Tragedy Brings Church Singer’s Message Home : Faith: A ballad recorded 11 days before Kirk Lynn died in a plane crash is touching many listeners and keeping his dream of a musical ministry alive.

PITTSBURGH —  In the months before he died in a plane crash, church singer Kirk Lynn felt compelled to share his religion with others.

His pastor called him a “winsome witness”--a devout person who was shy about spreading the word of God and story of Jesus Christ.

Lynn, 26, had been planning to devote more time to a religious music ministry when he and 131 others died in the Sept. 8 crash of USAir Flight 427 near Pittsburgh International Airport.

But death, it seems, has not stopped his calling.

A tape recording of “As We Sail to Heaven’s Shore,” a ballad Lynn sang in church 11 days before the crash, is touching the hearts of relatives of Flight 427’s passengers as well as people with no connection to the accident.

“It’s ironic that his faith and testimony in that song are reaching more people in his death than he ever could have imagined,” said the Rev. Michael Alfieri, adult ministries pastor at First Evangelical Free Church, where Lynn was head soloist.

The song tells of a journey to heaven on stormy seas, with God’s hand guiding the way. It opens, “Storms may rise on seas unknown, while we journey toward our home, surely we’ll learn what grace is for, as we sail to heaven’s shore.”

Lynn’s performance and the lyrics by Phill McHugh have moved many to tears, including dozens at a small service Monday for several passengers from rural southwestern Pennsylvania. The tape also was played in Pittsburgh four days after the crash for thousands of people at an outdoor memorial service for Flight 427 passengers.

As Lynn’s voice echoed off nearby buildings, his family and fellow churchgoers bowed their heads, just as Lynn asked them to do Aug. 28 when he sang in church.

“He wanted us to think about the song as a prayer,” said his father, Glenn Lynn of White Oak, a Pittsburgh suburb.

The song is keeping volunteers busy at First Evangelical, a Protestant church in McKeesport near Pittsburgh. The church is giving away copies of the tape to more than 1,000 people who have called and written from as far away as Colorado, Alabama and Florida.

USAir requested six dozen tapes of Lynn’s tenor voice, accompanied by his mother-in-law on piano.

Christian bookstores in the Pittsburgh area sold out of contemporary Christian singer Steve Green’s album “Find Us Faithful,” which includes another version of the song.

When Pittsburgh radio stations went silent for 15 seconds exactly one week after the crash, top 40 radio station WBZZ returned to play Lynn’s tape. Several television news reports have included the song.

Greg Nelson wrote the music. McHugh of Nashville, Tenn., said the words came to him suddenly seven years ago after he left a friend at an airport.

“I’ve traveled a lot over the years, and I’ve always felt this sense of sadness in airports,” said McHugh, 43. “There’s always a lot of hurry and excitement and people going here and there. I know it’s a cliche to say everyone’s in a hurry and should slow down, but it’s the truth.”

Glenn Lynn said his son began singing “just about before he could talk” and always worked hard with First Evangelical’s ministers to pick just the right song for Sunday services. He said his son, a computer programmer for PNC Financial Corp., had talked about beginning his own musical ministry.

He said that hearing the tape at the Pittsburgh service was “uplifting.”

“It kind of consoled us. His music always did--any time I heard him sing. Wherever he went, he ministered. And he always will,” the elder Lynn said.

The mailing address for First Evangelical Free Church is 4001 University Drive, McKeesport, Pa. 15132