Chris Tomlin, Hillsong UNITED to headline nationwide worship tour: 'Magnify the name of Jesus'
After a long season of isolation, award-winning Christian music artist Chris Tomlin and the popular worship band UNITED are hoping to bring joy and unity to thousands across the country through their long-awaited 2022 "Tomlin UNITED Tour."
"I can't think of a more critical moment in time for us to come back together and worship ... unified and as one voice," Tomlin told The Christian Post.
"For me, what is so important to remember is that music is God's idea. ... Isn't that beautiful? God gave us not only a way to worship Him but also to connect and communicate with Him through music. Worship is different from any other concert. It's your soul connecting to God. It's eternal and an opportunity to join in everlasting praise."
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Kicking off at the Greensboro Coliseum on Feb. 9, the live worship experience includes 33 dates across the U.S. They will make stops in major markets, including Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Washington D.C., San Francisco, Miami and two shows in the New York area before ending in Duluth, Georgia, on April 13.
Tickets for the Tomlin UNITED Tour will go on sale to the public beginning Oct. 22.
"We really believe this tour is going to be an experience unlike any other," Jonathon Douglass of UNITED told CP. "We've wanted to do this for a long time and we have a real sense of trust in the fact that this is the right time. We want these nights to be about hope, the living hope, and for people to leave with a little more of it than they came in with. Music has the power to touch people in this way, and I'm excited for that."
The tour marks the first reunion the artists have had since the COVID-19 pandemic prevented large groups from gathering in 2020.
A Grammy Award-winning artist, Tomlin is behind some of the most well-known worship songs today, including "How Great is Our God" and "Good Good Father." UNITED, the band born from a youth ministry out of Hillsong Church in Australia, has similarly dominated airwaves with hits including "Oceans" and "Lead Me to the Cross."
Tomlin told CP that how the tour came together is "evidence of God's timing."
"UNITED and I have toured around the country and around the world with our own teams, but to finally be able to come together after what has been a really challenging season of isolation with the pandemic, I know these nights are going to be powerful," he said.
"When we gather together, we remember the bigger story that we are part of. … We remember that we are part of God's Kingdom. … And when we gather together, we encounter the presence of God and that changes our lives."
Douglass agreed that the artists have a "real sense of trust that this is the right time" to resume in-person concerts.
"It means a lot to be able to bring our songs to audiences across the country," he said. "Our ministry is first to the Lord and then to people. So no pandemic can ever stop that fact. If anything, it amplifies the urgency. We have so much hope for this coming tour and are looking forward to seeing people face-to-face and gather[ing] together again across the globe to magnify the name of Jesus."
Reflecting on his passion for worship music, Douglass said the genre highlights the biblical truth that "God is the same yesterday, today and forever" at a time when people are desperately seeking for hope, encouragement and stability. Worship songs, he said, are "evidence and testimony that God is moving, right now."
"As we pray again, lament again, rejoice again, declare again, love mercy again, praise again, we do so in absolute faith that we will see God's goodness again, experience His presence again and see Him keep His promises again," the artist emphasized. "So, when I think about people coming together in one accord, singing songs of worship and having moments where they encounter the presence of God and the saving grace of Jesus, it fills me with so much hope."
Through the "Tomlin UNITED Tour," the artists hope to bring encouragement and unity to the Church and bring faith back to the center of our conversations.
"We want people to leave with the understanding that there is a greater hope in this world. This is a critical moment in time for people to be reminded that there is a true and living hope, and that's obviously Jesus," Douglass said. "That is what we proclaim with these nights."
"Every night on the tour, we will sing and worship together in the presence of God," he added. "We know that music touches so many different streams of people, especially in the faith, and we hope that our live show has that impact."
Tomlin echoed Douglass' sentiment, stressing that his hope and prayer for the tour is that "God touches them in ways they could have never expected."
