What He's Done -- Jacob Sooter, Tasha Cobbs Leonard, Anna Golden, Kristian Paul Stanfill

 

It wasn’t really a surprise that the words these four songwriters would compose would try to match the passion of the event they were attending. Jacob Sooter, Tasha Cobbs Leonard, Anna Golden, and Kristian Paul Stanfill were, in fact, being very intentional, since they were in Atlanta to write a song for the Passion Conference, coming up in January 2022. Their recall of that time and how “What He’s Done” emerged from their session together says as much about how much they were listening, versus what they were saying to each other in order to create this song. ‘It’s not about you and me’, they might say in retrospect, but about putting Him in the place He deserves. That’s their sense of how to make all other interactions among humans fall into their best places. Jesus didn’t get what He had prayed earlier (in the garden) to His Father to give Him, but look at how things turned out. What would we and history look like if He had avoided the mission He was sent to complete?

 

This group effort began in the months prior to January 2022 with just Kristian and Jacob sharing some seemingly unrelated information with each other, opening the door for a time when Anna and Tasha would add to the spirit of their four-part collaboration. It was a ‘real’ exchange, as Kristian remembers, in which he and Jacob were talking about their respective families and life in general. That set the tone, apparently, for an authentic exchange and reflection on what’s most important, touching Jacob first with the song’s chorus and title theme – ‘What He’s Done’. It was a ‘wow’ moment for the other three, who needed no other inspiration for a foundation upon which to contribute their own thoughts for the remainder of the writing session. God was there, they believed, giving them all they needed. They acknowledged the contrast with how some other songwriting episodes proceed; in this case they received, rather than worked themselves to create the lyrics and accompanying music. A baby’s birth might be the closest metaphor to what happens when a song like this one is conceived and given life. And, such a gift from Him needs no more adornment, no clever words added to make it better – just describe simply His act on the cross and what that does for you and me. This event’s unique nature and its import stands on its own, without a lot of flowery adjectives. It’s enough just to turn one’s eyes upon Him, and voice words like ‘bled’ ‘wounds’, ‘sacrifice’, ‘honor, ‘glory’, ‘freedom’, ‘forgiven’, ‘grace’, and of course, ‘heaven’. With the focus on the One who made it all happen, these songwriters could not leave out some of His ‘name(s)’ – ‘Savior’, ‘Son’, ‘God’, and ‘Father’ – so that our eyes would be fixed on this one who’s made life, and conquered death.  

 

These four songwriters were contemplating not only the Passion Conference’s upcoming schedule, but any Sunday morning that routinely arrives among a believer’s weekly activities. They reminded themselves and those who might sing ‘what He’s done’ that everyone has ‘stuff’ going on. It’s sometimes hard to leave all those other concerns at the door of a worship facility, but how’s it all stack up, compared to what happened on a hill and in a tomb 2,000 years ago? Re-center on those two moments. He’s capable of intervening for me, with whatever aid I find most needful in a troubling situation. But it seems that Jacob, Tasha, Anna, and Kristian are saying that what He’s done already proves that He’s the Almighty. How do you calculate the value of His death and rising? Let the Infinite One transform you infinitely.       

 

What He's Done // Passion feat. Kristian Stanfill, Tasha Cobbs Leonard, Anna Golden // New Song Cafe (youtube.com) (story between 8:10 and 12:00 minute marks)

Read some of the story here also: ‘What He’s Done’ Acoustic Performance From Passion Featuring Kristian Stanfill | Christian Radio

 

See here for image of Atlanta seal and its public domain status -- File:Seal of Atlanta.svg - Wikimedia Commons This work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 50 years or fewer. This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published (or registered with the U.S. Copyright Office) before January 1, 1928.

