United Pentecostal Church- The Hemphills, Joel & Labreeska, 1968 LP **Excellent

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United Pentecostal Church- The Hemphills, Joel & Labreeska Hemphill’s DEBUT 1968 LP **Excellent!. The “intro” on the back cover of the album was written by the late Rev. Hal Kennedy a musician & recording artist who also pastored First Pentecostal Church (UPCI), Titusville, FL from 1973-2007.

Joel Hemphill biography

Joel Hemphill was born in Fresno, California, the son of Rev. W.T & Beatrice Hemphill. When Joel was five years old, the family moved to West Monroe, Louisiana where his father founded the Jesus Only Apostolic Church. The church was later know as Living Way Apostolic Church and still exists today as the ARC church (Apostolic Restoration Church of West Monroe) pastored by Nathan Thornton and is affiliated with the United Pentecostal Church (UPCI). W.T Hemphill later founded another church, the Pentecostals of the Twin Cities in 1957. The Pentecostal of the Twin Cities (UPCI) was pastored by Bishop Mark Foster from 1998-2017.

W.T Hemphill encouraged young Joel to pursue the same love for music that he shared. During his teen years, Joel began playing electric guitar in the church. He met LaBreeska Rogers when the Happy Goodman Family sang in West Monroe. (LaBreeska was the niece of Howard, Vestal, and Rusty.) The couple was married in June of 1957. They were just seventeen years old at the time.

By this point, Joel was already serving as an associate pastor. They soon began traveling and singing as evangelists. The couple signed with Canaan Records in 1966 to record as a duo. Soon they launched a group called The Hemphills with Tim and Dixie McKeithan. Their children Joel Jr. (Joey), Trent, and Candy would join the group during the 1970s.

Joel is the writer of more than 100 songs including “Consider The Lilies,” “Jesus Saves,” “Master Of The Wind,” “I Claim The Blood,” and The Hemphills’ biggest hit "He's Still Workin' On Me."

Around the time The Hemphills disbanded in 1990s, it was discovered that Joel had colon cancer. After a successful surgery, he descended into a time of depression that prevented him from preaching and singing for about two years. In November of 1992, he was able to continue again, and credited God for healing him of his depression. He and LaBreeska begin performing again as a duo and were frequently seen on the Gaither Homecoming videos from the mid-1990s until LaBreeska passed away in 2015.

During the 2000s, Joel took the position that Jesus Christ was not the incarnation of God, publishing statements like “Jesus was not just a body full of God, he was a man full of God. He had a human mind, soul, spirit and will. Being full of God does not make a person God.” Joel is further quoted, “If we continue to give God’s glory to another, even His highly exalted, sinless, virgin-born son, after we have come to the knowledge of the truth, will it be accounted to us for idolatry?” (1)

Awards

Dove Awards Children’s Music Album Of The Year God Likes Kids (1987) (with LaBreeska)

SGMA Hall Of Fame (2007)

Songwriter Resume

(Partial List)

