One year ago, the first batch of new hymns was released for a new hymnbook of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. “Hymns — For Home and Church” is for members to use as part of their worship and gospel study.
As more new hymns are released, they can be found on the Church’s website at music.ChurchofJesusChrist.org and the Gospel Library app.
On this Church News podcast episode, Church News reporter Mary Richards is joined by the Church’s Hymnbook Committee chair, music author and composer Steve Schank, to discuss an update on the size, scope and timing of the new hymnbook.
They explore the power of sacred music in worship, the careful selection of new music in this ongoing project and the joyful singing of hymns.
Listen to this episode of the Church News podcast on Apple Podcasts, Amazon, Spotify, bookshelf PLUS, YouTube or wherever you get podcasts.
Transcript:
Steve Schank: There’s something about music that takes the gospel and sinks it into our hearts and our minds in a way that it cannot be forgotten. Sacred music teaches the gospel in a way that’s not threatening. It is easy to understand. Many of us as we’re learning and growing in the gospel have a little wall around our hearts to protect us. Sacred music has a way of finding the cracks in the walls we build around our hearts and seeping through and touching our hearts and bringing us along. In church, it’s the way we open a meeting or the way we close a meeting. It’s a way to connect with the divine. It’s a way for me to bring an offering to the Lord, and the Lord will be pleased, and He will answer with a blessing upon my head. Music is not filler. It’s worship.
1:04
Mary Richards: This is Mary Richards, reporter at the Church News. Welcome to the Church News podcast. Today, we are taking you on a journey of connection as we discuss news and events of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
One year ago, the first batch of new hymns was released for a new hymnbook of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. “Hymns — For Home and Church” is for members to use as part of their worship and gospel study. These songs can be found on the Church’s website, the Sacred Music app and the Gospel Library app.
Since May 2024, 37 new hymns have been released in English, Spanish, Portuguese and French, with translations coming in phases in several other languages. The Church’s Hymnbook Committee chair, Steve Schank, joins this episode of the Church News podcast to talk about this sacred ongoing project.
Mary Richards: Welcome, Steve, to the Church News podcast.
Steve Schank: Thank you. It’s a pleasure to be with you.
2:05
Mary Richards: What is it like to chair the Hymnbook Committee, and what does your assignment entail?
Steve Schank: It’s such a privilege to work with some of the most talented and inspired and inspiring individuals that I’ve ever met. I think that the most important thing that I have done as the chair of the Hymnbook Committee is prayerfully consider who it is that the Lord has prepared over a lifetime to invite to come and participate on the committee.
We have talented members from areas around the world in various capacities, those that are highly trained in music, those that are highly trained in lyrics and writing, and some who are not musicians at all, because that’s also an important perspective. Sometimes the musicians in the room get going on, “This is what we need,” and somebody brings us back and says, “Actually, you don’t see things as they really are. For members of the Church who are not musicians, this is the way it is.” And those members of the committee also have valuable perspective.
We work with leaders of the Church, and that is a distinct privilege, where everything that we do as committees — as the Hymnbook Committee and the Children’s Songbook Committee, which are separate committees that were formed and have come together as the hymns of the Church and the children’s songs have come together into one volume — we know that our role as a Hymnbook Committee is to make recommendations to the leaders of the Church, but not to make any decisions. All decisions are made by the senior leaders of the Church. We know that and support that. We feel that it’s a privilege to be an extension of those who hold keys to direct the work of the kingdom of God in these last days, and that’s our role.
3:58
Mary Richards: Recently, Elder Dale G. Renlund of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles spoke about “Hymns — For Home and Church.” So I want to play some portions of that interview, and then let’s talk about what we’re learning from Elder Renlund.
Steve Schank: Great.
4:09
Elder Dale G. Renlund: In 2018, the First Presidency directed that a new hymnbook be produced, but the goal wasn’t simply to replace existing hymnbooks and children’s songbooks. Instead, the purpose was to increase faith and worship of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ in homes and at church and to unify members throughout the world. The musical styles were to be expanded to help achieve these objectives.
4:38
Mary Richards: Steve, tell me about that purpose and these objectives — “to increase faith and worship of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ in homes and at church and to unify members throughout the world.”
