The Story Behind the Song
This hymn is included in the August 9th service at 11 am. Ways to attend in person and online can be found here.
You are viewing: Who Wrote The King Is Coming
This song can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rq4Tlt5yQ8E&feature=youtu.be
Bill Gaither is a legend in gospel music. He’s made his mark in the field as a performer, song writer, producer and driving force behind the incredibly successful Gaither Homecoming series of videos, recordings and concerts. He began singing with his siblings, Danny and Mary Ann, as the Bill Gaither Trio in 1956 while still in college. After graduation, Bill began teaching English at Alexandria (Indiana) High School where he met his future wife, writing partner, and (when his sister Mary Ann left the group) fellow trio singer, Gloria. The group, which recorded 33 albums and won two Grammys and two Gospel Music Association (GMA) Dove Awards, was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 1999.
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In 1981, while waiting for a Bill Gaither Trio concert to begin, Gary McSpadden, Steve Green, and Lee Young were backstage with Bill improvising harmonies to an old gospel song. Gaither liked the result and “decided they should try out their new sound on a live audience that very night. The audience went wild…and that impromptu performance marked the beginning of an era.” Thus was born the Gaither Vocal Band, winner of two Grammys and over 20 Dove Awards. This group became the second with “Gaither” in its name to be inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame (2014).
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In the 1990s, Bill began producing the Homecoming series which has resulted in “scores of videos that document the musical homecomings of the legends of southern gospel; recognition of gold, platinum or multi-platinum status by the Recording Industry Association of America on 78 of the videos; the placing of a dozen videos at number 1 on Billboard magazine’s video sales charts; and a following of 75 million viewers who watch The Gaither Gospel Hour and the Gaither Family Music Hour on PAX-TV, PBS, TBN, FamilyNet, Daystar, Vision, Crossroads, GMTN and the Inspirational Network.”
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As songwriters, though, Bill and Gloria Gaither have had an influence on Christian music that will far surpass their impact as performers and entrepreneurs. Bill has been recognized by the GMA as the Songwriter of the Year eight times (1969, 1970, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976 and 1977) and Gloria won it in 1986. (Bill actually won it also in 1971, but due to irregularities in voting in other categories, the GMA declared all awards that year null and void.) In 2000, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) named Bill and Gloria “Christian Songwriters of the Century.” Bill said: “I’m a writer. I’m a performer. I’m a business person. I’m a producer. On any given day, I’m all of those…but the songs will last long after a guy is gone and dead if they are done well.” In 2019, on the 50th anniversary of the GMA’s Dove Awards, Gloria Gaither reflected on the songs she and her husband had written since Bill won the inaugural Songwriter of the Year award half a century earlier. “We’ve written hundreds of songs since then, and it gives me so much satisfaction to know that some of those have stuck to the wall, and are still ministering to believers across the country,” she said. Since they began writing together, Bill and Gloria have penned more than 700 popular gospel songs. Some that have “stuck to the wall” are “Because He Lives,” “Something Beautiful,” “He Touched Me” (honored by the Indianapolis Star newspaper as one of the Top 10 Songs of the Century written by a Hoosier), “It Is Finished,” “There’s Something About that Name,” “Let’s Just Praise the Lord,” “Loving God, Loving Each Other,” “I Believe in a Hill Called Mount Calvary,” “I Will Serve Thee,” “The Longer I Serve Him,” and “The King Is Coming.”
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That last song, “The King Is Coming,” won the Dove Award for Song of the Year in 1971 (but that award, as explained above, was vacated). It was written in 1970 after the Gaithers spent an evening having dinner and discussing Jesus’ Second Coming with two evangelist friends. Part of their discussion centered on a recent sermon the two friends had heard in which the preacher, Jim Crabtree, pointed out that, although Biblical Christians believe that Jesus will return in glory to earth, most are too busy with everyday life to give it much thought. The preacher ended his sermon by walking out through the congregation shouting, “The King is coming! The King is coming!” After the two friends had left, Gloria began writing the words and Bill the music. Gloria later shared that “I saw an image of the coronation of a King, who walked down the corridor of history; I could see lining the corridor throngs of witnesses of His redeeming grace… When the lyric was written, I felt spent, yet shaky with excitement. I took the words in to Bill and he immediately played and sang them fitting them like a glove to the music he’d been hearing. His chorus finished the piece with simplicity and power.”
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Yet for all their musical and commercial success (in 2004, the Bill Gaither Homecoming Tour sold more tickets worldwide—541,890!—than Rod Stewart, Elton John and Fleetwood Mac), the Gaithers remain grounded in genuineness and in ministry. As Bill writes, “Our calling is not just making music…but communicating the reality of Christ. That might mean birthing a song about Him or simply offering a cup of cold water to someone who needs it. Gloria and I have never claimed to have God figured out, but we do know that if He could use two imperfect people like us to communicate His Truth to the world, He can use everyone sitting in the audience, working on our staff or singing with us. If we have done anything right over the years, I hope we have built bridges where people could connect with God and with each other. That is what started us writing and what will keep us going for the rest of our lives.”
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Til Next Week!Pastor David
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