Each week, you may find information here about the music in the worship services at Trinity United Methodist Church in Duncanville, Texas. Some of this information is original; most of it is copied from other websites such as Wikipedia, GBOD, and hymnary.org. It is my hope that this information will enhance your understanding and enrich your worship experience.
People Need the Lord - Bill Wolaver
(c.1986, River Oaks Music)
The idea for this song emerged from a luncheon meeting in a Nashville, Tennessee, restaurant in 1983. According to the composers, as Phill McHugh (b.1951) became aware of the pain in the eyes of their waitress, he said to Greg Nelson (b.1948), “People need the Lord, don’t they?” Nelson responded, “Yes, people do need the Lord.” From that brief exchange came the idea for the song, which was sketched in outline during the remainder of the meal.
The theme of song is that of Mark 6:34: “When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd”. The initial stanza is written in the first-person singular as a solo. It acknowledges “empty people. . . [in] private pain. . . [as they are] living fear to fear.” The second stanza shifts to the first-person plural, alluding to Matthew 5:14–16: “We are called to take his light / to a world where wrong seems right.” The message of the refrain written in the third person is clear: “People need the Lord”—six times in five lines. Contemporary Christian artist Steve Green (b. 1956) recorded this song as the signature selection on the album People Need the Lord (1994).
Phillip James McHugh, a South Dakota native, is an award-winning writer of contemporary Christian songs. Two of his songs, “Lamb of Glory” and “People Need the Lord,” were nominated for Dove Awards in 1985 and 1986, respectively. CCLI’s SongSelect lists forty-six songs, including translated versions, by McHugh. Most are co-written with others. His most frequent collaborator is Greg Nelson, and “People Need the Lord” is the most famous song resulting from their partnership.
Gregory Allen Nelson, a North Dakota native, graduated from Mary College (Bismarck, ND) in 1972 (B.A. in social science and music). Nelson founded Spirit Records in 1977. After moving to Los Angeles in 1978, he became director of Sparrow Records in 1979. Moving to Nashville in 1980, he worked for several recording companies before forming Greg Nelson Music. Nelson has produced thirteen gold and three platinum recordings and has received twenty Dove Awards. Nelson was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 2018. As a producer, he has garnered thirteen Grammy nominations and seven Grammy awards. He produced numerous recordings for the Baptist Hymnal (2008) and developed the “SongMap” technology for manipulating songs). CCLI’s SongSelect lists 146 songs to his credit, including translations; most are cowritten with Phill McHugh.
Everyday they pass me by; I can see it in their eyes,
Empty people filled with care Headed who knows where
On they go through private pain, Living fear to fear;
Laughter hides their silent cries. Only Jesus hears.
People need the Lord, people need the Lord
At the end of broken dreams, He's the open door
People need the Lord, people need the Lord
When will we realize people need the Lord?
We are called to take His light To a world where wrong seems right
What could be too great a cost For sharing life with one who's lost?
Through His love our hearts can feel All the grief they bear
They must hear the words of life Only we can share
People need the Lord, people need the Lord
At the end of broken dreams, He's the open door
People need the Lord, people need the Lord
When will we realize that we must give our lives?
For people need the Lord, people need the Lord
Bill Wolaver received his Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance from Oklahoma City University. He is a prolific and renowned composer and arranger in Nashville, TN, working with multiple publishing companies. He and his wife, Robin, have been involved with Christian music for over 20 years, with songs, musicals, and arrangements published by a number of leading Christian publishers. Together, they composed Make His Praise Glorious, recorded by Sandi Patty and nominated for Dove Award for 'Song of the Year.' In addition, they have received an ASCAP Award for 'Inspirational Song of the Year.' He is also the pianist/composer/arranger for the Annie Moses Band.