Why are the Church and its leaders so invested in providing sacred music for members?
4:56
Steve Schank: You know, I think that goes back to the infancy of the Church. In March of 1830, the Book of Mormon was completed, and the very next month, the Church was organized for the first time. Within three months after that, we now have the Book of Mormon, we’ve got the priesthood, we’ve got the Church in place. What do we need? The Lord directed Emma Smith in Doctrine and Covenants 25:11-12 and said, “And it shall be given thee ... to make a selection of sacred hymns, as it shall be given thee, which is pleasing unto me, to be had in my church.”
It’s important to Church leaders to have hymns in the Church because it’s important to the Lord. This is one of the first things that He asked for. “Now you have a Church. One of the things that I want is for you to worship me using sacred music.” I don’t believe that the Lord needs to be worshipped, but He needs us to feel a spirit of praise and worship and reverence and honor for Him, and one of the ways that we praise Him is through sacred music. So He said, “You need to select some sacred hymns. This is something we’re going to do in my Church, and I’m going to help you with that selection. It shall be given thee to make a selection of sacred hymns, as it shall be given thee.” So, “I’m going to help with this process.”
Then He says this is why: “For my soul delighteth in the song, or the singing, of the heart; I delight in singing. The song of the righteous is a prayer unto me, and I’m going to answer that with a blessing” (see Doctrine and Covenants 25:12). So, we go to church both to offer something and to receive something. We offer a broken heart, a contrite spirit, we offer praise and humility to the Lord, and then we receive something. We receive a blessing in return.
The First Presidency has told us the importance of sacred music, and they’ve given us five strategic goals, two of which were mentioned by Elder Renlund in that quote. These are the goals, and they govern every decision that’s made regarding the hymnbook, including what hymns and songs will be included in the collection. So the goals are these: No. 1, increase faith in and worship of our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. Second, to teach the core doctrine of the gospel with power and clarity. Third, to invite joy, to invite joyful singing, at home and at church. It’s interesting that the name of the new collection is “Hymns — For Home and Church,” in that order. Fourth, to comfort the weary and inspire members to endure in faith. And fifth, to unify the members across a worldwide Church.
So, these are the outcomes that the First Presidency hopes that sacred music will achieve, both in our congregations and in our homes and in our personal lives. These are the blessings that the Lord will respond with as we worship Him in song. The Lord and His servants want us to be thinking about worshipping Him not just on Sunday, but on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, in our individual lives. As we turn our hearts and our souls and our voices to Him, He’ll bless us throughout the week.
8:20
Mary Richards: Let’s continue with Elder Renlund.
Elder Dale G. Renlund: This is an ambitious and complex project. Because of the importance of sacred music in the Church, the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve have been intimately involved in every aspect of the new hymnbook, including the selection of hymns to be included in the print and digital versions.
8:43
Mary Richards: Steve, I think what Elder Renlund said there will really help our members understand how important this project is and have some confidence in it.
Steve Schank: It’s really true that the senior leaders of the Church are intimately involved in all of the decisions being made, recommendations. Maybe it would be helpful, I think people might be interested in understanding kind of the life cycle, or the approval cycle, of an individual hymn. It starts with the Hymnbook Committee, who looks at this and they run it through the filter of those five sacred music goals that I described. “How well does this hymn do these things?” If it does to a sufficient level, it may move on to the next step. If it is close or feels like with some tweaking, maybe the lyrics could be refined, maybe the music could be updated, and so editorial teams have been created to help with the music and the text and so forth.
Once the Hymnbook Committee is satisfied that we think this would be a good part of the collection, it goes to our advisers. And our current advisers happen to be Elder Renlund, along with Elder Matthew L. Carpenter of the Seventy and Sister Susan H. Porter of the Primary presidency. We’ve had other Apostles, other General Authority Seventies and other members of the organizations who have been advisers to our project as well. When they’re satisfied that this should move forward, it goes to the Priesthood and Family Department executive directors, which includes several other general authorities and all of the general organization presidents. They review, and they give feedback. And we, just yesterday, we took a batch of 13 hymns, and we got wonderful feedback from them. That feedback is addressed.
