With this month's release of Captivated (Maranatha! Music/EMI CMG Distribution), Dove Award-winning Nicole C. Mullen's first studio album since 2008's A Dream to Believe In, she finds her music taking a different direction than she expected.

How did you end up going in that new direction?

I was writing my normal type of an album, which is normally in the style of funkabilly. and before I knew it, instead of the funkabilly style, I had a whole bunch of worship songs, and I looked at them and I thought, "OK, Lord, what are you saying to me?" For many years people have said, "Why don't you do a worship album?" I've never been one to want to jump on a trend or bandwagon and I never felt like it was the right time until now. 

Do you have a favorite tune or two?

I wrote all of them except for one. I guess it depends on what time of life I'm going through. I think each of them speak to me differently on different days and in different situations. "Kingdom Come" (a duet with Michael O'Brien, formerly with NewSong) is one of my favorites, and it speaks about that in the midst of the chaos that's going on today, in the midst of our current events that every time you turn on the news something else is going on in our world, we need the help of the Lord. The cry that Christ even taught us and that our hearts just seem to naturally want to pray these days is to let His kingdom come, let the kingdom of God be revealed in power and in might and in the sight of all.

Who were some of the guests on the album?

This is probably the first time that I had so many guests on an album. … We have Chris August on "I Need You," we have Michael O'Brien on "Kingdom Come," we have Papa San on "My Shepherd," and we have The Katinas on "Lead Me."

What's next for Nicole C. Mullen?

There are always things to do. We have Baby Girls Club … then we have another mentorship group of teens that we work with as well, girls and guys, called Team NCN. … I have three children and a husband, and my parents live next door and my in-laws across the street. We're all planning on going to Zimbabwe in May to do concerts there. … We have been traveling a lot and we will continue to do that inside of the States and outside as well, and so our lives are full and Christ is living up to what He promised, that He gives life and that more abundantly and so I can witness to that. Every day with Christ is an adventure, and so that's the adventure that I live. Whatever the day holds, I'm not always sure because He holds the day and I have to wait until He reveals it. Looking back and just seeing what He has done, I can say it's good and it's God.

Best known for the breakout hit "Glory Defined," 2005 Dove Award New Artist of the Year Building 429 has been playing 200 live shows a year. Now a part of the Essential Records/Provident Label Group family, the band sees Listen To The Sound release this month. Christian Retailing asked lead singer-songwriter Jason Roy (pictured second from left) about life on the road and the new album.

You have been really busy touring, haven't you?

Some people think we are crazy for how many shows we play each year, but to be honest, we've really never known anything different. When we started years ago, we had a desire to connect with people on a personal level through the music we wrote, so we booked shows and toured like crazy. Social media has made it easier for fans to connect with us, but we as a band struggle with that because it doesn't feel as honest, so we still long for concerts and face-to-face interaction.

Jason Ingram, Rusty Varenkamp and Rob Hawkins produced this album. What was it like working with them?

Working with Jason and Rusty was a really cool experience for sure. Funny thing is that Jason was the guy who found me and the band back in 2003. He took me to his publisher where I would later sign my first publishing deal. Another unknown fact is that Jason was part of our first management team (Talon Management) and was heavily involved in the writing process of our first record. Sitting in the studio with him was like meeting an old friend for a cup of coffee and a hang. It was seamless and it was a blast. 

This record was also half produced by Rob Hawkins, another amazing producer in his own right. It was a nice marriage of his super-hip new-school styling and my Southern rock history. He pushed us into a new vibe and what we like to call a more "West Coast" flavor that ended up permeating the record. In fact he co-wrote and produced our first single, "Listen to the Sound," and it's obvious to anyone who has followed us that he ushered in a new era of Building 429 with that one.

How many of these songs did band members write?

Every song on the record was written by the band except for the song "War Zone," which blew us away because it was an obvious tie-in to the record's theme, which was, "where we belong."

Any word for Christian retailers?

I'm excited for retailers to hear our new music, and for audiences to be truly encouraged by these songs. Life is tough, and we all struggle, but hope is rising.

Listen to Christian Retailing's complete conversation with Bruce Marchiano below.

{mp3}BruceMarchianoEdited{/mp3}

FICTION FILE

Ask the author

Brandilyn Collins

Next release: Over the Edge (May).

Publisher: B&H Books

This book is based on your experience with Lyme Disease. What was that like?

Terrifying. I went from being a five-miles-a-day runner to crippled. I could only shuffle short distances with a cane and stand for a few minutes. My mind became trapped in the "brain fog" of Lyme. I stuttered when I spoke. My body hurt so much I didn't want to be touched. I was weak and constantly exhausted. In time I lost the ability to write my novels and even read. And—God was with me! Boy, did He teach me a lot during that time.

You received a miraculous healing in 2003. Did you wait to write this book on purpose?

Not really. I had other contracts to fulfill. Then in 2009 I was re-infected with Lyme. ("God, what in the world are you doing?") After about six months of high-level antibiotics, I recovered from that bout (much less severe than the first episode). I then remembered that great idea for a novel about Lyme that I'd gotten while sitting in the waiting room of my doctor in 2003.

Tell us about how you drew the characters in this book.

My "Seatbelt Suspense" brand promises fast-paced, character-driven suspense with myriad twists and an interwoven thread of faith. I work hard to make my characters multilayered in order to fulfill that promise—and to raise the stakes. I knew my protagonist, Jannie, would be the wife of a doctor who insists chronic Lyme doesn't exist. The antagonist would be an embittered man who's lost a loved one to Lyme and is intent on giving such a doctor a taste of his own denied disease. From there I deepened these characters. Jannie is the child of an alcoholic father. Her marriage is falling apart, and she desperately wants to fix it. When the antagonist purposely infects her with Lyme, she turns to her doctor husband for help. But when he denies she has Lyme, if she pursues her own treatment and testing, she will be defying him, and thus hurting her marriage even more.

