Singing commercials for McDonalds, Kentucky Fried Chicken and Coca Cola were some of the activities that made up the early life of Darlene Zschech (prounounced check). She was born in Bribane, Queensland, Australia in 1965. In an interview she declared, “I can’t remember a time in my life when music […]
Song Story
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Phil Wickham got a text from Brian Johnson, of a short voice memo of him humming into his phone and strumming his guitar a little bit, saying, “Hey, Phil, I’ve got this idea, and it’s just a melody”. And he started humming it, and there are just a few lines […]
“Let’s go have some fun and heckle those stuffy churchgoers!” With a fiendish chuckle, twenty-year-old Joachim [wa-KEEM] Neander sauntered through the twisting streets of Bremen, Germany. Several rowdy and rebellious fellow students accompanied him, eager to provoke a preacher. Yet Joachim’s family line included faithful preachers of the Gospel! For […]
Just before Alben Shaw died, he gave his son, Knowles, a prized violin and this advice: “Be good to your mother, and prepare to meet your God”. Knowles, who was about 12-years-old at the time, dropped out of school and began to work long and hard to provide for his […]
Tune composer Phoebe Palmer Knapp (1839-1908) played a melody to Fanny Crosby and asked, “What does the melody say to you?” Crosby replied that the tune said, “Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!” and proceeded to recite the entire first stanza of the now-famous hymn. Knapp was one of several tune […]
This beautiful modern hymn from Matt Papa and Matt Boswell was inspired by a letter written by John Newton (writer of “Amazing Grace”): For the more we know of ourselves, the more we shall prize and love Jesus and His salvation. I hope what you find in yourself by daily […]
This song went from a family “washhouse” in Palmerston North, New Zealand to millions of people around the world. The songwriter, Naida Hearn, never dreamed she would have such an influence on the singing of Christians in many other nations. In 1931, Hearn was born to Bill and Elsie O’Hara, […]
The Little Drummer Boy is the fictional story of a boy who couldn’t afford a gift for baby Jesus. Instead, he played his drum at the manger, once Mary nodded her approval that is. At the end of the song, Jesus smiles at the drummer boy, causing us to smile as […]
Frances Havergal (1836-1879) was an English poet and hymn writer. Many of her poems and hymns emphasized devotional closeness to Christ and dedicated service to Him. Those were primary emphases Frances sought to cultivate in her own life and to promote to other believers. Such consecration is clearly seen in […]
The author of this widely popular hymn is William Williams (1717-1791), born in Carmarthenshire, Wales, to John and Dorothy Williams. According to Welsh hymn scholar Alan Luff, Williams grew up as an Independent and later a Calvinist, but had no aspirations to be a minister. In fact, he intended to […]
Thomas Chisholm was born in Kentucky, 1866. From a young age, Thomas was highly intelligent and ambitious. He became a school teacher at the age of sixteen and an associate editor for his hometown newspaper at the age of twenty-one. Though he achieved success in his early years, Thomas found his […]
His name was Bruce Ballinger, and he must have been emotionally affected one day when he was 31 years old to write something, to suggest to others how they might change a habit. Perhaps this habit had grown old, and Bruce wanted to rekindle some feelings that he remembered had […]