TobyMac - Liberty University Convocation

come on everybody one more time put your hands together for a while right Toby max in the house great to have you back welcome back and we're going to sit down just for a few minutes have a seat it's going to be a great morning for us we wanted to spend a few minutes with Toby talking about life and transition obviously like you mentioned you are a Liberty grad and so you're probably one of our most prominent graduates and we talk about you all the time there's probably not a marketing brochure that's out there about Liberty that doesn't have your photo on it somewhere so take us back just real quick to the days when you were student here and obviously at that moment you had you had a major and a minor that you were kind of thinking was going to be your life plan so talk to us about what that look like did you think you were gonna be a part of this this this you know whole career and what was your was your path like looking back [Applause] like I was in the music department I was I'm a political science major and I did finish I do have a degree I have not used it to the best of its ability but and I have a minor in business and you know that I think I played golf here for four years so Big Ups to the golf team I hear you went up so when I came here you know I was I had my mind set on being a professional golfer which would have been a grave mistake because I pretty much sucked in but as I'm as I began to hang out I met Michael Tate I met Kevin max we formed a group called DC Talk and I think what I what I love about college years is it's so pivotal in your life but uh like I would have never thought in a million years I would be in music so I would just encourage you guys to remember that whatever you're thinking you're gonna do now God might have a different plan to be open to that and open to him just switching things because he can switch things and it can be so dope for real like I had no idea that I would be in music but I've been doing it for a long long time but yeah these years I learned so much and if I didn't come here I would not be doing what I'm doing so I'm really grateful to Liberty and I'm really grateful to the to the professors that spoke into my life when I was here for real yes talk to us about the role of community and collaboration you know you're talking about getting going in your life and sitting maybe even a path that maybe God has a very different story and planned for you on what role did community play in that people you're not just walking alone in the decision-making and ending up there and then you're such a big story of collaboration including the two guys that you met here who ended up being a part of this he talked with him beyond that yeah I talked to us about that yeah so going back to DC Talk by the way we loaded up a u-haul right there on the circle the circle used to be by circle people where you have I didn't know the circle still existed but anyway we we loaded up a u-haul and I mean literally packed it up and left for Nashville pursuing this dream of a record deal and so I mean if I did not meet Michael Tate if I did not collaborate with him what what happened was Michael was singing I think Michael was singing for a singing group on campus like you know the ones I hold the mic like this and sing so perfectly still got there amazing and I met him and I so I was writing a few like kind of pop hip-hop songs and I met him and we became friends and I was like what if you sang the chorus I rapped the verse and that collaboration started everything we wrote a song called heaven bound and it's a little corny when I listen to it now honestly but it started us off on this journey but man I'm the kind of person where first of all I I just can't do much without God and I'm not saying that in a pious or religious way like when I walk in the studio even though I've written you know a lot of songs I still walk in a needy man I still walk in and say you know God hallow me of myself hallow me of me and all the junk that we're getting your way my pride my insecurities my doubt and just Hollow me enough to where you can breathe a song through me that would turn people's eyes to you so it begins with collaboration with God but it also moves into people I think I feel like isolation is so prominent right now we kind of hold back when troubles come our way instead of stepping into community we've sort of pulled back to our phones and our computers versus stepping into community and community is where it's at it it was Jesus's plan it is Jesus plan community and community of all races don't don't take that for granted there's richness in relating to people that were raised differently than you yeah I mean we have a lot of common friends and people that that we do life with and a lot of them in Nashville tell me hey I see Toby and his family get up and come to church they're a part of a local body they're part of a community people know you from from all over that Franklin City just as a guy who shows up at everything from charitable events to just at the local store that you own as a partner and so why continue to seek after community when a lot of times it feels like almost everyone you you meet has a request from you these days they're like why is that so vital that you just even at this point of your life continue to seek after always belonging to a group and submitting to a local pastor in those kind of things yeah I think accountability is such a cheap word it's so easy to throw around but I would I would say to you guys you know I've walked a journey of life and y'all could be like oh he's older and I ain't worried about him but I'm telling you that accountability in walking with people deeply as a real thing it has kept me on the track