Each week, you may find information here about the music in the traditional worship services at First United Methodist Church in Lewisville, 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.
About the Organ Music:
Trumpet Fanfare on "Rescue" - Don Hustad
(c.1978, Hope Publishing)
Frances (Fanny) Jane Crosby (1820-1915) became blind at the age of six weeks. At the age of fifteen, she entered the New York Institution for the Blind and was a teacher at the institution from 1847-1858. She wrote the words to many songs for Dr. Geo. F. Root, then the teacher of music at the blind institution. Subsequently she wrote the words for the cantatas of The Flower Queen and The Pilgrim Fathers, all of which were very popular in their day, though it was not generally known at the time that she was the author. In addition to the thousands of hymns that she has written (about eight thousand poems in all), many of which have not been set to music, she has published four volumes of verses. The first was issued in 1844 and was entitled The Blind Girl, and Other Poems, a second volume, Monterey, and Other Poems, followed in 1849, and the third, A Wreath of Columbia's Flowers, in 1858. The fourth, Bells at Evening and Other Verses.
It is as a writer of Sunday-school songs and gospel hymns that she is known wherever the English language is spoken. She began to write Sunday-school hymns for Wm. B. Bradbury in 1864. She spent regular hours on certain days at the office of The Biglow & Main Co., the firm for which she did most of her writing, and for whom she has composed over four thousand hymns. She said that had it not been for her affliction she might not have so good an education, nor so great an influence, and certainly not so fine a memory. She knew a great many portions of the Bible by heart, and had committed to memory the first four books of the Old Testament, and also the four Gospels before she was ten years of age. Most of Fanny's published hymns have appeared under the name of Fanny J. Crosby or Mrs. Yan Alstyne, but many have appeared under the nom de plumes of Grace J. Frances, Mrs. C. M. Wilson, Lizzie Edwards, Ella Dale, Henrietta E. Blair, Rose Atherton, Maud Marion, Leah Carlton, nearly two hundred different names.
Fanny Crosby loved sharing the Gospel with anyone who would listen. In 1869 she penned the words to “Rescue the Perishing.” When asked about the song, she explained, “It was written following a personal experience at the New York City Bowery Mission.” She went on to explain that she would go one night a week to talk to “her boys.” One night while speaking to them, she kept having the thought that there was a boy present who had wandered away from his mother and must be rescued that night, or he would be eternally lost. She made a plea to each boy that was there that night. At the end of the service, one of the young men came forward and said, “Did you mean me, Miss Crosby? I promised my mother to meet her in Heaven, but as I am now living that will be impossible.” She prayed with him and led him to Christ. As they finished, he said, “Now I am ready to meet my mother in Heaven, for I have found God.”
Rescue the perishing, care for the dying,
Snatch them in pity from sin and the grave;
Weep o’er the erring one, lift up the fallen,
Tell them of Jesus, the mighty to save.
Rescue the perishing, duty demands it;
Strength for thy labor the Lord will provide;
Back to the narrow way patiently win them;
Tell the poor wand’rer a Savior has died.
Rescue the perishing, care for the dying,
Jesus is merciful, Jesus will save.
Don Hustad (1918-2013) was one of the giants of Christian music of the 20th century. Hustad had a distinguished ministry and a life-long profession as a recording artist, composer, arranger, teacher, conductor, hymnal editor, and author. He began work as staff musician of Chicago's WMBI in the early 1940s, worked with soloist George Beverly Shea on a weekly broadcast called "Club Time," and served for some 20 years as organist for a popular radio broadcast "Songs in the Night." He taught at Olivet Nazarene College in Kankakee, Illinois from 1946 to 1950, at which time Hustad was appointed director of the Sacred Music Department at Moody Bible Institute—a position he held until 1961. During his 11-year tenure at Moody he developed the Moody Chorale into a superior choral ensemble that achieved fame nationally and internationally. In 1961 he became Crusade organist for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and directed the Crusader Men Choir in the "Hour of Decision" broadcasts. His publications include over 100 articles and five books. Throughout his career, Hustad devoted considerable energy to music arranging and hymnal editing, serving as editorial consultant and musical advisor to Hope Publishing Company. Among his editorial contributions are fourteen hymnals and songbooks, as well as dozens of collections. In 1989, Hustad was awarded Fellow of the Hymn Society for his outstanding contribution to American hymnody. In 2008, he was honored by the American Choral Director's Association Southern Division Conference for his contributions to church music. He earned diplomas as an Associate of the American Guild of Organists (AAGO) and a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists (FRCO), London, UK.
