In one of the most revealing interviews that he's ever given, Martin Smith talks to Mike Rimmer on a journey back in time to pivotal moments in the career of Delirious?.

Sometimes this aloof behaviour is something that works in his favour. When he's a bit spaced out, people just think he's being really spiritual! "Oh fantastic! Well what often happens, and the truth actually is that I'll get in a conversation with someone and God will start.this is the terrible thing. I'll be at the back of church chatting to someone and two minutes into the conversation I'll suddenly start getting some God stuff about them. God will start revealing something to me and I will suddenly start to phase out - and they're still talking. And that's why it can appear that I'm being really rude. Sometimes it's because I'm just plain rude and bored, so I'm not excusing myself for that at all. But sometimes there are moments where, 'Okay God, what's this and what should I be saying right now?' You sort of have this out-of-body experience while you're chatting and then you suddenly pull yourself back in. I'll have that at gigs. You'll see me often - 'Where's he gone?!' From being extremely present at a gig and being right there, funny, the boy-next-door, to, where's he gone now?! Suddenly I'm thinking about what's going on, what I should be saying or something's going on and it's like, 'Okay, what's going on now?' It must be difficult to live with and I've got a very gracious wife! But we laugh about it a lot, you know? We laugh about it. But the paradox to that is people say that in some situations people wouldn't imagine me to be sharp and I can be. I can be. And in some business situations I can be really on it and that really then surprises people."

When Smith talks of God revealing stuff to him, he is simply operating in what the Bible classes as gifts of the Holy Spirit. Over the years I am left with the impression that when Delirious? first started out, when they were more focussed as a worship band, that there was more freedom to move in spiritual gifts on stage and in public. I can remember going to gigs and seeing Martin and the band doing that. Over the last few years has there been a shift happening where they are going back in that direction again? "I think there is a little bit," he explains. "I've been reading out lots of Bible stuff from the stage -huge chunks of Scripture. That's just felt like a great thing to do. I'm not worried about the whole thing of picking someone out of the crowd and revealing their life to them. I think that's all wonderful and that's great and we still do that on occasions, prophesy over people. Now the whole thing has become more of a living and breathing what God wants to do in our lives and the way we are behind the scenes. That has become more important to us. So I think it's part of growing up, part of the journey I guess, that you prioritise things differently don't you? The prophetic thing to do that day might be giving someone £200 rather than pulling someone out and saying, 'You're going to be a history maker.' I think it just changes; the dynamic changes and your world opens up doesn't it? You see more need and you see more importance on different things."

The success of Delirious? and the influence of the band has meant that people take Martin Smith much more seriously these days. Relationships are very important for him. In the UK there are a number of worship leaders and musicians that are in his circle and that now stretches to the USA. Does he feel the weight of the responsibility with that? "Wow! I feel like, obviously with the guys that are a little bit younger than myself, there's a responsibility to be a good 'older brother' in that sense. And yet there are guys that 'fathered' me - like Graham Kendrick, Noel Richards and Michael W Smith to some degree, although I don't know him as well, so I could hang onto their coat tails. So I always feel like I'm in the middle, I'm not an old guy yet and yet I'm not a young guy. Walking this world.'I'm a father and a son', that lyric comes out of the feeling that I'm in both worlds a lot of the time. I can be with Michael W and he's asking my wisdom on something and I can be with Tim Hughes and I'm asking his wisdom on something and it's great."

Smith has been involved in the Christian scene for a long time, even before he started working with Delirious?. He's also tried to make it into the mainstream. There is a kind of a snobbery sometimes that an album that is sold to a non-Christian is more worthy or more valuable than an album sold to a Christian. I wondered if he had a perspective on that? "Yeah I used to think that," he admits, "but I don't believe that any more. I think that Christians know what they want to listen to as much as anyone. They know what they like. Within EMI in America, the most profitable part of the company is the Christian part. You can say what you like, but it's a pretty amazing thing to say that. If our fans were completely behind Delirious? just for the ministry, a kind of 'We want to see you get out and have an influence' attitude, then all the records would have sold the same despite what they sounded like. 'Audio Lessonover' would have sold the same whether they liked it or not. But it's not about that. They're discerning people. They know what they like. If they don't like a record they won't buy it. It's as simple as that."

And thankfully, people are still buying Delirious? albums! 'World Service' and 'The Mission Bell' have seen the band winning a younger and completely new fan base. In December 2005, I went to see the band play at Abundant Life Church in Bradford in front of a fiery crowd who seemed to know all the songs from the last two albums but looked confused when they played some of their older "classics". Backstage in a plush lounge room in the heart of the church building, the band arrive and Martin Smith, remembering this interview greets me with the words, "Mike Rimmer! The only journalist to ever make me cry."