Review: Josh Baldwin’s “Full Grown Man Vol. I” Finds Strength In Stillness

Review: Josh Baldwin’s “Full Grown Man Vol. I” Finds Strength In Stillness. Josh Baldwin’s new five-song set is small in length and large in lived-in wisdom.

Released September 5, 2025, “Full Grown Man, Vol. I” runs just over 21 minutes and arrives via Bethel Music/Stem—a compact cycle about identity, maturity, and a faith that’s been tried and kept. It follows a banner season for Baldwin and lands with a clear creative north star: fewer fireworks, more formation.

The EP’s rollout smartly framed the story. August’s “Salvation Song” set the devotional tone, while release day pushed “For Dear Life” to the front with a fresh video—an anchoring, plain-spoken picture of clinging to grace.

Track highlights

For Dear Life – A pulse that leans Americana and a chorus you can carry. Baldwin writes like someone counselling a friend on a porch swing: unhurried, unforced, true. (Lead focus track + video.)

Older – The record’s quiet thesis: age as teacher. It’s less about arriving than about becoming—open-handed and grateful.

Full Grown Man – The title cut looks at Jesus as the Son of Man and, by reflection, what mature personhood in Christ can look like. The lyric resources Bethel shared underscore that angle.

Salvation Song – A slow-burn confession (original key C, ~69 BPM) co-written with Andy Cherry, Patrick Mayberry, Micah Nichols, and Destiny Barber—gentle enough for an altar call, sturdy enough for a Sunday set.

It’s Finished Now – The closer wears Golgotha on its sleeve, echoing Baldwin’s own note that he “just loves this song” as a reminder that Jesus paid it all. A fitting benediction.

Baldwin keeps the palette lean: weathered acoustic textures, a hint of Southern grit, and worship choruses that trade novelty for nourishment. That aesthetic—“Southern roots, raw storytelling, heartfelt worship”—is exactly how the team has framed this chapter, and it’s what you hear in the bones of the EP.

It’s a true EP—five songs, no filler—and the sequencing feels pastoral: assurance → reflection → vision → confession → completion. Apple Music’s listing confirms the compact scope and order (“For Dear Life,” “Older,” “Full Grown Man,” “Salvation Song,” “It’s Finished Now”), which is precisely why the record plays like a single conversation rather than five isolated moments.

Takeaways from Full Grown Man, Vol. I

Maturity over momentum. Baldwin doesn’t chase trends; he testifies. The writing privileges formation—what grace makes of a man—over spectacle.
Church-ready without being cookie-cutter. “Salvation Song” and “For Dear Life” are immediately service-friendly yet feel personal, not prefab.
A coherent theological thread. The title track frames Jesus’ humanity as a model for ours, giving the EP a unifying lens.
Economy as a virtue. Five songs, ~21 minutes—tight, replayable, and more impactful for what’s left unsaid.
A next-chapter marker. Coming on the heels of a high-visibility season, this feels less like a detour and more like a definition of where Baldwin is headed.

Final Thoughts

“Full Grown Man, Vol. I” is Baldwin at his most pastoral and personal—a short course in steady faith for people who are learning to carry their years with grace. If this is Vol. I, Vol. II can’t come soon enough.