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What Really Happened to Twila Paris?

Twila Paris, a legendary figure in contemporary Christian music, has a story deeply intertwined with faith, family, and creativity. Her journey from a young girl taking piano lessons to a globally recognized musician is fascinating.

Family Roots and Inspiration

Twila’s musical foundation began in her childhood home, deeply rooted in faith and family. Her father, not just a minister but also a talented musician and songwriter, instilled in Twila both a profound love for God and a passion for music. Paris reminisces, “My dad is the person who taught me to love God and taught me to write a song.”

However, it wasn’t just love and encouragement that she received from her family. At the tender age of 13, her father challenged her to compose a song. Twila recalled the moment, admitting her initial hesitation and feeling overwhelmed. “I can’t write a song,” she remembered thinking, but with a gentle push from her father, she did, although self-deprecatingly dubbing it as “really awful.” But that song, regardless of its quality, opened a door to a world of creativity for her.

Twila believes that everyone possesses a spark of creativity within them. It often just needs a nudge to ignite it, much like the encouragement she received as a young girl.

A Legacy of Faith

Twila’s ties to the church and her faith are even more profound than one might imagine. A charming story from her family history involves her grandmother and her sisters, all of whom traveled with their preacher father in a covered wagon through parts of the U.S, including Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. In towns without churches, they’d establish makeshift “brush arbors” for worship – frameworks covered in brush and vines.

This family tradition of establishing places of worship continued with her grandparents, who not only preached but also built churches. While Twila may not be traveling in a covered wagon, her mission and the essence of her work mirror that of her predecessors.

Serving the Greater Good

Twila’s influence and outreach aren’t limited to her music. She’s closely associated with Youth With A Mission (YWAM), one of the world’s largest missionary organizations.

The organization has deep ties to her family, with its founder being her father’s cousin, Loren Cunningham. Paris’s home fellowship and the foundational place for her worship was the YWAM base in Arkansas.

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She reflects fondly on those days, particularly recalling how she led worship at YWAM before her recording career took off. Her involvement with the organization is still ongoing, with concertgoers having the opportunity to learn more about the organization and ways to contribute.

The Evolution of Christian Music

Twila’s career has witnessed the ebb and flow of Christian music over the decades. Lately, she has observed a trend of younger artists producing profound lyrics, which she appreciates. Recalling a time when she was hesitant to release “The Warrior is a Child” due to its not-so-“happy” tone, she learned never to underestimate her listeners. She believes that people crave depth and honesty in Christian music.

In Conclusion

Twila Paris’s legacy is an intricate tapestry of faith, family, and music. Her story reminds us of the importance of encouragement, the power of heritage, and the genuine impact of raw honesty. As she continues to inspire and touch lives with her music, it’s evident that her journey, like her songs, is both deep and enduring.

24 FAQs related to Twila Paris:

1. when did twila paris start her music career.

Twila began her professional music journey in the late 1970s. She released her debut album in 1980.

2. How many albums has Twila Paris released?

Over the course of her career, Twila Paris has released over 20 studio albums.

3. Is Twila Paris married?

Yes, Twila Paris is married to Jack Wright. They wed in 1993.

4. Does Twila Paris have children?

Yes, Twila and her husband Jack have a son named Jack Paris Wright.

5. Has Twila won any awards for her music?

Throughout her career, Twila has won numerous Dove Awards from the Gospel Music Association.

6. What are some of Twila’s other popular songs not mentioned in the article?

Some of her other renowned songs include “Where I Stand,” “Run to You,” and “How Beautiful.”

7. Does Twila Paris still tour?

While her touring schedule might have reduced, Twila occasionally performs at concerts and special events.

8. Has Twila Paris authored any books?

Yes, in addition to her music, Twila has written several books over the years.

9. How can fans stay updated with Twila Paris’s latest releases or events?

Fans can follow Twila Paris on her official website, social media platforms, or subscribe to her newsletter for updates.

10. Did Twila receive any formal music training?

While she learned a lot from her family, especially her father, she has also taken formal piano lessons, beginning in her childhood.

11. How has Twila’s music evolved over the years?

Twila’s music has transitioned from contemporary Christian pop in the 80s to more worship and hymn-like songs in recent years.

12. Has Twila collaborated with other artists?

Yes, over her career, Twila has collaborated with numerous artists both within and outside the Christian music scene.

13. Are there any cover versions of her songs by other artists?

Many Christian artists have covered Twila’s songs, given their enduring popularity and powerful messages.

