Tuesday, September 26, 2006
This is the story behind the song "We Will" that is Worship Leader Magazine's free download of the month in October on their website at http://worshipleader.com
Since I was 18 I’ve had a fascination of sorts with people who were not only willing, but did give it all for their faith. Praying and thinking about these people helps me in my own commitment and worship of our Savior. Today it doesn’t take a long look around to see that the kingdom of God is under attack. My heart burns with a passion for the heroes of the faith that defy earthly logic and priorities and declare the name of Jesus in the face of persecution.
We Will was birthed out of a time of prayer for Iran where 9 church leaders have been killed for their faith and placed in prison. A friend of mine for the last 3 years, David Yeghnazar, is a leader at Elam Ministries. Elam is a mission focused on reaching Iran with the Gospel and they initiated and helped lead a project called 40 Days of Prayer for Iran. I have a passion for the people, and especially the church, of that controversial country so my wife and I jumped on board.
After my wife and I walked through this time of prayer, David called me one afternoon. He said he’d been listening to “Rain Down” by Martin Smith and Stuart Garrard and thought about having a song written to capture the heart of 40 Days of Prayer. I’ve learned that the church in Iran is growing fast, but this growth has come at a price with Fathers, brothers and sons martyred leaving behind wives and children. I was really humbled by his request and told him I would give it a shot.
The next day we were meeting with several leaders from the church in the Arab world in a small group setting at one of our church member’s homes. When I got to the party a few minutes early this song was on my heart. I made my way to their grand piano and immediately begin to play a chord progression that was unlike what I usually write.
I kept reviewing the chords in my head throughout the night all the while anxious to get home and type them into my laptop so I wouldn’t forget. In about 2 weeks I finally got time to sit down at my piano and try and match a melody with the chords.
When I sat down to play a melody began to come and the first words came easily.
“In a far off foreign land, Children are fathered, while brothers are martyred...”
As I continued with the verse it became evident that God was calling out to us to partner with those whose lives evidenced this ultimate walk of faith that captures my heart. Then the first chorus began to flow.
“Who will watch? Who will pray? Who will fall on their knees…”
The second half of the chorus came after contemplating the great commission and what Jesus has given us to do. After writing the first chorus, it felt like the only natural response was to answer and say “We Will”. The second verse was probably the hardest to write. Inspiration came easy on the first verse and chorus, but this one took some time to craft. I just began to consider what a call like that from Him would do in our hearts and what He might be calling us to. The Lord has been dealing with me about living a life of significance and substance. I think I have Him and John Piper’s great book, “Don’t Waste Your Life”, to thank for that. The ending line of the second verse was birthed out of a desire to in some small way live a life of sacrifice and intensity like those persecuted for their faith.
“Like those who’ve gone before, we will answer”,
The second chorus was pretty much writing itself by then. All that had to be done was to change some of the pronouns around and change out “who” for “we”. The song was flowing from my heart. Yes, I want to answer, “We Will”. Singing this for the first time was special for me. It felt as if the Lord was drawing something out of my heart that had been stirring for some time.
The bridge came at a later date. The producer I was working with to record this song, told me he felt it needed one more lift. After writing what we felt was a good bridge I spent some time in prayer and sought the advice of several friends. In many ways, my thought was that since this song came with such ease and inspiration I should just leave it alone. However, after listening through, it was evident that I needed to pursue excellence with the gift God had given me.
My encouragement for other writers would be to write from your passion and from a real place of what God is doing in your heart and life and in the life of your church. I am blessed to serve in a church filled with people who really want to do life God’s way. In my case, staying globally focused is easy as my pastor and his wife have served as missionaries and run their own mission’s organization.
What began as a song about one nation became a cry for all nations where our brothers and sisters are chasing after God through their persecution. They say in these countries that the church is built on the blood of the martyrs. My prayer is that this song would be useful in encouraging our congregations both corporately and individually to pray for these brave believers and the church family worldwide.
