Chris Tomlin encourages fans to sing along at his concerts.<\/p>\n
So when one of the most popular contemporary Christian singers performs Sunday at the ShoWare Center in Kent, fans will be part of the show. A sellout crowd of more than 6,000 is expected for the first concert at the new arena.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not find a seat, grab some popcorn and listen to us,\u201d Tomlin said in a phone interview Feb. 24 before a concert in El Paso, Texas. \u201cIt\u2019s a night for all of us together. We\u2019re more involved with the people. There\u2019s a lot of singing together.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tomlin, 36, has become one of the top song writers for churches around the world that use contemporary Christian music for services instead of (or in addition to) traditional hymns.<\/p>\n
Tomlin\u2019s 2005 album, \u201cArriving,\u201d has sold more than 500,000 copies. Two songs from that album, \u201cHoly is the Lord\u201d and \u201cHow Great is Our God,\u201d are among the most popular contemporary songs in numerous churches around the world, according to www.billboard.com.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a very humbling thing and what I\u2019m most proud of that the songs are used like that,\u201d said Tomlin, who plays the piano and guitar. \u201cThere\u2019s no marketing plan that can do that. It\u2019s amazing to me and what I\u2019m most thankful for.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Hello Love tour by Tomlin also features special guest Israel & New Breed. Singer Israel Houghton fuses elements from Gospel music, rock and jazz. Houghton will play for about 40 minutes before Tomlin takes the stage for about a two-hour concert.<\/p>\n
Tomlin plays Saturday in Salem, Ore., before heading to Kent for his only other show in the Pacific Northwest. The 35-city tour opened in January in Hershey, Pa., and ends in April in Winston-Salem, N.C.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been great,\u201d Tomlin said of his latest road effort. \u201cI\u2019ve done several tours the last several years and this is the strongest yet. The response and attendance has been bigger than ever. It\u2019s on fire.\u201d<\/p>\n
Backed by a five-piece band, Tomlin plans a mix of songs from his older albums as well as his new album, \u201cHello Love.\u201d He released his first album, \u201cThe Noise We Make,\u201d in 2001.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll have songs from the new album and songs people have grown to love over the last few albums,\u201d Tomlin said.<\/p>\n
Tomlin grew up in Texas listening to country music. He learned to play guitar from his father.<\/p>\n
\u201cI grew up with music in the house,\u201d said the artist, who wrote his first worship song at age 14. \u201cMy dad was really into music. We always had it in the home.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite the musical background, Tomlin went to college with other career goals.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought I\u2019d be a physical therapist or a doctor,\u201d said Tomlin, who is the lead nominee this year for gospel music\u2019s Dove Awards with seven nominations, including artist of the year, male vocalist of the year and song of the year for \u201cAmazing Grace, My Chains are Gone.\u201d<\/p>\n
The singer started to lead worship services in the mid-1990s at youth conferences and camps throughout Texas.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t have a clue this would be the path I\u2019m on,\u201d Tomlin said.<\/p>\n
Tomlin helped start Austin Stone Community Church in Texas, before moving to Atlanta six months ago to start a church with Louie Giglio, a pastor and evangelist.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Tomlin continues to write songs that make churchgoers and concertgoers sing.<\/p>\n
\u201cI try to write songs that give a voice to people,\u201d Tomlin said. \u201cGod put me on a unique path with music and I try to walk that path.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut it\u2019s not just enjoy listening to me sing, it\u2019s a lot of singing together.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
IF YOU GO<\/p>\n
What: Chris Tomlin concert<\/p>\n
When: Sunday, March 8<\/p>\n
Where: ShoWare Center, 625 W. James St.<\/p>\n
Cost: $33 and $27<\/p>\n
Tickets: www.showarecenter.com or 253-856-6999<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Chris Tomlin encourages fans to sing along at his concerts. So when one of the most popular contemporary Christian singers performs Sunday at the ShoWare Center in Kent, fans will be part of the show. A sellout crowd of more than 6,000 is expected for the first concert at the new arena. \u201cIt\u2019s not find […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":212,"featured_media":7682,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-7681","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7681"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/212"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7681"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7681\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7682"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7681"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=7681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}