This song came about in a very special way. I was writing and gathering song ideas for my new album, Inescapable Love when Sarah Hart, a friend and truly AMAZING songwriter sent me a few pages of lyrics. Among those pages were the words for Many and One. She and another writer, one that I truly admire, Dwight Lyles had worked on this song for a while but nothing really stuck so they decided to surrender it to someone else to work on...What a great thing for me!

It took all but 5 minutes to write the music for this song…it doesn’t usually go that way for me...but, I just fell in love with what the words had to say. It's what I feel in Mass when I am sharing the Eucharist with my brothers and sisters in Christ. Knowing that all over the world, others are sharing in the very same meal. We are truly united in Christ.

I also pictured World Youth Day in my mind and I remembered the feeling of singing a song or praying the Our Father with a million people in 100 different languages. A song takes on a life of it's own when everyone sings it and I did choose to write the music in the style of an anthem. As I was writing, I tried to imagine a giant crowd of people in a field holding candles!

I had the opportunity to emcee the NCYC in Kansas City this year. Before every keynote speaker I just wanted to sing or pray something that would bring us all together and bring the right spirit to the moment. The song "Many and One" came to my mind and as the week went on, it did indeed become our anthem! There was no more beautiful sound for me than 22,000 teenagers singing this song at the top of their lungs.

But, the most special moment for me was when we sang it during the closing Mass. My friend Danielle Rose always says, I’ll see you in the Eucharist! Which is her way of expressing how, when we gather around the altar, we are truly one with all who are doing so! It was awesome to sing the words of this song at a liturgy of 22,000!

There are several, "Many and One" video clips on youtube that really capture the spirit of the song. It seemed to be a favorite moment during the conference. Isn't that what we all love...not simply listening to some guy sing a great song...but, it makes it our own... when we all sing (at the top of our lungs!) together...as one Body of Christ! That is what makes this song a favorite for me.