Congregational Songs – New Songs for Corporate Worship

Ira Sankey Quote

July 1, 2011

I’m currently reading “Fistful of Heroes: Christians at the Forefront of Change.” It’s a great book of biographical summaries, which I love, because it tells me story after story of men and women that I want to become more like. Each is passionately committed to Christ, and each is very different in the way that passion plays out through their particular gifts and experiences.

I read today about the partnership of D.L. Moody and Ira Sankey. I had, of course, heard of Moody, but I only had a faint familiarity with Sankey’s name. He was the worship leader for Moody’s revivals in the late 1800s in the UK, and the two men were used by God to transform the island to the point that those who returned from trips abroad said that hearing a “Moody/Sankey” hymn made them feel they were indeed back in Britain.

Here’s the quote: “Sankey was aware that the singing of another [leader] had been ‘a revelation to me of the marvellous power there was in a simple gospel hymn when the singer put his whole heart and soul into it. I shall never forget how the great gathering was thrilled by the wonderful pathos of the singer’s voice. It was an entirely different style of singing from that which I had so often heard in many churches where I attended. Every word could be distinctly heard in the remotest part of the building.’ There had arisen ‘a great desire in my own heart that I might some day be able to use my voice in like manner.’”

Filed under: Heart,Leading Worship