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   Take away his Grammy Awards and his American Music Award. Take away the 34 bronze Dove Award statuettes that pepper his Franklin, Tenn., office, including the one for Artist of the Year, Christian music’s highest honor. Wipe clean the slate tallying sales exceeding 9 million units—Michael W. Smith knows these honors are fleeting. Today, Michael still finds his greatest satisfaction leading church worship, a role he’s filled for more than two decades.

   Worship Again, which released Oct. 22, captures the veteran artist’s latest achievement in leading authentic worship. Like its predecessor Worship, a project experienced by more than one million people since its release last year, this new, live collection of modern praise & worship songs reflects Michael W. Smith’s influential gifting as a worship leader.

    A writer of great contemporary hymns like "Great Is the Lord," "How Majestic Is Your Name" and "Thy Word," Michael champions community-based worship experiences and within that, music’s powerful role. Last year, before 10,000 participants in Lakeland, Fla., and through a well-received 11-city "Songs 4 Worship" tour, he called Christians to experience God intimately and to pour out their lives to Him.

    The event highlighted on Worship Again occurred July 19, 2002 in Louisville, Kentucky. More than 11,000 people participated in the two-hour worship experience led by Smith’s 14-member band and vocal worship team. Louisville’s Southeast Christian Church hosted the free event.

     "It was an electric night," says the Rev. Dave Stone, an associate pastor of preaching at Southeast. "I have a sense people walk away from an event like this one saying, ‘I appreciate Michael W. Smith because he helps me to love Christ more.’ "   

     That’s certainly Michael’s intention.

     "I hope these songs will so change people that they find themselves wanting to serve God more, to pour out their lives for God into the lives of others," says Smith.

   Best known as a pop singer and songwriter, Michael derives deep satisfaction from his less-publicized contributions to church music. "This is what I was made for!" Smith says enthusiastically. "This is not a stretch for me."

     Worship Again is Smitty’s 16th album, but only his second all praise & worship CD. "One of the highlights of my career has been getting the feedback about how God has used songs from the Worship project in peoples’ lives," he says. Again and again, Michael encountered people "who were ready to worship, to experience God in a new and fresh way." That’s when the idea of another worship record emerged.

    "I was only open to doing a second worship record if I could find songs that I thought could impact people in the same way the first album did. I’m happy to say, I believe these songs fulfill that requirement," says Smith, who also produced Worship Again. "We found some wonderful songs that express how the church feels about our Father," songs with a timeless quality, words that captivate worshipers’ hearts.

     Inspiring, modern worship songs, gathered "from all over the place," Michael says, make up the 14-track project. From the Celtic musical traditions of "Ancient Words" and "Lord Have Mercy" to moving modern favorites such as Rich Mullins’ "I See You" and "I Give You My Heart," the musical landscape of Worship Again is dramatically colored by violin, pennywhistle and Uillieann pipes. David Hamilton, who arranged Michael’s instrumental Freedom record and served as the musical director for the Worship recording, returns for this project.

      Worship Again contains two new songs. "Forever We Will Sing" compliments "Step By Step," made popular by Rich Mullins. "I Can Hear Your Voice," inspired by Zechariah, emerged from the collaborative efforts of Michael, his wife, Debbie, and their daughter, Whitney.

     "The great thing about all the songs on the record is that I think people will hear them and go, ‘That’s exactly what I wanted to say. That writer wrote a song that articulates what I wanted to say to the Lord,’" says Smith.

    Three exclusive studio tracks compliment Worship Again’s live material including "Here I Am To Worship," a moving song capturing the spirit of why Michael W. Smith recorded Worship and Worship Again.  Smith partners with Grammy Award-winner and old friend Amy Grant, after an extended hiatus from their early days as musical collaborators, on a bonus version of "Lord Have Mercy" while the final track is the patriotic new anthem "There She Stands."

     Released to both Christian and mainstream radio, and incorporated by numerous radio and TV shows to remember Sept. 11, the song considers the American flag and what that symbol means to Americans: "When evil calls itself a martyr/When all your hopes come crashing down/Someone will pull her from the rubble/There she stands."

      After having been invited to the White House for a performance, Smith felt challenged to write about America’s Sept. 11 heroes. At his farm one day, Michael was struck by the sight of the large American flag that flies over his land. "That moment took my breath away. I completely lost it. Right away, I went into the studio and wrote this piece of music in five minutes." For the lyrics, he collaborated with Wes King, who co-wrote "This is Your Time" with him. "I explained to Wes the song had to be called ‘There She Stands’ and that it had to be about the American flag and people who have laid down their life for it. It does pertain to 9/11 to a certain extent, but it’s more than that: It’s about our great country."

     Smith’s knack in fashioning compelling music as a common language connecting listeners to God makes him one of the most influential figures in Christian music. Worship Again exceeds his previous efforts and affirms his gift for leading Christians into an intimate experience of their faith.

     "I hope that people will have a whole new experience of worship with this record," says Michael. "We are all made for worshiping God, so I hope that it draws people deeper into their relationship with the Lord and that it changes them. I hope it causes people to die to themselves, to forget about their agenda and get on God’s agenda. That’s what the Christian life is all about."

     His “Come Together and Worship Tour” with Third Day and Max Lucado came to Atlanta in a sold out concert on Nov. 1 at Philips Arena.