Trinity Strong - Garth Baker-Fletcher
Rev. Dr. Garth “Kasimu” Baker Fletcher (1955-2025) was ordained by the American Baptist Church. A long-time member of the Society for the Study of Black Religion (the Society) and the American Academy of Religion, Dr. Baker Fletcher was the husband of theologian Dr. Karen Baker-Fletcher. He attended Interlochen Arts Academy, New England Conservatory of Music, Harvard Divinity School, and Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University
While at Harvard Divinity School, He became a founding member of the Harvard Jubilee Singers, a group that recorded both traditional spirituals and original music. He taught Christian ethics at the Christian Theological Seminary of Indianapolis and Claremont School of Theology in southern California. In Indianapolis he served on a Governor’s Board to end unjust violence by police against African Americans. In the 2000s he taught Bible and Christian Ethics at Texas College, an HBCU, in Tyler, Texas.
Garth was the author several books, including Somebodyness: Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Theory of Dignity, Xodus: An African-American Male Journey, and Dirty Hands: Christian Ethics in a Morally Ambiguous World.
In his last years of life, Garth was the Minister of Worship at Trinity United Methodist Church, in Duncanville, TX . While serving at Trinity, he wrote “Trinity Strong” with lyrics by Donna Burson and Jane Graner.
Trinity, strong because we live through every obstacle,
Trinity, strong because our trials teach us to live.
Trinity, strong though we are small, our hearts are large and tall;
God uses what the world says should not be.
Calling us to serve, love, flow like a mighty stream.
Fill us Holy Spirit, in Jesus we are free.
Like the Holy Prophets, we’re crying “Be Holy!”
Trinity, strong because we live through every obstacle,
Trinity, strong because our trials teach us to live.
Trinity, strong though we are small, our hearts are large and tall;
God uses what the world says should not be.
God use us so the world can truly see!
For the Beauty of the Earth
Folliott Piermont (1835-1917) was born in Bath, England and was a lay member of the Anglican Church. Following his graduation from Queen's College, Cambridge, he taught the classics for a time at Somerset College, later becoming a freelance writer. During his 82 years of life, Pierpoint published seven volumes of poems and hymn texts, many of them showing his love for nature. He is most remembered for this beautiful hymn, For the Beauty of the Earth.
Piermont was about 29 years old when he wrote the text for this joyful hymn. It was a lovely day in late spring. While enjoying the surrounding area of his native city of Bath, in England, he was inspired by the beautiful countryside with its winding cool and peaceful river, Avon, in the distance. The tuneful songbirds, the wind whispering over a vibrantly colored hillside, all seemed to be praising the Creator with their unrestrained gladness and peace. Overwhelmed with emotion, he expressed his feelings of gratitude in the penning of this sacred song. The text was inspired by Hebrews 13:15: "By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name." It first appeared in 1864 in a book of Eucharistic hymns and poems entitled Lyra Eucharistica, Hymns and Verses on The Holy Communion, Ancient and Modern, with other Poems with the title "The Sacrifice of Praise".
An early form of the tune DIX was composed by Conrad Kocher (1786-1872). Trained as a teacher, Kocher moved from Germany to St. Petersburg, Russia, to work as a tutor at the age of seventeen. But his love for the music of Haydn and Mozart impelled him to a career in music. He moved back to Germany in 1811, settled in Stuttgart, and remained there for most of his life. The prestigious Cotta music firm published some of his early compositions and sent him to study music in Italy, where he came under the influence of Palestrina's music. In 1821 Kocher founded the School for Sacred Song in Stuttgart, which popularized four-part singing in the churches of that region. He was organist and choir director at the Striftsckirche in Stuttgart from 1827 to 1865. Kocher wrote a treatise on church music, Die Tonkunst in der Kirche (1823), collected a large number of chorales in Zions Harfe (1855), and composed an oratorio, two operas, and some sonatas. William H. Monk created the current form of DIX by revising and shortening Conrad Kocher's chorale melody for “Treuer Heiland, wir sind hir,” found in Kocher's Stimmen aus den Reiche Gottes (1838). Monk's tune was published in the 1861 edition of Hymns Ancient and Modern, of which Monk was music editor.
For the beauty of the earth, for the glory of the skies,
for the love which from our birth over and around us lies.
