So, the Lord has given you a beautiful gifting of the music, and you’re wondering how best to exploit it for crass commercial gain?
Audition for Gifted!! It’s like American Idol, only with more suck!!
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Phreaky Phriday: Christian Idol
michael
spellcheck: it's like autotune for words
Morphea 11:50 am on 13 March 2006 Permalink
Ooh, good dipthong!
Chad 12:16 pm on 13 March 2006 Permalink
Guys,
Don’t let your hearts be hardened,
Don’t let your love grow cold
May it always stay so childlike
May it never grow too old
Don’t let your hearts be hardened
May you always know the cure
Keep it broken
Before Jesus
Keep it thankful, meek, and pure.
THIS MEANS WAR MOT*** *****R!!!!!
I love CCM.
Morphea 12:30 pm on 13 March 2006 Permalink
Love knows when to let go.
Love knows when to say “no”
Love grows in the light of the sun,
and love shows the world that the Son of Love has cooooome.
…and…
Get on your knees and FIGHT like a man!
You’ll pull out strongholds if you just believe you can.
Your enemy will tuck his tail and fleeeee!
Get on your knees and FIGHT like a man!
corey 2:44 pm on 13 March 2006 Permalink
chad,
are you paraphrasing?.. or is that the real end of the CCM tune to which you’re referring? Seems that an outburst like that would’ve raised a few eyebrows of the pious listeners of KSBJ back home. :)
reminds me of the natalie portman snl short that’s floating around. Just google “natalie portman raps”.
corey 2:45 pm on 13 March 2006 Permalink
/hijack
Chad 3:25 pm on 13 March 2006 Permalink
No… I was highlighting the irony of the fact that the tune I quoted was, indeed, off of an album called “This Means War.” To be fair to Petra, they were declaring war on the Devil… not.. you know… Swedes or something. I just have grown so weary of Christians using battle metaphors and not being sure about exactly with whom we’re battling, as described in EPH 6:11-13.
I remember last summer I was with my youth choir from church, and we were at a church on our mini tour. We were guests at the church of a pastor with whom I was a friend, and I was attempting to be on my best behaviour. The sermon that morning, after we sang our 25-30 min set, was a videotaped message entitled “Christians coming out of the closet: Defending your faith.” I knew we were in trouble when the video started and sitting behind the speaker was Falwell the Hut, jowels hanging down and swishing with every approving “Amen!” The core of the message was that the gays had pushed the Christians into the closet and they were mad as hell and not going to take it anymore.
After the message, the worship band led us through a hymn whose name escapes me at the moment, but is one of those blood drenched war hymns that we all know and love. I was so disguested that I leaned over the the student next to me and whispered, “This comes from the passage of scripture where Jesus leads the violent, bloody revolt on Rome.” He didn’t get it.
I nearly died when, a few minutes later, the pastor challenged his congregation to “Confront the culture with the gospel, just like these kids do.” I wanted to scream. I wanted to grab the mic from him and tell him that we try this crazy thing called “serving.” We serve the gospel up sweet, with a pinch of humility and a dash of good cheer. I wanted to tell that congregation that we only came to churches once in the week on sunday morning, and that the addicts and homeless that we sang to the rest of the time didn’t need to be confronted with anything other than a hot meal and some love.
OT Rant over.
BTW, the Natalie Portman video is absolutely hilarious.
Morphea 3:51 pm on 13 March 2006 Permalink
Good writing, Chad.
You know, she’s kind of good…
corey 10:26 pm on 13 March 2006 Permalink
“Blue Like Jazz” and “Wild At Heart” both touch on the irony of using militant imagery to spread the Prince of Peace’s message of love. It’s kinda funny now that I mention it.
And I can identify with your example, Chad. I guess what they lack in social perception, they make up in zeal. At a point, it all becomes about storming the gates of hell with a water gun.
…all of this, from Gifted?
Nick 2:49 pm on 31 May 2007 Permalink
Bless me Lord, Bless me Lord, you know it’s all I ever hear.
No one aches, no one hurts, no one even sheds one tear.
But he cries, he weaps, he pleads, and he cares for your needs,
and you just lay back and keep soaking it in.
I heard Steve Camp perform this Keith Green song (Asleep in the Light) at church camp here in Texas in 1995. He was leading worship (really performing his album “run to the battle”) all week. Out of the whole week of music, that was the one song that touched me.
I can’t hear this song without being challenged and inspired. Keith Green didn’t write “fluff” or anything to fill an album.
(Aside) I just had to comment on this post because I feel so close to all of you now. I guess I forgot that other people listened to the CCM-type music pretty seriously at one time.
This is kind of embarassing, but I remember marching around my front yard with a boom box blaring “This Means War” by Petra. You wouldn’t believe how at home I feel now.
Morphea 3:47 pm on 31 May 2007 Permalink
You’re among friends, brother. This Means War was a big deal for me. I’d sing it in my best John Schlitt voice and even do the “WAR…War…war…war” echo for myself every chorus. Good stuff.
Morphea 3:57 pm on 31 May 2007 Permalink
Damn it. I just went back and read the whole shebang (Antoinette – AWESOME to see you again! OMG, did you end up breaking Old Scratch’s back for realz?) and realized that I TWICE and independently posted the echo to the “This Means War”. That echo must’ve really meant something to me. Those of you who agonize over how many effects you should squeeze into a CCM song, you should. A person could get saved on reverb alone, clearly.
Chad 5:05 pm on 31 May 2007 Permalink
I loved “This Means War.”
Loved it.
All the king’s horses… rokk’n'rulez.
Nick 12:51 pm on 5 June 2007 Permalink
Here’s a line that I dug up for a bible study a couple of weeks ago from the great Steve Taylor. Prophetic?
When the closets are empty and the clinics are full
and your eyes have been blinded by society’s wool
When the streets erupt in your own backyard
you’ll be on your knees praying for the national guard
If you don’t care now how the problems get solved
you can shake your head later that you never got involved
’cause the call came ringing from the throne of gold
but you never got the message ’cause your mind’s on hold