Renowned Contemporary Christian singer and songwriter Chris Tomlin wants people to experience God in a powerful way rather than just sing about him.
Tomlin, best known for his hit worship songs “How Great Is Our God,” “Holy is the Lord” and “We Fall Down,” released his 17th album Always earlier this month.
Explaining why he named the album Always, Tomlin told The Christian Post, “When we think about worship, in the one word — ‘always’ [and] how powerful [it is]. It says so much; the word always means eternal, everlasting, infinite, faithful. There are not a lot of things in our life that are always. Most things end; many things fail in this world,” Tomlin explained.
The new album takes inspiration from one of Tomlin’s favorite Bible verses, 2 Timothy 2:13, which reads, “God is faithful, even when we are faithless because He cannot deny Himself.”
Although the world may be full of confusion, Tomlin contended that the Christian faith is not “30 minutes old.”
“Hebrews 13 says, ‘Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever.’ All those things are reasons why that word ‘always’ is the title,” he continued. “There’s so much in that word – ‘always.’ And that’s what worship is. It is eternal.”
“In these songs, what we do is eternal; we are joining in the eternal song of Heaven that never stops. Hopefully, people grab that when they hear this music. It’s a reminder of like, ‘Wow, I come before an always faithful, always present God.'”
Tomlin also called the release of Always a “full circle” moment for him.
“This record is really full circle and is the heart and core of who I am. It is just trying to help people sing and worship God, and give a voice to people to worship God,” he told The Christian Post.
He went on to describe two types of worship styles – “transcendence” and “deliverance.”
“There are the songs of deliverance, which when it comes to worship, those are the songs of rescue like ‘Lord, I need You, rescue me, I need your grace,” Tomlin explained. “We need those songs. Then there are those other songs of transcendence. There’s nothing about me in the deal; it’s just taking our eyes off ourselves and just [switch focus] onto the glory of God.”
“Think about ‘Amazing Grace,’ an incredible hymn of deliverance. Then think about ‘Holy, Holy, Holy,’ an incredible hymn of ‘Oh, wow, I just got to get on my face,” he continued.
Tomlin describes “Holy Forever,” a song on the new album, as a transcendent song.
“I just tried to capture a piece of Heaven in this song that never ends, this eternal song. What’s amazing is that there is an eternal song, and we know the lyrics. It’s ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty.’ That’s what the Bible says throughout, and in Revelation, it says, ‘Day and night, they never stopped saying it,'” he said.
The album features guest vocals from Christian worship band Elevation Worship and singers Steffany Gretzinger and Brandon Lake. The album also includes a rendition of the hymn, “Oh Lord, You’re Beautiful,” which was originally sung by the late Christian artist Keith Green.
Tomlin hopes the new songs will point people toward God.
“To me, music and writing these songs is helping people see more than helping people sing,” the worship leader explained.
“That’s what I hope for people that their eyes are opened again, like ‘Oh, I see that, I see God’s mercy. I see His Holiness; I see that He is completely other than me. I see that He is faithful when I’m not,'” he contended.
This fall, Tomlin will continue the next leg of the “Tomlin United Tour” along with Hillsong United. He will also serve as one of the hosts at the 53rd Annual GMA Dove Awards next month in Nashville, Tennessee.
Photo courtesy: ©Getty Images/Dia Dipasupil/Staff
Milton Quintanilla is a freelance writer. He is also the co-hosts of the For Your Soul podcast, which seeks to equip the church with biblical truth and sound doctrine. Visit his blog Blessed Are The Forgiven.
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