"The Salvation Poem" is a song featured on Matt and Sherry McPherson's new album "Slow Down," which released January 16, 2007, on Autumn Records. (See Suite review here). This poignant song is touching hearts with its poetic rendering of the salvation prayer that is easy to memorize for both believers and seekers alike. "The concept came to me from what I know of kids' poems and songs," says songwriter Matt McPherson. "I could offer you a million dollars to forget 'Mary Had a Little Lamb,' and you couldn't do it! I thought, 'What if we could teach the world a poem that was the salvation prayer?'"
"The Salvation Poem" has been making an impact worldwide as Matt and Sherry have been receiving requests from other artists to record the lyrical prayer on their own upcoming albums. Noted evangelist Franklin Graham was so impressed by the beautiful simplicity of the song's lyrics that he is now distributing pens imprinted with the poem as an outreach tool at his evangelistic events in the U.S. and abroad. The poem has been translated into many languages, including Chinese, Swahili, Romanian, Spanish, Korean, High German, Faroese, Hindi, Farsi and seven other Indian languages. This year, Cook International plans to publish the poem on 30 million pieces of missionary literature to be distributed worldwide. Multiple Dove Award winner Steven V. Taylor is currently developing an evangelistic youth musical based on the song, and several other top arrangers are adapting the song to different musical styles for use by churches around the world.
"This world desperately needs to know Jesus Christ, and we want to be faithful to serve Him," comments Matt. "Our prayer is that any listener who doesn't yet know Christ will sing along with 'The Salvation Poem' and receive Him as their personal Savior."
"The Salvation Poem" is featured on Matt and Sherry McPherson's new CD, Slow Down, which focuses on living out faith in everyday life. Presented through an eclectic variety of musical styles, the album's themes include spending intimate time with God and celebrating His goodness, loving and praying for our families, witnessing to others and focusing on the important things in life.
Prayer is the cornerstone of all the McPhersons' endeavors, in both their music and business practices, and as a result, innovation seems to follow in whatever they undertake. Early in his business career, Matt's earnest prayer was for God to give him the wisdom to build better archery bows. One night Matt awoke with a vision from God--a blueprint for a unique single-cam bow technology that has turned the archery industry on its head. As a result of this invention, the McPhersons' archery equipment company, Mathews, Inc., is now the leading bow manufacturer in the world and has twice been named to the Inc. 500 list of fastest-growing private companies in America.
Matt then prayed for wisdom to design a better guitar. God answered his prayers once again, and now the state-of-the-art McPherson(r) Guitar, with its revolutionary sound hole technology and unique cantilevered neck design, is the guitar of choice for many professional musicians on the scene today. Recording artists and studio musicians who have embraced McPherson(r) Guitars include Amy Grant, Vince Gill, Steven Curtis Chapman, Carrie Underwood, Peter Cetera, Caedmon's Call, Richard Marx, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Kenny Loggins, Delirious? and MercyMe. CMA Award winner and Grammy Award nominated country sensation Brad Paisley refers to the McPherson(r) guitar as a "work of art."
Matt and Sherry McPherson's "Slow Down" is distributed by Autumn Records and is available at Family Christian Stores, Parable Group Stores and other leading Christian retailers.
