Tim Davis joins The Calling’s radio show and opens up about his path in the entertainment industry. Despite facing skepticism and challenges, Tim’s unwavering trust in divine timing and purpose led him to tremendous opportunities. From his start with the Heritage Singers to becoming a sought-after name in Hollywood, Tim discusses the value of humility, listening to God’s voice, and following unconventional wisdom. His story is a testament to the power of dreams, faith, and nurturing one’s unique gifts to fulfill one’s true potential.
Welcome, everyone, to The Calling’s radio show to all the dreamers. I’m your radio host, Chrysandra Brunson, founder and CEO of The Calling. It is such an honor to be with all of you today. You know, at The Calling, we have realized so many people are afraid to go after the dreams God has put on each of our hearts. And, you know, it’s because they’re afraid to fail. We have developed different custom programs for people to live out their God-given dreams, including some of those programs is this one and only radio show. And we’re so excited to have guests like the one we have today to inspire us to go after God’s dreams on our lives. The one and only Tim Davis is with us today. Tim, thank you for joining us.
TIM DAVIS :
Thanks, Chrysandra.
CHRYSANDRA :
We’re so glad to have you and just, it’s such an honor. And Tim, there’s so many different ways to describe your influence in humanity and how you’ve just been able to bring the kingdom of heaven down to earth and just appreciate your heart so much. Can you just share a few of the different titles that the Lord has been able to place on you? Yeah.
TIM DAVIS :
Oh, gosh. Well, first, I’m a husband and a father, and those are my greatest titles. And then I have been working in the entertainment industry for about 28 years professionally, and my background primarily is as a singer. And then I kind of transformed into more of a leadership role where I hire singers for jobs in film, television and artist recordings to sing background vocals or music. to be in a choir on camera for a TV show or a film or, you know, stuff like that. So it’s, it’s so much fun to have a role like that in an industry where there is such a need for integrity and kindness and, you know, people looking to mentor the next generation of people coming up and opening a door for people. And that’s one of my favorite things to do.
CHRYSANDRA :
You’re just so humble, Tim, too, just to describe your background. A lot of our listeners tuning in, they would know a majority of, you know, just these different programs or TV shows. Can you just name a few that they might recognize or connect with?
TIM DAVIS :
Probably the most popular was the show Glee on Fox. I was the vocal arranger and produced all the group vocals for that show for seven years. And I’ve done other work on shows like American Idol and America’s Got Talent.
CHRYSANDRA :
Tim, so you just have had a heart for entertainment, it seems like, since the beginning of your time. Would you say that’s true?
TIM DAVIS :
Um, no, not really. I, I came from a musical family. Okay. So, um, we were all instrumentalists. We played in the band. I was the youngest of four kids and it wasn’t, it wasn’t kind of like, what, what are you good at? It was like, you know, in a way it was like, okay, we all play instruments. So what are you going to play? I started playing the trombone in fifth grade and I had started taking piano lessons before that classical. So I was, I was, um, raised as an instrumentalist and it wasn’t until I got into college that it even occurred to me to sing. I was asked to come help this jazz vocal group on campus and at my university and help them read a chart. And I was singing one of the parts and they were like, Hey, you, you should try it out. You’re you’re good. And it hadn’t occurred to me. So I tried out and, um, The next semester, the director of the college asked me to take over the program. So I found a love in singing that was much different than just playing an instrument, although I continued playing throughout college. And then I got a degree in marketing and got a sales job. I was not cut out for that. I was so not into it. And I was asked, it was around that time where I was really starting to press into God. I was raised in the church, but I hadn’t really made this faith my own yet. And so I became, I became desperate for God to show himself to me and make himself real to me in a way that I can understand and started spending time with him. And Then I was like, I got to get out of here. I cannot be in this role anymore. I just want to sing. I just want to sing. And against all conventional wisdom, I auditioned for a group called the Heritage Singers out of Northern California. And I started singing with them and singing. was it was five years during that time I met my wife, which was the best part. But the second best part was that I got to learn the skill of studio singing, which we did a number of recordings during that time. And I started producing them and arranging the vocals and man, I just fell in love with it. And then I became obsessed with background vocals on records. And when Melody and I got married, I said, I can’t support you on this glorious salary of $600 a month. Do you want to go to Nashville? And she said, sure. I just wanted to be a background singer on records. And I asked the Lord, well, can I, how