Obituary: Tom Green / Christian television program producer
UPDATE: I’m getting a lot of traffic from searches for Rose and Tom. Please leave a comment or shout out here. I’d like to see where you all are coming from. It might also be nice to turn this into a tribute page for Tom, Thom and/or Rose (even though she’s not dead yet đ – Hmm maybe I’ll do another post for her and put up a few pictures from 20 years ago đ I think I might have one or two of her at Creation ’86 with a towel wrapped around her head).
Also, if you are just looking for the song “Forty Brave Soldiers”, here’s how to get it…
(This links directly to LightMusic.tv. I don’t get a cut or anything like that. You’ll exit my site when you hit buy now…)
 Thanks to the generosity of Candy Green and the Green family, we are now offering “40 Brave Soldiers” for download (mp3). Proceeds will benefit lightmusic.tv, which is dedicated to preserving Tom’s memory. We accept Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover. Thank you. $9.99  |
I came across a friend’s obituary again today. I thought I would post it. Tom Green was a good man. Set a good example and lead a life that lead others. To him, I was probably just some teenager he knew by name from a church he visited off and on and went to retreats with. But he’s one of the people that showed me early what a successful life truly meant…
I was already in a bit of a weird mood since I was looking at three somewhat related websites and trying to figure out what I thought of them. One is Slacktivist, another is BadChristian, and another is Anabaptist Monk (which has two mirror urls that are censored for nudity at the office for some reason I do not understand he’s a baptist preacher after all…). Discovered in that order. They’ve in this whole subculture of liberal Christians and I’ve been trying to decide where I come down one each of their sites.
I gave up on that for the night and moved on to trying to find an mp3 or a track of Tom Green’s song “Forty Brave Soldiers”. I’d really like to sing it in church or at least hear it a few more times if I can’t get an accompaniment tape. So, I stumbled across his obituary again. I’d found it out of the blue about a year ago and it was a bit of a shock. The shock tonight was less, but I’m still shocked at how strong an emotion it pulls out of me.
I still think about Tom on occasion as as another person that was equally influential in my early life can be heard on the radio every morning Rose (Somma) Tennent co-host with Jim Quinn in their “war room” http://www.warroom.com. She actually helped put Lightmusic on the air. I guess I feel protective over Rose as I considered her, and still do though we haven’t spoken for two decades, a very close friend. She was one of our youth group’s (The Cornerstone Crusaders) leaders and a good person. Some of Quinn’s attitudes and demeanors are not, shall we say, founded on intellectualism. I think Rose could do, and deserves better. I’m always melancholy when I listen to their morning show. So I usually don’t. But like I said, I’m a bit over-protective.
Oh jeez, I went out to http://www.lightmusic.tv to find a picture of Rose and found out that someone else I knew just died in a car accident. Thom Hickling, co-creator of light music and the man who hosted “His Place” from 1989 to 2003. You can read about him here: http://www.dailyreckoning.com/Featured/Thom.html
Now, Lightmusic was nationally sindicated and was one of the driving forces of Christian Music as it is today. Some of you may have heard of Amy Grant and Michael W. Smith? They can, in part, thank the chocolate chip cookie loving Tom Green for their success. If you haven’t heard of “His Place”, that might be expected, it was more of a Pittsburgh thing as far as I know. I sort of missed out on it as I was away at college for the first few years it was around…
OK, I just saw that the song is available for 9.99 from Candy (Tom’s wife. Nice woman.) I listened to the first 15 seconds. That’s all I can do right now. It’s the kind of song that makes your hair from your arms all the way to the back of your scalp rise, and your heart catch in your throat even when you aren’t giving it your full attention.
I’m going to bed before anything else even more emotional happens…
For Tom Green, one of the brave soldiers:http://www.post-gazette.com/obituaries/20030709green0709p3.asp
Obituary: Tom Green / Christian television program producer
Wednesday, July 09, 2003
By Ann Rodgers-Melnick, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
Tom Green, 55, a creative force and lovingly scathing critic in Christian media, died Friday after heart surgery in New Zealand, where he has lived since 1997.
