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.

That moment became one of the clearest examples of Terry's understanding of worship songwriting. He has often said that his strongest songs do not begin with a plan to write a song. They come while waiting in God's presence. In his words, God is really the songwriter; his task is to keep pen and paper ready. I Sing Praises was published by Integrity Music in 1989 and spread far beyond the congregation where it was first sung. It entered hymnals, churches and languages around the world.

For Terry, its lasting importance is not its reach but its origin. The song was born as worship before it ever became music for other people. Decades later, that remains the heart of it: a simple invitation for every believer to turn from everything else and give praise and glory to the name of the Lord.