The essential songs
Featured
Music
Twenty-five of Terry’s best-known songs, with the story behind each one.
© New Glory International
01
The journey begins
I Sing Praises
Many people around the world know I Sing Praises without realizing that the song was written by Terry MacAlmon. Its beginning was as unplanned as the song itself is simple. In the mid-1980s, before a Sunday evening service, Terry was sitting quietly in a prayer room, waiting on the Lord. As he turned his attention toward God, a melody and a few uncomplicated words of praise began to come. He suddenly realized he was singing something he had never sung before. He wrote it down, went into the service, and began teaching it to the congregation. Before he was even halfway through, people were already singing with him as though they had known it for years.
From the album
Live Worship from the World Prayer Center
A worship journey
Twenty-four more
stories in song
- From the albumLive Worship from the World Prayer CenterYou Deserve the GloryYou Deserve the Glory is one of the songs most closely associated with Terry MacAlmon, even though he did not write it. Written by Eva-Lena Hellmark, the song became a defining part of Terry's live worship ministry through his recording from the World Prayer Center. Its words are direct and uncomplicated: glory and honor belong to God, His name is lifted high, and there is no one like Him. That simplicity is exactly why the song works so naturally in Terry's approach to worship.Behind the song
- From the albumLive Worship from the World Prayer CenterHoly Are You LordHoly Are You Lord is one of Terry MacAlmon's most recognizable compositions because it does something that lies at the center of his worship ministry: it turns the attention of the congregation from the room they are standing in toward the worship that is already taking place around the throne of God. The song draws on the imagery of Revelation - the sound of many waters, people from every nation, elders and angels bowing, and the redeemed joining the cry of holiness.Behind the song
From the albumVisit Us: Calling Down the Father’s GloryCome Holy SpiritCome Holy Spirit grew out of the kind of hunger that shaped the entire Visit Us period of Terry MacAlmon's ministry. The worship gatherings were already marked by a strong sense of God's presence, but Terry's heart was not to preserve a familiar experience. He wanted more of God. In the live setting surrounding the song, he spoke about the sweetness of the Lord's presence and at the same time about a desire for life-transforming glory - a fresh work of the Holy Spirit that would change people rather than simply give them another beautiful worship moment.Behind the song 
From the albumYou're My GloryIn the Presence of JehovahFew songs describe the heart of Terry MacAlmon's ministry as directly as In the Presence of Jehovah. Written by Geron and Becky Davis, it places everything on one central reality: what happens when people come into the presence of the King. The song speaks of troubles losing their grip and wounded hearts being mended there. For a worship ministry built around helping people turn their attention toward God, those words are more than a theme. They are a summary of why worship matters.Behind the song 
From the albumThe Glory of His PresenceOh the Glory of Your PresenceOh the Glory of Your Presence was written by Steve Fry years before Terry MacAlmon recorded it, yet it sounds completely at home within Terry's ministry because its entire movement is toward one thing: God's presence filling His people. The song does not ask the congregation to admire a worship service from a distance. It identifies the worshippers themselves as God's temple and responds with reverence, praise and expectancy.Behind the song 
From the albumThe Sound of HeavenI Stand in Awe of YouI Stand in Awe of You brings worship to a place that Terry MacAlmon considers essential but that can easily be lost in a culture of constant noise: reverence. Written by Mark Altrogge, the song begins by trying to describe the indescribable beauty, wisdom, love and majesty of God. Then it reaches the only adequate response - awe.Behind the song - From the albumLive Worship from the World Prayer CenterBlessing and HonorBlessing and Honor carries the language of the throne room into a simple congregational declaration. Terry MacAlmon wrote the song around words that echo the worship of Revelation: blessing, honor, glory, power, riches, wisdom and strength are directed to the One who is worthy. The song does not tell a story about the worshipper. It deliberately removes the worshipper from the center.Behind the song
- From the albumThe Glory of His PresenceI Came to Worship YouI Came to Worship You is almost a statement of purpose set to music. Terry MacAlmon wrote it with the kind of direct language that has become one of the hallmarks of his ministry. There is no long introduction explaining why the worshipper has come. The song simply makes the decision: I came to worship, to sing praise, to love the Lord and to lift His name.Behind the song
From the albumI Came to Worship YouHeal MeHeal Me is one of Terry MacAlmon's most personal prayers in song, yet its strength lies in how easily another person can make the prayer their own. The words are brief: a request for a fresh touch from the Lord and for the fullness of His life to be restored. There is no attempt to explain the wound, diagnose the problem or dictate how God must answer. The worshipper simply comes to Him.Behind the song 
From the albumFor the BrideJesus, Name Above All NamesJesus, Name Above All Names was written by Naida Hearn in the 1970s, long before Terry MacAlmon began including it in his own worship ministry. Its endurance helps explain why Terry is drawn to it. In only a few lines, the song names Jesus as Savior, Lord, Emmanuel, Redeemer and the Living Word. There is no musical or lyrical clutter. Jesus Himself is the subject.Behind the song - From the albumFor the BrideI Just Want to Praise YouI Just Want to Praise You, written by Arthur Tannous, is built around one uncomplicated desire: to praise God, lift the hands, express love and exalt His name. That directness is exactly what has made the song valuable in Terry MacAlmon's worship ministry. It does not require a complicated explanation before a congregation can enter in. The song says what the heart wants to do and invites the whole room to do it together.Behind the song
