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Song Story: “The Father’s Beautiful World”

Two of the most beloved hymns with messages of God’s Creation and His majesty have been combined in this beautiful choral medley (available in both SATB and SSAA voicings), “The Father’s Beautiful World.” Following the sharing of the more contemporary history, you will find the history of the hymns, “All Things Bright and Beautiful” and “This is My Father’s World.” The more contempory story of “The Father’s Beautiful World” began with composer Travis L. Boyd’s desire to honor the life of a very special person and to bring glory to God in a way that she would have loved. My Grandmama, Mary Winonah McCoy White, was a beautiful lady who loved the Lord. She loved her family, her church family, many long-time friends, her students, and everyone she met. She was a very unique individual who left behind a lasting testimony of faith in God, perseverance through trials, and love for others.

Nonah at nineteen

Grandmama was an inspiration to me in so many ways. She graduated in 1919 from Lander College. I have the watch that her parents gave her as a graduation gift. I wore it on the day that Travis and I were married as my ‘something old’; and, many years later, the watch was given to me. After she graduated from college, Nonah (as she preferred to be called) married my Grandfather, Thomas Britton White; and they had four sons. My Dad, Harold, was the third of the four boys. When my Dad was thirteen years old, his father had a heart attack and died. The family owned a farm, and Granddad also worked at a bank. My grandmother had two teen-age sons at the time of T.B.’s death, my Dad and his older brother, Averil. Younger brother Lawrence was a pre-teen; and the oldest brother, Thomas Jr., was a newlywed. Grandmother found a job teaching in an elementary school and did what had to be done in order to keep the family together, hold on to the farm, and provide for her sons. It must have been a very challenging time for her.

Grandmama is holding my hand in her gloved hand to show her watch peeking out from under my sleeve.

Grandmama was always incredibly proud of her four sons and of their wives and families. She kept in touch with everyone and always had news about the latest happenings in the family and extended family. She had a way of welcoming people, making them feel comfortable, and just communicating love that was a rare gift. When she flew to Oklahoma to visit my family, she would always have stories to tell when she got off the plane. Basically, no matter who was seated by my Grandmama, they would find themselves opening up to her and telling her their life story. If there were any confidences shared, Grandmama kept them to herself; but she would tell us about the “dear young woman” or the “nice businessman” who had been her travelling companion, where the new friend lived, and other basic details. She was genuinely interested in people, and people responded to that. I remember that once, when I was a teenager, I was so excited about her upcoming visit that I couldn’t help talking to my friends about her. By the time she arrived, all of my high school friends were eager to meet her. We all had a lovely visit with Grandmama one day after school, and my friends loved her. They all said things like, “I see what you mean. Your Grandma is cool!”

Once, when Grandmama was interviewed by a reporter for the Camden Chronicle for a series of articles on retired teachers, the reporter noted what became obvious to anyone who was around her for any length of time. The primary word that was used to describe Grandmama in both the article and the title was “serene”. I loved that description. There were many words that the reporter could have chosen. After all, the subject of his article was a very bright, well-read, and lively person, always on the go during her healthy years. Even so, it was impossible to miss the serenity of confident faith in God that was the primary foundation of her life. She visited shut-ins (those who were confined to their homes due to illness or old age) for so many years that most of them were younger than she was. She wrote notes and letters, made visits, memorized scripture, travelled in the United States and in Europe, talked to friends and family on the phone, spent time with her nearby family, and journeyed west every year to visit family in Oklahoma and Arizona. She was often asked to speak or give devotionals, she knew everyone in her apartment complex, she cooked incredible meals in the tiniest kitchen I have ever seen, and she drove her own car until her eyesight failed.

My Grandmama, Mary Winonoah McCoy White

When Travis and I married, Grandmama just loved and adopted him immediately. She was so happy and excited when Travis was called to worship ministry, and she was still able to travel and come to visit us during the early years of Travis’ ministry at his first two churches. She would tell us often, “That’s a great work you’re doing!” We always knew that she was praying for us during those early years and Travis’ seminary years. She signed every letter and card with, “Love and Prayers”. Grandmama called our daughter “dear little Meredith” and just loved her to pieces. After every hug, she’d say, “That was worth a million dollars!”. She always made me feel very greatly loved and highly valued. Grandmama and I wrote letters back and forth for years. I could tell her anything. She kept me updated with family news and continued to write letters even when she had almost no vision left, relying on a machine called a “Visual Tech”, which projected any paper that she was writing on (or book that she was reading) onto a screen, in a bright and greatly magnified form. She actually wrote letters in this manner for several years, and I have kept all of her letters to me.

When Grandmama’s health began to fail, she moved from her apartment to a very nice nursing home. She stayed active as long as possible. One of the things that she did was to participate in a talent show for residents of the nursing home. She won first place with her recitation of the lyrics for the hymn “All Things Bringht and Beautiful”, and I have the trophy that she was given. When Grandmama passed away, our oldest son was one month old. I was glad that my Dad had been in South Carolina visiting relatives at the time of Jared’s birth. He was able to tell Grandmama in person about the birth of her newest Great-Grandson and give her some exciting family news to share in her last month of life.

Lyttleton Street United Methodist Church, my Grandmother’s church, is depicted in this painting of the church’s exterior. The church family still worships in their historic santuary building, built in 1798.

After Grandmama went home to Heaven, Travis told me that he planned to do an arrangement of “All Things Bright and Beautiful” and dedicate it in memory of Grandmama. He wrote a lovely new melody for the hymn lyrics that she knew so well and created an SATB choral arrangement. The “All Things Bright and Beautiful” choral anthem was sung for the first time at my Grandmother’s church, Lyttleton Street United Methodist, in Camden, South Carolina. Their Adult Choir premiered the anthem on Mother’s Day the year after Grandmama’s passing. Since two of Grandmama’s four sons and their families attended the same church, there were many family members in the congregation that day.

The choir loft of Lyttleton Street United Methodist Church in Camden, South Carolina, was the location of the premiere of Travis’ “All Things Bright and Beautiful” choral anthem.

Although a number of churches, including the Lyttleton Street church, have shared Travis’ “All Things Bright and Beautiful” choral anthem many times in worship, it was never published.

A couple of months ago, Travis took a fresh look at “All Things Bright and Beautiful”. He was inspired to create a medley using a portion of that anthem and a portion of the hymn, “This Is My Father’s World.” The new anthem that resulted from his work contains portions of both hymns in a lovely choral medley and is called, “The Father’s Beautiful World”. My Grandmother would be pleased to know that the lyrics which meant so much to her live on in a new arrangement with another of her favorite hymns. We pray that “The Father’s Beautiful World” will touch many hearts with its message of the love and care that God has for His Creation.

NOTE: Following the Anthem information found directly below, you will find histories and photographs related to the stories of both creation hymns, compiled by the author of this post for several websites, as noted.

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“The Father’s Beautiful World” Choral PDF Master is available on our website’s “General Use Anthems” music page in both SATB and SSAA voicing for only $15.00, with NO “per copy” fee!

(You will have permission to make an unlimited number of copies …for your own choir and accompanists only).

Below you will find the video demo for the SATB Choral Anthem. The demo for the SSAA voicing can be found on our website’s “General Use Anthems” page.

Click the photo above to go to our Worship Sounds Music website.

FIND THE VOCAL SOLO MUSIC FOR THIS SONG
There is also a Solo Version of this song, available in 3 keys on our website’s “Vocal Solos” music page. At a cost of only $5.00 for the PDF Solo Master, you are granted permission to make copies for your soloist, accompanists, and rhythm section players.

FIND THE CHORAL VERSIONS OF “The Father’s Beautiful World”

Click the image at right to go straight to the Worship Sounds Music Website’s “General Use Anthems” music page, where you will find the video demos and purchasing links for both the SSAA and for the SATB versions of “The Father’s Beautiful World”.

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“All Things Bright and Beautiful” (hymn lyrics)

Refrain:
All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful:
The Lord God made them all.

Each little flower that opens,
Each little bird that sings,
He made their glowing colors,
He made their tiny wings.

Refrain (sung as desired between most verses)

[Most hymnals omit the following verse]

The rich man in his castle,
The poor man at his gate,
He made them, high or lowly,
And ordered their estate.

The purple headed mountains,
The river running by,
The sunset and the morning
That brightens up the sky.

The cold wind in the winter,
The pleasant summer sun,
The ripe fruits in the garden,
He made them every one.

The tall trees in the greenwood,
The meadows where we play,
The rushes by the water,
To gather every day.

He gave us eyes to see them,
And lips that we might tell
How great is God Almighty,
Who has made all things well.

Below, you will find some information about the history of both of the original hymns, with links to further information.

Cecil F. Alexander

The author of the hymn lyrics for “All Things Bright and Beautiful” was Cecil Frances Alexander (1818 – 1895). The lyrics were first published in the book Hymns for Little Children in 1848. Alexander is thought to have written these lyrics at Markree Castle, near Sligo, Ireland. (Further information about this location is provided following the stories of both hymns.)

Cecil Frances Humphreys was born in Dublin, but spent a good part of her later life in Londonderry and Strabane. Her husband, William Alexander, himself a Derry man, was appointed Church of Ireland bishop of that city in 1867. He later became Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland.

Cecil Frances was a keen supporter of the Oxford Movement, and in 1848 published Hymns For Little Children, which includes three of the most popular hymns in the English language: “Once in Royal David’s City,” “All Things Bright and Beautiful” and “There is a Green Hill Far Away.” Charles Gounod, the composer of Faust, said that some of her lyrics “seemed to set themselves to music.”

A further selection of her works – hymns, tracts and poems – was published a year after her death.

The second line of the hymn lyrics was used as the title to James Herriot’s book All Creatures Great and Small, which was centered around a veterinarian practice in 1930’s Yorkshire in Northern England. Subsequently it became the title of the film and television series. Herriot used the rest of the lines of the refrain for titles of the books that followed: “All Things Bright and Beautiful”, “All Things Wise and Wonderful,” and “The Lord God Made Them All.”

The most commonly used hymn tune for “All Things Bright and Beautiful” is known as Royal Oak. It is a 17th Century English melody, which was arranged by Martin F. Shaw (1875 -1958) for use with the hymn text in around 1915. There are several alternate hymn tunes for the “All Things Bright and Beautiful” lyrics.

Bright and Beautiful,
William H. Monk
Gerald,
Ludwig Spohr, 1834
Greystone, by
W. R. Waghorne, published in Songs for Little People (Danielson and Conant: 1905)

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“This is My Father’s World” is a well-known Christian hymn, with lyrics written by Maltbie Davenport Babcock (1858 – 1901), a minister from New York. Born August 3, 1858, in Syracuse, New York, Maltbie died at age 42 on May 18, 1901, in Naples, Italy. He was buried in Oakwood Cemetery, Syracuse, New York.

Maltbie D. Babcock

Babcock attended Syracuse University and Auburn Theological Seminary. He ranked high as a student and participated in both athletic and musical activities. Tall, broad shouldered, and muscular, he was president of the baseball team, an expert pitcher, and a good swimmer. He played several musical instruments, directed the school orchestra, and played the organ and composed for it. He was a singer and leader of the glee club. He could do impersonations, was clever at drawing, and had a knack with tools. He was also an avid fisherman. He might have become a professional musician had he not been called into the ministry.

The Niagara Escarpment near Lockport, where Maltbie stood to admire his Father’s world.

