Participants:
Series Code: YCWS
Program Code: YCWS190001S
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00:20 Hello and welcome to 3ABN's Praise Him Music Channel.
00:24 And today, we're starting a new series and it's called, 00:27 you can write a song. 00:30 And I can't think of anyone 00:32 that I would rather have to teach me 00:34 how to write a song than Mr. Lanny Wolfe. 00:37 Lanny, it's good to have you here today. 00:38 It's good to be here, Danny. Thank you. 00:40 And you come all the way from... 00:42 Houston, Texas. Houston, Texas. 00:43 There you go. Okay. 00:45 I know you spent many years in Jackson, Mississippi. 00:47 And we'll probably hear 00:48 a little bit more about your life, 00:50 but I'm excited about this new series. 00:54 So you're going to actually be... 00:56 Today, the first program, 00:58 we're kind of introducing you and what we want to do, 01:01 and what our goal is. 01:02 And 3ABN is always, 01:04 we try to strive for excellence. 01:05 Sure. 01:07 Whatever we do, whether we're preaching prophecies 01:09 of Daniel and Revelation, 01:11 you know, whether we're doing vegetarian cooking classes, 01:14 or, you know, doing Today programs, 01:16 whatever we try to do, 01:18 you know, strive for excellence. 01:19 So as when you're thinking about you can write a song, 01:24 who could I get that I really I think could teach? 01:27 Well, how about someone, first of all, 01:29 who has taught young people 01:30 and taught music for 20 plus years 01:33 and might even, 01:35 wouldn't hurt to have a master's degree 01:36 or two in music. 01:38 But all of that's not necessarily, 01:41 necessary to write a song, 01:43 but this is going to be a fun time. 01:45 It's a great time. 01:46 And so I want to talk to you a little bit. 01:48 First of all, you and I met some years ago 01:51 at, actually, Lari Goss's funeral. 01:54 Of course, I've heard of Lanny Wolfe 01:56 for many, many years. 01:58 About four years ago we met personally. 02:00 At Larry Goss's funeral. 02:03 And so, Melody saw you there. 02:06 My daughter and she's like, "Daddy, that's Lanny Wolfe. 02:08 We got to go talk to him." 02:10 And, of course, Melody loved your, 02:13 we loved your music too, 02:14 but ever since she was a little girl, 02:16 she had it playing all the time. 02:17 So she knows, as you found out, 02:19 she knows almost all your songs. 02:21 Better than I do. 02:22 I think so. 02:24 She tells me when I'm playing it wrong. 02:25 I think so after all these years. 02:27 But we've done a number of projects together 02:30 in the last four years, 02:31 and even co-written a number of songs together, 02:34 which I'm deeply honored by that. 02:36 And 'cause I never really considered myself a songwriter. 02:40 He's still modest. 02:41 No, no. 02:43 I've written a number of songs, but if someone says... 02:44 He's a great songwriter. 02:45 If someone says, "What do you do?" 02:47 It's never entered my mind 02:48 as one of the things that I do is... 02:50 On the resume. That I'm a songwriter. 02:52 Yeah. 02:53 I just don't, you know, that's something I just... 02:55 Every now and then, you feel like 02:56 the Lord gives you songs and you write it. 02:58 But talking to you and you been, 03:02 you know, teaching music for so long. 03:04 You came up with the idea and said, 03:06 why don't we do a program on... 03:07 You can write a song. 03:09 The viewers at home, right? 03:11 Where we're looking at the camera, 03:12 you can write a song. 03:14 Absolutely. Absolutely. 03:15 So why do you want to do this? 03:16 You're busy and you're still writing music. 03:18 I mean, you're cranking it out. 03:19 You haven't slowed down at all over the years. 03:22 Why do you want to take the time 03:23 and work with our viewers? 03:25 Well, to me, in my DNA, 03:29 God gifted me with this songwriting 03:32 ability to put words and music together 03:35 that bless people. 03:37 So for 20 some years I've taught young people 03:40 who have written wonderful songs. 03:43 And I feel like that 03:47 so many people out there have a song, 03:50 they just don't know it yet. 03:52 And so, when we talk about these first few sessions, 03:55 it's like you may have never thought 03:57 that you were a songwriter or could be a songwriter. 04:00 Maybe you don't play an instrument. 04:02 You don't have to, you can be the lyrics side of it. 04:04 So, you, yes, you out there, you can write a song 04:08 and I'm going to show you how simple. 