NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Nearly a month after leading millions in worship at Charlie Kirk’s memorial service, Chris Tomlin said he’s even more convinced that an awakening is happening, and it’s unlike anything he’s seen in his decades of ministry.
“There’s a hunger I haven’t felt in a while,” the Grammy Award–winning worship leader told The Christian Post on the red carpet at the GMA Dove Awards in Nashville. “People are coming hungry, wanting to connect with God. There’s no playing games anymore. It feels like we’re in a real moment, an awakening.”
The 53-year-old Texas native, whose worship songs are sung in churches across the world, has spent much of this fall on tour. But he said the emotion from that memorial, a day he called one of the most spiritually charged of his life, still lingers.
On Sept. 21, Tomlin stood before tens of thousands inside State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, to open the service honoring the slain Turning Point USA founder. Standing before an audience of dignitaries, politicians and mourners, he began with one of Kirk’s favorite hymns, “How Great Is Our God,” and later, “Holy Forever.”
“I was so moved,” Tomlin told CP the day after he led worship. “For Jesus to be proclaimed so boldly throughout that whole day … what an awakening moment in our nation. It felt like a shift, something people have been praying for.”
Originally planned for a church, the service was moved to a stadium to accommodate overwhelming crowds and media interest. According to Tomlin, the most powerful moment came when Kirk’s wife, Erika, stood before the crowd and publicly forgave her husband’s killer.
“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do,” she said through tears. “I forgive him because it’s what Christ did, and it’s what Charlie would do.”
“I think Erika’s words of forgiveness were the words heard around the world,” he said. “You can preach all you want, but when you see someone actually live it, that’s the Spirit of God. That kind of forgiveness can only come from someone who really walks with Him.”
The “Glorious Day” singer said he believes countless people came to faith that day. “I think so many people watched that moment and were changed,” he said. “It reminded all of us that God’s Spirit is still moving.”
Ahead of the memorial, Tomlin said he’d met an Uber driver who confirmed just how far the ripple had spread. “He told me, ‘Man, that thing that happened to Charlie, it woke me up. I’m getting baptized this Sunday,’” the artist said. “And I just thought, how many others across the country are feeling the same thing? It’s undeniable. God’s doing something.”
Since that September service, Tomlin has been back on the road for his “Evening of Worship” tour, where the atmosphere, he says, feels different than ever before.
“I’ve been out on tour since the memorial, and I really haven’t stopped,” he said. “But every night, it feels like people aren’t coming for a show; they’re coming desperate to encounter God.
Tomlin, who presented the award for Song of the Year at this year’s Dove Awards, said his band feels it too. “Every day we look at each other like, ‘OK, what’s God going to do tonight?’ because you can’t plan what’s happening. People are responding to God in beautiful, unexpected ways.”
Days after the memorial, Tomlin released his latest album, The King Is Still the King, a collection of worship anthems and hymns. The artist told CP that to him, the album feels like a declaration for a generation searching for stability.
One of the album’s standout songs, a collaboration with Ben Fielding called “The First Hymn,” is based on the oldest known Christian lyric, written around A.D. 200 and preserved in an Oxford vault.
“These lyrics are literally 1,800 years old,” Tomlin said. “They were written by a small band of believers who probably lost their lives for their faith. And now, we get to sing them again.”
Tomlin and his team discovered the ancient text and composed a modern melody, bringing to life words that might have once echoed in secret gatherings of early Christians.
“It’s not my song, it belongs to the Church,” he said. “Just think about that: 1,800 years ago, people were singing these same words. There’s no other music with this kind of history. Country can’t touch it. Hip-hop can’t touch it. The music of the Church has been echoing since the beginning.”
“We’re just the next in line,” he added, “carrying the torch forward.”
Tomlin’s latest album, The King Is Still the King, is available now. His fall tour, “An Evening of Worship,” continues across the U.S. through November.
Leah M. Klett is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: leah.klett@christianpost.com
