John Thornburg

9 products

JOHN THORNBURG (b. 1979) is a fourth generation United Methodist pastor, song enlivener, poet and professional encourager. After 22 years in parish ministry in North Texas, including seven years in the East Dallas Cooperative Parish, John pursued a new calling by starting an itinerant ministry of song leading and worship consultation called A Ministry of Congregational Singing. He traveled the country leading congregations in singing, and consulted with churches about how to enrich the singing of the congregation. He has led singing in local churches from Boston to Berkeley, at youth gatherings and retirement centers, and at both regional and national conventions. He also worked alongside a group of United Methodists from Cameroon, West Africa in the creation of Methodism's first hymnal and worship book for that nation, Mille Voix Pour Chanter Tes Louanges/O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing.

In March of 2013, he became Senior Area Consultant for the Texas Methodist Foundation, and is now the full-time encourager he's always felt called to be. He travels the North Texas area consulting with churches about finding their distinctive calling and represents the Foundation's traditional financial services.

John's hymn texts appear in 18 different hymnals and collections of Christian worship songs. He is Immediate Past President of The Hymn Society in the United States and Canada, and co-founder of a community of creativity in Dallas called HOLY CITY, devoted to writing worship songs and planning worship events for those who are distrustful of the institutional church.

He and his wife, Beth, a law professor at Southern Methodist University, live in Dallas.

Eternal Source of Every Call

Click Image for Details

Words By John Thornburg

Eternal Source of every call, Eternal Lover of us all, we adore you. Alleluia! You separated night from day. You formed our forebears out of clay. We adore you. Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! When we rebel and run away, failing to sing o...

Item #: HW5614

(0 Reviews)

Availability:

Hymn

How Long, O Lord

Click Image for Details

Words By John Thornburg

How long, O Lord, will you turn away? I am shaking with terror inside. I moan in the night, I am drowning in tears. Will this chaos ever subside? Depart from me, you demonic ones. O Lord, in me abide....

Item #: HW5328

(0 Reviews)

Availability:

Hymn

Like the Colors of the Rainbow

Click Image for Details

Words By John Thornburg

Like the colors of the rainbow, like the shells upon the shore, like the crystal's brilliant facets, like the shadows on the floor, great and joyful were the praises which our forebears wrote and sang, rich and varied were the places where their allelu...

Item #: HW5433

(0 Reviews)

Availability:

Hymn

Now Is the Time to Speak

Click Image for Details

Words By John Thornburg

Now is the time to speak, echoing Jesus' bold critique, challenging those who scorn the meek: Now is the perfect time. Now is the moment. Now is the time to pray, pleading for vision in our day, light to illuminate the way, No...

Item #: HW5221

(0 Reviews)

Availability:
Hymn

On Eden's Primal Day

Click Image for Details

Words By John Thornburg
On Eden's primal day when everything was new, we humans heard the sound of birds and sensed what we must do. We, too, began to sing our own melodic phrase. Like larks at dawn we sang a song to give our Maker praise. But soon we found a way to play exp...

Item #: HW5609

(0 Reviews)

Availability:
Hymn

Our Life in the Spirit, Our Path on the Way

Click Image for Details

Words By John Thornburg
Our life in the Spirit, our path on the Way, is teeming with treasures no words can convey. We ponder the mystery, we search for the clues. And led by a dove, we discover Good News. We live in the rhythm of heartbeat and breath, we bask in God's mercy...

Item #: HW5603

(0 Reviews)

Availability:
Hymn

Praise Is the Beautiful Song

Click Image for Details

Words By John Thornburg
Praise is the beautiful song that arises within us when we observe the astonishing mercies around us. So let us sing, freeing our tribute to ring, singing to God who astounds us. Praise is the improvised dance which our bodies can render, letting the...

Item #: HW5608

(0 Reviews)

Availability:
Hymn

There Is No Smell Like Fresh-Baked Bread

Click Image for Details

Words By John Thornburg
There is no smell like fresh-baked bread, no sight akin to dancing steam when knife has pierced the amber crust revealing yeasty stuff. There is no moment quite as rich as when this feast of smell and sight has drawn us from our separat...

Item #: HW5219

(0 Reviews)

Availability:
Hymn

We Want the Rules to Bend Our Way

Click Image for Details

Words By John Thornburg
We want the rules to bend our way; to fight a war but hear no cry, to overeat and never die, to burn the fuel but clear the sky. Dominion is our favorite sport; to claim whatever we can see, to dictate our idea of 'free', to do our business by decree....

Item #: HW5222

(0 Reviews)

Availability:
Hymn