Songwriters and hit worship singers including Matt Maher, Chris Tomlin, and Mitch Wong come together to celebrate the hymn’s 75th anniversary.
The choir and Mr. Shea now sing for you “How Great Thou Art.”
Cliff Barrow’s announcement at Billy Graham’s New York Crusade at Madison Square Garden on June 16, 1957, preceded the televised performance that helped cement the hymn’s position as a fixture in American Protestant repertoire.
The choir of hundreds began the performance with the last line of the chorus: “How great thou art, how great thou art.” Then George Beverly Shea’s famous baritone introduced the hymn to millions of viewers—an estimated 96 million by the end of Graham’s New York Crusade.
As Shea sang the second verse, taking expressive liberties with the tempo, the text at the bottom of the broadcast invited viewers to call the phone line “to begin a relationship with Jesus Christ.”
2024 marks the 75th anniversary of the publication of “How Great Thou Art,” and to celebrate the hymn’s legacy, songwriters Matt Redman and Mitch Wong contributed new text for a collaborative recording, featuring an array of popular performers like Chris Tomlin, Matt Maher, Kari Jobe, Cody Carnes, and Naomi Raine.
“This is a hymn that everyone knows and loves,” Redman said in an interview with CT. “It felt quite daunting to come in and make changes.”
Redman and Wong’s version of the hymn, “How Great Thou Art! (Until That Day),” preserves the original English text and nods to the song’s international origins and history. Their recording debuted Friday.
The timeless song captures the tension of the Christian life, having to live with eyes open to both the temporary and the eternal. “We’ve got these two realities: the here and now, and the …
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