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This hymn was written in 1828 by Charlotte Elliott. It later became the invitation song sung at almost every Billy Graham Crusade for many decades. Literally hundreds of thousands of people responded to the gospel amidst the singing of this great hymn.

Every time I lead this hymn at my church the congregation seems to instantly join in, and we can sense a genuine, empowering move of the Spirit. What a blessing it is to sing to the living God who revives and refreshes us along our journey.

How fitting it is that we have the privilege of releasing this great hymn on GOOD FRIDAY! I pray we can all let Romans 5:8 sink in “that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us!” Not - while we were showing our best behavior, or while we were feeling good about ourselves.

I've known this song my whole life and as every decade has passed we have always said, "now, more than ever before we need to show the world our unity and love!"

I was vacuuming my house and suddenly I started singing the first four bars of this hymn with this new melody. I told myself, don't change the melody of this beautiful hymn... but it just kept coming. […]

This song is based on the last words of Nokseng, a man from the Garo tribe of Assam in the late 1800’s. He and his family were threatened by their chief to deny their new faith in Jesus or face death. Nokseng replied with, “I have decided to follow Jesus.”

To quote Eileen Guenther [Professor of Church Music at Wesley Theological Seminary] “Spirituals affirm a complete trust in God to make right in the next world what was done wrong in this world.” She also describes Spirituals as a powerful and beautiful music form which communicates both sorrow and hope.