14. Where does Twila Paris draw inspiration for her songs?

Twila often draws inspiration from her personal faith journey, the Bible, and her life experiences.

15. Has Twila Paris ever acted in films or TV shows?

While primarily known for her music, Twila has made occasional appearances in Christian broadcasts and programs.

16. How can fans purchase Twila Paris’s music?

Her music is available on various digital platforms, music stores, and her official website.

17. Are there any fan clubs or forums dedicated to Twila Paris?

There are several fan groups and forums online where enthusiasts discuss her music and share updates.

18. What impact has Twila Paris had on the Christian music industry?

Twila is considered a pioneer in contemporary Christian music and has influenced countless artists with her deep, theologically rich songs.

19. Does Twila have a favorite album or song from her own collection?

While artists often have a soft spot for all their creations, specific preferences might change over time or based on life events.

20. Is Twila Paris involved in any charities?

Twila has been associated with various charitable causes and missions throughout her career, especially through her ties with YWAM.

21. Has Twila ever given music workshops or masterclasses?

While primarily a performer and songwriter, Twila has occasionally been involved in workshops and seminars related to Christian music.

22. Are there any upcoming projects or albums from Twila Paris?

For the most current information, fans are encouraged to check her official website or social media channels.

23. How can fans get in touch or send fan mail to Twila Paris?

Typically, her official website or record label would provide contact details or fan mail addresses.

24. What do critics generally say about Twila Paris’s music?

Over the years, critics have often lauded Twila’s deep and profound lyrics, her melodious tunes, and her unwavering commitment to spreading the Christian message through her songs.

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What Makes Twila Paris a Great Christian Musician?

Twila Paris is one of the most prolific female musicians in Contemporary Christian Music, and one of the most inspiring. What's the secret to her success?

I’ll never forget those hours as long as I live. On the morning of September 11, 2001, I was huddled in my basement office in the hospital where I worked. Every staff member was called in because of a threat made against the Sears Tower (now Willis Tower). All Chicago-area hospitals had to be on high alert. My marketing team dragged a small television in from another office as we scrambled to find information about what was happening. But my ears were glued to the radio in my office, tuned to a local Christian radio station, listening to their loop of Twila Paris’s “ God is in Control . ” It gave peace in a harrowing time, as I heard the lyrics reminding me that God does not forsake his children.

What makes a great Christian musician? Someone who writes and sings songs like “God is in Control” that draw people closer to God. Someone who seeks no glory but instead seeks that God be glorified. An artist who can take the truths of God’s word and combine them with a melody resonating with the listener. At the risk of sounding obvious, a great Christian musician writes great Christian music. Whereas secular music often relies more on melody and beat, and the lyrics may not add up to much, Christian music is written about God and for God and contains life-sustaining truth.

But we’ve had that for thousands of years, haven’t we? From King David to Fanny Crosby to Twila Paris, we have had music to drive us to worship.

Annette Griffin points out that not all Christian music is true worship. If the song is merely encouraging us in our Christian walk, and anyone else is the “victor” in the song, it’s not real worship, says Griffin. Twila Paris not only exists to sing songs with lyrics that bring us nearer to the heart of God and His word: she intends for those songs to be true worship. But even further, as her website notes , she has “helped to pioneer today’s praise and worship music and contributed greatly to making this informal style acceptable to normally more conservative churches.”

I can attest to this as a denominational churchgoer relying on ancient music and a 1959 hymnal. My church plays some older music, but songs like “Lamb of God” and “We Will Glorify” are sung just as often.

When Did Twila Paris Start Making Christian Music?

According to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas , Twila Paris was born on December 28, 1958, in Fort Worth, Texas, one of four children of Oren Paris II, the founder of Youth With A Mission ministries. She began playing and singing when she was young, but her career as a singer/songwriter began in 1981 with her album Knowin’ You’re Around .

She was a constant in Contemporary Christian Music in the 1980s and 1990s and continues releasing music today. She has recorded 22 albums and achieved 33 number-one singles. According to her website , she was named the Gospel Music Association Female Vocalist of the Year three years in a row in the 1990s, including a Song of the Year Award for “God is in Control” in 1995.

In the 2000s, she signed with the new worship label Integrity Worship and recorded her first live album, He is Exalted: Live Worship . She has also written several books/devotionals for adults and children. In 2015 she was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame.

Who Are Some Other Early Female Christian Musicians Like Twila Paris?

