“You Are My All in All”

TITLE: "You Are My All in All"
AUTHOR: Dennis Jernigan
TUNE: ALL IN ALL
COMPOSER: Dennis Jernigan
SOURCE: Worship & Song, no. 3040
SCRIPTURE: John 6:31, 35; Ephesians 1:20; Revelation 1:8; 5:11-14
TOPICS: Creator; cross; Lamb of God; name of Jesus; power and might; praise and thanksgiving; rise up; seek; sending forth; shame; sin; thirst; weakness; worthy

Background

Dennis Jernigan (b. 1954, Sapulpa, Oklahoma) is a graduate of Oklahoma Baptist University and is a successful Christian singer-songwriter of contemporary Christian music. His primary instrument is the piano. Jernigan prefers not to think of himself as a songwriter, but rather as a "song receiver." He wrote "You Are My All in All" in 1992, and it remains his most performed song today. Other of his popular works include: "We Will Worship the Lamb of Glory," "Thank You," "Great is the Lord Almighty," "Who Can Satisfy My Soul" (There is a Fountain), "I Belong to Jesus," and "Nobody Fills My Heart Like Jesus."

Jernigan's ministry is based on his own life story and personal experience, which he shares in concerts and programs in churches in the U.S.A. and around the world. Jernigan was a homosexual. He attended a 2nd Chapter of Acts concert in Norman, Oklahoma and now self-identifies as "ex-gay," although he prefers the terms "reborn" or "God's new creation." Jernigan had served as vice-chairman of Exodus International, a position he voluntarily resigned in June 2012.

Jernigan and his wife, Melinda, were married in 1984. They live with their nine children on a small farm in Muskogee, Oklahoma.

Words

"You Are My All in All" is a song in praise of Christ, for who Christ is and what he does. It is cast as a personal prayer to Jesus, describing those situations and attributes in rhymed couplets, all of which conclude with the proclamation, "You are my all in all."

• your strength in my weakness and the treasure that I seek
• Christ as a precious jewel and my foolishness to give that up
• forgiver of my sin and shame, I rise to bless Christ's name
• if I fall, Christ picks me up; if I am dry, Christ fills my cup

The refrain consists of the phrase, "Jesus, Lamb of God, worthy in your name," and its repetition.

Music

Musically, the song consists of two parts of equal eight-measure length. The first half consists of the rhymed couplets in quicker, shorter note values of mostly eighth and sixteenth notes. The two phrases of the first half are identical except for the end cadences. The second half consists of longer note values – mostly quarter and half notes, moving along in sustained affirmation of the "Jesus, Lamb of God, worthy is your name" phrase. The genius and beauty of the song is that, because the two halves are of identical length and harmonic construction, they can be sung together, as a quodlibet, and may be endlessly repeated until the close.

Guitar chords for each eight-bar section are repeated:

Capo 1: ||: E B | C#m B E | A E B | E B |

| E B | C#m B E | A E B | E :||

Sources

• Dennis Jernigan website
• Dennis Jernigan on wikipedia