Behind the Praise - Sunday June 28th

"Who is like the Lord"

Click here to listen to the song:
www.imeem.com/sachi2sachi/music/DGfOSL8p/israel-who-is-like-the-lord/

"Be Glorified"

This powerful song is Jared Anderson. Author of the songs “Rescue”, “Amazed”, and “Hear us from Heaven”, Jared Anderson is a prolific writer committed to the local church. He aims to put Jesus in the spotlight with his songs and leadership for New Life Church. Jared grew up at New Life Church where he joined the choir at 13 years old and played keyboards in the youth band all through high school.Now, as before, he is a member of both New Life Worship and Desperation Band as well as his heading up his own recordings. When he’s not leading, writing, or recording, Jared is at home with wife Megan and children Everett (3), Beckett (2), and Francie (1).

Click here to visit Jareds' myspace:
www.myspace.com/jaredandersonmusic

Click here to worship along with Jared Anderson:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=H667w4HdcVQ

Click here to purchase the song:


"My Desire"

Click here to listen to the arrangement by Fred Hammond:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Exvd0MD7ok

"My Name is Victory"
Click here to listen to the song:
www.imeem.com/jeremyu27/music/FrOWrQEa/jonathan-nelson-featuring-purpose-my-name-is-victory/

"Freedom"
Click here to listen to the song:
www.imeem.com/people/h0CYRp8/music/hhKv0aii/youthful-praise-freedom/

“Hosanna”

Brooke Gabrielle Fraser (born December 15th, 1983 in Wellington, New Zealand) is an award-winning New Zealand singer/songwriter. ~*Early life*~ Brooke is the eldest of the three children born to former All Black Bernie Fraser and his wife Lynda. Brooke grew up in Naenae, Lower Hutt and attended Dyer Street School then Naenae Intermediate and Naenae College. Brooke started taking piano lessons at age 7 - she continued to take these until she was 17. She started writing songs at age... she continued to take these until she was 17. She started writing songs at age 12 and taught herself the acoustic guitar at 16. Receiving some label interest when she was in Year 11 (age 15) Brooke decided it wasn't the right thing for her at the time; she decided she wanted to get an A bursary first - which she did. Despite turning these labels down she performed at the ''Parachute Festival'', a Christian music festival held annually, she has continued to do so each year since 2000. Brooke was a presenter on a cable TV show and began writing for the Christian magazine ''Soul Purpose'' at age 15 and was later made editor in 2002. She gave up her job as editor shortly after moving to Auckland (late 2002) in order to pursue her music career, in which she secured a record deal.

Click here to visit Brooke’s myspace:
www.myspace.com/brookefraser

Click here to listen to the song:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7SMUf6QcyQ

"America the Beautiful"

Pike's Peak is an American beauty spot, about 10 miles west of Colorado Springs, in the state of Colorado. It is actually a 14,000 ft mountain, with a road up to the summit, although many people choose to climb to the top and look out across the "spacious skies", and "purple mountain majesties".Katherine Lee Bates did just that back in 1893, and the view she saw inspired her to write the words to America the Beautiful.She was born in 1859, the daughter of a Pastor, and she graduated from Wellesley College, in Massachusetts. Later she returned to teach at the college, and became head of the English department.By 1893 she had written a number of books, including her research into the history of American literature. But the work that she is best known for is the poem that became the country's second most popular patriotic song.She had been on an extended holiday in 1893 when she visited Pike's Peak, in Colorado. After she returned to her room that night, she remarked to friends that countries such as England had failed because, while they may have been "great", they had not been "good" ... she went on "unless we are willing to crown our greatness with goodness, and our bounty with brotherhood, our beloved America may go the same way."The poem itself remained unpublished until it appeared two years later in the Congregationalist Newspaper, and after that it went through a number of revisions before eventually being published by he Boston Evening Transcript in 1904.It was originally never intended to be sung, but its metre fitted a number of tunes around at the time. The one that it is most closely associated with is a tune called Materna, written by Samuel Augustus Ward in 1882. originally for a hymn, O Mother Dear, Jerusalem.