For the wonder of each hour of the day and of the night,
hill and vale and tree and flower, sun and moon and stars of light,
For the joy of ear and eye, for the heart and mind’s delight,
for the mystic harmony linking sense to sound and sight;
For the joy of human love, brother, sister, parent, child,
friends on earth, and friends above, for all gentle thoughts and mild,
For thy church, that evermore lifteth holy hands above,
offering up on every shore her pure sacrifice of love;
For Thyself, best gift divine, to the world so freely given,
for that great, great love of Thine, peace on earth, and joy in heaven.
Lord of all, to Thee we raise this, our hymn of grateful praise.
Christ, our God, to Thee we raise, this our sacrifice of praise.
Gloria Patri
Many congregations may take these words, sung weekly, for granted. Like many parts of liturgy, their roots extend to the deepest levels of our praise and prayer.
The text of the Gloria Patri falls into the broader category of doxology – in the Greek doxologia or “words of glory.” Doxology finds its roots in the Hebrew liturgy and the psalms as the kaddish. The kaddish is a doxology recited after the verses of a song. Its recitation signals the conclusion of one of the sections of the liturgy and has many different forms and purposes. In the Jewish context, a doxology blesses the One God and God’s everlasting nature. For example, Psalm 41:13 states: “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting, and to everlasting. Amen and Amen” (KJV). This is a form of berakhah (blessing or benediction) that pervades Jewish liturgy and life. The Sh’ma is the most famous and prevalent statement in Reform Jewish liturgy that addresses these criteria:
Sh’ma Yisrael Adonai Eloheinu Adonai Eḥad (שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ יְהוָה אֶחָֽד):
“Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One.” (Deuteronomy 6:4)
Baruch shem k’vod malchuto l’olam vaed (בָּרוּךְ שֵׁם כְּבוֹד מַלְכוּתוֹ לְעוֹלָם וָעֶד):
“Blessed is/be the name of the glory/honor of His kingdom forever and ever.”
The “Baruch” is a berakhah added in the rabbinic tradition. It is very similar to Psalm 72:19: “Blessed be His glorious name forever.”
Given this heritage, early Christians adapted the Jewish form to include the Triune God and the Trinity’s eternal nature – “world without end.” Scholars suggest that the opening trinitarian formula is taken from the Great Commission in Matthew: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (28:19). Any trinitarian affirmation at the conclusion of a prayer became known as a “doxology.”
The Lesser Doxology has for centuries been chanted in Latin at the conclusion of psalms and canticles, especially in the daily monastic prayers:
Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto,
Sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper,
et in saecula saeculorum. Amen.
The Greater Doxology is the fourth-century hymn Gloria in excelsis Deo, the incipit (opening line) of which was drawn from the angel’s canticle, Luke 2:14. This non-biblical canticle was introduced during the fourth-century Christological controversies as a corrective to Arianism – a doctrine attributed to Arius (c. 256–336) claiming that Jesus was subordinate to God the Father. The Gloria became a stable part of the ordinary (fixed) sections of the Roman Catholic mass except during Advent and Lent when it is omitted.
Protestants often limit the doxology to a single stanza from morning and evening hymns composed by Anglican Bishop Thomas Ken (1637–1711) for a resident boys’ school. While the four lines of this well-known stanza are Trinitarian, Ken does not specifically mention the eternal nature of the Trinity. However, he references the cosmic perspective of our praise to God – taking place both on earth and in heaven:
Praise God, from whom all blessings flow;
Praise him, all creatures here below;
Praise him above, ye heav’nly host,
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
The Gloria Patri, also known in English as the Glory Be to the Father or, colloquially, the Glory Be, is also referred to as the Minor Doxology (Doxologia Minor) or Lesser Doxology, to distinguish it from the Greater Doxology, the Gloria in Excelsis Deo. The lesser doxology is of Syrian origin:
shubho labo w-labro wal-ruho qadisho
men 'olam w'adamo l'olam olmin, Amin.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,
from everlasting and for ever and ever (literal translation).
