Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Introducing: Chris Tomlin

For nearly a decade, Chris Tomlin has been providing the soundtrack for Sunday morning worship services around the world.

His latest piece, "Our God," joins a vast collection of worship music including “Forever,” “Famous One,” “How Great is Our God,” “Indescribable” and “Sing, Sing, Sing” that have connected with audiences of all ages. His songs have been sung in many other languages—a fact that still even surprises Chris because all he’s ever been interested in is “having a shared experience of coming before God and worshipping Him.”

A Texas native, Chris’ music of choice while growing up was country. But when Chris’ father gave him his first guitar when he was sick with mono, it soon wasn’t just honky-tonk he was playing. By age 14, Chris had written his first worship song.

But pursuing music for a living wasn’t exactly Chris’s go-to life plan once he graduated from high school. Confident that God had a plan in mind for his life, but still not really sure what that was specifically, Chris enrolled in college thinking he’d ultimately pursue a career in physical therapy.

Of course, God had other plans for Chris.

After earning a degree in psychology, Chris became friends with Louis Giglio, founder of Passion, designed to create an awakening on college campuses. Responding to Giglio’s invitation to be part of the first Passion worship event, a landmark gathering of thousands of college students in Austin, Texas, Chris eventually found his life’s calling in leading worship.

In addition to writing and recording his own praise songs, Chris has continued to be part of the Passion movement ever since that first event in 1997, not to mention its now one-year-old church plant, Passion City Church, in Atlanta.

As fulfilling as it’s been for Chris to lead audiences in worship, simply serving as just another worship artist hasn’t been enough. Chris has always been passionate about helping worship leaders thrive in their respective churches.

So at the end of 2006, Chris launched on an online resource called Frequency. Describing the site as “a place to serve God and His people in worship,” he later partnered with Larry Tardy and expanded the effort. Now known as Frequency Worship, the webpage includes chord charts for popular worship songs, instructional videos and message boards for worship leaders to connect with—and learn from—each other.

While touring with TobyMac on the current “Hello Tonight” tour, Chris announced his recent engagement to his fiance, Lauren. The tour will continue this fall as Chris travels from city to city and celebrating God’s greatness with a new audience each night.

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