Click here for the various arrangements of the song:
www.youtube.com/results?search_query=american+the+beautiful+&search_type=&aq=f

"Salute to the Armed Forces"

Click here to listen to this tribute song:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwnwONrLNio

"God of our Fathers"

Daniel C. Roberts, the 35 year-old rector of St. Thomas Episcopal Church, a small rural church in Brandon, Vermont, wanted a new hymn for his congregation to celebrate the American Centennial in 1876. He wrote "God of Our Fathers" and his congregation sang it to the tune RUSSIAN HYMN.In 1892, he anonymously sent the hymn to the General Convention for consideration by the commission formed to revise the Episcopal hymnal. If approved, he promised to send his name. The commission approved it, printing it anonymously in its report. Rev. Dr. Tucker, who was the editor of the Hymnal, and George W. Warren, an organist in New York city, were commissioned to choose a hymn for the celebration of the centennial of the United States Constitution. They chose this text and Warren wrote a new tune for it, NATIONAL HYMN, including the trumpet fanfare at the beginning of the hymn.It was first published in Tucker’s Hymnal, 1892, with this tune, then in 1894 in the Tucker and Rosseau’s Hymnal Revised and Enlarged. These lyrics were also set to the hymn tune PRO PATRIA in Charles Hutchins’ The Church Hymnal. But NATIONAL HYMN prevailed and it is the tune to which "God of Our Fathers" is always sung today.

Click here for the various arrangements:
www.youtube.com/results?search_query=god+of+our+fathers+&search_type=&aq=f

"God Shed Your Grace on Us"

Click here to listen to this song by Dennis Jernigan:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=AS7-0iWk_QA&feature=PlayList&p=F4FDBF5B2A55EA1F&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=20

“Break Our Hearts”

This song was written by Billy James Foote.

Learn more about Billy's ministry on his myspace website & ministry website:
www.myspace.com/billyfooteband

Learn more about Billy's ministry here:
www.billyfoote.com/

Click here to listen to the song:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBLEckfWPWY

Behind the Praise - Sunday June 21, 2009 FATHERS DAY

"Shout to the North"




Men of faith rise up and sing Of the great and glorious king
You are strong when you feel weak In your brokenness complete
Shout to the north and the south
Sing to the east and the west
Jesus is saviour to all Lord of heaven and earth

Rise up women of the truth
Stand and sing to broken hearts
Who can know the healing power
Of our awesome king of love

We've been through fire.We've been through rain
We've been refined by thepower of his name

We've fallen deeper in love with you You've burned the truth on our lips
Rise up church with broken wings Fill this place with songs again
Of our God who regins on high By his grace again we'll fly.

Click here to sing through the song: www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqsdnwli0Qo

"Lead me, Lord" Worship Choir with Michelle Trammell

Click here to worship along with the Brooklyn Tabernacle: www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wMt4XrV51Q

"He Keeps me singing"

A Methodist preacher by the name of Luther Bridges, was born in 1884, he married Sarah Veatch and three lovely sons were born of their union. Pastor Bridges accepted an invitation to minister at a conference in Kentucky in the year 1910, so he left his family in the care of his father-in-law and made the trip to Kentucky. There, two wonderful weeks of ministry resulted. The last service closed with great joy and he was excited to be called to the telephone. He couldn't wait to tell his wife about all the blessings. But it wasn't her voice on that long distance line. He listened in silence to the news that a fire had burned down the house of his father-in-law and his wife and all three of his sons had died in the blaze. That distraught father leaned heavily on His Savior and expressed his faith in God during a tearful moment by penning these words:There's within my heart a melody Jesus whispers sweet and low,Fear not, I am with thee, peace, be still, In all of lifes ebb and flow.

Click here to listen to a quartet arrangement: www.youtube.com/watchv=eNQ4RbfF4jM

Click here for a recording of the song: http://my.homewithgod.com/heavenlymidis/hekeepsmesinging.mid

Click here for a ragtime piano version: www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiJrzRg17l4

“Breathe”

