Sally Deford is one of the most influential LDS voices that you have never heard of. She's very private, and you find almost no information about her on the internet, as she prefers to let her music speak for her. From the little I could find on Mormon Wiki, DeFord was born in 1959 in Oregon, attended BYU, and now lives in CSprings, Colorado. She is a prolific composer of church music, and long ago decided to release her music compositions free on the internet.
If you look up her channel on Youtube, it's very sparse: just 22 videos, 1,165 subscribers and about half a million views. But her influence is much stronger than this measure. Her songs are performed by church choirs all over the world: Presbyterians in New England. True Jesus Church International in Malaysia and Singapore. A nondenominational church in Richmond, VA. Baptists in India. A gospel choir in Germany. Catholics at the Chapel Saint Michel in France. A community sing-along in Chico, CA. Over and over you see her lyrics sung earnestly at churches all over the world, and uploaded to youtube for more to see. And most of the time, someone posts her lyrics, reminding people of who Christ is and what he did.
Some of her LDS background slips into what would otherwise be a standard Christian affirmation of testimony: In Shards of Glass, she writes:
And here is a recording of a DeFord song by St. Paul's CoEducational College in Hong Kong. It is a beautiful performance of a glorious song, but I wonder what the performers think of the lyrics:
(Copelius, can we get the MoTab to perform this?)
Sally DeFord's work is used wholesale by Seventh Day Adventists worldwide. They seem to love her in the Philipines, and in Poland, and Singapore. Users are translating her songs into Spanish, and Portuguese, and Chinese. Her best known song in the LDS community is probably the primary song If the Savior Stood Beside Me, which has been covered by the MoTab several times and sung at General Conference several times.
(continued next post- dang CS restriction on one vid per post.)
The Lord has placed me in circumstances that currently don't demand extra income, he has inspired the creators of technology to produce programs that I can use to publish the music without the assistance of typesetters, and he has given me a gift that I did nothing to earn. Sharing seems logical.
Some of her LDS background slips into what would otherwise be a standard Christian affirmation of testimony: In Shards of Glass, she writes:
He can take our broken shards of glass to color temple walls
He can mend our broken places and make temples of us all
He can do miracles
Mighty miracles
He can mend our broken places and make temples of us all
He can do miracles
Mighty miracles
All the world in shadow lay;
Every search for truth unending
Long the age bereft of heavens voice;
Long the age denied his power
Then within a silent grove
Joseph pled for understanding
Offering aloud his humble prayer,
speaking all his heart’s desire
Not though the pow’rs of hell arose
To bid the gates of heav’n be closed
Could evil’s wrath restrain the hand of God,
Who thus appeared to man:
Above the brightness of the sun
Purer than the radiant morning
Banishing the night with heaven’s perfect light
Clearer than the new day’s dawning
The Father spake, and Christ our Lord
Restored to man his Father’s kingdom
The light of truth shines forth upon the earth
Above the brightness of the sun
Every search for truth unending
Long the age bereft of heavens voice;
Long the age denied his power
Then within a silent grove
Joseph pled for understanding
Offering aloud his humble prayer,
speaking all his heart’s desire
Not though the pow’rs of hell arose
To bid the gates of heav’n be closed
Could evil’s wrath restrain the hand of God,
Who thus appeared to man:
Above the brightness of the sun
Purer than the radiant morning
Banishing the night with heaven’s perfect light
Clearer than the new day’s dawning
The Father spake, and Christ our Lord
Restored to man his Father’s kingdom
The light of truth shines forth upon the earth
Above the brightness of the sun
(Copelius, can we get the MoTab to perform this?)
Sally DeFord's work is used wholesale by Seventh Day Adventists worldwide. They seem to love her in the Philipines, and in Poland, and Singapore. Users are translating her songs into Spanish, and Portuguese, and Chinese. Her best known song in the LDS community is probably the primary song If the Savior Stood Beside Me, which has been covered by the MoTab several times and sung at General Conference several times.
(continued next post- dang CS restriction on one vid per post.)
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