thesurrendersound

An interesting title, right? It was the line used by the promotional speakers from a skit during last weekend’s Disciple Now at Walnut Ridge Baptist Church in Mansfield, Texas.  What was once a small group of less than 100 students has quickly doubled in size. WRBCSM students are sharing their faith and bringing friends to Christ – what an incredible thing. It’s so encouraging to watch as the Lord continues to bless Derek Mathews’ personal walk and ministry.

It was the first time to take Jeremy Petticrew and TJ Cople on the road with this ministry. I had Justin Romack on drums, as well. It was great – even from the first downbeat, these students were engaged and excited to sing to our God and King, and it set a fantastic tone for the remainder of the weekend. Some musical highlights included – “How He Loves”, “Fires”, “Our God” and “God is Faithful”.

A funny thing happen during the weekend – I got sick, much like last year’s DNOW with WRBCSM. Even though it was a measly, little sinus infection, it got me a bit frustrated, which is silly when you consider more significant trials others are facing out there. Famine? Abuse? Death? I couldn’t understand it, I just kept asking God why He’d allow this sickness to hit me again – and at the exact same place and event. Despite the slight sinus struggles, God was lifted high both nights. It was our prayer that the Lord would have us decrease as He was increased and exalted.

It was also a huge blessing to meet Casey Cease, another road warrior and pastor and speaker out of the Houston area. We were so blessed by his testimony – which you absolutely must hear sometime. It’s a powerful reminder that no matter who you are, where you’ve been and despite your circumstances, God can, and will, use you to glorify His name. Definitely hope to cross paths with Casey again very soon.

The weekend was filled with beautiful illustrations of how, despite what we do and offer, God always shows up. No matter whether we’re sick, tired, out of tune or under practiced, the Spirit still comes and fills us up, and lives are continually changed by the redemption of the Cross.

I’ve only sat on this song for a few days – and I think it came at the right time. The church I’m serving now, Grace Bible Church, is going through some changes and they are never easy nor the way we want them to be, so we must rely on Him alone. It’s also the perfect prayer for some friends of mine back in College Station.

I’m really happy with the way this song came to be, and particularly with God’s timing.

He is Good

God we will wait for you to move in us.
God we pray for you to –move–.
Patiently we will wait for you.

God we will wait for your provision
God we will wait for you to provide.
Patiently we will wait for you.

And when you move we will run to you.
And when you speak we will fall on our knees
Rejoicing and weeping we will rise to you

Singing glory to heaven. He is good.

God we will wait for you to –breathe– new life
into Your people whom you delight.
So I will wait for you to move.

he is good

So many amazing things happened in 2011. My little girl turned one. I have a baby boy on the way. I was able to make a worship album, “Clarity, Humility and Peace,” which I’ve been pleased to share with over 300 people and counting. I got a job leading worship for College students in Nacogdoches, Texas. The Lord has just been pouring out blessing upon blessing, but along this journey there has definitely been a few challenges and plenty of waiting and being patient. Ironically, God has been slowly giving me clarity, teaching me humility and showing peace.

The Lord God speaks.

God has placed a few things on my heart recently – including more passion and a pursuit of boldness. So, in response, I’m ready to push onward with this mission, thesurrendersound, He has put in front of me.

In the coming months, these are a few things you can look forward to from this ministry and blog:

• More songs. I’ll primarily share live recordings and demos, but I’m anxious to share some more full production songs, as well.
• I’m going to go a bit more in-depth with discussions about worship and what it means to be a worship leader and pastor. I’ll have plenty of experiences and stories to share through this new church and college ministry I’m serving.
• And – there’s plenty more in the works. You’ll just have to subscribe to the blog and keep checking in with me.

I can’t wait to see what the Lord has in store for this year, so I hope that you’ll join me in anticipation. You can always follow the journey on Twitter, and I’m always eager to hear from you via email, too.

Lets get back into the swing of things.
Here is a song all the way from my new office in Nacogdoches Texas, yep that’s right! I am officially employed by Grace Bible Church. What??? I know. I’m their new Worship Pastor for the college group. I’ll fill you in on all that stuff later. Here is a song Ben Nicholson sent me a while back and I never got the time to work with it. So when I was dusting off the old guitar after the move I think the right rhythm came to the song. Ben wanted more of a “barn burner with lots of clapping and stuff” and I kinda slowed it down a bit. So I hope you like it Ben!

Glory Glory Glory
Lyrics by: Ben Nicholson & Josh Taylor

Verse 1:
How mighty is the Lord of heavenly hosts.
How mighty is the living word of God.
How lowly is lamb who was slain for me
Jesus Christ the son of God I bow at your feet.

Chorus:
Glory, Glory, Glory
Hallelujah
x2

Verse 2:
I worship him who shepherds me.
His staff is strong.The path is narrow under my feet.
He is Zion which I sing.
Humbleness in the form of man rose again.