A friend's suicide had left her reeling, but out of Marie Barnett's desperate need for God came a worship classic sung around the world.
Marie Barnett didn't consider herself a worship songwriter, although she had led worship with her husband John for years and wrote her own compositions during her personal worship time. John was the writer, penning what Barnett terms "tons" of worship music through the years (including "Holy and Anointed One"). "He's the worship writer," she explains, adding "I never sat down and wrote thinking, This could be sung in a congregation. It was more between me and the Lord in my bedroom with the door locked."
But that all changed during a Sunday evening service at the Mission Viejo Vineyard in Southern California. The Barnetts were leading worship as they had done hundreds of times before, and words to what would become the worship song "Breathe" just spontaneously came out.
" We had been singing 'Isn't He' by John Wimber," Barnett recalls, "and my husband continued to play. I was so enthralled with Jesus at that moment, thinking I could never live, I could never even take a breath if I didn't have a word from Him every day. And so I heard those words-'this is the air I breathe, this is my daily bread'-and I started singing them."
Before she knew it, the congregation had joined her. Still, it wasn't as if Barnett left that night convinced she has a worship hit on her hands. There had been other spontaneous songs, but she soon realized "Breathe" was different. "People would come up to me at the grocery store and say, 'You know what we were singing on Sunday night? I've been singing it all week.'"
So they began to sing the song regularly in church and it continued to elicit a strong response, bringing many to tears. Barnett says even now she can hardly get through it. "I think the word 'desperate' digs deep into me," she says by way of explanation. "The longer I'm a Christian, the more desperate I am for God."
Not to mention Barnett was feeling particularly desperate around the time the words for "Breathe" came to her. A dance teacher by day, Barnett's boss of 10 years had recently taken his own life, leaving behind a note asking her to take over the dance studio. "He was very depressed and had just gone through a divorce and was on all kinds of weird medications and into New Age thinking," she recalls of the tragic incident. "He even came to church with me once right before he took his life and I was like, Well, what good did that do? In the end, the event left Barnett with questions for which there were no answers. And that desperation came out in her songwriting."
Shortly after being written, "Breathe" wound up on Vineyard's Touching the Father's Heart #25 and seemed to be on its way to finding a broader audience. But if there's one thing Barnett learned from watching her husband's songwriting career, it's that the timing isn't up to us.
"We recorded the song for Vineyard and then nothing happened," Barnett says. "Not that I thought anything about it because to me it was just a neat thing the Lord gave to our church." Five years later, worship leader Brian Doerksen was putting together Vineyard's Hungry and contacted Barnett about including "Breathe." Then came Michael W. Smith's version on his 2001 release, Worship.
Barnett was driving in her car when she first heard the track playing on the radio. "I just started bawling. I love that version because at the end when he's saying 'Cry out to Him' it's like 'Oh! People are worshipping Jesus! Yea!'"
Since writing "Breathe" Barnett regularly contributes songs to the worship time at Vineyard Community Church of Laguna Niguel, the California church plant where she and her husband lead worship today. And she continues to run the dance studio as her late boss wished. With more than 600 students and 20 classes to teach each week, Barnett says the business venture provides with her plenty of material for her songwriting. And to round out her schedule, she also teaches at worship conferences, going "wherever people invite me."


Click here to worship along with Michael W. Smith:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oad8ov10AjY

Click here for a moving video:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwLgyMzzh0M

"Glorified"

This song was written by Jared Anderson, author of the songs “Rescue”, “Amazed”, and “Hear us from Heaven”, Jared Anderson is a prolific writer committed to the local church. He aims to put Jesus in the spotlight with his songs and leadership for New Life Church. Jared grew up at New Life Church where he joined the choir at 13 years old and played keyboards in the youth band all through high school.Now, as before, he is a member of both New Life Worship and Desperation Band as well as his heading up his own recordings. When he’s not leading, writing, or recording, Jared is at home with wife Megan and children Everett (3), Beckett (2), and Francie (1).

Click here to visit Jareds' myspace: www.myspace.com/jaredandersonmusic

Click here to worship along with Jared Anderson: www.youtube.com/watch?v=H667w4HdcVQ

"New Doxology"

This is a new arrangement of the traditional Doxology. The added verse was written by Thomas Miller worship pastor at Gateway church in Southlake, Texas.
Click here to listen to Thomas share about how he wrote the additional verses from the third person:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhN5sdKLDcQ

A doxology (from the Greek doxa, glory + logos, word or speaking) is a short hymn of praise to God in various Christian worship services, often added to the end of canticles, psalms, and hymnsThis doxology has widespread use in English circles, in some Protestant traditions commonly referred to simply as "The Doxology" and in others as “The Common Doxology”, is:Praise God, from Whom all blessings flow;Praise Him, all creatures here below;Praise Him above, ye Heavenly Host;Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.

