Once there was an old time preacher
Who had a church on the outskirts of town
You'd never call Him a mild-mannered teacher
He was a shouter right down to the ground
He had a red-letter King James Bible
It opened up to John 3: 16
I first heard him at a summer revival
He rolled up his sleeves and he started to sing
He said, you must confess your sins
He said, you must be born again
He preached Jesus, crucified and risen from the dead
He said, you gotta make it right
He said, you need to come tonight
The spirit moved stronger with every single passage he read
I got saved when I heard what he said
He said! He said!
Well I'm a member of that little church now
But the preacher died a long time ago
He was preaching on the street when God called him
Now he's a shouting up in heaven I know
We're still moving in the right direction
And we're following the way that he led
We've got that old-time preacher's conviction
And I still remember just what he said, what he said
He said, you must confess your sins
He said, you must be born again
He preached Jesus, crucified and risen from the dead
He said, you gotta make it right
He said, you need to come tonight
The spirit moved stronger with every single passage he read
I got saved when I heard what that old-time, hell-fire, brimstone preacher said
I got saved when I heard what he said, he said