November 15, 2011
Chris Tomlin is an interesting enigma. With ten #1 songs and over three million album sales to his credit, he’s one of the most successful artists in music. At the same time, he’s one of the least known. Ask anyone about Chris Tomlin and only a few will tell you they know him well.
There’s a reason for the subtle mystery. All the songs---including such anthems as “How Great is Our God,” “Forever,” and “Holy is the Lord,” the sold out concert dates around the world and the millions in CD sales have never been about elevating Chris Tomlin, but about worshiping God.
“I just love that God uses me,” he says, “but my role isn’t to grab as much attention as I possibly can, but to really point people to God. I don’t spend my time thinking how to make myself more popular, so maybe that why I there’s a bit of a mystery there.”
When Tomlin stands in front of a throng of believers, it’s his desire to disappear, to surrender to the Holy Spirit and help others release the concerns of the world and focus on worshipping the God who created them. He’s excelled at that calling for more than a decade and at the very heart of his ministry is an arsenal of songs that have become anthems, sung by believers all over the globe.
“He’s offering life. He’s offering hope and he’s offering peace today. I just want people to really grab that when they hear this music. God is for us! Who could ever stop us? That really says everything and what we’re about in our music because we’re about more than just songs, about more than just making records and having songs on radio. We’re really on a mission here and God has given us a platform to travel all over the world and that’s so exciting. I’m so thankful what God has given us, but at the end of the day, it’s not just about the next song that comes along, it’s really believing in that and really living our lives that way knowing that God is for us and nothing could stand in our way.”
As one of the most-sung artists in the church, Chris Tomlin writes music that connects people to the heart of Jesus and leads them to a greater worship of him. After six studio albums and numerous appearances on Passion live worship albums, Chris releases his first-ever greatest hits collection on Nov. 15th with How Great Is Our God: The Essential Collection. Of the 14 songs on the album, 3 are all-new recordings of classic Tomlin worship songs. Included is a new recording of the #1 song "How Great Is Our God", which features guest appearances from renowned international worship leaders, singing parts of the song in their native language.
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