This text, which was originally the seventh and final stanza of "Glory to thee, my God, this night", a hymn for evening worship written by Thomas Ken in about 1674, is usually sung to the tune Old 100th, but also to Duke Street by John Hatton, Lasst uns erfreuen, and The Eighth Tune by Thomas Tallis, among others.

Click here for a recording of the Gateway version:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_7VhWC4TAU

Click here to listen online:
www.rhapsody.com/gatewayworship

Click here to hear and see the Doxology
www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHCGwJvKRBY&mode=related&search=

Click here to hear one of the most accomplished guitarist present a unique version
www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBE6dfT87yo&mode=related&search=

Behind the Praise - Sunday June 14th

"Mighty To Save"


This is another song from the Hillsong music ministry in Sydney Australia. This song is by Reuben Morgan & Ben Fielding. This song has a great re-occuring text. "OUR GOD IS MIGHT TO SAVE". This is taken from the passage in Zephaniah 3:1717 The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing."


Click here to read more about Reuben Morgan

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reuben_Morgan


Click here to worship along with the song:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXCAhKDZRlo

Click here to worship along with the song:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=sR8rlTIU8_Y

"In Your Presence Praise"



This worship song is by Regi Stone & Pete Carlson.



Click here to listen to the song:

www.worshiptoday.com/search_results.asp?song_id=683



"Today is the Day"

This song was written by Lincoln Brewster with Paul Baloche. Lincoln believes there is power when we sing God's word back to Him. Psalm 118:24 "This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it." We are to live each day as if it's our last.

Click here to listen to Lincoln share how he wrote the song:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Pved9U-P1g

Click here to listen online:
www.last.fm/music/Lincoln+Brewster/_/Today+Is+The+Day

Click here to worship along with Lincoln Brewster:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngHP6ppfRw4


"Praise to the Lord"

Joachim Neander was an important hymn writer for the German Reform church. His hymn, “Praise to the Lord, the Almighty,” was written at Dusseldorf, during a time in his life when he needed comfort. He learned to have close communion with God and nature. This hymn is a paraphrase of Psalm 103:1-6 and Psalm 150. “Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless his holy name.”


Click here to learn more about this great composer who died at the young age of thirty.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joachim_Neander


Click here to hear the story behind the song
www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7qq_0UNREE


Click here to read the lyrics and sing along

www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/p/t/pttlta.htm



Click here to listen to the hymn played on tubular bells
www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNy8UOvdyNM


Click here to hear a Finger style guitar arrangement
www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0aPO9k037k&mode=related&search=


Click here to hear a hear a solo violin arrangement
www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcOysumrQfc&mode=related&search=

“Made Me Glad”


By Hillsong worship leader Miriam Webster

I will bless the Lord forever.
I will trust him at all times.
He has delivered me from all fear.
He has set my feet upon a rock.
I will not be moved and I’ll say of the Lord,

You are my shield, my strength, my portion, deliverer, my shelter, strong tower,

My very present help in time of need.

Whom have I in heaven but you?
There’s none I desire beside you.
You have made meglad and I’ll say of the Lord,

© 2001 Miriam Webster/Hillsong Publishing

Miriam Webster is an Australian gospel singer-songwriter. Her career began at the age of 15, when she won the interstate music awards. She has since toured Australia, New Zealand and the United States, and released several albums, of which the first is Never Alone. She has been serving with the Hillsong Church in Sydney, Australia since 1996 and featuring on numerous Hillsong Music praise-and-worship albums since 1997.

Click here to worship along with the Hillsong worship team:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCmBTV08ylc



Offertory Sunday will be "The Wall" by Scot Wirt.

Click here to learn more about Scotts' ministry:

www.scottwirt.com/

Behind the Praise - Sunday June 7, 2009

"Thankful for the Change"

This worship song was written by Michael Popham, Lanny Gardner & Michael Chadwick. These composers serve the Christ Church in Nashville, Tn.

