Singing schools such as this one at the Church of God in Bradenton, Florida, were a popular way of teaching shape-note music and introducing new convention song books.
Making Hearts Glad
The Church of God has always been a singing church. From our earliest traditional and folk hymns, to the rhythm of shape-note convention songs, to the harmonies of choral arrangements, to the freedom of worship music, we have sung with emotion and enthusiasm. Music has served as both a key element and catalyst of our worship. Church of God Minister Harold Bare observed in They Call Me Pentecostal, “when the singing begins, it is a signal to worship. Pentecostals enjoy their spirited, enthusiastic, up-tempo singing, which is filled with expressions of joy and hope in Christ.” Along with the joy of our salvation and the hope of future glory, our music also has expressed the realities of living in a fallen world. Indeed, an early published songbook was Church of God Songs: Tears with Joy.
Appalachian Roots
The earliest descriptions of our founding as the Christian Union in Monroe County, Tennessee, reveal little of our early music and worship practices. On August 19, 1886, R.G. Spurling, a former licensed Baptist minister, called hearers to forsake “creeds and traditions,” accept the New Testament as their “only rule of faith and practice,” and sit “together as the Church of God.” His father, Richard Spurling, an ordained Baptist minister, assisted by setting the congregation in order.
Baptist churches in Appalachia often sang folk songs passed down through oral tradition and frequently used songbooks with lyrics but without musical notation. No doubt some congregations in east Tennessee were familiar with J.R. Graves's 1874 The Little Seraph, which included folk hymns, songs written for children’s Sunday school programs, and gospel songs. Instruments, if any, might have been a banjo, guitar, or a portable organ.
Our founder, R.G. Spurling, frequently wrote and sang poetry. One of his poems published in an early issue of the Church of God Evangel, “For Unity,” reflected his vision for God’s church:
Come now ye Pentecostal bands,
Strive for unity of heart and hand,
And strive to save poor sinners lost,
And lead them to their Pentecost.
The earliest descriptions of our founding as the Christian Union in Monroe County, Tennessee, reveal little of our early music and worship practices. On August 19, 1886, R.G. Spurling, a former licensed Baptist minister, called hearers to forsake “creeds and traditions,” accept the New Testament as their “only rule of faith and practice,” and sit “together as the Church of God.” His father, Richard Spurling, an ordained Baptist minister, assisted by setting the congregation in order.
Baptist churches in Appalachia often sang folk songs passed down through oral tradition and frequently used songbooks with lyrics but without musical notation. No doubt some congregations in east Tennessee were familiar with J.R. Graves's 1874 The Little Seraph, which included folk hymns, songs written for children’s Sunday school programs, and gospel songs. Instruments, if any, might have been a banjo, guitar, or a portable organ.
Our founder, R.G. Spurling, frequently wrote and sang poetry. One of his poems published in an early issue of the Church of God Evangel, “For Unity,” reflected his vision for God’s church:
Come now ye Pentecostal bands,
Strive for unity of heart and hand,
And strive to save poor sinners lost,
And lead them to their Pentecost.
The Holiness Movement produced many songs that the Church of God adopted, including “Old Time Power,” which Charlie D. Tillman, seen here, penned in 1895 as a prayer for sanctification.
Following the founding of the Christian Union, the next chapter in our history was a holiness revival at Shearer Schoolhouse in May 1896 in the community of Camp Creek, North Carolina. The Holiness Movement already had produced numerous new songs emphasizing the Holy Spirit. Among them was Charlie Tillman’s 1895 “Old Time Power.” Originally penned as a cry for sanctification, it soon became a Pentecostal anthem.
They were in an upper chamber,
They were all with one accord,
When the Holy Ghost descended,
As was promised by the Lord.
[Chorus]
O Lord, send the pow’r just now,
O Lord, send the pow’r just now,
O Lord, send the pow’r just now,
And baptize ev’ry one.
Yes, this pow’r from heav’n descended,
With the sound of rushing wind;
Tongues of fire came down upon them,
As the Lord said He would send.
[Chorus]
Yes, this “old-time” pow’r was given
To our fathers who were true;
This is promised to believers,
And we all may have it too.
