Recently, on Rita Springer’s “Worship Is My Weapon” podcast, she interviewed Chris Tomlin.  (I will put a link in the show notes to this podcast.)  He shared the following amazing story of how his calling to ministry began, the prophetic word that shaped his life, and how a 30-year journey with a mentor led Chris to the National Day of Prayer. 

Chris grew up in Texas and had a heart for God as a young child.  His dad taught him to play guitar, and he began to play songs at church for his youth group.  David Crane, the music minister at his church, would occasionally travel to other churches in Texas where he would play and preach at their revival services.  One day when Chris was 17, in high school, the music minister stopped by his house and invited him to go with him to one of these revivals, about a 3-hour drive from there.  He told Chris that he had already gotten approval from Chris’ dad.  He said that Chris could be his assistant – helping him to set up his keyboard and guitar, selling tapes at the back, etc.  Chris jumped at the chance, because Chris admired him so much and it was a great opportunity to hang out with him.

So, they get to the church, they set up, and Chris is amazed.  There are 500 kids there.  In the middle of the service, David stops and invites Chris to come up and lead a few songs.  Chris is shocked.  David had never mentioned this as even a possibility.  Up to this point, Chris had only played at his church.  David insisted, and handed Chris his guitar.  Chris played a few songs, and it was, in his words, “really, really bad.”  He finished, got off the stage as fast as he could, and went directly back to the tapes table.

After the service, another pastor in attendance walks up to Chris and invites him to come play at his church.  Chris cannot believe it.  The pastor goes on to explain that they are doing a youth crusade for a week that summer, and he wants Chris to be the worship leader.  Chris, still in shock, reluctantly agrees.

As the event is getting closer, he gets a call from James, the minister who is the speaker at the event.  He introduces himself and asks Chris what kind of music he does at these events.  Chris has to admit that he has never led worship before, he does not have any original music, and that he knows only 3 songs.  James suggests that he send Chris some CDs and tapes of music to learn.  The music is worship songs and choruses from a campus ministry at Baylor, produced by Louis Giglio.  Chris learned all the songs, writing them out on note cards that he would lay on the stage in front of him.  Chris was scared to look at anyone.  He would simply walk up to the mic and sing through the songs he had prepared.  Each night, James would give him some encouragement and coaching.  

At the end of the week, James said he had been praying for him a lot that week, and he had 2 things to tell him.  “Number one, you have no idea what you’re doing.  Number two, you have no idea how God is going to use your songs all over the world.  As I've been praying for you this week, I feel like God's speaking to me and he's telling me that you're going to write songs one day. And the world's going to sing those songs.”  Then he put his hand on Chris’ head, and he said, “God, would you make Chris a Psalm writer for his generation?”

Throughout high school, James continued to periodically call Chris and give him more opportunities to lead worship at events.  In college, Chris meets Louis Giglio and begins to work with Louis on his college outreach events, being mentored by Louis along the way.  The college events grew into what we now know as the Passion Conference.

One day Chris gets a call from James.  They had stayed in touch for more than 20 years.   James tells him that he believes that God is calling him to run for the office of US Senator from Oklahoma.  He is going to campaign all around Oklahoma.  He asks Chris if he would go with him and do concerts, to draw the crowds, so that he could share his vision for Oklahoma.  Chris eagerly says yes.  They campaign together and James gets elected.  (You may have figured out by now that James in this story is James Lankford, the current US Senator from Oklahoma.)

Four or five years into his Senate career, James gets tapped to run the National Day of Prayer.  He calls Chris and asks him to lead it with him.  At the event are 3000 world leaders.  He is sitting with the President, the Vice President, and James.  And suddenly, this thought comes to Chris:  When he was 17, James put his hand on his head and said that one day he was going to write songs, and the world would sing them.  And that prophetic word on his life was coming true in that moment, as those 3000 world leaders were singing his songs with him!

Wow!  This amazing story brings several biblical principles to mind:

The power of speaking prophetically into someone’s life

·         Of seeing some potential in them that they do not themselves see, and telling them about it.

·         1 Corinthians 14:3 GNB  But those who proclaim God's message speak to people and give them help, encouragement, and comfort.

·         Many examples of God calling people to do things that they did not seem naturally equipped to do (Moses, Gideon, the 12 disciples, etc.)

The power of mentorship

·         And how God often orchestrates events to guide us to the mentors we need to fulfill His calling on our life

·         Philippians 4:9 NLT  Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you. 

·         Example of Paul’s mentorship of Timothy (who later became the leader of the church at Ephesus)

Today, I encourage you to “Reflect on This.”

(From an interview with Chris Tomlin, on Rita Springer’s “Worship Is My Weapon” podcast:  https://youtu.be/RucXhr1zYGU?si=WeVTpssmUP4rMXlL)