Lead Me to Some Soul Today -- Will Houghton

 

It was 1936, and he was president of Moody Bible Institute in Chicago (see a 21^st Century picture of it here). Will Houghton no doubt knew of his predecessor Dwight Moody’s character, and probably many of the things he had said, even if they were decades before he took over at the Institute and discovered more of the details of Moody’s life and penchant for reaching people with the Christ message. “Lead Me to Some Soul Today” may be a direct quote or paraphrase of something that Moody had said, and which was subsequently repeated to Will one day. Perhaps it was a plaque on the wall, even? If it held no other place, maybe that’s why Will Houghton decided it needed some place more permanent, like in a song verse. He didn’t want to clutter it up with more, so he kept it pretty brief.

 

Others may have added their own words to what Moody originally said, but Will Houghton took his forerunner’s idea and asked for a spirit of submission and consecration to accomplish what he could not do on his own. Will had already spent most of his life in ministry in several places, but evidently what he discovered in Chicago at the Moody Bible Institute sparked something anew. Houghton had been a committed believer and served in several places in Pennsylvania (Canton, New Bethlehem, and Norristown) in the 1915-1920 period; in Atlanta, Georgia from 1925-28; and in New York’s Manhattan borough from 1930-34, so for him to say some very basic things in his brief poem suggests the life and example of Moody had struck him in a fresh way. ‘Teach me…just what to say’, ‘melt my heart’, ‘fill my life’, were all personal prayers that Will uttered in 1936 as he considered how best to communicate Jesus Christ to people. In short, a large part of spreading the message began within himself. Having the sensitivity to see the desperate condition of people was a prerequisite, and accepting that these weren’t just strangers, but ‘friends of mine…lost in sin’. Evidently, Will thought he and other believers needed ‘..to care’ more. Maybe they all needed to ‘pray’ more, too. Dwight L. Moody had said many quotable things, but perhaps none was more central to his outlook than when he said “So, if we only lead one soul to Christ, we may set a stream in motion that will flow on when we are dead and gone …” (from The Overcoming Life). Could that help explain the extensive travels of Moody and others of his time, that they sought even one more person whose potential impact would be worth the effort, perhaps decades into the future?

 

Certainly, Moody preceded Houghton, by about two generations – Moody’s life: 1837-1899; Houghton’s life: 1887-1947 – so did that motivate Will Houghton? Can you and I be similarly stirred by someone we may have never even met? The answer is obvious – Yes! It happens all the time, and that’s why there are so many history-lovers, including myself. In fact, it’s hard to imagine any person who isn’t spurred on, in his or her imagination, by someone who has gone on before us. It might be a blood relative, or a nation’s leader (like a Washington or Lincoln), or maybe the epitome of what you aspire to be professionally. Maybe that person’s outlook speaks to you, and draws out of you your very best. Will Houghton would have probably spoken the names of several people – like Dwight Moody -- who were inspirations, as he thought about himself. There’s one who’s inspired untold numbers of humans for generations, including D.L. Moody and Will Houghton. He’s still doing that.      

 

See the words for song here: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/l/e/a/d/m/leadmsst.htm

See author’s biography here: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/h/o/u/g/houghton_wh.htm

 

This source suggests the brief details of the song story: https://silentword.org/lead-me-to-some-soul-today/

 

See this for place from where the song story may have emerged: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moody_Bible_Institute

 

See here for person whose life may have inspired the song: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwight_L._Moody

See here for quotes from the person who may have inspired the song’s author: https://moodycenter.org/the-quotable-moody-d-l-moody-quotes/

Jesus Let Us Come to Know You -- Michael Card

When he wrote out the words, he did more than sing them. That’s what Michael Card would say about himself, and that’s undoubtedly what he would say to those he contacts and draws into conversation via his 1982 song “Jesus, Let Us Come to Know You”. He was early in his journey in 1982, perhaps near Bowling Green, Kentucky (see map here) where he’d gone to college, and it was not just through music that this artist sought to accomplish the goal of this song’s title. And, his journey hasn’t been one of solitude, for Card is a big believer in community, and that realizing the goal of knowing God is a learning process best met among a group of people. So, notice the words—one word, in particular--that he uses in his ode, and it comes as no surprise, once you’ve met and understood this fellow.