[Chorus]
Following the Shearer Schoolhouse revival, local farmer W.F. Bryant, a Baptist by heritage, became the leader of the holiness remnant. Bryant’s wife, Nettie, later remembered, “We didn’t have a thing but singing, preaching, shouting, testifying, and people
coming to the altar. We did not have any music [instrumentation]. We sang ‘Blessed Assurance,’ ‘Amazing Grace,’ the old hymns.”
They were in an upper chamber,
They were all with one accord,
When the Holy Ghost descended,
As was promised by the Lord.
[Chorus]
O Lord, send the pow’r just now,
O Lord, send the pow’r just now,
O Lord, send the pow’r just now,
And baptize ev’ry one.
Yes, this pow’r from heav’n descended,
With the sound of rushing wind;
Tongues of fire came down upon them,
As the Lord said He would send.
[Chorus]
Yes, this “old-time” pow’r was given
To our fathers who were true;
This is promised to believers,
And we all may have it too.
[Chorus]
Following the Shearer Schoolhouse revival, local farmer W.F. Bryant, a Baptist by heritage, became the leader of the holiness remnant. Bryant’s wife, Nettie, later remembered, “We didn’t have a thing but singing, preaching, shouting, testifying, and people
coming to the altar. We did not have any music [instrumentation]. We sang ‘Blessed Assurance,’ ‘Amazing Grace,’ the old hymns.”
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The Developing Movement
Except for the first one in 1906, General Assemblies included numerous opportunities for singing. Congregational singing along with songs by soloists and groups were a regular feature of worship. The titles of their songs often went unidentified, but when Assembly delegates in 1911 discussed the teachings and practices of the Church, their Minutes recorded, “The discourse resulted in a season of prayer, groans, cries, tears and sobs and the singing of the song—‘Waiting on the Lord for the Promise Given’….” Beginning in January 1913, General Assembly delegates from each state ascended the platform to greet the congregation with a song. Among the states represented at that Assembly, twelve delegates from Alabama sang “O Hallelujah!,” “almost forty” from Georgia sang “Holiness unto the Lord,” and 125 from Tennessee sang “The Home of the Soul.” |
In February 1911, the Pentecostal World-wide Mission Band traveled to the Bahamas for their inaugural ministry trip. A.J. Tomlinson is behind the snare drum, and J.W. Buckalew is in the back right. Evangelist Buckalew served as the band’s instructor.
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The Adams Family Band played in revivals, camp meetings, and the General Assembly. General Overseer A.J. Tomlinson encouraged the use of musical instruments in worship—especially at General Assemblies.
Early Church of God worship included a variety of musical instruments. Folding pump organs were common in tent meetings and other evangelistic endeavors where electricity was not available. While establishing what is now the North Cleveland Church of God, A.J. Tomlinson acquired an organ for the mission valued at $25 for the rental fee of 50 cents per week. Later as general overseer, Tomlinson encouraged attendees to bring instruments to the General Assemblies. He exhorted, “The musical instruments that are used should sound forth the praises of God. There is scarcely any musical instrument that can be rejected. While we use organs and pianos probably the most, others can be used just as well for the glory of God.”
Tomlinson’s commitment to the use of musical instruments for evangelism led to his creation of the Pentecostal World-wide Mission Band in the summer of 1910. He envisioned a group of ministers playing music and preaching the gospel. His friend J.B. Mitchell provided $124 to buy band instruments from the Sears Roebuck mail order catalog with an additional $125 to purchase a new tent. The tent was delivered directly to Miami, Florida, for their inaugural crusade in the Bahamas early the next year. Frequently, the band’s strategy was to draw a crowd by marching through the streets playing their instruments with Tomlinson leading the way beating a drum.
Upon the completion of their nine-week crusade, the band played occasionally throughout the southern United States. They likely served as an inspiration for the creation of other bands such as the Adams Family Band. Archibald and Pearl Adams joined the Church of God and were credentialed as ministers in 1915. She was a popular music teacher, and following his death, she organized her family into a brass band that played in revivals, camp meetings, and the General Assembly.