Click here to sing through the song:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YrhLeCuwFA

"Freedom"


Darrell Evans is a passionate follower of Jesus Christ first, a devoted husband, and loving father. Darrell has three beautiful young children. Daughter Leah, and two sons Connor and Zachary. “They are my heart and world. My kids have changed my life for the better. I want to be the Godly father and leader that they need.” Darrell and his wife, Charity, plan on having more children in the near future and would also love to adopt.
Best known as the writer of songs like “Trading my Sorrows”, “Let the River Flow”, “Your Love is Extravagant”, and “Freedom”, he is considered by many to be a pioneer in the modern worship music movement.
Darrell’s ministry started as a teenager in Olympia, WA: leading many of his fellow classmates to Jesus through personal testimony and nights of praise and worship in his parent’s home. He has served as a worship pastor for churches in Washington, California, Oklahoma and Texas.
For the past 12 years Darrell has traveled the world alone and with the band ministering the gospel through worship, preaching, and prayer. His authenticity, genuine spirit and passion have connected with many as he ministers worship to the Lord. Darrell has seen numerous people come to know Christ and has encouraged many others to a deeper walk with God. People are healed, refreshed and renewed through Darrell’s ministry.
Darrell’s projects “Let the River Flow” and “Freedom” both garnered Dove award nominations and influenced a new wave of congregational worship. His newest project, “Nothing Less Than Everything”, wraps his joy, passion and experience in a fresh and powerful sound. In Darrell’s words, “It’s my prayer that the Lord will use these songs to help people connect with Jesus in a life-changing way”.

Click here to learn more about Darrell:
http://darrellevans.com/

Click here to worship along with Darrell Evans:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4PsGEFrXC0

"God of My Days"

Zach Neese's perspective:

"God of My Days" took me two years to write, because I was concerned about the hearts of the people that it would minister to. The lyrics had to be true in the mouths of both mourners and people who were rejoicing. It had to ring true as a sacrifice of praise and as a statement of faith. I began writing out of a holy discontent. I was frustrated by the Church's tendency to paint a happy face over the reality of people's suffering. Sometimes Christians come across as uncompassionate because we deny or fail to address people's pain. Our churches are full of people who are hurting, and many times we make them feel guilty about it.God isn't afraid to talk about pain. He never denies it. He guarantees it (John 16:33). He also guarantees that He will never leave us to face it alone (Hebrews 13:5) and that He is bigger than whatever we're facing.He is the God of every season and situation of our lives.Recently, my wife Jen and I had a baby girl, and God was right there rejoicing with us. A few years ago, we lost a baby boy. God was there for that too, wrapping us in His powerful, comforting arms and helping us mourn. In both situations, He was God. In both, He was worthy of praise, and from both, He will bring something miraculous.Maybe I don't understand. But I believe. He is God of my days, King of my nights, Lord of my laughter and Sovereign in sorrow. He is the Prince of my praise and the Love of my life. He never leaves me, and He is always faithful. He is the God of my days.

Click here to visit Zach's myspace - you can play the song from here. www.myspace.com/zachneese

Click here to worship along with the gateway worship team:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHGaXj-gdEc

Click here for another arrangement:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBAExdZPad8

"Your Unfailing Love"

When the darkness fills my senseswhen my blindness keeps me from your touch,
Jesus comeverse

When my burden keeps me doubtingwhen my memories take the place of you
Jesus come

And I'll follow you thereto the place where we meet
and I'll lay down my pride as you search me again

Your unfailing love, your unfailing love,your unfailing love over me again

Click here to read Morgans' bio:
www.reubenmorgan.com/downloads/reuben_morgan_bio.pdf

Click here to learn more about Reuben Morgan:
www.myspace.com/reubenmorgan

Click here to worship through the song:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHUhIdQfo34

Click here to listen online:
www.imeem.com/donkor/music/xQ42saKz/hillsong-your-unfailing-love/

"Amazing Grace" (My Chains Are Gone)

This song was co-authored by Chris Tomlin and Louie Giglio. Chris was touched by the story of John Newton and his testimony of God’s grace. In researching the song Chris discovered that the traditional final verse “When we’ve been there ten thousand years” was actually added a hundred years later. Chris and Louie added this verse back in along with the new bridge-chorus.

