Image from INO Records and Word Entertainment

Click here for complete lyrics.

The son of Christian bookstore owners, singer/songwriter Chris Rice grew up understanding the urgency of spreading the gospel message. His heart for outreach began at a young age when he became an itinerant youth pastor, playing nationwide at conferences and camps.

In 1994, inspired by Jesus' words in Matthew 5:14-16—"let your light shine before men"—Rice sat down and wrote the song "Go Light Your World."

Kathy Troccoli knew she wanted to sing the song as soon as she heard it. "Every so often, a song comes along that has an anointing beyond any lyric or melody. I knew it was that kind of song," Troccoli remembers. She recorded the tune (also known as "The Candle Song") for her 1995 album, Sounds of Heaven, and it quickly became a hit on Christian radio.

The song, nominated for two Dove Awards, fanned into flame a desire to evangelize the world. It was used as the theme song for the National Day of Prayer and other ministries. It also introduced radio listeners to Rice's skill as a lyricist, while giving Troccoli a signature song that would alter the direction of her life.

Inspired by the song's charge to reach out to the world's lost and hurting people, Troccoli has since gone out into the world, sharing God's love with 250,000 people a year in prisons and at women's conferences in Italy, Germany, Spain, and throughout the U.S. Most recently she has traveled with James and Betty Robison of Life Outreach International to Africa and India.

While in Bombay, Troccoli spent several days ministering in the slums of the city. As the Robisons' tv crew documented the horrific conditions that exist for hundreds of thousands of India's children, Troccoli understood for the first time why Mother Teresa wanted to help them.

"To see the condition that these little ones are living in is devastating," says Troccoli, who found herself weeping continually during the trip. She was humbled by a child who wiped her eyes with his sweater, and by two children who gave her one of their two cookies and split the remaining one.

"My eyes have seen, and my heart now has responsibility," she says. "May we all light our candles and stun the world with the brightness of the flame!"

Words and music by Chris Rice, © 1993 BMG Songs, Inc., ascap. Linda Owen is a writer based in San Antonio, Texas.

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