Like you, I tried to figure out how to get to Houston a few times and just could never make it work with a vanload of children. :/
Here’s another thing I appreciated about Johnny: a very dear college friend of mine moved to Houston for a job, without really knowing anyone. He had left off attending his childhood Methodist church— he was allergic to wokeness, which is good, but he wasn’t going anywhere else. But the moment I found out he was moving to Houston, I knew immediately whom to contact to get my friend settled, grafted into a Christian community, and regularly attending church: Johnny. And it happened, just as I foresaw. I’ll always be grateful.
I have been, with fear and trembling, reflecting a great deal the past couple of weeks on sin and its generational consequences— how the effects ripple outward and wound so many. But obedience has fruit, also, and the good fruit of Johnny’s faithfulness will be with us for a long time.
Thank you for this tribute to Johnny, Anne. He loved you and Matt and all the work you both do for the Kingdom. He and I would frequently share things we read or heard from one or both of you. He was a huge fan of CGS and loved that you and I were in touch, helping each other to build a children’s Sunday school program fitting for the Anglican church he loved. Though he never had children, he was passionate about having a beautiful, vibrant place for the children of our parish to learn of the love of the Good Shepherd and to grow by abiding in the True Vine. Jenni attended CGS training years ago and helped in the atrium for several years. The hole left by Johnny’s departure to his heavenly home is big at Holy Trinity. Thank you for your prayers for our small church family and for Jenni and family. While we grieve we also rejoice in knowing, as you said, that Johnny is happy in the arms of his Savior.
New to your band of e- congregants, I pray for you all to be comforted as you mourn and for Johnny's legacy of music, exhortation, and seeds of the Gospel in this life to continue to bear eternal fruit.
Last week, a friend’s husband died suddenly; the funeral is Friday. There are 2 funerals at church keeping those of us on the funeral committee busy this week. And last night, I got the devastating news that a childhood friend took his own life. Death is suddenly all around and I’m begging the Lord to comfort so many grieving hearts.
I'm especially sorry to hear about your friend who took their own life. Four and a half years ago, a fellow church member, friend, and husband and step-father to an ex-girlfriend and her son who I care deeply for took his own life and it was devastating to me and the church community I was a part of. I know I still haven't really gotten over it.
I can't be absolutely sure that I've ever met Johnny. I'm not sure he was there last time we visited Holy Trinity REC in Houston. But those are my original Texas Anglican people from 1983 to 1988. My brother (Fr. Charles Erlandson) and I discovered the parish (long before anyone there used the word "parish") when it was called Believers' Fellowship, before it was Anglican. It was the Summer of 1983, and we had looked up the church in the Yellow Pages. It met on the second floor of a rental building, above a laundromat on Main St, Humble, Texas, and just below the "All One Hypnosis Center" on the 3rd Floor.
Dave Marshall, Ben Huggins, and Brian Turner all appear as musicians in the videos you link from Johnny's page, and I know them all from that time period, 40 years ago and more. Ben was one of the four who got arrested with me at the abortuary rescue in 1986. So, these photos and videos of Holy Trinity (the parish changed its name to Christchurch, and joined the REC, and later moved to Houston) REC make me very nostalgic for my first Anglican home, and sad for all of them to have lost Johnny.
I interacted with Johnny a bit on Facebook, but wish I had done so more. I will never forget his kind comment on my saz (a 7-stringed instrument I bought on a visit to Turkey) rendition of the Blues Magoos' "Gotta Get Away." He was tickled that such a thing could exist. I, too, will miss Johnny!
I left out an important (to me and Fr. Charles, anyhow) anecdote about finding Believers' Fellowship. When we arrived early for our first visit there, everyone was running around and frantically flapping towels. One of the parishioners drove an old VW Beetle, and the engine was on fire. They were using the towels to smother the fire.
It was our version of Moses' "burning bush" experience, and it was how we knew we had found our church home.
The Beetle's engine fire was successfully put out, by the way.
Wow! That's super cool. I was a big fan back in the 90s and I still like a lot of their stuff even today. I never saw them in concert, but I saw King's X twice. So glad to hear Ben is still following the Lord.
I've seen King's X four times. The first time was either 1989 or 1990 in Anaheim, CA. That was the best show I saw. My son has also seen King's X with me twice and my daughter once. It's a joy to pass the music we love on to the next generation!
Really fun that you got to see them with your kids. I've seen them twice, first in 1994 in Omaha, NE on the Dogman tour, and then in Winston Salem, NC in 2000, on the Please Come, Mr. Bulbous tour. The second time was the best. They sounded amazing and the setlist was fantastic. I think Mr. Bulbous was their last great record. I haven't really connected with anything they've done since then. It also makes me sad that none of them seem to be walking with God anymore.
