May 30, 2024 - Good Morning! It's Thursday, May 30.
I continue today with a brief series on stories behind favorite children's gospel songs, as my church prepares for next week's Vacation Bible School.
Herbert Woolston was a pastor, a writer, a gospel song composer... and a magician. That last one kind of came out of left field, didn't it? Woolston was all about keeping his audience's attention. And so, he would incorporate sleight-of-hand into his sermons. Fun!
Woolston especially loved teaching children, and you can imagine that the little children loved him. He claimed that he had "addressed over a million children" in his 50-year ministry career. He also wrote several books filled with object lesson ideas for kids.
Considering all that, it's not too surprising that Herbert Woolston composed the second most favorite children's gospel song, after "Jesus Loves Me." His "Jesus Loves the Little Children of the World" has been sung by millions of children around the world since its composition in 1913. It had three verses originally, but now we only sing the chorus. The Baptist Hymnal first included it in 1991 but changed the famous phrase - "red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in His sight" to "every color, every race, all are covered by His grace."
However you sing it, this little song recalls the words of Jesus in Matthew 19:14 - "Let the little children come to me."
Meet you back here tomorrow,
Bro. David
dmathis@fbccenter.org