so many times and I think I want to just tell you this accountability isn't just a single ask you don't ask my bro David hey bro keep me accountable dude you ask him in every decision that you make you say this is what the person said to me this is what I said back to them what do you think did I react okay I walked in this party this was happening I did this did I react okay I passed a you know a homeless person in the street and I walk right by him what should I have done David to me accountability is you're always asking your friend that's holding you cable about everything you do because a one time ask it's not gonna be real you're gonna ask him once and he's never gonna feel the right to step into your life I think that's important yeah it's important to know a lot of the guys that were just here on stage just the people that are not just on stage leave it off stays with you man they've been with you a long time I mean you know from match to Tim these guys have been with you just a lot of years and so it's not just accountability but also longevity with these people that earn the right to speak into your life and vice versa talk to us about being everything yeah I mean to say we're together I think I think loyalty is something that's that's not embraced enough not celebrated enough I think loyalty it's really hard to be loyal I mean I I have kids I watched them move around in friendships and I just think loyalty you guys should put that very high on your list of things being loyal to your friends being loyal to your employer being loyal to your school I'm telling you there's there's these small nuggets that I wish I could just impart to you guys meekness is my favorite word right now I just think it's such a wonderful word because it's now it's not being weak it's being willing to be small and like I've been on stage as my entire life but I still seek after being small I try to be small in the room I try to listen and I just think I would encourage you guys men to investigate the word meekness and investigate the word loyalty those are words that will carry with you for a long time and lead you to a lot of success in life spiritually and maybe even from a from a life job standpoint yeah Toby one of the big words another word that you keep really honing in in your life right now is the word joy I mean I think you're self professed pessimist by nature you kind of wake up and begin to just lean towards the the negative side of things left on your own without the Spirit of God growing you and you really fight for joy talk to us about looking at someone or looking at a scenario and learning to say yes more learning to be more positive minded by the way you see people and the way that you'd like joy be a big ingredient in that yeah I mean I think as corny as this might sound like we all know the song that we sang when we were kids you know the joy of the Lord is my strength but then like a few years ago I said that started hitting me that it's really weird God could have said faith is our strength God could have said compassion is our strength but he chose joy like joy doesn't sound like muscles it doesn't sound like strength but he's saying the joy of the Lord is our strength because when we're beat down we have that no one can take it from us that therefore joy is it's so strong I've never thought of joy as strength but Joy's our strength I got this thing up and I wrote the song called edge of my seat and there's like a little story behind I'll tell you guys really quickly it's it's how we choose to live our day to me there's two postures I can take when I wake up in the morning I can choose what I call the passively jaded posture which is sort of lean back arms crossed I sort of rolled okay I'll give you my day today today I got to get on a bus and drop to Liberty today I got to get in front of students and sing early for me because I normally don't sing till night and then tonight I'm going to Rhodope because I start my tour tomorrow and I got a FaceTime my kids I got to make sure I do that to me that's the passively jaded day of Toby Mackie then there's the other day I can choose the other posture I can choose that you can choose and it's where you get out on the edge of your seat and you say I today I get to get on a big old bus with some of my best friends drive to Liberty University where I graduated from speak to some students love on them I get to do some songs that I wrote and that I love and hopefully they love their art tonight I get to go to Roanoke and rehearse for a tour where imma give them everything I got tonight I can use technology on my side and FaceTime my kids and look them in the eyes and say I love you how was school today what was the best part of your day that was the same day it was just two different postures so when we choose to get on the edge of our seat eyes wide open with wonder of what is God gonna do with this day that's the posture I want man that's just great wisdom and it's more than it's more than just the earthly perspective we're just choosing to see positivity it's a is saying God be my vision let me see through the lens that you have for me right so that I see I see the opportunities before me to pour into people the opportunity for me that a lot of khauran afforded to a lot of other people and the blessings that you have with with your family talk to us about your family for just a second yeah a lot of these kids grew up listening to you know chew dog yeah so catch us up on family first of all we almost did a throwback set to when y'all were like 10 like we almost did like funky Jesus music woman I was talking to a student the slam this is the /no student and she didn't say tan she said she was six inning of TobyMac yeah so I have five kids I have my 12 year