Worship leader and songwriter Geron Davis sits down with Matt and Laurie to share the remarkable journey of his timeless worship song Holy Ground. Written at just 19 years old for the dedication of his church’s new building, the song went on to reach audiences far beyond its original moment. After more than four decades of creating worship music that leads people into God’s presence, Geron reflects on the enduring message of Holy Ground—and how it continues to resonate with listeners everywhere.
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Praise | Geron Davis: Holy Ground, A Timeless Worship Anthem | Praise | April 14, 2026
- Coming up tonight on praise...
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- [♪♪] ladies and gentlemen, geron davis.
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- For over two decades, geron davis has been a fan favorite
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- And frequent guest on a variety of tbn programs.
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- ♪ lord, we give you all the glory ♪
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- ♪ we give you all the honor ♪
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- ♪ praise and magnify your name, lord ♪
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- Geron grew up as a pastor's kid in savannah, tennessee, and
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- Started writing songs and
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- Leading worship at a very early age.
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- That inspirational upbringing led him to become one of gospel
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- Music's most prolific and influential songwriters, with a
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- Catalog of songs that continue to be sung and heard weekly in
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- Churches across america and the world.
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- ♪ in the presence ♪
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- ♪ of jehovah ♪
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- His most popular song, holy ground, has become a mainstay
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- For worship leaders of all genres and after almost 50
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- Years, it's still a favorite here on tbn.
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- ♪ we are standing ♪
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- ♪ on holy ground ♪
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- ♪ and i know that there ♪
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- ♪ are angels all around ♪
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- Tonight on praise, hear the backstory of how and why the
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- Song holy ground was written as matt and laurie crouch host
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- Singer, songwriter, and pastor geron davis.
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- What a great way to introduce a praise program by saying we are
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- Sitting on holy ground.
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- Okay, we're we're not standing.
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- We're sitting. right.
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- Why am i talking about holy ground with you?
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- Geron, why?
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- What's the subject here?
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- Well, probably because i'm out of the hundreds of songs i've
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- Written, that's the most well-known song that i
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- Wrote years ago.
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- Yeah. holy ground has been recorded numerous times,
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- Hundreds of millions of listens on all the different platforms
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- Around the world.
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- Multiple languages.
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- So, holy ground, you have to wind the clock back till you're
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- Just a youngster.
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- And i think our audience would be super interested with the
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- Kind of the backstory. before we get to that, in case you've
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- Been living under a rock or you haven't been to church ever,
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- Not once, ever, never were in sunday school, never in royal
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- Rangers, any of that,
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- Um, maybe you don't know what we're talking about, but in
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- Case you don't take a listen to this.
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- ♪ we are standing ♪
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- ♪ on holy ground ♪
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- ♪ and i know that there are angels ♪
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- ♪ all around ♪
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- ♪ let us praise ♪
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- ♪ jesus now ♪
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- ♪ we are standing ♪
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- ♪ in his presence ♪
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- ♪ we are standing ♪
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- ♪ in his presence ♪
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- ♪ yes, we are ♪
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- ♪ we are standing ♪
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- ♪ in his presence on holy ground ♪
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- ♪ you're on holy ground ♪
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- So, geron, basically everyone has heard this song.
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- Our viewing audience,
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- You know, for sure. we've been doing tbn for 53 years and
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- It's, you know, it's played 745 million times on this network.
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- So holy ground,
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- Uh, take us to the origins of holy ground.
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- Well, i was just 19 when i wrote it and a pastor's kid.
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- So that was 112 years ago.
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- Yeah, something like that. yeah.
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- '98, but close.
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- And, uh, you know, it's, it's it's funny how i never expected
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- It to still be around 45, 50 years later.
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- Yeah. and, um, and to see what all it has done, it's been in
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- Several hymnals.
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- I thought you had to be dead,
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- Or at least real old to be in a hymnal.
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- And it's been, it's been in several hymnals.
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- It's been recorded by numerous artists.
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- Um, uh, cheryl prewitt blackwood recorded it.
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- Uh, she was the first one to do it.
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- Uh, jeannie tinny recorded it.
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- Um, cheryl's--
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- This shows you how god works.
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- Cheryl's record company released it as a single, and
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- Then they shut down.
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- And so it never got on the charts or anything, but it had
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- Gotten in the church, and so
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- Churches began to sing it everywhere.
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- Jack hayford got up at his pastor's conference that year
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- And said, if you only teach your church one song this year,
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- Let it be this one.
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- Now, jack has written a lot of significant songs himself, but
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- For him to say that about a young kid's song was really
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- Just an amazing thing.
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- Okay, how do you look at your 19 year old son and say, you
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- Need to write a song, son?
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- I mean, how long have you been writing?
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- I had been writing, you know, 3 or 4 years, my brother and i
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- Were we had a group, we had all guys in my dad's church,
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- Small town, small church, and
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- We didn't really have any girls.
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- There was one girl and she's married to my brother today, so
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- That, you know, but we, we started this group and we
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- Would, we went to the oak ridge boys studio and made a record,
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- And we would travel every weekend and sing in different
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- Churches, and girls would come.
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- So we're using our talents for
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- The lord and we're meeting girls.
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- And that's just win-win, right,
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- When you're a teenage guy.
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- And so i had written some songs and a lot of
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- Them weren't great. praise the lord.
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- But i had, i had started doing it and people in our
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- Church were used to us singing a new song i had written.
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- And so dad said, why don't you write us a song for the
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- First sunday service?
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- And so that's why i did it.
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- But, you know, unfortunately, i
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- Put it off till the last minute and--
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- So take it--
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- What year are we talking here roughly?
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- So you know, you're talking about '81, '82, '83,
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- Somewhere in that range?
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- It would have been 1980. 1980.
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- Yeah. you're 19.
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- Mhm. so you're a lot older than i am, is the point i was trying
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- To make, but go ahead.
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- So at 19, you're the worship
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- Leader for your dad's church. right?
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- And what little town are we talking about?
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- Savannah, tennessee.
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- West tennessee, right on the tennessee river.
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- And, um, it was a great little town.
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- My dad was president of the ministerial association
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- Eight different times.
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- Um, and everybody in the community, all the different
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- Denominations were friends of ours.
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- And music was just what we did.
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- Our family sang and all of us sang.
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- And, um, and so it was, it was what i was doing.
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- And, um--
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- Were you a good kid growing up?
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- Were you obedient kind of,
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- Or were you like lost your way and had to come back
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- And be found again, you know?
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- You know, i never, i never wandered away.
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- I was obedient and good as far as my parents knew.
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- Got it.
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- I could-- i can say that. that could be my testimony too.
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- As much as my parents knew, i was--
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- Yes. there was never any, you know, public drunkenness and
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- All of that kind of stuff.
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- But, um, you know, for the most part, i was a good kid because
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- I honestly loved it.
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- I loved singing in church.
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- I loved, uh, traveling and singing and doing concerts and
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- All the little all right things.
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- So it was my heart.
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- Dad comes to you in 1980 and says, geron, i need a--
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- Tomorrow is for sunday. need a song tonight.
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- And you're talking about a new building, right?
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- You were, you were dedicating a new building.
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- Getting ready to move into our brand new sanctuary.
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- Okay, now we're getting kind of down to the nitty gritty.
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- So how long did you kind of put it off?
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- Like, how much lead time did
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- Your dad give you to write this song?
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- Dad asked me about six weeks out. all right.
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- And said, you know, you know, here's the sunday.
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- And i said, okay, i will.
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- And you know, i was 19.
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- I had important stuff in my life.
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- And so i kind of forgot about it.
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- A couple of weeks later, dad said, you're working
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- On that song, son?
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- I go, dad, come on. you've got stuff to take care of building
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- This church that i can't take care of,
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- But i know when that sunday is.
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- Yeah, take it off your list of things to worry about.
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- I'll have your song.
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- Saturday night--
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- Oh, dear.
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- Midnight, the night before--
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- We've worked hard all day getting everything ready.
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- And all my younger siblings had gone home and gone to bed.
- 00:09:43.172 --> 00:09:46.342
- Me and mom and dad were the last three at the church, and
- 00:09:46.342 --> 00:09:48.811
- Dad's walking down the hall toward his office and i'm
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- Walking facing him.
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- I'll never forget it.
- 00:09:53.015 --> 00:09:54.283
- And he goes, i can't wait to hear your song in the morning.
- 00:09:54.283 --> 00:09:56.552
- Because he had taken me at my word and left me alone and
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- Hadn't mentioned it again.
- 00:09:58.921 --> 00:10:00.556
- And fear gripped my heart and i'm like, oh, i probably better
- 00:10:00.556 --> 00:10:04.193
- Not put it off any longer, right?
- 00:10:04.193 --> 00:10:05.828
- Since everybody's showing up tomorrow morning, i just peeled
- 00:10:05.828 --> 00:10:08.297
- Off into the sanctuary,
- 00:10:08.297 --> 00:10:09.565
- Sat down at the new grand piano
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- They had bought and thought, what do we want to say
- 00:10:11.000 --> 00:10:12.835
- When we come in here?
- 00:10:12.835 --> 00:10:13.936
- And literally in 30 minutes,
- 00:10:13.936 --> 00:10:17.039
- I wrote holy ground. wow.
- 00:10:17.039 --> 00:10:37.693
- There she is.
- 00:10:37.693 --> 00:10:40.863
- Man,
- 00:10:40.863 --> 00:10:42.798
- If i had a dollar for every hour i spent on this piano.
- 00:10:42.798 --> 00:10:48.404
- And i'm really grateful that everybody can't know all the
- 00:10:48.404 --> 00:10:54.543
- Songs i wrote on this piano, because some of them
- 00:10:54.543 --> 00:10:59.448
- Back then weren't
- 00:10:59.448 --> 00:11:01.751
- That great,
- 00:11:01.751 --> 00:11:04.019
- But thankfully some of them were.
- 00:11:04.019 --> 00:11:07.456
- This is where i got my start.
- 00:11:07.456 --> 00:11:10.893
- I started playing the piano when i was five and i played
- 00:11:10.893 --> 00:11:17.032
- Hours every day.
- 00:11:17.032 --> 00:11:19.034
- And as a teenager, i started writing songs and my friends
- 00:11:19.034 --> 00:11:24.840
- Were my first audiences.
