A decade after saying he would work with Joseph Habedank, Joshua Tomlin is doing just that

By John Herndon, KentuckySings.com

Editor’s Note: The concert at the Cathedral of Glory, Mt. Sterling was canceled because of flooding at the church building. A rescheduled date has not been released.

It’s been more than 10 years since Joshua Tomlin told his girlfriend he was going to work with Joseph Habedank some day.

And now Josh is coming home for three central Kentucky concerts over the next four months, reminding him of those dreams and the path on which God led him before taking his vast musical talent on the road with one of gospel music’s most beloved artists.

The first of the upcoming appearances by Habedank and his band will be on Saturday, March 15 at the Cathedral of Glory in Mt. Sterling. The concert, which was originally set for January before a snowstorm forced rescheduling, begins at 7 p.m. 

Tomlin is also looking forward to an appearance in Danville in May and Lawrenceburg in July. A date at Symsonia Baptist Church in far western Kentucky is also on the schedule for Sunday night, March 16 at 6 p.m., Central Time.

Between his stops in Mt. Sterling and Lawrenceburg, Joseph Habedank’s Autobiography Tour is scheduled to stop in 13 other states. Later in the summer, the tour will also stop at the Ark Encounter as part of the 40 Days and 40 Nights of Christian Music.

But for Joshua Tomlin, who mans the keyboard and provides background vocals, it is a bit of an ironic trip home.

“When Joseph first came out with the ‘Welcome Home’ album, his first solo album, I wasn’t married yet, but Abby, my wife now, and I, we were dating,” Tomlin said before another central Kentucky stop at Bardstown Baptist Church in February. “We were going to get something to eat and I popped a CD in. I was a fan of Joseph before that – he was so good with The Perrys. When I heard that music, I looked at her and said, ‘I am going to work with this guy.'”

Tomlin knew the dream was improbable. Abby knew it was not impossible.

“She had the wisdom to say, ‘If you want to and it’s God’s will, you will,'” Tomlin smiled. “That was 10 or 11 years ago.”

The road to traveling as a full-time professional musician had varied stops, including time as guitarist for Cumberland Thunder, a progressive Southern Gospel group based in Russell Springs, where Josh and Abby Tomlin now live. The band combined elements of traditional gospel with country, rock and bluegrass to create a unique sound.

“Cumberland Thunder started almost nine years ago. It was a passion project, really. We just wanted to make music that we enjoyed,” Tomlin said. “If we enjoyed it, we knew that somebody out there would.”

But the dream was still to be a full-time professional musician. “I have had it since I was a teenager,” Tomlin says. “There were a lot of doors that I tried to kick down myself.”

He would find out that approach doesn’t work and decided to serve in local churches, learning to grow spiritually..

Along the way, Josh helped his parents, Richard and Reesie Tomlin, by teaching at Imparting Wisdom Christian Academy in Hustonville. Tomlin continues to work there when he’s home from touring. 

Eventually, Tomlin accepted a call from Flat Lick Baptist Church, near Somerset, to serve as the pastor. “They are some very dear friends we worked with for a couple of years. When you are pastoring a church, you have to have something prepared for every time you meet. You get into the Word!” he laughed.

But when the opportunity to pursue the dream arrived, the laughter turned to tears. “When we got the call, we cried on each other’s shoulders. I still love those people very much and I go back to fellowship with them when I can,” Tomlin said of Flat Lick.

Tomlin had always waited for the call, THAT call. It came last spring. And Joshua Tomlin was the only person Joseph Habedank called to fill the keyboard position when he decided to take some live musicians on his tour.

“We had been friends for a long time,” Tomlin said. “I used to work in Christian radio. I worked at WDFB in Danville. I worked there as a teenager. I got hired there as a summer job when I was 15 and did it for several years. When Joseph announced his solo career, he came by and we did an interview. Because of that interview, we exchanged phone numbers, developed a friendship. We didn’t talk often, but we would communicate every few months or so. 

“I had no idea I would ever be considered or thought of in that way. When he called, I had been praying.”

And Tomlin says there is no doubt that the circumstances of getting the invitation to tour left no doubt that God was working. “I remember getting in the car, we were on the way home from church and I was a little discouraged. I felt like something was supposed to happen but I didn’t know what it was,” he said.

What Tomlin knew was that he longed to travel, yet he was content to serve as pastor of a small church. 

“I looked at (Abby) and I said, ‘I wish God would just drop this in my lap because I am not smart enough to know what to do,'” Josh continued. “The words had barely gotten out of my mouth and in the same minute, I got a text message from Joseph. It said, ‘Can you start May 6?’ And I said, ‘OK, God, that’s dropping it in my lap. Message received.”

For almost a year, Tomlin has been on stage with guitarist Anthony Rogers every time Habedank brings one of his powerful concerts. The 90 minutes of music focus on God’s grace and forgiveness and offer hope for the downtrodden. There is a constant reminder of hope for those who have battled addiction, like Habedank’s much-publicized escape from addiction’s chains. 

“When we get on the bus, there is something (Habedank) says to us on a weekly, sometimes a daily basis. He says, ‘Be real. Be real. If you are real, people will respond to it,'” Tomlin says.

And, as expected, there’s music. LOTS of music. While Habedank is considered a Southern Gospel singer, he’s sometimes paired with contemporary artists in concerts. The selections on the bus reflect that variety 

“My influences are all over the place. His influences are all over the place,” Tomlin says. “We have two televisions in the lounge of the bus. We might be sitting there and pull up YouTube and we might watch a Michael English video and Russ Taff. Then we might go to something like Crowder to an old Cathedrals video.

“There’s an old cliche, ‘If it’s written about God, I like it.’ And that’s true.”

Tomlin says that traveling with Habedank has brought a special blessing that few can enjoy. “He has had life experiences that I have never had,” Josh said. “He has a lot of wisdom to offer, more than people realize. He’s very humble about it but what you see on stage is what you get on the bus. There have been moments where we have been going down the road and he will be driving the bus. I will be up there in the seat next to him and will be just the two of us up there at one or two o’clock in the morning and we will just start talking about spiritual things. He’s very empathetic with us.”

And there are undoubtedly times when Joshua Tomlin has to pinch himself to see if the last 10 months have been real. And Saturday is the first of three concerts close to home. 

On May 18, Habedank will be at Hedgeville Baptist Church in Tomlin’s hometown of Danville. Then on July 10, the tour will stop at one of Kentucky’s premier venues, Sand Spring Baptist Church in Lawrenceburg.

“I am really excited about going to Sand Spring this summer because when Abby and I were dating, our date nights were concerts at Sand Spring,” Tomlin said with a huge smile. “We would go to Fazoli’s in Danville, then drive over to Lawrenceburg, go to a concert, then go to McDonalds afterwards. Then we would go our separate ways. I remember that so vividly.

“Somebody I knew said, ‘It’s a really good feeling to stand in a place where you used to dream, having realized the dream. Sand Spring would be that place.”

Welcome home, Josh. Welcome home.