Return to the Twila Paris home page
Return to the Christian Music Lighthouse home page

"Deep inside this armor, the warrior is a child"; "How beautiful is the body of Christ," "We bow down and we worship You Lord," God is in control."

The words are familiar, intimate. The music is recognizable and worshipful. The songs give way to profound insights millions have applied to their own walks through life.

Over the past 20 years, Twila Paris has penned and sung more than 200 songs that have impacted lives and churches worldwide. That reason alone may well be why her 19th album, Greatest Hits, could be one of the most significant Twila Paris recorded works yet. From 1984's signature "The Warrior Is a Child," to 2000's more recent "Run to You," this project, featuring 18 songs (15 favorites and three all-new cuts), chronicles the Arkansas native's lasting influence.

"I consider the songs I write to be like garments," Paris explains, "a piece of clothing someone can put on and make their own. That's one of the most exciting things to me about writing and recording."

Needless to say, Greatest Hits reflects 20 years of accomplishment - 32 No. 1 radio singles; five Dove Awards, including Female Vocalist of the Year in '93, 94, and '95, '95's Song of the Year ("God Is in Control") and '92's Praise & Worship Album (Sanctuary); three American Songwriter magazine Professional Songwriter Awards; over 2 million album sold; and three books published.

Not surprisingly, however, Paris doesn't reference these accolades when she thinks about the last 20 years' highlights. Instead, she thinks about the power of ministry and music and it’s impact on the world. Music can transcend all cultures, and its reach is an immeasurable tool. She recounts a past conversation with a missionary from Brazil.

"He had come back to the States for a while," Paris says, "and he told me that one of his first memorable experiences in Brazil was going into a church and hearing 'He Is Exalted' sung in Portuguese. It's amazing when God uses songs to minister to people, but if there is an even higher purpose, it would be to glorify the Lord in worship."

The Definitive Collection

With Twila’s evergreen music spanning 20 years, it is impossible to encompass all of the hits on one CD. So Paris along with her husband, Jack Wright, her management and label executives selected the album’s songs based on her well-known worship songs, cuts recorded after Paris' previous best-of project, '93's A Heart That Knows You (Star Song Records), and songs that impacted Christian radio. Of the album's 18 songs, 11 were No. 1 Christian radio singles. Four are some of today’s most widely sung worship classics: "Lamb of God," "He Is Exalted," "We Bow Down" and "We Will Glorify."

"Throughout the process," Paris recalls. "I kept reminding everyone, 'Remember, this project is not called 'My favorite Twila songs'. It's called, 'Greatest Hits.' This is not for us. It's for the people who've been listening to the music for 20 years."

The album also offers three new tracks, "Sparks and Shadows," "God of Miracles" and "Faithful Father". Produced by Dove-winning Mark Hammond (Anointed, Avalon, Cindy Morgan), the three songs were recorded in Nashville, the same time Paris worked on her first children's project, Bedtime Prayers: Lullabies and Peaceful Worship.

Other album highlights include her first radio hit "The Warrior Is a Child." –a signature song for Paris, who wrote the song in 1982 at age 23.

"A lot of times, I feel like the Lord has allowed me to write about something that seems a little over my head, or over my heart, or over my experience," Paris explains. "I remember being at my home fellowship and hearing one of the elders speak about the idea that no matter what God has called us to do, no matter how big or important or how many people are following us, we are still children before the Lord. He still wants us to run home to Him with our hurts. I almost didn't show the song to my producer because I didn't think people would want to hear this from me."

The song, Paris says, released when Christian music was characterized as "happy happy" for the most part. "You just didn't hear a lot of personal vulnerability in the bulk of the songs being played on the radio," Paris says. "But my producer loved it so much that it became the title song for the third album."

Also on Greatest Hits is one of the few Twila Paris songs with a co-write credit. "Faithful Friend," written and recorded with label mate Steven Curtis Chapman for her 1996 album Where I Stand. The song climbed to No. 1 in '96. The 1995 song "The Time Is Now," written as the theme song for the world broadcast of the Billy Graham Global Mission Crusade, is featured on the collection as well.

Through the Seasons

In addition to her 14 contemporary/pop albums, Paris has also shown her love for worshipful music that connects intimately with Christ - not surprising considering her upbringing on the Arkansas base for the national organization Youth With a Mission (founded by her second cousin). Her father, Oren Paris, a third-generation traveling evangelist, took his family with him from town to town, church to church.

Paris' Sanctuary project (1991) and its follow-up, Perennial: Songs for the Seasons of Life (1998), are rooted in her days as a worship leader on the YWAM base. At age 18, she ‘tested’ "We Will Glorify, " now a global church, during a YWAM worship service.

"I started writing worship songs because sometimes I just couldn't find the right song for specific moments during worship. So I'd write something. I always put a worship song or two on every album. But in 1990, we decided we needed to do a whole project that people can use for worship. I wanted to go a step further than that to make it something that was MUSICALLY very worshipful and gentle."

"I think if the message is really important to the Lord, and He really wants it heard, He will go out of His way to make it something people would enjoy listening to."

A third project, Bedtime Prayers: Lullabies & Peaceful Worship, could fit into the "Sanctuary" series, Paris says. Her most recent album claimed the No. 1 spot on Billboard magazine's "Top 100 Children's Albums" chart. The record released one month before Jack and Twila, after 16 years of marriage, welcomed their first child, Jack Paris Wright, born April 29, 2001. Jack was an answer to years' worth of prayers.

"We definitely wondered if a child was part of God's plan for our family," Paris recalls. "But after a lot of prayer and questions, we came to terms with trusting that God did have a plan, even if that meant we might not ever experience parenthood."

Not long after she began production on Bedtime Prayers, Paris discovered she was pregnant. Adding more irony to the story, in December 2001, she hit the road with the Christmas musical tour, "Child of the Promise," playing the role of Elizabeth.

"I think it just demonstrated, once again," she says, "God's faithfulness - and His sense of humor."

The Songstress

While Paris' gentle voice is as warm and familiar as a late night conversation with a best friend, perhaps it's her songwriting prowess that is most esteemed by her peers and fans.

Surprisingly, she has never studied the craft of songwriting formally. Some of her best-known songs, she says, come to her very quickly as if gifts.

"I wonder if God didn't give me the songs because they contain messages I so often needed to hear," she says. "Usually there is something that is very much in my heart, what God is doing, what He's saying. I'm just sort of a heart writer, very dependent on that moment of inspiration."

While she wasn't extremely inspired at the time, Paris laughs, she wrote her first song at age 12 at the piano. The song, still untitled, was an assignment given by her piano teacher father, hoping to teach his daughter about improvisation and music theory.

"He kind of wanted to challenge me and nudge me in that direction," she recalls. "So, I wrote this horrible, horrible song. I've since forgotten it, but I would say that it opened a door for me. My dad realized I had aptitude, and he encouraged me to write more."

That encouragement 30 years ago has now resulted in more than 200 songs and has given Christian music and today's churches one of their most poignant songwriters.

Indeed, the words, the music and the insights that have characterized Twila Paris' 20 years of songwriting and recording will continue to resonate en masse as thousands around the world consistently make the songs their personal soundtracks of faith.