- 00:11:24.840 --> 00:11:26.675
- There's no way to count the hours that i spent playing and
- 00:11:26.675 --> 00:11:30.746
- Writing, because it wasn't something i was forced to do.
- 00:11:30.746 --> 00:11:34.850
- It was a passion, i loved it.
- 00:11:34.850 --> 00:11:37.419
- This is the hall i was walking down.
- 00:11:37.419 --> 00:11:40.022
- I came from that direction.
- 00:11:40.022 --> 00:11:41.857
- My dad was coming from that direction to his office, and he
- 00:11:41.857 --> 00:11:46.228
- Said, i can't wait to hear your song in the morning,
- 00:11:46.228 --> 00:11:49.732
- The song i had forgotten about.
- 00:11:49.732 --> 00:11:52.134
- And when fear gripped my heart, this is the door i went into,
- 00:11:52.134 --> 00:11:56.939
- And sat down 25 minutes later
- 00:11:56.939 --> 00:11:59.975
- God had given me holy ground.
- 00:11:59.975 --> 00:12:02.645
- It was midnight and i had to
- 00:12:02.645 --> 00:12:04.980
- Have it written for the next morning.
- 00:12:04.980 --> 00:12:06.482
- So i thought, well, it can't be complicated.
- 00:12:06.482 --> 00:12:08.818
- It's got to be simple.
- 00:12:08.818 --> 00:12:10.085
- But i really wanted something that the people could sing.
- 00:12:10.085 --> 00:12:14.023
- This would be the first sunday in our new sanctuary.
- 00:12:14.023 --> 00:12:17.726
- So i wanted something that would be simple that
- 00:12:17.726 --> 00:12:20.396
- Everyone could sing.
- 00:12:20.396 --> 00:12:22.097
- And i just started writing the chorus,
- 00:12:22.097 --> 00:12:24.300
- ♪ we are standing on holy ground and i know that there are ♪
- 00:12:24.300 --> 00:12:30.206
- ♪ angels all around ♪
- 00:12:30.206 --> 00:12:33.042
- ♪ let us praise jesus now we are standing ♪
- 00:12:33.042 --> 00:12:36.412
- ♪ in his presence ♪ ♪ on holy ground ♪
- 00:12:36.412 --> 00:12:39.748
- I thought, that's pretty simple.
- 00:12:39.748 --> 00:12:41.217
- 1 or 2 times through and everybody will have it.
- 00:12:41.217 --> 00:12:43.419
- And then i went and added verses.
- 00:12:43.419 --> 00:12:46.689
- When i wrote it,
- 00:12:46.689 --> 00:12:48.490
- This is the way i wrote it.
- 00:12:48.490 --> 00:12:51.026
- We didn't have laptops, we didn't have printers.
- 00:12:51.026 --> 00:12:55.064
- I did everything longhand.
- 00:12:55.064 --> 00:12:57.433
- I wrote an extra copy for my brother and sister so they
- 00:12:57.433 --> 00:13:00.369
- Would have the words. back then,
- 00:13:00.369 --> 00:13:02.538
- We wrote it out longhand.
- 00:13:02.538 --> 00:13:04.540
- That's the only option we had.
- 00:13:04.540 --> 00:13:07.009
- I like this way better.
- 00:13:07.009 --> 00:13:10.012
- That day when we sang it, the people responded.
- 00:13:10.012 --> 00:13:15.351
- There was a spirit of worship that came in the place.
- 00:13:15.351 --> 00:13:19.488
- And, uh, i remember, uh, one lady got up and began to walk
- 00:13:19.488 --> 00:13:24.126
- In the aisle with her hands in the air.
- 00:13:24.126 --> 00:13:26.195
- And i never imagined or dreamed then that it would go
- 00:13:26.195 --> 00:13:29.565
- As far as it's gone.
- 00:13:29.565 --> 00:13:31.667
- But i did realize that god had given me something that was
- 00:13:31.667 --> 00:13:35.504
- More than just me satisfying a request by my dad, but
- 00:13:35.504 --> 00:13:39.375
- Something that touched the hearts of people.
- 00:13:39.375 --> 00:13:41.577
- And i was grateful for that.
- 00:13:41.577 --> 00:13:43.946
- The first time i found that holy ground was going to be
- 00:13:43.946 --> 00:13:46.415
- Used in a hymnal,
- 00:13:46.415 --> 00:13:48.050
- I was a little surprised because i thought you had to be
- 00:13:48.050 --> 00:13:50.853
- Dead or really old to be in a hymnal, and i,
- 00:13:50.853 --> 00:13:54.490
- I had a lady who was in her 80s argue with me
- 00:13:54.490 --> 00:13:57.693
- One time. she said, you wrote holy --
- 00:13:57.693 --> 00:14:01.764
- I don't i don't think so because i've been singing that
- 00:14:01.764 --> 00:14:04.633
- Since i was a little girl.
- 00:14:04.633 --> 00:14:06.969
- I said, not that one.
- 00:14:06.969 --> 00:14:08.604
- Um, it feels like a friend.
- 00:14:08.604 --> 00:14:12.007
- I think there's something about it.
- 00:14:12.007 --> 00:14:13.542
- The simplicity of the music,
- 00:14:13.542 --> 00:14:15.544
- Um, the chords, the words,
- 00:14:15.544 --> 00:14:18.380
- It feels like a friend and it feels like something you've
- 00:14:18.380 --> 00:14:20.749
- Heard all your life.
- 00:14:20.749 --> 00:14:22.184
- And i think that's a, a positive thing.
- 00:14:22.184 --> 00:14:25.087
- People love it
- 00:14:25.087 --> 00:14:26.288
- The first time through and feel like they can sing it.
- 00:14:26.288 --> 00:14:32.728
- Man, this is the room.
- 00:14:35.664 --> 00:14:38.300
- This is where it happened.
- 00:14:41.303 --> 00:14:43.305
- It's changed.
- 00:14:43.305 --> 00:14:45.007
- We had pews.
- 00:14:45.007 --> 00:14:47.910
- We had choir risers.
- 00:14:47.910 --> 00:14:51.947
- The piano was here.
- 00:14:51.947 --> 00:14:55.584
- It was an organ in here.
- 00:14:55.584 --> 00:14:58.954
- The colors are changed, but
- 00:14:58.954 --> 00:15:02.257
- This is where it happened.
- 00:15:02.257 --> 00:15:03.859
- I was sitting right there
- 00:15:03.859 --> 00:15:06.628
- At the piano at midnight on that saturday night in this
- 00:15:06.628 --> 00:15:11.900
- Sanctuary and thought, what do we want to say when we come in
- 00:15:11.900 --> 00:15:15.604
- Here for the first time?
- 00:15:15.604 --> 00:15:19.508
- Less than 30 minutes
- 00:15:19.508 --> 00:15:22.344
- Right there.
- 00:15:22.344 --> 00:15:25.914
- This will always be holy ground to me.
- 00:15:25.914 --> 00:15:31.553
- Oh, gosh.
- 00:15:34.289 --> 00:15:38.994
- Sitting here in this room, in this building, at this piano
- 00:15:38.994 --> 00:15:46.135
- And remembering all the people that were here that first day,
- 00:15:46.135 --> 00:15:50.939
- So many of them gone to glory.
- 00:15:50.939 --> 00:15:52.908
- My dad, who asked me to write gone to glory.
- 00:15:52.908 --> 00:15:56.578
- I played this piano at many of their home going services,
- 00:15:56.578 --> 00:16:01.717
- And i realized that what made this place holy was not those
- 00:16:01.717 --> 00:16:05.888
- Awesome people, although they were wonderful people that
- 00:16:05.888 --> 00:16:08.624
- Built this church,
- 00:16:08.624 --> 00:16:10.259
- Not my dad who preached great sermons, not even this piano
- 00:16:10.259 --> 00:16:13.996
- Or my song.
- 00:16:13.996 --> 00:16:14.897
- What made this place holy was
- 00:16:14.897 --> 00:16:16.899
- That his presence by invitation--
- 00:16:16.899 --> 00:16:19.735
- He comes when he's invited, came and sat here, and all of
- 00:16:19.735 --> 00:16:24.540
- The people who enjoyed holy ground here at this building
- 00:16:24.540 --> 00:16:29.478
- Will all be on holy ground together again one day.
- 00:16:29.478 --> 00:16:32.347
- And that's the hope that a
- 00:16:32.347 --> 00:16:34.650
- Song like holy ground gives us is
- 00:16:34.650 --> 00:16:37.286
- Holy ground isn't just where you are right now, but it's the
- 00:16:37.286 --> 00:16:40.556
- Hope of where we are going one day.
- 00:16:40.556 --> 00:16:45.394
- This song is, you know, again, it's made its way into
- 00:16:48.897 --> 00:16:52.301
- Hymnals and this,
- 00:16:52.301 --> 00:16:53.569
- Everyone knows this song and we're trying to talk about its
- 00:16:53.569 --> 00:16:58.307
- Influence even across and
- 00:16:58.307 --> 00:17:00.576
- Outside the four walls of the church.
- 00:17:00.576 --> 00:17:02.511
- It's bridged way out.
- 00:17:02.511 --> 00:17:04.079
- And, you know, secular artists have have recorded it, and it's
- 00:17:04.079 --> 00:17:08.217
- Really, really an amazing song.
- 00:17:08.217 --> 00:17:11.453
- So take us to that little
- 00:17:11.453 --> 00:17:12.621
- Moment you first touched the keys.
- 00:17:12.621 --> 00:17:14.523
- What's the first phrase that comes out?
- 00:17:14.523 --> 00:17:16.892
- Walk us through that.
- 00:17:16.892 --> 00:17:18.193
- Well, as a, as a pastor's kid, you know, i know the importance
- 00:17:18.193 --> 00:17:22.231
- Of, um, the sanctuary of a church in the believer's life.
- 00:17:22.231 --> 00:17:28.804
- And, um, so we wanted it to be a place where, um, you know,
- 00:17:28.804 --> 00:17:35.344
- Dad would preach, we would sing, but more importantly, we
- 00:17:35.344 --> 00:17:38.480
- Wanted it to be a place where people would walk in and sense
- 00:17:38.480 --> 00:17:41.817
- The presence of god.
