Tomlin debuts album
Grammy-winning artist performs new songs at Convo
“(Welcome) to the Love Ran Red release party!”
Music — Chris Tomlin premieres songs from his new album. Photo credit: Courtney Russo
This is how David Nasser, the senior vice president for spiritual development, introduced Christian singer-songwriter Chris Tomlin in Convocation Monday, Nov. 3.
“This is so cool,” Tomlin said. “This is amazing. What a privilege to stand here and sing (my) songs. … This is kind of our first place to play these songs besides our church.”
According to Nasser, Tomlin’s songs are sung more than any other artist’s songs. Time Magazine even called Tomlin “the modern day Psalmist of our era.”
Tomlin opened the all-worship Convocation with “Whom Shall I Fear.” He also performed songs from his new album “Love Ran Red,” such as “Almighty” and “At the Cross (Love Ran Red).”
“When I’m trying to write songs, I’m trying to write about the greatness of God and the grace of God,” Tomlin said. “… That’s always what I’m looking through when I’m writing songs. I don’t feel like I could ever write a song that speaks larger of the greatness of God (than ‘Almighty’). … I feel like the language is as big as I could ever make it.”
After performing the first few songs, Tomlin shared a story of an experience he had in Miami at a hotel in South Beach. He did not expect anyone to know who he was, but one guy serving towels recognized him and explained that he had gone to Miami to do everything it had to offer and someone gave him Tomlin’s CD. The CD changed the man’s life.
“You just don’t know where your songs are goingto end up,” Tomlin said.
Then, he told the story of his first meeting with Nasser.
“We met in Memphis, Tennessee, (and) he was taking me back to a hotel, and he dropped me off,” Tomlin said. “I said, ‘It has been nice meeting you. We’ll hang out again.’”
According to Tomlin, he was holding his guitar when a guy walked up and asked for directions to a certain location.
“I could tell something was off, and David said, ‘No, we aren’t from here, we don’t know,’” Tomlin said. “He just (walked) right past David and (got) in our car and (started) carjacking us.”
Tomlin said he stood by the car with his guitar in hand, but Nasser fought back.
“If you haven’t noticed, David’s origin is from the Middle East, and you do not carjack somebody from the Middle East,” Tomlin said. “David (went) completely jihad on the guy. … I just barely (knew) David, and all of a sudden I (saw) this guy’s leg is coming out of the car, kicking David in the chest. David (had) the guy around the neck (and was) punching him in the face.”
However, the carjacker was not alone.
“(A)ll of a sudden, three people (came) from different angles, and this other guy (came) from the front and (held) a gun to my face,” Tomlin said. “He (did) the side thing, and when they do the side thing, you know it’s serious. I said, ‘David, they have a gun!’ David (stepped) back and (said), ‘You can take the car. Just don’t shoot.’”
The four men then jumped in the car and drove off. According to Tomlin, the police were able to apprehend them.
According to both Tomlin and Nasser, neither of them would be alive if it were not for the other person.
“The reason (Nasser is) here today is because I saved his life that night,” Tomlin said. “… I’m the one who said there was a gun, and I was standing there strong, holding my guitar.”
After Tomlin finished singing, Nasser got on the stage to share his thoughts on the events that had happened in Memphis that night.
“I want (everyone) to know I saved (Tomlin’s) life,” Nasser said. “If it wasn’t for me, we would (still) be singing … old hymns (today). … I had to save Christian music.”
Tomlin’s CD “Love Ran Red” is available in stores and on iTunes. More than 3,000 CD’s were sold for $5 each at Convocation.
Brown is a copy editor.