8 May 2008

An Interview with Wendy Wills

by Jeff Bourque

On Sunday, May 11th at 6 p.m., we will have the Future Grace Celebration Concert to celebrate Future Grace and all that it means for our congregation. During the concert, you will have the opportunity to see David Spencer, Ben Shive, Wendy Wills, Laurianne Cates, Josh Wilson, and Paul Bogart perform some of their songs with a full band. The remainder of this post is an interview with Wendy Wills. Check this site later this week for interviews with the other artists.

Wendy Wills has written great songs, put out several CDs, and blessed the church with meaningful worship music throughout her career as a singer/songwriter. Her most recent national “hit” is “The Glorious Impossible,” which was recorded by the Gaither Vocal Band. In 1998, she and her husband Dave, along with their two children, Jed and Thea moved to Nashville from Wisconsin. She doesn’t even pretend to be a Southerner, and the whole family is very proud of their heritage.

How long have you and your family been at Grace, and how did you decide on Grace as the place you wanted to put down your roots?

I think we’ve been at GCC around 9-10 years. We decided Grace was for us when 1) Scott remembered us from visiting a year earlier, and 2) In one of his sermons Scott said the best way to know God is study theology.

You are a veteran songwriter with songs that have been recorded by many artists over the years. How did songwriting become a passion of yours, and how do you see it now as opposed to when you first started?

I wrote my first song the morning after I’d become a Christian. I had messed around with songwriting, usually by putting my own satirical words to another song, sort like Cletus T. Judd does. Anyway, once I came to know Christ I realized I had something to write about. So I just wrote. I’d sing the songs I’d written for my church and for other events like FCA banquets and women’s events.

It became a passion when I went to Estes Park, Colorado, for the Christian Artist’s Music Seminar, and I took seminars on writing songs. I can’t describe what happened in my heart. It was like I’d found Jesus all over again! Or rather he found me!

The difference between when I started and now? Maturity.

We sing several of your songs at Grace: “Glorious Impossible”, “Beautiful Wounds”, “The Bread Has Been Broken”, and “We Call You Father” are the ones I can think of off the top of my head. What does it mean for you to be able to write songs that are embraced by your local congregation?

To be perfectly honest, it was embarrassing at first!! I kept thinking, “What if they don’t like it??? What if I don’t like it??” But now, well, I just can’t believe people like what I do. It is very humbling.

What will you be singing on Sunday?

I wanted to sing songs that had some connection with GCC’s discipling of me.

“The Bread Has Been Broken” holds a very special place for me because I wrote it when I came back from my first AGM to Poland. That trip was significant because God broke me there and convicted me of my “practical atheism”. It was Scott’s sermons during that week, combined with John Piper’s 50 Reasons Why Christ Died, that I realized I did not believe the gospel, maybe didn’t even truly understand what it meant. I also realized that I was squandering a talent God had given me. And so I came back with a renewed passion for my songs—to write as much as I could about the gospel, the cross, to encourage the church, and give God the glory he deserves and is so incredibly worthy of. “The Bread Has Been Broken” comes from the account of Jesus on the road to Emmaus. His companion’s eyes were opened when he broke the bread.

“Beautiful Wounds”: The idea for this song came from a prayer Bill Maynard prayed when we were back at First Christian. He prayed something like, “Thank you Jesus for bearing the wounds. Those beautiful wounds.” Again, Scott is always telling us to “talk to ourselves” and so I wanted it write in a psalm type form, addressing ourselves and then God, and then finally the congregation. It is a quiet praise song.

“Long Expected Day” is from a sermon by Charles Spurgeon, actually about the incarnation, but Romans 8 won out. It’s about longing for Christ’s return. And I’ve always loved old-timey music, bluegrass, and folk songs. My co-writers helped me get there musically. My big dream for this song is that Dolly Parton sings it someday!

Category: Invitations.

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