Follow Me -- Ira F. Stanphill

The story wasn’t his own, but it moved him nevertheless. Ira Forest Stanphill sat spellbound by the missionary couple’s story, so drawn to what they’d experienced that he couldn’t forget it the next morning as he sat at a piano and poured his emotions into the song “Follow Me” one day in 1953. Now, the memory of that experience doesn’t have to remain distant. Like an aroma that stirs recollection of something with a unique taste, making the mouth water in anticipation, this song’s words probably reminded those two missionaries of their challenges and how they endured. Perhaps knowing the story’s background will resonate with others who’ve labored similarly (with a mental picture of a missionary, like that shown here), and wondered if it was worth the effort.

  

He was a 39-year old singing preacher, who’d been conducting his own ministry for many years when he heard a story by Charles Greenaway at a Texas conference in 1953.  The Greenaways (Charles and his wife Mary) had been young missionaries in Africa, and Ira Stanphill, as any minister committed to God’s work would do, probably expected to hear something interesting and informative from them as he attended the Grand Prairie conference one evening. Maybe he got more than he bargained for, because the story made its way onto a song sheet the next day, through his own tears. The Greenaways didn’t think Africa was for them at first, those many years earlier. Mary was sick, an irony that probably was not lost on her and Charles, who had gone to help people there through a medical missionary effort they were eager to use as a springboard to introduce God to the people. It seemed that the physical needs of the locals were so great, however, that no room was left for the deeper spiritual food they wanted to dispense too. And with Mary laid low, Charles’ spirit called out ‘Lord, send us somewhere else!’ He sensed God’s answer, a gentle but firm reminder that Jesus had likewise felt the sting of apathy and rejection. Do as He did, they sensed, and leave the rest to Him. That’s faith, putting it simply -- not seeing the logic or tangible effects of one’s efforts, but showing up anyway. Eventually, the Greenaways saw the spiritual fruit they longed to harvest. From one minister to another, Charles Greenaway’s story washed over Ira Stanphill. Were Ira Stanphill’s nerves tingling? Did he hear something that his own 17 years of ministry had imprinted on him – a commitment to patient endurance, being a tool for Him?    

Maybe Ira connected personally with something Charles said, or perhaps he just felt the impact of this couple’s zeal and their potent story. We can ask Ira later (since he died in 1993) what it was especially that made his tears flow the next morning as he thought about the Greenaways’ African experience. Stanphill certainly identified with messaging to other cultures, as he preached in 40 different countries outside of the U.S. before expiring at the age of 79. “Follow Me” took Stanphill lots of places that he probably wouldn’t have gone otherwise. The words he wrote – loneliness, sacrifice, burdens, and misplaced pride – suggest he needed an experience like the Greenaways bore to hone his ministerial aptitude, too. Hang tough, and know the intimate fellowship with Him that comes along the coarse, uneven path. A missionary might even travel a violent road. He didn’t promise it’d be easy. But, just imagine what a now-departed missionary is tasting right now. It’ll be worth it, won’t it?  

       

The primary source for the story on this song is the book Stories Behind Popular Songs and Hymns, by Lindsay Terry, Baker Book House, 1990. Also, see more information on the composer in Amazing Grace: 366 Inspiring Hymn Stories for Daily Devotions by Kenneth W. Osbeck, Kregel Publications, 1990, and 101 More Hymn Stories, by Kenneth W. Osbeck, Kregel Publications, 1985.