old his name Judah he's a boy my 13 year old his name Leo he's a boy we adopted twins from actually from the Liberty godparent home here or whatever it's called now Marley and Moses and they are 16 and believe it or not y'all gonna trip on this but true dog is 20 I know you hear miss that dad Pinkett and he's making music somewhere he's in LA making music and I I celebrate who he is man I'm excited for what he's doing and my wife Amanda yeah it's gonna my wife's Jamaica and I don't know if y'all know that so I get a pass when I do is something like made to love you know I don't have Jamaican blood but my wife I've been livin with forever is Jamaican we've been we've been married we just saw Bear 25th anniversary so it's amazing yeah congratulations man that's amazing from your family life and anybody who just looks at a picture of your family all the way down to the way that you have built your team around you - honestly the voice that you continue to be and intentionally the way you collaborate with other artists it seems like you're not just fighting racism but your word is racism you want to be not just not just against something but be Pro something bigger and so talk to us about that I know that for you the big mantra has always been it starts with me and can you just expand on that for us we certainly need to hear this message more than ever yeah I think we're facing some hard times in the United States right now as it relates to race and I think I've always been a about diversity my bands called diverse city my family is diverse my wife's Jamaican the two children that I adopted are african-american it's it's always been important to me that the charitable organization that I give to is called New Hope it's a school where 50% of lower-income students are scholarship and 50% of the students pay it's a Christian school so it's getting people together as you can see the eight of us up here plus the crew we live on a bus together and it's it's a mash-up as they say of races I don't know man I always say this I always say I don't think if your world isn't diverse I'm not gonna say you're sinning but I'm gonna say you're missing out on the richness the I know of living a lifetime of diversity there's a richness in us coming together I think we're far more beautiful together than we are separated I wrote as someone the new record called starts with me and I did it with a guy named Aaron Cole he's a hip-hop artist Aaron Cole's Doby all need to get on he's he's amazing he's a young hip hop artist from Virginia from Bristol yeah Bristol represent anyway we kind of both we did it a little differently everybody knows I've been about diversity of my whole life so but something was in my mind that was bothering me so I went back and I looked at what my father taught me growing up in Virginia I grew up in Northern Virginia okay annandale falls church you know so I grew up there and my father taught me some things about race that now as I look at it they were just wrong and I love my dad my dad passed a year and a half ago but I two years ago I love I love my the way I was reared I love the home I lived in but when I thought about what my dad shared with me it's it's tough to swallow and when I and then he would tell me what his dad shared with him and I just began to think I want to write a song that's honest that's honest and I want it I want change to start with me I want it I want my kids to see something different and they have an Erin looked at his upbringing so my part is I was born with two dirty hands something my daddy didn't understand something his daddy didn't understand but it starts with me Erin's part says I was born with he's african-american Kitty's like I was born with distrust in my heart mama told me were worlds apart her mama told her don't even bother but it starts with me that to me is dialogue this dialogue that we desperately need in America and it has to begin with each one of us societal change happens when individuals change so yeah we're man we we love that and we thanks me I think we've come a long way certainly as a university I can tell you man we've seen the Lord just do a lot of uniting work but I'd be the first to tell you that we have a long way to go we do and we you know we can pretend that just because we're a Christian University that we don't have issues on this campus that deal with racism or deal with people just really kind of huddling up in their own little tribe and not ever really listening to the other but it's it's it's literally the prayer of Jesus his last prayer in the garden that we would be one that we'd be united and can you talk to us a little bit more about when you were you know a college student walking in and you were young and you'd come from a legacy of a godly dad who maybe had you know just this heritage and I on him that he had just skin hair how did you break that generational curse and what advice would you give a college student now to just get out of your circle begin to listen to people would be some questions that maybe could begin the conversation honest questions to ask I think dialogue is crucial when you when you're scared to dialogue or you're scared to ask somebody from a different culture about themselves it sort of locks us up and keeps us in our in our shadows as it comes to race relations but you know man I think it's it's just it's opening you're opening your heart looking from someone else's perspective for a minute you know I mean I'm just gonna be candid with you it's for me it started with just saying what does my african-american friend would feel when he walks in Nashville into a roomful of white people what does he feel like maybe feels confident but maybe I don't know let's talk and and then I man and the same thing for