Why is Lyme Disease such a hot-button issue?

The "Lyme wars" are a huge ongoing medical battle between very sick patients fighting chronic Lyme and their doctors who treat them with long-term antibiotics versus a powerful group of doctor-researchers who insist that all the bacteria that cause Lyme are killed by a 10- to 20-day round of antibiotics. Therefore, says this latter group, which has the ear of the Centers for Disease Control and has set nationwide policies for the treatment of Lyme, chronic Lyme doesn't even exist. Unfortunately many with Lyme are not well after that short round of antibiotics and need further treatment—but they're denied it. They have to find a Lyme—literate doctor willing to treat—and those doctors are rare.

Have you written "medical fiction" before?

No, but I was sure ready to write Over the Edge. I used my personal experience plus researched a lot. In the back of the book is an extended Author's Note with information on the disease.

What do you hope readers will glean from this novel?

A better understanding of Lyme and the challenges Lyme patients face in battling the disease and the medical community. And, as Jannie learns, I want to remind readers that God is worthy of praise—no matter what's going on in our lives.

ECPA Fiction Top 10

1. The Amish Midwife, Mindy Starns Clark and Leslie Gould (Harvest House Publishers) Note: The authors of this adoption-related novel have both experienced adoption firsthand. One of Gould's daughters was adopted, as was Clark's younger brother.

2. Crossing Oceans, Gina Holmes
(Tyndale House Publishers)

3. Breach of Trust, DiAnn Mills
(Tyndale House Publishers)

4. Whispers on the Wind, Maureen Lang (Tyndale House Publishers)

5. Almost Heaven, Chris Fabry
(Tyndale House Publishers)

6. Unlocked, Karen Kingsbury
(Zondervan)

7. Redeeming Love, Francine Rivers (Multnomah Books)

8. Vanish, Tom Pawlik (Tyndale House Publishers) Note: Pawlik's initial proposal was rejected by numerous publishers before winning the 2006 Christian Writers Guild's Operation First Novel Contest. He finished it in just over a month, shipping it overnight to arrive on the day of the contest deadline.

9. The Brotherhood, Jerry B. Jenkins (Tyndale House Publishers)

10. The Shack, William P. Young
(Windblown Media/Hachette Book Group)

The ECPA list is compiled from sales of Christian books in hundreds of Christian retail outlets nationwide, collected using Pubtrack Christian (www.ptchristian.com). December best-sellers are for the four-week cycle ending February 12, 2011. All rights reserved. © 2010 ECPA. www.ecpa.org.

New fiction releases coming in June:

Beyond All Measure, Dorothy Love (Thomas Nelson)

Breath of Angel, Karyn Henley
(WaterBrook Press) 

Broken Wings, Carla Stewart
(FaithWords)

Chasing Sunsets, Eva Marie Everson (Revell/Baker Publishing Group)

Desert Gift, Sally John (Tyndale House Publishers)

Double Take, Melody Carlson (Revell/Baker Publishing Group)

Lion of Babylon, Davis Bunn (Bethany House/Baker Publishing Group)

Pompeii: City on Fire, T.L. Higley (B&H Books)

Summer Dream, Martha Rogers (Realms/Charisma House)

Targets Down, Bob Hamer (B&H
Books)

The Canary List, Sigmund Brouwer (WaterBrook Press)

Best known for the breakout hit “Glory Defined,” 2005 Dove Award New Artist Of The Year Building 429 has been playing 200 live shows a year. Now a part of the Essential Records/Provident Label Group family, the band sees Listen to the Sound release May 10. Christian Retailing asked lead singer-songwriter Jason Roy about life on the road and the new album.

You’ve been busy touring, haven’t you?

The road has always been a second home for us. Our bus really does start to feel like a house sometimes with the kids on board with us. Some people think we are crazy for how many shows we play each year, but to be honest, we've really never known anything different. When we started years ago, we had a desire to connect with people on a personal level through the music we wrote, so we booked shows and toured like crazy. Social media has made it easier for fans to connect with us, but we as a band struggle with that because it doesn't feel as honest, so we still long for concerts and face-to-face interaction.

Latest project: Renovation of the Church: What Happens When a Seeker Church Discovers Spiritual Formation (Formatio/IVP Books, May).

How would you describe your church before its renovation? 

Carlson (pictured left): Probably very similar to many larger entrepreneurial, attractional, seeker-model churches that had much of their heyday in the 1990s and early 2000s, so there was a high expectation of leadership and excellence, very influenced, of course, by Willow Creek. ... There was the assumption that success always would be reflected by increased attendance and a bigger and bigger buzz.

Lueken (pictured right): The services themselves had a high-performance quotient. … I think the other piece is we always made attempts to emphasize spiritual formation and discipleship, but in those days in the culture we had, discipleship and formation was more in a silo, as a department, for those who were interested.

How were you led to believe you were doing church the wrong way?

Lueken: The turning point for us really was a summer retreat. … We came back from that with the belief that God wanted us to begin to make some changes—we didn't know what those changes were—but begin to turn the church in a direction of genuine experiences with Jesus, which gradually became turn the church toward being a place that teaches people and trains them in how to live in the reality of God's kingdom.

Carlson: We began to talk much more and plan much more and be much more interested in the internal journey that a person has to take if they want to reorient their lives around the teachings of Christ. 

What is your vision for this book?

Carlson: There is a belief in many people that something is very seriously wrong with the church, and we've lost our ability to present the very attractive claims of Christ in a way that is engaging and calls people to some kind of conversion. If this book in any way helps that dialogue as another signpost on the way, then we're thrilled with that.