In 1995, while waiting alone in a van for his colleagues who had gone shopping, Wilson Burhankar, presently Senior Associate Pastor at the Fellowship Church of Itarsi, fell into ecstasy remembering the awesome goodness of God in his life. It was his first year in the Seminary as a teacher and his first year as a full-time Worship Leader at the Itarsi Church. He remembered the ill-battered lifestyle that he had lived prior to knowing Christ, the drunken boozes, the street fights, the nights spent singing at religious gatherings, and the continual stress and pain inflicted on his family because of his sin-laden lifestyle. But, one day the Lord changed his life all over. He came to the Seminary and underwent three years of theological training. The greatest surprise came when Dr. Thomas asked him to consider to stay back and minister here as a worship leader. Inside he felt totally unworthy, and yet was confident of the grace of the Lord. As he sat in the van considering these things, the words flowed from his heart into a song that now echoes almost everywhere around the globe:
Stuti aradhna upar jati hei
Aashish dekho neeche aati hei
Prabhu hamara kitna mahan
Dekho humsey karta hei pyar
Hallelu Hallelujah.
Praise and worships ascends upwards
Blessings, see, descend downwards.
Our Lord is so great
See He loves us
Hallelu Hallelujah.
He taught the song in the Seminary and sang the song with the Church choir at the General Annual Convention of the Fellowship Churches that year. The Convention served as a launch pad for this simple song that people who had come from all over India picked up and sang in their own churches. The chorus resonated and spread like waves throughout the nation and throughout the world, and today is one of the best known choruses sung in Hindi.
Pastor Wilson went on to write many other choruses and songs that have become popular: Stuti Prashansa Hamarey Yishu ko, Sambhalta Hei Yishu, Ruh Ki Agni Bhej, Hey Mere Man Vyakul Na Ho. But, the one that continues to be the favorite of kids and grownups alike is the one that flowed from his heart on that lonesome day of 1995.
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