We Are Messengers' Darren Mulligan: "Joy is not a place. It's a mindset"
For their fourth studio release, Where the Joy Is, We Are Messengers wanted to make a simple record that expressed gratitude yet with the simplicity of the Gospel.
The K-LOVE Fan Award-winning band, whose origins are rooted in Ireland, have crafted a remarkable album of arena-pop that is intended to radiate with the overflowing love of God’s love for humanity.
Each of the album’s 10 tracks were either written or co-written by We Are Messengers front man Darren Mulligan, along with additional songwriting contributions from Ben Fuller, and record-label mate Blanca.
Currently on a world tour to support Where the Joy Is, We Are Messengers have been selling out shows near and far with stops in Australia, New Zealand, and the United States thus far with more to come as the year goes on.
I recently sat down with the engaging Mulligan to discuss his heart for the lost and hurting, how he had to fight to find joy in his own life, and why he allowed other artists to collaborate with him on what was a highly personal recording project.
If you were trying to encourage a friend or family member to take the time to listen to your new album, Where the Joy Is, what would you say to convince them? What would your sales pitch be?
That's a good question. I would say that we are not the best band in the world. This is not the greatest record ever made. I am not the most important thing in the world, and that the local church is the hope of the world. That Jesus is the only one who is good and worthy of being glorified and honored, but that this record is the best thing I could ever have done to communicate how the joy of the Lord is possible to have in your life, even when your life hurts just like hell.
As a singer/songwriter, there always seems to be a trigger, a tipping point, or a moment where you say to yourself, “I have to make this record!” For Where the Joy Is, what was that moment for you?
That's another great question. It was probably about two years ago, maybe three. I think I had got to the point in my life, in my career, where I was sick and tired of being sick and tired. I was emotionally and physically drained. I felt like I was running on empty, trying to continue to grow a career to be successful. I was just burned out. I was weary, finished and done. I think I was at the end of my line that I found the joy of the Lord. I'd always confused joy with a very western view of happiness, which is that you can find happiness by buying things or getting things. I never really was into buying stuff. Like you can tell that by the way I dress.
I was into gaining more success, I thought I'd be happier by studying harder. I thought I'd be happier by doing more good and being a better person. And I was doing all these things that weren't bad to try and be happy, and I was pretty miserable. And it was then that I realized in Matthew 11:28-30, Jesus says, and I’m essentially paraphrasing two verses that say, “Come for a walk with me. Watch how I do it, and you'll find rest for your weary soul.” When I started doing that, primarily through reading the Scriptures every day, praying, trying to walk like He walked, trying to love the people like He loved, the things He loved, joy started to kind of permeate through all of my disappointment, heartache, suffering and loss, and joy became the glue that was holding my life together.
That in turn, allowed me to be a better husband, a better daddy, a better front man in the band, and a better songwriter. Joy is fully available. And I'm on that journey, and it's not happiness. Happiness is fleeting, but this joy is permanent. I wanted to communicate that with the world and with the audience God has given us. I think we've done that faithfully on this record, and I’m excited about how it is leading other people to explore that idea of joy not being a place or disposition, but being Jesus in our lives.
Before we dive into the album, let's talk about your songwriting for a moment. In listening to your music, I can’t help but notice that you really seem to have a heart for the lost and hurting. It really shines through in your songs. Where does that sensitivity come from?
I think it just comes from being lost and hurting. Before Jesus, I was lost and hurting. And with Jesus, I've been lost in many ways. Well, not lost in a salvation way. I've been lost in direction. I've been lost in feelings of purpose and hopefulness. I've gone far from Jesus, often before I knew Him, after knowing Him. And I have a real soft spot for people who wrestle with God and who wrestle with life. I guess part of this band's role is to remind humans that it's okay to be human and let God be God. So, I don't play Savior in this band or in our songs. My only job is to point people towards the One who can redeem and see it and heal and restore.
I remember seeing you perform on the Winter Jam tour several years ago and I made a mental note to myself that night that, “This band is different. There is something about them that is special.” And what I concluded is that you truly have a gift of storytelling and a heart for ministry. Do you feel that those two things are at the core of your music?
That's amazing. Thank you for that. That Winter Jam was like the first time we ever played shows, which was 2015. Was it that long? Wow! Storytelling is what Irish people do. We have a tradition of telling stories. Oral stories passed down from generation to generation for thousands of years. And so I think stories change the world and they change our hearts. When you tell stories that line up Biblically with the Word of God, I think that's a really powerful combination in terms of helping people towards life change. And when you put stories, the spirit of God, Biblical accuracy, and melody together, that allows us to talk about hard things that we can't during a conversation. So, I can talk to you and you can switch off, but when lyrics, melody, and storytelling are all bound up together, they sneak up over the walls that we build around ourselves to protect ourselves. That's what we do. We plant seeds through lyrics and melody, and God waters, grows, does the work, and we just say yes to what He's called us to do.
As I mentioned earlier, the new album is called, Where the Joy Is. Finding where the joy is has become such a vital pursuit for so many people in this mental health world we are living in. Let me transpose the title by one word to ask you the question … where is the joy?
So in the album title track “Where the Joy Is”, there's a line in the pre-chorus that says, “Joy is not a place, it's a disposition. And a grateful heart doesn't need convincing.” And the convincing you don't need is that God is good because you're going to know it, because joy is not in a place, it's a disposition. It's a mindset. It's a posture of life towards the things that Jesus cares about, and then ultimately towards the goodness of God. And so when you see this, and life teaches you this, that if you stay with Jesus long enough, everything you look back at will have proven itself to be beautiful through the lens of what God is doing. So joy doesn't change depending upon my circumstances, and it doesn't change depending upon my emotions, my feelings, my mood, or my abundance. Joy is the steady presence of Jesus in our lives. And I think it's most attainable and only attainable through the Word of God and the Holy Spirit's continual revelation towards us through the Word of God.
For this record, you wrote songs with an array of the industry’s most respected lyricists. Was that a conscious, intentional decision to do this or did it just sort of happen organically?
This record was very intentional in that regard because for a lot of our other records, we would've written … for the first record you ever heard from us, We Are Messengers, I wrote 130 songs for that album. And then for the others, I probably wrote anywhere from 20 to 40. But before we even put pen to paper on this record, I told my record label I was going to write 14 songs, and we were going to cut 10 of them. And that's exactly what we did because I knew the titles, and I knew the ideas. I knew what the story that needed to be told was. And so, when I chose who I was going to write with, they were all people I knew could help me tell those stories both lyrically, melodically, and with the production it needed. I'm really pleased with how it all turned out because it sounds like joy, and it tells the story of joy through the lens of great contentment and great suffering. And it makes room for everybody to come closer to that experience. But I can't bring them joy. Only Jesus can do that.
After audiences have had a chance to listen to Where the Joy Is what would you like people to get out of the listening experience? What is your greatest hope for the record?
I hope they roll the windows down and I hope they smile. And they shout these courses at the top of their lungs and they have a good time doing it. Primarily, I hope that they realize joy is not for somebody else, but that joy is for them too. And that they can attain it, but only through Jesus. Everything else is secondary and supplementary. Jesus is only where the joy is.
WATCH A MUSIC VIDEO OF WE ARE MESSENGERS FROM THEIR CURRENT TOUR:
