HE’S MY
SON
WRITTEN BY MARK SCHULTZ
RECORDED BY MARK SCHULTZ ON MARK SCHULTZ (MYRRH, 2000)
PRODUCED BY MONROE JONES
SCHULTZ GARNERED SEVEN DOVE AWARD NOMINATIONS INCLUDING SONG OF THE YEAR FOR “HE’S MY SON”
2001 LEUKEMIA AND LYMPHONA SOCIETY GAVE SCHULTZ THE BEACON AWARD FOR HIS AWARENESS-RAISING EFFORTS
Mark Shultz will forever be the man responsible for writing his crossover phenomenon, “He’s My Son.” But if you ask him, M “the only thing I had to do with this song is that I just happened to be there when God sat it in my lap.”
For music lovers of every genre, we are all grateful that Shultz took what was in his lap to the top of both Christian and secular music charts, peaking an #22 on Billboard’s Adult Contemporary Chart. However, the true success of this song cannot be captured by rankings or commercial figures; rather, it can be seen in the many lives touched by this moving story of a family dealing with their son’s cancer.
Mark wrote the song when he was a youth minister at a church in Nashville, Tennessee. Upon the diagnosis of leukemia in a young man at the church, Mark says, “I learned how to walk through life with two parents who thought they were going to lose their child.”
Mark observed the grieving of a mother and father. He recounts: “Louise often stayed up with him until he fell asleep. She would rub his back and try to comfort him, but she felt helpless.” He goes on: “Some nights, John would wake up and walk down the hall to Martin’s room and watch him sleep. As he stood there, he would try to imagine what life would be like without his son.”
Mark “tried for several months to write a song for John and Louise, but nothing seemed to capture what they were going through . . . I couldn’t begin to understand the depth of pain John and Louise faced every day—but God did. This is the song He chose for them.”
And it is the song listeners continue to choose as the signature work from this masterful storyteller. Amidst all the success and accolades from the music industry, Mark maintains that, “My favorite part of this story is that Martin is 20 years old and has been cancer-free for five years.”