Mr. Green was a longtime producer for Cornerstone Television in Wall, where he was best known as the host of the “Lightmusic” video show. He was also a co-creator of “His Place,” a soap opera and talk show set in a diner.
With his wife, Candy, he wrote and recorded many songs, including “Forty Brave Soldiers,” a Christian radio hit about Roman soldiers who were left to die on a frozen lake because of their faith.
“Tom was a groundbreaker, both as an artist back in the late 1970s and certainly as one of the pioneering Christian music video shows,” said John Styll, president of the Gospel Music Association. “He was a real innovator who took chances.”
Born in San Francisco, Mr. Green in the 1960s ran the lights at the Troubadour, a club on Hollywood’s Sunset Strip. Many of the elite folk and rock artists who played there also came to see the art theater that Mr. Green produced.
After moving to Vermont, Mr. Green, who was Jewish, became a Christian, along with his wife.
“They almost instantly became Tom and Candy Green, the guitar-strumming evangelists,” said Thom Hickling, a friend and co-worker.
After their first child was born, Mr. Green became head of the theater department at televangelist Jim Bakker’s ill-fated Heritage University in North Carolina. They entered that world of clean-shaven Southern evangelicals as “a couple of hippie types from the Jesus movement,” said Roger Wilson, a close friend and co-worker there and at Cornerstone Television.
Mr. Green was never comfortable in the evangelical media industry.
“He didn’t care about fund raising and making a commercial appeal to the donors. Tom wanted to make good television that people who didn’t love God would be willing to watch and maybe it would have an impact on them,” Hickling said.
Cornerstone Television received complaints that he ran secular videos like Phil Collins’ “Another Day in Paradise” on “Lightmusic.” Mr. Green insisted that Collins’ message about homelessness was biblical. After the show was nationally syndicated in 1985, not-yet-disgraced televangelist Jimmy Swaggart threatened to pull his preaching from any station that carried “Lightmusic.”
“[Mr. Green] was on the cutting edge of contemporary music, not afraid to disagree with [the president] or the general manager or anyone about what we had to do if we wanted to reach young people,” Wilson said.
In 13 years, Mr. Green produced more than 3,000 episodes of “Lightmusic.” But he complained that too many evangelical hits sounded like last year’s secular hits with the name “Jesus” inserted.
“The difference between art and propaganda is often blurred in Christian videos,” he wrote. “Propaganda tells us what to think. Art allows us to come to truth on our own. Propaganda keeps everything easy. Art forces us to confront issues that we perhaps would rather not think about.”
“Lightmusic” won three consecutive Billboard magazine awards for best Christian music video show, but in 1997, Mr. Green was offered the opportunity to run a pioneering Christian station in Christchurch, New Zealand.
The Christchurch station did not feature preachers. It ran old American sitcoms like “Leave It to Beaver.” Mr. Green produced specials designed to make the faith appealing in a highly secular society.
When the station was purchased by American evangelicals, Mr. Green believed that his creative wings would be clipped. He left to produce independent videos. While he was preparing for a working trip to Antarctica, a physical revealed a leaky heart valve.
There was a lag of months before surgery, and he was extremely weak by the time of the June 30 operation, Hickling said.
During his last days, New Zealand was hit by the coldest blast of Antarctic air on record, Candy Green wrote.
“At the time of his dying we were not only praying for Tom but we prayed for the peace of Jerusalem and peace in the world. Our children had spoken forth great words of faith and prayers of healing for their father. It is now our prayer that these words were caught up with this blast of air which takes 10 years to travel around the world. I am going to be looking for answers to these prayers.”
A local memorial service is planned for sometime in August. Details will be posted at www.lightmusic.tv.