do I do this? I don’t know even how to begin singing. And I waited tables through college. So I was very like, I can get a job waiting tables and I’ll support my wife that way. And so we had a little apartment. I was waiting tables at this restaurant, which was right at the end of the street called Music Row in Nashville. And it was where all of the studios were. And so every day I would see these artists coming through the door, like Michael Libby Smith and Amy Grant and Stephen Curtis Chapman and Michael English and all the people that I really wanted to work with and the producers that I wanted to work with. And they’re all sitting in my section. And I was like, oh, my gosh. Should I say something? And I kept feeling like Holy Spirit would say, no, don’t say anything. Your job is to serve them. That’s all you’re doing. Do your job and let me do this. So I started, I had mixed messages. I had the world telling me, I had people telling me, you’ve got to promote yourself. You’re horrible at promoting yourself. You’ve got to get out there and beat down the doors and let people know you’re in town. Otherwise, they’re not going to know. And that made sense to me in one way. But it also kind of repelled me in another because I didn’t like that. That didn’t feel natural to me. It felt slimy to me. It felt gross because I wouldn’t want someone to come up to me like that. So I started doing a search in scripture about promotion and everything in scripture was antithetical to what everyone was telling me. where Jesus said, make no reputation for yourself. Come in and take the lowest seat in the room. Don’t assume to take the highest seat and then have someone call you down. Sit in the lowest place and wait for someone to call you up. don’t exalt yourself in the presence of Kings, humble yourself under the mighty hand of God. And let me lift you up when it’s time. All of these like scripture after scripture, after scripture promotion doesn’t come from man. It doesn’t come from the North, the South, the East, the West. It only comes from the Lord. So either it’s true or it’s not. And I decided, okay, God, I’m going to, I’m going to do exactly what you say. And then it became kind of like,
CHRYSANDRA :
I have goosebumps. I’m sure everyone tuning in does too.
TIM DAVIS :
It became kind of like a game where I’m standing in the restaurant and my big, like the one producer that I wanted to work with walked in the door and the host sat him right in my section. And I was like, yep, here we go. So I walk over to the table. Of course, I want to say something, but I don’t. And I hear Holy Spirit just saying, shh. Just let me, just let me do this. If you do it my way, it will go so much better and so much faster and you won’t have any stress. Just let me do it. So I’m just, I act like they’re any other person in the world. I don’t, care. I’m serving them. It’s great. I’m having actually a great time during this time. I feel no stress. I’m just thanking God that he’s leading me and directing me. Of course, people are still saying to me in my ear, what are you doing? Were you just going to stay there your whole life? Were you going to wait tables forever? So I had this negative coming at me, but I just kept pouring into the scriptures and asking the Lord like settle me and establish me in this and teach me what this is like teach me your ways because I know your ways are best and you your word holds the keys for my future wow So one night it was very stormy. The restaurant was not very full and I heard the Lord. I felt like the Lord like stopped me. I was standing there in the dark and in this one side of the restaurant. And I heard the Lord say, I have three assignments for you here in this place. And once you finish, once you accomplish those assignments, I will give you the desires of your heart. So I said, I said, yes, Lord. Yes. Whatever that is. Not too long after that, I had three people who were my assignments approach me. And one girl had fallen away from the Lord. Her dad was a pastor. She was looking for counsel. She started coming to church with me and my wife, another of the waiters. And I became fast friends and he was an atheist. And I led him to the Lord like six weeks later. And then another guy, like I had these three people who presented themselves to me and I wasn’t even aware that they were my assignments. I was just like, you know, living life. And then all of a sudden. One day at lunch, a woman and her husband came into the restaurant and they were sitting in my section. And the lady says, I bet you’re a good singer. I said, how did you know I was a singer? She said, every waiter in Nashville is a singer. But you, I bet you’re a good singer. I said, oh, well, thank you. She said, do you have a demo? I said, yes, but I don’t have it with me. Okay, well, I’ll be back this week. So bring it to me. I want to hear it. I said, Oh, okay. Well, she came back. I did not have my demo with me. This happened three times. She got annoyed. And she said, she said, do you know who I am? I said, no, ma’am. I don’t know who you are. She said, I’m the vice president of curb records. And I want you in my office across the street tomorrow at one, after you’re done with your shift and bring your freaking demo.
CHRYSANDRA :
So yeah,
TIM DAVIS :
I went over the next day and I had my demo in my hand. She opened the door, snatched it out of my hand, acting annoyed.