04:10 I don't mean for this to sound wrong, 04:12 but how simple it is. 04:14 And basically, you're going to be so amazed 04:16 at how much is in you 04:20 that you've never thought about in terms of being a songwriter. 04:25 People that are watching 04:26 or listening to this on 3ABN Radio 04:29 apparently already like music. 04:31 And if you like music, 04:32 you probably at some point in your life, 04:35 some words have come to you or a tune. 04:37 You've said, "Wow, 04:39 this little tune popped in my mind." 04:41 You know, but you never really, you never acted on it. 04:46 You are saying, "Well, somebody... 04:47 There's Lanny Wolfes 04:48 and Bill Gaithers and all the writers, 04:50 you know, I don't really need to do it." 04:51 But Jesus says, "Go ye into all the world." 04:54 And there are many ways that we can go. 04:56 Some preachers preach the gospel, 04:59 you know, artists sing and do music. 05:02 And songwriting is just a, it's a huge part 05:06 because sometimes we don't think of it 05:07 in that sense. 05:09 But we'll talk later in one of your programs 05:11 about Fanny Crosby. 05:12 What if there had been no Fanny Crosby in? 05:15 No 8,000 hymns. 05:16 Eight thousand hymns whatsoever. 05:18 What if Lanny Wolfe had decided to be, 05:21 we'll talk about it, something else? 05:23 Maybe an architect, for instance, 05:25 and didn't write hundreds and hundreds of songs 05:29 like Surely the Presence of the Lord is in this Place 05:31 or More than Wonderful and all of that. 05:33 It could have happened. It could have happened. 05:34 It could have happened. 05:36 So today we want to encourage you. 05:38 So what I'd like to do, 05:40 this is just to get to know Lanny Wolfe. 05:42 He'll be the instructor for this. 05:44 And we want you to get your pencil and paper, 05:46 or nowadays your iPad, 05:47 whatever you want to make notes of this. 05:50 And we'll make these programs available to you 05:53 if you want to get them at home in CD or DVD or whatever else. 05:58 All these new technology we have, 06:00 you know, however is best for you 06:02 we want you to have it. 06:03 But today, I want to talk a little bit about you, Lanny. 06:07 Instead of starting at the beginning, 06:09 let's start more later on in life. 06:12 You have many awards. 06:14 And today when we're talking about awards and gifts 06:18 that we have, 06:19 this is not talking about the individual. 06:21 We give God the credit for every bit of this. 06:23 I know Lanny does too. 06:25 So it's... 06:27 Yet I want to talk about it just for people maybe 06:29 who don't know you and don't know your background. 06:31 You've been up for songwriter of the year how many times? 06:34 Numerous times. 06:36 Eight times. 06:37 Eight times. 06:38 Did you ever become songwriter of the year? 06:40 I almost wonder like, will this ever happen? 06:43 Don't nominate me again. 06:45 It just makes me feel bad one more year. 06:48 And, actually, the eighth time was the charm. 06:51 Not the third or the seventh, it was the eighth time. 06:54 And I did get a Dove Award for songwriter of the year, 06:58 the same year that 07:00 More than Wonderful got song of the year. 07:01 So the bottom line of that is don't ever give up. 07:04 All right. 07:06 Don't ever give up. 07:07 So Sandi Patty and Larnelle Harris 07:09 really made that song. 07:10 Absolutely. 07:12 In a world, it's saying about the world. 07:13 And it came out of a Christmas musical. 07:14 Okay. Really? 07:16 Yes. 07:17 Thou shall call His name Jesus. 07:18 And it almost didn't even make the Christmas musical. 07:21 Is that amazing how God works? 07:22 That is, that is amazing. 07:25 So it almost didn't get in. 07:26 Wow. 07:28 And now, of course, it's a staple, 07:31 I mean, in gospel music. 07:32 People around the world... 07:33 As I said, I've been to many countries 07:35 and songs like 07:36 Surely the Presence of the Lord is in this Place. 07:39 I've sang that song numerous times. 07:41 I never get tired of it. 07:43 When I sing it, 07:44 it's like I'm singing it for the first time. 07:46 And you know what's amazing about that, Danny? 07:48 So I was playing for a funeral just this week, just this week. 07:51 And the night before the funeral, 07:53 God gave me a new verse to Surely the Presence. 07:56 No, I don't need your verses. 07:58 God gave me a new verse that would be apropos 08:01 and very fitting for funerals. 08:03 Isn't that amazing? 