Here I Am to Worship Tim Hughes, 2001

Tim Hughes began writing Here I Am to Worship in 1999, when he was 25 and still in college in England. He told Crosswalk that Philippians 2:5 came to him first as he played guitar, and that his main motivation was a response to Jesus giving up his throne in heaven. He disliked his first chorus, so he recorded the verse on a Dictaphone and later paired it with another melody.

Sources disagree on how long the song took. Crosswalk says about nine months. Wikipedia says Hughes set it aside for about six months and then finished it. His pastor at Soul Survivor, Mike Pilavachi, encouraged him to lead it in worship. Hughes released it on 24 December 2001 as the title track of his first album. The copyright notice is dated 2000.

The song spread through congregational singing. Hughes described a conference in San Diego where the crowd kept singing the chorus for about 15 minutes after the band stopped. Michael W. Smith and Chris Tomlin both recorded it in 2002, and Hillsong, Rebecca St. James, Jeremy Camp and Lincoln Brewster followed. Wikipedia reports it ranked first on CCLI's list two years in a row. Hughes has said no one was more surprised than he was at how God has used it.