By Gavin Boyle
Jonathan Roumie stretched his musical chops, playing the drums for Michael W. Smith’s newest song, “Arms Around the Sun,” which highlights the vastness of God.
“I couldn’t be more honored to get to play with the legend himself and my dear friend @mwsmithofficial 🥹🙏🏽.” Roumie wrote on Instagram. “Thank you Michael and @_teddt_ for letting be part of such a fantastic track. This all happened kinda spontaneously (I maintain I was ‘tricked’ into this recording by Tedd and Michael 😂). Can’t believe I got to do it. It’s a banger!! 🔥 SO fun.”
Though Roumie is best known for his role as Jesus on THE CHOSEN and is an actor by trade, he played the drums in a band through college before giving up his music dream. He and Smith, however, have become close friends in recent years, enabling him to live out a lifelong dream and be featured on widely-released song.
“He was a little nervous,” Smith told GodTube Music. “We did probably three or four passes of it, and he just killed it. He just knocked it out of the park.”
A mainstay in the worship music space, Smith has previously explained why he believes music is so important for the Christian walk.
“I see worship music playing a very vital role in the relationship of believers with God,” he told Kirk Cameron. “I’ve heard some people say things like, ‘You know if you’re gonna make movies you’ve got to make movies with this great story but don’t preach the Gospel in the middle of the movie, that’s not real movie making.’ And I’ve heard similar things with songs. People will say, ‘Well you know that worship music, that’s not really the same as a great crafted song and you’re giving these repetitive lyrics for people to say things to God.’ But I think it is a unique genre that is critical.”
Related: Michael W. Smith Talks About Why Worship Music is so Powerful
At the same time, Smith allows the Lord to lead his steps when creating music, following where he feels led rather than crafting his music to fit any mainstream stereotypes. This gives him music a very authentic feeling as he fully focuses on serving the Lord.
“I write what I feel led to do. I am not twenty five anymore, I think it’s tempting you want to compete, but you just can’t go there,” he said. “Well, ‘All is Well’ is my favorite song that I’ve written. I think most people would want me to say ‘Friends.’ It might not be my favorite song, but I didn’t know I was gonna have to sing it for the rest of my entire life. It part of the fabric of people’s lives. You look out at the audience and go, ‘Oh my gosh, that was song at a funeral, that was song at a graduation’ the list goes on.”
It is fun to see such a legend have some fun with his music and collaborate with Roumie, allowing the actor to shake off some dust and let loose on the drums.
Read Next: Grammy Award Winner Michael W. Smith on the Impact of Worship Music
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