Michael Card was a 25-year old musician-second, and God seeker-first in 1982 when he wrote that he wanted to know God better. He probably has two people to thank primarily for his musical career – one professor/mentor (William Lane) who coaxed him to write his first songs, and a friend (Randy Scruggs) who pushed him into recording some of them. Lane persuaded Michael to write songs to accompany the weekly sermon at the church, so perhaps “Jesus, Let Us…” was one of those efforts, devised for one of Lane’s Sunday morning messages. Randy and another friend (John Thompson) then recorded Michael and some of his songs, hoping the effort would prove to record companies that their newly-minted production company was credible. Indeed it did, and their plan also unwittingly helped launch Michael on a musical ride that has continued for over 30 years. “Jesus Let Us…” underscored two things that seem to be key facets in his musical calling: First, music was not Michael’s primary focus, and second, his achievements have been in the midst of many others who’ve spurred what has emerged from Michael’s pen. These attributes come straight from Card’s official website, but they also are evident in the two verses of the 1982 song he crafted. The song’s theme – knowing the God-Son – and living among a community – evident in the composer’s recurring use of ‘us’in the two verses – tip-off the observer that these two crucial elements were at work inside Michael Card. What Michael had experienced with his mentor and his friends – a reciprocal, give-and-take relationship  – was also what he thought about God and himself, and that comes though too, in his poetry.

Michael Card is probably as well, or perhaps even more well-known for his abilities outside of his music. Author, teacher, and radio host are the other ventures that he pursues, all with the goal of living among others and encouraging them to join the journey he’s on himself. ‘Us’ is a the tiny word he employs 11 times, underscoring how he’s been conducting his exploration of God’s connection to his universe. While it’s a life-long education at which Card has excelled, he would readily admit it’s been most fruitful because of the many people with whom he’s interacted. Seeking God isn’t a solitary enterprise. Michael would probably say ‘go find a group to feed upon and feed them in return’. While you’re doing that, see if you notice Him doing the same with you.  

Biography on the composer here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Card

Another biographic article, this one on composer’s official website: http://www.michaelcard.com/biography

Another biography/conversation with the composer: http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/3505/cardconv.html&date=2009-10-25+05:59:59

O Listen to Our Wondrous Story – James Martin Gray

The scene: probably Boston, and probably more specifically the Boston Bible and Missionary Training School or perhaps the Moody Bible Institute. (See an early 20^th Century picture of Boston’s Haymarket Square here, perhaps like what one might have seen at the time of today’s hymn’s creation. )  If you catch a glimpse of this theologian, you can imagine what such a scholar might want to communicate to those he was trying to shape. Did he pursue this songwriting mechanism to reinforce his lectures? See what you think.

James Martin Gray spent the middle part of his life in this New England area, and this included a particular point at which he penned “O Listen to Our Wondrous Story”, also known as “What Did He Do?”.

James Gray’s life at the age of 52 in 1903 had taken a few turns by this point, and would soon take another. Perhaps the words he composed in this hymn about a story summed up what he wanted to most communicate on either side of his 52^nd year. In the 25 years prior to 1903, Gray had been intimately involved with reviving or starting several churches in the Boston area, so this minister of God’s message was quite familiar with the fundamentals of telling the Divine story. He’d also collaborated on the establishment of the Boston Bible and Missionary Training School (also later known as Gordon Divinity School) and was one of its faculty members, so he evidently wasn’t satisfied with preaching the story, but sought out a way to teach others how to tell it also. He didn’t stop there, as the hymn’s words show his passion for this story’s spread was still burning.  This theologian was a guest lecturer at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago and was also awarded the Doctor of Divinity by Bates College in Maine, so he, and perhaps the compelling delivery of the story that he offered, was met with enthusiasm by many in multiple geographic areas. By 1904, the year after “…Our Wondrous Story”, Gray’s association with the Moody Bible Institute would deepen, as he became its dean, a role he would retain for many more years. For the next few decades, Moody’s student population and finances prospered greatly, and thus the capacity for broadening the story’s reach could be said to have prospered also.  Gray not only wrote about the story he cherished, but he lived it too, as a model, teacher, and administrator, and finally artist—as a poet and hymnwriter. This guy might be described as a multi-tasker, but really, he had one task that he variously manifested.    

