{"id":619,"date":"2011-09-23T08:00:08","date_gmt":"2011-09-23T12:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/wholenotes\/?p=619"},"modified":"2011-09-24T13:43:20","modified_gmt":"2011-09-24T17:43:20","slug":"a-conversation-with-leeland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/wholenotes\/2011\/09\/a-conversation-with-leeland.html","title":{"rendered":"A conversation with Leeland"},"content":{"rendered":"

Click “Like” to share this with your friends!<\/strong><\/p>\n

From practicing in a funeral home in the Houston suburb of Baytown, Texas, to sharing the stage with Michael W. Smith, alt\/rock\/worship band Leeland continues its unlikely rise to prominence.<\/p>\n

Led by band namesake Leeland Mooring and his brother Jack, the band had no aspirations for a record deal or radio airplay when it first started writing music and playing around town. In fact, the band\u2019s original purpose was to lead youth worship for Celebration of Life Church.<\/p>\n

But when Leeland Mooring\u2019s writing prowess garnered the attention of EMI Publishing in Nashville at the age of 15, he was able to parlay a solo gig into an opportunity for the band. Now with its fourth album The Great Awakening<\/em> making waves across the nation, Leeland has been given a larger platform for accomplishing its original mission.<\/p>\n

In this recent interview with the band, its four members talk about the new album, how evangelism pioneers fuel its fire, and the story behind why little sister Shelly Mooring was added to the lineup:<\/p>\n

Chad Bonham: How much fun is it to have your sister Shelly in the band?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Leeland (L-R): Jack Mooring, Leeland Mooring, Shelly Mooring, Mike Smith<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Leeland Mooring: Shelly was playing bass with us when we were traveling as a family. We traveled with the family for two years, so it just feels like we\u2019ve been doing what we\u2019ve been doing since we were little kids just on a bigger platform and with a little bit different look to it. Having our sister has been an awesome blessing. We\u2019re getting to sing three-part harmony on the record and live, which is something that\u2019s new to our band but we\u2019ve doing that with our family for a long time. We\u2019re glad to share that with our fans. And Mike, our drummer, he\u2019s pretty much like a brother to us. We already felt like a family and having Shelly out with us kind of completes the whole thing.<\/p>\n

Jake, our (former) bass player, is doing awesome. He\u2019s in the Army right now. He\u2019s done basic and airborne training. He\u2019s doing really great. Being a bass player wasn\u2019t his passion necessarily. He loves music and he loved the ministry even more. But it wasn\u2019t necessarily his passion to be a bass player for the rest of his life. He was very passionate about the military. We\u2019d walk in the room and he\u2019d be watching the Military Channel. When most people would be watching football, he\u2019d be watching the Military Channel. But we support him one hundred percent and he\u2019s doing a great job.<\/p>\n

Jack Mooring: It would be awesome, also, for people to pray for Jake. He\u2019s doing great but gosh it\u2019s a hard world for someone to stand for Jesus. So just pray for him. He\u2019s being a light. It\u2019s cool.<\/p>\n

Bonham: Was it in the long-term plans for Shelly to join the band or was it just something that happened organically?<\/p>\n

Leeland Mooring: I kind of always thought about it in the back of my head when we were having serious talks with Jake a couple of years ago. He was thinking about going into the military. He didn\u2019t know when, but we had quite a few of those talks. We knew it was coming. I was just thinking in the back of my head, \u201cWho would play bass for us?\u201d I scrolled down that list in my head and began to seek God about it and immediately I began to get a real peace about asking Shelly.<\/p>\n

Jack Mooring: Sting wasn\u2019t available. (Laughter)<\/p>\n

Leeland Mooring: We did approach Sting to play bass but it didn\u2019t work out. But really, there are so many great bass players out there. We weren\u2019t just looking for the best, but Shelly\u2019s got more talent in her pinky than the rest of have in our whole bodies. She\u2019s over here shaking her head. But more than that, we wanted to have family. We wanted to have somebody close that we know that we can hang with. You\u2019re basically married to each other when you\u2019re on the road. It\u2019s like a second marriage being on the road with people because you\u2019re with them constantly, day in and day out. It has to be a good person with good character.<\/p>\n

Bonham: Shelly, how much fun are you having with the experience and are there any challenges that come from traveling with your big brothers?<\/p>\n

Shelly Mooring: Me and Jack and Leeland have always had a pretty good relationship growing up. Me and Jack are always the ones that kind of butted heads when we were younger because we were so much alike.<\/p>\n

Jack Mooring: I was the mean older brother.<\/p>\n

Shelly Mooring: Yeah, we\u2019re a lot alike and me and Leeland aren\u2019t, but we\u2019re really close. When we were younger, we fought a little bit, but now that we\u2019re older, we have a really close relationship. The fighting thing doesn\u2019t really happen on the road so much.<\/p>\n

Jack Mooring: We fought a lot more when Jake was in the band and we were all tired. Our fighting was usually over where we were gonna\u2019 eat lunch.<\/p>\n

Shelly Mooring: But it\u2019s been amazing. I\u2019m having a great time. It\u2019s awesome.<\/p>\n

