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by William J. Gaither

In 1969, Bill and Gloria Gaither were expecting their third child. Their firstborn, Suzanne, was four, and her sister Amy was three months old. The timing for another baby wasn't ideal since Gloria hadn't fully recuperated from Amy's birth. On top of that, Bill contracted mononucleosis. Health concerns weren't the only issues the couple faced: a recent divorce in the family and a rift with a close friend weighed on their minds. Another friend's strong prayer support gave the Gaithers hope.

About six months later, Bill's dad, George, beckoned the couple into the middle of their office parking lot—newly paved the previous fall. There, a single blade of grass had broken through the blacktop. Against the odds, life triumphed!

In July, a healthy baby, Benjamin, was born. Soon after, "Because He Lives" poured out of Bill's grateful heart.

by Thomas Obadiah Chisholm

Early in his life, struggling Indiana insurance agent Thomas Chisholm honed his writing skills at a newspaper in Franklin, Kentucky, before applying his business aptitude to the Pentecostal Herald in Louisville. Ordained as a Methodist minister, Chisholm had to resign after a year because of his poor health. In 1909 he started selling insurance, but kept writing Christian poetry. The words of "Great Is Thy Faithfulness," written in 1923, resonated with Rev. W. M. Runyan of Moody Bible Institute, who wrote the accompanying music.

by George Bennard

A native of Youngstown, Ohio, George Bennard joined the Salvation Army as a teenager after his father's death. Ordained in the Methodist Episcopal Church, he conducted revivals in Michigan and New York. While staying in Albion, Michigan, Bennard felt doubly inspired—composing the melody of "The Old Rugged Cross" and then the words. He knew it was finished when the words "were put into my heart in answer to my own need." The hymn was introduced at revival meetings in Pokagon, Michigan, on June 7, 1913. For years it was acknowledged to be America's favorite gospel hymn.

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