Todd Agnew

Hey worship leaders (and non-worship leaders if you want to respond as well),

If you could have 10 minutes of worship leading coaching from any living worship leader, who would you want to hear from?

Thoughts?

Todd

The first song on Eric Peters’ new record Birds of Relocation was just what I had hoped it would be.  ”The Old Year” is a definite step forward in both songwriting and production.  And that’s what we all want, right?  We want to do a little better this time than we did last time.  It was both insightful and honest.  It sounded great.  It set the stage for the rest of the record, which I hoped would live up to this promise.  So basically, it was what I expected, what I had hoped for.  What I could never have expected was that this song would be followed by one of the best records I’ve ever heard.  Seriously, maybe top 20 all-time.  So just lend me a little more of your time to tell you about it.

You guys know how much I love great lyrics.  So I hope it conveys just how beautiful the melodies are on this record when I tell you that I had to go back for a second listen to find out what the songs were about.  I was just enraptured  listening to these beautiful melodic lines.  From the pre-chorus to “Lost and Found” (which once I listened to it more carefully also had one of the most beautiful word pictures as well) to the soaring chorus of  ”Don’t Hold Your Breath” to possibly the catchiest chorus written since the Beach Boys in “Today Dream”.  The whole record is just beautiful melodically.  Most records with beautiful music have poor to average lyrics, which is why I was so overjoyed when I slowed down and started  spending time with each song, to understand it better, and found the lyrics actually outshone these amazing melodies.

Birds of Relocation is located in that moment when you’ve just survived one of the dark times in your life.  It’s about looking up and finding out whether the pain has tainted your vision of the future, or as Eric finds, whether the sunshine is breaking through the clouds and you are breathless at the view of the horizon.  I can’t tell you how much I wish I’d written even one of the songs on this record.

“Lost and Found” is an awesome joyful experience of the cross.  I loved that line in the pre-chorus that I mentioned earlier, “Children hide themselves behind their hands, and peek through to be found once again.”  I often tell stories of playing hide-and-seek with my kids when they were little.  My little girl would hide in the same place every time.  And my little boy would start making loud noises after the first few minutes.  Because for them, the joy was not in the hiding, but in the being found.  Eric beautifully captures that in this song.

“Don’t Hold Your Breath” is one of the songs that really stuck with me.  I’m not even going to pretend that I understand all that God has for me in this song.  I think I’ll be wrestling with this one for a long time.  I can’t even get past the first line of the chorus: “It’s been a long time since I kept my word.”  So beautiful and so raw.

“Where Would I Go” is a beautiful and fun love song to his wife, but “Soul and Flesh” is one  of the greatest love songs ever written.  It’s brought me to tears twice, once on a plane, and once in Whataburger, not normally emotional places for me.  ”She loves me for my smile, and the crow’s feet on my eyes.”  I find echoes of Billy Collins here, finding the beauty in the normal things.  ”She loves the song deep inside my chest.”  My wife loved that line as I played the song for her when we had a moment to ourselves.  Incredible song.

“Voices” deals with all the voices in our heads telling us lies about who we are and what we’re worth.  I think we all live there at least some of the time.

“Today Dream” is an incredible idea and a great song.   It’s written by a man who recognizes that he daydreams and that it takes me out of the lives of those he loves.  And so, he wrote a song from his wife’s point of view, asking him to be present.  Great song.

“Different Separate Lives” is a song I wouldn’t claim to understand yet.  Because it’s about community, which I am horrible at.  Which is why I probably didn’t get this song the first time through.  But these lyrics are gorgeous and I am both excited and fearful about what God has in store through this tune just in my own life.

I don’t know what to say about “No Stone Unturned”  so I’ll just say this…  You could slide this song into the middle of Liturgy, Legacy and it would fit right in.  Amazing.

Then Eric starts to wrap it up with “The New Year”.   Where “The Old Year” was letting go of damage done in the past and beginning to look forward, “The New Year” is finding the hope in what’s ahead.

