Jantina de Haan Baksteen is back with Beyond the Song, featuring a look at the Haymons and their song, “God is Good Like That.”
Jantina de Haan Baksteen: Please introduce yourselves to SGNScoops.
Kevin Haymon: We are known as “The Haymons.†The group is made up of myself, my wife Tina, and our three daughters, Olivia, Leandra, and Emma. Olivia is engaged to Joshua Phillips, our drummer, and a talented singer who also joins us vocally. We are based in Oberlin, Louisiana. I write our music. We have released three projects, most recently, “I’ll Carry You to Jesus†with Chapel Valley Music.
JB: Do you come from a singing background?
KH: Yes. My Dad plays the piano and pastored a rural Pentecostal church. Our family sang together. I began writing while serving under his ministry.
JB: When did you start singing as a family group?
KH: Around 2011, my oldest girls joined my wife and me, and we began singing in church and at a family funeral.
JB: Did you as parents teach your three children to sing?
KH: Well, our girls were raised in a music environment. They sang in the church chorale. It was amazing to me how it seemed like all of a sudden, we were singing together and they could harmonize and switch parts so effortlessly. I like to think it’s a God thing!
JB: Who are your musical influences?
KH: I grew up listening to the Rambos, the Lanny Wolfe Trio, the Gaithers, Rex Nelon Singers (now the Nelons), Murrel and Joan Ewing, and all of the quartets, like the Statesmen, the Cathedrals, etc. I would sit at the end of our Magnavox turntable and listen for hours. All their music influenced me.
JB: Besides singing, you write most of your songs. How and where do you get the inspiration to write?
KH: Inspiration for writing comes from various sources and life experiences. A major experience of late, involves our middle daughter, Leandra. About nine years ago, at age 12, she was running and twisted her ankle. What seemed at first to be an innocuous injury turned into a pain nightmare. She couldn’t sleep. Her mother and I took turns staying up with her and holding her and praying as she cried. She would fall asleep out of exhaustion in the morning hours and cry in her sleep. We ended up seeing multiple specialists in major medical centers in Houston, Dallas, and New Orleans. She was eventually diagnosed with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome. Over a matter of time, it began to affect the entire right leg and arm.
Leandra is now 21 and disabled. However, we are still believing for a miracle. A lot of the music on our latest project was birthed in the middle of all of this.
JB: Can you share how that works for you?
KH: There have been so many lessons of faith that have arisen in the last nine years.
God knows the end from the beginning, so He’s never surprised. And, if our steps are ordered of the Lord, then we can trust that God approved this trial for us.
We are a different family than we were nine years ago. I believe we are more sensitive, compassionate and prayerful.
JB: For this edition of Beyond the Song, I picked your song, “God Is Good Like That,” from the album, “I’ll Carry You To Jesus.” Share with us the story of that song.
KH: Early in our journey of Leandra’s illness, someone told us that we were being punished for some sin we had done. In our desperate condition, we were in no shape to contest anything. After all, any time trouble arrives in our lives, it’s always a good idea to repent.
A little further down the road, we understand better. Even Job’s friends accused him of wrongdoing when he was afflicted.
“God is Good” reminds us that we are always experiencing the goodness of God. It would be an affront to God’s Word to believe that trials are the punishment of God. Honestly, where would any of us stand if mercy and grace were given based on what we deserve?
JB: What is ahead in the near future for the Haymons?
KH: We are singing more as Leandra’s illness allows. Sometimes she is not able to travel with us. We have the new single and are starting to get some exposure on radio. Wherever God takes us, we’re ready.
JB: Where can we find you on the web?
KH: Our website is HERE; we also have a Facebook page and Instagram.
JB: Is there something else you’d like the readers to know?
KH: Be encouraged. God is faithful! We would love to come share our testimony in song with you; give us a call.
JB: The line “I don’t get what I deserve, I don’t get what I have earned,” is a strong line in that song. Please explain the message for those who have not made the decision.
KH: If we got what we deserved, where would we be? Our goodness doesn’t get us anything. I can’t bargain with God in reality. God knows everything about me and still loves me! I don’t get what I deserve.
Sometimes when trouble comes, we feel like it surely can’t be God’s will to suffer. After all, “I pay my tithes, I’m faithful to church, etc.†However, Jesus was in the very middle of the will of God as He climbed Golgotha.
He knows if I’m faithful when nobody is looking, and He still loves me! I don’t get what I have earned.
Thanks, Haymons family for sharing your ministry with us.
We pray for God’s blessing wherever you get a chance to share your music with the message of salvation.
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