Another poignant song on the album, “What It Means to Be Loved”, is “the only song I’ve ever played in concert that received a standing ovation before the end of the first chorus was over,” recalls Schultz.
Kate was again a source of inspiration for the song: “My wife said to me, ‘Since you are adopted, I think we should adopt kids too. I think we should adopt kids with special needs … maybe someday we adopt kids with special needs that doctors know are only going to live for a year or two,’” recalls Schultz.
“I replied, ‘Honey, why would we do that?’ She answers, ‘Because, before they go to heaven, I want them to know what a great Christmas is like and what a great birthday is like and let them know they were loved well before they get to heaven.’ That’s the kind of wife I’m married to.”
This conversation was sparked by the story his wife told him about a family who was expecting a child and were told that tests revealed health issues that meant the baby probably wouldn’t live long. Although the doctor’s suggested terminating the pregnancy, the mother decided she would love the child as long as she could. Schultz channeled those emotions into the “What It Means to Be Loved” lyrics:
I want to give her the world
I want to hold her hand
I want to be her mom just as long as I can and live every moment until that day comes
I want to show her what it means to be loved.
“As Christians, we are called to be love,” says Schultz. “If that means loving a baby that will be here seven minutes or 70 years, it doesn’t make any difference.”
Pulling from real life experiences for the new record, many of the songs on Come Alive were also inspired when Schultz rode his bicycle from coast to coast to raise over $250,000 to benefit the James Fund, which provides assistance for widows and orphans. Along the way he learned much about himself, the human condition and God’s sovereignty. Those revelations reverberate throughout his new album.
“The album is a powerful work of art, full of emotion and featuring the most prolific and moving work Mark Schultz has ever written,” says Mark Bright, Word Entertainment President and CEO. “His ability to capture life’s most fragile moments in song, and lead people closer to God by revealing His glory in every situation, is what makes Mark Schultz such a gifted artist.”
Taking the songs from Come Alive on the road, Schultz will debut new music and fan favorites on a 40-plus-city tour beginning with the festival circuit this summer and leading into his “Come Alive” tour featuring platinum-selling group Point Of Grace that launches September 10 in Decatur, Illinois.
Lauded at No 1 on Billboard’s “Hot Christian Adult Contemporary Songwriters” list and with nine No 1 radio hits, Mark Schultz was the centrepiece of the US Army campaign “Letters From War”, and named Christian Music Today’s Male Vocalist in 2003. His 2005 release, Mark Schultz Live…A Night of Stories & Songs, sold RIAA certified Platinum and garnered Schultz his first GMA Dove Award.
On the web: www.markschultzmusic.com
