Songfacts®:

• Russ Taff first gained recognition as lead vocalist for The Imperials in the late '70s and early '80s. He was a member of the Gaither Vocal Band between 2001-2004 and occasionally tours with Bill Gaither in the Gaither Homecoming concerts. As a solo artist and songwriter, Taff is best known for this anthem.
• Taff recalled in CCM Magazine presents 100 Greatest Songs In Christian Music how he was sat on the living room floor of the apartment he shared with his wife, Tori, trying to come up with a song for his first solo album. "I was thinking about this story. I had heard from a guy named Archie Dennis," he recalled. "He was a singer that travelled with the evangelist Kathryn Kulhman. He was a black man, and he had this huge voice like an opera singer. When he sang, you couldn't tell what color he was; I guess on the radio most people thought it was white."
  
  "He told about being invited to Alabama in the early 60s to sing at this big church," Taff continued. "It was Sunday morning, and when he got there early to set up his little sound system, the pastor walked in and asked who he was. When Archie told him he was the guest singer, the pastor said, 'This is not going to work. This is Alabama, and there's just no way this can happen. You are not going to be able to sing this morning.'"
  
  "So Archie started packing up his equipment, tears running down his face," Taff said. "He walked out to the steps of the church on his way to his car and almost collapsed, crying, saying, 'God, You know we are all brothers and sisters in Christ – why won't they let me in?' And he said he felt a voice say back to him, 'They won't let Me in either.'"
  
  As Taff pondered on this story, a topic of looking beyond our differences and finding unity in Christ began to form in his mind. "By about 4 o'clock in the morning, I had the chorus, "he said. "I went upstairs and woke up Tori to sing it to her, and next day we finished the verses."
• Taff recorded the song for his Walls of Glass album. The following year he won the 1983 Grammy for Best Male Gospel Performance for the LP.