George Beverly Shea was born into the home of fine Christian parents in Winchester, Ontario, Canada, on February 1, 1909. His father was a faithful minister of the gospel for the Wesleyan Methodist Church, and his mother was a strong spiritual and musical influence in his life. As young George was growing up in parsonages in New York and New Jersey, his friends and family became very much aware of his fine musical talents and full, resonant voice. He began to sing regularly in his father’s church as well as for services in other local churches. Following high school, George attended Houghton College in New York during 1928-29, but family financial problems caused him to leave after one year and take employment as a clerk in an insurance office in New York City. During this time, he lived with his parents while his father was pastoring in Jersey City. In his book, Songs That Touch the Heart, Bev Shea tells this story:Once again Mother–my musical guardian–had apart. A lover of beauty, be it a flower, a bird, a poem, an ennobling quotation–whatever–Mother was a collector... she loved to share poetry and she always had some verse in hand copied from a book or clipped from a magazine. It was her practice of leaving such writing on the piano music rack which led to my writing “I’d Rather Have Jesus” when I was twenty years old. The same Sunday morning I read those wonderful words for the first time, I wrote music for them and used the song that same day in my father’s church service. Of course, Mrs. Rhea F. Miller is the catalyst. Without her inspiring lyrics, there would have been no song.... Over the years, I've not sung any song more than “I’d Rather Have Jesus,” but I never tire of Mrs. Miller’s heartfelt words.During the nearly nine years that Shea worked for the Mutual of New York Life Insurance Company, he continued his vocal training and singing in churches and for local Christian broadcasts. One day a director of a network radio station heard him sing and arranged for him to audition for a national program with the Lynn Murray Singers. Bev was thrilled with the prospect of singing on a network radio program, of being heard by large numbers of people, and having a chance to make “big money” for a change. After passing the audition test, Bev Shea just didn't feel right about accepting this “once in a life-time” offer to be in secular work. “No” was strange word to such an offer, as positions such as these were rare during those depression days, and thousands of young singers would have leaped at such an opportunity. On June 16, 1934, Bev married his teen-age sweetheart, Eram Scharfe, and together they raised two children. The family moved to Chicago. where Bev took a position on the staff of radio station WMBI. In June of 1944, Bev Shea realized his ambition to sing the gospel on a national radio program, “Club Time.” A well-known aluminum firm, headed by a devoted Christian businessman, Herbert J. Taylor, sponsored Shea’s program for the next several years, a program heard by thousands of listeners each week. Then during the 1940’s and 50’s, Shea was active, singing in large Youth for Christ rallies throughout America and Canada. And now for more than three decades, Bev Shea has ministered with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Team, around the world as well as on radio and television. In 1956, George Beverly Shea was given a honorary doctorate degree from Houghton College in recognition of his many years of effective Christian ministry. The power that this song has had in influencing and changing lives for God will be fully evaluated only in eternity. There are countless testimonies by individuals whose lives have been changed by the singing of this one hymn:A thousand grim marines sat on a South Pacific Island, during the days of World War II, listening to a gospel message punctuated with gunfire in the distance. When the chaplain sat down, a marine stood this feet to sing the closing hymn. As the shell-scarred palms swayed nearby, more than half of that company came forward to profess faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior. The marine soloist, a former opera singer, had just concluded singing “I’d Rather Have Jesus...”