feat. The Heartfelt Digital Ensemble
The Story Behind “Every Heart”
This song began in 1993 during a college course on the book of Acts. It started as a project for a class assignment and was first performed with friends, then years later was refined with deeper theological understanding.
Fittingly for a song born in that Acts course, it opens with the martyrdom of Stephen — facing the angry crowd and the stones, yet crying out, “Lord, don’t hold this against them.” From that picture of grace the song turns to its central conviction: that “every heart has a God-shaped void that only He can fill.” And His will is no enigma to search out to the ends of the earth, nor something reserved for “another country, another time.” It is plain and near — to listen to His word and do His will, which is simply to believe His Son and to love someone as you love yourself. “Start reaching every heart,” the chorus urges, “right where you are.”
Lyrics
Stephen looked at the angry crowd
And the stones in their hands seemed to cry out loud
Curses and accusations at an innocent man
They said, "He's guilty of blasphemy"
But the Freedmen, they were just too blind to see
That they were prisoners to dark and hateful plans
But Stephen stood his ground
And looked into the clouds
And as the stones were thrown
He cried, "Lord, don't hold this against them"
Every heart
Has a God-shaped void that only He can fill
But this is where you start
Listenin' to His word, and doin' His will
To believe His son and to love someone as you love yourself
Start reachin' every heart right where you are
Well, the church has grown in the course of time
But after two thousand years, it's still hard to find
A shining light that won't dim when the hard wind blows
Some of us live in tomorrow
Thinkin' one day we'll be an example
In another country, another time then we'll do fine
But in the here and now
We live the same old way somehow
And it's no wonder it's taken so long to get this far
Every heart
Has a God-shaped void that only He can fill
But this is where you start
Listenin' to His word, and doin' His will
To believe His son and to love someone as you love yourself
Start reachin' every heart right where you are
Every heart
Where you start
To believe His son and to love someone
As you love yourself (love yourself)
Start reachin' every heart right where you are