08:04 So He originally gave me the song in 1974, 08:07 and this week God gives me a new verse 08:10 that's very fitting for funerals. 08:13 So you're not going to let us help 08:14 write you another verse? 08:16 No. 08:17 If you need any more, you'll do it. 08:18 Please, people. 08:20 Well, we get to write our own song 08:21 because you can write a song. 08:22 I'm going to teach you how to write a song. 08:24 You can write a song, right? 08:25 That's what we're going to do. 08:27 Okay, let's go back and talk a little bit 08:28 about your background? 08:30 Okay. 08:31 Okay. You were born and raised where? 08:32 Columbus, Ohio. 08:34 Okay, tell us about your early life a little? 08:36 My father was a railroad engineer. 08:38 Mother was just a homemaker. 08:41 I graduated from Linden McKinley 08:43 high school, got a scholarship to Ohio State University. 08:47 I thought I was going to become an architect. 08:52 I say a little bit good. 08:54 I was good at math and good at art, 08:55 so I thought, or so the grade said. 08:57 And so I thought maybe I should be an architect. 08:59 And after my first quarter at Ohio State University, 09:02 I decided that I felt like I didn't want my life 09:05 to be consumed with that project. 09:09 And so God just kind of worked the way He does. 09:14 Somebody from a Bible college 09:15 on the West Coast came to me and said, 09:17 "We're going to become missionaries to France 09:20 and they need a minister 09:21 or they need a dean at the School of Music." 09:23 Well, number one, 09:25 I didn't really know that much about music. 09:27 I played. 09:28 I had written my first song at 15, God is Wonderful. 09:32 The song wasn't as wonderful as the title. 09:36 But what's amazing about this folks is 27 years later 09:40 after the first song, God is Wonderful, 09:42 God gave me a song called More than Wonderful. 09:45 And it somehow was something that the first song wasn't. 09:50 So I went to the West Coast. 09:52 I taught there for a year and realized 09:55 that as much as I enjoy 09:56 what I was doing and teaching young people, 09:58 I really didn't have the knowledge 10:01 that I needed to be fair, 10:02 to instruct people at college level. 10:04 So I worked on my first degree in music. 10:08 So I'd already had two degrees, one in math and business, 10:12 and a master's degree in business administration. 10:14 So now I'm working on a second BA degree, 10:16 this time in music education. 10:19 I got that from San Jose State University. 10:22 Went to a Bible college that was opening up in 1968 10:27 in St. Louis, Missouri. 10:29 So I was there for six years, 10:31 and that's where Dave Petersen became a student. 10:35 We formed the Lanny Wolfe Trio. 10:37 We got associated with the Benson Company. 10:39 But all those six years, I remember 10:43 every Monday night driving 27 miles 10:45 to Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, 10:48 working on my master's degree in music. 10:51 And so got that. 10:53 And then in 1974 10:57 felt that God wanted us to go to a Bible college 11:00 that was moving from Tupelo to Jackson, Mississippi, 11:03 Jackson College of Ministries, where I was for 18 years. 11:07 So I ended up with two degrees in business, 11:11 two degrees in music, and an honorary doctorate. 11:13 That's called five degrees, 14 years, slow student. 11:19 Wonderful background though. 11:20 Oh, yes. 11:22 And growing up as you would have never dreamed 11:24 where God would have taken you. 11:25 Never would have had the vaguest idea 11:28 of what God was going to do in my life. 11:32 It's so... 11:33 You know, when you are young, I'm 18, 11:38 you want to do what God wants you to do. 11:41 But sometimes we have the hardest time 11:43 weeding through all the stuff around us 11:46 to finally find out what God really wants us to do. 11:49 I'm so glad that I finally found out 11:52 what God really wanted me to do. 11:53 And it's been a joy to be a teacher 11:55 to young people at college level. 11:57 But my greatest joy is writing songs 12:00 that will bless the body of Christ 12:02 long after I'm past. 12:05 And, you know, it's true. 12:07 I can't imagine 12:09 some of these songs that you've written 12:10 never just disappearing in the Christian realm, 12:14 because these songs are going to be sung 12:16 because they minister to us. 12:19 Again, I can talk personally about this 12:21 because I've been so blessed, 12:23 so affected by your music 12:26 that, actually, it encouraged me. 12:28 I'll give you a little bit of background. 