Tommy Walker is an American

worship leader Contemporary worship is a form of Christian worship that emerged within Western evangelical Protestantism in the 20th century. It was originally confined to the charismatic movement, but is now found in a wide range of churches, including many w ...

, composer of

contemporary worship music Contemporary worship music (CWM), also known as praise and worship music, is a defined genre of Christian music used in contemporary worship. It has developed over the past 60 years and is stylistically similar to pop music. The songs are fr ...

recording artist A musician is a person who composes, conducts, or performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general term used to designate one who follows music as a profession. Musicians include songwriters who wri ...

and

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

. Since 1990, he has been the worship leader at Christian Assembly, a church affiliated with the

International Church of the Foursquare Gospel The Foursquare Church is an Evangelical Pentecostal Christian denomination founded in 1923 by preacher Aimee Semple McPherson. The headquarters are in Los Angeles, California, United States. History The church has its origins in a vision of ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. Some of Walker's most well-known songs are "Only A God Like You," "No Greater Love," "Mourning Into Dancing," "He Knows My Name," and "That's Why We Praise Him." In addition to his responsibilities as a church leader, he has taken the "CA

Worship Band Contemporary worship is a form of Christian worship that emerged within Western evangelical Protestantism in the 20th century. It was originally confined to the charismatic movement, but is now found in a wide range of churches, including many w ...

" on numerous overseas trips, including several trips to

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...

and the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. He has worked alongside

Franklin Graham William Franklin Graham III (born July 14, 1952) is an American evangelist and missionary. He frequently engages in Christian revival tours and political commentary. He is president and CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) and ...

Greg Laurie Greg Laurie (born December 10, 1952) is an American author and pastor who serves as the senior pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship with campuses in Riverside, Orange County and Maui. Laurie came to faith at the age of 17 as the Jesus Moveme ...

Jack Hayford Jack Williams Hayford (born June 25, 1934) is an American author, Pentecostal minister, and Chancellor Emeritus of The King's University (formerly The King's College and Seminary). He is a former senior pastor of The Church On The Way in Van N ...

Bill Hybels William Hybels (born December 12, 1951) is an American church figure and author. He is the founding and former senior pastor of Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Illinois, one of the most attended churches in North America, with ...

Rick Warren Richard Duane Warren (born January 28, 1954) is an American Southern Baptist evangelical Christian pastor and author. He is the founder of Saddleback Church, an evangelical megachurch affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention in Lake Fore ...

and at

Promise Keepers Promise Keepers is an Evangelical Christian parachurch organization for men. It originated in the United States, but independent branches have also been established in Canada and New Zealand. Promise Keepers describes its goal as "to bring abou ...

events.

Career

In 2000, Walker released his album ''Never Gonna Stop'', which earned a larger reception than his previous albums, peaking at number one hundred and fifty three on the Billboard Top 200 chart. In 2004, Walker released his album, ''Make it Glorious'', which was recorded live at

Regent University Regent University is a private Christian university in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The university was founded by Pat Robertson in 1977 as Christian Broadcasting Network University, and changed its name to Regent University in 1990. Regent offers ...

with a 50-member choir. A choral collection of some of Walker's best-known songs entitled ''That's Why We Praise Him: Celebrating the Songs of Tommy Walker'' (arranged and orchestrated by Bradley Knight) was also released in 2004. This was followed by a second choral collection of songs by Walker, ''Great and Marvelous: Celebrating the Songs of Tommy Walker Volume 2'', in 2005, which earned Walker a

Dove Award A Dove Award is an accolade by the Gospel Music Association (GMA) of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the Christian music industry. The awards are presented annually. Formerly held in Nashville, Tennessee, the Dove Awards ...

nomination. On March 18, 2008, following eight live recordings and many years as a worship leader, Tommy Walker released his first studio recording, ''I Have A Hope''. The album was produced by producer

Ed Cash Edmond Martin Cash (born August 6, 1971) is a producer, songwriter, engineer, and multi-instrumentalist. AllMusic/ref> He was named the "Producer of the Year" at the Gospel Music Awards for four consecutive years (2004–2007) and gains recogn ...

and labeled by

Maranatha! Music Maranatha! Music is a Christian music record label which was founded as a nonprofit ministry of Calvary Chapel in 1971. The label is distributed by Capitol Christian Music Group, a division of Universal Music. Background In the early 1970s Calv ...

. In support of his national studio debut, Walker made appearances at the National Christian Musicians Summit,

Liberty University Liberty University (LU) is a private Baptist university in Lynchburg, Virginia. It is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia (Southern Baptist Convention). Founded in 1971 by Jerry Falwell Sr. and Elmer L. Towns, Liberty i ...

and the National Worship Leadership Conference, run by ''Worship Leader Magazine''. In an interview, Walker said that he had been offered deals by record labels and publishers when his songs were first being recorded, but he had declined the offers because he had grown up with a negative perception on the music industry. In 2012, Shepherd University ( Cornel School of Contemporary Music) awarded Tommy Walker with an “Honorary Doctorate in Music Arts”.

Musical style

Influences

Tommy Walker has cited

Justo Almario Justo Pastor Almario Gómez (born 18 February 1949) is a Colombian-born, Los Angeles-based flutist, saxophonist and Latin jazz group leader. "Justo Almario: saxophonist, originally from Colombia, who has performed with Freddy Hubbard, Poncho Sanche ...

