Shane and Shane
Shane & Shane: Igniting Hearts for the Gospel
Passion for the Gospel… that’s the best way to describe the music ministry of Shane & Shane. After seven studio releases and half million records sold, Shane Everett and Shane Barnard still share a burning passion for igniting hearts for the Gospel. A long time favorite in the college circuit, their recent success has not clouded their focus on the reason for doing what they do. “The ministry of Shane & Shane is to just tell people about Jesus,” explains Shane Barnard.
Flash back nearly thirteen years to 1997... Shane Everett was a senior business major at Texas A&M University who performed after-hour gigs with a rock band to make extra cash on the side. It was in a most unlikely place – in a bar – that Everett experienced the rebirthing of his heart. One night after performing, he felt the Spirit of God prompting him to “come home.” To Everett, the bar scene that night became a sobering picture of destruction and waste that mirrored the condition of his heart. He decided that night he was done with that life and made a life-changing commitment to follow Jesus Christ. He quit the band and began attending church regularly. It was at Central Baptist Church in College Station, Texas, that he met Shane Barnard, who was leading worship for college students at the time.
Shane Barnard was not raised in a Christian home, nor was music a big part of his family life growing up. He found the Gospel late in his high school years, and he began his music ministry in a basement leading worship for a group of six friends after teaching himself four chords on an old prop guitar he had lying around the house.
Today the Shanes consider themselves ambassadors for Christ, and they will admit that everything has changed in a thousand different ways since each of them first encountered God. The title track of their latest album, Everything Is Different, points to the vast differences between the old mindset and the new perspective we gain with Christ.
“My father’s passing was my first up close experience with death,” Barnard says. “Christ took the sting out of death. He conquered sin and death. That is completely different from the hopelessness of experiencing the death of a loved one outside of Christ. Conversely, walking through marriage (to Bethany Dillon) in light of who Jesus is, and what He said about marriage, is vastly different from the horror stories you hear from people in the world who view marriage as just two people trying to get along in the same space. ‘Everything is Different’ is a song about all of these things that are completely changed and how different they are in Christ.”
InnerVoice had the opportunity to sit down with Shane Everett and Shane Barnard during the NJ leg of their Glory in the Highest tour, and they shared their insight on their latest project, Everything Is Different.
SB: Musically speaking it’s much less “produced.” The last year or so we’ve been playing with guitars and percussion and just getting back to the old roots to what we did and sort of mirrored that on this CD. We had a really great buddy and phenomenal musician who came in and played the guitar with me. Him and I and Joey, our drummer, we all tracked live.
IV: I heard you guys set up four mics and did it in a room until you got it right, which is different than what you’ve done in the past, right?
SB: Yeah, totally. Usually it’s nitpicking.
IV: It probably took some pressure off.
SE: Yeah, we had fun. The last couple of records we had a good time making, but this one in particular felt easy to make.
IV: Is there a song that is your favorite on this album?
SB: My favorite right now is a song called “Worthy of Affection,” the third track. It’s based around a scripture in Hebrews 1 that says Jesus isthe radiance of the glory of God and that He is the perfect representation of God’s nature and that He upholds all things by the Word of His power. I read that and it’s a powerful, powerful sentence. The Lord this summer softened my heart to it.
Among the most devotionally focused singer/songwriters of this generation, for Shane & Shane, it all comes back to the creative source. Borrowing heavily from scripture and interpretations of scripture, for Barnard, songwriting has simply always been an extension of worship.
IV: I know that many of the songs you guys have are based on scripture or a verse that speaks to you.
SB: Yeah, definitely.
IV: Does the scripture or verse come first or does the melody and music come first?
SB: Yes, Yes.
IV: All of the above?
SB: Haha… I would say most of the time the scripture comes first but… I’m not a true musician in the fact that I don’t naturally gravitate to play music in my free time. It’s usually something else.
IV: Hard to believe. How then do you like to spend your free time?
SB: Well, he (Everett) is a family man.
SE: Yeah, it’s family stuff. You know, we’re gone so much, we’re working a lot. Traditionally, over the last 10 years we’ve been on the road hundreds of days a year so to get home is usually maintenance. It’s like, “Oh my gosh, I haven’t paid three bills,” or “Wait, I have to go to the DMV,” or “I have to go to the bank…”
SB: Or “We’re leaving tomorrow and I don’t have a plane ticket.”
SE: Yeah, it’s just constant.
Celestial harmonies and Barnard’s intricate acoustic guitar work have become trademarks of Shane & Shane’s music. Placing the musical inspiration from the Gospel into a context that their audience can embrace is a skill that both Shane Everett and Shane Barnard have learned to do at an exceptionally high level. Over the years, they have made quite a name for themselves, while still managing to keep Christ at the center of it all.
IV: I know you guys are very grounded in your faith, but because you’re so good at what you do and have such a big following, do you guys ever struggle with the whole celebrity thing? You know, not letting it get to your head? 
SB: We both grew up extremely blue collar. And music for the both of us came out of left field, so it’s all God. I still have no idea. I feel like a lot of times when I sit down to write a song I’m like, “What am I doing?” It’s just all very much a sovereign thing in our lives. It’s embarrassing in the Spirit to in any way take any kind of credit, and it’s embarrassing between us if we start strutting around or if we treat someone like they don’t need to be treated or we’re not serving.
SE: It’s just a lot of built-in accountability with each other because there is grounding. The Lord knows us well enough individually and is gracious to put another brother in the driver’s seat. It’s not always comfortable, but it’s really good.
IV: That’s got to be special. Accountability is important.
SE: Honestly, we don’t get a lot [of attention]. People come up to talk to us and say things like, “I was really struggling with something” or “Thanks for saying something” or somehow a song touched them in a really cool way. But it’s always the Lord. We go to the mall and no one knows who we are. We get recognized at our concerts.
IV (to SB): And I know you have your wife (Bethany Dillon) on tour with you so I’m sure she also keeps you grounded.
SB: Yeah… She could care less about being a rock star. It’s the last thing she would ever want to be known as.
For Shane & Shane, it’s never been about the image of the band or their music. Whether it’s leading worship for an audience of thousands or worshipping in a basement with six guys, for this duo it has always been about seeking the approval of God over the approval of man – to be satisfied with the Creator over things created.
In their lives and in their lyrics, Shane & Shane resonate with a heavenly perspective focused on Christ and not circumstance.
“He calls a desert a doorway of hope. He turns ashes into beauty, changes mourning into dancing. He trades heaviness for a garment of praise. He brings dead hearts to life. He makes a way where there is no way. Things are possible in Jesus that just aren't possible. Everything is VERY different.” 
For more information on Shane & Shane visit:
www.shaneandshane.com or www.inpop.com