It seems like that would be the end, wrapped up from “Old Year” to “New Year”.  But there is another song.  I first assumed that I had gotten a version with a bonus track, and that it didn’t really fit in with the whole record.  And then I listened to the song.  I couldn’t have been more wrong.  ”Fighting For Life” is the perfect ending to an amazing record.  It is simply saying that when you look at the journey, the pain and the joy, the sorrow and the success, it is worth fighting for.  This is not just a story, but a call to live a story.  Not just glimpsing the light at the end of the tunnel, but chasing it.

You can buy the record right now at this website:

https://store.rabbitroom.com/product/birds-of-relocation

I have been afraid to write this.  Because I can’t see how I could write something that would do this record justice.  And I can’t.  All I can do is point you toward it.

I can’t believe I’m going to write this.  But it’s what I think.  I think if Rich Mullins had been given more time here, and if God had blessed his life with love and a wife, if he had the chance to see as much of the relational beauty as he saw of the natural beauty, I think he might have written some songs like the ones we find on Birds of Relocation.  And you know that’s about the highest praise I can give someone.  You will not find a combination of more beautiful poetry, raw honesty, and gorgeous melodies for a long time.  I can only think of a few in the history of music.  I don’t know exactly where this record will fall after God has finished using it in my life.  I only know that I am incredibly grateful that He chose to share it with me now.

Thanks.

Todd

When we tell someone we love them, do we put a disclaimer on it?  If we are asked, “Why do you love me?”, is the answer ever, “Because you can cook,” “because you’re taller than me,” “because you can swim”?  No, and I don’t think it would go over well.  We should love not because of what someone can offer us, but because of who they are.  At my church, we’ve had a couple of weeks of comments on the difference between being useful and being beautiful.  If we love someone because they are useful, we view them as a means to an end.  We may love them, but we love something else more and they are helping us achieve that.  If we love someone because they are beautiful, they are our end.  They are what we are pursuing.  Now, I hope you know me well enough to know that I am not merely talking about physical beauty.  I mean that we are attracted to them, drawn to them, because of who they are, not because of what they can do for us.  Many times, I think our answer to “Why do you love God?” is “He died for me.”  And don’t get me wrong.  That’s awesome.  But I think there is a deeper love that we find the more we get to know him.  We find a beauty that we would pursue if He offered us nothing but Himself.  And I am quite sure that would still be enough.

Thoughts?

Todd

“Since the Fall, evil feels omnipresent, making cynicism an easy sell.  Because cynicism sees what is ‘really going on,’ it feels real, authentic.  That gives cynicism an elite status since authenticity is one of the last remaining public virtues in our culture….  ’So cynicism takes root and ‘feels’ more real to me than the truth.’”

- Paul E. Miller

Thoughts?

Todd

Well, guys, we have news for you. “The One You Want”, the second radio single from H2BL, is going to radio. Well, actually it went to radio on Friday. It was a surprise, but a good one. I have been excited about that song for a long time, and am really glad we get to share it with everyone. I am also a little sad because it means that “God Undefeatable” didn’t do very well. It’s too bad because it’s a wonderful worship song. And I am very grateful to AFR, KXOJ, WDJC, and all the other radio stations that played it.

But now, we are all really excited about the new tune. You can buy it on iTunes, check it out on Spotify, or get the whole record at toddagnew.com or your local Christian bookstore. You can also watch the video of the story behind the song here and read the extended story blog here.

If you are a part of our regular community, you know I rarely ask anything of you, except to participate in the discussion we have. I’m not much of a self-promoter. But I think I need to ask you to call your local radio station and request “The One You Want”. Your station may even have a Listener Advisory Panel or something along those lines, where you can continuously share your opinions on what they play. KLOVE has one, and I know a lot of you were introduced to my music there in the first place.

I’m excited about what God has in store in the coming months. Accepting that God loves you unaffected by your success or failure is a hard road. I look forward to hearing some of the stories of those who begin to receive that. So thanks for your help, and thanks for being a part.

