“I’ll walk with Jesus” – The story behind the church news

In 2019, when the Church of Jesus Christ for Latter-day Saints was planning to introduce a new programme to strengthen children and youth, church leaders wanted to have a new song to match the initiative.

The major presidency called for the submission of new songs, capturing the spirit and direction of the new program. This invited children and young people to learn and grow according to the Savior’s example, as described in Luke 2:52.

Author and composer Steve Shank, who works in the church’s sacred music department, said his office sent requests to various authors and composers for the lyrics.

“At the time, ‘What do you know? I’m not on this list, but I’m interested in writing songs. Maybe I need to insert it too,” Schan said on the Church News Podcast.

A few weeks had passed and a meeting was scheduled to be held to review lyrics from various authors.

“I said, ‘Oh, I’ve never done it. Well, I have an hour and a half. Maybe I can just write down some things,” Shank said. He sat on his computer and when it was time to start a meeting he was still writing. He sent his submissions to the printer, roaming around, taking lyrics from the printer and inserting them into the stack.

“They were all blindly reviewed. Ultimately, they were a set of lyrics that were chosen and no one knew who submitted them, including my team,” Shank said.

Next, the lyrics had to be set to the music. The music office reached out to the composer and requested submission. A month later, it was time to review.

“And even if I believe it, my procrastination kicked off again and on the morning of the meeting I said, ‘Oh, I wanted to write music,'” Shank said.

There he sat on the keyboard and began writing, then he went to his computer, noticed the music, printed it and slipped it onto the stack.

The main presidency reviewed submissions and Shank’s music was the music they chose.

“So it was my privilege to blindly present to many members of the Church that is now a blessing,” Shank said.

In May 2024, “I Will Walk With Jesus” was included in the first batch of 13 new hymns for new hymns.

The first poem tells us how Jesus Christ walked with wisdom and grew into truth. In the second poem, children sing about how to grow like Jesus, while the third poem talks about trusting him. The chorus says, “I will walk with Jesus and he will walk with me.”

With information about this hymn, seen under the lyrics view of the Gospel Library and the “Hymns – Songs for Homes and Churches,” Shank ponders the song’s message, “It is our choice to walk with Jesus Christ, that we love life.

“I Walk With Jesus” was first performed on the November 2019 Face to Face broadcast, describing the children and youth programs. The 2021 Friend-to-Friend Singing Version is available on the Gospels on the Kids YouTube channel. The Missionary Choir also sang songs at the general conference in October 2024.

Find out more about all the new hymns in the Gospel Library’s “About Hymns” resource. Song-specific chapters are linked near the bottom of the “Lyrics” view of the Gospel Library, Music Library, or the Digital Hymns page of the Sacred Music App.