Words and Musings lynndes | July 29, 2021

PRAYERS TO THE KING releases 7-13-21

Oh, this is my prayer to the King

He’s worthy of glory, the best that I can bring

Oh, this is my prayer to the King

My life for His glory, my call and my creed

“This is my prayer to the King”

The second week in March of this year, a good friend called me out of the blue. “Hey, friend, I miss you! Can I take you to lunch?” And also somewhere in that conversation, “I believe I had a word from the Lord about you a couple of months ago.” Well now… my curiosity was piqued and I was definitely up for lunch. Besides, Chris was buying.

Chris Griffin and I are friends with a musical history, so I looked forward to our visit and was curious to hear what he had to say. We attended the same church a number of years ago, and he served on our worship team then and even traveled with me for a short stint. Chris is now the Creative Director for Church of the Highlands in Birmingham, Alabama. When COTH needs music or video for one of their ministry outreaches, Chris makes it happen with a talented crew of creative people. Which brings me back to our lunch.

Between bites of pita and hummus at the Olive Branch restaurant, my friend delivered “the word of the Lord.” Chris looked at me and said matter-of-factly, “You need to dust off your songwriting.” And that was it. That was the big word. These days I am tempted to dismiss such statements outright. People mean well, but that’s often all it is. But since it was Chris, I didn’t blow him off. My songwriting gift was definitely in a dormant state, as I told him.

Then God opened a door for me that I never expected to be open in this season of my life. Chris invited me to some online writing sessions with a small team of Highlands writers, beginning the very next day. From that first (for me) session on March 11th, we began working on songs that were specifically intended for a prayer app that Church of the Highlands planned to release that summer. Yours truly was privileged to collaborate on nine out of the ten songs included in the PRAY FIRST app that officially released July 13, 2021. It is no exaggeration to say that my songwriting went from dormancy to full bloom over one lunch. No one was more surprised about it than I was.

This album of ten songs is entitled PRAYERS TO THE KING, taken from the title cut, “Prayer to the King,” which I co-wrote with Chris Griffin. I encourage you to find it, listen, and even incorporate some of them into your own prayer times. They will bless you.

Here’s how you can experience PRAYERS TO THE KING:

Effective August 13, 2021 – Go to the Youtube channel, Highlands Worship and watch the beautifully done song videos as performed by the Church of the Highlands worship team. Do us songwriters a favor and share the link on social media platforms. We’ll earn a gazillionth of a cent for each play.

https://www.youtube.com/HighlandsWorship

Go the App Store and download the free PRAY FIRST app. Once the app is installed on your device, tap on the musical notes icon at the top right of your screen. That will take you to the song player. Use ear buds or an external speaker for a better listening experience. Songwriters earn zero for plays through the app. But that’s alright – it’s our sacrifice of praise.

Don’t want an app? Here’s a place that Highlands Worship releases new product. You can stream PRAYERS TO THE KING from their platforms effective August 13, 2021: