Last April the group went to North Korea to perform at the 25th Annual April Spring Friendship Art Festival, which promotes goodwill and peace in the country. Casting Crowns was the only U.S. band to perform, which was a huge honor! Keep reading as Megan describes what it was like to sing Jesus over people in North Korea.

Brio: Is there a song on the new album that you really relate to?
Megan: A lot of the songs feel like they were written for me. But on the new album, “Slow Fade” really touches me. I see people who have made a lot of mistakes, and they’re at a place where I think, I’d never be in that place. I’d never allow myself to get there. After hearing Mark’s [lead singer and songwriter] explanation on it, it’s not just one long mistake that causes you to be there. It’s a series of little compromises, where you take something that flatters you and you acknowledge it. And the next time something flatters you, it goes a little bit further. It makes me realize that I need to take every little thing that happens captive and say, “God, what is the right decision I need to make on this?”

Can you relate to the theme of the album, the disconnect between the church altar and the door?
I find myself at church, weeping at the altar or raising my hands and worshiping in full surrender, and by the time I get home, I don’t think twice about turning something [bad] on the TV or making decisions like that. There are so many verses you learn as a child because you want to win an award or your parents are making you. But it’s cool when you get to a point where that Scripture actually means something. It’s moments where everything just clicks, and you say, “Oh, yeah!”

How do you balance being a wife and mom and being on the road touring?
My biggest struggle is getting in the Word every day. I have an almost 2-year-old, Lilly, and I wake up running. So many times I lie down, and I think, I haven’t spent any time with God today. I’ve just been going, going, going. My husband’s a full-time youth pastor, so as a youth pastor’s wife, you can imagine that it’s basically his job for me, too. My house might not be the cleanest at times, and we might be scrambling to have clean clothes. But the ministry gets done, and my family gets taken care of, and somehow God gives me a couple hours in my day.

Do you find that when you can set aside time for God, things seem to fall into place because you’ve made Him a priority?
With starting our new fall tour, all of the band and our families decided to do three days of prayer and fasting. I did media fasting and didn’t turn on the TV. I got up and read, spent time with the Lord, prayed and sat down and played with Lilly. I’m starting to realize that TV is a thief! It really robs your time. It’s funny how when you do spend time in the Word each morning, you don’t worry about anything during the day. It seems like everything falls into place, and then things aren’t as stressful, because your perspectives are really put into place.

Tell me about performing at the Art Friendship Festival in North Korea last April.
I was scared to death to go to North Korea. God taught me a huge lesson in obedience in going. I imagined the plane landing and it being like a black cloud and it being spiritually cold there. But I learned really quickly that God’s already there, and God’s working. A lot of times we think, I’m gonna take God to North Korea or We need to take God to Africa. The reality is He’s already there. You hear so many scary things about North Korea. It was cool to be there and see that they’re people just like we are. They have families, and they have hearts and struggles and issues in their lives, too. They’re just in a different government and a different environment.

What’s one issue that you see the teen girls in your youth group struggling with, and what encouragement would you offer?
God made you in His image. God made you who you are for a reason, and God made you look the way you do for a reason. God thinks you’re amazing, and that’s something I’ve struggled with, especially with what I do for a living. I’m not exactly this little petite supermodel running around, like some of the other artists are. I’m the opposite of that, but God’s still using me in a big way. It has nothing to do with what I look like, it has nothing to do with how I sound; it has everything to do with making myself available.

I have Psalm 45:11 taped to my bathroom mirror: “The king is enthralled by your beauty; honor him, for he is your lord.” I think girls are lied to every time they open a magazine or they turn on the TV. They’re told, “This is how you need to look to be successful. This is how you need to look to have a relationship.” Be proud of who you are and love yourself, because you were made in God’s image.