Many have argued that a major shift in how Christians make music came with the Jesus Movement in the 1970s. The norm had been singing about God in church with an open hymnal. Then the so-called Jesus freaks or Jesus hippies began writing songs that sounded more like the culture of the time.

Young musicians who played rock music rock realized they could sing for God using their genre. The Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) scene became solidified into a marketable genre in the 1980s: radio stations now played songs that sounded like mainstream music but with Christian lyrics. Twila Paris came out with her first album in 1981, and the 80s saw several other women leaders of the genre:  women like Amy Grant , Sheila Walsh , Debby Boone, CeCe Winans, Margaret Becker, Kim Hill, Leslie Phillips , and Sandy Patty. These women pioneered the idea that you could drive with the kids in the car, belting out a cool-sounding song from a Christian radio station that honored God.

All Music Guide contributor Thom Granger singles out Twila Paris as “modern inspirational music’s most prolific singer-songwriter,” highlighting how she’s often compared to the prolific hymnist Fanny Crosby . 

10 Inspiring Twila Paris Quotes

1. “I want to encourage people to be faithful in what God has given them to do, however insignificant it might seem, because they have no idea how huge it could be in God’s overall plan.” Twila Paris, Proper Management Profile

2. “I write from personal experience. Most of my songs are prayers from me to God and are very vertical… I believe that we all go through the same things though not at the same times.” — “Twila Paris: Paris’ Songs Are Prayers To God,” Deborah Evans Price, American Songwriter

3. “When God calls us to do something, even if we enter a new season in our lives, He finds a way to enable us. Yes, it’s a challenge, but it’s clear what God is doing, where He’s leading and what He’s enabling me to do.” — “Twila Paris,” Christian Broadcasting Network

4. “And it seems to me that one of the many productive ways that God uses worship in our lives is that when we offer it to Him, He comes and inhabits us and the places in which we worship and does His work.” — “Twila Paris: Her Heart’s Desire,” Mimi Elliott, Christian Broadcasting Network  

5. “‘I hope that after 17 years of songwriting I have developed my craft and gotten more skilled at the art, which I believe it is to a degree… And yet at the core I still tend to start the song at a very visceral level… I believe sometimes the songs that are felt the deepest are the ones that start at that level.” — “Twila Paris: Creating Musical Garments,” Deborah Evans Price, American Songwriter

6. “It helps keep me in check when I think about how I am coming across in different situations. Was I the fragrance of Christ...or was I an unpleasant odor?” — Crosswalk Music profile by Mark Smeby

7. “God does not waste his time or ours. If you feel like you are marking time… God is building into us wisdom and character and experience that we will draw on later if He opens doors into larger avenues of service.” — 1996 OpenLine radio interview

9. “One thing I’ve noticed is great music will inspire me to write even if I’m writing something completely different… When I hear great music it’s inevitable. I have to write something. I’m inspired to create.” — “Paris’ Songs Are Prayers To God”

10. “The songs and the songwriting are really gifts from the Lord.” — Twila Paris 1994 interview, Victory Videos

5 Great Twila Paris Songs

Twila Paris has written dozens of inspiring songs over the years. Here are just a few favorites:

1. “How Beautiful”

2. “The Warrior is a Child”

3. “God is in Control”

4. “He is Exalted”

5. “Lamb of God”

5 Best Twila Paris Albums

Here are Twila Paris’s most popular albums, as listed on Spotify in April 2023 .

1. Kingdom Seekers

2. Cry for the Desert

3. A Heart That Knows You

4. Bedtime Prayers: Lullabies & Peaceful Worship

5. He is Exalted: Live Worship

5 Great Christian Books by Twila Paris

Twila Paris’ books range from companions to her albums to inspiring devotionals.

1. Bedtime Prayers and Lullabies

2. Celebrate the Gift of Jesus Every Day: Song Lyrics & Devotionals

3. God is in Control

4. In This Sanctuary: An Invitation to Worship the Savior

Paris also contributed the foreword to Baby Changes Everything: Embracing and Preparing for Motherhood after 35 by Beth K. Vogt.

What Makes Twila Paris So Inspiring?

I’m drawn to Twila Paris’ music because she seems like the mom next door, the kind of woman you would call to comfort you in your troubles with Biblical truth. Her lyrics celebrate the attributes of God and our relationship with Him. She’s reminded me of my hope in God with words like. I’ve followed her since the early 1990s, and to this fan, she has seemed nothing but consistent in her work and walk with the Lord.

Further Reading:

Who Are Some Jesus Movement Christian Rock Pioneers You Didn’t Know About?