His first pastorate was at the First Presbyterian Church, Lockport, New York. While a pastor in Lockport, Babcock liked to hike in an area called “the escarpment,” an ancient upthrust ledge near Lockport. It has a marvelous view of farms, orchards, and Lake Ontario, about 15 miles distant. It is said that those walks in the woods inspired these lyrics. The title recalls an expression Babcock used when starting a walk: “I’m going out to see my Father’s world.” In 1886, he was called to Brown Memorial Church, Baltimore, Maryland, where he often counseled students at Johns Hopkins University. As his fame spread, he was asked to preach at colleges all over America. Babcock was not a great theologian or deep thinker, but he had a talent for presenting spiritual and ethical truths with freshness and effect. In doing this, he was aided by his agile mind, wide range of knowledge, dramatic ability, speech fluency, and magnetic personality.

After almost 14 years in Baltimore, Babcock was called to the prestigious pastorate of the Brick Presbyterian Church in New York City, to fill the vacancy left by the retirement of Henry Van Dyke. Babcock had been there only 18 months when he made a trip to the Holy Land. While overseas, he died of brucellosis at the age of 42.

Though Babcock published nothing during his life, his wife Catherine collected and published many of his writings after his untimely death. A volume of his poems entitled Thoughts for Every-Day Living contained “This Is My Father’s World”. Babcock, of course, never heard his famous hymn sung.

(Sources: http://www.cyberhymnal.org/bio/b/a/b/babcock_md.htm)

The poem was set to music by Franklin L. Sheppard, who apparently did not want to call attention to himself and signed using his initials, rearranged as “S.F.L.” Most sources state that Sheppard adapted the music from a traditional English melody.The original poem contained sixteen stanzas of four lines each.

Here is a portion of the beloved hymn lyrics:

This is my Father’s world,
And to my listening ears
All nature sings, and round me rings
The music of the spheres.

This is my Father’s world:
I rest me in the thought
Of rocks and trees, of skies and seas;
His hand the wonders wrought.

This is my Father’s world,
The birds their carols raise,
The morning light, the lily white,
Declare their Maker’s praise.

This is my Father’s world:
He shines in all that’s fair;
In the rustling grass I hear Him pass;
He speaks to me everywhere.

This is my Father’s world.
O let me ne’er forget
That though the wrong seems oft so strong,
God is the ruler yet.

This is my Father’s world:
the battle is not done:
Jesus Who died shall be satisfied,
And earth and Heav’n be one.

An instrumental version of “This is My Father’s World” is fittingly used in the Ken Burns documentary film, The National Parks, and the corresponding sponsorship slot for The Park Foundation.

(Sources: http://www.cyberhymnal.org/bio/b/a/b/babcock_md.htm and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_is_My_Father’s_World )

The hymn tune for “This is My Father’s World” is known as “Terra Beata”. It is thought to be a traditional English melody, arranged by Franklin Lawrence Sheppard as a setting for the text. Franklin Lawrence Sheppard was born on August 7, 1852, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Sheppard attended William Fewsmith’s Classical School and the University of Pennsylvania (valedictorian, 1872). In 1875, he moved to Boston, Massachusetts, to take charge of the foundry for his father’s stove and heater manufacturing company. Franklin attended the Zion Protestant Episcopal Church in Boston, but later switched to Presbyterianism. He eventually joined the Second Presbyterian Church in Baltimore, Maryland, and became president of the Presbyterian Board of Publications and Sabbath-School Work. In 1915, he edited the Presbyterian song book, Alleluia, published in 1915. Sheppard died on February 15, 1930, in Philadelphia,.

( Source: http://nethymnal.org/htm/t/i/tismyfw.htm)

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Places of inspiraton for the two hymns:

A view of the Markree Castle grounds

Markree Castle, the likely place of inspiration for “All Things Bright and Beautiful”, is located in Collooney, County Sligo, Ireland and is the ancestral seat of the Cooper family, partially moated by the River Unshin. According to some sources, Cecil F. Alexander wrote her famous hymn, All Things Bright and Beautiful, while a guest at Markree in 1848.

In 1830, Col. Edward Joshua Cooper MP (1798-1863) eldest son of Edward Synge Cooper MP, and Ann, daughter of Henry Vansittart, Governor of Bengal, set up Markree Observatory in the castle grounds. For a number of years Cooper’s telescope was the largest in the world.

“The Observatory of Mr Cooper of Markree Castle was undoubtedly the most richly furnished private observatory known and was worked by Mr Cooper himself and by his very able assistant, Mr Andrew Graham.” (Royal Astronomical Society, 1851)

The observatory remained active until the death of Edward Henry Cooper MP in 1902.

The castle, as it exists today, dates from 1802, with exterior changes by the architect Francis Johnston and with some changes made, mainly to the interior, in 1896. Today, Markree Castle operates as a hotel run by Charles and Mary Cooper, the 10th generation of the family to live there.
The 300-acre (1.2 km²) estate holds an array of wild life; from red squirrels, to otters, to kingfishers.

Pasture land with the Niagara Escarpement in the background

The Niagara Escarpment, the place of inspiration for “This is My Father’s World”, is the most prominent of several escarpments formed in the bedrock of the Great Lakes basin. From its easternmost point near Watertown, New York, the escarpment shapes in part the individual basins and landforms of Lakes Ontario, Huron, and Michigan. In Rochester, New York, there are three waterfalls over the escarpment where the Genesee River flows through the city. The escarpment then runs westward to the Niagara River, forming a deep gorge north of Niagara Falls, which itself cascades over the escarpment. In southern Ontario, the escarpment spans the Niagara Peninsula, closely following the Lake Ontario shore through the cities of St. Catharines, Hamilton, and Dundas, where it takes a sharp turn north in the town of Milton toward Georgian Bay. It then follows the Georgian Bay shore northwestwards to form the spine of the Bruce Peninsula and Manitoulin Island, as well as several smaller islands located in northern Lake Huron, where it turns westwards into the Upper Peninsula of northern Michigan, south of Sault Ste. Marie. It then extends southwards into Wisconsin, following the Door Peninsula through the Bayshore Blufflands, and then more inland from the western coast of Lake Michigan and Milwaukee, ending northwest of Chicago near the Wisconsin-Illinois border.

(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niagara_Escarpment )

The Niagara Escarpment stretches 450 miles from Wisconsin through Canada to Rochester and is most famous for Niagara Falls and the Niagara Gorge. Its unique rock formations, shaped by sedimentary deposits and erosion, result in ecosystems that vary from deciduous maple forests and oak-hickory forests, to wetlands with cottonwoods and willows, to streams and waterfalls overlooked by cliff faces.

(from Western New York Land Conservancy website http://www.wnylc.org/enews_files/enews106.html )

Lockport, where Maltbie Babcok lived when he took walks along the escarpment and was inspired to write the poem, “My Father’s World”, is a city in Niagara County, in the Buffalo-Cheektowaga metro area. It is the county seat. The community was named for the Erie Canal locks still in evidence here.

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MORE INFORMATION ON BOOKS RELATED TO THE TWO HYMNS

(A) All Things Bright and Beautiful

You can view the entire book of poems by Cecil Frances Alexander, entitled “Hymns for Little Children,” in which the poem that became the hymn lyrics for “All Things Bright and Beautiful” was first printed, at this link: http://archive.org/details/hymnsforlittlech00alex

Note: Select the “Read Online” option. You can turn pages using the arrows at the bottom right hand corner of the screen. “All Things Bright and Beautiful” can be found on pages 27 and 28, pictured below, along with the inside title page.

This is a photo of the inside cover page of “Hymns for Little Children,” in which “All Things Bright and Beautiful” was first published.

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(B) This is my Father’s World

The spoken words, poems, letters, sermons, and other writings of Maltbie Davenport Babcock, which include the poem “My Father’s World” (later serving as the hymn lyrics for “This is My Father’s World”), were collected, edited, and printed in 1902 in the book Thoughts for Every-day Living. Babcock’s widow, Katherine Tallman Babcock, who compiled the volume, wrote that it was “printed in loving memory of one who lived what he taught.”

The inside title page of the book is below, as are pages 180 and 181, which contain the first 11 stanza’s of Babcock’s poem, “My Father’s World”. Unfortunately, there was an error made in the photocopying of page 182, which contains the remaining stanzas. The page is twisted, making the words unreadable. You can access the book online in its entirety at http://archive.org/details/thoughtsforever00babcgoog

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(C) The book, “All Things Bright and Beautiful”, written by James Herriot, which was made into a movie and TV series, is still available on Amazon. Herriot borrowed lines from the poem as titles to his books about a veterinarian in Yorkshire. Here is the description of this particular book:

“The world’s most beloved animal doctor delightfully continues where he left off in All Creatures Great and Small with new adventures through the Yorkshire dales– and a whole new menagerie of memorable patients.

Young James, now married and working as a small-town vet, encounters a cast of extraordinary characters as he makes his way through the Yorkshire countryside tending to sick cattle, pregnant ewes, ailing dogs– and their eccentric owners. As always, Herriot’s warmth, humor, and singular view of life make us laugh and cry, as we marvel at the everyday miracles he creates.”

Here is the link to the Amazon listing for this book. http://www.amazon.com/Things-Bright-Beautiful-James-Herriot/dp/0312966199

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This post was written and compiled by C. Boyd

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* CHORAL MUSIC & PRAISE, * SONG STORIES, Choral Music from Worship Sounds

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Song Story: “Walking by Faith”

The song, “Walking By Faith,” was composed by Travis L. Boyd, inspired by scripture and by the testimony of an Oklahoma Minister of Music and Worship. Royce Brown lived his life by faith, walking with Jesus and serving the Lord through every challenge he faced. Though he had lost his eyesight, Royce not only served faithfully in his ministry calling but also in his community. He was known as an effective, servant leader, whose community involvement and faithful perseverance was an inspiration to his family, friends, neighbors, and his colleagues in ministry. “Walking by Faith” was written with the ministry and character of this man (and the faithfulness of God as our Shepherd and guide) uppermost in Travis’s mind.

Royce Brown, a long-time Minister of Worship and Music, community volunteer, charter member of The Singing Churchmen of Oklahoma, and Minister of Music Emeritus for the First Baptist Church of Sapulpa, Oklahoma, was a man who walked by faith, both spiritually and physically. He left behind a legacy of service and faithfulness as well as a testimony of trust in God and a transparent love for his Lord and Savior. Royce and his family moved to Sapulpa, Oklahoma in 1966, when he became the Minister of Music at the First Baptist Church there. After more than 5o years of service in ministry at Sapulpa and in other communities such as Blackwell, Ada, and Pauls Valley, Royce retired from full-time ministry. Continuing to live in the community of Sapulpa, Royce sang in local nursing homes every week. He was also involved in the Sapulpa Ministerial Alliance and in the local Lions Club. Royce was named Citizen of the Year by the Sertoma Club of Sapulpa, and June 9, 2002, was proclaimed Royce Brown Day by the Sapulpa Mayor, in honor of Royce’s long history of community service and ministy.

The Logo for The Singing Churchmen of Oklahoma

Royce had been widowed in 2001, and he had also lost his eyesight. However, he never lost his love for the Lord or his desire to serve. He continued to sing with the Singing Churchmen of Oklahoma, depending on friends within the group for transportation to and from concerts all over the State of Oklahoma and around the world on Churchmen Mission trips. Royce inspired fellow Ministers of Music and Worship with his dedication and perseverance, memorizing all of his music and accepting the help of others as he navigated through the buildings and upon the worship center platforms of the churches where concerts were held.