In addition to his wife, Mr. Green is survived by two daughters, Shoshanna Hill of King of Prussia, Montgomery County, and Hadassah, at home in Christchurch; two sons, Joe and Nate, both of Christchurch; his mother, Dottie Green of California; and one grandson.
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Ann Rodgers-Melnick can be reached at arodgersmelnick @post-gazette.com or 412-263-1416.
Date Sunday, July 06 @ 09:00:38
Special to ASSIST News ServiceHUNTINGTON BEACH, CALIFORNIA (ANS) —
Tom Green, former host of the award winning Christian music program LIGHTMUSIC, died Friday (New Zealand time) in Christchurch, New Zealand from complications following open heart surgery. July 4, 2003 was Tom Greenâs Independence Day.
After surgery on Monday to repair a leaking heart valve, Tomâs heart could not be restarted. There was no option but to keep him on the heart-lung machine, and the prognosis became bleak. (Pictured: Tom Green).
As news reached the US, friends around the world covered Tomand family with a blanket of prayer. Finally on Wednesday morning his heart began to beat with the help of a pacemaker, and everyone rejoiced. During this time Tomâs mother and daughter, Shoshanna, were able to travel from the US to be at his bedside. Tomâs heart was beating, but he was not out of danger.
Wednesday and Thursday Tomwent on and off the heart-lung machine. He was not able to sustain sufficient blood pressure for a long period of time. After a series of ups and downs, Tomlost the battle Friday morning. He had never regained consciousness following his surgery.
Tomâs father had died in his early forties from a genetic heart defect. Ten years ago Tomdiscovered he carried the same defect and had a heart valve replaced. This recent problem was only revealed during a physical examination in preparation for a trip to Antarctica to film a documentary.
Tom Green and his family have lived in Christchurch, New Zealand for the past seven years where he had worked for a Christian television station, and as a freelance filmmaker. He was born in 1947 and is survived by his mother Dottie, wife Candy, and children, Shoshanna, Joseph, Nathan and Hadassah. The birth of his son Josephâs first child just two months ago had made him a grandfather for the first time.
Tom Green was a pioneering music missionary. When some saw Christian rock music as rebellion, Tomsaw the gospel translated into a new language. Contemporary music was a language that many people in darkness would listen to, and Tomembraced this new opportunity to share Jesus with missionary zeal.
Tomcreated LIGHTMUSIC, the groundbreaking contemporary Christian music program, featuring music and videos for a dark world. He produced and hosted over 3,000 daily half-hour broadcasts in over thirteen years with Cornerstone Television and received “Best Contemporary Christian Music Video Show” honors from Billboard Magazine for three consecutive years.
B.E. Taylor, LIGHTMUSIC music director remembered, âSome people thought Tomwas radical. He just didnât fit into the norm â but God called Tomto radical ministry. He was called to take the gospel into streets of darkness. When we received letters from people on the verge of suicide that were alienated from the church, it was powerful! That is what Tomwas all about. It was simply about being obedient to God and letting God use you.â (Pictured: LIGHTMUSIC Music Director B.E. Taylor with Tom Green).
Gregg Cooper, cameraman and creative consultant to LIGHTMUSIC said, âA long time before the term âseeker sensitiveâ was even mentioned, that was pretty much Tom. He would reach out to people that were alienated from the church. That was Tomâs ministry.â
Tom Greenâs remarkable personality had a powerful impact on many people. Rose Somma Tennent former co-host and associate producer of LIGHTMUSIC said of Tom, âThe relationship I had with Tom Green has become the yardstick by which I have measured all subsequent friendships. Tomwas unique in that he was one of the few people I know that had a gift for identifying talent in others and encouraging and aiding its development. Some people seek to be large by diminishing those around them. Wiser men become large in the shared gifts and talents of their peers. Tomwas a wise man, but he didnât think so, and that was part of his charm.â
Gregg Copper added, âTomwas really good at helping people soar to their God-given potential, and he was just always there for us. That was one of the most difficult things in going through this. Tomwas always there when we needed him, and when he was going though this most difficult time, he was in New Zealand and we couldnât be there for himâ
Friend and colleague, Thom Hickling said, âMany people know Tomas a broadcaster, but Tomwas also an accomplished musician. Tomand his wife Candy recorded about thirteen albums, including the powerful and moving ballad âForty Brave Soldiers for Christâ that was recorded in the late seventies and still receives much airplay.â
Only God knows how many lives were impacted by this contemporary Christian music pioneer. The impact of his untimely death will undoubtedly ripple through the lives of many more. Tomproudly carried the torch for Jesus to a dark world and has now completed his assignment. I am grateful his path crossed mine. I will carry that torch with renewed energy. Only God knows how many lives were impacted.