When that council is satisfied, it then goes on to the Priesthood and Family Executive Council, which is currently led by Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, together with Elder Renlund; Bishop Gérald Caussé, the presiding bishop; President Camille Johnson of the Relief Society; and members of the Presidency of the Seventy. They give feedback, and oftentimes it will go back to the Hymnbook Committee.
When that group is finally satisfied with the new hymns, then it goes to the full Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and they give vigorous feedback and discussions. And when they’re satisfied, it goes to the First Presidency. President Russell M. Nelson, as many know, is a musician. He plays through the hymns. Sometimes, something will go all the way to the First Presidency and be approved, and then we get feedback to change something or to remove or to move forward from the First Presidency.
So, Elder Renlund is exactly right. We get feedback on every level. Nothing happens in a corner or in a vacuum. The leaders of the Church are very involved in this process. We make recommendations. They make decisions.
11:48
Mary Richards: [President Nelson] spoke in April 2025 general conference about growing in confidence before the Lord. And I just had this thought come to me that through his example, I can grow in confidence before the Lord in learning these new hymns, playing them, singing them. That’s just — I loved hearing that. Thank you, Steve, for sharing that.
I also think, too, that you can kind of give us some behind-the-scenes. The call was made seven years ago for new music, and there were 17,000 original submissions, is what we learned.
12:21
Steve Schank: That’s right. Actually, there were 23,000 submissions. But after administrative review, we trimmed that number down to 17,000 original hymns and songs that were written and submitted by members. Some of the submissions were suggestions or duplicates, but yeah, that’s right; over 17,000. Can you imagine?
12:41
Mary Richards: And you talked through some of the criteria that helped guide that selection. Let’s listen to Elder Renlund explain more about the what and the when of the new hymnbook.
Elder Dale G. Renlund: The First Presidency is directed that the new hymnbook will have around 375 hymns and children’s songs in the print version. Your favorite hymn may not be included, so keep your current hymnbook, and continue to enjoy your old favorites at home. The print version is expected to be available in a pew near you in English, Spanish, Portuguese and French by mid-2027. Other language translations will follow.
13:24
Mary Richards: Steve, this may be the first time some are hearing that number of 375 hymns and children’s songs in the print version, and that’s expected to come by mid-2027?
Steve Schank: Yeah, that’s right. The beauty of this hymnbook coming at a time in the history of the world when it is, is we’ve always had only a print hymnbook in the past, but we live in a digital age, which affords us some options to have a hymnbook that is the same in every language, in print, in every meetinghouse and home around the world, so that when in a multilingual audience, for instance, they say, “We’re now going to sing Hymn 60,” everyone opens to Hymn 60. It’s the same hymn, and we’ll be unified in singing the same body of music throughout the Church.
In addition, we have some options online to extend the hymnbook. So, the decision has been made by the First Presidency to include 375, about, hymns in the print book but then to allow for an open canon online, where we can over time add additional hymns that members can use. This might include patriotic music, which would be too cumbersome to include in a worldwide hymnbook for all of the languages, but it would include additional hymns on every topic that could grow over time and could allow people to sing at home and at church. Even the ones that are online are part of the hymnbook and can be programmed in sacrament meeting and other general church meetings.
14:56
Mary Richards: Now, we had 13 new hymns released in May 2024, that first batch, then nine in September 2024, 15 in February 2025, so that equals the 37 we have. And then the next batch is expected June 2025. Elder Renlund explained this process.
Elder Dale G. Renlund: Some of the hymns will be less familiar to many members of the Church. For this reason, the First Presidency and the Twelve have directed that some hymns be released in advance of the publication of the completed hymnbook. Each hymn has been approved by the First Presidency and the Twelve. And these approvals have not been taken lightly.
15:36
Mary Richards: What can we learn from what he said here?
Steve Schank: Well, the desire of the leaders of the Church is to not make people wait until the full book is released, but to help them enjoy new music now. And there’s some advantages to that. One of the distinct advantages is that when a new hymnbook comes with all of these hymns, we don’t want people to be overwhelmed with all of the new. So having a little bit at a time, learning them a little bit at a time, and experiencing the Spirit and the flavor of the new hymnbook, will help members now to be excited when the full book comes but also to become familiar with the hymns as they roll out in bite-sized pieces.