Due to his longevity and faithfulness in ministry, Royce was recognized by the Historical Commission of the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma as Music Minister Emeritus of the First Baptist Church of Sapulpa. In addition. he was also presented the Lifetime Music Ministry Award, instituted in Royce’s honor, by Dr. Bill Green, Associate Executive Director of the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma and, at that time, Director of both The Singing Churchmen and The Singing Churchwomen of Oklahoma. This award continues to be given to Music and Worship Ministers in the State of Oklahoma who have served faithfully for many years.

Introducing “Walking by Faith”

Travis played “Walking by Faith” for Royce in the Worship Center of First Baptist Church of Sapulpa, Oklahoma.

After Travis had written a TTBB arrangement of “Walking By Faith” with a tenor solo; and Dr. Bill Green had selected the song for inclusion in the repertoire of The Singing Churchmen of Oklahoma, Travis and I travelled to Sapulpa to share the song with Royce and introduce him to the solo. Royce had a mellow tenor voice, and he did not hesitate to use it in praise to his Lord. I am smiling even now as I recall meeting Royce in the Worship Center of his church, where Travis sat down at the piano with Royce just behind him, listening and ready to sing. Royce picked up on the song so quickly that it seemed miraculous. He was singing along with portions of the song before he had even heard them being played or sung and without the benefit of being able to see the music. It was definitely a very spiritual experience to hear Royce singing “Walking By Faith”, knowing that the Lord had inspired Travis to write the song so that Royce could have further opportunity to proclaim the message of God’s goodness and guidance throughout life. Travis knew that the message of “Walking By Faith” would be shared with integrity and conviction by this man who had lived his own faith walk through many decades of ministry and service.

From the July 11, 2002 Baptist Messenger: HONORED: Royce Brown, left, Music Minister Emeritus at Sapulpa, First, accepts congratulations from Ron Fannin, Associate Executive Director of the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma, right, and Bill Green, BGCO Associate Executive Director of Church and Family Equipping Ministries and Director of The Singing Churchmen of Oklahoma, of which Brown is a charter member. Brown was honored by Sapulpa, First, for more than 50 years of ministry. Fannin presented an award from the BGCO Historical Commission, and Green announced the establishment of the Royce Brown Award for Lifetime Achievement in Music Ministry.

Hearing Royce sing “Walking By Faith” was something very special to Travis, to our brother, Dr. Bill Green, and to all of The Singing Churchmen and the audiences at each of the Worship Concerts. Beyond the sound of Royce’s beautiful tenor voice singing a pleasant tune with with a message of encouragement and challenge, the Holy Spirit used the life and spirit of the man singing the solo and the testimony of The Singing Churchmen singing the choral parts to touch the hearts of all who heard “Walking by Faith” during this time period. On one occasion, Travis and some friends stopped at a restaurant after a concert during which “Walking By Faith” was one of the anthems sung by The Churchmen, with Royce as the soloist. Royce and his traveling buddy had also stopped at the same place; and Travis witnessed a woman who had been at the concert and recognized Royce as she told him how blessed she had been by his solo on “Walking By Faith.” Royce had beamed as he thanked her, and we are so pleased that God allowed Royce to share the testimony of his spiritual journey with Jesus through this song.

Our brother Royce went home to be with His Lord in June of 2003. The Singing Churchmen sang “Walking By Faith” and other songs of testimony at his funeral service. For those who witnessed his life, there remains an unforgettable testimony of the faithfulness of God and the faith journey of a man of God that will live on in our hearts.

There are so many faithful servants of God who have the same testimony of walking by faith and trusting the Lord throughout their lives. Along the way on our journey, we are thankful to have met so many wonderful people who love the Lord and are walking with Him one step at a time. Most of all, we are thankful to know the Lord and to be able to trust Him throughout our lives as we continue walking by faith.

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The track below is the publisher’s demo version of,”Walking by Faith,” with the solo sung by Sue Martin. Click “Listen in browser” to hear it (unless you already have or want to install the Sound Cloud app).

“Walking by Faith” was published as an SAB Choral anthem with Solo by Shawnee Press/Hal Leonard. The anthem is still available at the links below, and a Performance/Accompaniment CD is also available.

One step at a time…

Lyrics for “Walking By Faith”:

Walking by faith and not by sight,
Guided by a Holy light.
Step by step, the way is clear.
The Spirit of the Lord is near.

I will follow where He leads,
For I know the path is right
When I’m walking by faith
And not by sight.

Trusting in One I cannot see,
For He knows what’s best for me.
Tenderly, the Shepherd guides.
The Spirit of the Lord abides.

I will follow where He leads,
For the Lord will be my light
When I’m walking by faith
And not by sight.

(Bridge section)
Though at times I stumble,
I will never fall;
For I know God is always faithful
To hold my hand, and lift me up,
And see me through it all.

When I’m living by faith, I’m not alone.
As I travel on toward home.
When the road is hard to bear,
The Spirit of the Lord is there.

I will follow where He leads,
For the way is always right
When I’m walking by faith
And not by sight.

(Tag ending)
I’m walking by faith and not by sight.

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HERE IS THE PUBLISHER’S DESCRIPTION of “Walking By Faith”:

“Full of youthful confidence and motivational lyrics, “Walking By Faith” is a challenge to Christians of all ages to “walk by faith and not by sight.” Gentle syncopations are easily learned and help give the piece a nice contemporary feel. The SAB voicing is particularly well suited to youth choirs.”

“Walking by Faith” is available from:

Shawnee Press at: http://www.shawneepress.com/product/viewproduct.do?itemid=35024936

Hal Leonard at: http://www.halleonard.com/product/viewproduct.do?itemid=35024936&lid=1&keywords=TravisBoyd&subsiteid=1

Sheet Music Plus (with 2 sample pages to view plus a listening link) at http://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/Walking-by-Faith/5206355

J. W. Pepper at http://www.jwpepper.com/8065838.item

The first page of “Walkig By Faith”, copyright Shawnee Press, with the dedication, “For Royce Brown”, appearing above the title.

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This post was written by C. Boyd

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Do you know Jesus?

Here’s a blog page link to help you find the answers to your questions about Jesus. http://www.worshipsounds.wordpress.com/do-you-know-jesus/

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Category:

* CHORAL MUSIC & PRAISE, * SONG STORIES

Tagged with:

Song story for “Jesus, My Redeemer”

“Jesus, My Redeemer” is an SATB choral anthem written by Travis L. Boyd and published by Shawnee Press (Hal Leonard). It will always be one of my favorites of all of the choral anthems that Travis has written. I can take credit only for loving the hymn, “Be Thou My Vision,” from which the tune for this anthem was taken. I love both the original hymn tune and the traditional lyrics, but the “Jesus, My Redeemer” lyrics and Travis’ accompaniment and choral arrangement are so meaningful and beautiful to me that I am more than willing to expand my love for the old hymn and include this new version. Some readers may not be acquainted with the original hymn, so this song story will include some information about “Be Thou My Vision” as well as the tale of how it inspired Travis to write “Jesus, My Redeemer.”

Here’s the story of “Be Thou My Vision,” as written by Sarah McCabe on suite101.com (see the article URL at the end of this post):

“”Be Thou My Vision” is a Christian hymn written by an Irish poet, and put to the tune of an old Irish folk song. It has deep roots in the history of Ireland. St. Patrick played a major role in its inspiration, as did a pagan king and a forbidden fire. In 433 AD St. Patrick came to the Hill of Slane in County Meath. It was the night before Easter, as well as the beginning of the Spring Equinox. High King Leoghaire (pronounced “Leary”) mac Neill had issued a decree that no fires were to be lit until the lighting of the blaze atop nearby Tara Hill that would usher in the Spring Equinox. The first fire, however, was not that of King Leoghaire. Rather, it was a flame lit by St. Patrick to celebrate the resurrection of Christ. Instead of executing him, King Leoghaire was so impressed by St. Patrick’s courage that he allowed him to continue with his missionary work throughout Ireland.

Considered Ireland’s chief poet during his time, Dallan Forgaill, who was killed by pirates in 598, was known as a studious and scholarly man. It was said that he spent so much time reading, writing, and studying that he became blind. Inspired by the events on the Hill of Slane about 100 years earlier, Dallan Forgaill wrote the original words to “Be Thou My Vision” in old Irish, as a poem entitled ” Rop tu mo baile.” The poem was not translated into English until 1905 when Mary E. Byrne (1880-1931) wrote a literal translation of the words in English prose. The words were made into verse and published by Eleanor H. Hull (1860-1935) in her 1913 work entitled Poem Book of the Gael.

The tune to “Be Thou My Vision” is called SLANE, an old Irish folk melody, named for the Hill of Slane. Though centuries old, the melody was first published by Patrick W. Joyce (1827-1914) in his 1909 collection, Old Irish Folk Music and Songs, under the title “By the Banks of the Bann.” The melody was first coupled with Hull’s versified words to “Be Thou My Vision” in 1919 by Leopold Dix (1861-1935) in the Irish Church Hymnal.

Inspired by an event that helped change the spiritual climate of Ireland, penned by a renowned Irish poet, and paired with the tune of an old Irish folk song, “Be Thou My Vision” stands as a link between Ireland and its Christian heritage. It is a tribute to a significant event in Ireland’s history and a reminder of the sovereignty, strength, and joy of Jesus.”

THE STORY OF “JESUS, MY REDEEMER”

“Jesus, my Redeemer, You died in my place… brought me salvation through Your matchless grace.”

Travis began to look at the hymn, “Be Thou My Vision” with the initial goal of doing a choral arrangement of the hymn with the well-known lyrics. However, as he began to work with the hymn, he was inspired to write a new text with a different type of lyrical content. The original lyrics are a prayer asking for the continued nearness of God’s presence to the heart of the believer and for the clarity of vision that comes with knowing Him through His word and through revelation. The new lyrics for “Jesus, My Redeemer” are a text of testimony. The believer thanks God for sending Jesus, for His power to save, and for his certain return and the eventual home in Heaven. Both sets of lyrics have something very important to say, and both texts end with a final verse that talks about Heaven.

Travis’ SATB choral anthem, “Jesus, My Redeemer” was published by Shawnee Press (now with Hal Leonard) and is available through Hal Leonard at this link: http://www.halleonard.com/product/viewproduct.do?itemid=35011508&lid=0&keywords=Travisboyd&subsiteid=1&

“Jesus, My Redeemer” is available from J. W. Pepper, where the entire publisher’s studio demo recording of “Jesus, My Redeemer” can be heard at this link: http://www.jwpepper.com/8036907.item

It is also available from Sheet Music Plus at http://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/Jesus-My-Redeemer/3734672

The publisher’s description of this anthem reads:
“Traditional Irish hymn, Be Thou My Vision; flowing accompaniment; easily learned – This anthem utilizes an original text set to the familiar Irish air commonly known as Be Thou My Vision. The accompaniment features a flowing motif, which recurs throughout the piece and is sure to appeal to your pianist. Jesus, My Redeemer contains wonderful harmonies that emphasize a rich text, thanking and praising the Savior for our redemption and grace. ”

“Forever we’ll sing…Amen!”

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Here’s the audio for the Publisher’s Studio Demo from our Sound Cloud recording of “Jesus, My Redeemer.” (see lyrics below!)

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* A TESTIMONY OF GRACE AND SALVATION *
The lyrics of “Jesus, My Redeemer”, as written for the Slane hymn tune by Travis L. Boyd

Jesus, my Redeemer, My Savior and friend,
Author and giver of life without end,
Alpha, Omega, the Great I Am, Lion of Judah,
God’s meekly, lowly Lamb.

