Chris Tomlin’s new album aims to show listeners who God truly is
Grammy Award-winning worship leader Chris Tomlin released his 17th studio album this month titled Always and wants his new worship music to help people experience God, not just sing about Him.
Tomlin, who was just announced as one of the upcoming hosts of the 53rd Annual GMA Dove Awards, said he chose the album title Always because of what the word means.
“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 told The Christian Post.
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The worship leader, who was named by Time Magazine as one of “the most often sung artists in the world,” said he believes he has once again successfully written songs that point people to God.
The album comes from one of Tomlin's favorite Bible verses found in 2 Timothy 2:13: "'God is faithful, even when we are faithless because He cannot deny Himself.”
In a world full of confusion, the Christian faith is not "30 minutes old," Tomlin explained.
"Hebrews 13 says, ‘Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever.’ All those things are reasons why that word 'aways’ 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.’”
The Nashville resident said God has always been faithful to him with his music
"Twenty-five years or so of [being] out there playing and touring and traveling, and you think 'Wow, every time I make music, it feels like there's so much more, there are so many more songs[in me], so much more to say,” Tomlin testified.
“When I think about the people that are around me, in my life, not just my family, incredible wife and three girls, but my team and God's faithfulness to me is evident everywhere I look.”
The performer said he just becomes "more grateful" with age.
This album is "full circle" for Tomlin following his collaborations record, Chris Tomlin and Friends.
"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 explained.
The musician, who is arguably the most popular worship songwriter of this generation, described 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 described. “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 added.
From the new album, Tomlin highlighted the song "Holy Forever," which he described as a transcendence style of worship.
"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 echoed.
The album also features the hymn, "Oh, Lord, You're Beautiful” by Keith Green. Tomlin said he sang the song to his daughters during the pandemic, as they had home church. He was overcome by the genuine and pure lyrics.
With all of his songs, he aims to point people to God.
"To me, music and writing these songs is helping people see more than helping people sing,” Tomlin emphasized.
“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 noted.
Seeing God for who He is changes the room, the Texas native maintained.
"It changes the room every time because it invites us into the bigger story, it invites us into the greater story that's happened. It's not just our story; it lifts our eyes up into the greater story,” Tomlin commented.
“When we have an encounter like that, it's interesting how all the other things that we think we need in our life, they start shifting and changing. All those things start taking care of themselves when we are in a place of like, 'Oh, Lord, to you be the glory, you are worthy.'"
As seen in Tomlins's music over the years, from "How Great is Our God" and "Holy is the Lord" to "We Fall Down," the artist aims to write music that puts the focus on God.
Tomlin is now gearing up for the next leg of the "Tomlin United Tour." The artist chose to stick behind his friends, Hillsong United, following the controversies surrounding some of the senior leaders of Hillsong church.
"My favorite thing of this year has been that tour,” Tomlin told CP.
"From the time that we started to the time we actually went on tour, they were completely different, [Hillsong United] were in a completely different place. There was all those questions of do we do this? What is this?” he revealed. “They were cool [ and said], 'You can totally back out. We totally get it. You don't have to do this.' And I'm like, 'No if we're going to do this, I think it's going to be amazing. And I think it's gonna really help people and I'm with you guys.'”
"It wasn't like I was touring with somebody I really don't know; I’ve known JD forever. I've known Joel for so long, and I know their hearts,” he continued. “I know their hearts are broken just like everybody else's. The only difference is they have to live it and get lumped in with all this media stuff, and they have to take the hits on that. So I know they're hurting ... I think it is the most powerful tour I've done, because I think everybody knows what it is for things to not go right and to be in hard times.”
Lead singer of United, Joel Houston, shared his heart many nights while on tour with Tomlin.
Joel's father, Brain Houston, who co-founded Hillsong in 1983, resigned as the global leader this year after it was revealed that two women had made allegations of misconduct against him. His resignation also followed a series of misconduct scandals involving other Hillsong Church leaders in the U.S. and Australia.
"Everybody goes through hard times, and life is hard and life throws curves in many different ways,” Tomlin assured. “To stand there and [Joel] say, 'You know what, in the midst of that I worship you, God.' I mean, that is the Bible. That's the Scripture; that's what we read."
“That released something for people. I think it helped people in a way, too, because it's like, 'Oh, wow, those guys don't have it all together either. That means I don't have to have it all together.' I think that was incredibly powerful,” he concluded.
The Chris Tomlin United Tour made Pollstar’s Top 10 Worldwide Tours list. They head back out on the road in November.
Tomlin’s new album Always is now available to stream everywhere music is sold.
Jeannie Ortega Law is a reporter for The Christian Post. Reach her at: jeannie.law@christianpost.com She's also the author of the book, What Is Happening to Me? How to Defeat Your Unseen Enemy Follow her on Twitter: @jlawcp Facebook: JeannieOMusic