an african-american individual I think when I walk in a room full of black people which I do a lot what am I feeling do I feel welcome and I think it's our job as believers we're the ones that are supposed to be the people imitated and it's our job to be aware of what someone feels like that's called compassion be sensitive to what people may be feeling and then step out in action just step out and say what's up welcome I just think we have to step across lines sometimes that are in our minds I don't think we're purposely doing this most times but to be sensitive aware and take action I think is a beginning it's a beginning because then that will lead to conversation yeah I mean I think a lot of people see that word sensitivity as a weakness when it's really not I mean there's insensitivity where you're just like man people need to get over it I was just just a joke or it certainly did or I don't mean anything by this like little you know thought or we have a student here who really struggled with his right to take a flag up you know in his dorm that to a lot of people was hurtful you know it was a confederate flag and so we're sitting there and we're having this discussion and I'm telling him man you have a right but will you just stop and listen to your brother will you listen and just go I'll give up even maybe my right in order to to be a bonding agent you know and so there's insensitivity and then there's hypersensitivity and then there's like sensibility given to us by the Lord and so you're just such a great example of that so much of that comes from just your personal walk with God talk to me about the just as a last question before we pray for you the idea of lordship and I've always noticed you're big on the word Lord because it postures you as a servant and that's been a big thing for you yeah thanks I think I think if we dare if we dare call him Lord we better recognize our position if we're bold enough to say you're my Lord then that makes us simply one thing there's only one thing we can be if he's our Lord then we're his servant and a servant and I know you guys are young and ready to just do your thing I get it but a servant waits that's the calling on a servant to wait on his Lord to wait to see what the Lord requests from him so the word Lord opened up to me maybe a decade ago I'm like whoa Lord is heavy because you're a servant and you don't grow weary and waiting when you're a servant because that's your calling and then when he gives you a job he'll open the doors the doors will open you won't have to kick I tell everyone they're like huh you know how'd you make it in the music business I'm like I can tell you one thing I never had to kick any doors down there's nothing wrong with with going hard but God opened doors and I was just willing to step through him he'll open the right doors if you're a servant in it and I think the bigger the bigger the influence and the platform even the bigger the reason for you to just continue to posture yourself below the Lord and submit yourself before the Lord and even in that even the people that might work for you see you as a person who's serving them as brothers and sisters in Christ man our last question always for every guest that we have is the same one in this particular season right now how can we be praying for you I know that the new records coming out as a matter of fact you guys have been practicing tomorrow night by the way there are a few tickets still left for Roanoke so tomorrow night if you want to be a part of that you can go but with the new record coming out and everything else I guess before we pray for you and I want to know how can we specifically be praying for you as a family and on this tour tell us a little bit about this record and your family to us man how can we support this new record can we hashtag something or post something or go support the record or give us an action point I'm a family y'all show some love man come on the records called the elements that was actually the single cover before I just need you but the elements you know I think the I started looking at this group of songs and they're all just about life and I wrote them about my life and my own struggles I think I learned a long time ago that when I write from a fictional perspective it doesn't resonate with people when I write about my own struggles and the times I can overcome something then if it seems to resonate with people I find that I have to wrestle because I'm in a position where I mean frankly a lot of people work for me I don't look at it that way I look at working with them but you have to wake up every day and I have to wake up every day and wrestle this thing called the jaded spirit what I talked about early earlier it's like you have to put down the J I want to be alive I want to be on the edge of my seat so my morning starts with opening God's Word and as I open God's Word and I get and I get strong the spirit gets strong in me and then I walk out the door and I figured this out as I looked at these songs I figured out all day long I face these elements because in the morning I I set out to be the man I want to be the husband I want to be the father I want to be the friend I want to be the person of community I want to be I set out strong in that vision but by the end of the day when I come back home I just noticed I felt beat down I just felt beat down so the elements are working against us every day so I just came up with this thing called the elements and and I think that if we don't get strong in the morning by the by the night we're beat down but but we're up against it and we you know recognize that were up against the world doesn't feed us to live for the king the world doesn't say yeah live for the king the world is working