Jesus, my Redeemer, You died in my place,
Brought me salvation through your matchless grace
Your sacrifice came at such a great cost…
Bloodshed and agony on Calvary’s cross.

Such power to save!

Jesus, my Redeemer, Such power to save!
On the third day, You arose from the grave,
Sealing my pardon and setting me free,
Building a mansion in Heaven for me.

Jesus, my Redeemer, Returning some day!
All Your creation will bow down and say,
“You are Messiah! Our Savior! Our King!
Lord God Almighty, forever we’ll sing!” Amen!

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* A PRAYER OF FAITH *
The lyrics to “Be Thou My Vision” as written by Irish poet Dallan Forgaill,
translated in 1905 by Mary E. Byrne, and converted from English prose to verse by Eleanor H. Hull:

Be Thou my vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art.
Thou my best thought, by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.

Be Thou my wisdom, and Thou my true word;
I ever with Thee, and Thou with me, Lord;
Thou my great Father, I Thy true son;
Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.

Be Thou my battle shield, sword for my fight,
Be Thou my dignity, Thou my delight.
Thou my soul’s shelter, Thou my high tower.
Raise Thou me heavenward, O Power of my power.

Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise;
Thou mine inheritance now and always:
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,
High King of heaven, my treasure Thou art.

High King of heaven, my victory won,
May I reach heaven’s joys, O bright heaven’s Son!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
Still be my vision, O Ruler of all.

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This post was written by Cynthia A. Boyd (with the exception of the excerpt from the article mentioned below).

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Here’s a link to the article “Be Thou My Vision: The History of a Christian Hymn”
(which was edited by the author of this post and included in the article as informational background):

http://suite101.com/article/be-thou-my-vision-a249138

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Youtube video of “Be Thou My Vision” (with lyrics), by Robin Mark from “The Mandate”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zstKjGb6uAE&feature=related

There are many other videos of “Be Thou My Vision” on Youtube by such artists as 4Him, Selah, Allison Kraus, Eden’s Bridge, the Irish Tenors, and the Azuza Pacific University Men’s Chorale.

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The Old Irish poem from which the lyrics of the hymn, “Be Thou My Vision”, were translated:

Rop tú mo baile, a Choimdiu cride: ní ní nech aile acht Rí secht nime.
Rop tú mo scrútain i l-ló ‘s i n-aidche; rop tú ad-chëar im chotlud caidche.
Rop tú mo labra, rop tú mo thuicsiu; rop tussu dam-sa, rob misse duit-siu.
Rop tussu m’athair, rob mé do mac-su; rop tussu lem-sa, rob misse lat-su.
Rop tú mo chathscíath, rop tú mo chlaideb; rop tussu m’ordan, rop tussu m’airer.
Rop tú mo dítiu, rop tú mo daingen; rop tú nom-thocba i n-áentaid n-aingel.
Rop tú cech maithius dom churp, dom anmain; rop tú mo flaithius i n-nim ‘s i talmain.
Rop tussu t’ áenur sainserc mo chride; ní rop nech aile acht Airdrí nime.
Co talla forum, ré n-dul it láma, mo chuit, mo chotlud, ar méit do gráda.
Rop tussu t’ áenur m’ urrann úais amra: ní chuinngim daíne ná maíne marba.
Rop amlaid dínsiur cech sel, cech sáegul, mar marb oc brénad, ar t’ fégad t’ áenur.
Do serc im anmain, do grád im chride, tabair dam amlaid, a Rí secht nime.
Tabair dam amlaid, a Rí secht nime, do serc im anmain, do grád im chride.
Go Ríg na n-uile rís íar m-búaid léire; ro béo i flaith nime i n-gile gréine A Athair inmain,
cluinte mo núall-sa: mithig (mo-núarán!) lasin trúagán trúag-sa.
A Chríst mo chride, cip ed dom-aire, a Flaith na n-uile, rop tú mo baile.

(Wouldn’t the original author be amazed to know that these words still live and inspire the hearts of millions of believers!)

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WOULD YOU LIKE TO READ MORE POSTS LIKE THIS ONE?

Here’s a link to our “Song Stories” category to see all of the song story posts:
https://worshipsounds.wordpress.com/category/song-stories/

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Click this image to go to our WorshipSounds website.

More Music by Travis L. Boyd

Many more Choral Anthems written by Travis L. Boyd can be found on our Worship Sounds Music website. Our Choral Anthems are written to be practical for use in local church ministry and in Christian schools and Universities. You will find that our music is worshipful, memorable, and very affordable. We also have Anthem Orchestrations, Accompaniment Tracks, Vocal Solos, and Congregational Worship music.

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Looking for answers for yourself or for a friend?

Please feel free to share this URL with anyone who is looking for answers about life and eternity.

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Category:

* CHORAL MUSIC & PRAISE, * EASTER SONG, EASTER JOY, * SONG STORIES, Easter / Palm Sunday Music

Tagged with:

Song Story: “For the Glory of God”

“For the Glory of God” is a choral anthem written by Travis L. Boyd, which can currently be found on our website’s Adult Choir music page in SATB, SSAA, and TTBB voicings. There is also a full orchestration available for this anthem. “For the Glory of God” features gently syncopated verses which lyrically extol the character and person of our great God, along with a strong chorus that begins with a statement of who God is in our lives, leading into an “Alleluia” section that ends with a description of our praise for Him and a re-statement of the reason for our praise. This anthem is in the current repertoire of the Georgia Baptist Convention’s Jubalheirs, under the direction of Dr. Jon Duncan

First Baptist Church of Dublin, Georgia

A SONG STORY
“For the Glory of God” has been a demonstration of love that began as a desire to glorify God while also encouraging the heart of a Georgia Minister of Worship. Travis was contacted by some people who were active members of the Chancel Choir at First Baptist Church of Dublin, Georgia. They wanted to commission an anthem in honor of the 25th Anniversary of service to the Lord and to their congregation by their Minister of Worship and Music, Dick Burrell. It was the desire of these good people to encourage the heart of this dear servant of God through a worship song that could be sung by the choir on the occasion of the 25th Anniversary and would also then be sung by countless churches all around the world for the glory of God. Travis normally takes as inspiration for any commission work the favorite scripture and favorite hymn title of the person or group the song is being written for. In this case, there were no specifics given along these lines. Travis was told that Dick likes rhythmic choral anthems. Of course, the ultimate purpose of the piece would be to bring glory to God while also being a personal expression of love and encouragement from the choir members to their Director and Minister of Worship, who had served faithfully for many years and had recently lost his dear wife, Vicki.

The First Baptist, Dublin, ministry team did a great job pulling off the surprise for our brother Dick Burrell. What a great testimony of love from these people, who began working on this surprise months in advance. I know that brother Dick and all of their church would join with Travis and myself in praying that this song will go on to touch and reach hearts that we will not know on this side of Heaven. Here is the thank you
e-mail that brother Dick sent to Travis on Monday, Jan. 9th, 2012, after he been surprised with the anthem the day before:

Dick Burrell leading in worship, with the FBC Dublin Chancel Choir

“Dear Travis,

Thank you so much for the anthem, For the Glory of God. The Chancel Choir (over 40 voices yesterday) sang it in our morning worship. They had rehearsed whenever I was out of town at our church and other times when I was in town at either Pine Forest Methodist or FUMC. They did a wonderful job. Our pianist was a piano performance major at Shorter in the early 70’s and did post grad work at the Mozarteum in Austria. They all got such a kick out of keeping this from me—-I had no clue. I look forward to a bit later working on it with them and doing the anthem again. You may not know that the Jubals sang God Is Faithful at my sweet Vicki’s memorial service last March, so, it was most appropriate that they commissioned you to compose the anthem for my 25th anniversary.

Dick Burrell

Thank you, again.

Dick Burrell”

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May God use this anthem and all who direct or sing or play it for His glory!

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“For the Glory of God,” like all of Travis’ anthems, is written to be performed with or without the full orchestration. The piano part is supportive, and chord symbols are included on the music for a rhythm section. The orchestration is written to be practical for church orchestra and will work with a wide variety of instrumentation, though all of the parts are available for full instrumentation. Travis is always careful in the writing of an orchestration to allow the orchestra to meaningfully enhance the performance of the anthem but also to make sure that the choir is not “covered up” when the orchestra plays. You will be more than happy with the results of this attention to detail and to the communication of the message.

“For the Glory of God” is available on our website’s adult choir page @ http://www.worshipsounds.com You purchase the PDF master copy in your choice of full page or octavo format for $15.00, and then you are allowed to make an unlimited number of copies (for your own choir and rhythm section only). The orchestration, which includes parts for all instruments, a full score, and a string reduction for keyboard, is $30.00.

“For the Glory of God” can be found on our Worship Sounds Music website, on the Adult Choir music page. http://www.worshipsounds.com

Or, to view the VIDEO DEMO without going to the website, “For the Glory of God,” go to: https://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=419798804706616&saved
There is a link to the website page within the information for the video demo, so you can still get to the page for purchase if desired.

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This post was written by Cynthia A. Boyd

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Looking for answers for yourself or for a friend?

Please feel free to share this URL with anyone who is looking for answers about a relationship to God through Jesus Christ or about life and eternity.

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WOULD YOU LIKE TO READ MORE POSTS LIKE THIS ONE?
Link to our “Song Stories” category to see all of the song story posts: https://worshipsounds.wordpress.com/category/song-stories/

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Category:

* CHORAL MUSIC & PRAISE, * SONG STORIES

Tagged with:

Song Story…”Much More Than a Song”

Wherever you go, God is already there.

“Much More Than a Song” was written as a result of a time of uncertainty and re-examination of priorities and truths in Travis’ life. This time period began with the desire to sing a song and continues with the desire to bring God glory through all of life. Several years ago, Travis was working on a powerful song that he planned to share as a solo at some point in the future. The song was quite wordy and vocally demanding. As Travis was singing the song over and over, trying to memorize all of those lyrics, he began to experience some vocal problems. It was not unusual for him to have some allergy related congestion that affected his voice a couple of times every year, but this problem was obviously more serious than that. Although he was not experiencing any allergy problems at that time, his voice was greatly affected, and he had significant pain when he tried to sing. After the problem persisted and worsened, Travis did go to the doctor and to see a specialist about his voice. He learned that all of his demanding vocal rehearsing had caused some damage to the vocal mechanism and created some strain and inflammation. He was going to have to rest his voice and allow the damage to heal. This was very difficult news for a Minister of Music and Worship. He had no idea how long it would take for healing to occur or even whether the healing would be complete. In other words, he didn’t know whether his voice would ever be fully restored. Would it be as strong as before? Would he still have the same vocal range? Would there be any changes to his vocal tone or breaks in his range? All of these were unanswered questions.

Travis prayed and waited and rested his voice, hoping to regain the full use of his voice but realizing that there was a possibility that he might not be able to sing in the same way that he had before this problem occured. As in any season of uncertainty and waiting on the Lord, Travis had an opportunity to re-examine his priorities and his own philosophy of living a life that glorifies the Lord. He knew that leading God’s people in worship through music was not the only way that God could use his life. Even though his passion for leading worship remained strong, Travis came to the point where he was willing to do whatever the Lord would have him do. He was very aware that he could still live a life of seeking to bring glory to God, no matter what happened with his voice. God gave Travis a song to express what He had been teaching Travis through the experience of losing what had formerly been one of Travis’ most important ministry tools. That song was “Much More Than a Song”.

Through this experience, God gave the blessing of a song; but the lessons of the spirit that Travis gained were even more valuable. It’s hard to put them all into words, but I will try:

Worship is more than a song.

