Michael W. Smith's Worship was released on September 11, 2001. Twenty-five years later, its date remains impossible to separate from the tragedy that unfolded that morning. But the album's story reaches beyond its release day: a live recording built around songs already familiar to many churches became Smith's bestselling album and a defining record of modern worship. How did a collection of congregational songs make that leap?
Recorded at Carpenter's Home Church in Lakeland, Florida, Worship placed Smith in the role of worship leader. The album moves from the praise of "Forever" and "Open the Eyes of My Heart" to the intimacy of "Draw Me Close" and "Breathe." It also includes "The Heart of Worship," "Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus," "Let It Rain" and "Awesome God." The voices around Smith matter as much as the songs: the live setting gives the record the sound of a gathered congregation.
Smith did not write most of that repertoire. Chris Tomlin wrote "Forever," Matt Redman wrote "The Heart of Worship," and Paul Baloche wrote "Open the Eyes of My Heart" and co-wrote "Above All" with Lenny LeBlanc. Smith's own "Agnus Dei" sits among them. That is part of the album's legacy: Worship gave widely sung songs a new recording and a prominent voice, while allowing their writers' work to remain at its center.
Its reach was measurable. Worship debuted at No. 20 on the Billboard 200, placing a live Christian worship album among the nation's bestselling releases. It later received double-platinum certification from the RIAA, representing more than two million units under the certification standard reported at the time. Smith's team has described it as his bestselling album. Those figures show the scale of the record's success; they cannot, by themselves, explain why people kept returning to it.
The September 11 connection calls for particular care. Worship was recorded before the attacks, and its release date was already set. Smith later reflected that he had seen the songs used in ways he could never have imagined. His account speaks to what the music came to mean to listeners without turning the album into a response composed after the tragedy.
In 2021, Smith returned to the record for its 20th anniversary, announcing Worship Forever, a live reimagining with a symphony orchestra and guests including Amy Grant and Matt Redman. Revisiting the album from beginning to end raised the question its 25th anniversary poses again: when people remember Worship, are they remembering Smith's performance, the songs they carried into church, or the day the album arrived? Its endurance suggests that all three have become part of its history.