CHRYSANDRA :
I’m going to pause you right there. We need to go to break, but we’re on the edge of our seats. What happened when you opened up that door? You are listening to all the dreamers radio show. We thank you everyone for tuning in. We have the VIP guest of Tim Davis. We look forward to you staying tuned. Twist and Shout with Lee & Co. They are the premier oldies band delivering the rock and roll vibes you’ve been missing. Great songs, great memories. Book them at LeeAndCo.com. Hi guys, this is Chrysandra Brunson, host of To All The Dreamers. I am so happy to introduce personal training, nutritional guidance, and behavioral change coaching. Healthy, happy, and heavenly for your wellness, spirit, soul, and body. Contact Mimi Kroger at healthyhappyandheavenly.com. Continue to grow in the calling God has for you through ORU online. You can earn your degree without changing your busy schedule. 100% online and 100% on your time. Learn more today, oru.edu slash calling. At Ignite Brilliance Coaching, you will get 34 years of science teaching, a decade of university-level instruction, and over 10 years of instructional coaching to empower educators with the tools, mindset, and confidence to thrive. Contact Ignite Brilliance Coaching on Facebook. We are back. You are on all the dreamers radio show. I’m your host, Chris Saundra Brunson, and we have the one and only Tim Davis with us. And Tim, you were leading us. We’re right in the middle of this scene of this producer. And can you say the production company again?
TIM DAVIS :
Curb Records. So she was the vice president of Curb.
CHRYSANDRA :
Wow. And so she came to you three times at the restaurant.
ADVERTISER :
Yeah.
CHRYSANDRA :
And you didn’t have the demo. You just didn’t have it. But she said, come the next day. So what happened?
TIM DAVIS :
Yeah. So I go to her office. She opens the door, snatches it out of my hand. You know, it was a CD. If you don’t know what that is, go to your grandma’s house.
ADVERTISER :
And she put it in.
TIM DAVIS :
She put the CD in the player. And after about 10 seconds, she stopped it. She didn’t say a word. She didn’t even look at me. She went over to the phone, picked up the phone. Hey, yeah, I got him here. Yeah. Okay. Can you work on Thursday? She says to me, I say, uh, yeah, I can. Great. He’ll be, yeah, he’ll be there. Okay. She’s writing on a post-it to me for me. Go, go to this address on Thursday at 10 AM. That’s your first session. And I was like, who, who is it with Brown Bannister? Who was at the time the biggest, like he was at the top of my list for producers that I wanted to work with Brown Bannister. He was the biggest producer at the time in Christian music. So yeah, I said, he’s never heard me sing. She says he he trusts me. Get out of my office. She was so annoyed with me. So that next day I show up at Brown Studio. I don’t I’m I don’t even know. This is the truth, Chrysandra. I don’t know if I’m good enough to be doing this because I’ve never been in the real world of like the professional world of studio singing. I don’t know if I’m good enough. I walk in and he starts playing me this song. And says, what do you hear? And I said, what would you like me to do? He said, well, what do you hear? What do you want to do? I was like, well, I hear some things I try. He goes, OK, well, go ahead. So I go in and behind the mic and I’m telling you everything. that comes out of my mouth he was like oh my gosh like what that is incredible you sound so good what is that like where have you been how have i not known about you i was like is this guy blowing smoke i’m not i’m just like i’m nervous i don’t know i i didn’t know this while i’m in the other room he’d called another producer and said, and told him to call me for a job. I got home that night and I had a message on my phone from that producer to come in the next day for a record. And in the next 24 hours, I was booked for the next two weeks. Solid. I started having to turn down work away because my voice couldn’t handle it. I was But this is true. Since that day, I’ve never had to have a second job. god opened doors that i could not deny were him he opens doors that no man can shut he shuts doors that no man can open so i was and i was like oh my gosh this book this the scriptures are not just some nice little stories that we can read about and oh isn’t that cute but these are the keys to your life to your destiny I don’t know, for me, this is how it all went. And it’s not been all roses. There have been trials for sure. There have been mountains and valleys, but God has shown himself so faithful through it all, all the way. Three years after we moved to Nashville, He called us to move to L.A., where I was kicking and screaming to not come to L.A. I thought this was a mistake. We’re not hearing from him correctly, even after confirmation and confirmation and confirmation. I did not want to come, but I just said, Lord, you were, I’m doing this out of obedience. I don’t know one person in LA to get a job with and whatever, but he did the exact same thing for us in LA, but much faster than he did in Nashville and opened doors for me that no man could shut. And the truth is I’ve not had to make one outbound phone call or email for any of that to happen. He just set up divine appointments and sent me in the middle of, he sent me before Kings.
CHRYSANDRA :
Tim, for you to have such humility and honor and seeing Jesus’s work in your life ever since that moment is just so inspiring for each one of us to be able to pause in our hearts and really get in that realignment. That is just so profound. What would you say is one of those divine moments along the way of seeing moving to LA of just encountering these different Kings where Jesus has revealed himself in a really powerful way.