Worship is more than any particular form of expression.

Worship is more than giving your best to God. It’s being willing to give up your best and still give what you have left to God.

Worship is a passionate pursuit of God’s glory.

Worship may be expressed through what we do, but the act of worship never consists of any outward expression. True worship always exists in the desire of the heart to bring Glory to God.

If I have ever truly worshipped God before a loss or a change in my life, I cannot allow such a change to alter my heart.

“Declare His glory among the nations, His marvelous works among all the peoples! For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised…” Psalm 96:3 &4a

Worship is a 24/7 attitude of the heart, a recognition of God’s supremacy and majesty that results in a constant desire to bring Him glory through my life.

Worship is much more than a song!

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“Much More Than a Song” words and music by Travis L. Boyd, copyright WorshipSounds Music is available on our website as a vocal solo or as an SATB choral anthem. There is also a full orchestration available, which can be used to accompany either a choir or a soloist. You’ll find the solo version on our home page and the choral version on our Adult Choir music page, where you can click on our unique video demo link to see and hear the music simultaneously at
http://www.worshipsounds.com

“Much More Than a Song” has been included in the repertoire of The Singing Churchmen of Oklahoma, then under the direction of Dr. Bill Green.

“Much More Than a Song” has been part of the repertoire of the Georgia Baptist Convention’s Jubalheirs, under the direction of Dr. Jon Duncan (a large choral group consisting of women who are active in music ministry from all over the state of Georgia).
The Jubalheirs also recorded “Much More Than a Song” on their CD entitled “New Every Morning.” For more information about this group and their ministry, see our post entitled, “Blessings Through Choosing to Praise God.” https://worshipsounds.wordpress.com/2011/11/11/blessings-through-choosing-to-praise/

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Here’s my Sound Cloud recording of the Medium Voice Vocal Solo
(available on our website’s Home Page in the left sidebar)

* The sheet music PDF (with chord symbols) can be purchased for $5.00, with permission to make as many copies as needed for your Soloist and Accompanists or Rhythm Section.
* The Accompaniment Track is sent as an Mp3 download and includes the PDF for a full page lead sheet to assist you in learning the song. The cost for the Mp3 and lead sheet is $10.00.

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Here’s our WorshipSounds Video Demo of the Medium Voice Solo
(Accompaniment Track + Demo)

(VIEW VIDEO DEMO IN FULLSCREEN MODE TO SEE LYRICS BEST!)

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This post was written by C. Boyd

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Do you know Jesus?

The decision to ask Jesus to come into your heart and life as your Lord and Savior is the best decision you could ever make! The one true God is ready to give you forgiveness and eternal life as soon as you understand your need for Him and believe on the name of His only Son, Jesus, for your salvation. Here’s a blog page link to help you find the answers to your questions about Jesus. http://www.worshipsounds.wordpress.com/do-you-know-jesus/

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WOULD YOU LIKE TO READ MORE POSTS LIKE THIS ONE?

Link to our “Song Stories” category to see all of the song story posts: https://worshipsounds.wordpress.com/category/song-stories/

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Category:

* CHORAL MUSIC & PRAISE, * SONG STORIES

Tagged with:

Song Story…”God is Faithful”

One of Travis’ best loved choral anthems is “God is Faithful.” This song will always be very special to us as well. “God is Faithful” has been recorded as the title song on CDs by both The Singing Churchmen of Oklahoma (then under the direction of Dr. Bill Green) and the Georgia Baptist Convention’s Sons of Jubal (Dr. Jon Duncan, Director). It has also been recorded as a solo on individual CD projects and sung all over the world by church choirs, by the choral groups already mentioned, and also by The Singing Churchwomen of Oklahoma. In addition, the women’s choirs who sang in Australia while their Singing Churchmen friends and spouses were there for a mission trip in 2003 sang “God is Faithful” in all the churches where they ministered in the Sydney, Newcastle, and Brisbane areas (see a story about “God is Faithful” in Australia near the end of this post). Dozens of individuals have taken the time to express to Travis how much the message of “God is Faithful” has meant in their lives; but before the song was heard by anyone else or was published by Lorenz Music, it was a tender message from our loving God to encourage the hearts of Travis and Cindy Boyd.

Note: Scroll down to the end of this post if you are looking for product information about the Song, Choral Anthem, Accompaniment/Performance Track, or Anthem Orchestration, which are available through the publisher, Lorenz, as well as other music distributors. (Click the distributor links in our blog’s side bar to see what Travis L. Boyd products they offer.)

God’s promise

A lot of things were going on in our family and in our lives at the time that “God is Faithful” was written. God had called us to a new place of service. Our daughter was in high school, and our son was still in pre-school; and yet we left behind all 4 grandparents to move to the Church in Eastern Oklahoma which had just called Travis as their Minister of Worship. We had moved from one side of the state of Oklahoma to the other and three and a half hours away from our parents. It had been difficult to leave the only full-time church Travis had ever served where we were geographically very near our extended family, but that’s not the only reason the move was challenging. We were concerned about how our daughter would adjust to the move, we were leaving behind many very close friends whom we still love and miss, and we were leaving a community that had always been very special to us. It was the town where I grew up from third grade on, the town where I graduated from high school, the community where Travis and I had both gone to college, where we had met and married; and we’d both graduated from the University there. Our roots were deep in the community, and we knew and loved so many people there. We also loved our Church and our church family, and it was the church that Travis had longed to serve for many years before being called as their Minister of Music and Worship. The Pastor of the Church we were leaving had not been there very long, and Travis had enjoyed serving with him and with all of the other staff members and support staff at the Church.

Of course, every time that God has called Travis to a new place of service, we have always felt a mixture of emotions. Facing the task of leaving a Church and people that we loved, moving to a new place, and dealing with the unknown was always challenging, heart-breaking, exciting, both joyful for the new opportunity and sad to be moving on, and even a little scary. Intellectually and spiritually, we’ve always known that God would be with us wherever we were. Hovever, sometimes through the years, we’ve had to remind ourselves of this comforting truth. Following the heart-felt welcomes and the initial settling in process in the new home, community and Church, real life adjustments still need to be made after any move. As I’ve voiced to Travis in such times, it sometimes feels as though “we are so far away from everyone who really loves us”. Again, we do know that God’s presence is with us; but as human beings we still long for the joy of familiarity and the comfort of being known. Newness certainly doesn’t mean that we are loved any less, even by the ‘new’ church family. It sometimes just feels that way because we are human. [May God continually remind us what it feels like to long for home, to deal with uncertainty, and to step out on faith even when it’s heart-breaking or difficult to move on. He longs for us to have compassion for the people all around us, people who struggle with change and difficulty and loneliness. We can express His love and grace through a smile, a kind word, an act of compassion, and a warm welcome.]

In addition to the monumental changes that a major move brings, Travis and I were dealing with other issues that were of great concern around this time period. The house we were leaving behind and trying to sell in western Oklahoma was the third house that Travis and I had owned in our 21 years of marriage. Up to that point, it seemed that the timing had always been wrong for us to come out well on the sale of a home. The first home that we bought was in Texas. At the time when God called us to a new place of service a few years later, our Texas builder was adding an entirely new section of homes to our neighborhood. The new streets had sidewalks. There was a community playground in the new part of the neighborhood. Furthermore, the new homes were selling for about the same price we had hoped to get for our home. Of course, we had to come way down on our price in order to sell, and still the home languished on the market for months as the new homes were marketed and sold by developers. By God’s grace, we did manage to hang on, but we did not come out well on the sale of the home. When Travis was called to a new place of service the next time, we had to sell our second purchased home in central Oklahoma. We hoped to come out better because we had added more livable square footage to the home by completing an unfinished bonus room over the garage. However, just as we were preparing to make the move, the United States Government released their list of military bases that were in danger of being closed. The nearby military base was on the list. Eventually, the government revealed that the local base would not be closed. It was removed from the base closings list and is still a functioning Air Force base today, but its future was in doubt during the entire time that our home was on the market. As a result of the uncertainty and the possibility of losing the base, real estate values plummeted in our community and other nearby suburbs. Again, we were forced to take less that we should have been able to get for our home. A few months later, when the local base was removed from the list of potential closures, real estate values recovered; but the rebound was too late for us.

Now, during the time period surrounding the writing of “God is Faithful”, we needed to sell our third house, in western Oklahoma; and, once again, the circumstances were not great. When we had moved into the community, we had rented a 3 bedroom duplex, where we planned to stay until we sold our central Oklahoma home and found a home we wanted to purchase. A few months later, our landlady contacted us and told us that one of her family members had a life crisis and needed the duplex. She was giving us a month’s notice and wanted us to move out. We began looking at everything that was available. Our central Oklahoma home had sold by then, but the lower price due to the uncertainty of the base closing list had drastically limited our options. In addition, the Western Oklahoma community to which we’d just moved was experiencing a major housing shortage at that time. It was a big enough deal to be featured in articles in the Daily Oklahoman (state newpaper) and even in video on Oklahoma City’s statewide broadcast of the evening news. The Mayor of the community was featured in one report. He had sold his home and could not find another to buy, so he was living in a local hotel. The options were so limited that our family of four was very close to having to move into a hotel as well, with a 13 year old daughter and a 4 month old son. We looked at everything that was available, which wasn’t much.

In the end, the only option we had (other than living in a hotel) was a 3 bedroom home where the single car garage had been turned into a small room (a very poorly done renovation). The only things we liked about the house were that it was a roof over our heads and that our daughter and son each had their own bedroom. Everything else was dismal. We moved in just after Thanksgiving. It was our first Christmas at the new, western Oklahoma Church, we had an event to go to every night from December 1st to December 22nd, and our lives were in total turmoil. We had worked on cleaning the house for a week as we prepared to move in, while my parents took care of our children. The whole house reeked of cat urine. Walls and doors, and even cabinets (inside and out) were splattered with what looked like dried plum jam, but we never did figure out what the splatter really was. We scrubbed and scrubbed. I had to give up nursing our 4 month old son because we were cleaning on the house from morning until bedtime that whole week, and it was too filthy to bring the children into. I scraped the bathroom floors with a razor blade to get all of the crud off, and every surface in the house was just that filthy. We rented a machine and cleaned the carpets…twice. They still reeked. Travis was fixing things that were broken as well as cleaning. It was a mess. After we’d moved in, about 3 days went by before the sinks began to back up and toilets began to overflow. We had plumbers out to the house 6 times the first month and a half that we lived there (all during the Christmas season!). They even brought in “the big machine” to unclog our pipes, but the plumbing problems weren’t completely solved until we finally replaced the toilets in both the full bath and the half bath. In all the 3 years that we lived in that house, we were constantly having to fix and replace things (exterior siding, the furnace and air conditioning units, storm doors, dishwasher, water heater, disposal, etc.). The list went on and on. We had to take a second mortgage to pay for all the needed fix ups; and later on, we had to take out a third loan for the new heat and air units. So, by the time we made this move to Eastern Oklahoma, we had been through the wringer financially. We’d even had to come up with an I.O.U. idea for Christmas for our daughter, which we called a “Santa coupon”, and that’s what she got 3 Christmases out of the 4 that we spent in that home (1993 – ’96). We were now going to have to try to get enough out of that house to pay all 3 loans off; and after several months without a sale, even though the house was described by our realtor as “immaculate”, it was becoming apparent that we were going to take a big hit on this house as well. Travis was really concerned. God had worked a miracle to get us into a brand new home in Eastern Oklahoma, so we did have a wonderful break from the constant home fix ups for a while, but we didn’t know if we could keep handling the payments on the new home if we had to keep paying on loans from our western Oklahoma house even after it sold. The months dragged on, and the house didn’t sell until October after we’d moved in January. At one point, church members from our new Church helped by making part of the payment on the Western Oklahoma house for about 4 months; so we were very thankful that basic needs were met (but still barely surviving). It was during this time period of adjustment, uncertainty, and financial hardship that God gave Travis the message of “God is Faithful”.