Tomlinson’s commitment to the use of musical instruments for evangelism led to his creation of the Pentecostal World-wide Mission Band in the summer of 1910. He envisioned a group of ministers playing music and preaching the gospel. His friend J.B. Mitchell provided $124 to buy band instruments from the Sears Roebuck mail order catalog with an additional $125 to purchase a new tent. The tent was delivered directly to Miami, Florida, for their inaugural crusade in the Bahamas early the next year. Frequently, the band’s strategy was to draw a crowd by marching through the streets playing their instruments with Tomlinson leading the way beating a drum.
Upon the completion of their nine-week crusade, the band played occasionally throughout the southern United States. They likely served as an inspiration for the creation of other bands such as the Adams Family Band. Archibald and Pearl Adams joined the Church of God and were credentialed as ministers in 1915. She was a popular music teacher, and following his death, she organized her family into a brass band that played in revivals, camp meetings, and the General Assembly.
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Singing in the Spirit
Singing in tongues was common in early Church of God worship. Benson Vaughan counted at least fifty reports in the Church of God Evangel while Tomlinson was general overseer. When future General Overseer F.J. Lee and his brother-in-law T.L. McLain visited a tent revival in 1908, among the spiritual manifestations they witnessed was Evangelist Ella Clyde Cotton singing in tongues. Describing another occasion, Tomlinson recorded in his journal, “Sister Clyde run [sic] to the organ and commenced playing in the power and some of us began to sing in the Spirit…. It was indeed wonderful to me as I and Brother Flavius Lee sang in other tongues in perfect harmony and time with the music while the others kept the time as perfectly with their feet in what might be spoken of as dancing.” In addition to singing in tongues, Tomlinson frequently reported manifestations such as playing musical instruments and dancing “under the power” of the Spirit. Writing about a service on July 4, 1910, he penned, “Singing, playing organs, shouting, talking in tongues, singing under the power of the Spirit.” Then observing the Spirit’s work in his children, Halcy, Iris, and Homer, he wrote, “Once while Halcy, my daughter, played under the power, Homer sang with her under the power, and Iris was greatly exercised by the power in what was spoken of as dancing.” |
“Make a Joyful Noise”
Having grown up among Quakers, General Overseer Tomlinson’s early worship experiences likely emphasized silence with little vocal praise, testimony, or singing. However, as a Pentecostal leader, he recognized the value of music and enthusiastic praise to attract people and enhance worship. Observing worship on the Day of Pentecost and throughout the Psalms, several of which include an admonition to sing, Tomlinson reflected, “This is in perfect harmony with the Psalmist who says, ‘Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all the earth; make a loud noise, and rejoice and sing praise. Sing unto the Lord with the harp; with the harp and the voice of a psalm. With trumpets and sound of cornet make a joyful noise before the Lord, the King.’ Beloved, the noise must be made. I see no place for a still service for worship. It does not seem like Bible worship without noise.” Commenting on the biblical admonition to worship “in Spirit and in truth,” Tomlinson continued, “…the spirit of the worship as described in the Bible requires noise, and loud noise at that. It requires singing God’s praises. It requires standing in the sanctuary sometimes with the hands raised toward heaven and praising God with a loud noise. This is the worship of the Lord.” Surveying worship in Revelation, Tomlinson admonished, “This is the way we should worship the Lord. Put our whole souls into it. Be enthusiastic. What we do, do with our might. Sing like we mean it! Make a joyful noise! Keep away from the old slow singing . . . That is not heavenly worship.” |
The Shape-Note Tradition
By the early twentieth century, Church of God congregations began using shape-note, convention-style songbooks, which already had a long tradition. Singing schools had emerged in the eighteenth century as a means of reforming church music. Instructors traveled from community to community teaching congregations to read music by sight and to harmonize, which enabled worshippers to be participants rather than observers during congregational singing. Many singing schools adopted shaped notation because singing by shape did not require learning the place of notes on the musical staff. The seven-note, do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti scale gained widespread popularity, especially in the American South.
Following the completion of several singing schools in a region, students and other community members often gathered for a signing convention. These popular religious and social gatherings introduced newly published songbooks, which became known as convention songbooks. These books were comprised primarily of gospel songs—a genre that developed out of the enthusiastic revival practices of the evangelical movement and were often testimonial in nature. Folk music in the sense that they usually were not written by professional musicians, these songs were loved by Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Holiness, and Pentecostal believers in the rural south for whom traditional and more formal hymns held less appeal.
