Chris Tomlin

Chris Tomlinson is a living example of the acorn-into-mighty-oak story — he started out as the leader of a little worship community in Texas and has become America's most-sung Christian songwriter. "How Great Is Our God" is the "Star-Spangled Banner" of worship music, a big, bold anthem dripping with devotion and emotion. Tomlin's "We Fall Down" has been recorded by everyone from Randy Travis to Steven Curtis Chapman, but on his own in-concert version you can feel the energy and inspiration jumping back and forth between the singer and his revved-up audience. Speaking of revved-up, we defy you to sit still when the brash guitar barrage of "Not to Us" begins driving Tomlin's message home. Follow Chris Tomlin's journey from the fearless to the fantastic, in Next Steps.

It's impossible to talk about Worship songs without thinking about Chris Tomlin — not only because he dominates the field so unshakably, but because the passion you hear pouring out from his every word is worship music's very definition. On "Indescribable," we hear Tomlin reaching out for a way to sing about something that's beyond words, but the fight to fill that gap between mortal and mysterious is what makes it riveting. He doesn't limit his source material to the Good Book, either, striking up a spiritual charge on the rocking "You're the One," inspired by C.S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia. And Tomlin turns up the voltage even higher for the worship whirlwind of the loud-and-proud "The Noise We Make." Explore the connections between a worship superstar and the world's biggest band in Deep Cuts.

Sometimes it's tempting to think of Chris Tomlin as Christian rock's Bono — not that U2 aren't Christians, too, of course — with his superstar status, man-on-a-mission aura, and driving, stadium-size sound. The triumphant cry Tomlin lets loose on the jumping, jabbing folk-rock of "Happy Song" suggests the sound of someone who grew up with the Irish foursome's frontman as a guiding star. The churning grooves and echoing riffs hurtling out of the live version of "Forever" pay homage to the sound of U2 guitarist the Edge. And Tomlin leaves no doubt about his debt to the Dubliners when he gives every ounce of energy over to a high-flying, turbo-charged version of "Where the Streets Have No Name."

Over the last decade and a half, Chris Tomlin has racked up so many Dove Awards and Christian #1's that it's easy to forget that it all started for him with a little Central Texas worship group and a burning desire to let his praise for the Lord ring out as loud as he could make it. Even after becoming a CCM superstar, Tomlin's leadership role in his own church and his charity works have shown that he continues to walk it like he talks it. Collaborating with everyone from Israel Houghton to Rebecca St. James, he's flown the flag of worship music far and wide, but right here's where we've captured the brightest-shining moments, the ones you can't do without from Tomlin's treasure chest of tunes — so get ready to have your spirit and your body moved.