Chris Tomlin: Why I Sing

Chris Tomlin—Just The Facts

Here are five quick facts about Chris Tomlin, “Rock Star”:

• Chris Tomlin owns 12 (count ‘em, 12!) number one hit radio singles.
• Chris Tomlin has sold more than 13 million album and digital recordings, including a platinum-selling album and four gold-selling albums,
• K-Love Radio named Chris Tomlin their fan-favorite Male Vocalist of the Year.
• Chris Tomlin owns: a GRAMMY® Award, three Billboard Music Awards, and a whopping 21 Dove Awards for his music.
• Every Sunday morning, about 40 million people sing one of Chris Tomlin’s songs as part of their worship services. In fact, Time magazine called him “the most often sung artist anywhere.”

So, yeah, this guy’s big-time famous. Funny thing is, that doesn’t matter to him.

Behind the Song—“Love Ran Red”

Speaking about the title song, “Love Ran Red,” Tomlin reveals: “I love the words of Paul when he said, ‘may I never boast except in the cross of Jesus Christ,’ [Galatians 6:14] and that’s what we’re doing in this song.”

“I think about Jesus being called the lamb of God. This lamb was the final sacrifice for our sins before God so that we could approach this holy, amazing God. I think about the blood running down his face from the crown of thorns, and I think about the blood coming from his hands and feet…Here’s Jesus as the sacrifice for all of us…You and I are white as snow before God because of his love and because of the blood of Jesus.”

Behind the Song—“Jesus Loves Me”

When he was writing “Jesus Loves Me,” Tomlin says, “I was thinking about all the stories through the history of God’s people. The woman caught in adultery…The story Jesus told of the prodigal son…The guy at the front row of my church when I’m leading worship. I know what he’s gone through. There have been times where he has been at the rock bottom, but when he starts singing a song, his heart just explodes.

“So when I sing ‘I couldn’t run, I couldn’t run from your presence. I couldn’t run from your arms,’ it tears me up….The love of God is so wide, and it changes everything. That’s why I love this song.”

Behind the Song—“Almighty”

“The song ‘Almighty’ started with a gorgeous, majestic piano line,” Tomlin remembers. “It was Jared Anderson’s piano line, and he is a great worship leader. It’s rare to hear a melody from just a piano and feel such a deep stirring of the heart. It was like listening into the halls of heaven for a minute. This is a melody that is beyond us. I know that sounds weird and artsy, but it felt like the throne room of God. It was beautiful, simple and reverent. I tried to write words that matched that melody.”

“It’s been an amazing journey over years trying to craft songs that touch peoples’ lives and touch the church…I’m just so grateful and humbled and thankful to God to even be able to do this.”