Day 9 of 356: Christian Music

Christian music, what to say about it. Over the course of this year I might hit on this topic here and there because I love music. Not just Christian music but all kinds of music. To be completely honest here, if someone came up to me and said “Did you hear the new.....on the local Christian radio station my reply would probably be a solid no.” 

Top 40 contemporary Christian music never did it for me. Sure there were the days when I was younger that I would rock Carman, etc. but that is because the Christian music market back in the early 80’s were slim pickings. If a new Christian album came out; chances are most Christians owned it. 

I used to be a music buyer for two different Christian bookstores. One for was ProBuColl’s in Milwaukee (worst job of my entire life) and the other was at Something More which was the best job I have had outside of being a pastor. Sure, I met with sales people from the big Christian labels but my main gig was to order stuff from independent and underground artists from metal to holy hip hop. Personally I thought that was where the true talent really was. 

Back to Christian music today...it is pretty rare to find a song on Christian radio that is not so vanilla. What I mean by that is everything is the same. No one really goes out on a limb to change the message a bit. We are lacking artists like Rich Mullins, Keith Green and others. So many “worship” songs are all about us and not so much about God. I do find it disturbing that so many Christians can quote their favorite songs easier than they can quote scripture. Really that is what’s more important. 

I am going to sound a bit old here but many of the songs we sing today aren’t exactly worshipful but I get it. For some singing these songs can be very helpful which is great. At the end of the day I like the songs that don’t talk about woe is me stuff but rather focuses on the awesomeness of God. So, if you ever see me in church or at a conference and not raising my hands during a worship song...well...it’s probably because it’s not really a worship song. 

Okay, I will step off my soapbox now (for today).