Ken's Bio
Ken Baysden Bass Guitar I was born in Washington D.C. in February of ’63. My dad was a long haul truck driver and my mom was a homemaker. They did the right thing and got me to Texas just as fast as they could, so I have lived in the DFW area since I was four. Dad was on the road a lot as I was growing up. I was fortunate to spend at least a month each summer traveling the country with him, however my mom was the primary influence on my younger brother and I when we were young. She sang in numerous church choirs (even sang a solo for President Eisenhower) and passed on her love of music to both of us. My parents bought me an acoustic guitar when I was about 10 years old and I was hooked. I began taking lessons and continued until I entered Jr. High. I wanted to play guitar in the Jr. High band but in order to do so I had to play an instrument in the marching band. Thus started several years playing the trumpet. Now most Jr. High schools did not have any opportunity to play guitar in a band but I was blessed to attend a school with a fantastic band director who had developed a jazz band that was competing with the north Texas high schools. I played guitar my seventh grade year along side a phenomenal eighth grade guitar player who really humbled me. There were two bass guitar players that year and they were both ninth graders. They moved on to high school at the end of the year and left the jazz band in a bind. I offered to give the bass a try and the band director loaned me the school bass to practice with over the summer. I connected with the bass unlike I ever had with a guitar. I have never played a six string since. I continued to develop both as a bass player and as a trumpet player throughout Jr. High and high school. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to compete in many marching band, symphonic band and Jazz band competitions throughout north Texas, including North Texas State, soloing on both the trumpet and the bass. I also played bass in a local secular band covering tunes by some of my early musical influences such as Rush, Kansas , and Boston . This continued through my first year of college, where I played trumpet in UTA’s marching band until the last year the University had a football team. My mother tried to make sure we had Christian influences as we were growing up and steered my brother and I toward musical activities at church. We attended First Baptist Church of Arlington and participated in the choir. I was baptized as a young adult. But by the time I reached High School I had become pretty rebellious and quit attending church. By the end of my first year of college I had begun what would become over a twenty-year journey as a prodigal son, falling away from the Lord and pursuing gratification by earthly things. I made a lot of poor choices and did a lot of un-Christian things. Not every choice I made was poor though. I married my beautiful wife Marivel, whom I met in band while in high school. I helped raise two daughters. I have always had a fascination with all things mechanical and am very “hands on”. I developed a love for restoring classic “Mopars.” This mechanical aptitude drove me to obtain a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering and establish a career in Manufacturing Management. But throughout this period of my life I made all of my decisions without allowing the Lord to be involved or asking the Lord for guidance. And while my brother pursued a career as a professional musician, I abandoned my musical efforts. The few attempts I made at picking up an instrument met with failure. I had lost all ability and all talent. Shortly after I turned 40 my dad passed away. Almost immediately afterward my wife became extremely ill. It was the first time that I had ever had to truly acknowledge our/my mortality. I was contending with teenage daughters, with escalating debt and difficulties at work. I felt overwhelmed by circumstances of which I had no control. A coworker of Marivel’s suggested that we try attending a worship service at First United Methodist Church of Mansfield. We went. We went again. And the Lord spoke me. It became obvious to me how miserable it was living a sinful life apart from God. And as I began to confide in Him, it was amazing how God began to work in our lives. Sometimes it was with almost imperceptible “nudges”. Sometimes He spoke VERY clearly to me in my heart. As I continued to seek His will, the more He showered us with His blessings. The burdens were lifted. He welcomed me into relationship with Him. I felt blessed. The church presented a “Forty Days of Purpose” message series that winter. During the series they provided a ministry pavilion where members could explore opportunities to use their gifts to further the cause of Christ. As my wife and I perused the various presentations, a lady called out from the music department’s booth and said they could always use more participants. My wife responded that I played bass guitar. "That’s great!", came the response. Be at rehearsal Wednesday! I am fully convinced this was the Lord speaking through them. I hadn’t played in over 20 years! I had no talent, no skill, and no confidence. Nonetheless, with much apprehension I showed up at that practice. I didn’t play a note the entire night. But in another testament to the Lord’s hand at work, there was another man in attendance whom I did not recognize. He was a drummer from the high school jazz band in which I had participated so many years earlier! His kind recollections gave me the confidence I needed to try my hand at worship music, and I found the Lord had returned to me the gifts I had lost on my own. I made a covenant with Him that never would I use this gift for any purpose but to glorify Him. The next few years provided me the opportunity to worship Him in a number of different praise bands, with a lot of wonderful people, playing every type of worship music from contemporary, to soul, to blues, to country. The Lord spoke to me through a number of these people. A few of them I would like to acknowledge in particular are: Shawn, Doug, Kevin, Stephanie, Karen, Larry, James, Ron. The Lord has blessed me with the opportunity to have a part in Magnolia Rose. Doug, in particular, has been an inspiration and an example to me, in the way he listens to God, communicates with God, and reflects the Lord in his words and actions. When I heard that there was a project in the works that would contain some of his compositions I thought “ there are a lot of people that could be ministered to through Doug’s God centered perspective. ” When I was presented with the opportunity to participate I was both humbled and elated. Humbled that I would even be considered in a group of people that are so spiritually centered, as well as so talented. Elated because I immediately recognized that this endeavor could carry God’s word to more people than any other effort in which I could ever be involved. We are commanded by Christ to carry His message to all people and I believe that is the primary goal of Magnolia Rose. Evangelism is not one of my gifts. But the Lord returned to me the gift of music, and I now play only to glorify Him. Music speaks to people on many different levels and can evoke thoughts and actions that words alone cannot. Magnolia Rose blesses me with the opportunity to help passionately carry Christ’s word to others through music.
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