Hymns | Blind Man's Fancy

Thursday Hymn Reflection: Afflicted Saint, to Christ Draw Near

April 30, 2015April 30, 2015 B.J. MaxwellChurch Life, Hymns, Pastoral Ministry

John Fawcett was converted as a 16-year-old in 1755 under the ministry of George Whitefield. He became the pastor of Wainsgate Baptist Church in Yorkshire in 1764. In 1772, he initially accepted the invitation to succeed the formidable John Gill at London’s Carter’s Lane Baptist Church and that at a substantially higher salary. This was no small honor for Fawcett who once wrote prior to 1764, To be brief, my dear […]

Friday Hymn Meditation: At Calvary

March 6, 2015March 6, 2015 B.J. MaxwellHymns

Mom’s favorite hymn, At Calvary, was published in 1895 by William Reed Newell. Newell was a Presbyterian pastor, assistant superintendent of Moody Bible Institute under the famous R.A. Torrey, and well-renowned Bible expositor. His only hymn was forty years old when Mom would’ve started singing it in Itta Bena, MS. The song meant little-to-nothing to me until five years after she died. But the song itself anticipates that very situation. doesn’t it? After […]