16:15
Mary Richards: That’s a good pattern. “Here’s some, let’s learn these in different ways, in different forms.” And with each new batch, families and congregations have been using the new hymns right away. Elder Renlund talked about what he has seen.
Elder Dale G. Renlund: I love how frequently these new hymns are already being used. Before using a new hymn for congregational singing, some wards use it as part of a prelude or postlude for several weeks. Others have a choir present the new hymn as a special musical number. Others encourage members to use a hymn at home before introducing it in sacrament meeting. This can be done by listening to the recording, singing it in families or playing it on the piano or guitar. Many members have studied the lyrics of a new hymn, even looking up the scriptural references that are included. Personally, I love to go to the Gospel Library app, select the Music tile, select “Hymns — For Home and Church” and press play to start listening to a playlist of all the recordings of the new hymns.
17:25
Mary Richards: I put on the playlist on Sunday mornings in my own home as we’re getting ready for church, and I found out my dad listens or sings while he does the dishes. And our ward music leader has asked small groups to sing in sacrament meetings so we all become more familiar with the new hymn, maybe one each month or one each week that’s played on the organ and such like that. That’s kind of what I’m experiencing. But what are you seeing also in hearing from around the world?
17:50
Steve Schank: Yeah, there’s a lot of ways that people are introducing, and we encourage all of it. I’m the organist in my ward, and so I use for prelude and for postlude the hymns so that people can hear them as they’re coming in. Particularly if we’re going to sing a new hymn this Sunday, I’ll use it as part of the prelude, so people may not even know that they’re learning the hymn before we sing it the first time. Also, before we sing the first verse, rather than just playing the first couple of measures from the piece, I’ll play the entire verse so that people can hear it before they sing.
In my ward, the bishopric stands and introduces from new resources that have been developed. One of them is “About the Hymns.” If you go in the app and click on the lyrics view, at the bottom of the page there’s a link that says “About this hymn.” If you follow that link, it brings up a story of the background of the hymn, together with additional scriptures, some doctrinal points to ponder, some study resources.
Our bishopric has chosen, anytime a new hymn is introduced, that they go to the microphone and they read the backstory on the hymn and talk about why they’ve chosen it. That has proved to be a real blessing to get members in the mindset for why we’re singing this hymn, but also an enriched experience as they go to sing it, a hymn which might be brand new to them.
19:18
Mary Richards: That is a really good resource, and I’m glad you brought that up. You can click into that. And also the scriptural references, to me that really enhances the study of the doctrine being taught. This isn’t just a song that’s beautiful and artistic. This is doctrine that we’re learning. This fits an ecclesiastical need as well.
19:36
Steve Schank: Absolutely. We see in Primary where so much of Primary time these days is learning the gospel through sacred music. There was an Apostle who lived in the 1950s by the name of Elder Adam S. Bennion, and one of the things that he taught was: “In the Church we need better music and more of it, and better speaking and less of it.” What a great quote. And I’ve often thought, “Why would he say such a thing?”
I think what it comes down to is sacred music teaches the gospel in a way that’s not threatening. It is easy to understand. Many of us as we’re learning and growing in the gospel have a little wall around our hearts to protect us, and sometimes that keeps us from listening to the spoken word and being as edified as we might be. Sacred music has a way of finding the cracks in the walls we build around our hearts and seeping through and touching our hearts and bringing us along.
So, one of the goals of the study resources is to have people consider sacred music as part of their gospel study. The scriptures, currently in our hymnbook, we have scriptures at the bottom of the page. Members will notice that now those have been elevated to the top of the page, right under the title on the sheet music. And in the app, you can just click on the scripture reference and bring up the scripture with topics. Topic tagging is offered there. And I could launch myself on a scripture study based on the topic of my choosing, springboarding out of those hymns.
You know, there are other improvements as well. Gospel Library is coming out right now with some improvements, some functionality, that will make the streaming of music a little more similar to your favorite streaming services, make it easier to find, to listen to, to engage with sacred music. It also includes some accompaniment resources where you can use on an iPad, for instance, you can have a side-by-side view of the hymns and not have to turn pages. So you’ll want to check out the new functionality in Gospel Library.
