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People Need the Lord


AndrewM

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A dozen or so years ago when I was at Andrews someone told me that Pastor Dwight Nelson's brother Greg wrote the well-known song "People Need the Lord."

I've seen the name "Greg Nelson" in the top credits for "People Need the Lord" in my Gospel songbook. Does anyone know if that Greg Nelson is Pastor Dwight's brother?

God wants spiritual fruit, not religious nuts.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Does that mean Greg actually wrote the song or was I just hearing a made-up story that made the 'rounds at Adventist campuses?

God wants spiritual fruit, not religious nuts.

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Well . . . both Greg and Nelson are fairly comman names, so it is probably not the same person. Greg Nelson is Dwight's brother. He was at Lincoln but is now in the northwest. I understand he is doing church planting.

Arlene

a grateful believer in my Lord Jesus Christ

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  • 2 years later...

Well, I was a member of the CVC when Greg was its Senior Pastor. It sure sticks in my mind that he was the composer and lyricist of "People Need the Lord" - that he introduced it as being his own. I know I heard him sing it there (beautifully!) more than once.

There is also a Greg Nelson who, I believe, is a music recording producer, very much unrelated to Dwight's brother. I asked Greg about him once, and he told me, "Nope, not me." I think this one works in the secular music(?) field. Both of their names show up on CD labels, but in very different capacities. Of course, that still doesn't answer who wrote PNL.

Then too, some recalls are better than others when it comes to the old onboard computer. So I'm looking through my library to confirm the PNL thing in writing. Soon as I have something definitive (I hope!), I'll post it.

(Private libaries have their pluses and minuses. There are times when they leave a great deal to be desired. Someday ...)

Regards,

Norm

Debile fundamentum, fallit opus. - "Where there is a weak foundation, the work falls."

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  • 4 weeks later...

I was wrong.

Though I still haven't yet been able to contact Greg himself (that is, the Greg I know), I was back in Lincoln a couple weeks ago and had the opportunity to visit with CVC Administrative Pastor Terry Bock. He recalled the matter well, and set me straight. Pastor Greg had kidded a bit once about who wrote the song as he prepared to sing it to the congregation, but it was definitely not him who penned the words.

The Greg Nelson who wrote it is completely unrelated to the brothers Nelson - Pastor Greg and Pastor Dwight. I have not been able to find much other certain information about him - where he's worked, what he's done, etc., except for a small detail.

This other Greg Nelson, the true author, was living in Tennessee at the time he wrote the lyrics, as I understand it now. That does also distinguish him from the Greg we know. I'm told by others that Pastor Greg never lived there.

Bottom line: the names are a curious coincidence and nothing more.

Regards,

Norm

Debile fundamentum, fallit opus. - "Where there is a weak foundation, the work falls."

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  • 1 month later...

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