#NewHymn: Oh, The All-Consuming Torrent

Hey, y'all! I know it's not a very catchy title, but I'm so excited to share this new hymn with you. I wrote it a few days ago as I was reading old hymn texts. Although I've written quite a few songs for congregational singing, this is my first one written in hymn form. I hope you enjoy it.

I botched one word on the demo. The correct words are on the sub-titles. Also, the chords that I play are a little different than the chords on the chart. Such is the nature of playing live.

If you enjoyed the song and would like to use it in your church or personal worship time, here's an MP3 demo, lead sheet, and chord chart. If you do use it, please let me know how it goes or send me a video of your congregation singing the song.

Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

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Behold the Lamb, Slain From The Foundation

I received a question recently regarding "Behold the Lamb". 

"Can anyone explain the first verse of 'Behold the Lamb' to me?

How was He slain from the start?"

I'll try to answer this as thoroughly and succinctly as I can. The basis of "slain from the foundation of the world" comes from Revelation 13 verse 8.

All who dwell on the earth will worship [the beast], whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. (NKJV)

From my research, this is one possible interpretation of the Greek text. The other is this:

All who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain. (NASB)

That leaves us with a question: Which one is correct?

The answer is: "Both translations are correct."

Revelation 17:8 suggests that the names of those who are saved are written in the Lamb's Book of Life from before the foundation of the world.

However, 1 Peter 1:20 suggests that the Lamb was foreordained to be slain from before the foundation of the world and was manifest 2000 years ago.

Obviously, for lyrical reasons, I chose the translation that suggests that the Lamb was slain from the foundation of the world. Here are three implications of that interpretation:

1. God's plan to send His Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins was not Plan B. The death of the Lamb was foreordained from before creation.
2. Because the Lamb was slain from before creation, its sufficiency spans time. That is how the Old Testament saints were saved. They were washed in Christ's blood the same as you and me. That is how the Bible says that Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. Whose righteousness? Christ's righteousness, imputed to him through His death, burial and resurrection that would not occur on earth until thousands of years later. 
3. The promises of God are as good as done. Even when we do not yet see evidence of God's promises being fulfilled, we can trust that they are already fulfilled in Christ. Consider in Luke 1 when Zechariah learns that he and his wife are to have a son who will be the forerunner to the Messiah. Once John the Baptist is born, Zechariah prophesies, "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David..." The Messiah had not even been born yet and Zechariah speaks of the promised salvation in the past tense. 

I appreciate your commitment to singing songs that are theologically accurate. I hope that this brings some clarity to the question and that you can sing this song with confidence that it is true.

Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

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Justified - New original song

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[VIDEO] - Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus - Old Hymn Made New

Hey, Y'all! I back with another new song for you. This is actually another old song that I've re-worked and added a new chorus.

The song is "Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus". It's a hymn text by Charles Wesley. The third verse is from another Wesley text called "Love Divine, All Loves Excelling". I was turned on to this arrangement by my friend Dennis Worley at Brentwood Baptist Church in Tennessee.

No gift given or received will ever match the gift of grace given us in the person of Jesus Christ. Advent remembers our longing, celebrates the fulfillment of that longing, and looks forward to the return of the King.

Enjoy!



If you like the song and would like to download it, you can go get it from PraiseCharts or Bandcamp. PraiseCharts recently featured it on their Advent/Christmas eBlast. Check it out!

Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

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[VIDEO] Perfectly Well - New Original Song

Here is a new song I just finished recording and mixing. I wrote this song over a year ago and got the drums recorded by a fantastic local drummer, Jeff Shelton. Life got busy and I didn't get the rest of the song done and then my hard drive crashed and I lost the files. Thankfully, I found an mp3 of a rough drum mix and was able to build an arrangement on it. Joel Bezaire from Nashville Bass Works brought the low end and I filled out the rest. I'm really pleased with this song and recording and I hope you enjoy it.

Perfectly Well
Words and Music by Toby Baxley
© 2013 Toby Baxley (Admin. by PraiseCharts Publishing, Inc.)

The song is posted for sale on PraiseCharts or you can go to my Bandcamp page and purchase the media package. For $5, you'll get the full listening version, stereo accompaniment tracks, a lead sheet, and chord chart.

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[VIDEO] Holy, Holy, Holy (Filled With Your Glory) - New Hymn

Hey, y'all! I want to share a little project I've been working on. I intended to record and release this tune on the hymns album that I recorded at my church. However, my computer dropped out during the live recording and I might should have cut and picked up where it dropped out. I didn't do that at the time and, last week, decided to record a full band version.

I hope you enjoy it.



Thank you for watching. Please comment, like, share, tweet, and whatever else you do if you're so inclined. If you're interested in downloading the audio, including accompaniment tracks, and a click/loop track, go here.

Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

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Are We Lying to God When We Sing?

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Image courtesy of Teerapun / freedigitalphotos.net

I ran across an interesting post on Bob Kauflin's Worship Matters  blog today. Bob answers a reader's question about truth telling in congregational singing. Is it wrong to sing lyrics expressing our deep devotion when, in reality, we are often less than wholly devoted to God? If I sing "I Surrender All" but I am struggling with giving up certain aspects of my life, am I lying to God? If I sing, "You're all I want. You're all I've ever needed," when my wants are anything but focused on the kingdom, am I in danger of the same judgement that Ananias and Sapphira received in the book of Acts?