TIM DAVIS :
I remember being on the set of Glee as I was working on that show. I had some religious, and I say that word intentionally, religious friends who told me when they found out that I was working on that show that I, they said, you’re promoting darkness. You are in bed with the enemy. I cannot be your friend anymore on social media, blah, blah, blah. And I was like, peace out. only because it was during that time. I remember, I remember one day being on set and I was really enjoying it. And I, and I loved working with the actors and the directors and the creator. And, and I heard Holy spirit say to me, look around, there’s nothing about this that is for you. I’m in charge of elevating you. The only reason you’re standing here right now is because I trust you to love these people, get your hands on these people, love them, ask them questions, befriend them, show them my love. That’s your job here. And it kind of, at that moment, I felt like God’s perfect love for me. float into me in such a way that the fear of the opinion of other people fell off of me. So we need more and more believers in the marketplace in entertainment. So that’s a passion of mine, you know, to, to bring up the next generation of people and, um, I can’t do what I do and say the things that I say without talking about the way the Lord has done everything that he’s done in my life and in my business. Yeah.
CHRYSANDRA :
Well, Tim, we, there’s so much wisdom. I feel like we all need to be able to hear this message. Tim, we would love to have you back. We are coming at the end of our show. Would you be able to tell our listeners, if you get to give one nugget of wisdom real quick, what you would leave in their hearts to go after Jesus’s calling on their life? What would you say?
TIM DAVIS :
I, well, you’re talking about calling and destiny and dreaming, right? I remember when I was a child, I would listen to the radio and I would hear, I liked songs, but I loved the little ID jingles in the middle, like 102.7. There’s some reason that I tuned into those and I was like, Oh, those are so cool. Now what kid is, Thanks. Those are cool. That’s just weird. I either, either God was pointing out something to me or I was just weird. I could have been weird, but I will say that was a key. to my destiny, even though I wasn’t a singer, even though I had no idea, fast forward 20 years, I’m in the recording studio recording ID jingles for radio stations. I’ve been doing that for almost 28 years for stations all over the world. I can’t even tell you thousands and thousands of stations. Your listeners have probably heard me on their station singing the radio IDs. Now, if my parents, knew, um, how to hear from the Lord and pay attention to details like this, or if I had been taught from a young age, Hey, there are things that are unique to you that God has put inside of you that are, that are, um, clues to your future clues to what he has for you and your destiny. Someone, if someone could have said, Hey, that, that may be something you should, maybe you should try singing. Have you ever thought of singing? Have you ever, um, But it’s amazing to me when I looked back at that, at those moments when I was fascinated by that one weird little thing, how that was a clue to what my destiny was in the future. So I would, I would encourage you, whoever is listening, you know, God, God places these clues in you and these gifts in you that, that we often because of conventional wisdom the wisdom of man we toss them aside like ah that’s silly or that doesn’t make sense or that would be selfish or we’ve got to pay attention to the way god designed us it’s um I guess that’s what I would, that’s what I would encourage your, your listeners to do. Because if, if I hadn’t ultimately listened to the father and paid attention to these silly little things in my heart and brought them back to life in my life, I wouldn’t be, I wouldn’t have been able to do what I’ve done to this point and been able to love the people that I’ve, that I’ve been able to love. So yeah. That’s an encouragement.
CHRYSANDRA :
I love it, Tim. It’s so powerful. Well, I hope that you can come back soon on this radio program.
TIM DAVIS :
Thank you for having me.
CHRYSANDRA :
Thank you for making the time to come, Tim. And how can everyone stay in touch with you?
TIM DAVIS :
You can follow me on Instagram, Tim Davis underscore official. And I’m also launching a platform for people who want to be studio singers. And yeah. Yeah. So that I can give you industry secrets dot show. And by the time this airs, it will be live. And what I’d like to offer your listeners is if they go to this website, industry secrets dot show, I’m going to be doing an interview series with a bunch of celebrities and people. And it’s called how to make it in Hollywood without losing your mind. And I think I would like to. Yeah. And so connected to that, if you use the promo code, let’s see. If you use the promo code home recording, I would like to offer your listeners. My Home Recording Series, which is an 11-part series that teaches you how to set up your own recording studio at home for a really economical price. It’s 11 episodes, and it walks you from equipment to using the software to recording yourself. It’s so great. I’ve sold so many of these around the world, and I’d love to offer it to your listeners for free. If they put in the promo code, Home Recording. Okay. Industry secrets dot show.
CHRYSANDRA :
Industry secrets dot show.
TIM DAVIS :
Yeah.
CHRYSANDRA :
Oh, Tim, you are so generous. We are so thankful for your heart. And I love you as just, I feel like you’re a father and just of the kingdom. But we want to have you on again. We thank everybody for tuning in to all the Dreamers radio show. I’m your host, Chrysandra Brinson. You can go to The Calling’s website to hear from Tim and our guests to be inspired to go after God’s calling on your life at thecallingnonprofit.org. Till next time, dreamer. Keep dreaming big.
