Bio of a Song

Calvary Came Through*
-by Terry Franklin

Although we are grateful our songs have ministered to many, our song "Calvary Came Through" seems to be a source of great spiritual impact. A couple of years ago, Barbi and I were singing at Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, KY. At this time, we were glad to hear Gold City was recording three of our songs. Garry Jones, pianist for the group at that time, told me they were still looking for a ballad for Mark Trammell. They were recording on Friday morning and it was now Wednesday afternoon.

At the time, I had been moved by Max Lucado's insights on the triumph of Calvary. Barbi was home schooling our boys, but I coaxed her to stop and work on this new song idea with me. The boys had their mini Casio keyboard, so we sat in the motel room trying to carve out a song while getting ready for our evening performance. When Barbi came up with the line, "Just when I thought I'd been defeated, the cross was all I needed," I knew we had something good.

We ran out of time, and all we had was the chorus. After the meeting that night, we recorded a demo and shipped the cassette overnight to Garry. The next day, Garry and Mark said if we could finish the song Thursday, they'd record it Friday. We couldn't imagine we'd finish the song in time. We had a concert to give and a deadline on the UPS drop box. But, God ordained we would be in Louisville where the deadline was 12 midnight!

We worked all afternoon, but the lyrics weren't coming easily. We had the concept and the music, but the lyrics were far from ready to record. Finally, we called it quits to get ready. As Barbi got in the shower, I heard her say, "Terry, bring a pad and pencil before I forget!" She dictated lyrics to the first verse through the shower curtain and it made both of us cry and the thought of all the Lord had done for us. We felt inspired throughout the evening and we finished the song backstage.

After the concert, Barbi and I, along with Greg Allen (Worship Leader at Southeast Christian Church), sang "Calvary Came Through" into our little cassette recorder. As we were singing, I thought of Dottie Rambo's song, "I Will Glory In The Cross," and threw it into the arrangement. We UPS'ed the cassette to the studio. Gold City recorded the song the next morning. What a miracle!

*"Calvary Came Through" can be heard on the recording "Go the Distance." (For ordering information, you can go on our Online Store.)

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©1996 Terry & Barbi Franklin.