The third verse of Gray’s hymn, not often seen in print, is unfortunately overlooked, as it identifies the person of the story.  Gray’s references to Jesus throughout the hymn are largely through indirect synonyms - - ‘One’, ‘God’s Son’, ‘He’, ‘Savior’. Was it Gray’s experience as a story-teller that told him by verse three to be more direct? Is that what some listeners need, ultimately, to know the name of the one being shared? Would that not also be the advice given to a missionary, whom Gray would have also been instructing in 1903? Sure, tell them God loves humanity, that He sent someone from His own side to save them. Jesus Christ is His name. No need to withhold that piece of information, Gray must have been thinking. Make sure you use that 3^rd verse, when you’re singing, and otherwise. (Check it out at the first link below.)   

See the following sites for information on the song’s verses and a brief biography of the composer:

http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/w/d/i/wdidhedo.htm

http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/g/r/a/gray_jm.htm

More biography of the composer here:

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Martin_Gray

http://mmm.moody.edu/GenMoody/default.asp?SectionID=13F805882ACF4020AE62F6133C4848D8

Oh To Be Like Thee -- Thomas O.Chisholm

Thomas Obadiah Chisholm was just starting on his journey, and had some feelings he wanted to share. In the 1890’s, young Thomas Chisholm was a humble believer who nevertheless had ambition that moved him. Later, he might have had reason to feel discouraged at one point, as he’d tried a few vocations that didn’t last, forcing him into plan B…or was it in fact C or D? Could it be that his real purpose didn’t jell with the paths he initially chose?  Could this 20-something have suspected, as he wrote “Oh, To Be Like Thee” in that last decade of the century, what still lay ahead and how his life up to that point had been shaping him for the future? ‘Being like thee’ no doubt took Chisholm places he had not suspected were in his path.  

Chisholm’s birthplace in Franklin, Kentucky (on the state’s south-central border)

was his launching point in more than one sense, a humble beginning that played no small part in his character and faith. His log-cabin birth belied his later abilities, which he first demonstrated by educating himself and becoming a school teacher at age 16. By the age of 21 he was an associate editor of his hometown newspaper Franklin Favorite, so that this young but learned fellow was already accomplished in some respects – a writer who was honing a skill with little assistance. He called himself an ‘old shoe’ later in life, perhaps as he thought of his origins. When he was born again as a believer at age 27, after hearing his mentor (Dr. Henry Clay Morrison) at a revival in Franklin, his humble yet skillful prose was apparent in the poetry he composed in “Oh, To Be Like Thee”. He knew, as a new believer, how his life compared to God’s, and so he called out to Him. Chisholm’s words show the zeal of this new Christian, as he sought His character traits, not merely to admire them, but to shape himself.  Thomas’ physical condition would be a challenge in the period following the hymn’s publication in 1897, as he pursued being editor of the Pentecostal Herald in Louisville and then ordained ministry. Both of these efforts he suspended because of poor health. He must have wondered how his desire to serve and be like Jesus would be accomplished, as he was forced to abandon editing and preaching in pretty short order. He moved himself and his family to Indiana, and then later to New Jersey as he made a new start at age 50, this time as an insurance salesman. But, all along the way, he kept writing the poetry like that which inspired “Oh, To Be Like Thee” in his hometown, ultimately authoring some 1,200 poems, including 800 that were eventually in print. Thomas Chisholm was a humble ‘shoe’, who nevertheless found his niche as God’s tool in hymnwriting.

T. O. Chisholm may have looked back as he retired in the 1950s in New Jersey and reflected upon what his entreaty to God 50-60 years previously had meant for himself. His 1,200 poems, if one examined them as one would a diary, would show us how one Christian’s life experiences wove a story that was unique. He must have had lows and highs, yet what we know of Chisholm is his resolute direction toward a goal at the conclusion of 94 years. Writing his poetry may have been therapeutic, allowing him to express and resolve challenges. Try it. Call it a diary or a journal, maybe even an autobiography or music compositions. If you want it to work like Chisholm’s, just make sure it includes Him throughout.

          

See more information on the song discussed above in The Complete Book of Hymns – Inspiring Stories About 600 Hymns and Praise Songs by William J. Petersen and Ardythe Petersen, Tyndale House Publishers, 2006.  Also, see Amazing Grace: 366 Inspiring Hymn Stories for Daily Devotions by Kenneth W. Osbeck, Kregel Publications, 1990.

See brief biography on composer here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Chisholm_%28song_writer%29

http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/c/h/i/chisholm_to.htm