Chris Tomlin 'Stakes Claim' for Jesus This Christmas
Christmas is right around the corner and songs, carols and bells fill the air as people get into the Christmas spirit. The Christian Post caught up with one of the biggest worship leaders of our time, Chris Tomlin, and discussed his album Adore: Christmas Songs of Worship.
Adore: Christmas Songs of Worship is Tomlin's second Christmas album and it debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Holiday Albums chart. "I love Christmas music!" he told CP.
CNN previously estimated that 30 million people sing his worship songs each week and Tomlin said writing Christmas music is different than what he is use to doing because he had to focus on writing about one specific time in Christian history.
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"I find [it] very exciting because there are so many things to write about. You think 'that'll be very limiting' but actually more songs flowed for me this time than ever," he admitted.
Although many of his colleagues in Christian music go to great lengths to make grandiose Christmas music productions with horns and whistles, what is unique and refreshing about Adore: Christmas Songs of Worship is the timeless feeling each song has. The song "Adore" can easily be played right before "How Great is our God" in a concert anytime rather than only at Christmas season.
"This is an extension of me. I'm not trying to be anybody different or trying to create a different sounding record because it's Christmas. My heart was to create a live worship experience," the Texas native shared.
Tomlin packed 300 hundred people in a former church, which is now Ocean Way Studios in Nashville, Tennessee. "I wanted it to be more about the singing than the singer, where people were just caught up in the songs," he maintained. "These song are very Christ focused. I tried to write in a way that if you led at church that people [would] sing them."
"I have nothing against 'Jingle Bells' and 'Winter Wonderland' and all that, but for me if you go to iTunes and you look at the most downloaded songs on the holiday page, you'll find very few that have anything to do with Jesus," he said. "That's very disheartening really. You'll find 'Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire,' 'I'll Be Home for Christmas,' 'Let it Snow' or 'Jingle Bells,' those kind of things and I really wanted to stake claim that this is what this whole thing is about."
