What "There Was Jesus" means
"There Was Jesus" is a song of cumulative testimony, cataloging the difficult, ordinary, and desperate moments of a life and placing the presence of Jesus at the center of every one of them. Zach Williams is a Grammy-winning Christian artist known for a Southern rock sensibility and an honest, unpolished approach to faith that resonates with listeners who find themselves outside the typical worship music demographic. The song is typically led in C for male voices at 72 BPM, a slow, deliberate pace that allows each verse's story to land before the chorus arrives. The scriptural spine runs through Hebrews 13:5 and Deuteronomy 31:8, both of which make the same essential claim: God does not leave or forsake. The song is a sung version of that declaration, tested against real circumstances and found true.
What this song does in a room
There is a specific kind of person in your congregation who stopped believing that God shows up in ordinary life somewhere between confirmation class and their first difficult decade. This song is for that person. The lyrical strategy of stacking moment after moment, valley after valley, and placing Jesus in each one, is a form of spiritual archaeology. It invites the listener to do the same work: to go back through their own timeline and look for where He was. That is a different experience than a doctrinal statement about God's omnipresence. It is personal and cumulative, and by the time the chorus comes around a fourth time, some people are not singing because they are crying, which means the song has done something a sermon cannot always do. It has made a theological claim feel true, not just sound true.
What this song is saying about God
The theological claim is specific and personal: Jesus was present not only in glory moments but in the dark ones. In the middle of the night, in the hardest year, when nobody else knew what was happening, He was there. This is not a generic affirmation of divine omnipresence. It is a confessional statement that God's presence is not conditional on the quality of the moment or the strength of the worshiper's faith at the time. The God this song describes is not a Sunday morning God who shows up when the production is high and retreats when the lights go down. He is the God of the kitchen table at 2 a.m. and the parking lot argument and the hospital waiting room. That kind of omnipresence is different from the philosophical kind because it is personal, tethered to real moments in real lives, and the song knows the difference. It is not making a systematic theology argument. It is telling a story and inviting the congregation to recognize their own story inside it.
Scriptural backbone
Hebrews 13:5 quotes God directly: "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." Deuteronomy 31:8 extends that promise through Moses to the next generation: "The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged." Those are not comfort words offered to people who are comfortable. They were spoken to people about to cross into an uncertain future. The song belongs in that same tradition of God speaking presence into circumstances that feel like absence, and leading it well means carrying that historical weight into the room.
How to use it in a service
This song works in a wide range of service contexts: testimony Sundays, seasons of congregational hardship, series on the character of God, or any set where the worship leader wants to move the congregation from declaration toward personal reflection. It also works well in a Good Friday or Lenten service where the theme of God's presence in suffering is central. Avoid using it as a high-energy opener; the song earns its impact through accumulation and requires the congregation to arrive at it rather than be launched into it. A brief spoken introduction can help: invite the congregation to think of one specific hard season as they sing, and then let the song name the presence they may not have recognized at the time. That framing can transform the experience from a music moment into an encounter.
Things to watch for as the worship leader
The 72 BPM is slower than most worship leaders are comfortable with, and the impulse to push the tempo will be real. Resist it. The slowness is where the song's emotional weight lives. Watch also the key of C: it is comfortable for most male voices in the verses but the chorus reaches upward, and unprepared vocalists can push sharp on the top notes when they are also carrying the emotional weight of what they are singing. Rehearse the chorus at a dynamic level below full voice first so your team learns where the ceiling is before Sunday. The lyrical content of this song also means you will occasionally see significant emotional responses in the congregation. Know ahead of time that you do not need to manage those moments. Hold the space, keep the tempo steady, and let the song finish.
A note for the team behind you (techs, vocalists, band)
The original recording leans into a Southern rock character, but for congregational leading, a simpler arrangement works better. Acoustic guitar as the primary voice, with piano filling the harmonic middle. If you use electric guitar, keep it clean or slightly warm with no heavy distortion. Drums should keep a steady, understated groove at 72 BPM; a straight kick-snare pattern with minimal fills lets the lyric carry the weight. FOH, the vocal needs to be front and present in the mix above everything else. Background vocalists can add unison or close harmony on the chorus to lift the congregation without overwhelming the lead voice. Lighting that shifts slightly brighter on each successive chorus, building through the song, mirrors the cumulative testimony structure and gives the visual team something intentional to work with. A click track at exactly 72 BPM is essential for the drummer; this song cannot afford to creep faster across the service.