Check out this song that Thomas wrote and recorded.

This season (2009) of America Idol had several finalists who were Christian worship leaders.  We stopped by Calvary Chapel Old Bridge, where Thomas Mack is a worship leader, to talk to about this phenomenon and how he got his start in contemporary Christian music.  

Thomas, tell us how you got started.

I started playing music in high school while I was attending Woodside Bible Church.  The guy who was leading worship for the high school youth group was leaving and he asked me if I wanted to start leading worship.  So, I was 13 or 14 when I started leading worship.  We had a drum set, a base guitar, an acoustic guitar, an electric guitar and I sang with another girl.   We led worship every Sunday and Wednesday.

Were you playing an instrument at that point?

I was playing guitar and singing at that point.  In middle school I played trumpet and piano.  I quit those; the guitar was something that stuck for me.   On trumpet and piano I was just learning classical pieces and they did not hold my attention.  However, a Fleetwood Mac song that I could play and sing made the guitar stick. 

What really kicked it off was when I was 13 and a freshman in high school and I got a really bad report card.  I got grounded from everything.  I got grounded from the computer, TV, friends everything for a couple months.     

When I was at school they would give us 10 minutes, at the end of class to do our homework and I wouldn’t do it.  I wanted to save my homework so I could do it at home, I was that bored.   During that time, I had nothing to do and I really got into playing the guitar.  That is what started it all.  The guitar had always been around the house but I had never really picked it up. 

Did someone else in your family play instruments?

My father played eight instruments, the clarinet, piano, saxophone lots of stuff.  My parents were always trying to push the trumpet on me.  That was like a power struggle in my life, my parents trying to push the trumpet and me saying I did not want do it and telling my teacher I wanted to quit.  So the teacher finally said she did not want to teach me anymore.  At some point, music took on a form that really captivated me and at that point it was my thing, and it was full speed ahead.   

It is not always easy getting a 14 year old guy to sing.  Did you just take to this and think that you could do it? 

When I was like 10, I remember my mother saying why don’t you ever sing in Church and I said, “I can’t really sing Mom.”  It was not something that I was really into.  But when I got it, then it became an important thing to me. 

When you “got it”, did you think that you could sing?

I think I felt confident.  I felt alright.  I had probably decent technique from being in the choir.  I ended up studying voice in college.  At which point, I learned some technique.  But, I think I always felt ok about it. When I was younger, it wasn’t cool.  14 year old boys are not really into singing.  But I think I felt fairly confident in it that I was decent at it. 

 This is part 1 of a 4 part interview.  In part 2, Thomas talks about studying nursing in college and dropping out to pursue music. Part 2 can be found here.