Come Jesus Come -- Stephen and Tara McWhirter, Hank Bentley, Bryan Fowler

 

He just let the Word dwell inside himself for a few moments, until something so completely saturated his being, that Stephen McWhirter sensed a message germinating inside that was a calling, and not just a song. Perhaps most people avoid reading the bible’s last book – Revelation – because the imagery is so, well, bizarre and terrifying. But Stephen, and just about all of planet Earth, were stuck in a rather frightening space in time in early 2020 anyway, so perhaps reading and hearing the “Come Jesus, Come” voice speaking to him was just what he needed that day. Another believer in God, one named John, saw what must have rattled him right down to his bones also, perhaps something like the image shown here (See the mid-19^th Century work of art by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld  [1794–1872], Woodcut for "Die Bibel in Bildern", 1860.), one artist’s conception of what this great apostle experienced. Stephen set out to study and worship a little that day, in a personal way, and he found something that he just couldn’t keep to himself. Blessedly, John was not able to forget his vision, and neither was Stephen.  

   

COVID-19…not a time that many of us want to remember, but it did bring Stephen McWhirter and his collaborators (his wife Tara, and friends Hank Bentley and Bryan Fowler) something special, perhaps because of its origin. Stephen was at the very last page of his bible, in Revelation 22:17-20, and so he must have known where to look when he was trying to offer God authentic worship, even if his world was at the beginning of the pandemic (2020). Who wouldn’t be awed and properly prostrated before your Creator and Healer while seeing what John saw, after all? Stephen was really captivated by the Spirit and the Bride (the church) imploring Jesus to come, and that this is something God wants us to do. Stephen acknowledged the longing within himself to see Jesus, this King and also personal friend, and that until that moment would become reality, he was called to love people better in his life. He just felt convicted that he needed to do something meaningful until Jesus comes in all His glory. And so, Stephen, apparently with some help from Tara, Hank, and Bryan, took up this Godly vision’s entreaty – ask Jesus to come. Perhaps they felt that earth’s inhabitants were in no better place than during a global health emergency to hear and join with them in this plea. I’m about to ‘break’ (v.1), so please don’t wait to heal our ‘every hurt’ and fix ‘every wrong’ (refrain). With the song’s last two verses, Stephen and his co-writers take up Revelation’s apocalyptically hopeful and inspiring bottom-line – that in celestial war, in which you and I alone could never hope to prevail, is the means of my rescue, through Jesus. He’s the Faithful and True, the rider on the white horse waging war against the enemy, in a battle that’s already been won (Revelation 19). These songwriters are therefore waiting expectantly for ‘war’ and ‘chains’ (v.2) to vanish with Jesus’ return, an arrival that would awe everyone with its ‘power’, no matter whether you are ’weak’ or ‘strong’ (v.2). We’ll all be washed clean in His ‘rivers of grace’, standing ‘face-to-face’ with this Savior, so there’s ‘no need to wait’ (v.3) for this mind-blowing moment. Take hold of it now!

 

Stephen and company really manage to capture with their music some of the passion of Revelation (see the link below to the rendition with the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir). It’s like they were still riding a wave of imagining what John could only have marveled at when he described it for us. Take heart and don’t be frightened, John says in so many words. Your entry into His presence is already secured, if you have completely given yourself over to Him. Let Him put His mark on your head, and revel in the assurance that you’re on His triumphant side. Who would want to be with the losers – the beast, the serpent, the prostitute, and their minions who occupy Babylon? Come, Jesus! We’ll keep telling others, and raise a hallelujah, and shout louder still, as we try to sound like those roaring waters of your multitude who see You coming. Let your spirit unite with His Spirit, and see what John saw!     

 

 

Watch the story of the song here: Stephen McWhirter Shares the Story Behind his Song, "Come Jesus Come" (youtube.com)

 

See a moving rendition of the song by the principal songwriter and the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-kZ4Eb3XXg

 

See information on the image of Christ in John’s Revelation vision here: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Schnorr_von_Carolsfeld_Bibel_in_Bildern_1860_236.png... This work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 100 years or fewer. {{PD-US}} – US work that is in the public domain in the US for an unspecified reason, but presumably because it was published in the US before 1929.  