- 00:17:41.817 --> 00:17:43.385
- That was our goal.
- 00:17:43.385 --> 00:17:45.120
- And, um, and so i thought, you know, when i walked through the
- 00:17:45.120 --> 00:17:50.092
- Doors, i sensed his presence and i knew this was a place
- 00:17:50.092 --> 00:17:53.028
- Where love abounds.
- 00:17:53.028 --> 00:17:54.429
- Of course, thinking of the scripture that i heard my dad
- 00:17:54.429 --> 00:17:58.000
- Preach on before about moses, the lord saying in the burning
- 00:17:58.000 --> 00:18:01.436
- Bush, take your shoes off.
- 00:18:01.436 --> 00:18:03.005
- You're on holy ground.
- 00:18:03.005 --> 00:18:04.506
- Um, and i just thought that would be a good, um, premise
- 00:18:04.506 --> 00:18:08.944
- For the song.
- 00:18:08.944 --> 00:18:10.345
- And the chorus is one of the
- 00:18:10.345 --> 00:18:12.614
- Most simple choruses i've written.
- 00:18:12.614 --> 00:18:16.084
- Much more complicated, much more clever lyrics.
- 00:18:16.084 --> 00:18:21.223
- Um, but i wanted it to be something everybody would
- 00:18:21.223 --> 00:18:23.725
- Understand instantly.
- 00:18:23.725 --> 00:18:26.862
- I know that there are angels all around.
- 00:18:26.862 --> 00:18:28.363
- Let us praise jesus now.
- 00:18:28.363 --> 00:18:29.898
- We're standing in his presence on holy ground.
- 00:18:29.898 --> 00:18:32.701
- I thought, that's simple enough that we can sing it 2 or 3
- 00:18:32.701 --> 00:18:36.004
- Times and get everybody to sing along.
- 00:18:36.004 --> 00:18:38.240
- This was before we put words on the screen.
- 00:18:38.240 --> 00:18:40.542
- You didn't have screens.
- 00:18:40.542 --> 00:18:41.710
- Yeah. and there were, there were no--
- 00:18:41.710 --> 00:18:43.178
- It wasn't in any hymnal.
- 00:18:43.178 --> 00:18:44.379
- We had hymnals, but it was new
- 00:18:44.379 --> 00:18:46.281
- So it hadn't been in the hymnal.
- 00:18:46.281 --> 00:18:47.716
- I wasn't 90 yet, you know, and so, um, so i wanted it to be
- 00:18:47.716 --> 00:18:52.621
- Simple and singable.
- 00:18:52.621 --> 00:18:53.889
- And, um, plus, i was going to have to teach my brother and
- 00:18:53.889 --> 00:18:57.125
- Sister the words and the parts the next morning because they
- 00:18:57.125 --> 00:19:00.229
- Had already gone to bed.
- 00:19:00.229 --> 00:19:01.763
- And, um, so it had to be simple enough that they could learn it
- 00:19:01.763 --> 00:19:04.833
- And, and sing it.
- 00:19:04.833 --> 00:19:06.401
- And, and, uh, so i wrote it in about 30 minutes and wrote it
- 00:19:06.401 --> 00:19:10.339
- On a piece of paper. we didn't have laptops.
- 00:19:10.339 --> 00:19:12.207
- We didn't have ipads, um, and just wrote it down on a
- 00:19:12.207 --> 00:19:15.877
- Legal pad and, um--
- 00:19:15.877 --> 00:19:18.213
- Okay, i'm not musical, so i don't even know whether the
- 00:19:18.213 --> 00:19:21.383
- Chorus or the verse.
- 00:19:21.383 --> 00:19:22.084
- What did you write first?
- 00:19:22.084 --> 00:19:23.685
- What was the--
- 00:19:23.685 --> 00:19:24.519
- I wrote the verse first.
- 00:19:24.519 --> 00:19:25.887
- Okay. and so what is the verse?
- 00:19:25.887 --> 00:19:28.390
- When i walk through the doors, i sensed his presence.
- 00:19:28.390 --> 00:19:31.793
- And i knew this was a place where love abounds.
- 00:19:31.793 --> 00:19:34.896
- For this is a temple
- 00:19:34.896 --> 00:19:36.465
- Jehovah god abides here.
- 00:19:36.465 --> 00:19:39.167
- We are standing in his presence on holy ground.
- 00:19:39.167 --> 00:19:44.906
- I know the part that comes after that. everyone starts.
- 00:19:44.906 --> 00:19:49.278
- [sings] we are you're standing on holy ground.
- 00:19:49.278 --> 00:19:53.282
- Yeah.
- 00:19:53.282 --> 00:19:54.316
- And i know that there are angels all around.
- 00:19:54.316 --> 00:20:01.757
- Let us praise jesus now.
- 00:20:01.757 --> 00:20:07.195
- We are standing in his presence on holy ground.
- 00:20:07.195 --> 00:20:13.935
- I think right here on tbn,
- 00:20:13.935 --> 00:20:16.138
- Edith tripp would sing that song.
- 00:20:16.138 --> 00:20:18.307
- My sweet, sweet edith would
- 00:20:18.307 --> 00:20:20.575
- Sing and she would sing that song.
- 00:20:20.575 --> 00:20:22.744
- And i just remember so many times, even during
- 00:20:22.744 --> 00:20:25.580
- Telethons and stuff,
- 00:20:25.580 --> 00:20:26.882
- Edith would sing, and in israel she would sing and just, just
- 00:20:26.882 --> 00:20:33.789
- People would just weep. oh, yes.
- 00:20:33.789 --> 00:20:36.425
- You know, and it was just such a blessing to everyone.
- 00:20:36.425 --> 00:20:39.394
- She did it so good. the first time i met her,
- 00:20:39.394 --> 00:20:41.963
- The first time i got to meet
- 00:20:41.963 --> 00:20:43.131
- Her, she said, oh, let me hug you,
- 00:20:43.131 --> 00:20:46.068
- The man who wrote holy ground.
- 00:20:46.068 --> 00:20:48.170
- So sweet, so precious.
- 00:20:48.170 --> 00:20:49.638
- You know, when you think back all those years and you know,
- 00:20:49.638 --> 00:20:53.041
- Those that have been viewing tbn for all these years would
- 00:20:53.041 --> 00:20:57.045
- Remember laverne and edith tripp.
- 00:20:57.045 --> 00:20:58.613
- They're both in heaven today. right.
- 00:20:58.613 --> 00:21:00.515
- And laverne was just the ringleader of that, you know,
- 00:21:00.515 --> 00:21:05.454
- And he was just the big, you know, center of attention.
- 00:21:05.454 --> 00:21:08.924
- Six foot four big guy, you know, just always singing.
- 00:21:08.924 --> 00:21:11.927
- He was always singing all the main parts.
- 00:21:11.927 --> 00:21:14.930
- And when little edith would step out of the shadows and
- 00:21:14.930 --> 00:21:18.734
- Take front and center, that was her song.
- 00:21:18.734 --> 00:21:21.370
- It was, you know, holy ground.
- 00:21:21.370 --> 00:21:23.305
- And she would-- and, and, and laverne would take a step and
- 00:21:23.305 --> 00:21:26.942
- Robbie and terry and they'd
- 00:21:26.942 --> 00:21:28.643
- Step back and she'd be out front.
- 00:21:28.643 --> 00:21:30.212
- And it's such a vivid memory for us all those years ago.
- 00:21:30.212 --> 00:21:35.117
- Wow. yeah. she-- edith was a prayer warrior.
- 00:21:35.117 --> 00:21:39.321
- Yeah. she was.
- 00:21:39.321 --> 00:21:40.622
- And when she would step out and start singing, all those hours
- 00:21:40.622 --> 00:21:44.326
- And hours of prayer, you would feel that force come and people
- 00:21:44.326 --> 00:21:48.597
- Who would be watching it on tv would just feel the presence of
- 00:21:48.597 --> 00:21:52.534
- God come down to where they were.
- 00:21:52.534 --> 00:21:54.302
- She was-- yeah, she talked loud with that.
- 00:21:54.302 --> 00:21:57.739
- ♪ as i walked ♪
- 00:22:00.642 --> 00:22:04.346
- ♪ in this place, ♪
- 00:22:04.346 --> 00:22:07.249
- ♪ i felt his presence ♪
- 00:22:07.249 --> 00:22:11.253
- ♪ and i knew ♪
- 00:22:14.122 --> 00:22:18.260
- ♪ this was the place ♪
- 00:22:18.260 --> 00:22:21.897
- ♪ where love abounds ♪
- 00:22:21.897 --> 00:22:25.801
- ♪ for this is the temple ♪
- 00:22:28.937 --> 00:22:36.311
- ♪ jehovah god ♪
- 00:22:36.311 --> 00:22:38.513
- ♪ here by jesus ♪
- 00:22:38.513 --> 00:22:40.549
- ♪ we are standing here ♪
- 00:22:43.585 --> 00:22:48.657
- ♪ we're in his presence ♪
- 00:22:48.657 --> 00:22:51.560
- ♪ we're on holy ground ♪
- 00:22:51.560 --> 00:22:54.963
- I haven't actually officially introduced you.
- 00:22:58.333 --> 00:23:01.903
- We're halfway through the show, and i haven't even
- 00:23:01.903 --> 00:23:03.805
- Really. geron davis, you and becky are, you know, flying all
- 00:23:03.805 --> 00:23:09.110
- Over the united states and world.
- 00:23:09.110 --> 00:23:11.112
- And there's another little song that they're a part of, the
- 00:23:11.112 --> 00:23:13.548
- Presence of jehovah.
- 00:23:13.548 --> 00:23:14.649
- We've heard that 400 million times.
- 00:23:14.649 --> 00:23:16.818
- That song mercy saw me.
- 00:23:16.818 --> 00:23:18.820
- Holy of holies. you've written hundreds of songs.
- 00:23:18.820 --> 00:23:21.990
- And in the presence of jehovah,
- 00:23:21.990 --> 00:23:25.393
- Judy martin.
- 00:23:25.393 --> 00:23:26.561
- Yes.
