But, I think that’s the very rare exception, and not the norm. If you have more stories, I’d love to hear them.

It’s a fair question. Can I ask if you’ve actually seen this happen? I followed your link and it seems you attend (or are employed at?) a large church in San Diego.

To answer your question from my perspective, as professional worship leader for the past 8 years, the scenario you described would be the rare exception to the norm. Most of these guys play at all sorts of different gigs for all sorts of different folks, so I see them mostly fuzz out on anything other than the chart in front of them and the other guys in the band, almost as a self-defense mechanism. I know one cat who’s played from everyone to The OC Gay Men’s Chorus to the Crystal Cathedral to an Orthodox Jewish band and all points in between. At some point, I think you just develop a filter.

I think, and I don’t want to put words in Mike’s mouth, that he is making an observation about professional musicians who work the circuit and are already believers, and how it negatively affects their spiritual walks as well as ultimately harming the productivity of the in-house talent at the given church.

Don’t be a stranger… you’ve raised an interesting point and I’d like to hear more of your thoughts. Welcome to The Roadhouse.

I write all this not to debate the CCM sound or its relevance, believe me I have my own issues with that, but rather to encourage other worship leaders out there that it is possible to have a killer worship team full of volunteers. At Bayside (and my church) it is nearly 100% volunteer and the sound and quality of the worship team is IMHO one of the best in the country. If you need proof, just check out Lincoln CD “All To You – Live”. Just preview some of the tracks and know that everything you hear on there is from volunteers (with the exception of the drummer, who was hired as a staff member not a contracted musician, and Lincoln himself).

This is done by developing musicians and singers, encouraging teamwork, keeping a spiritual focus, and having a reasonable expectation of quality. Bayside is a church of 8,000 and they do it. I work for Bayside Central Roseville, a church of 250 and we do it. There are many other things that are done, but I just want to ecourage anyone who might need it!

Steve

P.S. I know all this because I was the volunteer keybaord player on the Lincoln’s CD.

I pray our volunteer roster never depletes, because now I’ll have this dark option to contemplate as a solution.

I think some of your suggestions at the end are right on. I want our church to be about building COMMUNITY, and I never want to turn us into a Sunday morning club where people gig and then move on.

Thanks for the thoughts.

“It’s the MESSAGE, stupid.” We need to say to ourselves over and over. The mode, media, and music will all change with time. But if the message is lost, so will be those who hear it. And I thought getting the saved was the point of drawing them in, right?[/quote]

Hey Larry,

First and foremost, let’s all give props to the pioneers who saw the writing on the wall in the 70s and started the church music revolution. I cannot imagine the conversations you had with your elder boards back then… wow.

Here’s my question? What makes a song, “Christian?” Is it lyrics? A well focused, up front vocal? Is it chord structure or melodic content? Hang with me here, I’m not trying to burn you or be pedantic. I am really thinking about this, and it’s absolutely real to me, in my everyday. I am a songwriter and professional musician… and I’m a Christian.

The reason I ask these questions is that I hear what you’re saying… it’s the message. I want to examine some of the negative side effects that come with that philosophy. Mixers actually refer to “The Christian Mix,” which means that the vocal is WAAY out front, dominating the whole thing. Even Christian Rock Bands sound like singer/songwriter demos.

One of the other negative side effects I see is the lack of unresolved tension in Christian Music, specifically CCM pop. Most great art portrays conflict or as my Theory 1 prof used to always say, “The ongoing flow of tension and release.” Very few Christian artists have the courage to deal with enresolved tension, which, IMO, nueters “Christian” art, because it’s simply unable to ring true. Yes, Jesus resolves tension… but he created a fair amount as well, and promised a Christian life filled with rewards beyond comprehension but also… trouble.

These musical differences between CCM and mainstream are plain as day, once you have ears to hear. It kills me when people get hyper defensive of CCM, claiming that there is no quality difference. You could play me 8 bar sections of pop vs. CCM songs with no lyrics and I betcha I could pick them out 90% of the time. We have crafted for ourselves…. a genre. We have our own little section at Best Buy. CCM often outgrosses Jazz, but gets hammered by Country.

