“As a writer, you just never know what will become of your scribbles on a page.” – Wes Tuttle
Something truly special took place at the General Conference in Jacksonville, Florida in July of 2022: a song titled “We Arise” debuted. Written by Dr. Wes Tuttle, “We Arise” speaks as an anthem, a “call to arms,” for our denomination; a response to the challenge presented by Arise 2033. Before the song ever came to be, Dr. Wes Tuttle was intrigued by Presiding Bishop Beacham’s denomination-wide initiative Arise 2033. Where would he be, where would the church be, 2,000 years after the resurrection of Jesus Christ?
Tuttle began eagerly searching, calling it a “quest,” to find all that he could on the initiative. It was, after all, a push, a challenge really, toward church planting, missions, and evangelism. A call to Arise: “to be the salt of the earth, to be the light in the midst of darkness, to be a Place of Hope in our communities, to be a People of Promise, boldly declaring the word of the Lord, and to carry the gospel to the ends of the earth!” As he was studying, Tuttle began to wonder if he might find a song among the phrases and ideas that began to stand out to him. He soon realized he was crafting the song as a response, a musical response, from the church to the challenge presented by the IPHC’s Arise 2033 initiative. “Yes!” he thought to himself. “We Arise! We will do this! We will reach the nations for Christ!”
Tuttle has been a part of the IPHC for as long as he can remember. He grew up as a member of the First Pentecostal Holiness Church of Winston-Salem, NC, watching as his father led the choir and his mother sang soprano. Music is in his blood. Tuttle chose to attend Emmanuel College, now Emmanuel University, attaining first an Associate of Arts in Music, continuing on in the “Upper Division” to acquire a Bachelor of Arts in Bible and Theology, and became an ordained minister with what is now the Cornerstone Conference, in 1983. He mentioned that our own Presiding Bishop Beacham was initially one of his professors at Emmanuel and then also became the pastor to him and his newly wed wife, Bernée, while they were there. “Dr. Beacham definitely made an impact on his students. I have a tremendous amount of admiration, appreciation, and respect for him.”
Tuttle and his wife, Bernée, as students at Emmanuel College
Tuttle continued his education at Liberty University in Lynchburg, VA, obtaining a Master of Arts in professional counseling, a Master of Arts in Religion with a concentration in Missions and Cross-Cultural Studies, and then a Doctor of Ministry degree. After finishing at Liberty, he spent 7 years in Mobile, AL working with Integrity Music. He returned to his hometown of Winston-Salem in 2006, where he has served as the Worship Pastor and Missions Pastor at River Oaks Community Church, an Evangelical Presbyterian Church, for more than 17 years. Even now, he still works with the IPHC as a consultant for worship with the department of Discipleship Ministries.
Tuttle and his wife, Bernée, today
As the song inspired by Arise 2033 started to come together, Tuttle got out his guitar and his phone and recorded an initial version of “We Arise.” He didn’t really know what God had in store for this new song, but he took that simple, “rough” by his own description, recording and sent it to his good friend, nephew, and fellow worship consultant for the Discipleship Ministries, Trés Ward. He didn’t know how Ward would respond, but he made the decision to send it any way. Tuttle explained that so much of a writer’s responsibility is just simply obedience: Do it because He asked you to do it. Whether a work is ever published or used, Tuttle shared: “I have finally gotten to the place where I understand that the song is its own reward.”
Trés Ward, Assistant Professor of Christian Ministries and Director of Ministry Teams at Emmanuel University, was already diligently working and preparing for the worship portion of the IPHC’s General Conference (GC) of 2022. When he listened to Tuttle’s song, he called him immediately. Without hesitation, he was determined to make “We Arise” a part of the GC. Ward went to work putting together a choir arrangement, utilizing harmonies and melodies that would fill out the sound. Ward already had a choir in place for the General Conference, with students and alumni from Emmanuel University, Southwestern Christian University, and Holmes Bible College, and he knew they were the perfect instrument to bring this powerful song to life.
Trés Ward
Things moved quickly from there. Tuttle recorded a “little bit better presentation” of “We Arise,” and it wasn’t long before he was heading to Jacksonville, FL, where he heard the song during rehearsal for the first time. The experience was extremely moving for him, a huge affirmation that his work was going to be used. “We Arise” premiered on Friday evening, July 29, the last night of the conference. To say the least, the song was well received.
Later that same night, Ward was approached by a fellow brother in Christ, just outside of the venue, wanting the chord chart for the song; he hoped to play it for the upcoming conference in Australia! At the time, Tuttle didn’t have sheet music of any kind. He talked with his friend, Richard “Richie” Kingsmore, a music arranger, who took the song and developed a choir arrangement, sheet music, vocals, and chord charts. The goal was to make the song accessible – from the smallest church to the largest, from a simple keyboard and one singer to an extensive praise band with multiple instruments. With these remarkable resources in place, Trés Ward encourages every church, whether small or large, with a full choir or just a guitar and a soloist: “Take advantage of the gift of Wes Tuttle as a songwriter. Use these resources! They are available, singable, inspiring!”
Page One of the Choir Arrangement
To date, the song has been translated into multiple languages: Spanish was first, with Carlos Ortiz recording his own version of the song, producing it in Mexico. Pretty soon after, German, French, and Dutch followed. Plans are in the works to translate it into Finnish as well.
In October of 2023, Tuttle was able to travel to Croatia with the Operation Barnabas Project alongside his wife and his son, Ben. At the gathering in Croatia, Tuttle and Bernée sang “We Arise”, and afterward, he spoke with an attendee, Worship Leader Lesya Loyuk from Christian Hope Church in Kiev. She expressed interest in translating the song into Ukranian. Tuttle was moved by her commitment to sharing the gospel and holding onto hope, even amid such devastation in her conflict ravaged country. The first line of the song reads: “Though we have been brought low, Lord, you have lifted us up.” If ever a people could identify with this sentiment, the citizens of this war-torn area could.
“We Arise” has been shared throughout many countries, but Tuttle feels there are still more people who could relate to, be encouraged and inspired by its words. Moving forward, he hopes the song will become a rallying cry for our church. He envisions an Arise 2033 Sunday where churches around the world, in many different languages, will sing this song, answering this call, unifying us all.
Tuttle and Kingsmore have made “We Arise” and the resources of chord charts, choir parts, accompaniment, and much more available for churches via Kingsmore’s site https://www.richardkingsmore.com/choral
To listen to Carlos Ortiz’s Spanish cover of “We Arise,” please visit https://youtu.be/OPrAToohwzM?si=aQ5ILKzSLmjVj8Ao
To learn more about Arise 2033 and the initiative that inspired Tuttle’s song, visit https://iphc.org/arise/
To hear the song as it was performed at the 29th General Conference in 2022, please press the play button below.
