Music minister’s song places third at conference

RUSSELLVILLE — Garrett Booth has spent about 10 years writing songs, but one written in about 30 minutes recently carried him to national recognition.

Booth, music education minister at First Baptist Church in Russellville, placed third out of 120 entries in the songwriting competition at the Southern Baptist Church Music Conference with his original song, “Jesus Only You.”

The annual conference took place April 19-22 in Jacksonville, Florida.

The song grew from a phrase Pastor Chase Dowdy often used to describe what was happening at the church.

“Our church has experienced tremendous growth in the past two to three years, and we attribute what is happening to only Jesus,” Dowdy said. “Only Jesus is why the church is growing and people are being saved and baptized and joining the church.”

Booth said that phrase has stayed with him.

“I got home after hearing that, and I had just been going through a lot that week, and I said, ‘Lord, I want to write my prayers,’” he said. “The Lord put this prayer on my heart, this song for our church, that in everything we do, Jesus alone gets all the glory, the honor and the praise.”

The song, based on Psalm 115:1, Booth said, came to him easily.

“Some songs take forever, and some songs just come right to you,” he said.

Booth first titled the song “Only Jesus,” but he later changed it after producer and arranger Sam Mizell suggested “Jesus Only You.”

Booth recorded the song near Nashville, Tennessee. He provided acoustic guitar and lead vocals while Mizell handled piano, drums, background vocals and other instrumentation.

He submitted the song for the conference competition in January and learned March 4 that it had placed among the top three. He performed the song April 21 before a panel of Christian worship artists, arrangers and worship leaders.

“It makes me feel very humbled,” Booth said. “I know there are a lot of people the Lord has blessed with this gift, and just to have the opportunity from Him to make much of Him is very humbling.”

Dowdy has known Booth since Booth was 13 years old, when he served as Booth’s youth pastor. He said watching Booth grow from a teenager into a husband, father and music minister has meant a great deal to him.

“He is humble. He is a servant. He has a heart for people and a love for Jesus and a love for others,” Dowdy said.

Booth grew up in Guntersville and graduated from Guntersville High School in 2016.

He said he originally planned to become a pediatrician, but an internship with music minister Ken Patterson at First Baptist Church in Guntersville changed that path.

“My very first song I ever wrote was ‘God, I Need You,’” Booth said. “I had the opportunity to lead it in worship in youth group, and to see the Lord use it to encourage my peers to worship Jesus, and I that was something the Lord wants me to do with my life.”

He attended Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, and graduated in 2020.

He and his wife, Madison, later moved from Beebe, Arkansas, to Russellville after he accepted the position at First Baptist Church.

Booth and his wife welcomed their first child, Jeremiah, on March 17, just weeks before the conference. He said Jeremiah already has a special connection to the song.

“My wife and I had a Spotify delivery playlist that was playing when she was delivering him, and he actually came out of the womb when this song was playing,” Booth said. “So that was really cool.”

He said his goal for the song remains simple.

“The only thing I want people to remember is Jesus,” he said. “I don’t want people to remember me. I just want people to remember Jesus and give Him the glory.”