The Greek wording is as follows:
Δόξα Πατρὶ καὶ Υἱῷ καὶ Ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι,
καὶ νῦν καὶ ἀεὶ καὶ εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,
Both now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
The Latin version differs from the Greek version because of the insertion of "sicut erat in principio", which is now taken to mean "as it (glory) was in the beginning", but which seems originally to have meant "as he (the Son) was in the beginning", and echo of the opening words of the Gospel according to John: "In the beginning was the Word". In 529, the Second Synod of Vasio (Vaison-la-Romaine) in Gaul said in its fifth canon that the second part of the doxology, with the words "sicut erat in principio", was used in Rome, the East, and Africa, and ordered that it be said likewise in Gaul. Writing in the 1909 Catholic Encyclopedia, Adrian Fortescue, while remarking that what the synod said of the East was false, took the synod's decree to mean that the form originally used in the West was the same as the Greek form. From about the 7th century, the present Roman Rite version became almost universal throughout the West.
Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto,
sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper, et in sæcula sæculorum. Amen.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning, and now, and forever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
The following traditional form is the most common in Anglican usage and in older Lutheran liturgical books:
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son: and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end. Amen.
The translations of "semper" as "ever shall be", and "in saecula saeculorum" as "world without end" date at least from Thomas Cranmer's Book of Common Prayer (1552).
Congregations use several traditional musical settings. One is by Charles (Christoph) Meineke (1782–1850), a German-born organist who moved to England around 1810 and then to Baltimore in 1820. He served as organist of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church for several decades. Meineke authored Music for the Church . . . Composed for St. Paul’s Church, Baltimore (1844). His musical setting, included in this collection, is usually given the name MEINEKE.
Kum Ba Yah, My Shepherd - Sharon Elery Rogers
(c.2008, GlorySound, div. of Shawnee Press)
Many a camper in America and around the world know the camp favorite, “kumbaya.” It is known as a song of peace, a song of community. Few may know, however, that the song was first recorded by descendants of slaves in the Gullah Geechee community of Darien in Southeastern Georgia, as documented in The Weeping Time: Memory and the Largest Slave Auction in American History. The Gullah Geechees have now been credited with the song’s origin and a resolution recognizing Georgia’s first state historical song has been enacted. Gullah Geechee native and Mayor Protem of Darien Georgia, Rev. Griffin Lotson, did the research and with representatives of the Folklife Center in the Library of Congress found the first original wax cylinder recording.
The story goes that Robert Winslow Gordon, a Harvard graduate who later became the first Head of the Archive of American Song at the Library of Congress, recorded the song in 1926. Henry Wylie was the singer and a member of the Gullah Geechee community. “Kumbaya” meant “Come by here” in Gullah and was a plea to God for help. In the interim years, missionaries and folk singers including Pete Seeger, Joan Baez and Odetta made the song popular around the world, but if we look closely at the lyrics, we see how similar they are to Negro spirituals. Negro spirituals or as African American scholar, W.E. B. Dubois called them, sorrow songs, were a cry for help. They were an important part of the oral tradition that allowed the enslaved to share their most intimate desires and needs with God. They were mostly Christian songs but also sometimes had a subversive message. Coded language in songs were used to help runaway slaves find freedom by means of the Underground Railroad trail. As such, these songs represented their hope for freedom and better days.
Those cries and that hope are heard in the song kumbaya which has finally gotten its due. The fact that many things in African American culture quietly become mainstream without recognition of their origin makes this long overdue recognition all the more significant. So next time you sing or hear “kumbaya,” remember this beautiful community and one of their gifts to the world.
Kum ba ya, my lord, Kum ba ya! Kum ba ya, my lord, Kum ba ya!
Kum ba ya, my lord, Kum ba ya. O Lord, Kum ba ya
Someone's crying, Lord, Kum ba ya! Someone's crying, Lord, Kum ba ya!
Someone's crying, Lord, Kum ba ya! O Lord, Kum ba ya
Someone's singing, Lord, Kum ba ya! Someone's singing, Lord, Kum ba ya!