Chorus 2:
May the glory of the Lord
Give me eyes the clearly to see
He has rescues me.

Glory Glory Glory

-josh

When I started thinking about how I would share these songs, the concept of a music video continuously stood out in my mind. Good thing one of my good friends is an insanely talented filmmaker.

It’s a blessing to know BK Garceau – but an absolute honor to call him “friend”. If you haven’t seen the music video for Banner, head over to YouTube and give it a gander. And – shoot over to BK’s blog to see a behind-the-scenes breakdown of what it took to produce all this coolness.

Thanks for sharing your talents, BK!

Just stumbled onto this – and I absolutely love it. The good folks over at Bread Basket shared a fantastic review of Clarity, Humility and Peace on their blog.

Check it out – and subscribe to their blog, as well. they’re a great resource to discover new worship music that’s floating around out there. Good stuff, guys.

I wrote this song awhile back for a friend of mine named Andrew who was going through a little snag in his life. Now, this guy has a passion for the Lord and has over come many obstacles. The Lord is using him every day, and I cant wait to see whats next for Andrew and his family. So I wrote this song for him as an encouragement and to anyone else who might be going through a hard time right now let this be a prayer. Andrew hasn’t heard this song yet cause I’ve been super busy, but here it is!

Victorious

verse 1:
Give me a passion, give me a desire
for Your heart Holy Father.
Give me the strength to stand for Your great name.

chorus:
Yes our God is a great great God.

verse 2:
When there’s darkness all around me
Your the light that’s right in front of me
You give me strength to stand for Your great name.

chorus 2:
Your name is victorious, and You
gave so that all of us can say we are saved.

Victorious

-josh

Here is a shout out from my friends at Fidelis Foto:

This is Josh Taylor. Rad. He’s been working for quite a few years under the banner of a band named “Clairmont”. It’s good. It’s real good.

Josh has, in the last year, taken on a side project by the new name of The Surrender Sound. This solo project, with some help from friends, has produced an album called “Clarity, Humility, and Peace”. I’ll say here that you should buy it from THIS place. Now that that is out of the way… I tell you why I love this project.

First up, let’s start with the name The Surrender Sound. For something like 16 years, Josh has been training, working, and writing music. That much investment in a craft will tend to lead you into some serious control issues. You may be particular about the album art, the songs themselves, your message, your band rider, what venues you will and will not play, or any number of things. For Josh, that all got brushed away when, to hear him say it, “the Lord started giving me songs. A LOT of songs. Like, a couple a day for months.” He had no control over what he was putting into it anymore, yet it was more than had ever been done. He decided at that point to find a way to give as best he could. So, being totally supported by his community, he found a way to produce the album with no cost to himself, produced the album, and is now hoping to give as much as he got. Genius.

For instance, he spent this afternoon schooling our intern in the importance of photography for bands. How a photo will communicate within half a second the soul of the album. How if the artist does not know what the soul of the album is about, then it is the photographers best guess what that soul is about.

These are the photos that we shot for the album. Josh wanted to communicate that this album was given by, produced by, and eventually distributed by the Lord and His people. We hope that we got close to that message:

Click here to go to the fidelis blog

Thanks guys!

Thank You!
On May 9th 2011 I started a kickstarter campaign with the help of Justin Romack, to try and raise $2000 in three weeks for my new project “thesurrendersound.” With hundreds of facebook messages, occasional twittering, emailing, and good old fashion talking, texting, and constant praying. You and Your support made this goal possible. Thank you so much for all of your support, whether it was with prayer, sending a message, telling a friend or donating, I really appreciate it. Be on the look out cause the next time I see you you’ll be getting a huge hug from me. You are a blessing.

The fact is – your support will go beyond just having a few CDs printed and getting a few new songs for your iTunes library. I’m excited to share these songs with youth groups, Bible studies, small groups, home churches and any other communities that will allow me to share these songs with them. I want to make “Clarity, Humility and Peace” available and accessible to ears that want to hear it, and your prayers and monetary support are going to make that a reality. And – for that I say…

Thank You!
josh

Hey guys,
Here is a sneak preview of “Listen to Your Heart” off the new album. This song was written for my Aunt back in 2010 when she was diagnosed with cancer, also during this time a few other people close to me were diagnosed with cancer so I just had to get this song out. This song is to be an encouragement to all those who are struggling and fighting the Lord brings hope and peace. If you like this song please go here: http://kck.st/jfpCCb and donate there’s only 3 days left!

thanks!
-josh

I’m guessing it was about a year ago when some hood rats tried to kill me and I found refuge at Josh Taylor’s house. This is all very true. I would never joke about things like hood rats or the Taylor house.

