BVOV Magazine 2013 - present

My Song to Thee “My dad was a Church of God pastor,” David says. “He was also a world-class pianist and prolific songwriter. In his lifetime, he wrote and published over 150 songs. He wrote his most famous one in 1956 when he was 29. The song, “Win the Lost at Any Cost,” went around the world. Billy Graham used it at his crusades, and it became the theme song for the Southern Baptist Convention. “Both of my parents played the piano, and Dad taught all of us kids. Our extended family were musicians as well. My dad’s cousin, Vep Ellis Sr., was a prolific songwriter and musician whom my father esteemed. One of the things that marked me was our family gatherings. In our family, you didn’t leave until everyone piled around the piano and played the most recent song they’d written. I thought that was normal. It never occurred to me that there were people in the world who didn’t play the piano.” That same year something happened that changed his life forever. Nancy Harmon and the Victory Voices came to their church. Nancy had a sound…a texture to her music that arrested David. It was so anointed that it felt like a hook in his jaw, drawing him. During the service, Nancy sang a song David had never heard, “This Is My Song to Thee.” The melody and chord changes spoke to his soul. He wept before the Lord. He’d never wanted to play anything as much as he wanted to play “This Is My Song to Thee.” The desire didn’t manifest in prayer. It was a deep heartache. It became the cry of his young heart, “God, this is my song to Thee!” It was far beyond his ability to play. A Supernatural Sound One Saturday morning not long afterward, David’s dad woke to the sound of music. At first, he thought it was the radio. Slipping out of bed, he found David playing “This Is My Song to Thee.” It was beautiful. It was heavenly. It was anointed. When David saw his father, he said, “Dad, I learned to play it!” “No, you didn’t learn to play it. You can’t go from your level of playing yesterday to this.” “But I did.” “I know. What I’m saying is that what you just did was supernatural.” David’s parents sat down to talk with him. “We need to tell you something,” his dad said. “When your mother was pregnant with you, I told her that if you were a boy, I wanted to name you David.” His mother, Wanda Lee, took up the story. “You know how much your dad admires Vep,” she said. “Since Vep’s son is named David, I thought that was why he wanted that name. But the Lord spoke to me and gave me a word about you.” 'You’re carrying another boy,' the Lord said. 'You must name him David. He’s not a copycat. He’s an heir and an original. He’s the carrier of a gift that’s for prophets of the last day. He will play, and they will prophesy.' “I didn’t know what that meant,” his mother explained, “so I asked your dad. He reminded me that when David played for Saul, he prophesied. So, we knew that was what you’d do.” “Cool,” David said. “Can I ride my dirt bike?” A Lineage of Miracles Supernatural acts of God were not unusual in the Ellis family. Miracles had been woven into their lineage. David’s great-grandfather, James Benton Ellis, traveled the country holding brush arbor meetings. He was threatened, beaten, tarred, feathered and taken to court. But he wouldn’t stop preaching. In one town the police chief, whose wife had polio and was in a wheelchair, did everything in his power to stop the meeting. “If Sister Smith will come to the revival, God will heal her!” Brother Ellis declared. “If she isn’t healed, I’ll burn this brush arbor and put my Bible on top of it.” She came, but not to be healed. She came to watch the brush arbor, and the Bible, burn. When Brother Ellis commanded her to be healed in the Name of Jesus, God lifted her out of the wheelchair. She turned to grab it, but Brother Ellis moved it. She chased him to get it—and the place went wild. Brother Ellis later planted a church there, and the police chief and his wife were charter members. Learning to Operate in the Gift “My father grew up under that,” David recalls. “He played for my great-grandfather as a child. I heard the stories all my life. They were documented in my great-grandfather’s book, "Blazing the Gospel Trail." At 10, I had no idea what my gift meant, but my dad did. Once it kicked in, it grew at a crazy rate. “By the age of 13, I was the church pianist. In 1976, when I was 15, the Singing Morris Family asked me to play for them when they recorded an album at Cypress Recording Studio. I loved the experience, and from then until 1981, I was the house pianist for that studio. There was a small group of us who also wrote jingles and commercials for radio and television commercials. Before long, we were working for three recording studios. “When I was 17, we kept hearing about a bar called Driscoll’s. It was run by a wild man who lit his trumpet on fire. When that man, Phil Driscoll, gave his life to the Lord, he showed up at our church one Wednesday night. It was a night that changed my life again.” Phil watched David play and told Pastor Ellis, “Your son has a supernatural gift. That’s not normal.” Pastor Ellis nodded. “No, you don’t understand,” Phil insisted. “That’s not normal!” Pastor Ellis smiled. “We do understand.” Phil asked David to play for him. He and his wife Lynne took David with them to Full Gospel Business Men’s Fellowship meetings. In 1981, David sat at the piano in the Southside Assembly of God Church. Phil Driscoll was doing a concert and the place was packed. 20 : BVOV

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