Abraham Laboriel Abraham Laboriel López Sr. (born July 17, 1947) is a Mexican-American bassist who has played on over 4,000 recordings and soundtracks. ''Guitar Player'' magazine called him "the most widely used session bassist of our time". Laboriel is the f ...

Andrae Crouch Andrae, Andræ (Danish) or Andrä is a surname and given name, which is a variant of Andreae, itself a patronymic (via the Latin genitive case) from the personal name Andreas. Notable persons with this name include: Surname * Ahmed-Tobias Andrä ...

Lindell Cooley Lindell Cooley (born February 3, 1963) is a pastor, Christian singer and was worship leader of the Brownsville Revival in Pensacola, Florida. He is known for his soulful gospel and rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a natura ...

and

Darlene Zschech Darlene Joyce Zschech (; née Steinhardt on 8 September 1965) is an Australian Pentecostal Christian worship leader and singer-songwriter who primarily writes praise and worship songs. Described as a pioneer of the modern worship movement, she ...

as influences. A trained guitarist, Tommy is "Supported by Taylor Guitars".

Personal life

Tommy Walker is the son of Fred and Eileen Walker, who were once the pastors of an independent charismatic church. Walker's sister, Janey Stewart, and her husband, Sam Stewart, are the founders and overseers of Charlie's Lunch, a worldwide faith based relief organization. One of Walker’s brothers, Dale Walker is the founder and director of Heart of the World, an interdenominational, worldwide ministry, that operates Borderland Kids program, which is a program that provides food to needy children in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Hilary (Walker) Overton, a niece of Tommy Walker, and her husband David, administrate Glory Reborn, a midwifery clinic in the

. Tommy Walker is married to Robin Walker, and together, the couple has four children, Jake, Levi, Emmie and Eileen.

Discography

* ''Pray For Each Other - C.A. Worship Band'' (1991) * ''We Say Yes - C.A. Worship Band'' (1992) * ''Live Worship - Tommy Walker and the C.A. Worship Band'' (1994) * ''Yes We All Agree - C.A. Worship Band'' (1996) * ''C.A. Worship Band with Tommy Walker'' (1997) * ''Night Prayer - Rique Pantoja/Tommy Walker'' (1997) * ''Acoustic Hymns - C.A. Worship Band with Tommy Walker'' (1997) * ''Live At Home - C.A. Worship Band with Tommy Walker'' (1999) * ''Never Gonna Stop with Tommy Walker'' (2000) * ''Only a God Like You'' (2000) * ''Calling Out To You - C.A. Worship Band with Tommy Walker'' (2001) * ''There Is a Rock - Tommy Walker and the C.A. Worship Band'' (2002) * ''He Knows My Name - Songs 4 Worship - Surrender'' (2003)Archived a
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* ''Make It Glorious - Tommy Walker'' (2004) * ''Anthology 991-2002- C.A. Worship Band with Tommy Walker'' (2004) * ''Heal Our Land: Live From Zambia - Tommy Walker and the C.A. Worship Band'' (2005) * ''Break Through - Tommy Walker'' (2006) * ''This is What Christmas Means to Me - Tommy Walker and the C.A. Worship Band'' (2007) * ''I Have A Hope - Tommy Walker'' (2008) * ''Overflow - Tommy Walker'' (2009) * ''Overflow: Japan-Hawaii Version - Tommy Walker and PacRim Friends'' (2010) * ''The Pursuit of God: Songs For A Thirsty Soul - Tommy Walker'' (2011) * ''Generation Hymns Live with Tommy Walker'' (2012) * ''Acoustic Hymns (2014 Re-Release) - Tommy Walker and the C.A. Worship Band'' (2014) * ''Living In The Wonder - Tommy Walker'' (2014) * ''Generation Hymns 2 - Tommy Walker with Sean Beck and the CBC Choir'' (2015) * ''The Best of Song of the Week with Tommy Walker'' (2016) * ''The Book of John in Song - Tommy Walker'' (2018) * ''Song of the Week 2019 ol 1-3- Tommy Walker'' (2019) * ''Generation Carols - Tommy Walker'' (2019) * ''Highest Praises - Tommy Walker and Eileen Walker'' (2021) * ''Generation Hymns 3 - Tommy Walker'' (2022)

Singles

* ''I'm Going to Bethlehem'' (2008) * ''He Knows My Name'' (2008)

Charts

Albums -

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

(North America)

Bibliography

* ''Songs From Heaven''. Regal Books, 2001, (with Phil Kassel) * ''52 Devotional Thoughts for Worship Leaders''. Sundog, 2004, * ''He Knows My Name''. Regal Books, 2004, * ''Breakthrough''. Regal Books, 2006, —(with Marcus Brotherton)

Award Nominations

;

GMA Dove Awards A Dove Award is an accolade by the Gospel Music Association (GMA) of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the Christian music industry. The awards are presented annually. Formerly held in Nashville, Tennessee, the Dove Awards ...

, - , 2006, , ''Great and Marvelous-Celebrating the Songs of Tommy Walker Vol. 2'' , , Choral Collection of the Year , , , -

References

External links

Tommy Walker Ministries Official WebsiteChristian Assembly Official Website
* Tommy Walkerat

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Walker, Tommy (worship leader) Living people Promise Keepers Songwriters from California American performers of Christian music Christian music songwriters Performers of contemporary worship music American male singers Members of the Foursquare Church Singers from California Guitarists from California American male guitarists Year of birth missing (living people) American male songwriters