20 Great Books on Christian Music

Why Did Christian Music Forget The Call’s Michael Been?

Remembering Contemporary Christian Music Pioneer Keith Green

How Did John Michael Talbot Change Christian Music?

Mark Heard: Contemporary Christian Music’s Best Songwriter

How Did Randy Stonehill Revolutionize Christian Music?

How Did Larry Norman Become the Father of Christian Rock?

What Makes Christian Musician Michael Card Unique?

Why Should Christian Music Pay Attention to T Bone Burnett?

Photo Credit: Getty Images/Nagaiets

Mary Oelerich-Meyer is a Chicago-area freelance writer and copy editor who prayed for years for a way to write about and for the Lord. She spent 20 years writing for area healthcare organizations, interviewing doctors and clinical professionals and writing more than 1,500 articles in addition to marketing collateral materials. Important work, but not what she felt called to do. She is grateful for any opportunity to share the Lord in her writing and editing, believing that life is too short to write about anything else. Previously she served as Marketing Communications Director for a large healthcare system. She holds a B.A. in International Business and Marketing from Cornell College (the original Cornell!) When not researching or writing, she loves to spend time with her writer daughter, granddaughter, rescue doggie and husband (not always in that order).  

This article is part of our People of Christianity catalog that features the stories, meaning, and significance of well-known people from the Bible and history. Here are some of the most popular articles for knowing important figures in Christianity:

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Twila Paris (1958–)

Aka: twila inez paris wright.

Twila Inez Paris Wright is a prolific contemporary Christian singer, songwriter, pianist, and author who lives in Fayetteville (Washington County) . She is the winner of many Gospel Music Association (GMA) Dove Awards and American Songwriter Awards and has hundreds of published and recorded songs to her credit. Hymns and choruses she has composed have appeared in such widely varying hymn collections as the United Methodist Hymnal and the Baptist Hymnal , as well as those of various Pentecostal and non-denominational churches.

Twila Paris was born on December 28, 1958, in Fort Worth, Texas, one of four children of Oren Paris II, the founder of Youth With A Mission ministries and Ecclesia College in Springdale (Washington and Benton counties) , and Rachel Inez Paris, a songwriter. She was raised in Elm Springs (Washington and Benton counties) .

Paris was involved in church music since her childhood (having reportedly composed lyrics and melodies for songs since age two and studied piano since age six), but her career as a singer/songwriter and public figure essentially began in 1981 with the release of her first full-length album, Knowin’ You’re Around . In the 1980s and 1990s, she was at the forefront of the praise and worship movement among church musicians and Christian artists. In 1992, her album Sanctuary won the GMA Praise and Worship Album of the Year. Her Dove Awards include Female Vocalist of the Year for 1993 and 1994. In 1995, she won the GMA Song of the Year award for “God Is in Control”; she also made a popular music video for the song. Originally associated with Star Song Communications, her parent company EMI switched her to Sparrow Records in 1996. Her contract expired in 2003, and she then signed with the praise and worship label Integrity Music. Her first project for Integrity was He Is Exalted: Live Worship (2005).

Among Paris’s better-known compositions are “He Is Exalted,” “We Bow Down,” “Lamb of God,” and “We Will Glorify.” In December 2007, she released Small Sacrifice , which was made available only through her website and Lifeway Christian Stores. This album collects a number of her own favorite worship standards and presents them in a more typical style of live worship music, including a version of “He Is Exalted” in Portuguese as used by Christians in Brazil.

Paris has produced more than fifteen albums and has had over thirty number-one hit songs on the Christian Contemporary charts. She has worked with such well-known contemporary Christian artists as Amy Grant and Michael W. Smith. In addition, she is a published author with several books to her credit that (as with her music) deal with personal worship and praise in devotional life, among them In this Sanctuary: An Invitation to Worship the Savior (1992, co-authored with Dr. Robert Webber) and Perennial: Meditations for Seasons of Life (1998).

A firm believer that Christian music should be accessible to all kinds of Christians, Paris works to cross over between the traditional hymnody of the denominational churches and the freer, more emotional praise and worship of the Charismatic/Pentecostal renewal. Although offered a full music scholarship to the University of Arkansas (UA) in Fayetteville, she believed that she was called by God for ministry and attended Youth With A Mission discipleship training instead.

Paris is married to Jack Wright of Fayetteville and has one son. The couple has worked with Youth With A Mission and various other church and para-church ministries. She has been a spokesperson for World Vision for several years and has performed a number of benefit concerts for that charity. In 2015, she was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame.

