You will enjoy this mission song…”Bring Their Faces into Focus” by James Cordell and arranged by Jenifer Cook.

The song begins with a Christian’s plea to God… seeking a vision for lost souls amongst the busyness of life and its distractions.

A reminder for Christians  to focus on a world full of faces in need of the Saviour.

James shares the story behind this beautiful song…

“The last scene of  Duey Whitfield’s missionary presentation showed an outline of the Unites States filled with faces of people. However, the faces were intentionally blurry. 

Duey made the point that we so often pass people in our lives, but that they are a blur to us.

We do not take the time to focus on their faces and their need of  Christ. Out of that thought, this song was born.” 

James has dedicated this song to his friends, Duey and Melissa Whitfield, missionaries to the Spanish in the United States.

Bring Their Faces into Focus

Sacred vocal solo, Medium voice, 4 pgs. Great mission song! *Price covers two copies. The following audio is a close enough representation of the piano score.

Price: $5.50

I’ve had many requests for this mission song after posting it on youtube a couple of years ago. We’re excited to be publishing James Cordell’s mission piece entitled “Bring Their Faces into Focus”.  Look for this song to be published by noon (EST) tomorrow.

I thoroughly enjoyed writing the accompaniment for my dad’s song entitled “My Mother”.

A mixed adult and children’s ensemble at our church are singing this on Mother’s Day.

My Mother

Sacred vocal solo or group special; unison. 3 & 1/2 pgs. *Price covers two or more copies. No audio included; pdf only

Price: $6.00

Publishing a  Mother’s day song tonight!  I wasn’t sure if I would have it ready in time…barely though!

A sampling of the first page is listed above.

My dad wrote this song years ago and now it will finally be available in print! The song is sung from an adult or kid’s perspective of their Mother and how she faithfully prays for their salvation and how thankful they are for their Mother’s love.

A mixed adult ensemble and children’s group from our church will be singing this on Mother’s day.

I’m excited to have my grandchildren singing for the first time in this special!

I will try to provide a video of our church group singing this arrangement asap.

I should have it published by 9 pm EST tonight.

How many church pianists have ever heard of the hymn “Ready”?  One of my readers recently  requested an offertory arrangement for this hymn.(actually just yesterday) Thanks Nancy!

I googled the hymn because I didn’t recognize the title right away.  Once I saw the music score, I realized it was one I grew up with… but rarely heard.

One main idea comes to my mind after skimming through the words of each verse…Total Commitment to Christ No Matter What. How convicting when I insert the words “Am I…” before each phrase.

After reading the words to each verse I thought, “This is a hymn worth reviving!”   The writer of this hymn, Charles Tillman, was the son of an evangelist. He painted houses and was also a traveling salesman for a music company out of Raleigha, NC in the late 1800’s.  Charles began his career as a singing evangelist in 1887. He died at the age of 82 in 1943.

Lyrics to “Ready”

Ready to suffer grief or pain,
Ready to stand the test,
Ready to stay at home and send
Others if He sees best.

Ready to go, ready to bear,
Ready to watch and pray,
Ready to stand aside and give,
Till He shall clear the way.

Ready to speak, ready to think,
Ready with heart and mind,
Ready to stand where He sees fit,
Ready His will to find.

Ready to speak, ready to warn,
Ready o’er souls to yearn,
Ready in life or ready in death,
Ready for His return.

Refrain:

Ready to go, ready to stay,
Ready my place to fill,
Ready for service, lowly or great,
Ready to do His will.

I hope other church pianists can use this old but wonderful hymn to enrich their music ministry at church.

Ready

Sacred early advanced piano solo, 2 & 1/2 pgs. Approx. length: 1:16 Complete audio below (youtube link)

Price: $2.95

Just published a new sacred vocal solo by Mina Oglesby that’s never been recorded until now..called “Rest Will Come in the Morning”.

I first discovered this piece in a songbook collection by Mina called “I Would See Jesus” published in the 1980’s.  After playing through the piece, I immediately called Mina and said, “This song needs to be shared! It’s beautiful!”  She allowed me to create an arrangement of this comforting song.  I can’t wait to look through her books and share more of her wonderful songs filled with her love for Christ.

Appropriate song for any time of the year and would also make a nice funeral vocal solo too.

