push it on his kids for fear of us hating it .
When I was thirteen I asked for some drums – that was my first interest in music . It was really cool , he was always a big investor in our dreams as kids , so as soon as I really showed a passion for drums or for music , he got me a drum kit . Then he told me I had two weeks to practice and then I was playing with him at church ( laughs ). It was a trial by fire , I got just thrown in it . I think that was 7 th grade , and I played drums that Wednesday night . Then I played every Wednesday and Sunday , whenever the doors were open , until I graduated .
I grew up in the church , but I never resented the church . I never had a callous heart toward the church , music or God . I was always proud that my dad was a pastor . I really saw it as a way to marry my passions . I always grew up thinking , “ Maybe I ’ ll be a pastor one day , maybe I ’ ll be in the ministry in some way …” and when I discovered a passion for music it was like a way for me to do the two things I felt really strongly about and marry them . I was able to play music by being in church and I was able to serve my church by playing music . It just felt like a no brainer to me .
My father and some friends were a part of a youth camp in Dallas that they helped start and attended every year . Youth groups from all over Texas would go to this camp . I ’ d say there are 1,500 kids there every summer .
When I was finally old enough to go to camp it was the first year they brought Chris in to lead worship , so no one really knew who he was . He was a young kid , probably twenty-one or twenty-two at the time . I think he had been leading at a church called Breakaway at Texas A & M , which was a big college ministry . So , he came in to lead worship and I didn ’ t really think anything of it , it was just like , “ Oh cool there ’ s a guy leading worship , and I ’ m at camp .” I was just excited to be at camp . All these years I had been at camp because my dad had to be there as a youth pastor , so I was just excited to be going as a student .
Every year Chris was writing more songs , and his songs were ones we would take home and do at our own church , which is essentially what he still does ( laughs ). His vision , even early on was very singular in that way . Because he and my dad both led music at the camp , they had a lot of mutual friends and he and Chris had some relationship . They weren ’ t super close , mainly because my dad was older , so it was kind of like a “ changing of the guards ” thing at camp , “ Here comes the new guy Chris !”
So they knew each other , and I think as a proud dad , a couple summers in a row he would be like , “ Hey , so my son ’ s playing guitar now and he ’ s sounding pretty good . We ’ ve got him working with the church and he ’ s traveling with me some !” I think that maybe what planted the seed was my dad talking to Chris about me like a proud dad would . I don ’ t think he was ever necessarily pitching me , because I was really young , fourteen or fifteen .
By the time I was seventeen or eighteen I was leading worship at my church . Some of the guys from the band came over to see me lead worship for my church group , which was a smaller group out of the big camp thing they were leading . I think they saw that I had a passion for worship and ministry , and I wasn ’ t just a guitar player – I was a guitar player with a heart for what they had already been doing . So I think they took me a little more seriously .
At the same time Chris had a guitar player who couldn ’ t commit full time anymore , so he had a vacancy in the band . That was the summer
Chris & Daniel
right before my senior year of high school . I had just turned 18 and had no idea where I was going to go to college . I hadn ’ t applied to any schools because I didn ’ t really want to go . All I really wanted to do was travel and worship and play guitar .
So Chris called my dad . We were in the car on my way to play an event with my dad in Dallas , and of course I didn ’ t hear that phone call . This was back when teenagers didn ’ t have cell phones ( laughs ). So he ran everything by my Dad . Chris is funny , he ’ s kind of a , “ Let ’ s just move forward !” So he was like , “ I want to see if your son can come do some dates for me . Can Daniel come travel with us ?” My dad was like , “ Well , you ’ ve never actually played with him , you want me to drive down so you can practice together or audition or something ? Are you sure you want to commit , what if you don ’ t really love what it feels like ?” So my dad gets off the phone and goes , “ Oh yeah , that was Chris Tomlin . He wanted to see if you could do some dates with him playing guitar .” I was totally excited of course . I had no idea it would become a full-time thing really , I was just excited !
A couple weeks later we drove down to Houston where Chris was living , and set up in his kitchen . We had the drum kit set up in there , the bass player had his bass rig , and I set up my amps , pedals , and guitar . Chris had a little JBL Eon speaker for his acoustic and vocal . We basically set up like a little four-piece band in his kitchen . I remember the first song that we played was “ Open the Eyes of My Heart ”, that
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