In the year 1973, the Covenant Players were ministering around the world through Christian drama. Among their members in the U.S. were two young people named Jason and Sharon, two people who were passionate for Christ and theater. In January they met, quickly fell in love, and were married in June. Already, Mr. and Mrs. Nightingale knew that God wanted them to continue serving together in Christian theater, but they did not know what the journey God had in mind for them would look like.
Shortly after their wedding, God laid it on Jason’s heart to begin memorizing books of the Bible and to speak them word-for-word as if they were spoken by the original writers. In 1974, they decided to start a new journey of faith by striking out on their own to start a travelling ministry of biblical recitation. They were already used to life on the road from their previous ministry experience, but now they were starting a new journey with a new baby in the car. They trusted God to provide what they would need and to lead them to the churches who would need them.
This life on the road wasn’t an easy one. Their faith was tested often as they waited on the Lord to see how He would provide their next meal and their next tank of gas. Churches would invite them to come, and they always faithfully came. The churches provided accommodations for the night and received love offerings to help them continue this unique work of God. For almost thirty years, the Nightingales continued to travel the U.S. and Jason continued to recite Scripture for others. Off and on they settled down for a bit, with a job and house or an apartment. But the recitation work never ceased, with travel and ministry continuing to happen on most weekends during off seasons. It was a radical way of life and a radical way to raise their four little boys.
Some churches were excited to have them come and recite, others were confused by the idea. “People would look at us like we had three heads,” said Sharon Nightingale about the experience. Why would anyone want to sit and listen to someone read the Bible? They didn’t understand just what Jason was doing, which was so much more than reading a dusty book of dry information. Jason was performing his recitations of Scripture to be faithful to the living and powerful Word of God; nothing about the listening experience was ever dusty or dry. Sharon says that Jason would tell his audiences, “Don’t read the Word like it’s a phone book! It’s exciting stuff!” When an audience did experience a recitation from Jason, they would finally understand just how powerful this ministry was. It made God’s Word come alive. The Book itself was written to be heard, and Jason was providing that opportunity to listen.
It wasn’t just Jason’s audiences that were listening to the truth of God, but the Nightingales themselves were listening to the Scriptures. “We could not recite the Scripture and not live it out. We could not just be reciters, we had to do,” explained Sharon. She says that reciters of Scripture should ask themselves, “Is the Scripture living in your heart, or is it in your brain and spouting out your mouth?” Jason always began his recitations with prayer, asking God to bless and teach himself and the audience together. He specifically asked the Lord, “… Enable me to speak this appropriately, give us ears to hear deeply, give us understanding, move us to be doers of your word and not hearers only. In Jesus’ Name, amen” (fbcml, 2013).
For the Nightingales, Scripture dwelt deeply in their hearts. Once, Jason had just finished reciting 1 John for a church and was headed into the grocery store with the love offering in hand to purchase food for his family. As he was going inside, he saw a homeless man out front, digging through the garbage for something to eat. The words of 1 John 3 filled his mind,” But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth” (1 John 3:17-18, NKJV). The offering in his hand was not much, and the Nightingales did not have funds set aside, but Jason turned around to share some of the offering with the man to be faithful to the Scripture in his own heart.
This pattern of actively living out the Scriptures that lived in them continued throughout their years of ministry. Jason did not memorize Scripture to store information, he memorized Scripture to know and love His God. In 1980, Jason holed himself up in a motel room for several days in order to fast and pray. He sought the Lord for direction, for after serving Him faithfully in recitation ministry for years, Jason realized the ministry needed its own name. And the Lord once again provided, as He always has for them, and laid the name of “Wordsower” on Jason’s heart.
Years later, all four little Nightingales had grown up and flown out of the nest. Jason and Sharon decided to travel internationally, making their first trip to Liberia in 2001 after being invited by a church group there. During their stay, they were overcome with compassion for the orphans in this country. The Nightingales took time to pray together over what God would want them to do. Here was a great need, and God spoke through the Scriptures in their hearts that they should do something about it. Should they pray? Should they give? The answer was even more radical than the near-thirty years of life on the road they had already lived. They started their first partnership with orphan ministry.
But how could they provide support? The Lord had provided just what they needed throughout their time on the road, no extra. Would God increase their ability to serve and raise funds now? Yes, the Lord opened doors and hearts to the work that Wordsower had begun internationally. Jason and Sharon travelled across the states to recite Scripture just as before, but now with each of Jason’s recitations he also shared about the need in Liberia and the orphans there. Through this continued, simple ministry, God raised up the financial and prayer partners they needed to continue supporting these children in Liberia. But God didn’t have them stop at supporting one orphan ministry.
God continued to lead Jason and Sharon to travel internationally and open their eyes and hearts to more needs and more opportunities to meet those needs. In 2002, they started a widows-care ministry for a Liberian refugee camp in Ghana, just one year after their orphanage was started. Eventually, they started or partnered with ministries to care for orphans and widows in seven different countries around the world! This great ministry effort existed because God’s leadership and care as well as Jason and Sharon’s humble faithfulness.