Songbook publishing companies emerged to provide books for singing schools, camp meetings, revival crusades, churches, and other venues. Publishers typically released at least one new songbook each year. They generally were smaller than a traditional hymnal and with a paper binding to reduce costs and encourage purchase of the next release. Most songbooks contained a mixture of new songs with already popular favorites, and publishers often traded songs among themselves to have enough to fill a 160-page book. White song writers dominated the convention book publishing industry with some famed exceptions such as Cleavant Derricks and Thomas Dorsey.
James D. Vaughan of Lawrenceburg, Tennessee, established the Vaughan Normal School of Music to train singing-school instructors. He also operated a radio station, published the monthly magazine, The Musical Visitor, and developed traveling quartets that promoted and sold his songbooks. A young Church of God member from Alabama, Otis McCoy, attended and then taught at Vaughan’s school as well as sang in one of his quartets. Other publishers adopted Vaughan’s strategies and quartets gained widespread popularity. With expansion into recording albums, Vaughan and other publishers cultivated the seedbed in which southern gospel music developed and flourished.
Robert Emmet Winsett was a popular songbook publisher among early Pentecostals, and his books were sold and used at many Church of God meetings. Winsett had lived in Cleveland for a few months in 1909, during which time he conducted a singing school in the North Cleveland Church and provided music lessons to the Tomlinson children. His Songs of Pentecostal Power published in 1908 was the first songbook referenced in the pages of the Church of God Evangel. One Evangel recommended “Use R.E. Winsett’s song books. They are the best we know.”
By the early twentieth century, Church of God congregations began using shape-note, convention-style songbooks, which already had a long tradition. Singing schools had emerged in the eighteenth century as a means of reforming church music. Instructors traveled from community to community teaching congregations to read music by sight and to harmonize, which enabled worshippers to be participants rather than observers during congregational singing. Many singing schools adopted shaped notation because singing by shape did not require learning the place of notes on the musical staff. The seven-note, do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti scale gained widespread popularity, especially in the American South.
Following the completion of several singing schools in a region, students and other community members often gathered for a signing convention. These popular religious and social gatherings introduced newly published songbooks, which became known as convention songbooks. These books were comprised primarily of gospel songs—a genre that developed out of the enthusiastic revival practices of the evangelical movement and were often testimonial in nature. Folk music in the sense that they usually were not written by professional musicians, these songs were loved by Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Holiness, and Pentecostal believers in the rural south for whom traditional and more formal hymns held less appeal.
Songbook publishing companies emerged to provide books for singing schools, camp meetings, revival crusades, churches, and other venues. Publishers typically released at least one new songbook each year. They generally were smaller than a traditional hymnal and with a paper binding to reduce costs and encourage purchase of the next release. Most songbooks contained a mixture of new songs with already popular favorites, and publishers often traded songs among themselves to have enough to fill a 160-page book. White song writers dominated the convention book publishing industry with some famed exceptions such as Cleavant Derricks and Thomas Dorsey.
James D. Vaughan of Lawrenceburg, Tennessee, established the Vaughan Normal School of Music to train singing-school instructors. He also operated a radio station, published the monthly magazine, The Musical Visitor, and developed traveling quartets that promoted and sold his songbooks. A young Church of God member from Alabama, Otis McCoy, attended and then taught at Vaughan’s school as well as sang in one of his quartets. Other publishers adopted Vaughan’s strategies and quartets gained widespread popularity. With expansion into recording albums, Vaughan and other publishers cultivated the seedbed in which southern gospel music developed and flourished.
Robert Emmet Winsett was a popular songbook publisher among early Pentecostals, and his books were sold and used at many Church of God meetings. Winsett had lived in Cleveland for a few months in 1909, during which time he conducted a singing school in the North Cleveland Church and provided music lessons to the Tomlinson children. His Songs of Pentecostal Power published in 1908 was the first songbook referenced in the pages of the Church of God Evangel. One Evangel recommended “Use R.E. Winsett’s song books. They are the best we know.”