- 00:23:26.561 --> 00:23:27.863
- Oh, i, i have listened to judy and the martins sing that song
- 00:23:27.863 --> 00:23:32.100
- A million times on a cd through my life.
- 00:23:32.100 --> 00:23:35.103
- They did it so good.
- 00:23:35.103 --> 00:23:36.204
- It is so good, so good.
- 00:23:36.204 --> 00:23:39.407
- Okay, so let's not go too far down that rabbit hole, okay?
- 00:23:39.407 --> 00:23:43.311
- We're gonna stay on holy ground.
- 00:23:43.311 --> 00:23:44.312
- All the graphics here.
- 00:23:44.312 --> 00:23:46.114
- In the studio, from holy ground to in the presence of jehovah
- 00:23:46.114 --> 00:23:50.285
- That's a separate episode.
- 00:23:50.285 --> 00:23:51.553
- Okay. um, so, geron, i read an article that you had written
- 00:23:51.553 --> 00:23:58.226
- One time about the writing of this song and that you started
- 00:23:58.226 --> 00:24:04.266
- Humming something.
- 00:24:04.266 --> 00:24:06.167
- So for those of us that don't know anything about songwriting
- 00:24:06.167 --> 00:24:10.639
- Or singing or can't carry a tune in a bucket, and the only
- 00:24:10.639 --> 00:24:14.543
- Thing we know how to play is the radio,
- 00:24:14.543 --> 00:24:17.012
- What was that moment of humming?
- 00:24:17.012 --> 00:24:19.648
- What did you hear first and how
- 00:24:19.648 --> 00:24:21.516
- Did you start putting that all together?
- 00:24:21.516 --> 00:24:23.785
- You know, i got the idea for the chorus.
- 00:24:23.785 --> 00:24:27.722
- Na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na.
- 00:24:27.722 --> 00:24:32.027
- It's real singable,
- 00:24:32.027 --> 00:24:33.728
- But i thought we've got to set it up right?
- 00:24:33.728 --> 00:24:35.997
- So i really focused on the verse first when i walked
- 00:24:35.997 --> 00:24:39.034
- Through the doors because it was a new building. right.
- 00:24:39.034 --> 00:24:41.803
- And the verse when you're writing songs, the verse has to
- 00:24:41.803 --> 00:24:45.407
- Be lower melodically than the chorus. the verse is down here.
- 00:24:45.407 --> 00:24:50.812
- Da da da da da da da da.
- 00:24:50.812 --> 00:24:52.447
- 1,2,3,3,2,1,7.
- 00:24:52.447 --> 00:24:55.417
- And those are the notes in the scale.
- 00:24:55.417 --> 00:24:57.686
- And then when you get to the chorus, da da da da da
- 00:24:57.686 --> 00:25:01.456
- Da, five, six, five.
- 00:25:01.456 --> 00:25:03.625
- And so the chorus goes up and then the verse comes back down,
- 00:25:03.625 --> 00:25:06.895
- And then the chorus goes back up.
- 00:25:06.895 --> 00:25:08.897
- So that's sort of the rules,
- 00:25:08.897 --> 00:25:10.865
- Songwriting 101.
- 00:25:10.865 --> 00:25:12.734
- And, um, and i just felt like
- 00:25:12.734 --> 00:25:15.003
- It was singable and it was, um, pretty.
- 00:25:15.003 --> 00:25:19.741
- The chords could be pretty, the chords i wrote originally,
- 00:25:19.741 --> 00:25:22.744
- I've learned more chords since then.
- 00:25:22.744 --> 00:25:24.379
- So i changed some of the chords, but the melody
- 00:25:24.379 --> 00:25:27.015
- Stayed the same. yeah.
- 00:25:27.015 --> 00:25:28.650
- When two lines cut by a transversal were alternate
- 00:25:28.650 --> 00:25:33.655
- Interior angles are congruent.
- 00:25:33.655 --> 00:25:35.624
- The lines are parallel. praise the lord.
- 00:25:35.624 --> 00:25:38.193
- Okay, that's kind of what i heard you saying just now.
- 00:25:38.193 --> 00:25:41.696
- I didn't even understand a word of what you just said.
- 00:25:41.696 --> 00:25:46.301
- So we're going to turn left to
- 00:25:46.301 --> 00:25:48.536
- Right, right base to right, final.
- 00:25:48.536 --> 00:25:50.839
- And we're on approach so we could start talking
- 00:25:50.839 --> 00:25:53.475
- Airline pilot talk.
- 00:25:53.475 --> 00:25:54.843
- Yeah. yeah.
- 00:25:54.843 --> 00:25:55.710
- You you made no sense to me, geron.
- 00:25:55.710 --> 00:25:58.580
- Yeah. [speaking spanish]
- 00:25:58.580 --> 00:26:02.317
- The verses, though stay lower and the so that the
- 00:26:02.317 --> 00:26:07.455
- Chorus goes up and becomes a little more of the feature.
- 00:26:07.455 --> 00:26:11.459
- And then the verse sets up the chorus.
- 00:26:11.459 --> 00:26:14.529
- Okay. talk to us about the not by might nor by power, but by
- 00:26:14.529 --> 00:26:18.900
- My spirit, says the lord.
- 00:26:18.900 --> 00:26:21.102
- Because at some point the lord can breathe on anything at any
- 00:26:21.102 --> 00:26:25.740
- Time and it becomes a global phenom,
- 00:26:25.740 --> 00:26:29.277
- Okay, that can happen.
- 00:26:29.277 --> 00:26:30.712
- Is there any rhyme or reason to that?
- 00:26:30.712 --> 00:26:33.281
- How do you explain a song that you write in 30 minutes, at the
- 00:26:33.281 --> 00:26:39.387
- Last minute, because you told
- 00:26:39.387 --> 00:26:40.889
- Your dad you would write a new song,
- 00:26:40.889 --> 00:26:43.191
- How do you explain some of that?
- 00:26:43.191 --> 00:26:45.393
- You know, i don't.
- 00:26:45.393 --> 00:26:46.928
- There is no explanation for it.
- 00:26:46.928 --> 00:26:49.364
- You know, out of the hundreds of songs i've written, holy
- 00:26:49.364 --> 00:26:53.301
- Ground is still, almost 50 years later, still being sung
- 00:26:53.301 --> 00:26:58.673
- Around the world.
- 00:26:58.673 --> 00:26:59.874
- We were just in kenya for a pastor's conference, 2000
- 00:26:59.874 --> 00:27:02.944
- Pastors standing singing the song.
- 00:27:02.944 --> 00:27:05.480
- We sang it in japan.
- 00:27:05.480 --> 00:27:06.581
- 5000 people stood and sang it.
- 00:27:06.581 --> 00:27:09.317
- Um, i don't know what happens on a song that makes it have
- 00:27:09.317 --> 00:27:15.590
- That. part of it i think is, um, maybe the benefit of reaping
- 00:27:15.590 --> 00:27:21.730
- From fields i didn't plant.
- 00:27:21.730 --> 00:27:23.164
- My parents planted churches and they served the kingdom
- 00:27:23.164 --> 00:27:27.068
- Faithfully for decades.
- 00:27:27.068 --> 00:27:29.771
- And so i wrote a song to honor my dad's request.
- 00:27:29.771 --> 00:27:34.709
- You know, did everything wrong.
- 00:27:34.709 --> 00:27:36.745
- Procrastinated last minute.
- 00:27:36.745 --> 00:27:39.914
- Um, and yet god said, okay, i'm going to i'm going to use this
- 00:27:39.914 --> 00:27:46.121
- For my glory.
- 00:27:46.121 --> 00:27:47.355
- And it wasn't about my ability, but maybe my availability.
- 00:27:47.355 --> 00:27:51.292
- And, and god just said, i'm going to use this.
- 00:27:51.292 --> 00:27:54.662
- I don't know how he did it.
- 00:27:54.662 --> 00:27:55.930
- Somebody asked buck rambo one time, where does dottie get
- 00:27:55.930 --> 00:27:58.399
- All those songs?
- 00:27:58.399 --> 00:27:59.701
- He said, don't you think if i knew, i'd go get a few myself?
- 00:27:59.701 --> 00:28:02.837
- But who knows how that happens?
- 00:28:02.837 --> 00:28:05.039
- It's just a god moment. yeah.
- 00:28:05.039 --> 00:28:08.743
- ♪ when i walked ♪
- 00:28:11.679 --> 00:28:17.619
- ♪ through the doors ♪
- 00:28:17.619 --> 00:28:22.624
- ♪ i sensed his presence ♪
- 00:28:22.624 --> 00:28:27.228
- ♪ and i knew ♪
- 00:28:30.098 --> 00:28:35.370
- ♪ this was a place ♪
- 00:28:35.370 --> 00:28:39.707
- ♪ where love abounds ♪
- 00:28:39.707 --> 00:28:43.344
- I was speaking in florida and i went to a church service and i
- 00:28:46.981 --> 00:28:51.085
- Heard someone singing holy ground.
- 00:28:51.085 --> 00:28:54.656
- It moved me and i said, i'm taking holy ground
- 00:28:54.656 --> 00:28:58.293
- Back. in our new worship center, we're going to have
- 00:28:58.293 --> 00:29:01.996
- Someone to sing it.
- 00:29:01.996 --> 00:29:03.498
- The opening of every service
- 00:29:03.498 --> 00:29:04.966
- And we did that for countless years.
- 00:29:04.966 --> 00:29:08.136
- We'd have someone as a soloist sing part of it.
- 00:29:08.136 --> 00:29:11.773
- Then the choir would come in.
- 00:29:11.773 --> 00:29:13.208
- Then the congregation would stand and sing.
- 00:29:13.208 --> 00:29:15.944
- We're standing on holy ground.
- 00:29:15.944 --> 00:29:19.848
- And so that song has meant so much to me and meant so much to
- 00:29:19.848 --> 00:29:24.619
- Our worshiping congregation
- 00:29:24.619 --> 00:29:26.588
- Because when you go to church, say, well, i went to church.
- 00:29:26.588 --> 00:29:30.058
- I went to worship.
- 00:29:30.058 --> 00:29:31.092
- Did you worship?
- 00:29:31.092 --> 00:29:32.694
- When you realize in god's house the gathered family, that
- 00:29:32.694 --> 00:29:36.998
- Becomes holy ground.
