Tony Cummings quizzed one of America's most popular Christian singers, MICHAEL W SMITH

Michael: I think so. I've always struggled with designating a certain kind of song a worship song. I've never liked labels, really. Too often songs called 'worship songs' pertain only to what happens on Sunday morning. 'Oh man, those songs were awesome.' They don't talk about worship being the hands and feet of Christ, mentoring a kid who's got a drug addiction or reaching out to orphans in Africa. To me it goes back to Isaiah 58. If we're not feeding the poor and taking care of orphans and widows and the downtrodden we can sing worship songs till we're blue in the face but we'll be missing the mark.

Tony: There's a tension in all this because you recorded and filmed an album in a mega church where there's this huge facility, tens of thousands of people, a beautiful building, etc. Isn't there a kind of paradox in that? You're conveying something: look beyond the church, look outwards and yet it's in a setting of relative affluence. Isn't there a tension in all that?

Michael: Well, I think there is a tension in all that and I'm the one that really has to deal with the tension. For me it's sort of trying to find that balance. We want to raise the bar, we want to look great and have excellent lighting and all that. I don't think there's anything wrong with that as long as it's not the primary focus of our attention. I think the key is what's your posture? What's the motivation? Really, everything comes down to motivation. Are you only trying to make a DVD that looks good and sells millions of copies? And I think if you look at the DVD and you watch and see what happens, I sort of let myself go to the point where I lose it on one song, completely lose it. I can tell you, the people involved on that stage were 110 per cent dialled in to the heart of God and being pure in everything that we did. That's what makes it special. Could we have done it for a thousand people in a little run-down church in the ghetto? Yeah. And who says we're not supposed to go do that one day? Although we were in a mega church in Houston, I tried to bring as many races as well. If you look you'll see in the choirs we got black, we got white, Hispanos, Asian, we got the African Children's Choir, we got Israel - there are a lot of peoples represented. Did we just scratch the surface? Maybe, but I'm still very happy with it. And, like I said, maybe we'll even go down deeper next time and not do something so high tech. Maybe we'll do a worship conference in the middle of a street in London somewhere.

Tony: And what about the other tension for you, personally? Here we are, about to experience worship both via the vehicle of the DVD and you singing some songs as well, and yet an hour or so later the people will be lining up for you to sign the DVDs. Isn't there a tension in that?

Michael: There's not a tension for me because I didn't come here to sell DVDs. I know that that's the job of people with me and I don't think there's anything wrong with that. I won't say that I struggle with that because if we didn't sell one DVD I'd sleep really good tonight. It doesn't drop me. I've always struggled - and I'm still trying to work this out - with 'going' to church. I've always felt, how can you 'go' to something that you already 'are'? Here we are at All Souls' Church and it's really just a building. If we were meeting at a pub, having a glass of water and having a chat I'd think we're having church. But then there's this other thing - we're selling product at the back of the church. But I think if you really had to push me on it I would say that I really lean to my first inclination of what church really is and to me this is just the building. It doesn't make any difference if you sold the CD in the back of the All Souls' Church or if you sold it in the back of my van out front, if I did have a van. But I think about it and what gives me peace about it is that I'm not driven by that sort of thing. I just have to make sure that those people that are selling my products - that they're representing me well and that we're not ripping people off. I know a lot of people unfortunately in America, that's how they make their living and it sort of drives them. Merch drives them. I'm not going to let that rule me. I've been fortunate. I've been successful and obviously it's a blessing from the Lord, so it's not anything that I've had to deal with - a financial crisis where it's 'I've got to sell some product or I'm not going to be able to make my house payment.' Those are all kind of tough things you have to work out with the fear of the Lord and do the right thing.