GraceGrown Kids—Be Strong

By: Larry Gallas

Larry leads an all-Grace-kids band for VBS in 1999

Last year for Vacation Bible School (VBS), Ms. Margaret challenged me to write a scripture song for the theme verse, Psalm 139:14. That challenge resulted in a fun song called Wonderfully Made. At the 2022 VBS, we used a handful of scripture songs in worship. We saw the power of using music to help children learn and memorize scripture.

My creative juices were still flowing after releasing our Tabernacle worship album in August 2022. Margaret gave me the 2023 VBS theme verse, Ephesians 6:10, and God provided more inspiration to write songs. Last fall, I wrote four new songs to scripture passages, including Ephesians 6:10, and rewrote a new version of Proverbs 3:5-6.

Fast-forward to this spring, and we began recording our children’s worship album, released on June 23 under the name GraceGrown Kids. It is called Be Strong (Scripture Songs Vol. 1) and includes six scripture songs:

1. This is the Day — Psalm 118:24, 14
2. Wonderfully Made — Psalm 139:14
3. Be Strong — Ephesians 6:10
4. Trust in the Lord — Proverbs 3:5–6
5. Crucified with Christ — Galatians 2:20
6. No Eye Has Seen — 1 Corinthians 2:9

I am thankful for our musicians, David Gallas, Andrew Gallas, Joey Geisel, and Sebastian Mejia, who played on the album. The songs feature our worship team singers Brandy Brown, Tony Brown, Aubrie Gallas, Lauren Rehnquist, and Jessica Lay. But what I’m most excited about is that the songs were sung by our own Grace kids, Camden Brown, Ellie Brown, Sydney Kemp, and Robbie Kemp! And finally, thanks to Sydney Morgan for creating the album cover artwork.

We hope and pray that parents will use these songs as a tool for children to learn scripture. We plan to make some videos with lyrics and hand motions that will be available soon.