It must have been one of the first songs that he wrote, and maybe he would say its words summarized in a pretty broad way the approach he would use for his life’s work over the next three-plus decades. John Chisum asked in a very personal way for a blessing from God when he said “Let Your Spirit Come” in 1989, but since he chose to record his prayer, he obviously wasn’t planning to keep this private. No indeed, because given what John has done in the last eight years (since 2015) to feed the Christian songwriting industry in Nashville, one might suggest that he has been enlarging his nearly 35-year-old prayer to draw others into that same petition he first made. ‘Share what the Spirit has taught you’, is one way to describe how this organization (Nashville Christian Songwriters [NCS]), which John leads, is promoting a worldwide effort to galvanize input and train thousands of like-minded music professionals. Pretty ambitious, right? But should we really think otherwise, that the Spirit should be limited in any way? He’s really after the whole earth, isn’t He, and so why shouldn’t a guy like John Chisum strive for the same objective?
John Chisum was just at the start in 1989, so it’s probably fair to say the he hadn’t yet seen how calling on the Spirit for personal cleansing might eventually mushroom into something much bigger. John’s call to God in 1989 was simple, with words about the Spirit coming like a nourishing rain. Were these John’s own thoughts, or instead from one or more biblical episodes that he could have read? Could it have come from the prophet Isaiah, who told of God’s own plan to send righteousness like rain (Isaiah 45:8)? Or, perhaps John’s poetry was inspired by some of the last words of King David, as he described his long relationship with God, and how His Spirit had enabled him to rule the people like a blessing of rain that causes the grass to grow in morning sunshine (2 Samuel 23:4). John’s own final few poetic words suggest he felt something was amiss, that he needed ‘wash(ing)’, to be made ‘whole’ by the Spirit. This difficult circumstance of John’s remains untold; could it also have been, that he faintly imagined his own future and was asking for the Lord’s intervention to make that a reality? Many young bucks – including this blogger! – have sought the Lord’s favor when stepping into the wider world upon leaving the safety net of mom and dad. ‘How do I make my way, and which direction do I take’? Read John’s biography of his time in the early 1980s, when his start in worship ministry in Nashville fell upon hard times, even leading to homelessness for his family for a brief period, and you might wonder if ‘Let Your Spirit Come’ was his cry from that pit, one that that he could not forget and eventually had published a few years later.
How many inventors’ success stories began with flops, not unlike Thomas Edison, who reportedly had scores of failures before he successfully offered the world his version of the light bulb? John Chisum could probably well remember that his initial failure came just a few months before his introduction to mentors who were crucial to his later success. These two fellows, Gary McSpadden and Bill Gaither, were just what John needed in the 1980s – perhaps the Spirit’s way of answering his plea for help? John Chisum’s early troubles as a worship music professional might speak volumes to others, and perhaps that has been part of what motivated him to launch and grow the NCS. The Spirit can work through one fellow, or maybe we’ve too often missed that He can work through organizations, too, arousing large groups with a synergy that carries with it an unstoppable momentum. Just imagine hundreds, and even thousands of people, trading ideas and experiences with each other – that’s the NCS vision. John’s hope is to train 1,000 new songwriters by the end of 2025. What can the Spirit do? John’s already gotten his answer once in his life…stay tuned to the same channel, and see what he says in the next few years.
A site that shows some of the activities of the songwriter: https://www.nashvillechristiansongwriters.com/john-chisum-releases-new-worship-single-with-ncs-songwriter-tamera-perry/
And, here also, including a brief note about the author that mentions over 400 songs that he’s written: https://www.nashvillechristiansongwriters.com/
A site that tells a little about the songwriter: https://www.youtube.com/@JohnChisumOfficial/about
This site shows the many songs (over 200) that the author has written or co-written: https://songselect.ccli.com/search/results?List=contributor_P401541_John%20Chisum&CurrentPage=1&PageSize=100
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