, Jared has composed songs that are now sung in churches worldwide, such as "Amazed," along with "Promises" and the other tracks on this new album.
New Life Church rose to international prominence on the strength of its music, speaking, and missions ministries, then suffered the harsh limelight of a scandal in 2006. One year later, just as the church was recovering and gaining strength, it again made headlines when a young gunman opened fire on church property, killing two before taking his own life.
Jared's commitment to the church was well in place before these two tragedies, but the events challenged, and then strengthened that commitment. Where Faith Comes From resonates with the lessons learned in these trials, because Jared learned about the kind of faith that is hard-won.
"The typical demonstration of our devotion to God is to throw a party," he says. "As a church, we just haven't felt like doing that, haven't felt like delivering some huge, Jesus-makes-you-a-winner message. There is no more positive message than the gospel, of course, but we had to dig deeper and to ask, 'What do I do here in the not-knowing part?'"
The songs on this album are Jared's personal answers to the question. "It's like you're driving down the road in the fog, and you can't even see the line. To have faith is to continue driving." For Jared, that meant recording these songs, sharing them with his church and the broader Christian community, and remaining steadfast to those closest to him.
But Jared's calling is not the only priority shaping his family. Megan, his wife of 4 years, has become an ad-hoc matron for the underprivileged in Southern Colorado. Because she reaches out so generously, her phone rings regularly with help-wanted signals, and she rallies herself—the three kids in tote—to the cause. Megan is particularly interested in serving teenage moms, and plans to open a home for young mothers in Colorado Springs.
If Where Faith Comes From represents a moment in the life of a family man, it also represents the moment in the life of a musician and a worship leader.
Jared's first solo effort with Integrity, Where to Begin, was a driving pop record layered with fun, crisp after-effects. "It was like an introduction into professional recording," says Jared. "Projects I had been involved with before were about making worship music that churches could easily duplicate. Where to Begin was made with none of that in mind. It was more, 'How good of a record can we make?' Cleaned up, trimmed up, well put together."
Where Faith Comes From is plenty trimmed up, but this time Jared focused more on the message. The lyrics here are Psalm-like, echoing the many aspects of David, from the bold Warrior-King ("I've slayed the darkest dragons like immortal Frodo Baggins") to the ecstatic God-Lover ("All of your promises won't let go of me!").
The music on Where Faith Comes From supports those forthright, distinct lyrics. "I tried to strip it down," Jared explains. "It's more about the actual worship that we are called to live every day."
One night of such actual worship inspired Jared's work on this record. The place: Northern California. The venue: A drab office complex. It only sat 100 people, so they emptied out the chairs and stuffed as many people as could fit.
From the very first chord that night, says Jared, "the show was over, and the concert had just begun. We were just the phone line, and people were really connected with God." The crowd stayed caught up in worship well after the music stopped that night, and it was a powerful reminder of what worship music—and musicians like Jared—are for.
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