Tom Green ended each show saying,â God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.â God loved Tomand had a wonderful plan for his life, and we are very grateful Tomfaithfully answered the call.
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B.E. Taylor served as music director for LIGHTMUSIC and is currently a recording artist and performer living in Wheeling, West Virginia. He can be reached at: http://www.betaylor.com
Gregg Cooper was a cameraman and creative consultant to LIGHTMUSIC and is currently production manager for Orchard Hill Church in Wexford, Pennsylvania http://www.orchardhillchurch.com
Rose Somma Tennent was co-host and associate producer of LIGHTMUSIC and is currently a radio personality and co-host of âQuinn and Rose in the Morningâ WRRK-FM, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania http://www.warroom.com
Thom Hickling was formerly with Cornerstone Television and is currently a journalist living in Baltimore, Maryland. He can be reached at: thombomb@hotmail.com
LIGHTMUSIC was produced at Cornerstone Television located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Cornerston TV http://www.ctv.org/lightmusic/
Additional information on LIGHTMUSIC and Tom Green will be posted at Light Music Tv
â13 years of Christian Video: Enough Already?â (an interview with Tom Green)
Crown Vider
“My Favorite Christian Music Videosâ (an article by Tom Green)
http://www.crownvideo.com/vpJan72000.cfm
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V. Glen Megill is Director of International Outreach for the World Bible Society www.worldbible.org. He also serves as president of the Rock of Africa Mission, an outreach to sub-Saharan Africa. www.rockofafrica.org. Glen can be reached in Huntington Beach, CA at vgmegill@rockofafrica.org.
http://www.christian-connection.orgThe URL for this story is:
http://www.christian-connection.org/article.php?sid=258
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Thanks for the info on Tom Green. I didn’t even know he was the writer of that song, but I enjoyed hearing it on the radio in the 80’s (?). It amazes me that it is not more popular. It is a very moving song.
My Pleasure!
Yeah, he was one of the good ones. In 1997 I believe that he, like so many others (Steve Taylor – the GodFather of Christian music for one) left the industry after it was no longer being run by Christians simply out to save souls. The industry was taken over by commercial interests and it became something about cutthroat profits and not about nurturing people. That’s something that people not in it for the money have a hard time fighting. Anyway, Tom was a great guy and I’m gonna have to figure out a good way to get a sample of that song that tells what it is about…
I’m at work, a secular university in California, and have just heard 40 Brave Soldiers for the first time in 26 years. Frequently I’ve looked for it, for it is truly a marvelous presentation of the Gospel. I’ve had to turn away from the door to my office as the tears flow. It literally yanks at the heart, listening to the testimony of the Martys.
Years later, while in Seminary, I asked my New Testament Prof. David Scholer if the story was true; he pulled a dusty book from his library and I read of the 40 Martyrs of Sebaste. I was again struck by the power God has in transforming lives.
God has a tremendous power to work in the life of believers, and as a new Christian Tom Green spoke volumes to my heart. I thank God for Tom’s witness and mourn his passing even while rejoicing in the message of the song.
In short…. I’m a mess. but blessed!
Thank you for hosting this site.
