Date:  Jul 10 2000 08:00:52 EDT  
From:  "Songs of Praise" <elton@songsofpraise.org>  
Subject:  Songs of Praise - Now Arise  


Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

It's Monday morning.  The past week has been very exciting for me and I
would like to tell you about the things that have happened.  

Steve Israel flew here from Maryland a week ago (Sunday July 2) and we
attended the Worship Institute conference here in Dallas.  We had a booth
in the exhibit area to introduce people to Songs of Praise.  We talked to
hundreds of people during the 4 days we attended the conference.  It was
such a joy to see the look in their eyes as we handed them free sheet
music and started telling them about how we collaborate and make the music
freely available on the web.  Invariably their faces would change to one
huge grin as they realized they had found something totally different from
what they had been seeing.  We had our guitars and people enjoying singing
along with us on "All Of My Heart", "As I Gaze At The Stars", "Face To
Face" and "Just To Know You More".  We sold a few CD's and songbooks,
which helped cover some of the cost of the table, but our main purpose in
attending was to meet people and get the word out.  There were also many
interesting classes and sessions we attended during the week.

On Thursday afternoon, Larry Holder flew in from Tennessee.  The
conference was in the airport, so we brought him over to our table.  Our
plan was to make some recordings on Friday and Saturday.  We found an
interesting way of distracting ourselves.  On Friday morning we wrote a
new song called "Now Arise".  There is no midi file yet, but we made a
great recording and put it out on mp3.com.  Please visit this page and
listen to "Now Arise"...

    http://www.mp3.com/artists/22/songs_of_praise.html

On Saturday we made several new recordings for the Christmas play (The
Perfect Gift).  We will make "Now Arise" a bonus song on this album when
it is ready.

On Sunday, Steve and Larry attended Church of the Savior here in Plano and
helped in leading the worship.  We sang "Now Arise" with guitar
accompaniment and it worked perfectly.  Please stop by and listen to our
song.  I will make a midi file and music score available in a few days.
Here are the lyrics...

=============================================================

NOW ARISE
Copyright (c) 2000 Elton Smith, Larry Holder and Steve Israel
(music: Elton, Steve / words: Elton, Larry, Steve) 7-7-2000

(verse 1)
Arise and come to Jesus
He calls to you today
To follow where He leads you
Into a better Way.
He gave his all with love untold
To bring you safe into the fold.
With arms outstretched
To welcome you home...

(chorus)
Now arise ---
As He calls to your soul.
Now arise ---
Let His love take control.
Yes, arise ---
He is all you need to know.
He will meet you where you are
As you arise.

(verse 2)
Arise and come to Jesus,
Creator, Lord, and King.
Though we can give him nothing,
He gives us everything.

He paid the price to set us free,
To become all we are meant to be,
To know the peace, the joy,
The victory!

(bridge)

Don't wait until tomorrow
For tomorrow may never come...

=============================================================

God bless you all and have a wonderful week.

Yours in Christ,
Elton Smith
http://songsofpraise.org