Thank you for posting the songs. They are wonderful. You must surely be grieving the death of your dear friend , on account of the hole it leaves in your life. He, on the other hand, is in the very presence of our Lord. I wish I could have known him. May the peace of God comfort you and keep you in our Lord Jesus.
All Anglican music should be like Johnny's. Anglican music too often resembles a funeral dirge, or is so "high" with such complex harmonies that the common man cannot sing it to his enjoyment but only his frustration. God wants his people to enjoy singing.
I'm from the Funeral Dirge party. It takes all sorts of music to form a fully-developed Anglican worship program.
We have a very small choir at our Anglican parish, with modest talent, but our choir directress is so good that we've sung incredibly complex pieces of polyphony.
So, I'm going to have to take issue with a statement like, "All Anglican music should be like ..."
There's a place for sophisticated music. But remember, we're the church militant. Why not save the dirge tempos for actual funeral services? And let the routine music be a regular, if not even quick time March tempo. We're at war.
It's really not a dirge tempo I'm talking about. It's a stately tempo. We have always been at war with the world. This is nothing new. Yet majestic, stately music has always had its proper place in church worship.
Your position is analogous to saying, "We're at war; let's only read/chant the more militant Psalms." It's ridiculous.
You seem to have misread what I'm saying. But that's okay. Let's compromise. Keep the music you like, but let's both sing more and more psalms in whatever style you like. Johnny would have liked that.
At our parish, we use Simplified Anglican Chant as well as metrical Psalms (using classic hymn tunes). My wife has written several of those for use in our parish.
She also discovered a gentleman (I think from Vermont) who has done the entire Psalter in metrical form. His name is T. M. Moore, and his organization is called The Fellowship of Ailbe.
From what I understand, he has created a PDF of all the Psalm settings, and will send it to any church without cost, and they can use any of the Psalms in it with no royalties or fees.
I and a number of friends have gone to a November REC men's retreat in Concan, Texas. Johnny Simmons help run that. He really possessed manly joy.
At the end of retreats, he would lead us in singing "Raise a glass to the King." Here he and we are so doing in 2022:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XW9djlAN5Ec
AWESOME!!
Like you, I tried to figure out how to get to Houston a few times and just could never make it work with a vanload of children. :/
Here’s another thing I appreciated about Johnny: a very dear college friend of mine moved to Houston for a job, without really knowing anyone. He had left off attending his childhood Methodist church— he was allergic to wokeness, which is good, but he wasn’t going anywhere else. But the moment I found out he was moving to Houston, I knew immediately whom to contact to get my friend settled, grafted into a Christian community, and regularly attending church: Johnny. And it happened, just as I foresaw. I’ll always be grateful.
I have been, with fear and trembling, reflecting a great deal the past couple of weeks on sin and its generational consequences— how the effects ripple outward and wound so many. But obedience has fruit, also, and the good fruit of Johnny’s faithfulness will be with us for a long time.
Thank you for sharing this story! So great!!
Thank you for this tribute to Johnny, Anne. He loved you and Matt and all the work you both do for the Kingdom. He and I would frequently share things we read or heard from one or both of you. He was a huge fan of CGS and loved that you and I were in touch, helping each other to build a children’s Sunday school program fitting for the Anglican church he loved. Though he never had children, he was passionate about having a beautiful, vibrant place for the children of our parish to learn of the love of the Good Shepherd and to grow by abiding in the True Vine. Jenni attended CGS training years ago and helped in the atrium for several years. The hole left by Johnny’s departure to his heavenly home is big at Holy Trinity. Thank you for your prayers for our small church family and for Jenni and family. While we grieve we also rejoice in knowing, as you said, that Johnny is happy in the arms of his Savior.
New to your band of e- congregants, I pray for you all to be comforted as you mourn and for Johnny's legacy of music, exhortation, and seeds of the Gospel in this life to continue to bear eternal fruit.
Last week, a friend’s husband died suddenly; the funeral is Friday. There are 2 funerals at church keeping those of us on the funeral committee busy this week. And last night, I got the devastating news that a childhood friend took his own life. Death is suddenly all around and I’m begging the Lord to comfort so many grieving hearts.
I'm especially sorry to hear about your friend who took their own life. Four and a half years ago, a fellow church member, friend, and husband and step-father to an ex-girlfriend and her son who I care deeply for took his own life and it was devastating to me and the church community I was a part of. I know I still haven't really gotten over it.