Todd

Hey guys, I’m always looking for great new worship songs. It’s that time of year when we start looking toward summer camp and shopping around for the best songs. So I wanted to get your input. What’s your favorite new worship song? What is meaning a lot to you right now? What is expressing your heart for Jesus? What is challenging you to worship in a new or deeper way? Or just what do you like? That’s good too.

Thoughts?

Todd

Hey guys, it’s the two week anniversary of the release of the new CD How To Be Loved. I’d love for you to take a moment and share what song has God used in your life so far. It doesn’t have to be your favorite. You don’t even have to like it. But I hope you do. I’d just love for you to share what a song is meaning to you right now. Hopefully some of our community that haven’t heard the record yet can be encouraged just by your story. Thanks a lot. I look forward to reading them.

Todd

Hey guys, thanks for your patience. The chord charts for the new record are now available in the Resources section. I hope you guys play these songs, and I’d love for you to come back here and comment and let me know how it goes.

Todd

Okay, so making guacamole isn’t exactly cooking.  It is more collecting ingredients, smashing, and stirring, but that didn’t seem like a good title.  I thought we should do another cooking segment in time for March Madness.  So now you’ll have a great guacamole dip when your friends come over to watch the game.  Or when you watch it by yourself.  Here’s what you need.

3 avocados
pico de gallo
salt
pepper

1. Pick good avocados.  That’s important.  They shouldn’t be mushy, but should just yield under gentle pressure.  Cut them open.  Take out the seed.  Scoop the avocado out of the skin.  Smash it with a fork.  Just smash it though, don’t stir it yet.  You don’t want it too smooth, makes the texture weird.  And you still have to stir in everything else.

2. Salt and pepper.  Great words.  Normally they are nouns but in cooking they are also verbs, meaning to add salt and add pepper. If you want the Agnew secret ingredient, use white pepper.  I use it in almost everything.  Still gives you a little kick without being so peppery.

3. The other secret ingredient is that I just use pre-made pico de gallo.  I get mine from my local grocery store.  I choose the hot variety because the avocado will tame it a little anyway.  A couple of big spoonfuls of this, and stir it all together.  Don’t get too much of the liquid because that will make it too watery.

4.  Get good tortilla chips and eat.

So this is really easy, but it tastes great.  Everyone will be impressed.  Just don’t showw them the pre-made pico, because then they will not be as impressed.

Enjoy.

Todd

Don’t You Think is another song I wrote with Andrew Osenga.  I had explained to him some of what I wanted the record to sound like, and he immediately started playing this great guitar part.  So I grabbed my iPhone and turned on the recorder.  He played the progression again and started to sing.  At the end he apologized for and I quote, “smashing, like, three different Bible stories together.”  Okay, maybe the theology wasn’t pristine on the first take, but I loved the beginning of the song… “Peter cast his nets on the water.”

And I began to wonder, what IS the rest of this story?

^{18 “}While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. ¹⁹ And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” ²⁰ Immediately they left their nets and followed him.”

We find this story in Matthew 4.  Two brothers are fishing, plying the trade they had been trained their whole lives for.  Jesus comes by, invites them, and they leave everything.  Because He helped them catch a lot of fish?

They left and followed because He offered them more.  More than they had.  More than they hoped.  More than they dreamed.

I was shocked the day I found out that He made the same offer to the rich young ruler.  His invitation is the same, “Follow me.”  But the young man held so tightly to the things he had that he couldn’t leave them.  He missed out on the opportunity to be a disciple of Jesus because he couldn’t leave his wealth.

Jesus offers a life with Him that is more than anything we have.  More than the fishermen’s careers and families.  More than the young man’s wealth.  More than everything I have.  If we will follow.

Thoughts?

Todd

Here are the stories behind the other songs on #H2BL.

The One You Want

Love Your Neighbor

God Undefeatable

Letting Go

There Is Coming A Day

Loved

Give What’s In Your Hand

Don’t You Think

House of Boxes

You Are Good

Your Great Name