Third Day
- Joel Caballero
- Jun 12
- 5 min read
Updated: 14 hours ago
Third Day was an American Christian rock band formed in Marietta, Georgia in 1991. The band was founded by lead singer Mac Powell, guitarist Mark Lee and Billy Wilkins. The band's name is a reference to the biblical accounts of the resurrection of Jesus on the "third day" following His crucifixion. The band was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame on September 19, 2009. They have sold over 7 million albums in the United States and had 28 number one Christian album chart radio hits. Their fans are known as "Gomers" after a song on their second album about Gomer, who is the wife the prophet Hosea, mentioned in the Bible in the Book of Hosea. They dissolved in 2018 following a farewell tour and reunited in 2025 for a 30th anniversary tour in 2026. During their career, Third Day has won four Grammy Awards and 25 Dove Awards.
In 1991, high-schoolers Mac Powell and Mark Lee formed Third Day as a Christian music group with pianist Billy Wilkins. At a 1992 event at Lee's Church, Third Day performed alongside a band called the Bullard Family Singers, which featured David Carr and Tai Anderson. Third Day invited Carr and Anderson to join them shortly after. In 1993, the band started playing more frequently in the Atlanta region in order to make money to record an album. Wilkins left the group in order to pursue his teaching career. Third Day recorded at Furies Studios in Atlanta and with the production help of Carr, Long Time Forgotten was released in 1993, producing and selling 2,000 copies. In 1994 the band brought on a second guitarist, August McCoy on electric guitar. That same year, the band's second album, Contagious, was self-financed for $3,000 and recorded at Furies Studios. 1,000 CDs and cassette copies of the demo were released. Later that year, August McCoy exited the band to go to college. Also, later that year, while playing in Marietta, at the Strand Theatre, the owners offered the band a contract to sign with new independent record label Gray Dot Records. The band released the album Third Day, which sold 20,000 copies. Shortly after, Reunion Records bought out their Gray Dot contract and signed the band to a multi-album deal.
In 1995, the band started looking for another second guitarist. After hearing Brad Avery play with singer Chris Carder, Avery was asked to audition. After playing "Consuming Fire" during the first rehearsal, Avery was officially asked to join the band. Reunion Records released the now official version of Third Day, which has sold over 300,000 copies and was well received by critics. The album also yielded their only mainstream rock radio hit in the U.S., "Nothing at All," which peaked at No. 34 on the Billboard rock charts. Later in 1996, Christian music headliner Newsboys asked Third Day to open for them at five West Coast shows. The band also launched their own 65-city tour with All Star United and Seven Day Jesus opening for them. In 1997, the band was nominated for a Dove Award in the category of New Artist of the Year and their video for "Consuming Fire" directed by Chris Metzler and Jeff Springer won a Billboard Music Award in the category of Best Christian Video. The video was shot on location in Bombay Beach, California and other places around the Salton Sea. This experience and discovering Leonard Knight's Salvation Mountain nearby later inspired the album artwork for the band's album Revelation. In 1997, the band started working on their second album, Conspiracy No. 5. The album was produced by Sam Taylor, who had previously worked with King's X and other Christian bands. The album was nominated for a Grammy and won Dove Awards for Rock Album of the Year and Rock Recorded Song of the Year for the track "Alien." The following year, the band toured around the United States, both alone and again opening for Newsboys. Also in 1998, the band recorded a cover of Michael W. Smith's "Agnus Dei" for his Dove Award-winning compilation worship project Exodus.
In 1998, Third Day started work on their next album Time with producer Monroe Jones. Time earned the band their second Grammy nomination and won them another Dove Award. Some of the songs that were recorded for possible inclusion in the album, but left out during production, are on the EP Southern Tracks. During the band's live shows they included a significant portion of worship music, prompting the band to release an album made up exclusively of worship songs. The subsequent album Offerings: A Worship Album took about a week to record. In 2000, to support both Time and Offerings, Third Day went on tour alongside female rock singer - songwriter Jennifer Knapp. Later in the same year, the band collaborated on the project City on a Hill: Songs of Worship and Praise with FFH, Caedmon's Call, SonicFlood, Jars of Clay, and others. In 2001, the band played in Australia and New Zealand on the heels of the success of the Offerings album. While touring in the US, Third Day recorded a concert attended by 15,000 fans at the HiFi Buys Amphitheatre in Atlanta to be released as their first DVD, The Offerings Experience.
Third Day won more Dove Awards and, additionally, Grammy Awards throughout the 2000s. More albums were released in the 2000s: Come Together, Offerings II: All I Have to Give, Wire, Wherever You Are, Christmas Offerings and Revelation. The band entered the 2010s with Move, Miracle and Lead Us Back: Songs of Worship. Then in 2017, Third Day celebrated their 25th anniversary with their final studio album Revival. On March 2, 2018, Third Day announced a farewell tour with 12 shows and then later expanded to 20 shows. They performed their final show in Denver, Colorado on June 27, 2018.
In June 2025, the band announced that they would regroup with the lineup of Powell, Lee, Carr, and Anderson to celebrate their 30th anniversary with a tour which began March 2026, emphasizing that the tour would not produce a reunion, just the band playing their greatest hits of their Christian radio and worship songs.
On June 12, 2026, Third Day was featured in a new re-imagined recording of TobyMac's track "Campfire (That Very Love)" and released as a non-album digital track.
More information on Third Day at Wikipedia:
Discography
Independent releases:
Long Time Forgotten (1993)
Contagious (1994)
Third Day (1995)
Major releases:
Miracle (2012)
Lead Us Back: Songs of Worship (2015)
Revival (2017)
Live From the Farewell Tour (2019)
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