[THEME MUSIC]

Hey, family.

We are here at CBN, and I'm so ecstatic today

to have William McDowell with us here in the studio.

Yay.

Hi.

Thank you.

Privilege to be here.

DEMETRIA STALLINGS: Tell me about childhood.

What was it like growing up in Ohio and Cincinnati?

Sure.

I was set apart at a very early age by the Lord.

Didn't necessarily understand it, at times

resented the isolation and the perceived loneliness

and some of those other things.

And I talk about this quite a bit,

because I a season where I say I had no friends.

And it's not that I was not around anyone.

I just didn't happen to have people with like hearts.

Looking back on it now, what I recognize

that it was God saying you're mine,

you know, separating me at an early age.

It's the Lord who chooses by His own sovereignty

and by His own grace.

The scripture says He saved us and called us

with a holy calling, not according to our own works,

but according to His purpose.

And so my childhood was one in which I served the Lord,

was set apart.

Lonely at times, misunderstood at times,

but always actively involved in the things of God.

I've been in church participating in worship

and music since the age of 12.

Wow

So I've been doing this for a long, long time.

Your new album was in Louisiana.

WILLIAM MCDOWELL: Yes.

How was that?

It was amazing.

People ask me all the time, why did you record

in Baton Rouge, Louisiana?

And my answer is because of Bethany Church.

They are a church that gets it.

And what I mean by that is emotionalism

can mask itself as worship.

And so a lot of times you have to be really careful to find

places that revelation of God leads to worship.

What you hear on the CD is 3,000 people

who just absolutely go for it.

And so they're really kind of the star of the CD,

so to speak.

It's the sound that they release corporeally,

not a sound that comes from the stage, but a sound that

comes from a collective group of people.

DEMETRIA STALLINGS: Amazing.

So I'm going to play this little game really quick.

I'm going to say some words--

OK.

--and first thing that pops into your mind--

Uh-oh.

--you're going to say, OK?

Good.

You ready?

I won't promise you that.

OK.

You might have to be like, oh, let's wait for a little bit.

OK.

Cincinnati.

Skyline Chili.

Great.

Family.

--I love them.

Yeah.

Christ.

My everything.

Florida.

Home.

Ron Kenoly.

I can't just say one word about Ron Kenoly.

Let me say this about Ron Kenoly.

I learned a lot about what I'm doing in the nations

right now from my time with him.

And I liken it to this story.

See, I'm supposed to say one word.

I've got to give you this story.

Go ahead.

Give me the

You know when Jesus went to raise

Jairus' daughter from the dead?

He took Peter, James, and John with him.

And then when they got there, there were all these mourners.

And he threw them all out, and then he

raised her from the dead.

And then later on, after Jesus had died and resurrected,

Dorcas dies and now Peter goes to raise Dorcas from the dead.

And when he gets there, he finds mourners,

and so he puts them all out.

And he raises Dorcas from the dead.

At no point did Jesus tell Peter, James, and John

that if you go to raise somebody from the dead,

you need to throw all the mourners out first.

They learned by watching.

What I've discovered is that sometimes I know what to do,

because I saw him do it.

Wow.

Yeah.

That's good stuff.

Yeah, you couldn't just say one word.

WILLIAM MCDOWELL: No.

I couldn't say one word.

We needed to hear that.

Latae.

Did I say her name right?

That's my wife.

Yes.

I love her.

Worship.

One word?

I'm making this difficult.

WILLIAM MCDOWELL: Worship.

Worship is worship.

There's no one word for worship.

I'll say that it is-- there's no one word for it.

You can't do that to me.

OK.

We'll go.

How about we just say music?

Music.

Yeah.

OK.

These are two-- I'm not a one-word person.

Worship and music.

Music has been an amazing tool to open up

an aspect of my relationship to God to the world.

Yeah.

And so it's worship.

DEMETRIA STALLINGS: Great.

See?

There you go.

You kind of--

But that wasn't one word.

It wasn't one word.

You're right.

It wasn't one word.

OK.

Let's say this one.

This one might be difficult. This is the last one.

All right.

You ready?

Uh-huh.

William McDowell.

One word?

Or or phrase.

We'll say a phrase.

At the end of the day, none of this

matters if I lose my family.

And so I think that at the end of the day,

I want my legacy to be that my kids carry on.

Yeah.

It's good.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Thank you for being intentional with this

and sharing your heart.

Absolutely.

We need to see that.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Bless you.

Bless you too.

All right, guys.

So go get his new CD, and you can see it on CBN.com

or you can even go to WilliamMcDowellMusic--

did I say that?

WILLIAM MCDOWELL: You did.

Dot com.

WILLIAM MCDOWELL: You did.

All right.

Thank you for joining us.

See you later.

Bye.

[THEME MUSIC]