- From the albumVisit Us: Calling Down the Father’s GloryI Hear HimI Hear Him belongs to one of the most expectant chapters in Terry MacAlmon's recording ministry. Visit Us - Calling Down the Father's Glory was shaped by a cry for more than "church as usual." The album carried the longing of worshippers who wanted a fresh visitation of God, and I Hear Him gives that longing a voice of anticipation.Behind the song
- From the albumLive Worship from the World Prayer CenterThis Is the TimeThis Is the Time opens Terry MacAlmon's first major World Prayer Center live album with a clear call: true worshippers are being summoned to worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The language reaches directly toward Jesus' words in John 4 and gives the song the feeling of a declaration over a season, not merely an opening number on an album.Behind the song
- From the albumI Came to Worship YouI Love YouOn paper, I Love You could hardly be simpler. The song moves through a few basic expressions - love, thanks, praise and the confession that the Lord is worthy. Yet that simplicity is precisely what gives the song its place in Terry MacAlmon's worship ministry. It does not try to impress the mind with new ideas. It gives the heart room to say the most important things again and again until they become personal.Behind the song
- From the albumThe Sound of HeavenMy God and KingMy God and King, co-written by Terry MacAlmon and Shauna Chanda, is one of the most intimate songs on The Sound of Heaven. Rather than beginning with the grandeur of heavenly worship, it begins with personal focus: God is the One Terry wants to sing to, the face he wants to seek, the One he wants to see with undivided eyes. Even when the song acknowledges the storms of life, its direction does not change. The worshipper remains under God's covering and continues to bring Him a song of love.Behind the song
- From the albumThe Glory of His PresenceYou're My GloryYou're My Glory became so important to Terry MacAlmon that he chose it as the title of the album captured during the 2004 Pikes Peak Worship Festival. His reason was personal and simple: he was deeply moved by the Lord being the constant of his life. No matter what comes, Terry said, there is One who is the lifter of his head.Behind the song
- From the albumLive Worship from the World Prayer CenterEven SoEven So reaches beyond the immediate experience of worship and gives voice to the great longing of the Bride of Christ: "Come, Lord Jesus." Terry MacAlmon has identified the song among the compositions that followed I Sing Praises in his earlier songwriting years, and its theme reveals another side of his worship. The presence of God is precious now, but every present encounter points toward the day when faith becomes sight.Behind the song
- From the albumLive Worship from the World Prayer CenterFor the Lord Is HolyFor the Lord Is Holy is one of Terry MacAlmon's clearest examples of how a very small number of words can carry a worshipper a long way. The song rests on four descriptions of the Lord: holy, worthy, lovely and the lover of the soul. Repeated together, those words hold two dimensions of worship in the same place. God is utterly holy and worthy of reverence, yet He is also near, beautiful and personally loved.Behind the song
- From the albumThe Sound of HeavenFor the Lord Is GoodFor the Lord Is Good begins where biblical worship so often begins: with the character of God. The declaration that the Lord is good and that His love endures forever runs like a refrain through the Psalms and through Israel's worship. Terry MacAlmon shaped that timeless truth into a congregational song that became important enough to give its name to an entire evening of worship at the World Prayer Center.Behind the song
- From the albumThe Glory of His PresenceHow We Need the RiverHow We Need the River gives voice to spiritual thirst. Terry MacAlmon has named it among the songs that followed I Sing Praises in his earlier years of songwriting, and the imagery has remained deeply connected to his ministry ever since. The worshipper is pictured as dry and thirsty, longing for living water, renewal and the life of God.Behind the song
- From the albumThe Sound of HeavenThe Lamb Is WorthyThe Lamb Is Worthy goes straight to the center of heavenly worship: Jesus, the Lamb. Terry MacAlmon wrote the song with deliberately uncomplicated language, declaring that the Lamb is worthy of praise, glory, honor and adoration. The imagery belongs naturally beside Revelation 5, where heaven's worship gathers around the Lamb who was slain and is worthy to receive honor.Behind the song
- From the albumThe Sound of HeavenSo BeautifulSo Beautiful brings together two sounds that fascinate Terry MacAlmon: the worship of heaven and the worship of the redeemed on earth. The song hears the angels declaring the worth of the Lamb and then hears the redeemed adding their own praise. Both streams meet in one response: the Lamb is beautiful, holy and worthy of hallelujah.Behind the song
- From the albumYou're My GloryPraise HimPraise Him, written by Lynn DeShazo, sounds almost like a description of the kind of worship gathering Terry MacAlmon has always wanted to lead. The people have assembled to praise the One they love. They join the chorus of heaven, come before the throne of grace, seek the Father's face, listen for His voice and rejoice together. The congregation is not an audience in that picture. It is the worshipping body.Behind the song
- From the albumThe Sound of HeavenDwelling PlacesDwelling Places, written by Miriam Webster, closes this collection with a theme that could also summarize Terry MacAlmon's ministry: hunger for God Himself. The song carries the language of Psalm 84 - longing for God's dwelling place, thirsting after Him, finding joy and reward in Jesus, and responding with wholehearted love.Behind the song
Official archive