LTRP Note: The following is part 1 of a recent interview that our Canadian friend and co-laborer in Christ Trevor Baker had with The Berean Call. Trevor will be singing at The Berean Call’s 2017 conference this year. We met Trevor, who is from Saskatchewan, through Roger Oakland a few years ago. After listening to his music the first time, we realized he was singing about the things that Lighthouse Trails and other ministries were writing about. His passion for truth and love for the lost shines through in his songs.
Interview by The Berean Call with singer/songwriter Trevor Baker (You’ll hear a few of his songs in this 2-part interview.) Trevor’s website is www.trevorbaker.ca.
Gary: Welcome to Search the Scriptures 24/7, with T.A. McMahon, a radio ministry of The Berean Call. I’m Gary Carmichael. Thanks for tuning in! In today’s program, Tom is joined by his guest, Trevor Baker, as they discuss the topic: Signs of the Times in Song. And now, here’s Tom.
Tom: Thanks, Gary. For this and next week’s program, we’re going to listen to and have conversation with a man who ministers in song. And by ministering, I’m not talking about music that necessarily puts a person into an enjoyable mood, or entertains – although that could happen or not happen. My guest is Trevor Baker. He’s a singer, songwriter, and musician. Trevor, welcome to Search the Scriptures 24/7.
Trevor: Well, thank you for having me. I appreciate it.
Tom: Trevor – the reason I said that Trevor’s music may not always be enjoyable is because his lyrics – well, sometimes they bring conviction as well as point out false teachings in the church, which doesn’t go down well in some cases. And that’s the effect that truth – the truth – can have on a person or fellowship. When I read the psalms, for example, sometimes it’s pure bliss, and other times I’m so convicted by what I’ve read that my flesh is not happy with it. So, Trevor, give our listeners your background, and tell us how the writing that you do – how it came about.
Trevor: Okay, well, I group up on a small farm and wasn’t a church-going person. My dad stuttered really bad from nerves – he’d been beat up and locked in rooms and what not. I had three uncles who were alcoholics, and so I didn’t have a lot of hope in my life. And then my best friend took his life when he was 20, and I almost followed him.
I met a preacher at a small wedding. He touched my heart. I was twenty-two, and he was just a soft-hearted man. I went to see him, and (making this short and sweet here), but I cried all the way home on my steering wheel, saying, “God, who are you? I want what that man has.”
Five years later, in my late twenties – I probably cried more in my late twenties than any time in my life. I wanted to tell people about the Lord, but I thought I was a failure. And I was sure I’d turn people from God, and I said, I’ll just be quiet. I’ll go away. And through that time, I guess God gave me a gift. He gave me a way to communicate. I wasn’t asking for it. I was twenty-seven, I picked up a guitar, I took three guitar lessons, and it was just to put the kids to bed at night.
At twenty-nine, I had laryngitis for four days. I had never had it my life before or since. But my voice changed after that. My wife could sing. I never could sing before that. I was always off tune. And she noticed that my voice changed. So I guess God “fixed” something during those four days.
A year later, God started to give me songs, and I just wouldn’t stop after that. The beginning years, my songs were mostly outreach songs that boiled down to “God helped me. He can help you.” And I sang at a lot of fairs. I worked as a relief milker on farms; I gave out my CDs to farmers all over the place, and I sang at local fairs, and they put me in the beer tent, and I’d sing gospel music.
And then God told me to leave that – it was seven years later, and I was thirty-eight years old – and go on the road! And I began singing songs somewhat to do with our country at that point. You know, our country has lost its way. And after about five years of that, in 2000 – well, four years or so – 2003-2004, I started to notice things in the church. One example, I guess, would be…I was in a small church one day, and I was walking around praying, nervous, as I always am before I singing, and as I went by the front of the church each time, I noticed the pastor’s briefcase. And then I glanced down at it and looked at it once, as I passed by. And in the middle, almost framed, like a trophy, was a book called The Purpose Driven Life. And so I started…I was noticing these things everywhere, but I didn’t know who to talk to. I felt like I had no one to talk to. And so I had no songs…the Lord never gave me any songs from 2004-2007, which had never happened before. I was always getting songs! It was like the well went dry, and I guess…my thought was, “that’s all I’ll need.”
And then in 2007, I got enough songs in two months for two CDs, and it was all about what’s happening in the church, and them leaving, I guess, the roots of the simple faith and following a lot of new angles, I guess you’d call it. If that answers your question? Click here to continue reading the transcript of this interview.
To listen to part 2, click here.
Related Articles and Songs:
Trevor Baker Singing About the “North American Christian”
The Music of Trevor Baker: Telling it Like it Is to a Troubled Church
Trevor Baker: America – Only the Words Remain