About the Piano Music:
I've Got the Joy - Pepper Choplin
(c.2008, Lorenz Publishing)
"Joy in My Heart", sometimes titled "I've Got the Joy, Joy, Joy, Joy" or "Joy, Joy Down in My Heart", is a popular Christian song often sung around the campfire and during scouting events. It is often included in Gospel music and a cappella concerts, songbooks, and Christian children's songbooks. The song was written by George William Cooke. Cooke was born in Doncaster, Yorkshire, England in 1884 and died in Jamestown, New York in 1951. He was the author of "Joy in My Heart" which was copyrighted in 1925 (but not renewed). At that time he was living in Wilmington, Delaware. He was a minister and associated with a group called Gospel Crusaders which was associated with the Methodist Church. He ran the Delmarva Camp, a Methodist camp that held gospel meetings and revivals. He was later minister of Methodist churches in Buffalo and Rochester New York. As a young man, he twice circled the globe in evangelistic tours with Commissioner Samuel L. Brengle of the Salvation Army.
I've got the joy, joy, joy, joy, Down in my heart,
Down in my heart, Down in my heart;
I've got the joy, joy, joy, joy, Down in my heart,
Down in my heart to stay.
I've got the peace that passeth understanding, Down in my heart,
Down in my heart, Down in my heart;
I've got the peace that passeth understanding, Down in my heart,
Down in my heart to stay.
I've got the love of Jesus, love of Jesus, Down in my heart,
Down in my heart, Down in my heart;
I've got the love of Jesus, love of Jesus, Down in my heart,
Down in my heart to stay.
For there is therefore now no condemnation, Down in my heart,
Down in my heart, Down in my heart;
For there is therefore now no condemnation, Down in my heart,
Down in my heart to stay.
Pepper Choplin is a full-time composer, conductor and humorist. He has gained a reputation as one of the most creative writers in church music today. With a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, he went on to earn a Master of Music degree in composition from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. With a diverse musical background, Choplin incorporates varied styles such as folk, Gospel, classical, and jazz. His published work includes over 280 anthems for church and school choir with 19 church cantatas and a book of piano arrangements. In 2013, he made his Carnegie Hall debut in a joint concert with Joseph Martin. Since then, he has twice premiered his cantatas at Lincoln Center with 200 voices and orchestra. He also visits many schools, churches and conferences to conduct and to entertain. Beyond his choral music, Choplin has produced two humorous CDs and an inspirational recording. Currently, he attends Greystone Baptist Church in Raleigh, North Carolina, where he served as music minister for twenty-two years.
About the Choral Music:
I Am Resolved - Derrell Billingsley
(c.1981, Broadman Press)
This hymn was authored by Palmer Hartsough (1844-1932), in 1896. He wrote several hymns, and was good friends with James H. Fillmore (1849-1936) who wrote the music for the text. “I am Resolved” demonstrates the attitude of resolution to go to Jesus because He has the words of eternal life.
Palmer Hartsough’s father was active in the Michigan Baptist Convention. In 1856, the family moved to Plymouth, MI, and Palmer attended both Kalamazoo College and Michigan State Normal. While in college, he became interested in music and began teaching singing schools in rural areas. During the following ten years, he travelled throughout Michigan, Illinois, Iowa, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee as an itinerant singing school teacher. Around the year 1877, Hartsough settled in Rock Island, IL, where he opened a music studio and served as music director at the local Baptist Church. His poetic ability attracted the attention of the Fillmore Brothers Publishing Company of Cincinnati, OH. So in 1893, Hartsough moved to Cincinnati to work with the Fillmore brothers, providing texts for their music.
The tune (Endeavor) for this particular hymn was composed by James Henry Fillmore (1849-1936) This hymn was a collaborative effort of Palmer Hartsough (words) and James Fillmore Sr. (music). It was originally written for a Christian Endeavor convention in San Francisco, and was sung by Christians all the way from Ohio to California. Mr. Fillmore had originally written some words, but asked Hartsough to re-write lyrics to have a more widespread use.
During his ten years at Cincinnati, Hartsough served as music director for the Ninth St. Baptist Church. He was a prolific author of texts for hymns, producing more than a thousand of them, such as “Jesus Is Calling, Calling, Calling” and “O Savior Mine.” Leaving the Fillmore firm in 1903, he engaged in full-time evangelistic song leading, but later, in 1906 became a Baptist minister. In 1914 he began work with the Baptist Church in Ontario, MI, at the age of seventy, and served there for thirteen years.
