He Touched Me -- William J. Gaither

 

It was actually someone else’s idea, but Bill Gaither found that he agreed so much with the suggestion, that he consummated the idea the next day. It was a spark from a special gathering, somewhere not too far from Bill’s home in Alexandria, Indiana, that compelled Bill to say “He Touched Me” in 1963 or 1964. Was it also the foresight that a certain preacher possessed that played a part in coaxing the music and words to emerge from Bill’s insides that day? Maybe it was in fact the synergy of three people -- Bill and two others at the gathering -- which gave Bill the inspiration that directed his mind and his hands to create something that would change his life. His life had already been changed, really.

 

Bill Gaither must have suspected that music and his faith would play a key part in his life one day, even years before that became reality. He certainly must have loved making music from an early age, a disposition that eventually began to take more concrete and meaningful shape when he was in college in the mid-1950s, when his brother, sister, and he formed a singing group. Bill’s education at Anderson College also included some formal music study, along with the degree in English that he acquired. That blend in his life continued for several years, as he taught school while also taking time out to exercise the spiritual music muscle inside himself. This included an invitation he accepted to play piano on an evangelism crusade with Dan (the evangelist) and Doug Oldham (singer, and son of Dan), not far from his central Indiana home when Bill was 27 years old. It was a moving experience one night upon which the three men reflected that was the catalyst for ‘He Touched Me’. With Dan’s prompting, Bill crafted the words and music within 24 hours, which were being sung by Doug soon thereafter. It was Bill’s stepping stone into a music career, something he was doing full-time just a few years later. That must have been some event! Perhaps it was not unlike other crusades, when the message, music, and crowd response fuses into something quite special. The three men agreed that the ‘touch’ of God was a reality in the lives of people in the bible; that night when the three men experienced His ‘touch’ with hundreds of others, perhaps the sensation was so real, that Bill just could not ignore it. Its transformative power takes one onto another plane, Bill said. ‘Something happen(s)…’, and you just have to let others know about this personal revolution.

 

Read some about what others did when Jesus touched them. That was what Dan Oldham was urging Bill Gaither to do as they excitedly discussed how He’d been present among them one night. There’s too many to mention in this short space, but without fail, those people who encountered Jesus became bold. They would not be silent. Even in the face of threats from powerful people, they were undeterred. Apathy became foreign to their consciences. He brings change. He brings release from burdens. He can lift one into a completeness, unlike anything you’ve ever experienced or imagined. He’s God. That’s how He does it. That’s what Bill is telling us…just get in touch with this God, and see what happens.

   

See more information on the song story in this source: The Complete Book of Hymns – Inspiring Stories About 600 Hymns and Praise Songs by William J. Petersen and Ardythe Petersen, Tyndale House Publishers, 2006.   

See song information here also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/He_Touched_Me_(song)

Also see this link for author’s biography: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Gaither_%28gospel_singer%29