HIMknowledgey Ministry - Revive Us Again

Dedication

I would like to dedicate Revive Us Again to all who were involved in the making of this chronological anthology of American gospel hymnody. Most of them will be named in The Making of Revive Us Again.

Once again, God has had the right people in the right places at the right times. Some, like my wife, Eileen and our children, have been around and aware of this all along. Others have just given a word of encouragement or provided some material all along the way. The man, whom God provided, showed me the computer system and programs to purchase to complete the pages of Revive Us Again. David Bilcik refers to himself by the technical term, compositor. I call him my organizer because he took the hymn scans, hymn stories and pictures and placed them together in the manner you have in your hand.

My Pastor, Ben Graham, who has written the back cover of the paper jacket, was led by the Lord 1,200 miles east from Benton, Arkansas to Johnson City, New York. The day that we met, was February 9, 2002. Six days later, he was driving a van to the Bliss Museum in Rome, Pennsylvania with his father, Dr. Ken Graham, reading the Practical Museum book which was my only book in print at the time.

Pastor Ben Graham is now the President of the P.P. Bliss Gospel Songwriters Museum and last July 19, 2004, Dr. Ken Graham and his wife Pam were on the program at the Annual Bliss Birthday Celebration held in North Rome, Pennsylvania. The Grahams sang several of the numbers from their 15-hymn, "Bliss Memorial CD" that they produced.

The last hymn-story was written on August 9, 2003. Since then, extensive proof-reading has transpired. My wife, Eileen, has read every piece I have ever written. The first copy was reviewed by Ed and Alta Button. God seemed to point out mistakes because it seemed when I asked someone their favorite hymn, upon reading it, there were sometimes errors.

The final proof-reading was done in two stages. Mrs. Pam Graham read it through, marking the corrections with some help from Mrs. Carolyn Courtney. When we received the corrected pages, David Bilcik with help from his mother, Betty, read through all the pages, marking the changes for David, to be entered into the computer.

Finally, I want to thank the people at Open Bible Baptist Church in Johnson City, New York for their interest and encouragement in Revive Us Again.