For additional information: “The Sanctuaries of Twila Paris.” Contemporary Christian Music Magazine (November 1991).

Storm, Christie. “Springdale Singer Makes Hall of Fame.” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette , May 2, 2015, pp. 4B–5B.

“Twila Paris: Home for the Holidays.” Today’s Christian Woman (December 1994).

David O. Bowden Little Rock, Arkansas

Years ago in New Hampshire, I saw Twila Paris in concert. She came out to meet me and sign my music folio with Scripture. I had been singing her music and was (and remain) a huge fan. The person with me had never been to a Christian concert before and was surprised more were not in attendance. Soon after, Twila’s music and ministry soared to new heights. Twila, you impacted me greatly–your witness and music. I was born again soon after we met. Thank you for making a difference in my journey.

Wish Twila would go back to recording and touring. I saw her in concert in Estes Park in the nineties, and I have all of her CD’s. Modern CCM is lacking in the meanings of her songs, and every time I play her music for young people, they’re always blown away and say, “Who IS that?!”

Her unique voice and style always inspire me. Over the years there have been many great Christian Contemporary artists but none better than her. “God is in Control” is a great reminder for every generation and especially today.

As I listen to Twila‘s “Sanctuary” this morning, I think about how I always come to tears, as her music brings me such peace and comfort and holds a place in my heart like none other. Even amongst all the wonderful worship music of today, I always come back to Twila’s for a peace of and intimacy to Jesus. May God continue to bless and keep her and her precious family.

I first discovered Twila’s music in 1984. Her album We Will Glorify is still one of my all-time faves. Her music has ministered to me for nearly forty years, and I look forward to the next forty years, should The Lord tarry. Thank You, Lord, and thanks, Twila, for all the music.

We love Twila and her music. Just listened to For Every Heart CD. What a gifted woman of God.

Certainly a rich example in creative Christian leadership.

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www.twilaparis.com

discography

House of Worship (2003)

Bedtime Prayers Lullabies & Peaceful Worship (2001)

Greatest Hits: Time & Again (2001)

True North (1999)

Perennial (1998)

Where I Stand (1996)

Beyond a Dream (1993)

A Heart That Knows You (1992)

Sanctuary (1991)

Cry For the Desert (1990)

It's the Thought (1989)

For Every Heart (1988)

Same Girl (1987)

Kingdom Seekers (1986)

The Best of Twila Paris (1985)

The Warrior Is a Child (1984)

Keepin' My Eyes On You (1982)

Knowin' You're Around (1981)

08.03 Twila Paris: Her Heart's Desire

Twila Paris: Her Heart's Desire

Mimi Elliott

Share This article

CBN.com Lisa Ryan recently talked with the singer/songwriter about what she has been learning from God.

LISA RYAN: A lot has changed since the last time you were with us. Tell us about the new addition to your family.

TWILA PARIS: The big change is Jack Paris Wright, whom we call J.P. for short because his dad is named Jack. Hes almost 2 now. The short version of the story is that we found ourselves married for almost 15 years, and due to a combination of circumstances, still did not have children. At that point in our lives, I was not praying, 'O Lord, please give us a baby.' I was just saying, 'Lord, You know what? You know whats best, and please do what You know is best.' It just so happened that around that same time we were working on a childrens album that had been planned for a long time, and as far as I knew, I was writing lullabies for other peoples children. From my point of view, it looked like I would never have children of my own. But God gave me such a joy and a passion, and I think I enjoyed writing those songs more than Ive ever enjoyed any project. I literally finished writing those songs and sent the tape off to the producer, and four or five weeks later, I found out I was expecting this child at the age of 41.

RYAN: Oh my goodness!

PARIS: It felt like a miracle to me, and it was so bathed in prayer. We have just seen Gods hand at work every step of the way.

RYAN (reporting): And every step of the way, Twila had faith. But she was candid with me about the disappointment that comes with facing infertility.

PARIS: It had been probably six or seven years before, I guess around that magical age of 35, that it just kind of hit me. I thought, This might not just be a matter of timing. Maybe this in never going to happen, and, girl, you need to confront that and deal with it. I had friends who had gone down that road of bitterness with this same issue.

RYAN: For women, a lot of our identity is wrapped up in motherhood and bringing life into the world.

