INTERVIEW
Joy to the World
By David Sisson and Lisa Ryan
The 700 Club
CBN.com
– Christian recording artist Joy Williams is a California surfer-girl
who has become a role model for her generation. Her singing career has moved
her from Santa Cruz to Nashville.
LISA RYAN: How has your life changed?
JOY WILLIAM: I just think it’s changed so much from everything, from
living in a room to living out of a suitcase, from going from the land of
granola to the land of grits. (Laughter)
 LISA
RYAN Joy, you were raised in a Christian home and came to know the Lord at
an early age. In fact, your dad ran a Christian conference center in the mountains
of California. What was it like growing up in that atmosphere?
JOY WILLIAMS: It was so beautiful. It is waterfalls and redwood trees, and
we had people in and out of our home and out of this camp all year 'round
every day. I grew up having wonderful people sit down to desserts -- like
Chuck Swindoll and Bruce Wilkinson and Tony Compolo -- and I mean I grew up
in an atmosphere of having to serve, like cleaning cabins and child care,
but then got to be fed not only great dessert, but great conversation from
amazing people who love the Lord.
LISA RYAN: You have some incredible credits to your name. While you were
still in high school, you were a varsity athlete, 4.0 GPA, class valedictorian,
debuted your first album. How did you juggle all of that?
JOY WILLIAMS: A lot of prayer and caffeine! (Laughter) I look back at that
period of life, and I have no idea how I got through that but by the grace
of God. I mean, I would go to school Monday through Friday, having planned
a Student Council event, a rally, or having just played a game, would fly
out that day to Nashville, record all weekend long, take a red-eye on Sunday
night, fly back, get there on Monday and leave the airport and go directly
to school, having done my homework, hopefully, on the plane.
LISA RYAN: You actually studied other religions as well in school. I know
that was kind of a pivotal point in your relationship with God.
JOY WILLIAMS: It was a very pivotal point in my life. I was actually 14,
a young age to be thinking about things like that. Grace, I think, was the
one thing that kind of sealed the deal for me. Christ says, 'I love you as
you are.'
LISA RYAN Joy, you take a really firm stand on purity and really support
the True Love Waits ministry. Why do you think it’s so important for
your generation to hear the message?
JOY WILLIAMS: Because a lot of what we see during the day is the exact opposite
of purity and of integrity and of purpose and of being cherished. The purity
is not just the sexual purity that we need to strive for; it’s an emotional
purity that really goes back to an identity in Christ, which I think that
our generation has struggled to regain. We’re the generation that gets
impatient with the microwave. And so, for us to think about an eternal relationship
and something that we might not be able to see instantaneously is a challenge.
We can find that purity and that wholeness and that amazing relationship in
Christ.
LISA RYAN (reporting): Joy Williams is no longer just the new kid on the
block. This year she’s a Dove award nominee for Female Vocalist of the
Year and for Best Pop Album.
LISA RYAN: What does it feel like to be honored in this way?
JOY WILLIAMS: It is so overwhelming. It’s wonderful, and it’s a
great privilege. To be in the category with some of the great women and some
of the other musicians that I’ve looked up to and that I know personally
and who really do walk the walk, to be lumped in that category is very humbling.
Joy’s newest CD is titled By Surprise.
 JOY
WILLIAMS: The title, By Surprise, comes two-fold: Number one, I love
C. S. Lewis, and he has a book called Surprised by Joy. The other side
of the coin is that I have been nothing but surprised by the Lord these past
couple of years. I grew up in California, was a surfing chick and loved to
play sports and never thought I would leave too far from home, yet God has
just decided to say, 'Hey, not just because of you or what you’ve done,
but I think I want to use you,' and plucked me up from California, dropped
me in Nashville, and then all around the world.
LISA RYAN: What is ahead for Joy?
JOY WILLIAMS: Oh, goodness. Right now it’s traveling, hanging out with
girls, and spending time with family when I can get the chance, and working
on music, and seeing what else God has up His amazingly wonderful sleeve.
LISA RYAN: And taking you…by surprise.
JOY WILLIAMS: Taking me definitely by surprise.
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