Daniel Bashta has been making music for as long as he can remember, starting as a child in New Orleans
playing violin and drums and then as a teenager adding guitar and piano to his repertoire. The son of
missionaries, Daniel spent time in Mexico, Russia, China, The Netherlands, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Puerto
Rico, and Jamaica all before his late teens. It was ministry experience that helped prepare him for his
position as Worship Pastor at RiverStone Church near Atlanta, and as an artist who unites worship,
evangelism and social justice.
In fact, it was his trip to The Netherlands that profoundly changed Daniel’s perspective on evangelism,
forever affecting his work and music. At only 17, Daniel moved to Amsterdam to help plant a church just
outside the infamous “Red Light District.” While there, he experienced first-hand the power of building
relationships and trust as catalysts for change and repentance versus an impersonal, “in your face” approach
so often used in evangelism.
“This new breed of missions forever wrecked my life,” he explains. “I had finally found a call and a cause that
I could recklessly run with. I truly found the merciful God of the universe, who bleeds with such love for the
outcasts of this world, that He would give His life. Then my question to answer was, ‘Why should I not give
my life in endless return?’”
That question completely altered Daniel’s spiritual and musical directions. With his family, he moved to
Colorado Springs and became a worship leader for New Life Church’s youth ministry. A couple of years
later, he returned to Europe to attend International Bible Institute of London. While there, he became
involved with Soul Survivor, the church from which Tim Hughes and Matt Redman have birthed so many of
today’s modern worship songs.
After finishing school, Daniel returned to the U.S. and joined the staff of Church of the Highlands, then a
new church plant in Birmingham, Ala., which has become one of the fastest growing churches in America. It
was at Highlands that Daniel met his wife Taylor and further developed the worship-evangelism vision.
Feeling that God was calling them in a new direction, Daniel resigned from Highlands in 2008, recorded an
EP titled My Worship in Motion and formed the non-profit ministry GoMotion Worldwide
[http://www.gomotionworldwide.com] that unites music, missions and media. Since then, he has led worship
throughout the U.S. and internationally in addition to his role at RiverStone.
Daniel recently signed with international worship label
Integrity Music with whom he will release his album debut,
The Sounds of Daniel Bashta in March (2011). The project
includes 12 songs penned by Daniel including, “Like A
Lion,” a prophetic anthem that was also recorded by the
David Crowder Band.
