Daniel Bashta will be releasing his next album, The Invisible, on 5 February.
It follows his acclaimed 2011 debut, The Sounds of Daniel Bashta, which included "God's Not Dead (Like A Lion)". The track proved a hit and was re-recorded by Newsboys and David Crowder Band among others.
Daniel's latest musical offering includes new song "Just Give Me Jesus", inspired in part by Melody Green's book, No Compromise.
And it's the real Jesus Daniel wants.
"My whole life, I've been part of these revival meetings, seen healings, all these crazy, beautiful things happen," Bashta says.
"Even in all that, I'm still searching for the real Jesus in my life. ...The Invisible is full of songs for a generation sick of singing songs.
"They don't really care about building mega churches. They care about revolution. They want to see their cities changed. God is looking for a generation full of conviction."
His impassioned call to wake this generation has been tempered by a season of hope and healing in his family's life and in his new role: fatherhood.
"I've been moved from this John the Baptist cry, from waking hearts of this generation, to an unknown place," says Bashta.
"When I became a dad, God poured out this brand new anointing over my life, gave me this father's heart, and for me that's massive, epic .... The church needs more fathers, more pastors.
"There's so much hurt happening all around us and not enough nurturing fathers among us to reach out."
Daniel and his wife have a beautiful story to share about the arrival of their son Phoenix through a birth mother, who they found through Bethany Christian Services after struggling with infertility.
"We were sitting there with the birth mother, and my sisters brought in a little stuffed lion. I told Phoenix's birth mom, 'We don't do teddy bears in our family, we do lions.' And then she told us a part of her story we had not heard. She'd been given an ultimatum: either have an abortion or get out of the house. So she moved to Atlanta, heard about Bethany Christian Agency on MTV and had the courage to walk in and check it out. Around that same time, a friend took her to a church called Passion City, she said, and some guy on stage (Chris Tomlin) started singing some song about a lion and a roar. She remembered it clearly because during that song, she felt a presence come over her. 'I never knew you could feel God, like I felt God in that moment,' she said. She sat down and started journaling the lyrics to the song, 'Like A Lion.'
"We all started crying in the hospital room," Daniel says. "I looked at her and said, 'Well actually, I wrote that song.' Then she jumped up and started crying and saying what an impact the words and presence of this song had on her. To know that my son has such a calling in this life, even before he was born and that his dad's song was being sung over him before he even knew who his father was... I thought I knew what God was capable of, but we experienced His faithfulness in such a miraculous way."
That miracle was followed soon after with another, when a few months later, the Bashtas were pregnant, later giving birth to a daughter, Bravery Annette, now 12 months.
It is this journey that inspires the song "Let Hope In" and the songs of faith throughout The Invisible.
In the run-up to the release of The Invisible, all of the songs from the album will be streamed at www.danielbashtainvisible.com, where Bashta will also reveal song story video devotionals, chord charts and a pre-order option.
