Before I (Charlie) became a Christian at 19 and going into my 20th year, I spent my time playing in rock bands, drinking and partying like most others my age.

After coming into a vibrant relationship with the Lord, I got very involved at church and made some great life-long friends there, while regularly attending the Saturday night “youth” service (which was really all ages of radical believers who were “on fire” for the Lord!:). 

Within the next few months, following the Saturday night meetings, I began bringing home several of my new friends who really loved the Lord, among whom was Jill! 🙂  We filled the front room and would all just sit around in a circle, singing love songs to Jesus right there in my home!

This completely baffled my parents and they were so puzzled as to what was going on in my life!  My dad was completely committed to his church — he loved the Lord but was a very strong Catholic, and was wanting to challenge my new faith.  

As we continued to worship the Lord every week at my house after church (we just couldn’t get enough!), my mom and dad would be there in the back family room with their priest and others, drinking highballs and hanging out. 

Eventually what happened was (the way my dad would tell the story), “we would bring our barstools closer and closer to where they were singing in the front living room.”  They were drawn by the love and presence of God as we worshiped!! 

Eventually both of my parents were born again, and my dad testified for years, before he went to Heaven, that I “snuck“ the Holy Ghost into the back door of our house by singing worship songs! 

There is power in worship music and ESPECIALLY in singing the Word of God, which is almost all we sang back then — songs written from the scriptures we were learning!  Hallelujah!!

One morning I was awaken by a song being sung very heartily down the hall, “He is Lord, He is Lord, He is risen from the dead and He is Lord,“ and I thought, “What in the world is that?!“  Turns out it was my dad in the shower, and he was singing one of the songs he would hear us worship with in the living room!!

My mind was being blown and my heart was amazed!!

His testimony was that the Spirit of God slowly got hold of his heart through a lot of these songs, and both of my parents became saved and Spirit filled. 

My dad ministered in prisons, nursing homes and as a hospital chaplain — both of them being fully “switched on” for Jesus from that time until they died, touching many lives along the way. 

This is the power of singing worship songs! 

In Psalm 8:2 we read,

From the lips of children and infants You have ordained praise, because of Your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger!

Along with that, this passage from 1 Timothy 4:12 is how we lived our lives back then (and still endeavor to today!): 

Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity. 

Our entire Christian culture back in the mid 1970s was steeped in music and singing songs of love, adoration and worship to the Lord, written from an outflow of the Word of God and our relationship with Him. 

Be sure the songs you sing and worship with are full of Biblical Truth and New Covenant realities!  It will make a difference in your life, and in the lives of others around you!