Evangelical editor picks a quarrel with his cohorts (claims they have lost their way)

Charlotte Observer ^ | June 6, 2009 | Tim Funk

[Marysecretary]

I used to belong to an interfaith community chorus and we did parts of it a couple of times. What a great cantata that is. Imagine, he wrote it all in 26 days, I believe. Genius, and spirit-led on this one for sure.

[B-Chan]

Dear Evangelical Brothers and Sisters:
HE'S ABSOLUTELY RIGHT

Great post, NYer. There's hope for our separated brethren yet.

[B-Chan]

Oh! Jesus is my Boyfriend
Yes He’s the God For Me
I met Him at a mixer at
The Cross of Calvary
He never asks me questions
Or makes demands of me
‘Cause Jesus is my Boyfriend

Yes! Jesus is my Boyfriend
He’s not like other guys
My girlfriends love his dreamy hair
And rave about his eyes
We both love rockin’ music
So it’s really no surprise
That Jesus is my Boyfriend

[AnAmericanMother]

OK, I'm rolling on the floor here.

Do you have the music anywhere?

[Lee N. Field]

Alas, google pulls up nothing.

[AnAmericanMother]

Oh, rats!

We can just use the tune from "Give Jesus Christ the Football".

[Lee N. Field]

Warren Cole Smith

The Lutheran program Issues, etc. has interviewed Mr. Smith today. Just pulled it down in down in my podcast feed, haven't listened to it yet. I don't see a direct link at their site yet. It's about a half hour, and if it's to their usual standards it won't be fluff.

[Lee N. Field]

Link to Issues, Etc. talking to Warren Cole Smith.

Worth the half hour. I learned some things (that I will want to verify):

• Willow Creek (the definitional suburban seeker soporific big box evangelical Churchmall that everyone emulates and looks to for "leadership") started as an overgrown youth group, and consciously thinks of itself as "youth group for big folks".
• Not every group in the Willow Creek Association is Christian.
• "Becky". Becky is the notional audience that evangelical Christian radio is aiming at. Becky is 34, drives a minivan, has 2 kids, may or may not be Christian, and wants her radio "safe for the whole family". What Becky listens to now gets sung in worship in a couple-'r-three years.

So, I guess I'll just have to get Smith's book, read it in my "abundant free time", and pass it on to our church leadership (who seems bound and determined to go down that path ('cause this is what they're reading)).

Ping to Alex Murphy (Alex, is it you that runs the Your Bestest, Most Purposeful Life Now list?) and terriergal.

[Alex Murphy]

Becky is the notional audience that evangelical Christian radio is aiming at. Becky is 34, drives a minivan, has 2 kids, may or may not be Christian, and wants her radio "safe for the whole family". What Becky listens to now gets sung in worship in a couple-'r-three years.

LONE STARR: Yogurt, what is this place? What is that you do here?
YOGURT: Merchandising!

I'm pretty sure that churches have to pay some kind of licensing fee for the use of those modern "hymns" by Matthew West and the like. What is worth considering is not why the church is buying, but more importantly why the music publishing house is selling. There's a whole industry adjunct to radio that's built around writing (and selling) worship songs to evangelical churches for a profit, which generates record sales which generates demand for worship licenses ad infinitum. I will admit that if the very songs being marketed weren't narcissistic theological fluff, I wouldn't be complaining as loudly.

Alex, is it you that runs the Your Bestest, Most Purposeful Life Now list?

I'm very grateful for the ping (this is exactly the kind of stuff that I go looking for), but it's Gamecock that owns the pinglist!

[Lee N. Field]

There's a whole industry adjunct to radio that's built around writing (and selling) worship songs to evangelical churches for a profit, which generates record sales which generates demand for worship licenses ad infinitum.

"Church" is an industry, complete with "free-if-you-in-the-field" trade rags.

"Church Executive"

"Church Production Magazine"

"Church Solutions"

"Technologies for Worship "

Doubtless there are more. That's just for churchs, and that's just from a couple pages of Google search. There's probably more if you're into the "Christian retailing" side. And don't forget the Den of Thieves Retail Show. And there are a vast number of websites that will get you all set up if what you want is a prewritten sermon, complete with "powerpoints" and video clips and bulletin inserts.

Jesus wept. (Actually, I think a better biblical allusion would be "Jesus, 'making a whip of cords'....".)

Gamecock

who hasn't posted since April. :-(.