A Notebook Line Opens a Difficult Conversation on Adeem the Artist’s New Single

Before “Children of the Lord” became a single, it was a sentence worth keeping. After Adeem the Artist described someone rolling their eyes at something they had done, their friend Dale Mackey responded, “You can roll your eyes to heaven, but I wouldn’t call that a prayer.” Adeem wrote it down.

There is a sharp piece of observation in that line. An action can point toward heaven while expressing impatience with another person. On the new song, that discrepancy becomes the beginning of a broader examination of religious behavior and the values it claims to represent.

The next development came through Leon Timbo, a singer and worship pastor who wanted to open dialogue between evangelical Christians and trans people. His outreach brought a practical purpose to the eventual collaboration: making room for a conversation across a divide that often produces hostility before understanding.

Adeem arrived at their writing session with the notebook and a developing blues riff. The two exchanged lyrics while discussing faith and exile, including the complicated experience of occupying religious spaces alongside people with very different approaches to belief. The song emerged from that specific meeting rather than an abstract exercise in religious criticism.

That origin gives “Children of the Lord” an interesting tension. Its images expose the emptiness of devotion performed without compassion, yet the writing process depended on an effort to extend care across religious differences. The collaboration supplies a human setting for the song’s argument.

The track follows “Hard to Get,” Adeem’s collaboration with The Mountain Goats honoring Christian songwriter Rich Mullins. Both songs belong to Christians for Goliath, an album produced by The Mountain Goats’ John Darnielle that examines belief through a collection of songs and prayers spanning 15 years.

Due December 11 through Four Quarters Records / Thirty Tigers, the album places this writing-room encounter within a much longer spiritual history. “Children of the Lord” is out now, with artist information available at Adeem’s website. A sentence preserved in a notebook has become a song about whether religious life can still accommodate the difficult work of understanding another person.

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