Welcome to Songs of Praise

A Songwriting Collaboration Site

This site was originally created by Elton Smith and Gilberto Barreto in 1996. It has changed a lot over the years as contributions from people around the world were added. There are 534 songs in 19 languages, 4 musicals and 783 images on this site. Everything is freely available for non-profit use. Many of our songs are registered with CCLI and reporting church use of our songs helps keep this site running. CCLI membership is not required to use the songs.

If you have written a song you would like people to hear on this site, contact me. In the past, people have sent songs, translations, musicals, recordings, artwork and a lot of encouragement. I look forward to hearing from you. - Elton Smith.

Songs

I Called You By Name

I Called You By Name

Elton Smith wrote the music and Larry Holder wrote the lyrics. Rizyn recorded the vocals and sent videos of them singing our song under the trees. Elton mixed the recording and video.

Into Your Hands

Into Your Hands

Rich Buquet in Texas wrote this song and it was performed by the church praise band. We sang this moving song many times in church. The video uses the theme of a potter molding clay.

Adoration

Adoration

Rick Founds wrote the great lyrics. Rhesa Siregar wrote the music. Paul and Elton wrote the melody. Be sure and hear the studio recording by Paul's group Azimuth. In the adoration of the living God Most High!

Come Fill My Heart

Come Fill My Heart

Elton, Larry and Steve wrote this song for the play we were working on. The image is a reimagining of the painting Lena Kittrell sent for the play of a butterfly emerging from a cocoon. Tina Arseneau sang the song at the suggestion of her friend Dan Zigler.

AllILongFor

All I Long For

Larry shared a poem he had written, which eventually became the chorus. The musical style is somewhat enigmatic, but maybe it's from the Scottish highlands. Elton used paintings by his grandmother to make the video. The recording was a collaborative effort.

Musicals

Dan Zigler was the driving force in creating the first 3 musicals. He liked the songs and wanted to write plays featuring them. It was a labor of love. You can see photos from the presentation of the first two musicals.

The Perfect Gift

The Perfect Gift

A Christmas musical with scenes from the birth of Jesus. Written by Dan Zigler and Elton Smith. Contains 8 songs from this site. Pictures from 3 churches. Available in English, Portuguese and Spanish.

Resurrection Song

Resurrection Song

An Easter musical by Russell Adams, Larry Holder, Steve Israel, Joe Medrek, Rhesa Siregar, Elton Smith and Dan Zigler. Pictures from 4 churches. Available in English and Portuguese.

Come Fill My Heart

Come Fill My Heart

Written by Dan Zigler and Elton Smith. A story about a young woman's escape from prostitution. The theme song is sung beautifully by Tina Arseneau.

God Cares For You

God Cares For You

A Musical by Larry Holder for young voices based on the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5 and 6). The play and songs are on Larry's website.

Images

This started off as a display of interesting vacation pictures, but with AI image generation it has become more useful. I have been using SDXL to create song videos and am in the process of creating an image depicting each song (see examples in the song section above). I will make large versions of these available. Here are some examples from the AI Art category and a list of topics available.

People walking toward the sunrise Roman refugees waiting on the dock Jesus in the clouds Roman Christians worshiping in catacombs