Mary Richards: I just heard a whole bunch of pianists and organists do a little cheer for that. That’s fantastic.
21:55
Steve Schank: One more thing, and probably the most important resource that we have, are the fabulous audio recordings that we have of every hymn. In no language will a new hymn be released without recordings to help members learn how to sing them. We know not everybody knows how to read music, sheet music. That’s a skill that’s developed in some areas and by some people. But everyone can listen to a hymn and do what they’re hearing.
And so there are audio resources where I can listen with vocals. Sometimes that’s a solo vocal. Sometimes it’s in sung soprano, alto, tenor, bass parts. There’s also guitar recordings. I can listen to it unaccompanied to accompany singing at home or in congregations. And I think that’s probably going to be the resource that is used the very most to help members joyfully sing the new hymns.
22:51
Mary Richards: Absolutely. I want to play this part of Elder Renlund’s interview, where he concluded with this testimony.
Elder Dale G. Renlund: Music is a language of the Spirit and can deepen your love and appreciation for God and His Divine Son and the Restoration of the Lord’s Church in these latter days.
23:11
Mary Richards: Steve, you are a composer, a lyricist, an arranger. You’ve studied music at the highest levels. You’ve conducted choirs in many places.
How have you seen music deepen your love and appreciation for Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and the Restoration of the Lord’s Church in these latter days?
23:29
Steve Schank: Well, it starts with my own experiences with music. I remember being a young child, having my mom sing things to me that I still remember those experiences, and I remember what I felt and what I learned. I remember being in Primary and singing together some of the Primary songs from my youth. Those are still with me.
To get personal, my mother is in a memory care facility right now. Having conversations with her these days is difficult. She doesn’t remember a lot. She doesn’t remember her children’s names, but she remembers all of the Primary songs and the hymns from her youth. And if we find her noncommunicative when we go to visit her, we start singing, and she remembers all of the words and all of the melodies, and her voice is true. There’s something about music that takes the gospel and sinks it into our hearts and our minds in a way that it cannot be forgotten. And I don’t know how that works, but I’m grateful for it.
In my own life when I’ve needed a timely message in a time of difficulty or frustration or despair or confusion or temptation, I can’t even mention how many times the lyrics of a song come into my mind and give me strength. So for me, it’s not about being a musician. It’s not about a skill. We don’t share music with members as variety in a Church meeting or to make things more interesting. It really is about meeting those sacred goals and inviting the blessings that the Lord has promised for those who will worship Him through sacred song.
25:09
Mary Richards: I think so many people will resonate with what you said there about your mother and about your memories of music. I find the same thing happening to me, that a song lyric will come into my mind, or there’s a moment where I’m troubled or scared or something like that, then singing brings me some peace, even if it’s quiet.
I think, too, maybe you can encourage people to sing out loud in church. I might be talking to my children here, but don’t be afraid to sing the words. We’re all not professionals. You don’t have to be worried that you’re not getting it correct. There’s joy in singing too.
25:43
Steve Schank: Yeah. There absolutely is joy in singing. We hope that members will find that joy and that they will take to heart the promise of the Lord that He will bless them as they use sacred music in their individual lives and in their homes. We hope that parents will see this as an opportunity to invite those blessings for their children and in their family and in their home, that bishops and others, Relief Society presidents, elders quorum presidents, anyone at church will see this as an opportunity to invite the blessings of the Lord.
So if I was a bishop, I might, as I’m considering, “What do we do this Sunday? What music are we going to choose? Can I sing ‘This Little Light of Mine’ in sacrament meeting? Is that even allowed?” Well, Elder Renlund said that all of these things are available for us to use, but that doesn’t mean that we use them indiscriminately. So, as a bishop, what I’m asking is, “How do I help the children in my ward feel that sacrament meeting is their meeting? How do I get the deacons who are on their phone, maybe, during sacrament meeting to disengage with that and to engage with what’s happening here? Could sacred music help with that? Sister Smith just lost her husband, and she’s grieving, and she needs peace, she needs comfort.”