Then there’s the whole, “Crossing Over,” thing. If a band that breaks through on a CCM label (which are all owned by major secular corporations, BTW) they will always be ghettoized by the mainstream music fans, no matter how many hits they have on the radio. Jars of Clay will always be a CCM band. They were actually quoted once as saying they choe to enter CCM because they thought it would be easier to get their breaks. They made their bed, and mainstream success has eluded them since their first record.

A shame… because they’re a great band, and always have been.

Ok… what’s my point… I don’t have a point. I wonder things like this… what would happen if a band wrote parables instead of praise songs? What would happen if the Christian community decided it was ok for the songwriter not to feel any better by the third chorus? What if Christian writers were given the creative freedom to write… Psalms?

Nah. Won’t play on The Fish. Let’s spin that Point of Grace track again from ‘97. That kills with the Precepts crowd.

Sorry. I’m bitter. I visited a megachurch last weekend.

Cerise

“It’s the MESSAGE, stupid.” We need to say to ourselves over and over. The mode, media, and music will all change with time. But if the message is lost, so will be those who hear it. And I thought getting the saved was the point of drawing them in, right?

…which is a good thing…I married one of those guys!

I’ll register as soon as I’m done with the dishes, and changing diapers, and the painting project, and making the bed (yes, I know it’s after 4pm)…

Ok, now that I see him golfing the blooms off the pansies (hey, if you can’t afford actual golf balls…) I’ve completely lost all train of deeper thought. Perhaps I’ll have a thought worth sharing again sometime…how’s 2008 look for ya?

So, a spammer is somebody who posts on a blog just to get a link to their own random site included on said blog?? What’s the world coming to…

Oh, and your WV goats reference reminded me that whenever Brian comments on the vague (Vague) possibility of ever owning an uber-expensive car, I merely say that once he has made his peace with God and the starving children of the world, he should feel free to go ahead with that idea. Is that very Proverbs 31ish of me?

Ok, a large rock was just hurled against the french doors. To mothering I must get. Really, really like your music at church ideas. Really.

I was thinking about this just this past weekend, actually, while I was playing with two very, very good ringers at our Easter service. I think, at least at our church, we’ve tried to strike a balance that hits some of these things.

I know it’s not perfect yet, but I watched on Thursday night as the hired gun guitarist stayed around after rehearsal for about 20 minutes to show some things to the 19 year old kid who is our steady player. I think we’re doing a decent job of not just hiring in talent for one day, but putting our volunteer players in situations where they learn from knowledgeable (and humble) pro players.

So, hopefully we can build on that. And, lest anyone should get the wrong idea, we hire players maybe 3 or 4 times a year. That’s very, very few World Vision goats.

Anyway, this has long been a topic of discussion around our house and while the B and I can always talk about it at length, we have never come up with any solutions such as you outlined here. I like ‘em. So Michael, given that you wrote this 8 months and 3 weeks ago, can I safely assume that all of your ideas have been put into national, if not global, practice? Thanks for solving this problem for one and all. I’ll sew you up a cape real soon!

For reals, seems like a good plan. Now to implement it…

Do people really still say “Keep it real?” Wow. I AM out of it.

Thank you, archival spammers. Thank you.

Thanks for your thoughts.

1.) The congregation would have to stop watching television, renting DVD’s and going to the movies for at least two years. We are so accustomed to being entertained, that we are unable to separate musical quality from quality of worship.

2.) Ministry leaders would have to stop programming music around the sermon. We have a culture of teaching Pastors who are accustomed the “worship team as jukebox” paradigm. Volunteers do not play passable versions of the latest CCM hit.

3.) Board members would no longer be allowed to buy the latest Mercy Me worship project or listen to K-GOD (or whatever the local Cumulus Corporation station is…) and make special requests.

4.) We would have to consider the possibility that we’ve worshipped music and entertainment over the God who created these things.

Barring these four minor changes, I think we’re good to go!