12:30 Sure. 12:32 In 1970s, in '75, I went to Michigan for four years 12:36 from Southern Illinois. 12:38 I managed the lumberyard up in Berrien Springs, Michigan. 12:41 And so while I was there, it was a great time. 12:44 Is that the Danny Shelton Home Depot lumberyard? 12:46 Well, not quite. 12:48 They didn't have Home Depots back then. 12:50 But while I was there, 12:51 I was building some houses on the side. 12:54 And I remember going over. 12:55 I worked there and then I'd work weekends 12:57 and sometime nights on a house, 12:59 like I'd build a spec house to sell it. 13:01 And I remember actually over there 13:03 listening to Lanny Wolfe Trio. 13:06 And so I had, I think it was cassettes then. 13:09 Or 8-tracks. 13:10 Yeah, 8-tracks or cassettes. 13:12 And I remember that in the house 13:14 and I listened to your chords. 13:16 I'm not a great musician, 13:17 but I know a few chords and learned, 13:19 kind of self-learned. 13:20 And so I learned some chords and then one day 13:23 I would have been at work and it'd been a terrible day. 13:27 It was really raining. 13:28 And so I ended up going to the house, 13:30 there's thunderstorm. 13:31 But then right before the sun went down, 13:35 I noticed through the clouds there was this great, 13:37 beautiful golden sunset and a rainbow. 13:42 And so that prompted me to write a song. 13:45 Now I'd written a few little songs, 13:47 but that it really was an influence of Lanny Wolfe 13:50 because I'd been listening to your music. 13:52 And here I have the time off 13:54 and I'm listening to your chords. 13:55 And so if you'll probably, 13:57 if you listened to a few of my songs, 13:59 you might hear some of Lanny Wolfe chords in it. 14:01 Not everybody uses 13s 14:03 and things like if you're doing say undeserving. 14:06 And I'm like, "Wow, what is that chord? 14:08 That's pretty neat." So I get my guitar. 14:10 So I actually learned from you so way back before we ever met. 14:12 And before you learned any chords from Lanny Wolfe, 14:16 I took lessons from Frank Meier, God bless, 14:20 when I was nine for two years. 14:22 And then he said he was moving away. 14:23 I don't think he moved away. 14:25 I'm a pretty bad student. 14:27 John Thompson's book 1, 14:29 all I did was read the numbers like any smart kid would do. 14:32 So when I got to the end of book 14:33 1 and I'm going into book 2, 14:35 oh my word, I don't know how to read notes. 14:37 Anyway, I learned 14:38 from that point on as a teenager. 14:40 I actually learned chords from John W. Peterson 14:44 and all those books that he put out. 14:47 He augmented 11th and there were the notes. 14:50 And so I learned chords from John W. Peterson. 14:52 And in turn, you picked up some Lanny Wolfe chords. 14:55 Sure, I augmented, I don't deserve... 14:57 When you go and do little augmentative stuff. 14:59 You know, yeah, and all of that I listened. 15:02 My brother Tommy played and I'd hear him some, 15:05 but never took formal training. 15:07 And that's what's great about this new program, 15:10 you can write a song. 15:11 You don't... Lanny's got numerous degrees. 15:14 I'm too old. 15:15 If I started school today, I'd never... 15:17 I'd be 110 before I got all those. 15:19 You don't need it. 15:21 What you need is, first of all, is your commitment to the Lord, 15:24 to say, "Lord, please use me in ways that I never dreamed." 15:27 Now we have people who send us songs all the time and say, 15:30 "Here, you're welcome to use this." 15:32 Yes, we do. Yeah. 15:33 I'm sure you get more than we do. 15:35 But people say, "Here, you can use this." 15:37 They really maybe don't understand 15:39 all that's involved in using a song or getting songs, 15:42 or maybe the song doesn't fit what you're doing. 15:45 But so what we want to do is help people 15:48 in order to construct a song, 15:50 to put it together in a way that anybody can do it. 15:54 You love the Lord. 15:55 You like music. 15:57 And maybe as Lanny said, 15:58 you don't know much about music, 16:00 but you can write words. 16:01 You can write the words. 16:03 That's right. 16:04 And so a lot of times that happens on numbers. 16:06 I think Fanny Crosby was one of those 16:08 that really didn't write the music. 16:10 She never wrote music to one song. 16:11 Wow. 16:12 She wrote words to 8,000 hymns. 16:14 Yeah, ain't that amazing, 8,000. 16:16 Eight thousand hymns. 