Honestly I have struggled with this question ever since I've been singing songs in worship. I have even shied away from using certain songs in worship leading for the very reasons described above.

It turns out that I may have needlessly omitted some songs from my repertoire.

Read more...

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How To Get Better Sermon Recordings [with examples]

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One of my responsibilities as Worship Leader at Garden Valley Bible Church is to consult on technology needs and implement necessary changes. I actually really enjoy this part of my job description. I'm sort of a gear nerd--especially related to audio--so this is right up my alley. I like making things work on a budget and re-purposing gear the church already owns. 

In-Ear Monitors

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I wanted to take some time today to discuss in-ear monitoring. Our church uses the Aviom personal monitor mixing system. We are a bit limited with this system if we intend to grow the numbers in our ministry (which we do). We have four mixer stations as well as the input module. Our system is for sale if you'd like to make us an offer. We would like to invest the money into a different solution that might better meet our needs. I spent some time with our producer to re-configure the system so that the four instrumentalists would have a monitor mixer and the singers would have a floor wedge fed from the house board. We had to run some cabling under the stage and re-plug all the inputs and inserts to feed the Aviom A/D converter.

I listed below some of the pros and cons of an in-ear system. I have used Avioms before, so I was able to anticipate the cons and build in some workarounds.

We Repeat to Remember

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Do you remember this clip from Sesame Street? A little girl is sent to the store by her Mom to pick up three things: A loaf of bread, a container of milk, and a stick of butter. All the way to the store she repeats these things to herself over and over so that she'll remember what she is supposed to buy.  

Dear Worship Leaders: Lead Better Songs

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A few days ago, I was listening to some music on Spotify. I love Spotify because I can call up almost anything that has ever been released to the public. This particular time I was listening to some country music that I enjoyed in high school and early college. Oh alright! It was Little Texas. I think they were a great band that had a few great songs, but they were plagued with too many mediocre songs (and interpersonal problems). This post is not about Little Texas, though.

I couldn't help but notice that I remembered every word to every song. I don't walk around in my daily life trying to remember words to Little Texas songs, but here they were like I had just listened to the songs yesterday. Not only could I remember every word, I remembered every guitar lick and motif.

The Demise of Congregational Singing

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In recent years, the practice of congregational singing has been on the decline in the Church as a whole. Many practices fall out of popularity due to non-importance, but congregational singing is very important and its decline has led to or is a result of the lack of spiritual fervor in the Church. I believe this de-valuation of congregational singing is due to four things:

1. Consumer culture - We go to church to be impressed or served instead of joining with one another to celebrate God's goodness.
2. Entertainment-driven church culture - By and large, the church has catered to our consumer culture instead of shaping it. The loud music and multi-media presentations encourage little more than spectatorial participation. 
3. Songs that do not encourage singing - Songs promoting weak theology or that are self-centered do not encourage our hearts to sing. 
4. Biblical ignorance or apathy - We either don't know or don't care. Maybe both.

I want to begin a discussion on the why, what, and how of congregational singing to get us thinking toward how to rekindle passionate sung worship in our churches.

[VIDEO] New song - Justified

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Hey, friends! I'm excited to share a new song with you. I wrote it a couple of weeks ago and I'm really pleased with it. I had been sitting on this one line, "We, who deserve death, find ourselves swimming in a sea of forgiveness," for months. I did not know where to go with the song but, months later, I stumbled upon a chorus idea. I was really excited to be able to put the two ideas together. I think this is possibly my best song to date. It is definitely my most doctrinally-formative songs. Here's a video of me leading the song at Bethel Bible Church Arbor Campus in Tyler, Texas yesterday. Under the video, you'll see a link to download my acoustic demo and a lyric/chord chart.

or click here to view the files.

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Acquired Taste | Jeremy Clay Price

I'd love for you to check out this project that I produced, mixed, and mastered for my friend, Jeremy Price. Jeremy is a friend from college days. He and his Wife, Jen, are missionaries in South Africa. They're currently on sabbatical in Texas and Jeremy contacted me about helping him produce an album. This was a special project for both of us. Jeremy and I played in a worship band together when we were first getting started with worship leading. I hope you enjoy.

[Video] New Song - Let Us Fix Our Eyes

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Here is a new original song for worship. I wrote the lyric based on a passage in Hebrews 12. It is a short song, so I used it in the place of a spoken exhortation or scripture reading between songs. Hope you enjoy!

[Video] New Song - Behold The Lamb

Here is a new song I wrote back in January. I'm glad to share it with you. Take a look:



Behold The Lamb by Toby Baxley
© Copyright 2011 Toby Baxley (admin. by PraiseCharts Publishing, Inc.)

CLICK HERE to download the MP3 and sheet music. The first 15 commenters will receive a download link via email to download the music for free.

[Video] Psalm 47

Here is a video that I produced for my church a few months ago. My son, Garrett, is the narrator and I programmed the synth. Hope you enjoy!