Songs4Worship.com: You seem to deflect the spotlight well – even when you are right in it. How do you approach that when you go out on stage? Is it something that you have to work at?

Chris Tomlin: Maybe that’s just something God has given me because I don’t practice it. I don’t know how to do it. I think it comes from a humble heart because I know in my heart that I’m not God, and I’m not leading anybody to me. I do want to have a presence when I walk on stage because any leader has a presence. But when I finally pull people together with that presence, I want it to draw them to God and not to myself. That’s the heart behind it. I just really and honestly want to draw people to God. Before I knew what a worship leader was, I remember playing in my church and thinking, “Wow, I like this. I’m up here on stage, but people are singing to God.” So I started trying to write songs in that way.

To listen to samples from Chris Tomlin’s Arriving, click here.

Buy Arriving from Songs4Worship.com

S4W.com: You’re touring with Steven Curtis Chapman this fall. Do you think you will approach a tour like this differently than a worship tour like Passion?

Tomlin: Passion is a movement, so it’s a different thing. When people are coming, they know what to expect. They are coming for one reason, and it’s not for a band. Passion has never been about bands or about a speaker – it’s just been about God. On a Steven Curtis Chapman tour, people are still coming for God, but at the same time it’s a different audience. It’s a radio-listening audience. I’m excited because it will be a lot of new listeners exposed to our music. Maybe we’ll play a song like “We Fall Down” or “Forever,” and people will say, “I had no idea these guys wrote this song,” which will be fun. But no matter who they are, people want to respond to God, to worship God. So we are not going to do anything different. We are going to have them off their seats and hopefully just rocking and rolling. That’s our heart behind it.

S4W.com: Going into it, does this tour feel any differently than previous touring experiences?

Tomlin: Just being with Steven, it’s going to be exactly what it’s supposed to be about. I just love his heart. That’s why I’m more excited to be on tour with him than anybody because he just has a heart for God to do great things in peoples lives. He is gifted differently than I am, and yet when we talk about touring together, we both know it’s going to be amazing to see how God is going to use us together. I remember going to see his concerts when I was in high school (Wow, that really makes him seem old!), and it really made me want to draw closer to God and know God more. That’s Steven’s integrity, and this tour’s going to be no different. We’re not setting out there just to sell records; we’re setting out to make a real statement for God and hopefully impact peoples lives.