The Gospel Song -- Drew Jones and Bob Kauflin

 

It was two guys with a desire to sing something truly foundational, as part of a celebration. What Bob Kauflin and Drew Jones produced in 2002 did not really begin with them, since “The Gospel Song” really had a much earlier origin…where? By whom? The first two words of their four-line poem tell who the true author and creator is, someone who had a vision and a plan that looked forward through all of history. What Bob and Drew meant to do, and what they accomplished on a significant occasion for their church (in Gaithersburg, Maryland – a DC suburb – see map-graphic), was to merely refocus those people on what really matters above all else. All those other things became secondary, even if they were facilitating the main thing. Just imagine what would be worthy of celebration, as a body of believers, if the foundation hadn’t first been built?

 

Holy God. Love. Blame. Cross. Sin. Death. Live. Those are the key words that Bob Kauflin and Drew Jones thought about most intently, with the first two – our Creator’s name, Holy God – being the cornerstone of everything else, as someone else has said (Psalm 118:22). Nothing else proceeds without this Holy God taking the initiative. And, it was one thing after another that He instigated: He came as a human being. He went to a cross on His own volition. He took my sin, when He died. He arose to life without anyone’s aid, and will convey that risen life to me. These God-centered events coalesced in the minds of Bob and Drew as the 25-year anniversary of the church in Gaithersburg approached, evidently prompting them to think most fundamentally about what their shared faith meant. It was an occasion that was reason for celebration, and so they thought of producing a musical to put a stamp on that time. Bob indicates he wrote music for multiple sets of lyrics in the musical, but ‘The Gospel Song’, many years later, was the only one of those songs that was still sung by the church during Sunday morning worship times. You think Bob and Drew hit the nail on the head with their musical rendition of the gospel? Bob mentioned, eight years after the musical’s production, that there were, and are, many ancillary matters that help facilitate the gospel that could potentially overshadow it, if we are not vigilant. Jesus – His life, death, and resurrection -- is the hub of everything. Perhaps those few facts were why ‘The Gospel Song’ needed no more than four lines comprising one verse. We just need to keep repeating this brief, powerful message, the implicit point contained in an animated video presentation of the song (see its link below).

 

Gospel – good news! Just good news? Could it be that too many superlatives have populated our languages since the arrival of Christ, so that good is no longer good enough? The phrase appears 44 times in the bible (New International Version), most of which refer to Jesus and what He brought to the theological picture. So, that word gospel – the good news – is worth having on your lips constantly, even in other languages. It means being able to overcome barriers in a foreign tongue with that word, and a few others, that can mean everything to any culture. For example, Kenyans receive the gospel (in Swahili) as injili, redemption as ukombozi, and resurrection as ufufuo. And, Jesus is Yesu, while God is Mungu. So, now you too have five good words to tell the next Kenyan you meet. The gospel message reverberates in any language!

 

See here for story of song’s development: https://worshipmatters.com/2010/08/24/the-gospel-song-an-animation/

 

See here for song’s words, replay of song, and album on which it appears: https://sovereigngracemusic.org/music/songs/the-gospel-song/

 

See here a moving animation of the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoxWSk9fLMU

 

See one author-composer bio here: https://sovereigngracemusic.org/about/bob-kauflin/

 

This site shows four verses for the song: https://www.theanchor.org/page/song-The-Gospel-Song#!

 

Use the link here to translate words from one language to another: https://translate.google.com/?sl=auto&tl=sw&text=God&op=translate

 

The map-graphic of Maryland and Montgomery County is in the Public Domain, with no other tags associated with it necessary for its use.

We Shall See the King Someday -- Lewis E. Jones

 

He once described his own life as ‘uneventful’. Was that because Davenport, Iowa (far eastern Iowa, see map) was a dull place? This was where Lewis Edgar Jones had lived a large portion of his life, including in the early years of the 20^th Century, when he wrote “We Shall See the King Someday”. Surely, he could not have seen the YMCA (Young Men’s Christian Association), where he worked for 36 years to promote Christian values in everyday life, as boring or useless. Instead, could it be that he was imagining another place, another realm that was described during a message he heard, and that he was comparing his terrestrial life to what he could see off in the distance? Perhaps the words used by someone else were what he borrowed and penned as a paraphrase when he wrote ‘We Shall See…’. Lewis must have worked with a lot of young men who struggled to find earthly meaning and direction, so a message about eternal hope and unparalleled joy would have been stirring – even life-changing.

