Song: He Came to Me
John 1:1-13
He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name.
As a child Squire Parsons would sit with a reel-to-reel tape recorder and practice singing into it. He would sing the lyrics of a song as well as the syllables of the shaped notes in the music, a method of singing developed by Ephraim Ruebush and Aldine Kieffer in the mid-1800s, and passed on to thousands of would-be singers in popular “singing schools.”
Parsons was born into a musical family in 1948. His dad was the songleader of his home church, Newton Baptist Church in Newton, West Virginia, where Squire was saved as at age nine. During his high school and college years he took all of the music training he could squeeze in. His college major was music with a proficiency in the bassoon. He had already learned to play the piano by ear, but his keyboard professors quickly changed that practice. He was
trained and constrained by his teachers to play by the notes on the page, a discipline which became an immeasurable blessing in later years. After college he began teaching at Hannah High School in Mason County, West Virginia. He was hired as a band director, but his love for vocal music was so intense he also started a school choir. He thought surely he would have to go into the armed services -- he was classified 1A -- but the principal of the school took advantage of the draft board’s practice of the deferment of school teachers, and thus was able to retain Squire as an employee. It was a small, rural school, unattractive to other teachers, but he quickly fell in love with the faculty and students.What was to be a temporary venture turned into four wonderful years.
It was while there that he wrote his very popular "Sweet Beulah Land." He has since written more than 800 songs, with approximately 500 of them being published and recorded. Squire chose 280 of his songs and published them in a book titled, THE SONGS OF SQUIRE PARSONS: The Millennial Collection.
He had a second job during those years at Hannah High. He was a minister of music at various churches, two of which would not allow any gospel music at all. One of the churches, Christ United Methodist Church in Charleston, West Virginia, employed him as a bass soloist. Squire told me, “They were such gracious people. It was a wonderful experience.” It was his first exposure to a more classical church music ministry. Squire continued, “I was there for two years, and during that time the people had a crushing blow, their beautiful sanctuary burned. The following Sunday the pastor said, ‘All of our music was in that building, and I know you love the gospel hymns; is there one that you would like to share?’ I chose /Does Jesus Care? /That was the only
non-classical song that I ever sang there.”
According to Squire, being in those churches influenced some of his writing in later years. It also helped when he went into churches that were not greatly influenced by Southern Gospel Music. He said, “I was not completely caught off guard when I went to those types of churches. I could identify with them, and I am thankful for that.”
On weekends, when not involved with the work at Hannah High or one of the churches, he sang with the Calvarymen Quartet, a group made up of Squire, his brother and three other singers. After four years, he left the Calvarymen and Hannah High School, and became a part of the Kingsmen, a Southern Gospel group of some note at that time. Let me have Squire tell you how he wrote "He Came to Me."
“For years I had been under the impression that when I became a Christian, ‘I’ found the Lord. As I became more and more involved with the Word of God and began to pay closer attention to sermons I heard preached, I found that God was coming to man. From the first part of Genesis through to the end of the Bible there are so many instances where God moved upon men and called them to Himself. The idea of God’s loving pursuit of man stayed on my heart for many years. As I looked at my own life it became more and more evident that God had searched me out. He had come to me!
“One day as I was driving along, with my tape recorder on the seat beside me, I began to think how God had come to me and saved me. I punched the record button on the machine and began to sing. The song was dropped into my heart, and it was a message that I wanted to share with other people.
“I am a member of Trinity Baptist Church in Asheville, North Carolina, and so I first sang it for my church family. Soon after that I recorded it. In fact, it became the title song on my third album.
The gulf that separated me from Christ my Lord,
Was so vast, the crossing I could never ford.
From where I was to His demand, it seemed so far.
I cried, “Dear Lord, I cannot come to where you are.”
Chorus
He came to me. He came to me.
When I could not come to where He was, He came to me.
That’s why He died on Calvary,
When I could not come to where He was, He came to me.
He came to me when I was bound in chains of sin,
He came to me when I possessed no hope within.
He picked me up and drew me gently to His side
Where today, in His sweet love I now abide.
Squire Parsons continues to crisscross America singing and writing his songs as he shares his glorious testimony of the grace of God. He and his wife now make their home in Leicester, North Carolina, near Asheville.
Reflection:
Mankind would be in a deplorable state had God not come down to earth and given Himself for our sins. He truly came to all of us. We must accept Him and let Him draw us into His family.
Author: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Written: 04/01/2006
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Category: Behind the Songs
Comments: 4
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I came to Squire and his music fairly late. He had left The Kingsmen long before."Redeemed" was also in the past.
Thanks for a GREAT article on a hero of mine. I have been to the Church in Newton many times, both to sing and to hear the singing, and could Squire's dad forevermore lead singing!
What a gentleman and one I perceive to be an outstanding Christian! Squire Parsons is one of the giants in sgm as far as I'm concerned. He is certainly one that sets the standard of what any sgm artist needs to follow. Several people who are "LEGENDS in THEIR OWN MINDS" should take more notice of Parsons.
I have known Squire for about 35 years. God has blessed him and his ministry. Squire has helped and encouraged so many people to accept Christ. But, he has encouraged struggling ministers to grow their churches. Many people have started coming to many new ministers churches because they knew Squire was singing there. Squire never has failed to put God first. When he prays, he is mature enough as God's child, to get out of God's way and let God be God.
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