Here is the original last verse:
“The earth shall soon dissolve like snow
The sun forbid (forget) (forbear) to shine
But God, who called me here below,
Will be forever mine”

Click here to hear Chris Tomlin share about how he wrote the alternate chorus:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=PU_4lIik9D8

Here is more information on how the song came about.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=IliVc9JqW0I

Click here to watch the music video
www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXV6HJxUebg&mode=related&search=

“How Deep the Father’s Love for Us”

This modern hymn was writtne by Stuart Townend. Townend is a British Christian worship leader and writer of hymns and contemporary worship music. His songs include "In Christ Alone" (2002, cowritten with Keith Getty, "How Deep The Father's Love For Us", "Beautiful Saviour" and "The King Of Love”.
As of 2008, CCLI lists the popular In Christ Alone in its Top 25 CCLI Songs list. In 2005, Cross Rhythms magazine described Townend as "one of the most significant songwriters in the whole international Christian music field. The Christian website Crosswalk.com commented that, "the uniqueness of Townend’s writing lies partly in its lyrical content. There is both a theological depth and poetic expression that some say is rare in today’s worship writing.Townend, son of a Church of England vicar in Halifax, West Yorkshire, was the youngest of four children. He studied literature at the University of Sussex. Townend started learning to play the piano at age 7. At the age of 13, he made a Christian commitment, and began songwriting at age 22.

Townend shared the following on how he wrote this song. Writing this song was an unusual experience for me. I'd already written quite a few songs for worship, but all in a more contemporary worship style, drawing from my own musical background. But I distinctly remember getting this feeling one day that I was going to write a hymn! Now, like most people, I am familiar with hymns - they form part of my church background, and I love the truth contained in many of them. But I don't go home at the end of a busy day and put on a hymns album! So I don't think of hymns as where I'm at musically at all!Nevertheless, I'd been meditating on the cross, and in particular what it cost the Father to give up his beloved Son to a torturous death on a cross. And what was my part in it? Not only was it my sin that put him there, but if I'd lived at that time, it would probably have been me in that crowd, shouting with everyone else 'crucify him'. It just makes his sacrifice all the more personal, all the more amazing, and all the more humbling.As I was thinking through this, I just began to sing the melody, and it flowed in the sort of way that makes you think you've pinched it from somewhere! So the melody was pretty instant, but the words took quite a bit of time, reworking things, trying to make every line as strong as I could.

After it was finished, I remember playing it to Dave Fellingham a few minutes before a time of worship. I was worried it was perhaps too twee, too predictable. Dave, in his typical demonstrative and over-enthusiastic way, shrugged his shoulders and said, "yeah, it's good", and that was that. It was only when I began to use it in worship, and all sorts of people of different ages and backgrounds responded to it so positively, that I thought that it might be a useful resource to the church at large.

Click here to learn more about Stuart Townend:
http://stuarttownend.typepad.com/

Click here to read more about the writing of the song:
http://stuarttownend.typepad.com/stuart_townend/2006/05/how_deep_the_fa.html

Click here to listen to the song:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=3em-0J1ePYU

Click here for another version of the song:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjD0lv8hx5o&feature=related

"I'd Rather Have Jesus" David Walden will share this song.

At the age of 23 George Beverly Shea (1909 - ) had a hard decision to make. He could accept a job offer in a secular singing position in New York City with a great salary and wide respect; or he could continue singing in churches and for Christian radio programs. While sitting at the family piano, he started to prepare a special hymn for the Sunday service. On the piano he found a poem by Mr. Rhea F. Miller. He immediately began to compose the music for the poem and used the song that same morning in his father's church service. He also used those words to direct his life and has shared his song, "I'd Rather Have Jesus" with audiences around the world.

I'd rather have Jesus than silver or gold;
I'd rather be His than have riches untold;
I'd rather have Jesus than houses or land;
I'd rather be led by His nail-pierced hand:

Than to be the king of a vast domain or be held in sin's dread sway!
I'd rather have Jesus than anything this world affords today.

I'd rather have Jesus than men's applause;
I'd rather be faithful to His dear cause;
I'd rather have Jesus than world-wide fame;
I'd rather be true to His holy name

He's fairer than lilies of rarest bloom;
He's sweeter than honey from out the comb
He's all that my hungering spirit needs
I'd rather have Jesus and let Him lead

Here is a great clip of the Crabb family singing this great song:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=eT4DkKjfJGE

Here is a clip from one of the Gaither Videos
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y34lUGEmv10