- 00:29:36.998 --> 00:29:41.903
- ♪ holy ground ♪
- 00:29:41.903 --> 00:29:46.875
- ♪ and i know that there are angels all around ♪
- 00:29:46.875 --> 00:29:56.818
- Hey, geron. i don't know how many times in concerts when the
- 00:29:56.818 --> 00:30:01.756
- Spirit is very close and we don't know where else to go
- 00:30:01.756 --> 00:30:08.096
- We sing we are standing on holy ground.
- 00:30:08.096 --> 00:30:12.200
- No song like it.
- 00:30:12.200 --> 00:30:14.302
- Yeah. and that lyric is just amazing.
- 00:30:14.302 --> 00:30:16.938
- Thank you for writing it for all of us.
- 00:30:16.938 --> 00:30:19.941
- ♪ we will praise jesus now ♪
- 00:30:19.941 --> 00:30:28.750
- ♪ praise him now ♪
- 00:30:28.750 --> 00:30:31.586
- ♪ we are standing ♪
- 00:30:31.586 --> 00:30:35.156
- ♪ in his ♪
- 00:30:35.156 --> 00:30:36.691
- ♪ presence on holy ground ♪
- 00:30:36.691 --> 00:30:41.296
- When i think of the beautiful song holy ground by geron
- 00:30:44.866 --> 00:30:48.703
- Davis, my friend, i think of the many services that i would
- 00:30:48.703 --> 00:30:54.509
- Just before i preach a sermon, go to that song and just begin
- 00:30:54.509 --> 00:30:59.180
- To sing it, and the very
- 00:30:59.180 --> 00:31:00.548
- Atmosphere of our church will change.
- 00:31:00.548 --> 00:31:03.551
- I never really can think of if i sing it as a song of worship,
- 00:31:03.551 --> 00:31:08.356
- That it doesn't change the atmosphere.
- 00:31:08.356 --> 00:31:10.558
- [saxophone solo]
- 00:31:10.558 --> 00:31:27.575
- Geron davis, one of the remarkable things about this
- 00:31:27.575 --> 00:31:31.412
- Gospel music life we live is the friendships we've made
- 00:31:31.412 --> 00:31:34.782
- Along the way.
- 00:31:34.782 --> 00:31:36.017
- And you, sir, are at the very top of our favorites list.
- 00:31:36.017 --> 00:31:39.320
- We love you and becky so much.
- 00:31:39.320 --> 00:31:41.556
- And whenever we gather around the piano with you to sing, it
- 00:31:41.556 --> 00:31:44.325
- Feels like church.
- 00:31:44.325 --> 00:31:45.793
- Whatever we want to sing, you can play it.
- 00:31:45.793 --> 00:31:48.796
- And whatever you play, it is worship.
- 00:31:48.796 --> 00:31:52.066
- We are so honored to be celebrating you
- 00:31:52.066 --> 00:31:54.335
- And the day that you gave the church a new anthem.
- 00:31:54.335 --> 00:31:57.772
- What was for you
- 00:31:57.772 --> 00:31:59.040
- A personal moment became a global spiritual reminder that
- 00:31:59.040 --> 00:32:04.278
- The natural becomes
- 00:32:04.278 --> 00:32:06.280
- Supernatural when god meets us there.
- 00:32:06.280 --> 00:32:09.283
- ♪ let us praise ♪
- 00:32:09.283 --> 00:32:12.487
- ♪ somebody praise jesus ♪
- 00:32:12.487 --> 00:32:15.390
- ♪ praise jesus now ♪
- 00:32:15.390 --> 00:32:19.527
- Oh my goodness, geron, thank you for giving us a song that
- 00:32:23.131 --> 00:32:27.301
- Spans generations and is as
- 00:32:27.301 --> 00:32:29.737
- Powerful today as it ever has been.
- 00:32:29.737 --> 00:32:32.373
- It has been so meaningful to my life personally.
- 00:32:32.373 --> 00:32:34.409
- But let me just speak as a worship leader.
- 00:32:34.409 --> 00:32:36.778
- Um, every worship leader out there knows that there comes a
- 00:32:36.778 --> 00:32:40.415
- Time where the songs are just not landing the way that you'd
- 00:32:40.415 --> 00:32:44.385
- Hoped and prayed they would.
- 00:32:44.385 --> 00:32:45.420
- It's just, it's just not coming together.
- 00:32:45.420 --> 00:32:47.922
- And you are needing that moment of breakthrough.
- 00:32:47.922 --> 00:32:51.759
- And somebody goes into, [sings] we are standing
- 00:32:51.759 --> 00:32:57.865
- On holy ground, and every time
- 00:32:57.865 --> 00:33:01.869
- The song just lands, it brings breakthrough.
- 00:33:01.869 --> 00:33:05.907
- It helps us lift our eyes.
- 00:33:05.907 --> 00:33:08.276
- Um, it just is the song that will bring a shift every time.
- 00:33:08.276 --> 00:33:12.547
- So we love you.
- 00:33:12.547 --> 00:33:14.182
- So grateful for this song and so grateful for you.
- 00:33:14.182 --> 00:33:17.118
- Can i just say something about that song?
- 00:33:17.118 --> 00:33:19.120
- Because so many of us maybe who were raised in church have some
- 00:33:19.120 --> 00:33:23.091
- Great memories of that song.
- 00:33:23.091 --> 00:33:25.293
- Uh, geron, you wrote that when you were just a wee boy.
- 00:33:25.293 --> 00:33:28.930
- And i remember my mom singing that song in church.
- 00:33:28.930 --> 00:33:31.666
- And just a few months ago, um, we were in the icu room with my
- 00:33:31.666 --> 00:33:36.771
- Dad, myself, my brother and my mom,
- 00:33:36.771 --> 00:33:40.041
- And as we were gathered around his bed, we began singing,
- 00:33:40.041 --> 00:33:43.478
- We are standing on holy ground
- 00:33:43.478 --> 00:33:45.046
- As he passed over to be with jesus.
- 00:33:45.046 --> 00:33:48.049
- And i'm so grateful for the presence of god that carries us
- 00:33:48.049 --> 00:33:52.120
- Through life's most difficult
- 00:33:52.120 --> 00:33:54.322
- Moments, life's most difficult circumstances.
- 00:33:54.322 --> 00:33:57.125
- And i'm grateful for songs like that that just have something.
- 00:33:57.125 --> 00:34:00.628
- There's something so special and it's like, you can just
- 00:34:00.628 --> 00:34:02.997
- Open up your mouth and sing it, and you're right there in the
- 00:34:02.997 --> 00:34:05.900
- Presence of god. so thank you.
- 00:34:05.900 --> 00:34:08.436
- Oh yeah.
- 00:34:08.436 --> 00:34:10.238
- ♪ we're standing ♪
- 00:34:10.238 --> 00:34:12.807
- Let's sing it one more time.
- 00:34:12.807 --> 00:34:15.009
- ♪ on holy ground ♪
- 00:34:15.009 --> 00:34:19.680
- ♪ and i know that there are angels ♪
- 00:34:23.017 --> 00:34:32.393
- ♪ all around ♪
- 00:34:32.393 --> 00:34:36.931
- ♪ so let us praise, let us praise ♪
- 00:34:36.931 --> 00:34:44.639
- ♪ jesus now ♪
- 00:34:47.508 --> 00:34:53.848
- ♪ jesus now we are standing ♪
- 00:34:53.848 --> 00:35:00.588
- ♪ in his presence ♪
- 00:35:00.588 --> 00:35:06.093
- ♪ on holy ground ♪
- 00:35:06.093 --> 00:35:13.768
- But i love that.
- 00:35:16.604 --> 00:35:17.238
- That's what god--
- 00:35:17.238 --> 00:35:18.639
- That's what god does.
- 00:35:18.639 --> 00:35:20.274
- He gets all the glory so that you don't get any.
- 00:35:20.274 --> 00:35:24.378
- We're not supposed to take any glory for something. you didn't
- 00:35:24.378 --> 00:35:26.747
- Know you were writing a hit like that, or something that
- 00:35:26.747 --> 00:35:29.617
- Would minister to the world a million times over,
- 00:35:29.617 --> 00:35:33.654
- Decades later, that we'd still be singing that.
- 00:35:33.654 --> 00:35:36.290
- Had i even imagined, i would have probably screwed it up by
- 00:35:36.290 --> 00:35:40.461
- Trying to make it better. yeah.
- 00:35:40.461 --> 00:35:42.663
- And i just did what i felt.
- 00:35:42.663 --> 00:35:45.933
- Yeah. and, you know, i look back now and realize, um, you
- 00:35:45.933 --> 00:35:49.904
- Know, hindsight is always 20/20.
- 00:35:49.904 --> 00:35:51.839
- I look back now and realize that, um, the holy spirit--
- 00:35:51.839 --> 00:35:56.544
- I was just holding the pen. yeah.
- 00:35:56.544 --> 00:35:58.479
- That was the presence of god flowing through me.
- 00:35:58.479 --> 00:36:01.148
- And, you know, i didn't mess it up.
- 00:36:01.148 --> 00:36:03.217
- I just did it like he sent it.
- 00:36:03.217 --> 00:36:04.952
- Yeah. i like what you just said.
- 00:36:04.952 --> 00:36:07.255
- If i would have known, i would have worked on it more because
- 00:36:07.255 --> 00:36:11.692
- Technically it was too simple.
- 00:36:11.692 --> 00:36:13.160
- You write more intricate things now.
- 00:36:13.160 --> 00:36:16.364
- You write deeper things.
- 00:36:16.364 --> 00:36:17.798
- You were-- you were in a mode that's
- 00:36:17.798 --> 00:36:21.502
- In the scripture,
- 00:36:21.502 --> 00:36:22.637
- God hath chosen the foolish things of this world to
- 00:36:22.637 --> 00:36:25.439
- Confound the wise.
- 00:36:25.439 --> 00:36:26.907
- You know, so there's a simple song.
- 00:36:26.907 --> 00:36:28.809
- You wrote it in 30 minutes, procrastinated to the last
- 00:36:28.809 --> 00:36:32.747
- Minute, taught it to your brother and sister.