And the First Presidency has said this is one of the blessings that the Savior will provide, if we will worship Him in song. So as a bishop with my ward council, I might be thinking, “How do we help Sister Smith?” Or, “The Jones family is going through a faith crisis right now, and they need help.” So the goals that we all have as members, as parents, as priesthood leaders, as Church leaders, those things are already in place.
These hymns can be a tool to meet the efforts, the goals that we already have, and to enhance the efforts we already have, to invite blessings of the Lord. We hope that members will see this as an opportunity to increase the spiritual blessings that come to them in a very joyful way. “I sing to the Lord, and He responds with blessings.”
27:57
Mary Richards: And in the home, I have seen those blessings come to my family. A few years ago, my husband was serving as a bishop, and before that he was on the stake high council. He was often gone Sunday mornings. I’m getting five children ready for church by myself, and it’s chaotic, and I had this impression to use music. And so ever since then, I’ve played sacred music in the morning as we’re getting ready for church, and now it’s the new hymns I’m playing. And I’ve been doing that for several months.
And it has really changed everything for my family. We’re feeling that Spirit in our home. There’s so much less contention on Sunday morning of “He took my tie” and “Where’s this?” and “Where’s that?” We’re all of a sudden just feeling more peace and prepared for sacrament meeting since I started playing those songs. And now I’m thinking I need to do this more during the week, too.
Steve Schank: Yeah, absolutely.
Mary Richards: It doesn’t have to just be on a Sunday.
28:47
Steve Schank: I think that’s wonderful. And that’s right; every member can experience this in their homes. But everyone should be thinking about this. Relief Society presidents can be thinking about, “How do I unify the sisters in our Relief Society? I feel that there’s divisions. How can I bring people together?” Well, one of the blessings is that sacred music unifies members across the Church. So I’m going to be thinking about, “How am I going to use music and choose music that unifies members?”
As a Young Women president or a Young Men president or a Primary president, all of us can be thinking about these things. The best example of this is the First Presidency. Even in general conference, you notice that their talks and the music are aligned. They’re being intentional, not random, about their use of the hymns. The choirs are singing more new hymns, and you may have noticed they’re singing more children’s songs.
One of the things with this new collection is that the hymns and the children’s songs will be printed side by side in the collection. The children’s songs will not be sectioned off into a children’s-only section within the book, but they’ll live side by side. This is intentional to blur the lines between hymns for adults and songs for children so that families and adults sing more children’s songs — and we’ve seen the First Presidency lead out on that — and that children will sing more hymns, that we’ll all own all of the sacred music of the Church, whatever is useful to us, wherever we find meaning, that we can do that.
Mary Richards: Oh, beautiful.
30:22
Steve Schank: Speaking of children’s songs being brought together with hymns, we’ll find that in the new collection, there are some expanded musical styles, which include some syncopated rhythms, some things that might sound more joyful and less mournful than some of the hymns and songs we’ve had in previous collections. This is part of the First Presidency’s goal that we experience the blessings of joyful singing.
Remember that Elder Patrick Kearon talked about “Welcome to the Church of Joy,” and he talked about what worship should look like, that the idea of reverence in the Lord’s Church has come to be somebody wrapping their arms tightly around their chest, with their eyes closed and their head bowed. And there’s certainly a place for humble reverence and prayer and that sort of thing. But reverence means to revere, to praise, to honor, and that can be done in joyful ways. In response and with direction of the Church leaders, some of the music will sound more joyful. And members may say, “Can we sing in this joyful way in our Church meetings, in our homes?” The Brethren are saying, “Yes.” The Church leaders are saying, “Yes. We hope that you’ll sing joyfully.”
Now, again, for priesthood leaders, we don’t choose music randomly. We don’t choose something just for a diversion. Sometimes we talk about a “rest hymn.” That’s not a term that we use in the Church Music Office. What are we resting from? All of this worship? No, it’s about intentional worship. “What am I trying to accomplish in the ward? What messages am I trying to give? What people am I trying to invite blessings for” And as people do that — as parents as well, “What blessings do I want my children to receive? What blessings do I need in my relationship with my husband or wife” — that it will inspire thoughts of how to use joyful singing to bring those blessings to them as well.