A Happy Forever

A Mansion Just For Me

A Preacher's Boy

A Song I Like To Sing

All In The Blood Of Jesus

All Is Forgiven Come Home

All That You Dream

All Under The Blood

And He Did

Angels All Around You

Beyond The Sun

Call Me Blessed

Can You See The Clock

Carry On Church

Chains

Changing Of The Seasons

Coming Back

Consider The Lilies

Could I Wish

Create In Me

Crying In The Garden

Don't You Love To Sing About Home

Every Need Supplied

Eyes Of Jesus

Faith Gets The Job Done

Gentle Hands

God Has Planned Heaven So Well

God Likes People

God Still Loves The World

God's Gonna Shake This World Again

Good Things

Have You Made Your Reservation

He Filled A Longing

He'll Lead Me All The Way

Here's A Little Good News

He's Really Done A Work In My Life

He's Still Working On Me

Holy Ghost Revival

I Am Determined

I Came On Business For The King

I Can Almost See The End From Here

I Can Smile

I Cast My Bread Upon The Water

I Claim The Blood

I Found A Better Way

I Found The City

I Know You Would

I Laid It All Down

I Learned About Jesus In Grandma's Rocking Chair

I Need You

I Really Do Believe In The Lord

I Took A Look

I Wanna Do Right

I Wonder Where They Go

I'd Like To Say It Again

If I Could Talk With The Lord

I'll Be Glad When Everybody's Singing Jesus Songs

I'll Soon Be Gone

I'll Wish I'd Done More

I'm A Winner

I'm In This Church

I'm Not Perfect Just Forgiven

I'm So Excited

I'm Trusting The Blood

Incomparable God

It Might As Well Be Me

It Shall Be Well With The Righteous

It Wasn't Raining When Noah Built The Ark

It'll Be Worth Every Mile Of The Trip

It's All Right

Jesus Built This Church On Love

Jesus Held On To My Hand

Jesus Saves

Keep Coming Back To The Well

Lay Your Burdens Down At The Cross

Let Me Feel Your Spirit

Let Me Feel Your Spirit Once Again

Let The Blood Of Calvary Speak For Me

Let's Have A Revival

Lifting Up Jesus

Look What's Coming Down The Road

Lord Show Me Your Hands

Lord To Know That I Have You

Lord To Sing About You

Make Calvary Real To Me

Make The Lord A Good Soldier

Master Of The Wind

Minute By Minute

My Armor

Never A Man Spoke Like This Man

No Disappointment In Jesus

Not In A Million Years

Old Brush Arbor Days

On The Way Up

Only Jesus

Paid In Full

Pity The Man

Point Of No Return

Ready To Leave

Ring The Bells

Run To Jesus

Showing My Appreciation

Sing Me A Happy Song

Sing Me A Song

Sing The Glory Down

Small Men Cast Long Shadows

Somebody Up There Loves Me

Sometimes I Wonder

Sweet Zion's Song

Take Us Home With You

Testimony

Thank God For The Morning

Thank God For The Old Rugged Cross

Thank The Lord

Thank You Lord For Holding Me

That's What Calvary Means To Me

The Carpenter From Nazareth

The Courage To Try Again

The Eyes Of Jesus

The Kind My Grandma Had

The Miracle Man

The Only Real Peace

The Party's Over

The Soldier Won The Battle

The Son Is Gonna Reign

The Sweetest Words He Ever Said

The Tomb Is Empty

The Way Is Made

The Weather Forecast

The World Lost A Friend

There'll Be Someone Looking For Me

There's A New World Coming

There's Been A Lot Of Changes

There's No Stopping Us Now

Thirty Minutes Of Silence

Undeserving Of Your Love

Visit Us Now

Well Of Grace

We'll Shake Hands

We're Bringing Back The King

We've Got The Devil On The Run

What Calvary Bought

What Else Could God Do

When The Clouds Roll Back

Without A Doubt I'm Saved

You Loving Me

You're A Living Soul

You're All Invited To My Mansion

Associated terms/ file under

Apostolic Oneness, Oneness Apostolic, Jesus Only, Jesus Name, Oneness Pentecostal, Assemblies of God, Azusa Street, United Pentecostal Church, Pentecostal Assemblies of the World, ALJC, Oneness of God, Assemblies of the Lord Jesus Christ, Worldwide Pentecostal Fellowship, Apostolic Pentecostals, Bible Way Church of our Lord Jesus Christ Wordwide, Assemblies of the Church of Jesus Christ, Jesus Only Apostolic Church of God, Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, Oneness Pentecostalism, Baptism in Jesus Name, Jesus Name Baptism, Holy Ghost Fire, Trinity, Trinitarianism, Pentecostal Holiness, Holy Ghost Baptism, Speaking in Tongues, Glossalalia, Revival, Pentecostalism, Holy Spirit, Holy Ghost, Word Aflame Press, Pentecostal Publishing House, Indiana Bible College, COGIC, C.O.G.I.C, Apostolic Bible Institute, G.T Haywood, Arroyo Seco, New Issue, Robert T. McAlister, Marvin Arnold, Frank Bartleman, Pentecostal Church Inc, Pentecostal Assemblies of Jesus Christ, Andrew Urshan, Glenn Cook, John G. Schaepe, Nathaniel Urshan, Frank Ewart, Frank Smale, Thoro Harris, David K. Bernard, T.F Tenney, Mangun, William Chalfant, Nona Freeman, James O. Russell, James Tyson, S.C. McClain, C. B. Dudley, Mary H. Wallace, Morris Golder, Fred Kinzie, Lajoyce Martin, Gregory Boyd, Calvin Beisner, Benjamin Urshan, Georgia Smelser, Fred Foster, Arthur Clanton, Murrell Ewing, Kulwant Singh Boora, Thomas Weisser, National Holiness Association, Agnes Ozman Laberge, Bonnie Brae Street, Los Angeles, G. B. Cashwell, Vinson Synan, Bishop Charles H. Mason, Church of God in Christ, William Durham, Finished Work doctrine, Jennie Moore, thomas fudge, david reed, Florence Crawford, Clara Lum, John G. Lake, Thomas Hezmalhach, Evening Light Saints, Lucy Farrow, Azusa Street Mission, Aimee Semple MacPherson, Oral Roberts, Lanny Wolfe Trio