This is a piece a choir our children were in sang years ago and it was decided we should do it at church. It was better as a children’s choir piece as can be heard here. You can purchase it as a download here. Terry Kirkland (1940-2001) was a prolific composer but other than that I can’t find anything about him (or her) on the net. It is based on Gal 5:22-23.
My backing sounds nothing like a children’s choir.
There is love, peace, patience and joy.
There is gentleness and kindness.
And there is goodness, faithfulness, self control,
These are the fruits of the Spirit,
The fruits of the Spirit of God.
Love, peace, patience and joy,
Gentleness and kindness,
Goodness, faithfulness, self control,
These are the fruits of the Spirit,
The fruits of the Spirit of God.
So let us love, seek peace,
Be patient and joyful.
Let us be gentle and kind.
Seek what is good,
Be faithful and strong.
For these are the fruits of the Spirit,
The fruits of the Spirit of God.
So let us love, seek peace,
Be patient and joyful.
Let us be gentle and kind.
Seek what is good,
Be faithful and strong.
For these are the fruits of the Spirit,
The fruits of the Spirit of God.
© Triune Music 2001.
Terry Kirkland was a long-time employee of the Church Music Department of the Southern Baptist Sunday School Board in Nashville, Tennessee. He specialized in music for children and wrote many wonderful pieces. He was one of the innovators of children’s church music in the 1970s and 1980s.
Many thanks for the information, Ray. It’s nice to know he is remembered fondly and it’s great that his music is sung around the world.
Geoff
Yes – he was my first instructor in children’s choir methods when I was working on my Master of Church Music degree at Scarritt Graduate School in Nashville. He briefly had his own publishing company, ‘Kirkland House’. He was a wonderful composer and teacher of children. Heard that he died in a fire, but I haven’t been able to confirm this.