Lawrence Chewning

The Story Behind- The Anchor Holds

"The Anchor Holds" - The Story Behind the Song. 

The story behind the writing of this song begins in 1992 when my wife and I experienced what we now call our year of sorrows. 

My father died that year, we were facing health problems, I had come to a point of burnout from being in pastoral ministry for 19 years, and the church that I had helped plant was entering the first phases of what became a devastating split. I was also re-evaluating the focus of my calling. I was…

Of all the songs I have written, “At the Foot of the Cross” is the most important one of all.

During uncertain and even fearful times like these, the safest place we can be is at the foot of the cross. 

The great evangelist, Dwight L. Moody, gave this wonderful illustration in a sermon in the 1800's. Mr. Moody stated the following: 

“Away out on the frontier of our country, out on the prairies, where men sometimes go to hunt or for other purposes, the grass in the dry seasons sometimes catches fire, and you…

Sometimes a good laugh or two can be the best stress reliever in discouraging times.

The following is a true story about the power of unfounded rumors which for a very thin sliver of time transformed me into “The Great Lorenzo, Peruvian Heartthrob of 1968.”

If I have your curiosity by now, read on. 

In the summer of 1968 I spent six weeks in South America. There was a program at my college called Tri-S, (Student Summer Service), which allowed students to spend a part of their summer in a foreign country. I…

this time of national uncertainty and upheaval, my mind has made its way back to a song I wrote twenty years ago called, “Ebenezer.” Most people associate this word with a grumpy old man in England who hated Christmas. However, “Ebenezer” is a wonderful word taken from a great story in the Bible. 
 

Here is the background of the story:

Following the death of Joshua and his generation, the Bible states in Judges, 2:10, “And there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord, nor yet the work…

Remembering the Asbury Revival, 50 Years Later 

February is always a landmark month on my spiritual calendar.  

Fifty years ago this month my life was revolutionized forever. On February 3, 1970, a spontaneous spiritual awakening occurred on the campus of Asbury College (now Asbury University), in Wilmore, Kentucky. What happened there provided the spark for numerous revivals all over America and touched my life deeply three weeks later in Anderson, Indiana.  

A small group of students at Asbury, a…