32:32
Mary Richards: And, Steve, I actually am curious: What got you into music?
Steve Schank: From a very early age, my mother played piano and trumpet, and my father was a drum major for his university marching band, and he played the trombone. And though my parents were not strongly educated musicians, music was always a part of our growing up. I am the third of five children in my family, and by the time I came along and decided, as I became a teenager, that I wanted to stop taking piano lessons, my mother said, “No, I already made that mistake with your older sister and your older brother. You’re going to continue.” And so I was not allowed to stop. But by the time I was old enough to stop, I had loved what music was doing to me so much.
So I was a trumpet player and a piano player, and when I started college, I started out as a trumpet performance major. I studied music composition and theory. I went on my mission, and when I came home, I gained a love for teaching. So I actually ended up in Church education as a seminary and institute teacher. And before I came into the Church Music Office, I worked for 24 years as an institute teacher. All of those years, in addition to the doctrinal classes I taught, I taught institute choirs. My advanced education is in choral conducting, so I have masters and doctoral degrees in choral directing.
When the opportunity came to come to the Church Music Office, I didn’t know how all of my experiences would come together. But six months after arriving, it was actually nine years ago this week, that I moved from Church education to the Priesthood and Family Department, which is where the Church Music Office is, and didn’t know why I had been brought. But six months, to the day, after I arrived, we found out there would be a new hymnbook.
All of a sudden, those experiences of theory and composition of the music, of choral and vocal singing, but also the doctrine that the background that I had in Church education, became important as we start looking at what are the hymns teaching, and all of these experiences that I had had throughout my life kind of came together at a time when it became important for me to be able to speak with people on various subcommittees and to direct the work of a multifaceted project, which otherwise, I think, would be even more overwhelming than it is.
35:23
Mary Richards: Yeah. beautiful. What a blessing for you and your family and for our worldwide Church to have you in this role.
Now, Steve, in addition to chairing this incredible committee, you are also an author and composer, and I know our listeners will recognize some of your songs, including “I Will Walk With Jesus.” That’s hymn No. 1004 in the new hymnbook, and my Primary children have sung this multiple times.
Can you tell me about writing that song?
35:48
Steve Schank: Yeah. That one came about as the Church was pondering what to do to replace several initiatives that were going on — Boy Scouts for young men, Personal Progress for young women, the Achievement Days for young children. And they were taking all of these things and coming up with a new children and youth development program. And that initiative was to be introduced by Elder Gerrit W. Gong in October 2019 in a Face to Face event that would be a worldwide broadcast.
In preparation for that introduction, several months earlier, the Primary presidency and those who were working on that initiative said it would be great to have sort of a theme song that would go with this initiative. They wanted children to be able to set goals in the four areas kind of alluded to in Luke 2:52. There it says that Jesus grew “in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.” So they want children to set goals in the areas of spiritual development, physical development, social and mental. And they wanted a song.
So the Primary presidency and those working on that initiative came up with a description of what they wanted the song to be, what the principles they wanted to teach in the song, and some guiding scriptures. They brought that to our office and said, “Could you help us create a song?” So, we’re in contact with authors and composers of children’s music, names that you would recognize, some of which you might not recognize but that have had things in our current Children’s Songbook, things in the Friend magazine and so forth. And we sent out an email with this description of what a song would be, and they were asked to write lyrics to this song, and lyrics only, is what the Primary presidency wanted.
At the time, I thought, “You know what? I’m not on this list, but I would be interested in writing a song. Maybe I should insert one as well.” Well, several weeks went by, we made the request, things came in, and we had a meeting to review the lyrics that were sent in from various authors. And the morning that I came to work and saw that that was on our agenda to review these things, I thought, “Oh, I never did that. Well, I’ve got an hour and a half. Maybe I could just write some things out.” So I sat down at my computer and started to work. And as it was time to begin the meeting, I went in, and I was still working on my computer.
We started to review, and I sent to the printer and excused myself from the meeting and went and pulled off these just freshly still-warm-off-of-the-printer lyrics and inserted them in the stack. They were all being blindly reviewed. And in the end, they were the set of lyrics that were chosen, and nobody knew who submitted them, including my team, that didn’t know that I submitted.