Prior to publishing our own songbooks, the Church of God heavily promoted those published by R.E. Winsett. An example of shape-note music, his “Church of the Living God” illustrated the Church of God’s vision to be God’s church.
M.S. Lemons (left) and Efford Haynes (right) edited our first songbook. There is no known copy of the first printing of "Church of God Songs," which Lemons and Haynes later described as an “introduction.”
Publishing for the Church
A February 1918 Evangel carried lyrics to a song Winsett authored especially for the Church of God. He dedicated “The Church of the Living God” “to all who have hopes of being in the great Assembly of the triumphant Church of God—The Bride of Christ.” The first verse and refrain proclaimed:
Built on the Rock,
Without spot or wrinkle,
Is the Church of the Living God;
Born of the Spirit,
Filled with His glory,
'Tis the way the Apostles trod.
Refrain
Built on the Rock,
On the Solid Rock,
Is the Church of the Living God,
The gates of Hell can never prevail,
For 'tis built on the Solid Rock.
No doubt Winsett understood that the “Church of God” was broader than only the Cleveland, Tennessee, denomination. But Tomlinson and others increasingly taught that we were indeed a restoration of God’s church and that others would come into the Church of God fold. Written by M.S. Lemons and Efford Haynes, a song entitled “The Church of God” may have been sung at the General Assembly as early as 1914.
The church of God will rise again
Tho’ pressed by every foe;
While error falls and writhes in pain,
The church of God will grow.
She is the fairest of the land,
Her robes are white as snow;
And when He comes to take his bride,
The church of God will go.
Efford Haynes and Major Sterling Lemons were prolific songwriters who often evangelized together. Haynes had come into the Pentecostal movement in Birmingham, Alabama, after hearing a Methodist college student from Charles Fox Parham’s ministry in Topeka, Kansas, preach about the Holy Ghost and fire. Haynes helped establish a Pentecostal church in Kimberly, Alabama, in 1902, and was instrumental in bringing that congregation into the Church of God about 1910. Lemons had been a schoolteacher and joined the Holiness Church at Camp Creek in 1903 as one of our earliest ministers. In 1913, he became the first person to hold the office of assistant general overseer.
The Church of God finally ventured into convention songbook publishing in 1920. A previous General Assembly had commissioned Haynes and Lemons to compile a songbook specifically for the Church of God. Arriving from an Atlanta printer in late summer, the initial printing of 7,000 copies of Church of God Songs was insufficient to fill all the orders on hand, so an expanded second edition was quickly prepared with the subtitle Tears with Joy. By October 1921, Haynes and Lemons informed Evangel readers about Church of God Songs, No. 3, stating that “it will more perfectly fill the demand.”
Although they were printed elsewhere, for the next several years, the Church of God Publishing House produced about one songbook per year. Among the titles were Gospel Waves, The Glory Way, Triumph Songs, and Full Salvation Songs. Expressing the spirit of this new ministry of songbook publishing, Lemons and Haynes concluded a letter to Evangel readers, “Yours for song and service, helping to make glad the hearts of many.”
A February 1918 Evangel carried lyrics to a song Winsett authored especially for the Church of God. He dedicated “The Church of the Living God” “to all who have hopes of being in the great Assembly of the triumphant Church of God—The Bride of Christ.” The first verse and refrain proclaimed:
Built on the Rock,
Without spot or wrinkle,
Is the Church of the Living God;
Born of the Spirit,
Filled with His glory,
'Tis the way the Apostles trod.
Refrain
Built on the Rock,
On the Solid Rock,
Is the Church of the Living God,
The gates of Hell can never prevail,
For 'tis built on the Solid Rock.
No doubt Winsett understood that the “Church of God” was broader than only the Cleveland, Tennessee, denomination. But Tomlinson and others increasingly taught that we were indeed a restoration of God’s church and that others would come into the Church of God fold. Written by M.S. Lemons and Efford Haynes, a song entitled “The Church of God” may have been sung at the General Assembly as early as 1914.
The church of God will rise again
Tho’ pressed by every foe;
While error falls and writhes in pain,
The church of God will grow.
She is the fairest of the land,
Her robes are white as snow;
And when He comes to take his bride,
The church of God will go.