16:17 And she didn't write her first hymn 16:20 until she was 44 years old. 16:22 Wow. 16:23 Do the math. 16:24 That is amazing. 16:26 Eight thousand. She lived to be 95. 16:27 So for 51 years, she wrote 8,000 hymns. 16:31 But not one of those did she write a note of music. 16:33 So a lot of you folks out there just be reminded that like, 16:37 don't be afraid about this whole idea 16:39 that you don't play the piano, you don't play the guitar. 16:41 No, no, no. 16:42 Hey, you've got a Bible. 16:45 Read the Bible where there's a scripture says, 16:47 "Greater is He that is in me than he is in the world." 16:50 One of the songs that has probably been most impactive 16:54 in the Lanny Wolfe portfolio 16:56 is, Greater is He that is in me 16:59 Greater is He that is in me 17:01 Greater is He that's in me Than he that is in... 17:04 Excuse me, it was already there. 17:07 And I took it and I made it a song. 17:10 So if I did that, I just pulled it from the Bible. 17:13 You can do that too. 17:14 Absolutely. 17:15 It's so much easier than a lot of people admit. 17:18 And I want to design this program in this scenario 17:22 so that even if you don't write a song, 17:25 that it will be inspirational to you. 17:27 If you just like gospel music, 17:28 you're going to like this series. 17:30 Okay. 17:31 Let's talk a little bit about some of the folk 17:33 that maybe some of your students 17:34 or some of the songs I think of Geron Davis 17:37 writing Holy Ground... 17:39 Of course, one of my students. 17:40 From the beginning of 3ABN, 17:42 we used to go out to the Uplink, 17:43 our first little building before it was even built. 17:46 Just shelling it up 17:47 and we'd stand there joining hands together and sing, 17:50 "We are standing on holy ground." 17:53 And just, you know, but I found out later 17:55 that he was a student of yours. 17:57 Absolutely. 17:58 And to write incredible songs, great musician. 18:01 Who are some of the other folk? 18:02 Dan Dean of Phillips, Craig, and Dean was a student of mine. 18:05 Actually, played keyboard for the Lanny Wolfe Trio. 18:07 Okay. 18:09 The song, the Beauty of the Name. 18:11 That was co-written by a student and a teacher. 18:14 The teacher was Lanny Wolfe. 18:16 The student was Tony Roberts who took songwriting. 18:20 Okay. 18:21 And so, that's a co-write 18:23 between one of my students and the teacher. 18:27 We have Jeannie Tenney who wrote the song, 18:30 One Night with the King. 18:32 And her husband, Tommy Tenney of God Chasers, 18:34 he actually wrote the movie, you know? 18:36 Oh, I see. 18:38 I just have so many wonderful songwriters. 18:40 I mean, Wayne Goodine and his wife, 18:42 Elizabeth Goodine. 18:43 They've written songs that Brooklyn Tab has recorded. 18:46 The list just goes on and on and on. 18:48 But the bottom line 18:49 is even if no one ever sings your song or publishes it, 18:53 I believe that God gives songs 18:55 to some of us just to bless us. 18:58 Maybe God will give you a song just to bless you. 19:01 Well, then let it bless you. 19:03 Or maybe to bless your family, or your local church, 19:06 or your local camp meeting, 19:07 or your local church organization. 19:09 And I believe God gives songs to some to bless the world. 19:12 A song will find a way to go wherever it needs to go 19:16 if it blesses. 19:17 You won't remember this. 19:19 And I don't think we've ever talked about it, 19:21 but I think it was here in Illinois. 19:23 You were at church there Lanny Wolfe Trio 19:27 probably in the 70s. 19:28 And Melody and her mother that was later killed 19:31 in an automobile accident case. 19:33 She loved your music also. 19:34 We were there listening and afterwards, 19:38 I don't know if you were at a record table. 19:39 Back then there were records, record table. 19:42 There were real records. 19:43 But I said something to you. 19:44 I talked and I said something about writing 19:47 because I was interested in writing music. 19:49 I don't remember this day. 19:51 You don't. 19:52 And I just thought about it 19:54 for the other day when it hit me, 19:55 because when you said that sometimes 19:57 the song will bless you, sometimes the world. 20:00 So I said something, "How did you get into this? 20:02 Like, I have some music. 20:04 You're with what company?" You said, "Benson." 20:06 And I said something. 20:07 Now I'm paraphrasing because I don't remember. 20:09 Sure. 20:10 But basically, you said to me, what you said to me was, 20:13 and now it brought it back to me 20:15 after so many years. 