How Could I Forget My Song?

During Bob Fitts’ early childhood years his father, Bob, Sr., was a Southern Baptist minister in Cleburne, Texas, near Fort Worth, who loved Southern Gospel music. Therefore, it was that genre of music that Bob, Jr., was exposed to as a child. In later teen years, after his dad and his mom, Joni, moved the family to California, he was greatly influenced by a contemporary Christian music group called The 2nd Chapter of Acts.

Bob received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Christian Ministry from the Melodyland School of Theology in Anaheim, California. During his college years he also served as Youth Minister at Trinity Christian Center in Riverside, California. It was also during that time, 1976, that he and his wife, Kathy, were married. In 1982, Bob, Kathy and their first child, Andy, about eighteen months old at the time, moved to Hawaii, where they became involved with the organization, Youth with a Mission (YWAM). In their many years in that island state, God has given them three other children.

During my long distance interview with Bob, he told me the unusual story behind his very popular praise song, “Blessed Be the Lord God Almighty”:

“My family and I had just moved from California to Hawaii. Although I was under the umbrella of YWAM, and had agreed to teach in their Discipleship Training School, my initial reason for coming here was to write Christian songs. After a short time I found myself getting involved in so many other activities that my songwriting was being pushed further and further into the background.

“I became somewhat disenchanted. The living conditions our family was struggling with was adding to the displeasure. The only housing available to us was an old run-down building, now owned by YWAM, that had formerly been a shelter for coffee bean pickers. It was a mess, and greatly contributed to the discouragement I was feeling at that time in my life.

“One night I began to talk to the Lord about our situation. As I took my guitar down, it dawned upon me that I was to lead worship at a church the next day. I was also committed to furnish some special music. I was having trouble coming up with something to sing, so I decided to write some music particularly for that service. All of a sudden, ‘Blessed Be the Lord God Almighty,’ just came out of my heart, lyrics and melody all at once. There was really no work involved.

“The next morning I went to the church, and as I stood up to present my song I realized that I had completely forgotten it. I had not written it down, so I just could not remember it. Another song that I had known for some time came into my mind, so I sang that one. That experience left me more than a little frustrated. As I was walking home from the church, my new song all came back to me, so I ran to the house and quickly put ‘Blessed Be the Lord God Almighty’ on tape. Two years after I wrote it I did a singing tour in which I included my new song and it was very well received.”

Bob’s song is known in Europe as “Father in Heaven,” the first three words of the verse. It is now making its way into hymnals, thus giving it an opportunity to become better known and loved by the masses. This worship song has its lyrics based in Scripture, namely Revelation 4:8, “...Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come,” and Ephesians 1:3, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ....”

It has been included in many recorded projects. Bob has recorded it or it has been included in a total of twelve albums, a recent example of which is an Integrity project, “I Will Bow To You,” on which five of Bob’s songs and two of his son Andy’s offerings appear.

Bob and Kathy continue to make their home in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, with their children Ryan, Garratt and Mikella. Andy was married in April of 2000.

The most wonderful aspect of Bob’s song is that it is threefold in its scope, as we recognize the marvelous attributes of God, extend our praise to Him, and express our intention of making His name known in all the earth. May that be our focus in worshipping and serving Him!

Lindsay Terry has been a song historian for more than 40 years, and has written widely on the background of great hymns and worship songs including the books I Could Sing of Your Love Forever (2008) and The Sacrifice of Praise (2002).