Thanks to Casie Schmidt for the wonderful recording of Mina’s song. I played in E flat for the recording. In case that’s too low for some people…I also included the arrangement in F Major but didn’t charge extra for having both arrangements.

Rest Will Come in the Morning

Sacred vocal solo by Mina Oglesby (4 pages) *Price covers two copies. Key of E flat Major

Price: $4.50

Some friends of ours just published their first sacred vocal CD this past summer entitled “His Name is Wonderful”.  I absolutely love it!

Thanks to Faith Music Missions for doing an outstanding  job on this CD! You can hear samples HERE (offsite link)

You may contact me at jenifer@thechurchpianist.com to order the CD. (I do have a limited number of these CDs for $12 each plus postage.)

I was suppose to accompany them for the recording but distance prevented me from doing so but their pianist, David Chamberlain, did a wonderful job!

Hunter and Morgan commuted to our church for at least four years while attending Bible college.  They served in several areas of ministry while there.

We miss them!  (Hunter was the inspiration behind the congregational booklets I’ve been publishing.)

Hunter now serves in a church located in New York City while Morgan is serving in a church out in Kansas.

Back to the CD…The songs are fresh! (some haven’t been published yet)

I plan to publish at least 6 out of the 10 from this  sacred vocal CD.  (“God Can” by Lynndale Hardeman) is already available in our online music store HERE.

Here is a sample of  one of their songs “His Name is Wonderful” written by Reece Yandle (my Dad 🙂

(Information for CD drawing is below the video)

To enter this sacred vocal cd giveaway: (a max of 2 comments per person…details below)

1.  First comment (like it, nice cd, etc.)

2.  Second comment: Share this article link on facebook, twitter, or other social media and leave a 2nd comment providing your social media link.

3.   Winner will be notified via email from jenifer@thechurchpianist.com

4.   Drawing ends on March 10th 2016 at 8pm EST

I love to look through old hymnals for long forgotten hymns that I can try to revive.

But I stumbled across this forgotten hymn in one of my devotional books this week, entitled, “Amazing Grace 366 Inspiring Hymn Stories for Daily Devotions” written by Kenneth W. Osbeck

I absolutely LOVE this book and not sure how I acquired it.

“May the Mind of Christ My Savior” had two authors: Words by Kate Wilkinson and Music by A. Cyril Barham-Gould (what a long name!)  I couldn’t find much information about either author but had to share this hymn loaded with rich meaning!

Here’s an excerpt from my devotional book which introduced this hymn…

“Each day our prayer life should include the request that the Holy Spirit reveal the mind of Christ to us.   It is vitally important that we nourish our minds daily with quality materials_ things “that are just, pure and lovely.”  Philippians 4:8

Click on title below for FREE PDF:

May the Mind of Christ My Savior (lyrics included)

This has to be one of my favorite Christmas songs now!  My dad wrote this song several years ago and now it’s available in print!

You’ll love the haunting melody along with the emphasis on salvation that Christ brought to the world.

Hallelujah Christ is Born

Low to medium range sacred Christmas vocal solo; 4 pgs *Price covers two copies. The haunting melody of this selection takes our Lord from the manger to the cross.

Price: $6.50

I’ve been sick  for the past three weeks and feeling much better now!

Unfortunately I was unable to finish “Sweet Little Jesus Boy” piano solo but will be publishing a brand new Christmas vocal solo arrangement by my dad, Reece Yandle, sometime this week. The song is entitled “Hallelujah, Christ is Born!” and is just beautiful!  The verses begin in a minor key and the chorus changes to major…I will say this has become my favorite Christmas song written by my Dad. Yes, he has written others but just haven’t published them yet 🙂

Here’s an audio sample of Dad’s song with printed words below to follow along as you hear the tune…

Hallelujah Christ is Born

Verse one:

Prophet bards foretold His birth,

How the Babe would come to earth;

How salvation He would bring,

Jesus Christ the newborn King!

Chorus:

Hallelujah, Christ is born,

Hallelujah Christmas morn…

I have also posted some Christmas piano arrangement books for sale on our “Used Music” page.  These books come from a growing stack of books I purchased this past year and just don’t need them all. I plan to post more for sale as time allows.