- 00:36:32.747 --> 00:36:35.650
- You know, at the crack of dawn the next morning, you sang it
- 00:36:35.650 --> 00:36:38.119
- Publicly for the first time, right?
- 00:36:38.119 --> 00:36:40.655
- Basically having written it 12 hours earlier.
- 00:36:40.655 --> 00:36:44.558
- And, you know, now, 50 years later, the globe knows the song.
- 00:36:44.558 --> 00:36:49.897
- Isn't that kind of god?
- 00:36:49.897 --> 00:36:52.566
- Isn't that the way he kind of works?
- 00:36:52.566 --> 00:36:55.002
- Only god.
- 00:36:55.002 --> 00:36:55.970
- I mean, had david known, there's no way
- 00:36:55.970 --> 00:36:59.640
- Sitting out with sheep on a hillside writing songs that
- 00:36:59.640 --> 00:37:05.246
- 2000 years later, people would still be singing his songs.
- 00:37:05.246 --> 00:37:09.950
- He would be the most celebrated, quoted songwriter
- 00:37:09.950 --> 00:37:14.889
- Of all history.
- 00:37:14.889 --> 00:37:16.457
- My goodness, i hadn't even thought of that.
- 00:37:16.457 --> 00:37:18.492
- That's amazing.
- 00:37:18.492 --> 00:37:19.794
- But he was writing songs out of his relationship with the lord.
- 00:37:19.794 --> 00:37:23.164
- And my parents had taught me one thing and that is always
- 00:37:23.164 --> 00:37:27.168
- Appreciate, be drawn to immerse yourself in the presence of
- 00:37:27.168 --> 00:37:33.007
- Almighty god.
- 00:37:33.007 --> 00:37:34.241
- And so i was writing that for the house of god, for the
- 00:37:34.241 --> 00:37:37.478
- People of god, to celebrate the presence of god.
- 00:37:37.478 --> 00:37:41.115
- And it wasn't about the writer or a hit song.
- 00:37:41.115 --> 00:37:44.552
- It was about the moment for god's people.
- 00:37:44.552 --> 00:37:46.754
- And i think that's why god took it and did something with it.
- 00:37:46.754 --> 00:37:51.092
- So if you are sitting at that piano in your mind 50 years ago
- 00:37:51.092 --> 00:37:56.297
- Looking around, what was your expectation
- 00:37:56.297 --> 00:38:01.035
- For that next morning?
- 00:38:01.035 --> 00:38:03.437
- How many people would have been
- 00:38:03.437 --> 00:38:05.139
- Joining you into that new sanctuary?
- 00:38:05.139 --> 00:38:08.075
- What would that event have been like?
- 00:38:08.075 --> 00:38:10.778
- You know, we had a big church.
- 00:38:10.778 --> 00:38:13.147
- It was a little town.
- 00:38:13.147 --> 00:38:14.682
- So, you know, maybe 250. yeah.
- 00:38:14.682 --> 00:38:17.785
- So you were expecting a the hordes of 250 people to
- 00:38:17.785 --> 00:38:22.857
- Come in and to-- say
- 00:38:22.857 --> 00:38:24.525
- The beginning of it. it's when i walk
- 00:38:24.525 --> 00:38:28.496
- Through the doors,
- 00:38:28.496 --> 00:38:29.797
- I sensed his presence. yeah.
- 00:38:29.797 --> 00:38:31.966
- Yeah. and i knew this was a place where love abounds.
- 00:38:31.966 --> 00:38:35.503
- And we had a loving bunch of people.
- 00:38:35.503 --> 00:38:37.438
- Yeah. well, this is a temple.
- 00:38:37.438 --> 00:38:39.373
- Jehovah god abides here. we're standing in his presence
- 00:38:39.373 --> 00:38:42.810
- On holy ground.
- 00:38:42.810 --> 00:38:44.078
- We were watching a facility, a structure transformed from a
- 00:38:44.078 --> 00:38:49.083
- New building on a piece of real
- 00:38:49.083 --> 00:38:50.518
- Estate in hardin county, tennessee
- 00:38:50.518 --> 00:38:53.387
- Be converted and transformed
- 00:38:53.387 --> 00:38:55.756
- Not by us, not by a decorator, but by the presence of almighty
- 00:38:55.756 --> 00:39:00.194
- God into a temple and a holy place sanctuary.
- 00:39:00.194 --> 00:39:03.998
- That's beautiful actually.
- 00:39:03.998 --> 00:39:05.699
- Okay. the fact that sometimes something happens to the church
- 00:39:05.699 --> 00:39:12.706
- Where we have massive influence outside the church,
- 00:39:12.706 --> 00:39:17.578
- You know, outside the
- 00:39:17.578 --> 00:39:18.712
- Traditional four walls of the church.
- 00:39:18.712 --> 00:39:21.615
- You've seen that happen.
- 00:39:21.615 --> 00:39:23.684
- Isn't that
- 00:39:23.684 --> 00:39:26.454
- The greatest testimony
- 00:39:26.454 --> 00:39:27.888
- Is that,
- 00:39:27.888 --> 00:39:29.156
- Yeah, we get to worship, but technically we can worship in
- 00:39:29.156 --> 00:39:33.160
- Our own prayer closet.
- 00:39:33.160 --> 00:39:35.696
- We can worship at home alone.
- 00:39:35.696 --> 00:39:37.898
- There is something great about corporate worship.
- 00:39:37.898 --> 00:39:40.067
- But when when your worship song jumps the fence and gets
- 00:39:40.067 --> 00:39:46.340
- Outside the traditional walls of the of the church, that's
- 00:39:46.340 --> 00:39:50.644
- Really special.
- 00:39:50.644 --> 00:39:51.712
- And that happened to this song.
- 00:39:51.712 --> 00:39:53.914
- Yeah.
- 00:39:53.914 --> 00:39:55.049
- We were singing at an event in arkansas and it was a
- 00:39:55.049 --> 00:40:00.187
- Pentecostal camp meeting.
- 00:40:00.187 --> 00:40:02.056
- Okay. outside of little rock, there were a
- 00:40:02.056 --> 00:40:04.124
- Couple of thousand people there.
- 00:40:04.124 --> 00:40:05.926
- And we're singing and we're doing holy ground,
- 00:40:05.926 --> 00:40:08.996
- My wife and i and our friend tim pedigo.
- 00:40:08.996 --> 00:40:11.365
- And all of a sudden i feel an arm around my shoulder and i
- 00:40:11.365 --> 00:40:16.904
- Look and it's then governor bill clinton.
- 00:40:16.904 --> 00:40:19.840
- Oh my goodness.
- 00:40:19.840 --> 00:40:21.041
- With a mic in his hand and tears running down his face,
- 00:40:21.041 --> 00:40:24.011
- Singing holy ground with us.
- 00:40:24.011 --> 00:40:26.914
- And so somebody told me later, you might have just sung with a
- 00:40:26.914 --> 00:40:30.851
- Future president.
- 00:40:30.851 --> 00:40:31.685
- And i go, probably not.
- 00:40:31.685 --> 00:40:33.687
- And, and, but he told me, he
- 00:40:33.687 --> 00:40:35.856
- Said, that's one of my favorite songs.
- 00:40:35.856 --> 00:40:37.424
- He was in the choir at immanuel baptist church in little rock,
- 00:40:37.424 --> 00:40:42.029
- Which we've had the privilege of singing at several times.
- 00:40:42.029 --> 00:40:45.132
- And he was in the choir and that was one of his favorite
- 00:40:45.132 --> 00:40:49.870
- Songs they sang.
- 00:40:49.870 --> 00:40:51.105
- So when he then went on to become president, he wanted us
- 00:40:51.105 --> 00:40:54.875
- To come and sing.
- 00:40:54.875 --> 00:40:56.143
- Two of his favorite songs were in the presence of jehovah
- 00:40:56.143 --> 00:40:59.413
- And holy ground.
- 00:40:59.413 --> 00:41:00.681
- Wow. and so when his mother passed away, he had holy ground
- 00:41:00.681 --> 00:41:04.652
- Sung at her funeral.
- 00:41:04.652 --> 00:41:06.387
- Well, the next-- that afternoon or evening,
- 00:41:06.387 --> 00:41:10.291
- I got a phone call from the white house saying the
- 00:41:10.291 --> 00:41:12.526
- President had had to leave town, but he wanted me to know
- 00:41:12.526 --> 00:41:15.563
- How much that song meant to him
- 00:41:15.563 --> 00:41:17.531
- And how much his mom had loved it.
- 00:41:17.531 --> 00:41:19.266
- And he had it sung at her funeral.
- 00:41:19.266 --> 00:41:21.735
- And also, he wanted me to know that barbra streisand had been
- 00:41:21.735 --> 00:41:25.472
- There and said it was one of the most powerful things
- 00:41:25.472 --> 00:41:27.775
- She had ever heard.
- 00:41:27.775 --> 00:41:29.076
- So what do you think's going on with these kind of, um, outside
- 00:41:29.076 --> 00:41:35.416
- Of the church folk
- 00:41:35.416 --> 00:41:38.519
- Like a barbra streisand who, you know, she's obviously
- 00:41:38.519 --> 00:41:42.656
- Feeling the presence of the lord and maybe doesn't know
- 00:41:42.656 --> 00:41:45.693
- Even how to describe it would be my guess?
- 00:41:45.693 --> 00:41:47.861
- Well, she's from she's from a jewish background. you know,
- 00:41:47.861 --> 00:41:50.598
- She's jewish,
- 00:41:50.598 --> 00:41:51.632
- So she had never been in that kind of service.
- 00:41:51.632 --> 00:41:55.970
- And so i think, you know, she's won grammys and oscars
- 00:41:55.970 --> 00:41:59.707
- And, you know, the whole nine yards, emmys.
- 00:41:59.707 --> 00:42:04.812
- But when you encounter the presence of god, anything
- 00:42:04.812 --> 00:42:08.248
- You've encountered up till then,
- 00:42:08.248 --> 00:42:09.984
- Anything you've done up till then
- 00:42:09.984 --> 00:42:11.785
- Pales in comparison to the presence of almighty god.
- 00:42:11.785 --> 00:42:15.756
- And the president told me later-- we had lunch.