 

Lewis Jones would begin his life’s work in Iowa, soon after completing his schooling in Illinois, and then go to Texas and finally California; all along this path, he wrote the lyrics for nearly 200 hymns, including a vision he had of the day he would ‘…See the King…’, a sight he imagined when he was 41 years old. Was it a rough day in 1906 for himself or one or more of the young men he and the YMCA mentored, when his poem about seeing a new reality off in the distance emerged? Lewis says in some of his writing that many of his songs arose by way of sermons he heard, as he listened for encouragement and spiritual sustenance to carry on his work. Some of the lines in these sermons made their way into his poetry, so if Lewis were here to provide insight, perhaps he could tell us which preacher helped spark his creativity on this occasion. Could one of them have been Billy Sunday, with whom Lewis attended the Moody Bible Institute and who would become one of the most influential deliverers of the Christian message in this era? Phrases in the opening two verses of ‘We Shall See …’ suggest a promise of future hope resonated with Lewis, transporting him and others away from a ‘journey…often drear’ (v.1) and an existence filled with ‘pain and anguish…toil and care’ (v.2). What awaited in the king’s home would be…what? Interestingly, Lewis does not steer worshippers to the home itself, but rather to Him who will welcome us there. Seeing Him is the reward. Part of the earthly struggle was seen as filled with ‘foes’ and ‘battles’ and ‘strife’ (v.3), so being able to finally see the King who brings peace is utter contentment. All of the ‘sorrow’ (v.4) is in the rearview mirror. Want a ‘blessed morning’ (v.1), ‘endless ages (filled with) joy and blessing’ (v.2), never-ending time spent with ‘loved ones…on a peaceful shore’ (v.4) in His presence? That was the mental imagery that captured Lewis, and that he thought would drive onward and upward those who sang his poem.

 

Lewis would go on to see the King some 30 years after composing this poem. What was it like for him to finally cross over and see for himself the being he’d only imagined decades earlier? On earth, many times repeated sightings of even beautiful things over the years can start to seem routine. I have only descriptions of God, however, not actual physical sightings. Even though Jesus came to earth, only people in those 33 years actually saw him face-to-face. I must trust that what they reported, and what has endured since then, is true. I’m told that is FAITH. Lewis understood this, evidently. What have you got that promises more? Count on seeing Him someday. You won’t regret it.

 

 

See here for author’s biography: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/j/o/n/e/s/l/jones_le.htm

 

See here for all the song’s verses: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/w/e/s/s/wesstksd.htm

 

See here for information about the organization in which the author labored professionally during his life: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YMCA

There Is Power In the Blood -- Lewis E. Jones

Lewis Edgar Jones heard something – a special phrase that caught his attention – in a western Maryland park (see the map here), probably during a ‘meetin’ sermon. Evidently, the preacher at that time in 1899 uttered the phrase “There Is Power In the Blood”, as he tried to prevail upon his hearers to respond to the message. You can hear the uncomplicated force of his talk and imagine the gestures of the speaker as he admonished the gathering to think, and then act. How many times had Lewis heard a similar address, perhaps even from a Bible school classmate, and come to expect its power to stir listeners? Was its effect especially notable at this Garrett County, Maryland park, leaving an imprint on Lewis and spurring his words?

By his own admission, Lewis Jones had a rather undistinguished life, or so he thought. He wrote a note to a friend some 33 years after he wrote his poem about powerful blood, giving a brief synopsis of his life up until that point, including the spot on the map where he composed the words in 1899. Mountain Lake Park in the far western edge of Maryland had just over 250 residents at the turn of the 20^th Century, but it must have felt like a significant site for Lewis when he attended a gathering for Christian worship there. He may have thought the diminutive town reflected his own insignificance, but Lewis nevertheless apprehended the preacher’s expression that lent him the words for his thoughts about divine blood’s potency. Humans are weak, exhibiting so much wrongdoing, weakness, pride, and ultimately guilt –traits that the speaker that day identified for the crowd. All these could be overcome by a sufferer’s admission that ‘there’s power in the blood’. Inserting ‘wonderful’ in the middle of that phrase at the end of each verse in the poem amplified how either the speaker or Lewis - -perhaps both – felt about the blood’s value to the desperate reprobate who might be listening. Lewis says his songwriting was the result of hearing many inspiring lessons from speakers, probably among them the evangelist Billy Sunday, who had been among his classmates at the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. Sunday’s notoriety and passion for spreading the Christian message no doubt spurred Jones, who eventually contributed over 180 hymns to his era. Both men would go on to notable careers in America’s Protestant Christendom, including service in the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA).    

The 34-year old Lewis Jones was still early in his Christian calling in 1899, but had begun a lifestyle that would endure most of four decades of his adult life. The YMCA work engaged Lewis for 36 years, spanning the latter years of the 1800s and into the late 1920s, so he must have known and mentored many young men across this period. No doubt, some of them probably were there at Mountain Lake Park to hear “There Is Power in the Blood”, first as a pulpit message and perhaps later as Jones’ hymn. The camp meetings were a common feature of the American cultural landscape, helped along with the abilities of people like Billy Sunday, J. Wilbur Chapman (Sunday’s mentor), and even Lewis Jones. It was called one of the multiple movements of Great Awakenings, with a central message around Jesus and His blood’s saving power. Some might say it was the ‘golden age’ of American Christianity. But, don’t think it’s all in the past. We all still need to hear what Lewis, and others like him, said and still say about blood’s power.

See more information on the song discussed above in Then Sings My Soul – 150 of the World’s Greatest Hymn Stories, Robert J. Morgan, Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2003.

To see all four of the original verses, see here: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/t/h/e/r/e/therepow.htm 

A brief biography of composer that includes his own very brief recollection of the song’s origin: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/j/o/n/jones_le.htm

See description of the site where the song was composed here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountain_Lake_Park,_Maryland

See site here for description of the composer’s evangelist classmate: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Sunday