The Gospel Song – An Animation

Not too long ago I came across the work of Chris Powers, who put together an animated video of one of our songs, The Prodigal. I was moved by the way he used simple animation to illustrate the song in a powerful way.

Recently Chris told me he had animated another one of our songs, The Gospel Song.

Here are the lyrics:

Holy God in love became
Perfect man to bear my blame
On the cross he took my sin
By his death I live again.

In the video, Chris also added a portion of a message by John Piper where he pleads with unbelievers to trust in the finished work of Christ for their sins.

The Gospel Song was first written for a musical my church put on in 2002 for our 25th anniversary. Drew Jones, who led the production, wanted to musically communicate how over the years the church is always tempted to make primary what is secondary. But it is the gospel that remains constant and preeminent. When secondary issues (relationships, serving, mission, spiritual gifts, evangelism, etc.) are given equal weight, the gospel has the potential of getting obscured, assumed, or lost altogether.

Drew asked me to put music to seven different sets of lyrics that could all be sung together. Out of the cacophony the simple gospel song emerges as the only hope for those lost in their sin. In the production, a father also sings The Gospel Song each night to his daughter before she goes to bed.

I had a blast writing the music, and think we were able to pull off Drew’s idea. The other songs stayed with the show, but we’ve continued to sing The Gospel Song on Sunday mornings.

You can download the song for free here. Here’s the guitar chart, and a four part hymn arrangement.

,

33 Responses to The Gospel Song – An Animation

  1. Hayden August 24, 2010 at 10:37 AM #

    Thank you. We sing this song in our local church and this video presentation is beautiful. What a great reminder.

  2. Andy Chang August 24, 2010 at 11:23 AM #

    Bob,

    I noticed the piano interlude during the voiceover by Piper. I did not recall that instrumental section on the “Songs for the Cross-Centered Life” recording of the Gospel Song (Reprise). Did he just strip the instrumental channel or did he have an alternate source to get that? :)

  3. Chris August 24, 2010 at 11:53 AM #

    Andy, I tracked down the instrumental version at Sovereign Grace Ministry’s site, here’s the link if you are interested:

    http://www.sovereigngracestore.com/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=M4056-15-51

  4. Peter August 24, 2010 at 12:29 PM #

    Thanks for sharing. This is a great animation set to a simple, but powerful, song. I’d seen it pop up in my Youtube subscriptions, but hadn’t watched it yet. I’m glad I did now.

    Chris’ Prodigal animation is particularly powerful. He’s got a great gift in his artistry.

  5. West B. August 24, 2010 at 1:20 PM #

    Bob, Chris, & Drew,

    Thank you!

  6. Paul Hayes August 24, 2010 at 2:54 PM #

    Bob,
    I used the Gospel Song with our VBS this summer; it helped the kids understand the gospel. Our church loves this song! Paul

  7. Natasha August 24, 2010 at 3:40 PM #

    Wow, just like the video for “The Prodigal” this is amazing! Thanks for sharing with us.

  8. Nicole McLernon August 25, 2010 at 2:11 PM #

    This is powerful. Brought me to tears, as did the video for The Prodigal. Thanks Bob and Drew for writing and Chris for your wonderful animation.

    PS Any chance that musical was recorded?? I’d love to see it. :)

  9. David August 25, 2010 at 2:16 PM #

    Wow! That is a beautiful song and with the animation it really is quite powerful. Thanks for sharing.

  10. Kate Johnson August 25, 2010 at 2:18 PM #

    Aloha Bob,
    This is marvelous. How can I get permission to use this video at church? I’d like to use this song for the four Sundays in Advent Do I need special permission to do that?

    Thank you for your ministry. I praise God for resources like this.

    Where do you find the time to read all those books you list on the side???

    Blessings.

    • Bob Kauflin August 25, 2010 at 2:45 PM #

      Kate, you can email Chris Powers at cppowers@alumni.cedarville.edu for info on using the video. No permission needed.

      Thanks for your encouraging words!

      I just keep reading a few chapters each day. Eventually I get through them!

  11. francis August 26, 2010 at 7:42 AM #

    The words are powerful. My computer can’t handle the video so i’ll have to watch it some other time. Thanks for sharing this

  12. Brian August 27, 2010 at 10:16 AM #

    Wow. . . tremendously powerful song and video.

