“We Will Glorify” - Twila Paris

1958–

At the tender age of seven, she recorded her first album, a collection of songs her family sang in their evangelistic meetings. Twila Paris grew up surrounded by faith. Her father was not only an evangelist, but later also became founder and chancellor of a Christian college in northwest Arkansas.

Twila’s next album didn’t come out for another fifteen years, in 1980, but that one quickly put her on the map of contemporary Christian music. Over the next quarter century, she released nearly an album a year, but she wasn’t just another pop singer. Early on, she found that her lasting gifts to the church were in worship music. “We Will Glorify,” “We Bow Down,” “Lamb of God,” and “He Is Exalted” all came from her pen and her voice.

Christian worship was changing in the 1980s and ’90s, and Twila provided the playlist. Many churches were experimenting with “contemporary” worship styles, using guitars and drums rather than organs, singing modern choruses instead of old hymns. Some folks objected to this new direction; Christian magazines were writing about the “worship wars.” But in the midst of the debate, Twila’s worship songs had a majesty to them. Modern, but very singable, and strongly focused on God, to many these songs felt far more worshipful than the old favorites, and thus they provided the best possible argument in favor of contemporary worship.

Today’s worship leaders should take a lesson from Twila’s work. Though she has always been a fine singer and a popular performer, her lasting significance comes from the fact that her music has consistently led Christians before God’s throne. Worship is not ultimately a performance, but a bowing, a humbling, an offering. And worship must never focus on the skill of the leader but on the Lord’s greatness.

Individually, we can fall into that same trap. We can start concentrating on how well we’re praying, or studying, or meditating, or obeying. If only we were more disciplined, more focused, or more spiritual, we think, then we’d be great Christians. The music of Twila Paris reminds us that it’s not about us. God is the one we’re exalting. He gets the glory. We’re just bowing down.

Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to your name goes all the glory for your unfailing love and faithfulness.

Psalm 115:1