20:16 You said, "Maybe the song 20:19 that God gave you is just for you. 20:20 Maybe it's something you need. 20:22 So don't think every song you write, 20:24 the whole world is going to love it." 20:26 And, you know... Or has to hear it. 20:27 Publishing companies, 20:29 yeah, are going to want it or have to hear it. 20:31 And you said some may just be to bless the city, 20:33 or some a nation, and some the world. 20:37 And that really helped me later as I was writing 20:39 because some of the songs that so blessed me 20:42 when I sang them didn't seem to catch on 20:44 as much as other songs, 20:46 that I thought, "Well, 20:47 you know, this one, I didn't expect this much response. 20:50 And on this one, I just thought..." 20:52 But as I looked back, you were right. 20:54 It blessed me. 20:55 So God sometimes gives us songs to bless us. 20:59 A song... 21:01 I want to use the word a great song, 21:02 but I hate to use the word great in that sense. 21:04 A great song will rise. 21:06 Okay? Okay. 21:08 Dallas Holm wrote a song called Rise Again. 21:11 Had a different camera angle. 21:12 So here is Christ talking, 21:14 Jesus talking, "I'll rise again." 21:17 Okay? 21:18 It was number one 21:19 on gospel music charts for two years. 21:22 Wow. 21:23 And do you know the original recording 21:25 was just in a live concert? 21:28 His original recording with a little string machine. 21:31 He had Elkas back there. 21:33 But it wasn't a big studio production. 21:35 Can you imagine? 21:37 So if a song has it, 21:39 it will find a way to bless people. 21:41 And his song blessed people on gospel music charts, 21:44 number one for two years. 21:45 It's amazing. 21:47 Well, it is amazing. 21:48 Yeah, absolutely. 21:49 Now we've got about five minutes left. 21:51 I want to talk about next program. 21:53 The very first... 21:55 Tell us a little how this is going to work. 21:56 We're going to come out. 21:57 Maybe myself or Yvonne 22:00 or somebody will be here to kind of co-host. 22:01 We'll get you started, but you're going to go over. 22:04 We have a piano over there, 22:05 a microphone, little podium. 22:06 So you're going to become Lanny the teacher again, 22:09 the instructor, right? 22:10 You're going to let me do this? 22:11 And so what can we expect? 22:14 Hopefully, what are we going to get at home? 22:16 Okay. 22:17 The first session 22:19 is going to address simplicity and repetition. 22:22 The second session is going to be talking about 22:24 the power of repetition. 22:26 Then I've got a session coming up called, 22:28 where do I get ideas for my songs? 22:31 Then we're going to have some sessions on 22:33 co-writing, publishing. 22:35 There are so many areas of songwriting 22:39 that I am so excited to talk about. 22:41 When I got my second degree in music, 22:44 this is amazing to me. 22:46 So many times, Danny, you understand this. 22:48 People who don't have a lot of educational academic prowess 22:53 in their music background, 22:54 they think they know everything. 22:56 You've met some of those? 22:57 Are you talking about me? 22:59 Okay. 23:00 It's all right, go ahead. 23:02 So after I got my master's in music, 23:04 it was then that I realized how much I didn't know. 23:07 No. 23:08 There's so much to know. 23:09 So we're just excited 23:11 about all these different areas. 23:13 And I'm excited to just share this with people 23:15 who think they could possibly write a song, 23:18 or people who may not think, 23:21 oh, I'm going to write a song, but I just want to enjoy this. 23:24 Because I want it to be not only inspirational 23:27 from the standpoint of writing a song, 23:29 which is inspirational. 23:30 Gospel music is the good news and it's inspirational. 23:33 When we talk about these people like Fanny Crosby, 23:35 that's inspirational. 23:37 She was blind. 23:38 Yeah, amazing. 23:40 Can you imagine? 23:41 No. 23:42 She didn't write her first song until she was 44. 23:45 Amazing again. 23:46 Wow. 23:48 So and some of you are out there think, "Oh, I'm too old." 23:51 You're never too old. Hello. 23:53 I'm going to talk to you about some folks 23:55 that did some amazing things in their winter years. 23:58 No, no, no, forget age, throw out the AARP card. 24:01 Just if you like gospel music, you're going to enjoy this. 24:04 And it's possible that you could write a song 24:08 that the world is waiting to hear. 24:10 Wow, ain't that a thought? 