Bonham: One thing I\u2019ve always appreciated about you guys is your throwback nature and how you wholly embrace sound biblical principles. How much did your spiritual influences\u2014like your parents and some classic evangelists and revivalists you grew up hearing about\u2014have an impact on this new album?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Leeland Mooring: Before we started working on the album, we\u2019d done some research on followers of the faith and different people like Smith Wigglesworth, the traveling evangelist who didn\u2019t get saved until he was 50. In 10 years he impacted the world for God and did amazing things like raise people from the dead, heal the sick, all these awesome things. George Whitfield and Jonathan Edwards were the guys that spearheaded the Great Awakening of the late 1700s, which crossed all the colonies in America at the time. What stamped it wasn\u2019t necessarily the supernatural, although that was very prevalent. What stamped the Great Awakening\u2014and this is what I find so cool about it\u2014was that people were transformed within a matter of days. Their character, their person was changed by Jesus Christ. They were set free from addictions, set free from bondage to alcohol or whatever. The old lifestyle was completely gone within a matter of days and they immediately began preaching their testimony about what Jesus did in their life. That\u2019s what real fruit and a real testament of a revival is. Yeah, people are going to get healed. Supernatural things are happening. That\u2019s always going to be a fruit of revival. But what really stamps a real revival and a real awakening is when people are changed and they immediately begin to share their testimony about what Jesus did in their life. It\u2019s not just one person, but it\u2019s masses of people at one time being changed. That\u2019s what was happening in the Great Awakening. Whole towns were being revolutionized and turned upside downs within a matter of days. That\u2019s what we want to see again. Somewhere along the way, we lost it. But that\u2019s what we want to see; not only in the church but also in the world. I want to see that happen in my generation. I want to see the non-Christians come to God and I want to see the Christians restored to the joy of their salvation. A real fruit of being saved is that you have to tell people about it. I want to see that. That\u2019s a real fruit of revival. You see people running around telling other people about how amazing this Jesus is and what He\u2019s done to change your life.<\/p>\n

The song \u201cThe Great Awakening\u201d was inspired by a poem that was written by Lawrence Tribble in the late 1700s about the Great Awakening. The lyrics of the song are literally verbatim. I took it out of a book that Jack had at his house called The Patriot\u2019s Handbook<\/em>. It\u2019s a historical book. That\u2019s what inspired the song. That song was actually a last minute song on the record. We didn\u2019t record that in the beginning. We had two spots on the record left and we were really trying to figure out what songs to record. I\u2019d forgotten about the song and I went to computer and pulled it up and finished it. The song sort of became the glue that ended up holding the album together. It helped all the other songs make sense.<\/p>\n

Bonham: Are you encouraged to be a part of a growing movement that includes others like Jesus Culture and Hillsong United that share the same desire for a change within the younger generations?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Jack Mooring: It\u2019s humbling because we really do believe we\u2019re in a unique time right now in history. It\u2019s not a coincidence that all of these artists and worship leaders are saying a lot of the same things. There\u2019s this theme of waking up from our sleep\u2014especially in the West. We\u2019re kind of just preaching to ourselves here. We\u2019re about to go on a fall tour with Building 429 and Royal Tailor. We love those guys. We\u2019re really excited about going on the road because during the days we\u2019re going to have prayer meetings with people in the community and cry out to God. We\u2019re excited about what the next few months hold as we walk this record out.<\/p>\n

Bonham: What\u2019s the story behind Royal Tailor and how you helped bring them to the attention of the music industry?<\/p>\n

Leeland Mooring: My parents started a church about 10 years ago. It was probably about two or three years ago when we heard about their music. Shelly was really involved in the youth group at that time and she called me and said, \u201cWe have this band here called Royal Tailor. They\u2019re awesome. They\u2019re Pentecostal like we are and they\u2019re really funny. They\u2019re a great band. We\u2019re gonna\u2019 have \u2018em again and you\u2019ve got to come down.\u201d They came and played again at our church and I came and watched them that time. It was just awesome. I fell in love with their music. They were awesome musicians. So they stayed over at our parents\u2019 house that night and we hung out with them and shared story after story\u2014funny church stories. Being Pentecostal, you\u2019ve got great stories. We were laughing and having fun, and I just fell in love with their heart. They were genuine people. It\u2019s hard to find genuine people these days. I think that\u2019s what we connected with even more than the music. We\u2019re excited to be on tour with them. It\u2019s going to make some good memories.<\/p>\n

Bonham: What needs to happen for a modern Great Awakening to take place in today\u2019s culture?<\/p>\n

Mike Smith: I just feel like, for our culture and our generation and just us as a nation, we\u2019ve just got to get back to an attitude of prayer and a relationship with Christ\u2014getting alone with God daily and communing with Him and getting back to intimacy with Him. If you get alone with God and you begin that relationship, you just fall back in love with God. Everything else will come into alignment. Your actions and your words and your demeanor will change. We just need to get back on our knees and give it back to God. We\u2019ve tried to do things on our own and it\u2019s just not working out that way. I really feel like prayer and intimacy and relationship with God behind closed doors will translate into our everyday lives.<\/p>\n

Stay up on the latest from Leeland by visiting the band\u2019s official website HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n

You can also check out a video for the song \u201cThe Great Awakening\u201d below:<\/p>\n