- 00:42:15.756 --> 00:42:19.293
- Uh, president bill clinton, uh, told me that, um, while he, he
- 00:42:19.293 --> 00:42:25.299
- Said, you know, they started singing holy ground.
- 00:42:25.299 --> 00:42:27.568
- I wasn't even there singing it.
- 00:42:27.568 --> 00:42:29.370
- Uh, and he said, um, you know, he said everybody was just
- 00:42:29.370 --> 00:42:33.007
- Worshiping, what always happens when we hear that song.
- 00:42:33.007 --> 00:42:36.577
- And he said, i felt a hand grab my shoulder and i turned around
- 00:42:36.577 --> 00:42:40.414
- And it was barbra streisand.
- 00:42:40.414 --> 00:42:42.383
- And she said, uh, where did this song come from?
- 00:42:42.383 --> 00:42:45.753
- He said, a friend of mine wrote it.
- 00:42:45.753 --> 00:42:47.221
- I'll tell you about it later.
- 00:42:47.221 --> 00:42:48.789
- And you know, when i get the call from the white house,
- 00:42:48.789 --> 00:42:52.226
- One of the most powerful things she'd ever heard, i thought,
- 00:42:52.226 --> 00:42:54.528
- Well, the president of the united states asked you what he
- 00:42:54.528 --> 00:42:58.232
- Thought about his and his dead
- 00:42:58.232 --> 00:43:01.168
- Mama's favorite song at her funeral.
- 00:43:01.168 --> 00:43:04.104
- What do you say? powerful.
- 00:43:04.104 --> 00:43:05.439
- But, you know, i just, you know, kind of
- 00:43:05.439 --> 00:43:08.175
- Chalked it up,
- 00:43:08.175 --> 00:43:09.309
- That was the appropriate thing to say in the moment.
- 00:43:09.309 --> 00:43:12.513
- And i thought, well, you know, i've sung, i've sung evergreen
- 00:43:12.513 --> 00:43:15.616
- At enough weddings.
- 00:43:15.616 --> 00:43:17.117
- You know, it's about time she heard one of my songs.
- 00:43:17.117 --> 00:43:19.820
- You know, we just-- i told my family about it.
- 00:43:19.820 --> 00:43:21.755
- I never shared it publicly.
- 00:43:21.755 --> 00:43:23.557
- Yeah. and then a year later, three years after the funeral,
- 00:43:23.557 --> 00:43:27.828
- They release-- dan keane from acsap calls and says, you'll
- 00:43:27.828 --> 00:43:32.399
- Never believe who did your song and sent us the press release.
- 00:43:32.399 --> 00:43:37.137
- And it said, i was sitting at the funeral of virginia kelly
- 00:43:37.137 --> 00:43:41.008
- And heard this song on holy ground.
- 00:43:41.008 --> 00:43:43.143
- It's hard to describe the moment the music elevated us,
- 00:43:43.143 --> 00:43:47.147
- Taking us to a new place.
- 00:43:47.147 --> 00:43:48.415
- I knew then i had to sing that song.
- 00:43:48.415 --> 00:43:51.685
- Wow. now it says in the chorus, let us praise jesus now.
- 00:43:51.685 --> 00:43:57.958
- For a jewish lady to be drawn to that song,
- 00:43:57.958 --> 00:44:01.729
- Um, you know, and christians all consider ourselves
- 00:44:01.729 --> 00:44:05.866
- Spiritual jews
- 00:44:05.866 --> 00:44:07.101
- And so we, you know, we consider ourselves real close
- 00:44:07.101 --> 00:44:09.970
- Cousins to the to the jewish people who've been grafted in--
- 00:44:09.970 --> 00:44:13.674
- We've been grafted into the vine.
- 00:44:13.674 --> 00:44:15.509
- But, um, i was blown away that she would be so moved by that,
- 00:44:15.509 --> 00:44:22.716
- But the singer was janice josserand, you know, who wrote
- 00:44:22.716 --> 00:44:26.887
- Alabaster box and our dear
- 00:44:26.887 --> 00:44:28.555
- Friend from-- she was from little rock.
- 00:44:28.555 --> 00:44:30.758
- And so she sang it with the, you know, that little
- 00:44:30.758 --> 00:44:34.194
- Pentecostal thing.
- 00:44:34.194 --> 00:44:35.429
- And they told me later that, uh, barbra streisand asked
- 00:44:35.429 --> 00:44:38.999
- For the tape.
- 00:44:38.999 --> 00:44:41.101
- This this is how long ago it was, the cassette tape of the
- 00:44:41.101 --> 00:44:44.772
- Funeral, because she wanted to listen to it.
- 00:44:44.772 --> 00:44:47.541
- Mervyn warren, who was an original member of take six,
- 00:44:47.541 --> 00:44:51.311
- He's done so many hollywood movies, but comes from the
- 00:44:51.311 --> 00:44:54.214
- Gospel world, produced it for her.
- 00:44:54.214 --> 00:44:56.784
- So it sounds like church. hmm.
- 00:44:56.784 --> 00:45:00.420
- And, um, but i think, you know, the bible says-- this is just my
- 00:45:00.420 --> 00:45:05.626
- Little theological, uh,
- 00:45:05.626 --> 00:45:09.863
- Theory. the bible says in the last days, saith the lord, i'm
- 00:45:09.863 --> 00:45:15.469
- Going to pour my spirit out on all flesh.
- 00:45:15.469 --> 00:45:17.604
- I never knew how end time revival was going to come.
- 00:45:17.604 --> 00:45:21.341
- But you know, now through television, the gospel is being
- 00:45:21.341 --> 00:45:26.513
- Preached in every nation.
- 00:45:26.513 --> 00:45:27.648
- I thought, do we have enough missionaries to go to
- 00:45:27.648 --> 00:45:29.650
- All of those places?
- 00:45:29.650 --> 00:45:30.918
- Back then, christian television wasn't, you know, nearly the
- 00:45:30.918 --> 00:45:35.289
- Thing it is now.
- 00:45:35.289 --> 00:45:36.490
- And now the gospel is being preached in every nation.
- 00:45:36.490 --> 00:45:39.760
- And and people were seeing, you know, artists of all genres
- 00:45:39.760 --> 00:45:45.265
- Start to sing the gospel and gospel music, and worship music
- 00:45:45.265 --> 00:45:50.137
- Is having global impact.
- 00:45:50.137 --> 00:45:52.472
- And, and, you know, i just see that that moment of streisand
- 00:45:52.472 --> 00:45:57.377
- Hearing it at a president's mom's funeral uh, was part of
- 00:45:57.377 --> 00:46:02.683
- That process that god said, i'm going to take my spirit and my
- 00:46:02.683 --> 00:46:07.521
- Presence to places you never addressed.
- 00:46:07.521 --> 00:46:10.390
- I always wanted sandi patty, my good friend or some, you
- 00:46:10.390 --> 00:46:14.161
- Know, amy grant or somebody that's, you know, i thought was
- 00:46:14.161 --> 00:46:17.064
- A big gospel artist to do my song.
- 00:46:17.064 --> 00:46:19.700
- And it's kind of like god said, now, son, sit down.
- 00:46:19.700 --> 00:46:21.969
- I'm going to show you what dreaming big is about.
- 00:46:21.969 --> 00:46:24.104
- And he let barbra streisand do it.
- 00:46:24.104 --> 00:46:25.806
- And it just blows my mind.
- 00:46:25.806 --> 00:46:28.275
- But he did it for his glory. yeah.
- 00:46:28.275 --> 00:46:30.811
- It feels like, um, geron, that this, you know, song can be
- 00:46:30.811 --> 00:46:37.618
- Talked about.
- 00:46:37.618 --> 00:46:38.619
- It can be celebrated.
- 00:46:38.619 --> 00:46:40.387
- And we're certainly doing that.
- 00:46:40.387 --> 00:46:42.723
- There's, um, there's always a time, though, that it feels
- 00:46:42.723 --> 00:46:47.294
- Like we should have something for our audience that's even
- 00:46:47.294 --> 00:46:51.465
- Viewing this program.
- 00:46:51.465 --> 00:46:52.733
- Let's, let's not just always look in the wayback machine and
- 00:46:52.733 --> 00:46:55.936
- Talk about this song as a testimony.
- 00:46:55.936 --> 00:46:58.005
- The song is a living, breathing testament
- 00:46:58.005 --> 00:47:00.707
- Alive and well
- 00:47:00.707 --> 00:47:01.775
- Right this minute, now.
- 00:47:01.775 --> 00:47:03.777
- And why don't you help me kind of, you know, teach, preach,
- 00:47:03.777 --> 00:47:08.715
- Whatever you feel like doing about the song.
- 00:47:08.715 --> 00:47:11.251
- And then, uh, kind of, as it were, metaphorically land the
- 00:47:11.251 --> 00:47:15.989
- Plane for us a little bit here on this episode that we're
- 00:47:15.989 --> 00:47:19.693
- Celebrating one of the church's greatest songs, holy ground.
- 00:47:19.693 --> 00:47:24.364
- Well, uh, it's been a joy to be with you guys.
- 00:47:24.364 --> 00:47:27.634
- Thank you so much for doing this.
- 00:47:27.634 --> 00:47:29.870
- Um, i've often wondered why, um,
- 00:47:29.870 --> 00:47:35.742
- God said to moses, take off your shoes.
- 00:47:35.742 --> 00:47:38.612
- You're on holy ground.
- 00:47:38.612 --> 00:47:41.281
- Because i think the shoes which were man made were separating
- 00:47:41.281 --> 00:47:48.622
- Moses flesh, which was god made from the ground that god made.
- 00:47:48.622 --> 00:47:53.760
- And i think god was sort of telling moses, get anything
- 00:47:53.760 --> 00:47:57.197
- That separates you and me
- 00:47:57.197 --> 00:47:59.833
- Out of the way.
- 00:47:59.833 --> 00:48:01.401
- So i want to encourage you wherever you are.
- 00:48:01.401 --> 00:48:03.737
- You may be in a hotel room.
- 00:48:03.737 --> 00:48:04.938
- You may be in a prison cell.