  13. Michael Seifert August 27, 2010 at 12:17 PM #

    Hey I have to say, that was one of the most amazing ways I have heard that song. I have heard the song many times, but this video has really started sticking to me in a new way.

  14. Barry Joslin August 27, 2010 at 3:30 PM #

    Bob,
    Thanks for posting this. We sang “The Prodigal” in church late last year and put video to it, but not as good as this! I’ve emailed Chris to see about using his videos in our services. Very moving and powerful; they need to be shared!

    Can’t wait for Worship God 2011. We’re bringing as many people as can possibly come.

    Barry Joslin
    Louisville, KY

  15. Lindele August 29, 2010 at 4:53 PM #

    This morning we sang The Gospel Song twice, framing The Power of the Cross. I wish we could have shown this video, but we have an old, decrepit video/sound system. I think we’ll have to get all new equipment before we’ll have that capability! But this is a lovely interpretation – thank you, Chris, and thanks Bob for posting it.

  16. Jeff September 2, 2010 at 12:55 PM #

    That was powerful. Thanks and God bless!

  17. Arlene September 13, 2010 at 11:30 AM #

    I’ve seen those two videos. The songs are powerful enough but with such touching animations, the lyrics hit home hard. A lot of Facebook users have posted both vids.

  18. Fran Richley October 11, 2010 at 2:37 AM #

    The combination of the cross centred words, empassioned plea by John Piper and simple animation blessed me this morning. – thank you

    By God’s grace may we as CJ says, always keep the main thing the main thing and tell the old old story in as many ways as possible

  19. Robert Fraser May 9, 2011 at 6:07 PM #

    Do you have spanish words for this song? I’d love to use them in our church!
    Thanks

  20. Christopher de Vidal June 5, 2012 at 5:25 PM #

    I was certain that we sang this song in my youth group back in 1994. The first time I heard it from SGM in ~2002-2004 I recognized it instantly. Are you sure it was written then and not earlier?

    • Bob Kauflin June 5, 2012 at 6:06 PM #

      Chris, absolutely. Drew wrote the words in 2002, and I wrote tune that year. But if you find it recorded or printed earlier, let me know!

  21. Maura VanBerkom March 18, 2017 at 2:31 PM #

    Hi! I was interested in using this song and video with out children’s ministry. Is there a way to get the instrumental track with John Piper for the song and video?? thank you!

    • Bob Kauflin March 18, 2017 at 7:13 PM #

      Maura, you’d have to contact Chris Powers at fillmewitheyes@gmail.com

      • Maura March 18, 2017 at 7:16 PM #

        thank you so much Bob! I was hoping you had his email. I tried the one listed in the comments above and it didn’t work. My husband is really looking forward to Worship God Northeast! He will be there at the end of the month.

  22. Maura March 18, 2017 at 7:20 PM #

    Bob–you probably won’t remember me, but we met you on an airplane from Orlando to BWI back in 2010. We used to go to Covenant Fellowship and then helped plant the Middletown, DE church, and stayed there until it closed. LOL! Hope you are well!

    • Bob Kauflin March 20, 2017 at 10:51 AM #

      Maura, that’s amazing! Great to hear from you!

Trackbacks/Pingbacks

  1. The Greatest News in All the World – Justin Taylor - August 24, 2010

    […] info here on the song (from Sovereign Grace) and the animator (Chris […]

  2. Good News | amazed by grace - August 24, 2010

    […] Gospel Song by Sovereign Grace Ministries. Animation by Chris Powers. Click here for more info. Share this:StumbleUponFacebook This entry was posted in uncategorized. […]

  3. The Greatest News in All The World - August 24, 2010

    […] about the video at Worship Matters. Filed Under: […]

  4. The Gospel Song: An Animation « Triple Fiber - September 9, 2010

    […] saw this video a while back in a post in Bob Kauflin’s blog. The song is very simple, yet powerful. The animation also has a short clip of John Piper […]

  5. The Gospel Song – An Animation « Renewing Thoughts - September 20, 2010

    […] HT: Bob Kauflin […]

  6. Gospel-centered animation « The Neglected Understood - October 28, 2010

    […] HT: Kauflin […]

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Powered by WordPress. Designed by Woo Themes