A mission trip to the area by the First Presbyterian Church last August resulted in the writing of a song that was recorded just yesterday in Jacksonville. The hope is that the single can become a fundraiser.

The mission trip involved cleanup of a city that officials say will need the help for years to come. It was open to high school seniors or those who had just graduated. Youth committee chair Allen Stare, who is producing the song, says the inspiration for it happened before everyone left for the trip.

“The week before we left, the service was kind of dedicated to sending us off, but the message presented as the sermon during that service was talking about how we all can become modern-day miracles if we’re willing to set aside our personal selfish things of life and just let God’s love and God’s grace flow through us,” Stare says.

Stare says a group of four students- Maddy Albers, Anna Ferguson, Holden Jones and Andi McCombs- got together with First Presbyterian youth coordinator Tim Chipman during the Joplin trip to put the song together.

“These four kids left with Tim to the basement of the church that was hosting us. They worked for four or five hours that afternoon and wrote this song. Tim really worked the music of it, but I mean, they created the lyrics. It was their idea to even do it,” says Stare. “They had this sense of inspiration kind of came over them.”

Stare says the popularity of the song increased quickly.

“There were some adults that came over with us from another mission group that was out of Oklahoma; they were just bowled over,” he says. “I was sitting next to one of the adults from their group, and they leaned over to me and said, ‘They wrote this?’ It had a bridge, it’s got very mature lyrics, it’s hummable, the chorus is very, very memorable and catchy, and it stays with you and it was just a great song,’ adds Stare.

The group got the same response from their own congregation once they got back to Jacksonville, having performed it twice. That’s when Stare says he and Chipman came up with the idea of producing a single and a fundraiser.

The song is called “Turn Us Into Miracles,” with the four students singing and everyone else from the mission trip backing up as the chorus.

Stare says the single, when finished, will go up on music download sites such as iTunes and Amazon.com.

“Once it is posted, we’re going to start promoting this thing both in Jacksonville but then also down in the Joplin area as available for download, and all proceeds from the sale of this will go back to the Joplin relief effort,” he says. “I really see it being something that the people in Joplin are going to jump on, and it’s going to be a thrill for these kids that somebody’s actually listening to their song. Joplin inspired the song, and then the song can give back to Joplin.”

Stare says yesterday’s was a 12-hour recording session at the church. He anticipates the final product to be done sometime in March.