- 00:48:04.938 --> 00:48:06.340
- You may be in your living room. wherever you are,
- 00:48:06.340 --> 00:48:09.343
- I want to encourage yourself to take the things away that may
- 00:48:09.343 --> 00:48:14.147
- Be distractions from you getting with him,
- 00:48:14.147 --> 00:48:18.151
- And turn that place
- 00:48:18.151 --> 00:48:21.221
- Wherever you're sitting, wherever you're standing into a
- 00:48:21.221 --> 00:48:24.992
- Holy, hallowed place.
- 00:48:24.992 --> 00:48:27.361
- Because what makes it holy is
- 00:48:27.361 --> 00:48:28.895
- Not the furniture, it's not the design.
- 00:48:28.895 --> 00:48:32.632
- It's the presence of god.
- 00:48:32.632 --> 00:48:35.102
- And you may not be able to carry a tune in a bucket with a
- 00:48:35.102 --> 00:48:39.172
- Lid nailed on, as my grandma used to say, but i encourage
- 00:48:39.172 --> 00:48:42.909
- You to say to him, i'm standing on holy ground and understand
- 00:48:42.909 --> 00:48:48.548
- That there are angels all around.
- 00:48:48.548 --> 00:48:51.251
- And wherever you are, just begin to praise jesus now and
- 00:48:51.251 --> 00:48:55.722
- Let him come into your life.
- 00:48:55.722 --> 00:48:57.524
- Let him take your situation
- 00:48:57.524 --> 00:49:01.328
- And bring it all together.
- 00:49:01.328 --> 00:49:03.230
- His presence is the glue that can make sense out of things
- 00:49:03.230 --> 00:49:07.300
- That don't seem to make sense in your life.
- 00:49:07.300 --> 00:49:09.936
- And i had everything wrong in that moment. i procrastinated.
- 00:49:09.936 --> 00:49:15.609
- I wasn't prepared.
- 00:49:15.609 --> 00:49:18.678
- I had done everything wrong,
- 00:49:18.678 --> 00:49:20.514
- And yet i took all of my wrong things
- 00:49:20.514 --> 00:49:24.518
- And i gave it to god in that moment at midnight on that
- 00:49:24.518 --> 00:49:28.588
- Saturday night,
- 00:49:28.588 --> 00:49:29.723
- And god said, i'm going to use
- 00:49:29.723 --> 00:49:31.525
- You for my glory in spite of you.
- 00:49:31.525 --> 00:49:34.061
- And he'll do the same thing for you.
- 00:49:34.061 --> 00:49:35.896
- God, i pray right now for
- 00:49:35.896 --> 00:49:37.798
- Everybody watching this program.
- 00:49:37.798 --> 00:49:41.001
- I pray that you would let your presence go to where they are.
- 00:49:41.001 --> 00:49:44.805
- Help them to see that there are things in their lives that you
- 00:49:44.805 --> 00:49:48.809
- Want to pull together and use for your glory.
- 00:49:48.809 --> 00:49:51.978
- I don't care what people have told them about themselves.
- 00:49:51.978 --> 00:49:54.381
- I don't care what they thought about themselves.
- 00:49:54.381 --> 00:49:56.983
- Lord, i come against anything that would be negative, and i
- 00:49:56.983 --> 00:50:00.287
- Ask you to let them see the potential that you have placed
- 00:50:00.287 --> 00:50:03.723
- In them, and that your grace and your mercy brings us all
- 00:50:03.723 --> 00:50:08.061
- Into fellowship with you.
- 00:50:08.061 --> 00:50:10.297
- And out of that can come good things for the glory of god.
- 00:50:10.297 --> 00:50:14.367
- Use them and bless them.
- 00:50:14.367 --> 00:50:16.770
- In jesus' name we pray, amen.
- 00:50:16.770 --> 00:50:21.408
- I want you to listen to this song, and i hope you'll do what
- 00:50:21.408 --> 00:50:24.311
- The lyrics say.
- 00:50:24.311 --> 00:50:25.779
- We were recently with our friend doctor robert jeffers at
- 00:50:25.779 --> 00:50:28.949
- First baptist church in dallas,
- 00:50:28.949 --> 00:50:30.650
- And their amazing choir and orchestra.
- 00:50:30.650 --> 00:50:33.019
- And i hope you'll let the music, the lyrics, the presence
- 00:50:33.019 --> 00:50:36.690
- Of god transform wherever you are and worship with us as you
- 00:50:36.690 --> 00:50:42.429
- Are on holy ground.
- 00:50:42.429 --> 00:50:44.764
- ♪ when i walk through ♪
- 00:50:44.764 --> 00:50:52.939
- ♪ the door ♪
- 00:50:52.939 --> 00:50:54.975
- ♪ i sensed his presence ♪
- 00:50:54.975 --> 00:50:59.212
- ♪ and i knew ♪
- 00:51:02.082 --> 00:51:07.354
- ♪ this was a place ♪
- 00:51:07.354 --> 00:51:13.126
- ♪ where love abides ♪
- 00:51:13.126 --> 00:51:19.499
- ♪ this is a temple of god ♪
- 00:51:22.669 --> 00:51:32.112
- ♪ abides here, yes ♪
- 00:51:32.112 --> 00:51:36.850
- ♪ yes, he does ♪
- 00:51:36.850 --> 00:51:39.586
- ♪ and we are standing in ♪
- 00:51:39.586 --> 00:51:45.425
- ♪ his presence ♪
- 00:51:45.425 --> 00:51:48.061
- ♪ on holy ground ♪
- 00:51:48.061 --> 00:51:52.032
- ♪ we are standing ♪
- 00:51:55.068 --> 00:52:00.640
- ♪ on holy ground ♪
- 00:52:03.643 --> 00:52:10.450
- ♪ and i know ♪
- 00:52:13.386 --> 00:52:18.291
- ♪ there are angels all around ♪
- 00:52:18.291 --> 00:52:26.666
- ♪ let us praise jesus now ♪
- 00:52:29.769 --> 00:52:44.217
- ♪ let's praise him anyhow ♪
- 00:52:44.217 --> 00:52:46.920
- ♪ for all we are standing ♪
- 00:52:46.920 --> 00:52:52.058
- ♪ in his presence ♪
- 00:52:52.058 --> 00:52:56.062
- ♪ on holy ground ♪
- 00:52:56.062 --> 00:53:04.237
- ♪ inhis presence ♪
- 00:53:07.173 --> 00:53:09.442
- ♪ i know there is joy ♪
- 00:53:09.442 --> 00:53:14.381
- ♪ beyond all measure ♪
- 00:53:14.381 --> 00:53:17.784
- ♪ and i know you ♪
- 00:53:20.720 --> 00:53:24.291
- ♪ feel sweet ♪
- 00:53:24.291 --> 00:53:27.260
- ♪ peace of mind ♪
- 00:53:27.260 --> 00:53:30.630
- ♪ can still be found ♪
- 00:53:30.630 --> 00:53:35.302
- ♪ oh ♪
- 00:53:35.302 --> 00:53:36.403
- ♪ for when we ♪
- 00:53:39.306 --> 00:53:43.009
- ♪ have a need ♪
- 00:53:43.009 --> 00:53:45.478
- ♪ he's still ♪
- 00:53:45.478 --> 00:53:48.415
- ♪ he's still the answer ♪
- 00:53:48.415 --> 00:53:52.652
- ♪ oh, ♪
- 00:53:52.652 --> 00:53:54.688
- ♪ reach out and claim it ♪
- 00:53:54.688 --> 00:53:57.957
- ♪ for we are standing ♪
- 00:53:57.957 --> 00:54:04.731
- ♪ on holy ground ♪
- 00:54:04.731 --> 00:54:08.335
- Let's sing it together.
- 00:54:08.335 --> 00:54:09.636
- Sing it with us.
- 00:54:09.636 --> 00:54:13.206
- ♪ we are standing ♪
- 00:54:16.176 --> 00:54:17.811
- ♪ on holy ground ♪
- 00:54:20.747 --> 00:54:22.615
- ♪ it's holy, holy ground ♪
- 00:54:22.615 --> 00:54:28.188
- ♪ i know, and i know ♪
- 00:54:28.188 --> 00:54:32.492
- ♪ there are angels ♪
- 00:54:32.492 --> 00:54:35.995
- ♪ all around ♪
- 00:54:35.995 --> 00:54:37.564
- ♪ i can feel them ♪
- 00:54:37.564 --> 00:54:40.300
- ♪ they're all around us ♪
- 00:54:40.300 --> 00:54:44.204
- ♪ let us praise ♪
- 00:54:44.204 --> 00:54:50.944
- ♪ jesus now ♪
- 00:54:48.375 --> 00:54:53.213
- ♪ let's praise him ♪
- 00:54:53.213 --> 00:54:58.084
- ♪ we are standing ♪
- 00:55:01.054 --> 00:55:03.523
- ♪ in his presence ♪
- 00:55:03.523 --> 00:55:06.993
- ♪ on holy ground ♪
- 00:55:06.993 --> 00:55:10.330
- ♪ let us praise jesus ♪
- 00:55:13.366 --> 00:55:15.268
- ♪ let us praise ♪
- 00:55:15.268 --> 00:55:20.840
- ♪ oh, let us praise god ♪
- 00:55:23.910 --> 00:55:29.983
- ♪ praise him anyhow ♪
- 00:55:29.983 --> 00:55:33.753
- ♪ we are standing ♪
- 00:55:33.753 --> 00:55:38.024
- ♪ we are standing in ♪
- 00:55:38.024 --> 00:55:41.761
- ♪ we are standing ♪
- 00:55:41.761 --> 00:55:45.398
- ♪ in his holy ♪
- 00:55:45.398 --> 00:55:46.933
- ♪ wonderful presence ♪
- 00:55:46.933 --> 00:55:51.404
- ♪ he loves us ♪
- 00:55:54.307 --> 00:55:57.844
- ♪ we are standing ♪
- 00:55:57.844 --> 00:55:58.678
- ♪ i hope, i hope for tomorrow ♪
- 00:56:01.848 --> 00:56:06.853
- ♪ we are standing ♪
- 00:56:06.853 --> 00:56:10.156
- ♪ in his presence ♪
- 00:56:10.156 --> 00:56:13.159
- ♪ on holy ground ♪
- 00:56:13.159 --> 00:56:17.931
- ♪ on holy ground ♪
- 00:56:20.867 --> 00:56:20.867