This arrangement is by Derrell L. Billingsley, who was minister of music at the First Baptist Church, Columbia, Tennessee, and was Pesechool Literary/Music Design Editor in the Church Music Department of the Sunday School Board of the Southern Baptist Convention in Nashville, Tennessee.
I am resolved no longer to linger,
Charmed by the world’s delight,
Things that are higher, things that are nobler,
These have allured my sight.
I will hasten to Him, hasten so glad and free;
Jesus, greatest, highest, I will come to Thee.
I am resolved, and who will go with me?
Come, friends, without delay,
Taught by the Bible, led by the Spirit,
We’ll walk the heavenly way.
I will hasten to Him, hasten so glad and free;
Jesus, greatest, highest, I will come to Thee.
Jesus! I come to thee.
God Be With You Til We Meet Again
Written as an expansion on the root sense of “good-bye” (God be [with] ye/you), “God Be with You till We Meet Again” has appeared in more than 900 hymnals and remains a prominent example of nineteenth-century gospel song in The United Methodist Hymnal and other collections today. Jeremiah Eames Rankin’s (1828-1904) text is often amended to include a refrain, mimicking the style and content of other hymns used to close camp meetings, revivals, or sung on the occasion of the departure of a church leader to a new assignment. This practice of singing a goodbye may also be linked to the history of shaped-note singing schools concluding with a goodbye or farewell song.
Rankin, a congregational minister and later the president of Howard University (Washington D.C.), was a prolific hymn writer and preacher. He also helped to compile several hymnals. First appearing in the collection Gospel Bells (1880), Rankin’s best-known hymn, “God Be with You till We Meet Again,” begins and ends each stanza of poetry with the same line, providing only the two interior lines for variety in the text.
As Carl P. Daw, Jr. writes in his commentary on Glory to God: The Presbyterian Hymnal: “[The task of varying the text] is somewhat limited by the invariable ending of those lines with “you,” so that the rhyming word before each such occurrence must be a transitive verb or a preposition. This sort of two-syllable rhyme is generally doggerel except in the most expert hands. Yet it may be the pedestrian qualities of this text that have so endeared this hymn to many. It is the poetry of the common person, eager to find yet another rhyme to fit before the next you.”
Hymn historians Harry Eskew and Hugh T. McElrath echo Daw’s sentiment about the poetry of the common person. Discussing the music of the camp-meeting, Eskew and McElrath write, “Singing was an important means of expressing the emotional fervor of these revival meetings. The need for simple and contagious songs, enough to appeal to unlettered folk, brought into being a simplified folk hymn… with repetition of text, the addition of a chorus to the hymn”. These types of hymns became a major force in the musical landscape during the period of urban revivalism in the 1870s led largely by the meetings of evangelist Dwight L. Moody (1837-1899) and his musical associate, Ira D. Sankey (1840-1908).
What accounts for this sending hymn’s continued popularity over 125 years later? And, perhaps more importantly, what purpose does it serve in the lyrical, sung theology of the body of Christ? Sending is a key moment in worship; it is our transition to the world where we will respond to God’s call and continue to experience God’s blessing”. “God be with You till We Meet Again” situates itself as a message of assurance in that sending. Additionally, it serves as a prayer for one another.
William G. Toner (1833-1896) wrote the tune GOD BE WITH YOU for Rankin’s text. Tomer studied singing and sang in the choir in Finesville, New Jersey, and began teaching school at age 17. He served in the Union army during the American civil war, then worked as a clerk in Washington, DC, served as music director for Grace Methodist Episcopal Church, and taught school in New Carpentersville and Greenwich, New Jersey.
God be with you till we meet again, By His counsels guide, uphold you,
With His sheep securely fold you, God be with you till we meet again.
God be with you till we meet again, ’Neath His wings protecting hide you,
Daily manna still divide you, God be with you till we meet again.
God be with you till we meet again, When life’s perils thick confound you,
Put His arms unfailing round you, God be with you till we meet again.
God be with you till we meet again, Keep love’s banner floating o’er you,
Smite death’s threatening wave before you, God be with you till we meet again.
Till we meet, till we meet, Till we meet at Jesus’ feet;
Till we meet, till we meet, God be with you till we meet again.
Standing on the Promises
R. Kelso Carter became an ordained Methodist minister (1887) at the age of 38. A year earlier, he was a professor at the Pennsylvania Military Academy, where he wrote the hymn, "Standing On the Promises," after reading Apostle Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians I: 20: "For all the promise of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us." I was published in Songs of Perfect Love, one of two hymns compiled by Carter. The drum-beating, military march style of the music reflects the influence of the military academy life that surrounded Carter when it was written. Carter was active in the Methodist Camp-Meeting movement, and “Standing on the Promises” was widely used in evangelistic crusades well into the 20th century and is still found in many hymnals. It is a reminder of the Christian’s daily dependence on the promises of God.