Blessings,
Bob
I just recently heard about Tom Green’s song Forty Brave Soldiers when someone asked me to look it up for them but I’ve never heard it before and can’t find it anywhere. Does anyone know where I can go to hear it? I would really like to. Expecially after everything I’ve heard ABOUT the song. You’d think that a song that so many people like so much and that is so touching would be easier to find!!!
Jennifer, the very first thing in this article is a “Buy Now” link you can use to get the song. It can’t be easier than that. I just checked it and it does work. It can’t make it much easier to find than that.
That money goes directly to Candy and the rest of Tom’s family. So I don’t plan on posting the song directly. If they wanted to share it freely, they certainly have the oportunity to. If you write Candy for permission and she gives permission for it to be shared, please let me know and I can host it here too.
I think there are two reason that it is not found on the web. 1. age, MP3’s had not been invented yet when this was popular and wav files were HUGE and long to download even with the newly invented 56k modems. 2. respect, Tom so touched everyone’s lives that no on has a desire to take from him and his family… 3. Unfortunately, as it is a whole story that builds, you can’t really post clips of it that do it justice. You have to hear the whole thing. I haven’t been able to think of a good way to solve that problem. If I do thing of a way to do so, maybe I can figure out how to DRM it for 1 day worth of playing, I’ll contact Candy myself and see if she’s willing to have me post it….
Thank you for the information. This song has stuck with me since I first heard it in the 80s and I have been trying to find it for years so I could share it with my sons.
We fell in love with toma dn Candy Green back in 1976 or 77 when we were first saved and attending the Trinity Assemblies of God Church in Derry, New Hampshsire.. we loved their style, that they were Jewish Converts and their music. it touched our lives forever.. we lost their music.. but do remember Toms 40 Brave Soldiers Song.. they also sand and maybe wrote… I keep Falling in LOve with Him over and over again but I am not sure that chorus used to allow people to really touch the Holy Spirit of Jesus every time we broke into that chorus at church .. Priase His Holy name .. I don’t know why I tried to find them on the web tonight but I was shciked and saddened to learn that he passed on back in 2003 was it ?? I’d love to send Candy a note .. anyone know of her address ??
MIke in NH
hi!
This is Shoshanna, Tom Green’s oldest daughter. I was just surfing the web, missing my dad, and came upon your site. Your comments about my father and his song have really touched me and helped me tonight. Thank you.
If you want to say hi to Candy you can actually find her on myspace! I think her name is “reader/writer.”
As a Believer, I listened to Honolulu’s KAIM Christian station in Hawaii. During 1983, I heard the 40 Brave Soldiers for Christ song for the first time and was inspired by it. I was a Liquor Investigator with the Department of Liquor Control on Maui at this time, and the song gave me that “spiritual shot” to “share” with those in darkness (bars and discos promote darkness). I never knew who wrote it, and the years just passed us by. I would mention the songs to other believers, but no one ever heard it. My daughter, also a believer, searched and recently found it! I just read about Mr. Tom GREEN and his background – very amazing! What a blessing to hear that his wife and children are born anew!
Mahalo Nui Loa (thank You Very Much)
WOW !.. Our God is soo real and so faithful. I met Jesus as my Savior in 1978 and within six months my husband Bill, my grandparents, parents, only sister and family all accepted HIM also. Tom and Candy were ministering very fresh and absolutely stoled all of our hearts. We were their “groupies” within a forty mile radius. Candy’s sister lived nearby in Lebanon, NH at the time and ShoShanna was born, never in all these yrs have I forgotten her name or her parents. I have tried also looking for them over the years. Heard once they were in PA but never got a location. I had every record they ever made but think gave to Salvation Army when I couldn’t play them any longer and that was one of the saddest days of my life. I still sing “I Love You Lord Jesus, I Love You” which I think Candy wrote.. I sing it as a prayer so often and was doing that tonite while trying to get to sleep. I then remembered “40 Brave Soldiers” and just had to try once again this time using the title of that song. AND to my amazment.. astonishment was at the top of Google and when I ever saw Tom and Candy Green; well its now 3:33 am and I Had to write and thank you so much. Of Course my heart weeps with Candy and family; BUT TOM is Home. Will be sending this website to family members; I am sure our children remember being dragged around to go see Tom and Candy. I too would love to write to Candy; it was a Joy to my heart that ShoShanna actually wrote to you also, somehow it felt like I touched her again. Someone had to hold her after all while mom and dad were leading us all to the Throne Room with their ministry. Again so glad i found you and have this site in favorites already. I am so curious if Candy has any of their music available for us today.
