Agnew’s lyrics reflect honest struggles, open worship

Blending rock, blues, soul and gospel sounds in his album “Grace Like Rain,” Todd Agnew has struck a chord with today’s generation of believers who desire to worship God. The new album includes songs dealing with Jesus as our Shepherd and ballads about His grace that cleanses like rain. “I lead worship all the time, and we do these songs when I lead worship, so we consider them worship songs,” said Agnew.
   
The 12 tracks written primarily by Agnew present a heart of worship to the tune of many popular styles of music today. “I wanted to write and record songs that have a heart of worship, lyrically expressing my heart to God, but musically the kind of music I like to listen to,” he said.
   
Agnew began leading worship the summer after his freshman year in college and had no intention of ever seeking a record deal. “I ran from it for a long time,” Agnew said. “I really felt like the stuff I did didn’t have anything to do with the industry.”
   
Ardent Records approached Agnew about recording. “I told them I wasn’t really looking for a label deal. I think I’m doing what God wants me to do,” Agnew said. “They were just so amazing and came to me and said, ‘We want you to do what God wants you to do. We want you to be who you are. We like that. We just want to help get that out.”
  
Agnew spent a night wrestling with God trying to decide what step to take next. “It was encouraging and exciting, but it wasn’t really what I was looking for,” he explained. After dealing with questions such as what he was doing and what his desires were, Agnew sensed God changing his heart and began to see the benefits of being signed to a label.
   
“It was a one night thing where you realize that God knows what He’s doing and He has a better plan than you do. And since then I’ve just been learning a lot,” Agnew said.
   
The songs of “Grace Like Rain” come from Agnew’s strong and honest relationship with God. “If I’m angry or upset, I figure He’s big enough to handle it. It’s like the little baby beating on his dad’s chest. It’s not like you’re really going to hurt Him by expressing yourself,” Agnew said. When Agnew doesn’t feel adequate to be leading others in worship, he said he likes to just “lay all the cards out on the table.”
   
Agnew honestly confronts God by saying, “Hey, look. I’m struggling here. I’m hurting here. I’m messed up here. The only way for You to be honored tonight is for You to do it. I am not clean enough. I am not worthy enough to bring something good, so You’re going to have to.” And in the end, Christ’s name is still lifted up. “I’ve found that most of the time God is quite willing to glorify Himself through someone who is willing,” he said.
   
A Christian couple from Texas adopted Agnew when he was quite young. He grew up in the church, and the traditional hymns and praise songs became an integral part of his life. This familiarity caused him to write fresh worship songs and give new melodies to old favorites as the title track “Grace Like Rain” does with the song “Amazing Grace.”
   
Because singing worship can become routine, Agnew tells people to “only do the stuff you mean.” He says, “I encourage people to do that every time we walk on stage. If you don’t mean that line and that’s not an honest statement of your heart right now, then don’t sing it. Just skip the line. Skip the song. It doesn’t matter.” Agnew feels there’s no point in going, and lying to God about something because He doesn’t get any honor out of that.
   
“‘You are My All in All’ is one of my favorite songs and a great example. The second line of that is ‘You’re the treasure that I seek,’ except if you know there’s a treasure in your backyard, you’re just digging. You’re not going to your meetings or going to work or school or anything. You’re just out there looking for it until you find it,” Agnew said. “To be honest, that’s not how I pursue God most of the time. That’s a hard line to live up to.
   
“Sometimes I think worship is just coming and saying, ‘Hey, maybe I haven’t been seeking You like a treasure, but I want to.’”
   
This summer Agnew will be a part of the Summer Jam tour, which began July 11 with Newsong, Plus One, Detour 180 and Tait. (EP)