At that point, the lyrics were chosen, and they said, “Now we need these set to music.” So then we reached out to composers of children’s music and did the same thing, and the same thing happened. We gave them a month, they sent in their things, and a day came when it was time to review. And believe it or not, my procrastination kicked in again, and the morning of the meeting, I said, “Oh, I wanted to write some music.” So I sat down at a keyboard because I had an hour and a half, and I just started to write and went to my computer and notated the music and slipped it into the stack.
The Primary presidency reviewed several different things that came in, and this was the one that they chose. So it was my privilege to kind of blindly submit some thoughts and some inspired feelings that now have become a blessing, hopefully, to many members throughout the Church.
39:43
Mary Richards: Absolutely. But I love that story. To me, it shows some of how, obviously, the Lord works in some mysterious ways sometimes, that through your “procrastination,” air quotes here, but really maybe some inspiration there when it was needed, and this came through.
Our last question on the Church News podcast is always: What do you know now? And so, Steve, after being a part of this incredible multiyear project to select new hymns for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, what do you know now about the power of this music to increase faith and worship?
40:22
Steve Schank: I think of three things, actually. The first one is music is not just filler in our meetings, and it’s not just background in our lives. Music is so often background, it’s what we have on in the back when I’m doing homework or when I’m doing something around the house. In church, it’s the way we open a meeting or the way we close a meeting. But no, music is not filler. It’s a way to connect with the divine. It’s a way for me to bring an offering to the Lord and invite a blessing back. I really believe that that is true.
And if we can get the entire world, the entire Church throughout the world, to have a changed mindset that “I go to church to worship,” I think that many members who are not singing now, “because I don’t have a beautiful voice, because I don’t read music,” will really know that, “You know what? If I can do what the scriptures say and ‘make a joyful noise’ (Psalm 98:4), the Lord will be pleased, and He will answer with a blessing upon my head.” So that’s the first thing: Music is not filler. It’s worship.
I think the second thing that I’ve learned in being in the role of the Hymnbook Committee chair and working with various committees and things is that ultimately, the work of the Lord is described in Moses 1 when the Lord says, “My work and my glory [is] to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.” (verse 39). We are the work. He invites people. And maybe this message could be generalizable to everyone that’s listening. Sometimes we are invited to serve in capacities that are much larger than we are, that we cannot possibly do on our own, but we find along the way that if we dedicate our best efforts and bring to bear all the things that we’ve been prepared to do, as meager as they are, that the Lord really does multiply the bread and the fishes to become sufficient for what’s happening at the time, that we are the work of the Lord.
The work is not the hymnbook project. The work is, in this case, this work is me. And for somebody else, it might be the work is not really Relief Society, the work is you, as you’re serving as a Relief Society president. Or whatever your calling is, that engaging in the Lord’s work, we’re not invited because we’re the best-qualified person to do this but because the Lord is going to use this to build us, and I’m grateful for that.
The third thing, which I don’t think I can overemphasize, is that we’re led by prophets, seers and revelators. One of the greatest privileges that I’ve had is to meet with the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, with the First Presidency, and in a particular way, with some of the Apostles as our advisers, and to see seers who see around corners, to see prophets, seers and revelators who discern what are the needs of the Church today and are making decisions about music that are different than happened in the 1980s when the last hymnbook was produced, who are guiding and preparing a people to prepare the world for the Savior’s Second Coming. My testimony of prophets has grown, and I’m so grateful that we’re led by living prophets today.
43:59
Mary Richards: Thank you for listening to the Church News podcast. I’m Church News reporter Mary Richards. I hope you learned something today about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and had your faith in the Savior increase by looking through the Church News window as a living record of the Restoration. Please subscribe, rate and review this podcast so it can be accessible to more people. And if you enjoyed the messages we shared today, please share the podcast with others. Thanks to our guests; to my producer, KellieAnn Halvorsen; and to others who make this podcast possible. Join us every week for a new episode. Find us on your favorite podcasting channels or with other news and updates about the Church on TheChurchNews.com or on the Church News app.
