Annie Herring
Biographical Information
Annie came to the knowledge of the saving grace of God in the late 1960’s and received Jesus as her Savior and Lord. Annie married Buck Herring in early 1969 and the Lord began to teach them much about serving Him. An old upright piano became a schoolroom for Annie as the Lord began to teach her to play and receive songs from Him. Annie's younger siblings, Nelly and Matthew Ward, came to live with Annie and her husband Buck after their father had passed away in 1970.
Annie continued to receive songs at her piano, but now Nelly and Matthew would join her after school in spontaneous musical expression that began to solidify them musically and spiritually. Their voices blended together in smooth harmonies, so tightly, and naturally. "We were just singing to the Lord," says Matthew, "and it was a way of releasing our pain. We had gone through something tragic, but we knew there was a light at the end of the tunnel."
Friends who heard them sing began to tell their friends and soon there were requests to sing at churches, Christian coffeehouses, and such. But that was the limit. "The last thing we wanted to do was to sing in front of people," " we were just so nervous" explains Annie. "The good part was that it forced us to rely on the Lord.”
The first recording was not intended to be a "group" record, but a song written by a friend of Buck's who wanted to record it. Instead, Matthew was selected to be the singer and belted out the vocal to a song called "Jesus Is" on his 13th birthday with his sisters and some friends singing the background parts. The song caught the ear of Pat Boone who arranged a contract with MGM records, and The 2nd Chapter of Acts was born.
Several concerts into their first tour, someone approached Annie and said, "We're really sorry we didn't applaud, but we've never heard music like that before!" As Nelly reflects: "One of the reasons people didn't applaud was because we weren't singing songs about Jesus, we were singing to Him. When people recognized that, they sensed His Spirit. They could see Jesus, and they fell in love with Him."
Besides the spiritual power of their music, other factors catapulted "Acts" into the public spotlight. First, touring with ‘New Christy Minstrel', Barry McGuire exposed them to a built-in audience each concert. Second, "Easter Song" was getting airplay on secular radio stations as well as the few contemporary Christian programs that existed.
Hear the bells ringing
They're singing that we can
Be born again
Joy to the world!
He is risen!
Hallelujah!
This short two-minute and twenty-second song caught on almost immediately as the "Hallelujah Chorus" of a generation who found, in Jesus, the answer to their search for peace and love.
By 1973, they had entered the music ministry full-time. These early experiences established the group's identity with the body of Christ, who eagerly welcomed their fresh ‘Jesus music' expression of faith. This laid a solid foundation for what has become a hallmark musical ministry and established The 2nd Chapter of Acts as one of contemporary Christian music's pioneers.
Prayer was an important key to the success of "Acts." Each morning, in one of their hotel rooms, the group would gather to read a brief passage from the Bible, to share from their hearts, and to pray together. "One of the reasons we did this in the morning," says Annie, "was because by the time we got to the concert hall, there was so much to do and too many distractions. Then right before the concert, we'd have one more short time of prayer, a 'flare prayer' we called it.” Because of their emphasis upon worship and exalting the name of Jesus, "Acts" often found themselves thrust into spiritual warfare, even before the concert began. But God had been powerfully evident through each concert, each crisis, and each confrontation with the enemy. Each concert was marked by a real sense of joy and each of these gatherings seemed to become a rallying point where young believers could celebrate their newfound faith in Christ.
The group recorded over 16 albums. Annie was the primary songwriter of their original songs, but Matthew and Nelly both contributed from time to time. Their songs were unique, the voices and harmonies angelic, and their message distinct and clear. As part of this recording effort, they captured three ‘live concert' recordings, one notably with guitar virtuoso, Phil Keaggy, called “How The West Was One”, which was part of an 18 city concert tour, which introduced Phil's considerable talents to a West Coast audience. Another significant recorded effort by the group was “The Roar Of Love”, an album which captured the C.S. Lewis allegory “The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe”. This simple childlike story captured the imagination of Annie, who began an eight-year process of writing songs for the project. It remains to this day one of the group's most loved efforts. Also, the group recorded a very popular series of Hymn albums capturing the power of tradition and bringing it to a new generation.
After 16 years of touring and over 1000 concerts later, The 2nd Chapter of Acts prayerfully retired as a group in 1988, but not before doing a "farewell" tour. In every city, they sang to packed auditoriums and the Spirit of God moved mightily in each concert. As Matthew remembers it, "We finished our final concert in Houston, Texas, and the 7500 people attending rose to their feet and clapped and clapped. Nelly and Annie were crying and I was losing it. I think it had finally dawned on us: This is our last concert. This is it! We weren't tired of ministering to people or anything. It was just God's time for something new." The 2nd Chapter of Acts was one of the very few Jesus-music groups whose music was unique; it did not have a parallel in pop music, but their message and ministry still speaks loud and clear today.
Annie has continued to travel and present concerts in the same spirit as that of the 2nd Chapter of Acts. Not singing about Jesus, but to Jesus. Annie has released 8 solo music CDs since 1990.
Her newest CD, released in fall 2001, is an all original and God inspired, collection of praise and worship songs that invite her listeners sing along.
For almost three decades, this vessel of the Lord, Annie Herring, has presented songs for the body of Christ, which the Lord has birthed through her heart. Time after time these songs have stirred our hearts to feel so much thankfulness and so many emotions deep in our souls causing our hearts to open to the Holy Spirit, releasing worship to the living Lord and God.
So many times as we listened to Annie’s songs we have wished that we could sing along with her. Well, now we can. Annie’s newest collection of songs are songs for corporate and personal worship. Her new recording titled “Here In My Heart Where The Worship Begins” is a time of celebrating the Lord with praise and worshipping Almighty God with deep heart felt adoration.
As you listen, you will be drawn to participate and join Annie with raised voice. Birthed by the Spirit, each song will seem familiar and kindred to the cry of your heart.
Come, let us worship the King.
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