I come from professional and volunteer church musicians on both sides of my family, and I’ve had a career in church musicianship, so I was naturally eager to read Paul Reese’s recent article in the inSPIRE, “Why Do We Have Music in the Church?” And when I read a particular sentence at the very end of Paul’s article, I felt I wanted to write about my experience with the very thing he was talking about. “I find that hymns stick in the memory so much better over the long term because of their rich poetical structure,” he wrote. Let me illustrate Paul’s point.

When our oldest grandson, Alex, was a newborn 10 years ago, his parents played an album in his room to soothe him to sleep, “When You Lie Down,” by Seeds Family Worship. Seeds is a music ministry whose unique mission is to set to music the words of Scripture, and thereby teach the Word of God to impressionable young minds.

As a baby, Alex listened to this album every night as he was going to sleep, and even after he was asleep. As he grew, and when his brother, Ryan, came along, Hank and I began to spend more and more regular time with them and often found ourselves in the car, picking them up from school or taking them on an adventure. We had played the Seeds album when the boys were overnight with us, but when we discovered the many other albums that Seeds had written and recorded, we began to play them during our drive time with our grandsons.

We were intentionally exposing them to the words of Scripture set to music, but I soon found myself playing the songs when I was driving to an appointment or running an errand. Before long I realized I had memorized––without any real effort–– the Scriptures set to music that I had been hearing and singing by myself in the car!

It’s common knowledge that music is a powerful tool to learning, memorization, and retention, and Paul was sharing his experience of that. That has certainly been the case in the founding of the Seeds ministry, and it’s been my experience as a musician and in my recent experience as a grandparent.

Hank and I hear the boys singing along now when we have them in the car. We will go again this year to GrandCamp with Alex, and our 2.5-hour drive to Epworth By the Sea will be shortened, and our hearts and minds uplifted by singing along with our favorite Seeds albums: “Seeds of Faith,” “Seeds of Courage,” “Jesus,” “The Armor of God,” and “The Resurrection: An Easter Collection.”

Now rebranded as Seeds Kids Worship, this ministry is an amazing resource for learning and passing on the love of the Scriptures to yourselves and your children and grandchildren––find them at seedskidsworship.com! And grandparents, learn more about GrandCamp (and register!) here.