Thank you, Brenda

After my post yesterday I sang two choruses for the rest of the day and night! I thought I would share the story and teach them to you. If you know them, sing out; if not, join is as you catch on! It also caused me to think about some interesting moments on our Praise Team.

At Bible Covenant we used to have an annual camping trip. I remember the first time Steve and Brenda came with us. Brenda taught us two choruses. The first one was:

Know ye not, know ye not, ye are the temple 3x

Ye are the temple of the Holy Ghost

Filled with pow’r, filled with praise, filled with glory 3x

Ye are the temple of the Holy Ghost                (from 1 Cor 3:16)

The next one was the one I quoted yesterday

Jesus on the inside working on the outside

Oh what a change in my life    (3x)

Oh what a change in my life

We sang these a lot. And a little later on, when we finished Jesus On The Inside we would move into

And I’ll sing glory, glory, glory to his name forever

Glory, glory, glory to his name  (this we already knew, it is part of Carman’s Bless the Name of Jesus)

Brenda became a cornerstone of the Praise Team and a few years later she taught us a song that she had written, which we sang often, and which I can’t remember right now!

Libby was another sister who also became an anchor on our Praise Team. One Sunday night we held a baptism at Van & Keith’s house. When I arrived, Libby was already there, had her keyboard set up and was prepared to lead us in worship. The thing about it was, I knew nothing about it! She had practiced and practiced and then just stepped out! But it was cool, I just figured the Spirit had led her to do this. She taught us a beautiful chorus that night that we sang often thereafter - and I can’t remember that one either.

Then there was Jason. A wonderful brother who moved to Rock Hill from San Diego. We used to laugh at him because he was always cold – he would wear long johns when it was in the 50s! And he used to cut his own hair. He would come in with a buzz cut. “What happened to you, Jason?” He would explain that he cut his hair yesterday but that one side was shorter than the other. So he tried to even it out. Then the other side was shorter and so on until he had a buzz. His son often had the same cut!! But this brother could play the bass! He walked into Praise Team practice one day and announced he was working on a song and they helped finish it. Psalm 86:11-12. We sang that a lot too.

There is a hymn I used to sing when I was alone, Lion of Judah. One morning Tim announced he had put music to it and was going to teach it to us. I said OK but wasn’t really thrilled, after all I knew the “authorized” tune. We all fell in love with that song and sang it often as well!

Then there was the Sunday during Missions Conference that we had no drummer. The missionary, David Belle Isle, said he could play a little and would like to join us. It was so cool, our guest speaker was on the drums and boy could he play! He paid us the nicest compliment. We told him we had to be there at 9 so we could pray and then practice. He had been to Bible Covenant before and he said, “Yeah, I thought I remembered you were a church that really emphasized prayer.”

I could go on. Have got those first two songs down yet? Anyway, back to Brenda. I used to teach myself songs at the piano and once I got them down I would introduce them to the praise team. A couple I can think of right off are,

He is the King of kings

He is the Lord of lords

His name is Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, O………………..He is the King!

And,

There is joy in the Lord
There is love in His Spirit
There is hope in the knowledge of Him
There’s a fountain that flows
Like a river from heaven
Abounding in love to my soul

All blessing and honor are His, all glory and power are His
Let all wisdom and strength be the Lord’s in this place
Let all glory be given to Him

There is joy in the Lord
There is love in His Spirit
There is hope in the knowledge of Him
There’s a fountain I know
Every time I am near it
My heart overflows to the Lord

When I would bring them to the praise team, they would ask, “Where did you get this?” When I told them I learned it at the piano, they would say, “No. for real.” They never believed me! Whenever I told them that I had written the extra lyrics to a song we sang they never believed that either!! And Brenda was the most vocal. But I really did. That’s how I learned Lion of Judah mentioned above. I would often sit at the piano and play through the hymn book and chorus books for my own amusement and worship, and to learn new songs.

Thank you, Brenda for the songs you taught us. And thanks a lot for never believing me!