Chris Tomlin

For over a decade, Chris Tomlin has been providing the soundtrack for Sunday morning worship services around the world.

In November 2011, Chris released a compilation of some of his favorite worship songs throughout the years. The album, entitled How Great Is Our God: The Essential Collection is, as Chris puts it "Possibly the best thing I'll be a part of musically...ever..." The album features songs that have become mainstays in churches worldwide, including "Our God," "The Wonderful Cross" (with Matt Redman), "Indescribable," "Amazing Grace," "Jesus Messiah," "I Will Rise," and a new version of How Great Is Our God (World Edition).

A Texas native, Chris’ music of choice while growing up was country. But when Chris’ father gave him his first guitar when he was sick with mono, it soon wasn’t just honky-tonk he was playing. By age 14, Chris had written his first worship song.

But pursuing music for a living wasn’t exactly Chris’s go-to life plan once he graduated from high school. Confident that God had a plan in mind for his life, but still not really sure what that was specifically, Chris enrolled in college thinking he’d ultimately pursue a career in physical therapy.

Of course, God had other plans for Chris.

After earning a degree in psychology, Chris became friends with Louis Giglio, founder of Passion, designed to create an awakening on college campuses. Responding to Giglio’s invitation to be part of the first Passion worship event, a landmark gathering of thousands of college students in Austin, Texas, Chris eventually found his life’s calling in leading worship.

In addition to writing and recording his own praise songs, Chris has continued to be part of the Passion movement ever since that first event in 1997, not to mention its now one-year-old church plant, Passion City Church, in Atlanta.

As fulfilling as it’s been for Chris to lead audiences in worship, simply serving as just another worship artist hasn’t been enough. Chris has always been passionate about helping worship leaders thrive in their respective churches.

So at the end of 2006, Chris launched on an online resource called Frequency. Describing the site as “a place to serve God and His people in worship,” he later partnered with Larry Tardy and expanded the effort. Now known as Frequency Worship, the webpage includes chord charts for popular worship songs, instructional videos and message boards for worship leaders to connect with—and learn from—each other.

Outside of recording, touring, and leading worship, Chris and his wife Lauren have kept busy with the addition of their first daughter, Ashlyn in September of 2011.