Someone's singing, Lord, Kum ba ya! O Lord, Kum ba ya
Someone's praying, Lord, Kum ba ya! Someone's praying, Lord, Kum ba ya!
Someone's praying, Lord, Kum ba ya! O Lord, Kum ba ya
Isaac Watts (1674-1748) was the son of a schoolmaster and was born in Southampton. He is said to have shown remarkable precocity in childhood, beginning the study of Latin, in his fourth year, and writing respectable verses at the age of seven. At the age of sixteen, he went to London to study in the Academy of the Rev. Thomas Rowe, an Independent minister. In 1698, he became assistant minister of the Independent Church, Berry St., London. In 1702, he became pastor. The number of Watts' publications is very large. His collected works, first published in 1720, embrace sermons, treatises, poems and hymns. His "Horae Lyricae" was published in December, 1705. His "Hymns" appeared in July, 1707. The first hymn he composed for religious worship, "Behold the glories of the Lamb," was written at the age of twenty. Some of his hymns were written to be sung after his sermons, giving expression to the meaning of the text upon which he had preached. Montgomery calls Watts "the greatest name among hymn-writers," and the honor can hardly be disputed. His published hymns number more than eight hundred. There is a monument to his memory in the South Choir of Westminster Abbey. The inscription reads, "Happy will be that reader whose mind is disposed, by his verses or his prose, to imitate him in all but his non-conformity, to copy his benevolence to men, and his reverence to God."
Psalm 23 has inspired numerous paraphrases and hymn texts, including this text by Isaac Watts. Watts included it in his large 1719 collection of psalm paraphrases, The Psalms of David Imitated. Psalm 23 remains the most well-loved and often recited psalm, and Isaac Watts' powerful paraphrase, coupled with the peaceful yet strong American folk tune, make this hymn a moving rendition of that psalm. Watts’ interpretation of the last line of psalm, “and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever,” gives a new understanding to the original psalm: “No more a stranger or a guest, but like a child at home.” Watts gives us a concrete image of dwelling – a child, knowing he or she is safe and secure, and in a place of love and comfort – to help us understand what it is we hope for. The same peace we find in the pasture and by the stream, we find in the house of the LORD, to which our Shepherd is leading us day by day.
Watts’ text is set to the plaintive, pentatonic folk tune RESIGNATION. The anonymous tune was first printed in Freeman Lewis’ The Beauties of Harmony, 5th ed. (1828), where it was called HOPEWELL, set to “Come, humble sinner in whose breast” by Edmund Jones (1722–1765). This tune was renamed RESIGNATION in Joseph Funk’s Genuine Church Music (1832). It was first paired with Watts’ text in J.W. Steffy’s The Valley Harmonist (Winchester VA: Robinson & Hollis, 1836). This text-tune pairing was more widely disseminated via the Revised Edition of William Walker’s Southern Harmony (Philadelphia: E.W. Miller, 1854). As with the 1828 printing, Walker used shape notes, the four-shape system originally espoused by William Little and William Smith in their Easy Instructor (1801).
My Shepherd, you supply my need, most holy is your name;
in pastures fresh you make me feed, beside the living stream.
You bring my wand'ring spirit back. when I forsake your ways;
you lead me, for your mercy's sake, in paths of truth and grace.
When through the shades of death I walk, your presence is my stay;
one word of your supporting breath drives all my fears away.
Your hand in sight of all my foes, does still my table spread;
my cup with Blessings overflows, your oil anoints my head.
Your sure provisions gracious God attend me all my days;
oh, may your house be my abode, and all my work be praise.
Here would I find a settled rest, while others go and come;
no more a stranger, nor a guest, but like a child at home.
Sharon Elery Rogers (1929-2022) was an American composer, music educator, and organist who published over 550 compositions of sacred music. Rogers began studying piano at the Detroit Conservatory of Music. She earned a BA at Hillsdale College, and attended graduate school at Wayne State University. Rogers taught public school music and served as the Supervisor of Music in three Detroit school systems. She was the organist and choir director at Zion Lutheran Church and other churches in Detroit, and later in Florida (Sarasota and Venice). She sang and arranged music for the Don Large Chorus, the Lutheran Charities Hour, and the Wayne King Chorus.
