It was in 1983, though, while leading worship at his brother's church in El Paso, Texas, that he discovered his true passion: "Worshiping God was all I wanted to do with my life." While working at a "terrible job" on an assembly line, Walker prayed, "God if there's any way you can use me to bring people to Christ-to do evangelism and to worship You at the same time-that would be the most awesome thing." In that moment, he understood his calling. "I began a quest," Walker says, "to write songs that would be very worshipful to believers while musically and spiritually interesting to non-believers." He formulated his philosophy of song writing, sharpened his musical skills and tailored his performances with these ideas in mind.

In 1991, as worship leader at Christian Assembly in Los Angeles, Walker was reading Psalm 30 and writing a new praise song for his congregation. It wasn't going very well. "Some-times songs are straight from Heaven and you jot them down as quick as you can," he says. "Other times, it's more of a homework assignment." "Mourning into Dancing" fell into the homework category. As he considered a God who exchanges the deepest sorrows for joyful dancing, Walker remembered the dance-ability of Latin music. "I thought this psalm would go with that style of music, so I came up with a Latin groove, kind of a Samba. I didn't think it was that great, but as we began to sing it at my church I realized, hey, this is really working!"

If not for a twist of timing, though, the song might have stayed forever within those walls. Walker and Justo Almario were hosting weekly musicians' fellowship meetings at the church; their guest speaker one evening was bass-artist Abraham Laboriel. Earlier that day, Laboriel had been at a recording session with Integrity producer Tom Brooks and had invited Brooks to come and hear him speak. "I think we were actually playing the song as Tom walked in," recalls Walker. Brooks loved "Mourning into Dancing" and wanted it for his new Integrity project: Ron Kenoly's Lift Him Up.. That 1992 praise recording has since achieved gold status while leaping denominational and cultural boundaries. "I've seen this song used in every kind of circumstance, from praise parties to funerals," he says. "I think it connects because it's a song of hope and redemption and promise. "The song has been a door-opener for me," Walker says. "People seem to recognize it where ever I go." Is he tired of it? "I hate it!" he laughs. "I'm totally sick of it! I've probably sung it 5,000 or 10,000 times, but I'll do it every day for the rest of my life if it keeps ministering to people and keeps opening doors."

Walker's life has changed since writing "Mourning Into Dancing." "Maybe people think I'm a songwriter now," chuckles this father of three. But indeed, dozens of his songs have since been picked up by music companies like Hosanna, Maranatha and solo artists like Crystal Lewis. In addition, Walker now leads worship regularly at Promise Keeper events and Greg Laurie's Harvest Crusades. At last year's’ Stand in the Gap in Washington, Walker stood behind his guitar and witnessed a million men roaring his chorus to "A Mighty Fortress." "As far as my eye could see, there was no end of humanity worshiping God. But to think that that many people were shouting out my chorus and I had anything to do with it...." He stops for moment to gather his thoughts. "I was useless. I wasn't even singing. I was just bawling, to tell the truth. It was like heaven. To see every kind of person and race worshiping God. I definitely had a glimpse of eternity."

Leadership opportunities such as these notwithstanding, Walker remains committed to his local fellowship. "There's something about staying in touch with what God's doing in the local church. And there's accountability, too. When you're there every week, you're nothing special. It keeps you humble. "My songs that people sing at Promise Keepers have all been birthed the same way every other any other worship leader/songwriter in the world would do it. He'd just write a song out of his devotional time and teach it to his small group or his church." These days, Walker is focusing on worship evangelism in missions. Regular crusades to Asia, the Philippines and elsewhere are an outreach of his local church, funded by sales from their own Get Down Records. After all these years, his passion for worship and evangelism remains the same. WL

Tommy Walker and Get Down Records can be reached at 213-255- 1421.