24:12 I mean, really there are songs 24:14 that we know is going to come from somebody, right? 24:16 They come from the Lord, 24:18 but going to come from somebody and why not you? 24:20 And if your song gets to be song of the year 24:24 or it has widespread visibility, 24:27 don't forget finder's fee. 24:30 Oh, of course. 24:31 I learned that from Danny. 24:33 Oh, yeah, right. 24:34 You know what, though, 24:35 it just occurred to me one of the things that we could do. 24:37 Those that follow through, 24:39 I think, and write songs and you go through this series, 24:43 you send us some songs. 24:44 And we play it, yes. 24:45 And if they're really good songs, 24:47 we'd love to show them 24:48 or maybe get Lanny to play them or somebody to sing them. 24:51 And we'd love to do that 24:53 because we're just looking for songs 24:55 that are going to bless, 24:57 you know, people around the world. 24:59 And so, we'll let Lanny kind of be the judge here. 25:04 You'll look at the songs and we'll help you. 25:05 We'll look. 25:07 And I'm sure that there are going to be folks. 25:09 If you really... 25:10 Especially those you've never written a song before, 25:13 that maybe is going to say, 25:15 "You know, I want to follow each of these programs. 25:18 I want to learn how to do this." 25:20 And maybe God will just give them that special one 25:22 that to begin with, they won't be like Lanny Wolfe 25:25 beating the bushes for years or out, you know. 25:27 And Danny, when we used to have Danny Shelton Trio back 25:31 in the 70s going around and doing... 25:34 They have the potential now 25:35 to write a song and literally get on the air 25:37 and millions of people can see it. 25:40 So I'm excited about it for you. 25:42 I'm excited to have Lanny and we could sit here and talk. 25:44 In fact, we have and we've co-written some songs 25:47 by doing just this, but we wanted to involve you. 25:50 Jesus says, "Go ye into all the world." 25:52 So songwriting is one of those go ye into all the world. 25:55 Outreach. 25:56 When the Iron Curtain was up. 25:58 And a lot of us are old enough to remember that. 26:01 And I was around when it fell, and I praise God for that. 26:04 But I couldn't go behind, 26:06 Lanny Wolfe couldn't go behind the Iron Curtain, 26:08 but your music could. 26:09 Yes. And did. 26:10 And so, that's the amazing thing about it. 26:13 The airwaves, sheet music, whatever back then. 26:17 Just like the Bible was behind the Iron Curtain, 26:20 you can't keep the gospel out. 26:22 And so that's what's beautiful about go ye into all the world. 26:25 Some people we've seen on this network, 26:29 people come to the Lord through someone singing a song. 26:33 Absolutely. 26:34 They literally call and say, 26:36 "I gave my heart to Jesus while I was listening to... 26:38 One time years ago, Tammy Larson, 26:40 who works here in production was singing, 26:43 when He was on the cross, I was on His mind. 26:46 I think one of the Hensons maybe 26:47 or someone wrote the song and the guy... 26:50 'Cause I ended up talking to him 64 years old, said, 26:53 "I never accepted Jesus. 26:54 But when she sang that song, it ministered to me 26:57 and I gave Him my heart and life to Him." 26:58 We see that over and over and over. 27:00 So we're not just here to have fun. 27:02 We want to have fun. 27:03 We're not here just to teach you how to write a song, 27:06 but to this is our way of evangelism. 27:10 So almost everything that I've learned 27:12 in the past has gone down to one word 27:14 and the closing moments of earth's history, 27:16 Lanny, and that's evangelism, 27:18 evangelism, evangelism. 27:20 And we can do that. 27:21 And you can do that when you decide, 27:24 "Hey, I can write a song." 27:25 Now we know it's with God's help, 27:27 but this is going to be a great program 27:29 and we want you to watch. 27:30 So we're going to have a number. 27:32 We don't know how many 27:33 we're going to let the series go. 27:34 We're even looking at possibly you can play an instrument. 27:36 Like you can play a guitar and teach you 27:38 in some simple ways to do it in chords 27:41 and maybe even the little number system, 27:43 that type of thing. 27:44 So it's going to be a great series, great program. 27:46 Thank you, Mr. Lanny Wolfe, 27:47 for taking of your great time to be here with us. 27:51 And so we have to leave you now. 27:52 But until we see you next time, 27:54 remember, you can write a song. |
Revised 2021-11-08