@CCLI
The Amazing Grace Challenge

What is the most popular, most influential, most recorded song of all time?
You might be shocked to hear what the Internet says is the answer! As I was recently prepping for my old radio show, I did a quick trivia search for the “Most Recorded Song.” I thought for sure it would logically be “Amazing Grace.” After all, it’s been sung around the world in every major language now for 250 years. It helped in the fight to condemn and make slavery illegal! It’s been a universal rally cry against injustice and remains an anthem for freedom, forgiveness, and faith to this very day!
But apparently (according to the internet) a group of George Gershwin fans collected 67,591 recordings of the 1930s song “Summertime.” They then went to the Guinness Book of World Records and claimed it as the “Most Recorded Song.” Yep, SHOCK & BEWILDERED is the same puzzled look everyone has when they hear this.
Those numbers just don’t seem to add up compared to the multitude of artists, performers, and churches globally that have been recording “Amazing Grace” for nearly a century. In fact, if just 1 in every 1,000 churches around the world sang and recorded Amazing Grace on any given Sunday… it would topple the currently claimed record in just 1 day. This became my crazy, outlandish, “un-believable” goal to assemble a world wide band of believers to break this record in just 1 day!
Unfortunately, when I applied to challenge and break the Guinness Book “Most Recorded Song” record, the Guinness people said: “It will not be possible for us to accept an application for ‘Most recorded song’ under any circumstances. This is an Editorial / ‘fact’ record – one which is updated through research and feedback from external consultants – rather than a record which can be actively challenged for. You are welcome to go-ahead with the event as originally planned, and our researchers may at some point recognize it as a record if they can verify the achievement”.
I’ve heard “will not be possible” my whole life having been born with one arm. That seems like a challenge… and the beginning of every great and epic story!

That story just got 10 times better when I contacted CCLI. Their amazing team did some preliminary research and we were all astounded at the “irony” of the results. Their website had over 675,000 downloads of Amazing Grace lyrics/charts from the CCLI site alone in just the last 10 years. That’s almost exactly 10 times the current Guinness Record we’re aiming to break.
So to celebrate the 250th Anniversary of “Amazing Grace”, let’s help it receive it’s rightful place in history! The question is, can the church pull off this seemingly “impossible” goal in just 1 day?
Imagine if musicians, bands, choirs, churches, and singers combined their efforts globally to share and show the same “Amazing Grace” that this song so powerfully illustrates? With so much division in the headlines, this has the potential of sparking one of the most positive and unifying events of this generation… as the world sees God’s Church/His children all working together!
So let’s be a testimony to the world outside our walls… and do the “impossible” together! Put it on your calendar now for Sunday, November 12th, 2023.
Upload your video of Amazing Grace to just ONE of these platforms:
– YouTube (BEST option) #AmazingGraceChallenge typed in the end of your title.
– TikTok (Only a “post” on a “public” account.)
– Facebook (Public video or Reel that doesn’t expire… posted to a “public” page.)
– Instagram (Public Reel that doesn’t expire… posted to a “public” page.)
– Twitter/X (Public video on a “public” account.)
Simply add this hashtag to your post: #AmazingGraceChallenge. Then share it with your video performance of at least 1 verse of Amazing Grace on Sunday, November 12, 2023.
You can post as many different versions or styles as you like among your teams/soloists. Maybe make a friendly challenge to other ministries to do as many… or more than yours. Or make an even bigger boost by sharing the challenge with your church… “How would you like to be part of setting a world record today?” Invite them to pull out their phones during the service. Sing Amazing Grace all together as they point their camera at themselves and record/post their own unique version with the #AmazingGraceChallenge hashtag.
Go to AmazingGraceChallenge.com to keep updated with the latest news and best ideas to all conquer this challenge together.
This will take a mighty and unified effort… but The God of “Amazing Grace” specializes in both!!!
For more details go to: AmazingGraceChallenge.com

Ephesians 3:20 “Now to Him who is able to do abundantly, exceedingly, immeasurably more than we could ask or imagine”.

About Greg Otterholt
Greg Otterholt is the founder of Hook and Pan Productions and is also a singer, songwriter, broadcaster, producer, & inspirational speaker & performer.