I can't be absolutely sure that I've ever met Johnny. I'm not sure he was there last time we visited Holy Trinity REC in Houston. But those are my original Texas Anglican people from 1983 to 1988. My brother (Fr. Charles Erlandson) and I discovered the parish (long before anyone there used the word "parish") when it was called Believers' Fellowship, before it was Anglican. It was the Summer of 1983, and we had looked up the church in the Yellow Pages. It met on the second floor of a rental building, above a laundromat on Main St, Humble, Texas, and just below the "All One Hypnosis Center" on the 3rd Floor.
Dave Marshall, Ben Huggins, and Brian Turner all appear as musicians in the videos you link from Johnny's page, and I know them all from that time period, 40 years ago and more. Ben was one of the four who got arrested with me at the abortuary rescue in 1986. So, these photos and videos of Holy Trinity (the parish changed its name to Christchurch, and joined the REC, and later moved to Houston) REC make me very nostalgic for my first Anglican home, and sad for all of them to have lost Johnny.
I interacted with Johnny a bit on Facebook, but wish I had done so more. I will never forget his kind comment on my saz (a 7-stringed instrument I bought on a visit to Turkey) rendition of the Blues Magoos' "Gotta Get Away." He was tickled that such a thing could exist. I, too, will miss Johnny!
I left out an important (to me and Fr. Charles, anyhow) anecdote about finding Believers' Fellowship. When we arrived early for our first visit there, everyone was running around and frantically flapping towels. One of the parishioners drove an old VW Beetle, and the engine was on fire. They were using the towels to smother the fire.
It was our version of Moses' "burning bush" experience, and it was how we knew we had found our church home.
The Beetle's engine fire was successfully put out, by the way.
Is Ben Huggins by chance the same Ben Huggins who sang for the Galactic Cowboys?
The very same! An awesome Christian man!
The GCs are in the middle of making another album, too!!
Back in the day, I saw them in Detroit a few times, playing a double bill with King's X.
Wow! That's super cool. I was a big fan back in the 90s and I still like a lot of their stuff even today. I never saw them in concert, but I saw King's X twice. So glad to hear Ben is still following the Lord.
I've seen King's X four times. The first time was either 1989 or 1990 in Anaheim, CA. That was the best show I saw. My son has also seen King's X with me twice and my daughter once. It's a joy to pass the music we love on to the next generation!
Really fun that you got to see them with your kids. I've seen them twice, first in 1994 in Omaha, NE on the Dogman tour, and then in Winston Salem, NC in 2000, on the Please Come, Mr. Bulbous tour. The second time was the best. They sounded amazing and the setlist was fantastic. I think Mr. Bulbous was their last great record. I haven't really connected with anything they've done since then. It also makes me sad that none of them seem to be walking with God anymore.
Johnny’s drumming will be on the latest GC recording. He had finished his tracks before he passed.
Thank you for posting the songs. They are wonderful. You must surely be grieving the death of your dear friend , on account of the hole it leaves in your life. He, on the other hand, is in the very presence of our Lord. I wish I could have known him. May the peace of God comfort you and keep you in our Lord Jesus.
All Anglican music should be like Johnny's. Anglican music too often resembles a funeral dirge, or is so "high" with such complex harmonies that the common man cannot sing it to his enjoyment but only his frustration. God wants his people to enjoy singing.
We need Anglicans to copy Johnny.
Pronto.
I'm from the Funeral Dirge party. It takes all sorts of music to form a fully-developed Anglican worship program.
We have a very small choir at our Anglican parish, with modest talent, but our choir directress is so good that we've sung incredibly complex pieces of polyphony.
So, I'm going to have to take issue with a statement like, "All Anglican music should be like ..."
There's a place for sophisticated music. But remember, we're the church militant. Why not save the dirge tempos for actual funeral services? And let the routine music be a regular, if not even quick time March tempo. We're at war.
It's really not a dirge tempo I'm talking about. It's a stately tempo. We have always been at war with the world. This is nothing new. Yet majestic, stately music has always had its proper place in church worship.
Your position is analogous to saying, "We're at war; let's only read/chant the more militant Psalms." It's ridiculous.
You seem to have misread what I'm saying. But that's okay. Let's compromise. Keep the music you like, but let's both sing more and more psalms in whatever style you like. Johnny would have liked that.
Deal.
At our parish, we use Simplified Anglican Chant as well as metrical Psalms (using classic hymn tunes). My wife has written several of those for use in our parish.
She also discovered a gentleman (I think from Vermont) who has done the entire Psalter in metrical form. His name is T. M. Moore, and his organization is called The Fellowship of Ailbe.
From what I understand, he has created a PDF of all the Psalm settings, and will send it to any church without cost, and they can use any of the Psalms in it with no royalties or fees.
May your tribe increase.
I am so sorry for your loss. I am also amazed at how our God reached out to give you the comfort that the world cannot give. He is so very good.
Thank you again, Anne, for this beautiful piece that honors Christ and Johnny. ❤️