 

Read a little about the principal songwriter here: Stephen McWhirter Artist Profile | Biography And Discography | NewReleaseToday   and here: The Side B Stories - Stephen McWhirter's Story - C.S. Lewis Institute (cslewisinstitute.org)

Jesus, We Love You -- Paul and Hannah McClure, Kalley Heiligenthal

 

It must have helped them feel more confident, as they approached parenthood for the first time. That’s what you might say, when you hear what Paul McClure remembers about how he felt -- and the comforting resolution he also experienced -- when he and his wife Hannah were pregnant in November 2013. This approaching fatherhood was a bit scary for him, and then he thought that if he and his family could just say “Jesus, We Love You”, things would be OK; he could handle being a dad, and Hannah would feel no anxiety at being a mom. This Redding, California couple dwelt on, and finally rested in the assurance that the presence of God’s Son would undergird their role as parents to their own son. Things were going to be different for them in one respect, but in another way, the unchanging nature of their most important relationship was something that gave them a firm foundation – a cornerstone (v.1). As they pondered their situation, and the circular nature of Him and what He provides, and how that gets reflected back and forth between us and Him – these thoughts really made these new parents feel His security anew.    

 

You can hear the McClures song story, in their own words (see the YouTube link below), a story that unfolds all the different reactions they had to bringing a new life into the world; it was a time when they were praying even as they made the music. Kalley Heiligenthal evidently also had some thoughts that translated into lyrics for the song the McClures initially crafted; Kalley’s own heartbreaking loss as a parent (she lost her daughter in 2019), and her expression of trust in Him while in the midst of her loss, suggests she and the McClures had voiced something unshakeable in 2013-2014 that was from deep inside all three of them. (See also Kalley’s video interview on another YouTube link below.) In short, to whom else can anyone turn for instructions about life, except to the One who creates life? The McClures felt their son’s (Ezra’s) life would be OK if he was nurtured with the love that both Paul and Hannah had first received from Him. Paul calls it ‘the big…explosive moment’ he wanted to capture in the song, when they would sing the song’s title words. Hannah adds that His love, and how we receive it and redirect it back to Him, was what gave her the lyrics for the song’s bridge section; ‘our affection…devotion’ is given back to Him who first gave it to us --‘for all that you’ve done…’ here’s the appreciation, our anthem to say we are beholden to You. Paul declares that his response to Him ultimately is not only thankfulness, but also adoration and surrender. In Paul’s estimation, realizing and appreciating all that Jesus is makes it easy to follow Him, even when life is hard. The simplicity of loving Jesus…that’s what Paul says is at the heart of the song.

 

Hear some parents talk about the birth of a child…maybe that’s when it hits the human most, that there must be a God who loves. This intricate, little, living person is His idea. ‘Be fruitful and multiply’ – that’s a pretty common phrase that God issues at various points in His creative enterprise on earth (from Genesis to Hosea, in the Old Testament). Where would I be if two people had ignored these words (in the early 1960s)? Is it an accident that living emerges from loving? Change just one letter in either word, and the meaning is transformed. But, is the source changed? What do you think Paul and Hannah thought? Did Kalley change her basic beliefs when her youngster died? These three spoke their answers, and also sang them. You and I can, too.            

   

 

See/hear the story of the song shared here (appx two-minute video) by the songwriters: Jesus We Love You (Song Story) - Paul McClure | We Will Not Be Shaken (youtube.com)

 

Read about two of the songwriters here: The McClures - Wikipedia

 

See a potent video re: a heartbreaking episode in one of the songwriter’s lives here: Kalley Heiligenthal: Learning to Live After Heartbreaking Loss | Better Together TV (youtube.com)

 

See information on the image of the Redding seal here: File:Seal of Redding, California.png - Wikimedia Commons. This work was created by a government unit (including state, county, city, and municipal government agencies) that derives its powers from the laws of the State of California and is subject to disclosure under the California Public Records Act (Government Code § 6250 et seq.). It is a public record that was not created by an agency which state law has allowed to claim copyright, and is therefore in the public domain in the United States.