PARIS: Yes, it is what is expected, and you grow up your whole life, and you get married, and you and your husband look forward to that phase of your lives. When it doesnt happen, it can be very devastating. And I remember God spoke to me at one point and really encouraged me with the fact that in my particular case, Hed blessed me with an awful lot of spiritual children over the years. Thats not just some sort of compensation; thats a wonderful blessing, and Im so grateful for that. The whole thing of Gods calendar, sometimes Im chasing J.P. around at the end of the day and thinking, This would have been easier 10 years ago , but in some ways my schedule in my life was different, and God knows the perfect season.

Years later, when I was expecting this child, I felt like the Lord spoke to me and said, 'Do you remember that calendar that you thought was getting behind? Well, I have a calendar, too, and I havent ever forgotten you. But My calendar is a lot bigger than yours, and it never gets behind.' Thats something that Ive told a lot of people who dont have children or who arent married yet, whose careers arent taking off the way they thought they would be. God doesnt waste time. He always uses those interim years in beautiful ways to do His work and prepare us for whats coming.

RYAN: You come from such a great family legacy of ministry. Your grandparents were in ministry; your parents were in ministry, evangelists; you have a cousin who started YWAM. Did you feel a responsibility to go into ministry?

PARIS: I knew even then I never had a dream to be in mainstream music, and with all this family heritage and all these ministers, that I needed to do Christian music. The music was to make me happy; the Christian music was to make them happy. And God, I thought if He could be kept happy along the way, that would probably be good as well.

RYAN (reporting): Favor she has had. Her latest CD, House of Worship , is her 18 th recording. Twila wrote half of the new worship songs since the birth of her son.

PARIS: Ive always sprinkled worship songs along here and there on other projects. About 10 years ago, we did an album that was entirely devoted to worship. And at that time I remember thinking I want to do this again. It took 10 years before we were ready to do an album that was completely new worship songs, although we did add a couple of the older ones on as well. But there are 10 new songs.

RYAN (reporting): While it seems as though everyone in the Christian music industry is into worship, Twila definitely sees the latest movement as a 'God thing.'

PARIS: I think that was a very God-driven thing because suddenly it was the young people that seemed to be the catalyst for what God was doing. It seemed to me this isnt just something the industry is trying to cook up, or something that the pastors have finally talked people into, but its just a movement thats driven by the Holy Spirit.

And it seems to me that one of the many productive ways that God uses worship in our lives is that when we offer it to Him, He comes and inhabits us and the places in which we worship and does His work.

One of the other ways that He uses worship is that powerful victories are won in the spiritual realm that we cant see through our worship. I recently finished a tour called 'I Worship,' and I think we started the tour literally the night after the war in Iraq started. So I thought, Here we are. Its very interesting that night after night the body is just coming together and were just worshipping. I wonder whats happening in the spiritual realm in our world just through this worship.

RYAN: While physical battle is taking place in our world, there is spiritual battle taking place through worship.

PARIS: Yes, and you wonder about so many of these young men and women who have been in harms way. They are brothers and sisters. They are Christians. What protection might be coming to them because the body of Christ is together worshipping because we spent some time specifically praying for them tonight in the midst of our worship? Its always so incredible in all the ways that God allows it to get to feel like were a small part somehow of what Hes doing in such a large scale, to have that sense that Hes using us in those ways. Its just incredible.

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Singles & eps, compilations, about twila paris.

Known among fans as "the modern-day hymnwriter," Twila Paris was among contemporary inspirational music's most prolific singers and composers. A native of Arkansas, her grandparents were itinerant preachers, holding outdoor revival meetings and planting churches; her grandmother even wrote songs for use at evangelistic meetings. Paris' father was himself a musician, as well as the leader of an area youth mission; a life of religion and music was seemingly her destiny, and indeed she enjoyed great success as a performer, earning comparison to the legendary Fanny Crosby for her contributions to latter-day hymnody, with songs like "We Will Glorify," "Lamb of God," "How Beautiful" and "Faithful Men" included in millions of hymnals in churches across the globe. Recognized as among the most popular "praise and worship" artists of her generation, Paris also published In the Sanctuary, a book co-written with theologian Robert Webber. 1996's Where I Stand was her commercial breakthrough, becoming Paris' best-selling record to date; Perennial: Songs for the Seasons of Life followed in 1998, and a year later she returned with True North. Bedtime Prayers: Lullabies and Peaceful Worship appeared in early 2001. In 2003 Paris returned with her first full worship record since 1991's Sanctuary. House of Worship featured ten new songs as well as two new versions of the well-loved classics "We Bow Down" and "We Will Glorify." Simply Twila Paris followed in 2005. ~ Jason Ankeny

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