Standing on the promises of Christ my King,
Through eternal ages let His praises ring,
Glory in the highest, I will shout and sing,
Standing on the promises of God.
Standing on the promises that cannot fail,
When the howling storms of doubt and fear assail,
By the living Word of God I shall prevail,
Standing on the promises of God.
Standing on the promises I now can see
Perfect, present cleansing in the blood for me;
Standing in the liberty where Christ makes free,
Standing on the promises of God.
Standing on the promises of Christ the Lord,
Bound to Him eternally by love’s strong cord,
Overcoming daily with the Spirit’s sword,
Standing on the promises of God.
Standing on the promises I cannot fall,
List’ning every moment to the Spirit’s call,
Resting in my Savior as my all in all,
Standing on the promises of God.
Standing, standing, Standing on the promises of God my Savior;
Standing, standing, I’m standing on the promises of God.
All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name
Edward Perronet (1726-1792) was born in England, the grandson of a French immigrant. His father, Vincent, was a clergyman in the Church of England and a close friend and associate of John and Charles Wesley. Though Edward had planned to follow his father into Anglican ministry, the influence of the Wesleys prevailed, and he became a traveling Methodist preacher. “All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name” was written by Perronet while he served as a missionary in India and first appeared in the November, 1779 issue of the Gospel Magazine The hymn is often called the "National Anthem of Christendom”. The best-known tunes used for the hymn are "Coronation" (Oliver Holden, 1793), "Miles Lane" (William Shrubsole, 1779), and "Diadem" (James Ellor, 1838).
An interesting story is told about this hymn. Rev. E. P. Scott was a missionary in India who had been urged not to go near a certain barbarous tribe, whom he wished to evangelize. But he went forth with high courage, never wavering in his duty, and trusting in God to protect him. When at last he reached their country among the hills, he came upon a company of these savages. Immediately, they surrounded him, pointing their spears at him with threatening scowls. He had nothing but his violin; and so, closing his eyes, he began to play and sing, “All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name.” When he opened his eyes he expected to be killed instantly, but his life had been spared through the singing of the hymn. Their spears had dropped, and they received him first with curiosity and interest, and then later with eagerness, as he told them the gospel story and won their hearts to the will of Jesus Christ.
CORONATION was written for the text “All Hail the Power of Jesus Name”. Oliver Holden (1765-1844) composed the tune in four parts with a duet in the third phrase. The tune, whose title comes from the theme of Perronet's text, was published in Holden's Union Harmony (1793). It is the one eighteenth-century American tune that has enjoyed uninterrupted popularity–from the singing schools of that era to today's congregational worship.
Holden was reared in a small rural community and had only a minimal formal education–a few months in a "common school" in Groton, Massachusetts. He worked as a carpenter and was involved in community service in Charlestown, holding posts in the Anti-Slavery Society and serving in the Massachusetts House of Representatives. In addition he worked very profitably as a merchant and real estate dealer, and served as a Puritan lay preacher. Very interested in music, Holden became a composer and singing-school teacher in the tradition of William Billings. He was involved in publish¬ing various tune books, including The American Harmony (1792), The Massachusetts Compiler (1795), Plain Psalmody (1800), and The Charlestown Collection of Sacred Songs (1803).
All hail the power of Jesus' name! Let angels prostrate fall;
Bring forth the royal diadem, and crown Him Lord of all.
Bring forth the royal diadem, and crown Him Lord of all.
O seed of Israel's chosen race now ransomed from the fall,
hail him who saves you by his grace, and crown him Lord of all.
Hail him who saves you by his grace, and crown him Lord of all!
Sinners, whose love can ne’er forget the wormwood and the gall,
go spread your trophies at his feet, and crown him Lord of all.
Go spread your trophies at his feet, and crown him Lord of all.
Let every tongue and every tribe responsive to his call,
to him all majesty ascribe, and crown him Lord of all.
To him all majesty ascribe, and crown him Lord of all!
Crown him, ye martyrs of your God, who from his altar call;
extol the Stem of Jesse’s Rod, and crown him Lord of all.
Extol the Stem of Jesse’s Rod, and crown him Lord of all.
Oh, that with yonder sacred throng we at his feet may fall!
We'll join the everlasting song and crown him Lord of all.
We'll join the everlasting song and crown him Lord of all.
First United Methodist Church, Lewisville, Texas
A Community of Everyday People Learning to Love Like Jesus
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