“God is Faithful” was one of those songs that just seemed to be born in a moment of inspiration. Travis says that the whole song seemed to come to him at once and calls it “very much a God thing,” meaning that God gave the song. It was a message that we needed desperately at the time that God gave the song through Travis; and it was a message that we would need even more over the next few years, as we dealt with many events such as the loss of both of our fathers and of our own unborn child, some of our daughter’s struggles, and other things. Some of the words would come to life even more vividly as we experienced different circumstances in our lives through the years. In some ways, it has seemed to us that the message of “God is Faithful” has been to us both a message for a particular time and a message for all the times to come. There were things ahead of us that we didn’t know about, but God knew. He was re-assuring us with the message of His faithfulness, even before we knew how much greater our need for that encouragement would become at times. But, even though the song has been very personal for us, it has touched many other lives. Travis feels that he was just the vehicle that God used to share the message of His faithfulness with those who have been blessed by “God is Faithful.”

Dr. Bill Green, who was then the Director of both The Singing Churchmen and The Singing Churchwomen of Oklahoma, was one of the first people to hear “God is Faithful.” Travis played it for him during a summer time meeting in Oklahoma City. Brother Bill wanted to use the anthem with both choral groups, so Travis was asked to create an SSAA arrangement and a TTBB arrangement. He also did an orchestration for the Churchmen’s instrumental ensemble. “God is Faithful” was in the repertoire of both groups for several years. During that time period, Brother Bill also sent the anthem to Mary McDonald at Lorenz Music. Mary loved it, and it became Travis’ 4th choral anthem published by Lorenz (the first of his Lorenz anthems published by their Monarch Division, with others to follow). The SATB anthem is still available through Lorenz (See links below), as is the orchestration and the performance/accompaniment CD. Although many churches probably still have and use the published octavos, there are other churches that use Travis’ self-copyrighted copies from before the anthem was published. So many of the Ministers of Worship in the Churchmen wanted to use “God is Faithful” with their choirs that Travis did quite a bit of self-publishing before the song was accepted for publication.

Whatever methods God has used to expand the reach of “God is Faithful”, Travis and I are just thankful that the message of this song has meant as much to others as it has meant for us. The most important truth to which we can cling in difficult times is that God is faithful! Circumstances don’t always work out as we had hoped, but God’s faithfulness is always there. In fact, we did have to continue to pay on the heating and air conditioner loan for over 2 years after selling our western Oklahoma home. Somehow, God provided. The publication of “God is Faithful” and other songs even became part of that provision for our needs.

In 2012, we still have 6 boys at home, five of whom are currently in Elementary School. As a result of circumstances in the past 4 years, we have started over again as far as acquiring equity in a home. Our most recent home sale, after we’d moved to Georgia, took over a year and was completed in 2009 during the worst recession since the Great Depression. The home in eastern Oklahoma, where we’d lived for 12 years, updating and adding a room addition, sold for far less than it would have before the recession began. We could choose to dwell on the losses that we have sustained, but there is no point in that. We know that in each situation, what appears to be bad timing was really God’s timing. He has called Travis to each new place of service very clearly, and He has been faithful to meet our basic needs in spite of economic conditions and other external factors. God’s faithfulness is not thwarted by the ups and downs of the stock market or housing values. His faithfulness is not limited to the specific circumstances that surrounded the writing of this song or any song. Just as God is eternal, His faithfulness is eternal; and it continues as He continues. God is a keeper of promises, and He is faithful!

So, remember…

“When you find it hard to understand
And you’re just not sure you have the strength
To do all God commands…
When the task seems overwhelming,
You can rest within His hands.
For the One who called you is faithful!

God is faithful.
He will not forget His own.
God is faithful.
He’ll never leave you all alone.
He’s right beside you,
Waiting to guide you,
For the one who called you is faithful.
God is faithful!

He is always there when human eyes can’t see…
So aware of all your hurts and all your deepest needs!

God is faithful! He will not forget His own.
My God is faithful!
He’ll never leave you all alone.
He’s right beside you,
Waiting to guide you,
For the One who called you is faithful.
God is faithful!”

Self-published copies of the SSAA, TTBB, and SATB octavos and the Orchestration that pre-date the Lorenz publications, Copyright Travis L. Boyd

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FROM LORENZ MUSIC: “God is Faithful”…SATB Choral Anthem with solo throughout

* A full orchestration is available for this piece, as heard in the studio demo.

* A performance/accompaniment CD is also available, and it features the orchestration as heard in the publisher’s studio demo.

Here is my Sound Cloud audio of the Lorenz Studio Demo Recording for “God is Faithful”.

* Lorenz product page for “God is Faithful” : http://www.lorenz.com/product.aspx?id=10_2978M

Here, you will be able to click the listening link (music notes) and then immediately click the sample pages link (Adobe icon) to allow you to listen to the professional studio demo recording of the anthem while you view the music.

To returen to this blog, please use the ‘back’ arrow

Note: See our blog post entitled “Blessings Through God’s Faithfulness” for more information about the story of this song & recordings by both The Singing Churchmen of Oklahoma and The Sons of Jubal. https://worshipsounds.wordpress.com/2011/11/09/blessings-through-gods-faithfulness/

* Vimeo Performance Video link: (TTBB arrangement, recorded at a Sons of Jubal concert in September, 2010) http://vimeo.com/15390308

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Post written by Cynthia A. Boyd

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“GOD IS FAITHFUL” IN AUSTRALIA!
OUR GOD IS FAITHFUL EVERY DAY AND EVERYWHERE!

Here is a testimony of a specific circumstance in which God used the message of His faithfulness through “God is Faithful” to bless and encourage. In 2003, over 300 people went to Australia for an incredible mission trip. The main performing group was The Singing Churchmen of Oklahoma. The group gave concerts in serveral large and well-known venues, such as the Sydney Opera House, and then split into smaller groups to minister in local churches. Over 90 of the people on this trip were the wives of the Churchmen; and for the first time ever on a Churchmen mission trip, there were enough of us to form 2 women’s choirs, which ministered in Churches and even in a pineapple canning factory during our time in Sydney, Newcastle, and Brisbane.

The women’s choir that I was in, directed by Singing Churchmen member Tyrone Smith, sang at Annerley Baptist Church, near Brisbane, on Sunday morning, May 11th, 2003, which was Australia’s Mother’s Day. Although the Singing Churchmen were no longer singing “God is Faithful”, the two womens’ choirs were singing an SSAA arrangement of the song. I had been asked to sing the solo on “God is Faithful,” and I had done so during the Worship Service that day.

Our womens' choir rehearses with director Tyrone Smith prior to the service (minus a few members who were taking pictures of the group)

Our womens’ choir rehearses at Annerley with director Tyrone Smith prior to the service (minus a few members who were taking pictures of the group)

Later on, during the fellowship meal after the service, a woman approached me. She told me that her name was Noela (pronounced Nola), and that she was not a member of Annerley Baptist Church and did not live in Brisbane. She said that she was only at the church that morning because it was Mother’s Day. She and her husband had driven from their home 2 and a half hours away to be there with his Mother. Noela confessed that she almost did not make the trip to visit her Mother-In-Law. She explained that she had been fighting cancer and that she was feeling discouraged.

A lovely lady with a beautiful smile, Noela spoke with a radiant faith as she said, “I believe that I am here today by Divine appointment.”

However, she did feel an urging from the Spirit of God to come to Brisbane; and, with her husband’s encouragement, she made the trip. She told me that she now felt it was a divine appointment for her to be there. Noela said that the message of God’s faithfulness had come across to her so clearly as she listened to “God is Faithful” that she knew why we were there on that day and why God had prompted her to come. Several of us talked with Noela as long as we could, and it was an amazing conversation. God had so touched her and encouraged her heart through the message of His faithfulness that she seemed radiant with faith in His goodness and faithfulness to her, and Noela in turn became an encouragement to all of us. It was a very brief encounter, but I will never forget it.

I can think of many times when God has also touched my heart with His love and encouragement, just as he touched Noela’s heart. Comfort or encouragement can come through a kind word, a prayer, a song, a note, a sermon, a scripture passage or verse, and certainly through God’s presence within us and as revealed to us through the kindness and compassion of others. God is faithful to Noela, He is faithful to me, and He is faithful to you! Be encouraged today as you thank Him for His faithfulness! Encourage others as well. Never forget that God is faithful!

– C. Boyd

Note: For more information on this story, check these links:
Annerley Baptist Church website: http://www.annerleybaptist.org.au/
Annerley Baptist Church facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Annerley-Baptist-Church/189082151110455#!/pages/Annerley-Baptist-Church/189082151110455
Information about the city of Annerley (near Brisbane, Australia: http://queenslandplaces.com.au/annerley

Pray for the people of Australia and of Annerley Baptist Church. Their Pastor, Brother Jim Johnston, retired at the end of 2012 after 16 and a half years of service there. The people there were so kind, providing corsages for each of the women in our choir, plus a single red rose (mindful of the fact that mothers were being honored and that we had left our families to come). They had prepared a meal for us and were so friendly as we shared time together that day. What a blessing it was to be in the midst of Christian brothers and sisters who live on the other side of the world and to feel so welcome and at home. 🙂

Annerley Baptist Church Pastor, Brother Jim Johnston, and our womens’ choir Director, Tyrone Smith

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Do you know someone who is looking for answers?

Please feel free to share this URL with anyone who is looking for answers about life and eternity.

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Here is a Youtube video of singer Debra Eden’s solo version of “God is Faithful,” recorded on Debra’s CD entitled, “It Was Love.” The video was put together with the recording by Debra’s sister. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIdfLJOo3q8

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WOULD YOU LIKE TO READ MORE POSTS LIKE THIS ONE?

Link to our “Song Stories” category to see all of the song story posts: https://worshipsounds.wordpress.com/category/song-stories/

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Category:

* CHORAL MUSIC & PRAISE, * SONG STORIES

Tagged with:

Song Story: “Amazing Grace! Eternal Life!”

“Amazing Grace! Eternal Life!” Music and lyrics by Travis L. Boyd

“Amazing Grace! Eternal Life!” is a choral anthem and modern hymn, published by the Lorenz Corporation, that shares the full message of the gospel. The publishers’ description of the anthem states, “This memorable theme steadily builds throughout, forming a powerful statement of praise.”

(NOTE: Scroll down just below the John 3:16 needlework picture to the “Publisher’s Information Page” heading for a link to the anthem, orchestration, & accomp. trax on the Lorenz website.)

The anthem was inspired by the most beloved scripture verse and the favorite hymn for so many Christians. Travis wrote this song using as his inspiration John 3:16 and the message of the hymn, “Amazing Grace.” This is the story of how “Amazing Grace! Eternal Life!” came to be written.

