This past Thursday a group of us went to see Chris Tomlin at the Giant Center in Hershey. He was accompanied by Israel Houghton and New Breed. For those of us who decided to grab dinner before the concert...well, let's just say it was an experience that will not soon be forgotten (and that's not a good thing). But at least we could laugh about it and still enjoy an incredible time of worship through music.
The unique thing about seeing someone like Chris Tomlin in concert is that it really isn't so much a concert as it is a worship service with several thousand other worshippers. Sure, there are plenty of lights, the obligatory smoke machines, and great musicianship - but at its core its about all of us singing to our great God and Savior. I relished the opportunity to just sing and worship - this image of Jesus smiling over us kept coming into my mind's eye.
Chris did a fair number of songs off his latest album, Hello Love - to be expected since this was the "Hello Love" tour after all (and artists are always pushing the new material!). I'll be honest, my initial impression was that this latest batch of Tomlin songs felt a little recycled, overproduced and not quite as memorable. Upon further review - and having heard them live - I do think there are some solid songs on the album that could potentially find their way into our repertoire. I particularly like "Jesus Messiah" (great communion song), "I Will Rise" and "Praise the Father, Praise the Son". In the case of Tomlin and worship songs, more of the same is not necessarily a bad thing.
Along with the new tunes we sang songs like "Indescribable," "How Great is Our God" and "Forever". A special treat was the presence of Christy Nockels (previously of Watermark), who has been singing with Tomlin for years and is on just about every Passion worship release. Of course, if you have ever been to a Christian concert you know they'll be a point where the artist makes a pitch to give money for some charitable organization - it's a given! And sure enough Tomlin did, put I have to say, his cause - One Million Can - is pretty compelling stuff.
After two plus hours of worship it was time to call it a night. I appreciated being able to spend time with some of you outside of our regular worship practices!