Rogers belonged to the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP), the Cecilian Music Society, the National Federation of Music Clubs and Sigma Alpha Iota. She received 46 special awards from ASCAP; first prize in the 1993 American Guild of English Handbell Ringers composer's contest; an Honorary Alumni Achievement Award from Hillsdale College; and an Honorary Life Membership in the American Guild of Organists (Detroit chapter). In 1999, the Jeffers Handbell Supply Publishing Company named her Composer of the Year.
Blest Be the Tie that Binds
(c.1972, Hope Publishing)
John Fawcett (1740-1817) was born into a poor family in Yorkshire, England, and was orphaned at age 12. To survive, he accepted a lengthy apprenticeship to a tailor. While still in his teens, he heard the great George Whitfield preach and became a Christian. Fawcett became active in a Baptist church and was often asked to speak. At age 25 (and newly married), he was invited to serve as pastor of a small church at Wainsgate. The poor people of that little village were able to pay very little, and much of Fawcett's pay came as potatoes and other produce. Once his wife, Mary, began having children, they found it difficult to survive.
Fawcett learned that the pastor of a large Baptist church in London was retiring, and he let the church know that he would be interested in serving them. They called him to be their pastor at a much larger salary, so John and Mary packed their household and prepared to move. But, as the story is told, Mary told John that she didn't think she could leave these people whom they had both learned to love, and John admitted that he shared her sentiment; so, the two of them unpacked the wagon and told the London church know they wouldn't be coming.
Fawcett, who wrote a number of hymns during his lifetime, wrote the hymn, "Blest Be the Tie," to convey his sentiments and those of his wife to the poor people among whom they had chosen to live. Fawcett served that little church for the rest of his life –– 54 years in all.
Lowell Mason arranged DENNIS and first published it in The Psaltery (1845), a hymnal he compiled with George. Webb. Mason attributed the tune to Johann G. Nageli (1773-1836) but included no source reference. Nageli presumably published the original melody as the setting for "0 selig, selig, wervor dir" in his Christliches Gesangbuch (1828). Nageli was an influential music educator who lectured throughout Germany and France. Influenced by Johann Pestalozzi, he published his theories of music education in Gangbildungslehre (1810), a book that made a strong impact on Lowell Mason. Nageli composed choral works, including settings of Goethe's poetry. He received his early instruction from his father, then in Zurich, where he concentrated on the music of ]. S. Bach. In Zurich, he also established a lending library and a publishing house, which published first editions of Beethoven’s piano sonatas and music by Bach, Handel, and Frescobaldi. The tune name DENNIS is thought to refer to a town in Massachusetts.
Blest be the tie that binds Our hearts in Christian love;
The fellowship of kindred minds Is like to that above.
Before our Father’s throne, We pour our ardent prayers;
Our fears, our hopes, our aims are one, Our comforts, and our cares.
We share our mutual woes, Our mutual burdens bear;
And often for each other flows The sympathizing tear.
When we asunder part, It gives us inward pain;
But we shall still be joined in heart, And hope to meet again.
Surely the Presence of the Lord is in this Place
(c.1977, Lanny Wolfe Music)
Lanny Wolfe (born 1942) is a Christian songwriter who has won numerous awards. Wolfe served for a number of years as the Dean of the School of Music at Jackson Bible School, Jackson College of Ministries, but his most significant influence has been introducing black Gospel music to Pentecostal churches.
"Surely the Presence of the Lord Is in This Place" is based on Jesus promise, "Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in their midst" (Matthew 18:20). It emphasizes the senses––feeling, hearing, touching, and seeing. We can feel the presence of the Lord––and hear the brush of the angel's wings––and see glory on each face. Wolfe was inspired to write this song in 1977 when a friend invited The Lanny Wolfe Trio to sing at a dedication service for a new building. "Surely the Presence" is the song that the Trio sang for that occasion.