In 2002, Travis stated that he wanted to write an anthem in honor of and dedicated to my Dad, who was valiantly fighting cancer (first diagnosed in December of 1999). Travis asked my Mom to find out what Dad’s favorite scripture verse and favorite hymn were, and to try to do so without arousing any suspicion. When Mom asked at first, Dad wanted to claim the entire book of John as his favorite scripture passage; but Mom was able to get him to name his favorite verse from the book, John 3:16. Mom called back to let us know his favorite scripture and also that his favorite hymn was “Amazing Grace.” Travis began the writing process, and he was blessed with a beautiful melody and a text that powerfully proclaimed the gospel of Christ. As soon as the song was complete, Travis immediately began arranging the song for SATB Choir.

When “Amazing Grace! Eternal Life!” was finished, my family began making plans to surprise Dad with the song. The son of some long time family friends was being married in Tulsa in early 2003. Since that was near our home, Travis and I invited everyone in our family who could come for the wedding to stay with us while in the area. While all were at our house, we would make the surprise happen. My sister, Linda, and brother, Rich, were both able to come, flying in from Washington State. Though Dad had endured two cancer-related surgeries by this point in his treatment and was still dealing with ongoing chemo and radiation, he was able to do some light travel. He and Mom drove the 3 and a half hours to our home. While we were together, we celebrated Dad’s birthday, which was very close to the date of the wedding. After the festivities, we surprised Dad with “Amazing Grace! Eternal Life!” Travis and Mom shared the story of the way they’d been able to learn Dad’s favorites and use them as inspiration. Then, all of us who were there helped to share the song with Dad for the first time. Our daughter, Meredith, sang Soprano with me. Mom and Linda sang alto. Rich and Travis handled the men’s parts while Travis accompanied on piano. It was an all-family production, and Dad seemed to be blown away. Travis told him that he would contact the Choir Director at Mom and Dad’s church to see if the premiere of the anthem could take place at their home church with their own church choir.

The date of the anthem premiere at Mom and Dad’s church (pictured here) was in November of 2003. Dad had a few months of feeling really good over the Spring and Summer of 2003, and on into the early Fall. He even felt well enough to drive all the way to South Carolina to visit relatives for almost a month, play a lot of golf, and drive back to Oklahoma. However, by October, the chemo that had been well tolerated had stopped working. The next regimen he was placed on seemed to immediately sap his strength, and it later became apparent that his heart had been damaged. By the time Travis and I and our two boys drove down for the premiere week-end, Dad had already lost both his hair (which had grown back w/ the former chemo med) and his strength. He was pale and not feeling very well, but he did make it to church that Sunday morning. The church had chosen to use the occasion of the anthem premiere to say ‘thank you’ to my Dad for his years of faithful service as a Sunday School teacher and in many other capacities. Dad was rather embarrassed about this. He felt that there were many others in the church who had served just as faithfully. My Mom and Travis and I sang in the choir. My sister, Linda, was able to come, and she sat with Dad, as did our son, Jared, age 10, who had just lost his other Grandpa in May of that same year. Dozens of Dad’s friends and colleagues were there, as well as his church family. Everyone present that morning heard the gospel message clearly presented as “Amazing Grace! Eternal Life!” was sung by a choir for the first time. The song is much more than a tribute to one man. It is a testimony of God’s saving grace demonstrated in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Travis had submitted “Amazing Grace! Eternal Life!” to one of his publishers, and he got word that it had been accepted for publication by the Lorenz Corporation in the Spring of 2004. My dad was very pleased to know that. The anthem went to press bearing a first page inscription in honor of my Dad. Travis had also been asked by Lorenz to write a full orchestration for the anthem, as he had done for “God is Faithful” previously. So, when “Amazing Grace! Eternal Life” was published as an SATB anthem, Travis’ full orchestration for it was published as well. Both are still available from Lorenz Music. (See info below)

Dad passed away in the Fall of 2004, less than a year after the anthem premiere at his church. The lyrics to “Amazing Grace! Eternal Life!” were read by Dad and Mom’s Pastor at his memorial service. Singing was never Dad’s thing (though he could whistle beautifully). He left the singing to other members of the family, though he did his best in the congregation at his church. He always had an appreciation for music and for the power of words. We hope that his heart was touched by this gift of his favorite expressions of spiritual truth, combined with new words and music. Our hearts were touched and challenged by his life and by his brave battle with cancer. And, far beyond anything that we could ask or think, we pray that the message of “Amazing Grace! Eternal Life!” will continue to touch the hearts of people around the world.

NOTE: “Amazing Grace! Eternal Life” was on the Lorenz best-sellers list after it was released, and it continues to be a well-loved anthem for choirs all over the world (translated into 3 languages that we know of). There are Youtube and Vimeo videos that we have discovered of choirs singing the anthem in English, Mandarin, Korean, and Italian. See additional information below.

Here is the audio from my Sound Cloud set of Pulisher’s Demo Recordings of the Lorenz Studio Demo of “Amazing Grace! Eternal Life!” See the publisher’s info page link below for ordereing the music.

LYRICS FOR “Amazing Grace! Eternal Life!”

There is a love sent down to man,
A rugged cross, a spotless lamb,
A life laid down, a sacrifice.
Amazing Grace! Eternal Life!

Here's the first page of "Amazing Grace! Eternal Life!", published by the Monarch division of the Lorenz Corporation.

Here’s the first page of “Amazing Grace! Eternal Life!”, published by the Lorenz Corporation (Monarch Division). The inscription at the top reads, “Dedicated to Dr. Harold McCoy White, in celebration of 38 years of faithful service as a layman of The First United Methodist Church, Weatherford, Oklahoma.

There is a hope beyond the grave,
With love so deep and pow’r to save.
Rising above all earthly strife,
Amazing Grace! Eternal Life!

There is a peace that all can know.
It calms the heart and heals the soul.
“Come unto Me!,” the Savior cries!
Amazing Grace! Eternal Life!

(bridge – a paraphrase of John 3:16 – 17)
God so loved the world that He gave His Son,
For us to believe in Him.
For the Son was not sent to condemn the world,
But to save us from our sin.

There is a home prepared for all
Who on the name of Jesus call.
A place of rest, a throne on high!
Amazing grace! Eternal life!

(repeat last 2 phrases)
Amazing Grace!

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PUBLISHER’S INFORMATION PAGE: Here is a link to the Lorenz Music product page for “Amazing Grace! Eternal Life!”, where you can hear the entire studio demonstration recording of the anthem with the complete orchestration. Click on the music note icon to hear the recording or on the Adobe icon to view sample pages.
Information is also provided about the related products available for the anthem, including the orchestration and an accompaniment/performance CD. http://www.lorenz.com/product.aspxid=10_3228M

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TRANSLATED INTO MANDARIN LANGUAGE:
“Amazing Grace! Eternal Life!” has been translated into Mandarin Chinese and included in a book for Chinese choirs. It has been posted on Youtube by choirs from several churches singing in Mandarin.
The youtube videos are a little hard to find because as soon as you type in “Amazing Grace,” hundreds of versions of that song come up first, but here’s one of our favorite videos of the anthem in the Chinese language, sung by the choir at the Mandarin Baptist Church of Los Angeles, California: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYnchYmXVoI)

Here are the lyrics to “Amazing Grace! Eternal Life!” in Chinese characters:

奇異恩典！永恆生命！Amazing Grace! Eternal Life!

有一大愛降臨世上，古舊十架，純潔羔羊。為人捨命犧牲奉獻，奇異恩典！永恆生命！有一盼望超越墳墓，深厚至愛全能救主，勝過一切塵世爭競。奇異恩典！永恆生命！有一平安人皆可知，靜人心神，治人靈魂。「來就近我」救主邀請。奇異恩典！永恆生命！上帝愛世人，賜下祂愛子，好讓我們信靠祂，神差愛子降世不是要定人罪，是為救我離罪愆。有一天家為眾而備，靠主聖名天家可歸，安歇美地，寶座天庭。奇異恩典！永恆生命！安歇美地，寶座天庭，寶座天庭。奇異恩典！永恆生命！奇異恩典！

Here’s a link to our playlist of 9 videos of Choirs singing “Amazing Grace! Eternal Life!” in Chinese: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMJind8w21aQfYQbS6eVWPVXgyZGBuNqV

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TRANSLATED INTO KOREAN:
“Amazing Grace! Eternal Life!’ has also been translated into Korean. Numerous Korean churches have posted videos of their choirs singing this anthem on YouTube. The video below is of the Choir and Orchestra from New York Presbyterian Church.

See our playlist of over 20 choirs around the world, singing “Amazing Grace! Eternal Life!’ in Korean (church locations include South Korea, the United States, and New Zealand) at this link: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMJind8w21aQ2kRrM5f9bcc80ZUpOAvlc

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TRANSLATED INTO ITALIAN:
In the video below, the Coro Tre Ponti (Three Bridges Choir), directed by Rino Adam, is singing “Amazing Grace! Eternal Life!” in Italian at the Festa di San Giorgio (@ Terdobbate, Italy, April 21st, 2013). This is the only video we’ve found of “Amazing Grace! Eternal Life!” in Italian. We are not sure whether other choirs have access to this translation, “Sorprendente Grazia! Eterno Vita!”

The Coro Tre Ponti is based in Arona, Italy. Their facebook page can be found at: https://www.facebook.com/#!/CoroTrePonti?fref=ts

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The Singing Churchmen of Oklahoma, Singing Churchwomen of Oklahoma, and Oklahoma Baptist Symphony share worship anthems, including "Amazing Grace! Eternal Life") at the "Foundations" worship concert, directed by Dr. Bill Green.

The Singing Churchmen of Oklahoma, The Singing Churchwomen of Oklahoma, and Oklahoma Baptist Symphony share worship anthems, including “Amazing Grace! Eternal Life”) at the “Foundations” worship concert, directed by Dr. Bill Green. Over 700 musicians filled the platform, the staircases leading to the balcony on both sides of the platform, and the first section of pews on both sides of the platform. What a glorious night of praise!

“FOUNDATIONS” CD and DVD RECORDINGS: “Amazing Grace! Eternal Life!” was chosen as part of the concert repertoire for the ‘Foundations’ concert presented by The Singing Churchmen of Oklahoma, The Singing Churchwomen of Oklahoma, and the Oklahoma Baptist Symphony, directed by Dr. Bill Green, in May, 2005. The entire concert was recorded on both a CD and a DVD called “Foundations.” Our post about the blessings of worshipping together all through the day of rehearsals and the evening’s concert at this event is called, “The Blessings of Worshipping Together.” There is a photo of the event included in the post as well. Here is the link to that post:
https://worshipsounds.wordpress.com/2011/11/04/blessings-through-worshipping-together/

Here is a link to the audio recording of the previously mentioned BGCO groups singing, “Amazing Grace! Eternal Life!” during the “Foundations” worship concert.
https://soundcloud.com/#travis-l-boyd/amazing-grace-eternal-life-bgco?in=travis-l-boyd/sets/recordings-of-my-anthems-by

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TITLE SONG ON RECORDING BY TOURING GROUP: “Amazing Grace! Eternal Life!” has also been recorded by The Farrells, a ministry of the Tom Farrell Evangelistic Foundation, as the title song on one of their CDs.
One website that offers this CD can be found at http://www.mbbcbookstore.com/SPD/amazing-grace–eternal-life—9015751555667820287.jsp

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“Amazing Grace! Eternal Life!” was included in the repertoire for the Atlanta Choral Guild’s May, 2012, concert. The program was titled “Georgia: The Past Meets the Present.” There is a blog post about this event @ https://worshipsounds.wordpress.com/2012/05/10/blessings-through-community/

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EPILOGUE

My mother and several of her friends were able to attend the “Foundations” concert and hear the song that was first inspired by my Dad’s favorites as it was being sung and played by over 700 musicians. The ladies loved the entire worship concert, and especially “Amazing Grace! Eternal Life!” My Dad would have enjoyed that evening as well, but he probably would still have cherished the initial family performance of the anthem and the premiere at the church where he and Mom had attended and served for decades even more.