Sandi Emery now in Georgia, USA
Currently, the lightmusic.tv site states:
“Thank you to everyone for supporting lightmusic.tv. Due to circumstances beyond our control, our financial support has been discontinued and we are
looking for ways to independently fund this project.
In keeping with Tom Green’s vision for this site before his passing, our plan is to offer Christian music videos for your viewing enjoyment
and a lot of other great content.
See you soon — please check back often!”
They had 3 videos there today when I looked. Currently, nobody seems to have the song “40 Brave Soldiers” available to either purchase or download (That is, at least according to Google). I did find a site that at least allows you to listen to the song: http://www.swordofthespiritministries.us
God willing, the song will re-emerge somehow. I pray it does. With close ties to the history recorded in the Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, it echoes the courage of the triumphant Spirit of God that, in these last days, indwells believers and gives us hope. May God bless the surviving family (and friends) of Tom Green.
I too had a great deal of difficulty finding “40 Brave Soldiers”, so I called my friend Rob Kime, general manager of KOBC radio, (Joplin MO). He had an old copy of it on mini disk, and gladly made me a copy onto CD. I have it in that for & Mp3 as well, and would love to send it to you. Email me back and let me know where to send it, and it’s yours. If you want to send a couple of dollars for postage, I’d be happy to mail you a copy on CD. Sincerely, Mark.
This is Mark Brock and it’s 26 August, 2009. I left a comment here on 28 February, 2009 about having a copy of “40 Brave Soldiers” by Tom and Candy Green. As I Said then, I have it both as an Mp3 or on CDROM, and would be supremely happy to send it to any and all who want a copy.
(I do not know if this violates any copywrite laws or etc., perhaps someone could let me know?)
Anyway, I would also like to know how to contact any of Tom’s family members, so I could tell them just exactly how much this song has, and continues to impact my life. I am one who was diagnosed with depression at the early age of four years old.
I became a Christian in the Spring of 1980. I haven’t always been in the Will of God, but fortunately I’ve never been out of his care. At the lowest point in my struggle against depression (which continues to this very hour), this song was placed into my hands, and virtually steered me away from ending mine own life. I wish somehow to convey this to his family, but haven’t a clue how to.
In closing, (as I’ve said), I have the song and would gatefully give it to whomever wants it.
My e-mail address is marcoantonio1959@yahoo.com (all lower case) I hope to hear from some of you
Thanks for coming back Mark. I can’t say if it violates copyright anymore or if it matters. As the site is no longer available, I don’t think that there will be a problem with that. I’ve purchased the song as well and will gladly make it available for download. Maybe I will contact Shoshanna to see if that would be alright. I really wish there was a accompaniment version of this song.. I’d love to sing it in church…
BTW I apologize for the spam comment that got through and the notification of it that probably brought you back. Nature of the web and all… But still… On this post?!?!?
I listened to Tom & Candy Green when i was a teenager back in the 70’s….I had seen them in concert a couple of times in NH…..i just found out about Tom’s death. I am so sorry to hear that. They were an inspiration to me. God bless his family and friends….
I knew and lived with Tom Green and his wife Candy in the early 1970’s in Vermont. Over the years I had forgotten and put them in the back of my mind I guess? My heart is heavy now but also I know Tom is with Yeshua . This is one life that Tom did touch even if at the time he didn’t think so. My prayers go out to his wife Candy and children…