Surely the presence of the Lord is in this place;
I can feel his mighty power and his grace.
I can hear the brush of angels’ wings, I see glory on each face;
Sure the presence of the Lord is in this place.
Give Thanks
(c.1978, Integrity’s Hosanna! Music)
"Give Thanks With a Grateful Heart" was written by Henry Smith in 1978. Following the introduction of the song during a worship service at the Williamsburg New Testament Church in Virginia, a military couple reintroduced it to a congregation in Germany. The song eventually caught the attention of executives at Integrity Music. When Integrity's Hosanna! Music copyrighted the song in 1986, the author was unknown. After the Give Thanks album was released, the song was brought to the attention of Smith, who contacted Integrity with authorship information. Integrity later included songwriting credits on all subsequent releases, along with a writer-publisher agreement. As of 2010, the song has been recorded by over 50 companies and published in songbooks around the world. "Give Thanks" is one of Don Moen's more recognizable songs, having been translated into various other languages, including Russian, Afrikaans, and Swedish.
While in college, a spiritual revolution in Henry Smith’s life brought him to Richmond to attend Union Theological Seminary. Then his eyes went bad. In 1978, Henry returned from seminary to his home church as a lay person. He had to take odd jobs to support himself as his career choices were limited by a degenerative eye disease. Nevertheless, he remembers “being extremely thankful” during that time in his life. He had discovered that in the darkest winter there was within him an invincible summer. A sermon on 2 Corinthians inspired him to write this song. “Give thanks. And when we admit we’re weak, only then will His strength become operative and be made perfect in us. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.” Henry eventually lost his sight, but not his gratitude for God’s unfailing love. He has written over 100 other songs to fit Scripture passages. Today he runs Outback, a recording studio in Mechanicsville, Virginia.
Give thanks with a grateful heart
Give thanks to the Holy One
Give thanks because He's given Jesus Christ, His Son
And now let the weak say, "I am strong"
Let the poor say, "I am rich
Because of what the Lord has done for us”
Give thanks
A Closing Prayer - Don Besig
(c.1978, Harold Flammer)
Don Besig was a public school music teacher for over thirty years in western New York. He taught at all levels and since his retirement has continued to serve as a guest conductor, clinician and adjudicator. Recognizing a need for choral music written especially for student singers and volunteer church choirs, he began composing for his own choral groups in 1960. He is also the recipient of several ASCAP Plus Awards Don is a graduate of Ithaca College and a member of Phi Mu Alpha and ASCAP. He and Nancy Price collaborate to write music and lyrics.
The time has come, O Lord, for us to leave this place.
Guide us and protect us and lead us in thy grace.
Wherever life may take us as we go our separate ways,
Help us share with others the things we've shared today.
Interlude II - Mark Hayes
(c.1990, Word Music)
Mark Hayes is an award-winning concert pianist, composer, arranger and conductor. His personal catalog, totaling over 1,000 published works, includes work for solo voice, solo piano, multiple pianos, orchestra, jazz combo, small instrumental ensembles, and choruses of all kinds. Mark received a Bachelor of Music degree summa cum laude in Piano Performance from Baylor University in 1975. He has conducted the SWACDA and MCDA Community and Church Honor Choir, and served as guest conductor at Carnegie Hall, featuring his Te Deum and Magnificat. In 2010, Baylor University Center for Christian Music Studies awarded Mark the Award for Exemplary Leadership in Christian Music. Mark arranged and orchestrated the music for Civil War Voices, which won six awards including "Best Musical" in the 2010 Midtown International Theatre Festival in New York. He conducted the world premiere of his work for chorus, orchestra and narrator, The American Spirit, at Lincoln Center in May 2011 and the world premiere of his Requiem in Lincoln Center in May 2013. Whether concertizing on the other side of the globe or composing at his home in Kansas City, Missouri, Mark is blessed to live out his mission "to create beautiful music for the world”.
Trinity United Methodist Church, Duncanville, Texas