Happy 80th Birthday, Dad!

I wrote this to honor the Lord and in your memory.

Love, Cindy

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Post written by Cynthia A. Boyd, February 1st, 2012

In honor and in memory of Dr. H. M. White, longtime professor of Organic Chemistry at Southwestern Oklahoma State University, founder of the SWOSU Summer Science Academy, graduate of Clemson University (Bachelors, Masters, and PhD), Army veteran and Reservist (served in the United States and in Germany), crossword puzzle pro, community volunteer, golfer, Sunday School teacher, active layman, Founding Board Member of Weatherford YMCA, Rotarian, Paul Harris Fellow, Weatherford Golf Course Board member, a faithful son and husband, father, brother, uncle, great uncle, cousin, nephew, Grandaddy, and friend.

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Do you know Jesus?

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WOULD YOU LIKE TO READ MORE POSTS LIKE THIS ONE?

Link to our “Song Stories” category to see all of the song story posts: https://worshipsounds.wordpress.com/category/song-stories/

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Category:

* CHORAL MUSIC & PRAISE, * SONG STORIES

Tagged with:

Song Story for: “I Am Here”

This is what the Regency Park Baptist Church worship center looked like before the tornado.

On May 3, 1999, an F5 tornado roared through Central Oklahoma, devastating parts of the communites of Moore, Del City, Midwest City, and SW Oklahoma City. In the path of this tornado was a church that is close to our hearts, Regency Park Baptist Church in Moore, where Travis served from 1989 until 1993. The tornado destroyed 5 of the 6 buildings of Regency Park, as well as schools, homes, apartment buildings, and other structures. Over 40 people were killed on that day as a tornado outbreak swept across parts of the state. More than 3 dozen of Regency Park’s families lost their homes. Our hearts were hurting along with our friends and brothers and sisters in Christ, though we no longer lived in Moore. We kept in touch with the prayer needs of the people, and Travis was inspired to write a song of comfort and encouragement. That song was, “I Am Here.” It’s a message about the nearness of God’s presence even in times of uncertainty and calamity. “I Am Here” is still a special song to the people of Regency Park. Travis was asked to direct the Reunion Choir in singing it at the 50th Anniversary Celebration Worship service in July of 2011.

Many other churches and individuals have also been touched by this message of God’s abiding presence. The Singing Churchwomen of Oklahoma sang “I Am Here” as part of their repertoire in several concerts during the months of recovery efforts for the people whose lives had been torn asunder. Regency Park was able to meet offsite temporarily as they renovated and restored their one remaining building, which had been heavily damaged by the tornado. Eventually, they were able to purchase adjoining land and build a new Worship center, fellowship space, offices, and additional classroom space. The photograph of the remains of Regency Park’s former worship center was taken not long after the tornado, before the building had to be razed. This church continues to serve their community and be a light for Christ in this world, in spite of all of the challenges they have overcome. God was with them through it all, and his message to the people of Regency Park through their darkest hour still resonates for all who know the Lord: “Be encouraged! I Am here!”

In this aerial view of some of the devastation in the community of Moore, the buildings of Regency Park Baptist Church are the red brick buildings on the far left, shown under the white water tower. 5 of the 6 buildings were no longer structurally sound and were razed. The two story educational building at the farthest left side of the photo is the only remaining building still standing today. The other red brick church building shown near the taller water tower is the First Baptist Church of Moore, which also sustained damage. Since their damage was not as severe, this church was able to salvage all of their buildings and was able to shelter the homeless and care for tornado victims in other ways, with help from volunteers from churches all over the Oklahoma City metro area.

NOTE: There were schools that were destroyed in the 1999 tornado, just as there have been in the 2013 storm. In 1999, it was later in the day when the tornado hit; so school children were no longer in those buildings. In fact, in the above photo, you should have been able to see a school that was across the street from Regency Park. (Regency is on the west side of Janeway Avenue, and the school was on the east side.) However, that school was blown away. In addition, there was a Moore Public Schools resource center right next to Regency Park, on the same side of Janeway. That building was also blown away and was not re-built. Regency Park Baptist purchased the adjacent land where the resource building had been from the school district, and their new buildings are on the purchased lot (a large parcel of city block size).

2013 UPDATE: Regency Park Baptist Church did not lose any of its buildings in the May, 2013, tornado. So far, from their church facebook page, they are reporting that 3 member families lost their homes in the 2013 storm, and 5 had major damage. I’m sure that there is some minor damage such as lost shingles or broken windows in many more homes, and they are all coping with having no water or electricity as well as debris everywhere (in the immediate aftermath). One family also lost family members. Their graand-daughter and young great grandson were among the lives lost. Regency Park members are already involved in helping and are looking for additional ways to help as neighborhoods are opened up for clean-up. Local and state churches and agencies are hard at work, and help is coming in from everywhere. Please continue to pray for the people in this devastated area and for all of those who are helping them to recover.

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Song story by Cynthia Boyd
WorshipSounds Music

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Travis directs the reunion choir (at the Regency Park Baptist
Church 50th Anniversary service) in singing “I Am Here”. The service took place in the new Worship Center, which was built to replace the one destroyed by the tornado in 1999.

Click this image to go to our WorshipSounds website.

* “I Am Here”, written by Travis L. Boyd, is still available as a Choral Anthem for SATB Choir on our website, with a Full Orchestration available as well.
* “I Am Here” is also available in a solo version in multiple keys for vocalists.

Both the choral and solo versions can be found on our Worship Sounds Music website.

@ http://www.worshipsounds.com
(See the Adult Choir music page for the choral version and the Home Page for the solo versions.)

The Medium Voice Solo version demo above features the accompaniment track, which is the same arrangement as the Full Orchestration that is available.

PLEASE VIEW THIS CHORAL VIDEO DEMO IN FULLSCREEN MODE TO SEE LYRICS BEST.
The SATB Choral Video demo features a computer playback of the piano part and vocals, with the music scrolling as you listen.
There is a Full Orchestration available for “I Am Here”.

Our post entitled “Blessings Through God’s Presence” also references “I Am Here” and the ministry of The Singing Churchwomen of Oklahoma.
http://www.worshipsounds.wordpress.com/2011/11/08/blessings-through-gods-presence/

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The new Worship Center of Regency Park Baptist Church, built for the glory of God.

To view a photo album from Regency Park’s facebook page, which has photos of the tornado damage in 1999 as well as photos of the one remaining building (the 2-story Education Building), which did not have to be razed. There are some photos in this album of the worship space that was created on the main floor of the education building when the damaged building was repaired as well as a few photos of the beginning of work on the newly purchased land where new buildings were eventually located.
https://www.facebook.com/#!/media/set/?set=a.126506717416263.21312.126214997445435&type=3

To view a photo album of the construction process on the new buildings, go to this link:
https://www.facebook.com/#!/media/set/?set=a.140818025985132.27951.126214997445435&type=3

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Do you know someone who is looking for answers?

Please feel free to share this URL with anyone who is looking for answers about life, eternity, and peace with God.

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WOULD YOU LIKE TO READ MORE POSTS LIKE THIS ONE?

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Category:

* CHORAL MUSIC & PRAISE, * SONG STORIES

Tagged with:

Song Story: “The Magic of Jesus”

Velma Baptist Church, where Travis and Cindy were saved in 1978 and first became involved in worship ministry. Velma Baptist was our home church during the time that this song story took place.

The stories of our songs are really stories of our faith journey. At the time that these events took place, Travis and I were both teaching public school music. Travis was a Band Director for grades 5 – 12, and I taught Elementary Music, K – 5. When Travis and I were both saved at Velma, Oklahoma, on September 3rd, 1978, we came out of the choir loft to respond to the invitation to know Christ as our Lord and Savior. Having been invited to the church by one of Travis’ band students, we had first attended on Father’s Day. We’d been attending all summer at the time of our salvation, and we had already begun serving in the music ministry of the church. God’s Holy Spirit had been at work in our hearts, drawing us to the Lord. After we were both saved and then baptised a week later, we rapidly became more active in the life of our church, looking for new ways to serve. Both of us helped with youth, entertained at youth functions (in a band with our Pastor on drums, our part-time Music Minister and teaching colleague on piano, and Travis on bass guitar), worked in Vacation Bible School, went as sponsor on youth trips and to youth camp at Falls Creek, sang solos when asked, and did all we could to learn and grow as Christians in the first year of our faith walk. During that year, Travis also began going to a class our Pastor had begun for young men who were called to ministry. Though he hadn’t yet made public his acceptance of God’s call on his life to vocational ministry, Travis demonstrated his willingness to serve through his desire to attend this special class. In the midst of all of these rapid changes in our hearts and lives, another change took place. Travis began to write songs about his faith walk and to sing them when given the opportunity. The first song that he was inspired to write was “The Magic of Jesus.”

In February of 1979, we attended our churchwide Valentine Banquet. The entertainer for the event was a Christian magician. He did a great job with the tricks he performed and then spoke about real magic. Stating that all of the tricks were just illusions, he explained that the only real magic was the magic of Jesus. He talked about how magic that is real is truly supernatural, going beyond what we call the laws of nature in a way that defies any ‘natural’ explanation. Whether walking on water, healing people, or changing a life from the inside out, the real magic of Jesus demonstrates that He is Lord over all of Creation. This message and the truth that it conveyed inspired Travis to write “The Magic of Jesus.” Until this point, I know of only 2 songs that Travis had written with lyrics. He wrote a song called “Money” (while in High School) about how people place too much importance on material things that don’t bring happiness. Then, when we were dating, he wrote a song for me. He did write other music, but it was all instrumental. He wrote original pieces for his bands to play in concert when he was a Band Director, and he did arrangements of well-known songs for his marching bands. “The Magic of Jesus” was the beginning point of the faith songs that Travis would write for decades to come. The next time that Travis was scheduled to sing a solo at church, he sang “The Magic of Jesus,” accompanying himself on piano. When I heard him play and sing this song, I knew that something was happening. It was my first realization that the Lord was going to use Travis in some way for His Kingdom, even beyond our local church music ministry. This event took place only a few months before Travis again responded to the invitation in May of 1979. This time, he was sharing with his church family the fact that he felt the Lord was calling him into some kind of vocational ministry. Since that time, I’ve been an eyewitness to the work of God through Travis’ life and music. It really has been magical…in the truest sense of the word. What God has done through Travis with these messages of faith has been far beyond what Travis could have or would have done on his own. The ministry of and through music that God has allowed Travis to share flows from the supernatural power of Christ in him….the ONLY kind of magic that is real and eternal.

“Water turned into wine, and He fed the multitude.

Come and see what the magic of Jesus can do for you.

Healing the leper, and causing the blind to see,

The magic of Jesus is here today for you and me.

CHORUS:
If you’ll open your heart, and let the Son of God come in and cleanse your soul,

He’ll mend your sin-torn life, if you let Him take control.

Eternity is just a prayer away…a sinner’s pleading call.

Because the magic of Jesus is the greatest magic of all.”

(lyrics from “The Magic of Jesus” c. 1979 by Travis L. Boyd)
Song story by Cynthia Boyd

You’ll find many Choral Anthems, Vocal Solos, Orchestrations, Accompaniment Tracks, and Congreational Worship Songs by Travis L. Boyd on our WorshipSounds Music website @ http://www.worshipsounds.com