Songs
of Faith was compiled
and published in 2000 by H. Neal and Claudel B. McKenzie.
In the late 1990s, Neal and
Claudel realized that their church needed new hymn books. They looked at the
books that were on the market at that time, but couldn't find anything that met
their desires. The available hymnals did not contain a lot of the hymns they
wanted, and had lots of songs that their church never sang. The churches they
were familiar with commonly used multiple books to try to have all the songs
they wanted available, but switching among three or four books during a church
service was awkward. In addition, there were many old gospel songs that were no
longer available in print and were in danger of being forgotten.
Out of a desire to meet the
needs of their church and to preserve traditional gospel songs, Neal and
Claudel decided to create and publish their own hymnal. In 2000, they formed
the company Double Oak Press and published Songs of Faith. The book is
currently in use by over 500 churches in north
Claudel and Neal feel grateful
for the inspiration to create this hymnal. It is touching for them to hear
songs sung in church today that they had feared would be lost forever.
Neal and Claudel are members of
Philadelphia Baptist Church of Christ in Jasper, Georgia. Philadelphia is an
old-fashioned country Baptist church of approximately 300 members. It is one of
an association of 22 churches in northern Georgia. Most of the churches in the
association meet just once a month, so they have the opportunity to visit other
churches.
Claudel has been a member of
Philadelphia since 1958. She is currently the chair of the Department of
Management and Accountancy at the University of North Carolina at Asheville.
Neal is a Baptist minister,
ordained in 1992 at Philadelphia Baptist Church. He is also a retired college
professor with a PhD in economics. He taught economics for 32 years.