Jason once shared this message referencing James 1:27 before his recitation of John’s gospel: “… we all kind of think of that and say, ‘Pure religion and undefiled is to go over and visit orphans and widows in their distress,’ the verse doesn’t end there. It continues. It says that ‘to keep oneself untarnished, unspotted, unstained from the world,’ and that may the most important part of the verse! There are many people in the world right now, because it’s popular—altruism, it’s popular to try and do something for orphans. Talking about it anyway, bringing their plight to the fore— rockstars, movie stars, famous people… you notice who’s getting the glory there. God’s not getting the glory, they’re getting the glory, and that makes all the difference. It’s “go to the aid of orphans and widows in their distress, keeping oneself untarnished, unspotted.” … the God of the universe who created you with a word and can destroy you with the same. That God identifies Himself to you, not only is the God who provides, Jehovah Jireh, not only the God of glory, not only Elohim, but the Father of the fatherless, the husband of widows, the friend of the alien. How we keep ourself untarnished by the world is by remembering— and may we never forget it— that we go for His glory. We don’t go for ours, we go for His” (New Hope Community Church Traverse City, MI, published online 2019_)._
These truths continued to guide Jason and Sharon as they followed the Lord in the work of Wordsower, striving to be “the Word of God in loving action” (the Wordsower motto). God blessed, and God led, and Jason and Sharon followed Him together. In 2017, after 43 years of faithful ministry, Jason was called home to be with the Lord. No doubt, he was welcomed to Heaven with the words, “Well done, good and faithful servant. . .enter into the joy of the Lord” (Matt 25:21). After this, the question hung in the air: could Wordsower International continue without Jason?
What many may not realize is that Jason and Sharon served together as a united team for all those years of travel and ministry, both in the U.S. and internationally. The Lord had prepared Jason to recite Scripture and Sharon to support him, but it was always a work they did together, in full agreement to live such a radical life. Sharon was ready when the time came to continue serving the Lord and to step into the role of leadership that the ministry of Wordsower International needed. Praise God for the faithfulness and fortitude of our sister in Christ, for the work of Wordsower is far from finished! Since the transition of leadership, Sharon has been able to re-start the widow’s care ministry in Ghana and start an entirely new widow’s care ministry in Sierra Leone. These ministries, and all the ministries Wordsower leads and supports, are continuing to grow today.
Both Jason and Sharon’s legacy is still being written in the ongoing work in India, Nepal, Kenya, Liberia, Sierra Leone and South Africa. Orphans and widows are being cared for and being taught the good news of Jesus Christ our Lord. Even though Wordsower no longer has the support of Jason’s recitation ministry, the Lord has continued to provide the support that Wordsower needs. A special part of the Nightingale’s legacy is that many of the orphans, especially in Africa and India, are also being taught to memorize and recite God’s Word with passion. Young, new Wordsowers are being raised up by the Lord around the globe.
One of the bearers of this legacy is Kantharao Gorrepally, the Wordsower director for India missions. Jason Nightingale memorized and recited 20 books of the Bible, and Kantharao is working on his 24thbook currently! There isn’t as much opportunity to recite Scripture to others as a ministry in India, but he does love to share whenever he gets a chance. Kantharao currently oversees an orphanage, widows care, and a private English school with over a thousand children in attendance. There are also over a hundred orphans in their orphanage, My Father’s House. All of them are being taught about God’s love and to love God’s Word.
Truly, the legacy of the Nightingales is one of eternal impact through their faithful service to God. Hundreds of people, worthless to the world but precious to the Lord, have been loved and cared for and introduced to the God who loves them most. Will you be a part of this legacy today?
Sharon has shared that most of all they need brothers and sisters in Christ who will pray with them. They need prayer warriors who will kneel and fight with purpose to bring the requests of Wordsower before the Lord. She sends weekly updates with prayer requests for their ministries around the world. You can sign up to receive the newsletter and commit to be faithful in prayer. As you pray, ask the same question that Jason and Sharon did over twenty years ago: “Lord, what would you have me do?” Are you ready to obey what might be His radical answer?
You can learn more about Wordsower ministries, sign up for their weekly prayer updates, and become a financial supporter of the ministry at wordsower.org. You can also be blessed by recordings of Jason Nightingale’s recitations on Spotify and YouTube.
Rachel Eernisse is the founder of Scripture Speakers, a ministry of recitation in which she recites Scripture to bless God’s people and also teaches God’s people to memorize and recite. God called Rachel to recitation ministry as a young woman through the testimony of Jason Nightingale’s recitation ministry, and she is forever grateful for the way the Nightingale legacy has changed her own life. The Nightingales were pioneers for recitation ministry and have paved the way for more reciters to serve around the world today. You can learn more about Rachel’s own ministry here at scripturespeakers.com.
YouTube Recordings of Jason Nightingale’s Recitations Referenced:
fbcml. (2013, April 16). Jason Nightingale [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Icl6OIQKzY
New Hope Community Church Traverse City, MI. (2019, May 8). “Jason Nightingale Recites Gospel of Mark from Memory” 04.03.16 [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrTJ4HN7c38