The Writings of Dustin Battles

Last month I decided at the last minute to write a hymn for the 50th anniversary of my church , which we celebrated on September 18–19. It's the fastest hymn I've ever written, composed in about 2 weeks' time.  I've never said this before, but now would be an appropriate time to note that any time I write a hymn, I always glean insights and feedback from friends and sometimes family. This hymn is no exception, especially since I wrote it so quickly. Many thanks to all those who helped me this time and every time. Also, the typesetting is by my friend Dan Kreider, who does excellent typesetting at Hymnworks . I wrote it for tune SINE NOMINE, which many will recall as the tune to "For All the Saints." I even included a slight nod to William Walsham How in the first stanza as I (mostly) used his "est" rhyme scheme.  Theologically, I use a less common pattern of Father, (Holy) Spirit, Son. This is not ideal, as the order (not hierarchy) of the Triune God

Dan Forrest has done a wonderful solo piano rendition of his tune to my text "Forsaken" published with Beckenhorst in 2014!  Here's the link to listen. Here's my original blog post from 2014.

My college friend Peter Anglea (pronounced "angel") has put together his music composition abilities and computer programming skills to develop this amazing website called Doxology .  You can see download slides or sheets for 4-part hymns, lead sheets, or just the lyrics—and you can even change the key! All for free! It's a really creative and unique idea. Kudos to Peter! I have three songs on there—one original and two updates to historic texts: Help My Unbelief (with Paul Keew, administered by ChurchWorksMedia) I Saw One Hanging on a Tree (updated text by John Newton, paired with KINGSFOLD) My Song Is Love Unknown (I lightly updated the text and kept it paired with LOVE UNKNOWN)

Last year I helped Dan Kreider edit (along with many others) what's appropriately called the  New Psalter . For those who don't know, a psalter is collection of songs from the Psalms. The New Psalter is the best psalter on the market today, in my opinion.  The settings are often historic, yet other are new. The tunes range from familiar to fresh. Authors include historic ones like Watts, Getty, Papa, Psalter 1912, and two settings of mine: Psalm 130: Out of the Depths I worked on this psalm setting for literally 6 years. All because I couldn't get it to the point where I was happy with it. But when there's a new psalter coming out, I had motivation! It's paired with a lovely melancholy English folk song called "Turtle Dove." Psalm 85: In Times of Old (with Dan Kreider) When Dan was working on a setting of Psalm 85 for the New Psalter, he asked me to help him hone it. So it ended up being 1/2–3/4 Dan's work and 1/4–1/2 mine. I think the collaboration t

A couple years ago (I know—I'm quite behind the times), the 9th edition of the Wilds Songbook was released. It includes several songs whose words I composed. Many thanks to the music composers (names in parentheses below) who brought these texts to life. And also thanks to the Wilds for publishing these! From Heaven's Holy Throne (with James Koerts) Mercy (with Joey Hoelscher) Behold How Every Wound (with Reba Snyder Miller) Be Merciful, O God, to Me (Psalm 57) (with James Koerts) Here Is Love (a light modernization of the classic hymn) Copies are available for purchase here .