against that at every turn it's a crazy world as doing crazy things at us and if you're not fighting the elements you will lose to the elements so that's more than just the theme of the record I mean on a very personal level like obviously we want to get behind the record and support it and I've heard it it's an awesome awesome awesome ministry tool but I think yeah I think if if I did like I figure I've been doing this so long and I'm I figure if I'm not offering depth and wisdom I'm hanging the cleats up yeah so in this record I feel like it's interesting when I think about artistry I think like young artists are dope it's like they got the way they move the way they dress it's it's freaking dope but but what I'm saying is I think an artist that's my age should be offering depth and wisdom because I've I have journeyed I have journey so I owe it to you to offer you something if you listen yeah I owe it to you to offer your wisdom and depth and pain and beauty yeah it's literally I will say man and it's not just this album bro it's it's the trajectory of your career so much of hip-hop today and not just hip-hop so much of music is about just bragging you know about all the toys of the world and all the thing and you know guys that are just like half their videos are about them being around a private jet and around this entourage and yours is the opposite yours is about humility and lordship and servanthood and and weathering the elements not based on you with humbling yourself before God and it's an amazing thing how can we be praying for you and the elements you're facing right now man I mean home is turmoil right now I got teenagers you know saying like you need to send them to live I do need an alumni discount yeah do I get one sure we can cut that deal right now yeah I think yeah just you know I'm gone a lot I play about a hundred shows a year my wife a man is she's got top Jamaica and one man month but yeah my turreted sorry but I do I do ask for peace in our home and then I ask for like you know just passion for what we do when passion is lacking I will I will hang up my shoes and say I'm done with this if I'm not passionate and you should too is whatever you're doing be passionate go after what the vision God's given you have a vision I would say that uh what is my vision you know right now so pray for my vision because it's different than yours you guys got your whole life in front of you so I think it's pray for my vision and pray but mostly pray for my family because as I'm not there I want them to feel my love I've fought fought my whole life to not be the dad that was never there we toured differently we do three or four days out three or four days home every week I go home we don't go on tour for three four months six months we toured differently because some of you guys probably had a dad that was never there I didn't want to be that maybe somebody had an amazing debt and no dad wants to be a dad that was never there so pray that supernaturally I'm there more than I am absolutely can we put our hands towards our brother but not just love and appreciate Toby just what a great minister what a great brother friend man we love you Toby will be back by the way I know most of us will be on break but we we host you know tons and tons of youth groups for Winterfest here and Toby's gonna be back with us in the winter so if you're able to come join us come on it's gonna be a great event let's let's put our hands towards Toby and let's pray for my brother father we thank you for your servant you really are the Lord of his life and we pray blessing and on him and his family we thank you Lord for just the example that he is more than just as an artist God but just as a as a man of God as a husband and as a father we pray for his relationship with his children that God you deepen that relationship that Lord you would replace nights away from home with greater nights than ever when he is home they've got when he is home his is his phone won't hijack the evenings God when he's home he'd be able to focus and listen and be around and that God conversations would go long with his children and we thank you for his wife we pray God for stamina for her and strength for her as she's so many nights has to play both roles in a physical sense we pray that she would just sense that God you're stepping in and that God you you're filling in the blanks when Toby's gone thank you Lord for the nights that he's away being nights in ministry I pray that they would see the fruit of that labor that God that's their sacrifice in in turn would be ministry and joy assured in to people's lies hope assured in the people's lives and they'd know dad's away but he's he's singing about Jesus dad's away but he's calling people to love to erase racism from this world and so that Lord they would know and that's their investment we pray God for passion for him continue God to strengthen his vision clarify what the next few years look like for him thank you for the legacy that he has already just set the pathway and we pray for his best years to be ahead of him I pray that today he'd know that his liberty family loves them were for him were grateful God for his ministry and that that would come alongside in this season to to push with him God for all the things that he wants which were your will we love you none of us have done you any favors for being here it's our privilege to be in your kingdom work we pray this in your name amen hey can we thank our brother wall then he do a great job thank you man

Channel: Liberty University

Views: 29,307

Rating: 4.8992043 out of 5

Keywords: Liberty University, LibertyU, Liberty, Jerry Falwell

Id: 2l3hfYAQ9cU

Length: 33min 34sec (2014 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 31 2018