The story goes like this. Josh Taylor and I were watching movies real late one night when Josh’s bride was out of town. Josh has this wicked great flat screen, so we hit up the Blockbuster and made a night of it. Somewhere about midnight I get this call from a friend who sounds a bit distraught. I silently mouth to Josh to keep watching the flicks, and I slipped into the parking lot to chat with my vocally disheveled friend. (It might help to know that I live down the sidewalk from Josh’s backyard and I often pace this very parking lot when I talk on the phone. Nervous energy and such. Also, the pacing is good for the metabolism.) So I’m in the parking lot chatting when this van stops out on the street and these two guys stare at me. I do not recognize them, but their staring feel sinister. Feeling a tad bit absolutely terrified, I turn towards Josh’s house and attempt to walk back as naturally as possible, as if I just, at that exact moment, needed a pickle from the fridge or a pencil to make conversational notes. That’s when the van peeled into the parking lot squealing tires and kicking on their high beams. I’ve seen enough horror movies in my day to not entertain the inquisitive nature of two scraggly dudes in a windowless van, so I high-tailed it heels to buttocks back to Josh’s house, busted through the front door without knocking, and ran all the way upstairs where I collapsed on the floor and checked if I had soiled anything. Josh said that immediately after I bolted through the door a car pulled up in front of the house and an industrial strength Mag-Lite peered through the front window. I asked Josh what he did. He said, “I didn’t do anything. I figured they were looking for you.” I have not paced our parking lot so late since.

I was just thinking of that story while listening to Josh’s new record and realized two things: 1) Josh is much calmer about Mag-Lites shining from windowless vans than I am; and 2) Josh also has a big white van, but I could never conceive of fearing Josh Taylor or his van, mainly because it’s chock-full of windows.

These songs from Clarity, Humility and Peace, playing in the background of this ridiculous memory, carry something true of Josh Taylor, something I want to be increasingly more true of me: these songs carry Josh’s longing to connect with his Father. There’s movement these songs. Approach. Hope to abide. Desire to enter into the presence of Holy. I’m listening to these songs and I’m seeing something similar to that silly memory outlined above. I see a wild mad dash towards the Father. I see running. I see a heels to buttocks style high-tailing. I see feet kicking up dust, and I see sons busting through the front door of the Promised Land. That’s what worship does. Worship quickens our approach to the Father. I’m glad for a friend who writes such songs. Even more than that, I’m glad for a friend who shares these songs, not only on his records, but also in the way he loves his family and lives life with his community.  No wonder the folks who play worship are called “worship leaders” – these songs do not sit still. They move. And when we sing these songs, our hearts follow. Into His Land. Under His banner. Through His streams. Hallelujah.

Got a sweet shout out from our buddy, Todd Wright, a worship pastor and songwriting powerhouse from Tyler, TX. If you want to hear the track, “Banner”, that he’s discussing here, head over and watch the music video. You should also check out Todd’s blog, appropriately called TODDBLOG, and subscribe to his podcast while you’re at it. 

Thanks for the encouraging words, Todd!

I heard about Josh Taylor for a couple of years before I met him. Through mutual friends, I kept hearing about this songwriter and worship leader who had a knack for writing captivating melodies and a devotion to make God-exalting music.

Over the past year, I’ve had the privilege of meeting Josh and getting to see first-hand his dedication to the craft of songwriting. That’s why I’m excited to hear his new summer release of worship tunes. Under the name The Surrender Sound, Josh will be releasing nine new songs this year. Josh was very gracious in letting me hear a pre-release track entitled “Banner” and I’m happy to spread the word about this new record.

THE SONG The “banner” image from scripture was prominent during the worship explosion of the early ’90s, but soon was eclipsed by other images that have hung around longer – fire falling, shouting louder than the heavens (which makes no sense, by the way,) and singing “whoa whoa whoa”. But the banner is something we need to sing about. We need to embrace the idea of finding ourselves under God’s banner – finding our whole identity in Him as the Victor-King and submitting our lives to His purposes.

The tune is simple – acoustic, percussion and vocals – and doesn’t rush the pace. This isn’t a song trying to become an anthem, just waiting around for the big drum solo bridge. In fact, I’d be willing to bet that this specific tune finds it real power when the voices of the congregation overpower it with their own volume.

THE ARTIST I’m encouraging my readers to check out Josh at his Kickstarter page. He’s got about a week to raise the money needed to finish out the project. Poke around the site and if you like what Josh is about, then throw a few bucks his way.

I’ll try to keep you updated on Josh’s progress with the new project. Thanks, readers! You’re great!

– Todd Wright

Eleven days ago, I asked a community of my family, friends and strangers, too, for belief in an idea that I’ve been working toward over the past year. “Clarity, Humility and Peace” is a collection of nine songs that I’ve written for the Church – and want to freely give back to the Church. It’s tough to release a record as a fresh face and a brand new ministry, but I knew that this platform would be a way to share the experience with folks that were willing to support the idea.