You get up. You eat breakfast (or not). You go to work. You eat lunch. You come home. You have dinner. You go to bed. For most, the routine leaves little time for anything else. The results are usually shallow relationships with our friends, families, and our Maker. But, when your head hits the pillow at the end of the day, do you ever question if you’ve made the wrong things important?
North Carolina-born singer/songwriter Warren Barfield is on a mission to make the truly important things important again in his life. Things like faith, love, marriage, children, truth, and with his songs, he challenges us all to do the same. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “If a man hasn’t discovered something that he will die for, he isn’t fit to live.” Warren has found those things in his faith, his wife, and his belief in love. “These are the things I would die for; things I will wake up every morning and spend my day fighting for.”
Worth Fighting For, Barfield’s third record out May 20, 2008 on Essential Records, expresses a vulnerability and passion born out of the realization of how much life passes by without intentionally living, how little we invest in those we love, and how often we settle for the status quo.
Produced by Charlie Peacock (Switchfoot, Nichole Nordeman); Mark A. Miller (Casting Crowns); and Jason Ingram and Rusty Varenkamp (Bebo Norman, Rush of Fools), Worth Fighting For marks a decided return to Barfield’s own creative instincts. “There was a huge difference between the first and second records,” he says, “but this one meets in the middle. My life is so much different than it was a year ago, and I’ve got something important to say, so I wanted to clothe these songs in a way that will carry the message to the people who take time out of their lives to come see my shows. That’s what we set out to do, musically.”
The result is a project that is both sonically progressive, yet completely accessible…truly reflective of the artist—and the man—Barfield is today.
“The most unique thing about Warren is his voice. All of the songs and the production are meant to highlight his unique gift,” shares producer Charlie Peacock. “Warren is gracefully human as a person and an artist, with a heart bent toward Jesus.”
Producer Mark A. Miller agrees, “Warren is not only a great artist, but a great writer, with a very cool, distinct voice and great overall style.”
The songs of Worth Fighting For draw a bead on the sanctity and sacrifice of relationships—the encouragement, prayer, the listening and the commitment we make to those we love, to those we choose to ‘do life’ with. “True Christianity is about being Christ to others,” Barfield says of the theme of the record. “If we really believe in the whole thing, if we really believe He came all that distance and gave His life because He loved us, it’d change the way we love each other. That kind of love really could change the world.”
Love is not a place
To come and go as we please
It’s a house we enter in and then commit to never leave
So lock the door behind you
Throw away the key
We’ll work it out together
Let it bring us to our knees
Love is not a fight, but it’s something worth fighting for.
The epicenter of the album is the first radio single, “Love is Not a Fight,” a powerful song about the lengths we should be willing to go to for those we love. Already eliciting emotional responses from those who’ve heard it, “Love is Not a Fight” was born out of Barfield’s own personal awakening.
“My wife is my best friend, who I love dearly, and she loves me,” he says. “But isn't it fascinating that two people who love each other so much can cut one another so deeply? When you let issues build up in a marriage, the smallest thing can trigger a war, and pretty soon you can lose sight of your love and commitment to one another. We had a night where something as trivial as spilled pretzels forced into the open things we had left unsaid. Once everything had calmed down, I wrote this song. In that moment, I fully realized my duty, as my wife’s husband, was to wrap my arms around her. To love her more than my pride, more than my desire to be ‘right,’ and to find a way to move through life’s good and bad times together. That will be a struggle at times, but love is worth
the fight.”
For those who have lost or feel they’re losing the battle in relationships and in life, the poignant ballad “Drop The World” is a prayer for comfort and healing. “We’ve been taught our whole lives that God holds the whole world in His hands,” Barfield explains. “There’s an epidemic of brokenness in our world, people hurting so much, they need someone to drop everything and hold them. My heart is broken for people whose marriages have ended, people who’ve lost people they love, and I believe Christ is broken for them. He knows our deepest secrets and loves us anyway. We don’t have to hide our pain from Him.”
Without an ounce of judgment, Worth Fighting For strikes a delicate balance between hope and hurting, between love and loss, infused with a heavy dose of encouragement and grace. Songs like “God Believes In You,” “The One Thing” and “Say It With Your Life” reinforce Barfield’s confidence in God’s passion for His children. “We can run away from our problems, our fears; we can run out of money, run out of hope, but the one thing I can’t run out of is God’s love,” Barfield says of “The One Thing.” “He’s always there watching, waiting for us to let Him love us. When everyone and everything runs away, God is running to us.”
These are the lessons that cannot be imparted by parents or college professors. These are truths learned in the trenches, carved out on the journey, forged in fires of failure and forgiveness. Truths only time and experience can teach.
Worth Fighting For sings with conviction these ongoing, perpetual truths, underscored by the power and honesty of Barfield’s lyrics and the rich complexity of his musical palate to deliver his richest, most personal recording to date.
