\n<\/a><\/center><\/div>\n<\/div>\nBack in Longview, their recording has brought to light just how small the world really is.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s in a hymn?<\/h3>\n
In 1959, Graham spoke to more than 160,000 people during his first crusade in New Zealand, and as he often did, he employed \u201cHow Great Thou Art\u201d in his services.<\/p>\n
Graham asked the Rev. Wi Te Tau Huata, an Anglican priest, whether there was a M\u0101ori-language version of the tune. There wasn\u2019t, so Huata and the Rev. Sam Rangiihu set out to create one.<\/p>\n
The two priests took words from the last line of \u201cTe Ariki,\u201d a native translation of the hymn \u201cAbide With Me,\u201d because the song had the same meter as \u201cHow Great Thou Art.\u201d Those were the words set to the music of \u201cHow Great Thou Art,\u201d and \u201cWhakaaria Mai\u201d was born, Elers said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is well known throughout New Zealand, not just in the church context, but culturally,\u201d Elers said. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of like an anthem, I suppose you could say. And some people will sing \u2018How Great Thou Art\u2019 in English and then throw in \u2018Whakaaria Mai\u2019 or vice versa \u2014 all kinds of different styles.\u201d<\/p>\n
The song gained major cultural popularity in the early 1980s, when Sir Howard Morrison had a hit with a bilingual recording of both tunes. The song\u2019s place in New Zealand\u2019s culture was solidified.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of people here know \u2018Amazing Grace,\u2019 and a lot of people there know \u2018Whakaaria Mai,\u2019\u201d Griffin said. \u201cIf someone were to start singing \u2018Whakaaria Mai,\u2019 everyone would just kind of join in and start singing.\u201d<\/p>\n
As an Anglican priest in New Zealand, Elers was well acquainted with the tunes. In early 2025, he got a notification on social media platform LinkedIn that a Christian college in America, LeTourneau, was looking to hire a communication professor. He did some research and discovered Graham\u2019s long ties to the university and its founder, R.G. LeTourneau. He applied and got the job, and he saw an opportunity with it.<\/p>\n
LeTourneau and Graham<\/h3>\n
LeTourneau and Graham have deep roots. Graham met R.G. LeTourneau and his wife, Evelyn, as a young man and struck up a friendship, according to a page on LeTourneau University\u2019s website dedicated to Graham.<\/p>\n
In 1947, Graham was on tour in Europe and came up short on cash. At a later date, Graham was quoted in the Longview newspaper as saying: \u201cWhen I was just starting out to preach, I didn\u2019t know anyone, and nobody knew me. I was in Ireland, and I needed some money and didn\u2019t know where I could get it. \u2026I just sat down and wrote Mr. LeTourneau and told him my problem, and you know what he did? He sent me a check for $7,000.\u201d<\/p>\n
A few years later, in 1953, LeTourneau put his engineering skills to work by building a large metal dome for Graham to use in England for an event, according to the university\u2019s website. The dome wasn\u2019t put to that use, however, because of problems with London city leaders. That structure ended up as one of the famous LeTourneau domes to dot the Longview plant where LeTourneau manufactured his earth-moving equipment.<\/p>\n
LeTourneau became a college in 1961, and Graham served on its board of trustees from 1961 to 1975. In 1971, Graham hosted one of his Gospel crusades at Longview High School\u2019s Lobo Stadium. His son, Franklin, learned to fly at LeTourneau University.<\/p>\n
And perhaps most fitting: When LeTourneau died in 1969, Graham sent vocalist George Beverly Shea to sing \u201cHow Great Thou Art\u201d at his funeral.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I saw that connection, I was like, \u2018Oh, cool,\u2019\u201d Elers said.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s how he got the idea to make something new out of it.<\/p>\n
\u2018A cool reminder\u2019<\/h3>\n
In the fall, Elers reached out to Dr. Jim Taylor, LeTourneau\u2019s director of fine arts, to ask if he knew a student who would be willing and able to learn and sing the two songs. Taylor recommended Griffin.<\/p>\n
Soon thereafter, Elers and Griffin began rehearsing. Elers played guitar, and Griffin sang.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce I heard the connections, I was like, \u2018This is really, really cool,\u2019\u201d Griffin said. \u201cWhat I told [Elers] was like, \u2018Only you could have made this connection.\u2019 And I do believe that God is very intentional with those things. As a worship leader, someone who wants to work in ministry, it just was like, I\u2019d be honored to sing this, to be a part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Griffin had to learn the M\u0101ori language, which came to her surprisingly easily. It was similar to Japanese, which she previously studied.<\/p>\n
The two had a few rehearsals together before making the video recording in the university\u2019s Belcher Center. Besides getting the music right, they wanted to get the message across tastefully and in a culturally appropriate way. Elers received the blessing of Anglicans in New Zealand during the project, and the response from New Zealanders has been overwhelmingly positive, he said.<\/p>\n
He didn\u2019t expect the song to receive significant media attention, but news of the video made headlines at large news organizations in New Zealand, including the New Zealand Herald and NewstalkZB.<\/p>\n
People have emailed Elers and said the song inspired them to return to church for the first time in a while, he said. Others said it brought tears to their eyes.<\/p>\n
\u201cHopefully it\u2019s far-reaching and in good ways,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Griffin concurs.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe biggest picture for me is to share the Gospel in both cultures,\u201d Griffin said. \u201cI think it might have more cultural significance to New Zealand, for sure. But I\u2019ve gotten good feedback from my American people and friends that they just love it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Griffin has wanted to visit New Zealand for years because of its natural beauty, she said. Now, she might have an opportunity to go. Elers and Griffin have had offers to perform in New Zealand, and the song is set to be broadcast on the Hope Channel across its global network at some point, Elers said. The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association gave approval for the broadcast, which features footage of Graham.<\/p>\n
Griffin hopes the song, too, will be an inspiration for LeTourneau students.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a cool reminder to this small Christian student body that we have really cool things in our heritage and name that are something to be proud of,\u201d Griffin said.<\/p>\n
The song can be found on YouTube by visiting tinyurl.com\/whakaariamai.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source news-journal.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you asked an American to name his favorite hymn, there\u2019s a good chance he\u2019d pick \u201cHow Great Thou Art.\u201d The same goes for a New Zealander, who probably would pick \u201cWhakaaria Mai,\u201d the native-language version of the American tune. For decades, those hymns have been staples in Christian worship services in both nations, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2383065,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25179],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2383064","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/LeTourneau-University-music-video-pays-tribute-to-Billy-Graham-popular.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2383064","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2383064"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2383064\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2383066,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2383064\/revisions\/2383066"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2383065"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2383064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2383064"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2383064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}