Efford Haynes and Major Sterling Lemons were prolific songwriters who often evangelized together. Haynes had come into the Pentecostal movement in Birmingham, Alabama, after hearing a Methodist college student from Charles Fox Parham’s ministry in Topeka, Kansas, preach about the Holy Ghost and fire. Haynes helped establish a Pentecostal church in Kimberly, Alabama, in 1902, and was instrumental in bringing that congregation into the Church of God about 1910. Lemons had been a schoolteacher and joined the Holiness Church at Camp Creek in 1903 as one of our earliest ministers. In 1913, he became the first person to hold the office of assistant general overseer.
The Church of God finally ventured into convention songbook publishing in 1920. A previous General Assembly had commissioned Haynes and Lemons to compile a songbook specifically for the Church of God. Arriving from an Atlanta printer in late summer, the initial printing of 7,000 copies of Church of God Songs was insufficient to fill all the orders on hand, so an expanded second edition was quickly prepared with the subtitle Tears with Joy. By October 1921, Haynes and Lemons informed Evangel readers about Church of God Songs, No. 3, stating that “it will more perfectly fill the demand.”
Although they were printed elsewhere, for the next several years, the Church of God Publishing House produced about one songbook per year. Among the titles were Gospel Waves, The Glory Way, Triumph Songs, and Full Salvation Songs. Expressing the spirit of this new ministry of songbook publishing, Lemons and Haynes concluded a letter to Evangel readers, “Yours for song and service, helping to make glad the hearts of many.”
The Dixon Pentecostal Research Center holds copies of "Church of God Songs" identified as “Revised Edition” and seen here. The full title of the revised edition was "Church of God Songs for Church, Family and Religious Worship" with the subtitle "Tears with Joy."
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El regocijo en los cororazones
La Iglesia de Dios siempre ha sido una iglesia donde se canta. Desde nuestros primeros himnos tradicionales y populares hasta nuestra música contemporánea, hemos cantado con emoción y entusiasmo. Junto con el gozo de nuestra salvación y la esperanza de la gloria futura, nuestra música ha expresado el lamento de vivir en un mundo caído. Nuestro fundador, R.G. Spurling, escribía con frecuencia poemas que él mismo cantaba, y el movimiento de la Santidad produjo canciones que los pentecostales adoptaron, como «Old Time Power». El supervisor general A.J. Tomlinson, haciendo referencia a las Escrituras, fomentó una adoración efusiva y en voz alta con cantos y acompañamiento musical en las Asambleas Generales, las iglesias locales y las reuniones de evangelización en las calles. El canto en lenguas figuraba entre las manifestaciones espirituales reportadas. A principios del siglo XX, las congregaciones comenzaron a cantar canciones de góspel de cancioneros al estilo de las convenciones. Las notas figuradas, en lugar de la notación redonda, facilitó el aprendizaje de la lectura musical. R.E. Winsett fue un editor de cancioneros muy apreciado, cuyos libros utilizó la Iglesia de Dios hasta que comenzamos a publicar en 1920 con Church of God Songs: Tears with Joy, editado por Efford Haynes y M.S. Lemons. Como expresión del espíritu de este nuevo ministerio de publicación de cancioneros, Haynes y Lemons concluyeron una carta dirigida a los lectores del Evangelio con estas palabras: «Suyos en el canto y el servicio, ayudando a alegrar los corazones de muchos». |
Sources
Sources used for Making a Joyful Noise: Our Church of God Musical Heritage include:
- Alford, Delton L. Music in the Pentecostal Church. Cleveland, TN: Pathway Press, 1967.
- Goff, James R. Close Harmony: A History of Southern Gospel. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2002.
- LeRoy, Donald Todd. “The Church Hymnal (1951): A Shape-Note Hymnal of the Church of God (Cleveland, TN).” Doctor of Musical Arts dissertation, The University of Memphis, 2004.
- Martin, Blair L. “The Significance of Two Major Transitions in Music Education within the Church of God.” Master of Music thesis, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, 1995.
- Vaughan, Benson. The Influence of Music on the Development of the Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee). Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2018.
David G. Roebuck, PhD, is director at the Dixon Pentecostal Research Center, assistant professor of the history of Christianity at Lee University, and church historian for the Church of God (Cleveland, TN).