Change Dividing Southern Baptist Mega-Church

Oh please. Some of the contemporary praise songs our church does are literally Psalms put to music. FTR, we also sing older hymns as well. However, one cannot dismiss as light and fluffy one of Kind David's songs to the Lord, poured out of his heart in times of praise and adoration, distress, etc. simply because the type of music accompanying them is more modern. What matters is the heart of the worshipper. You can be every bit in the flesh singing ‘Not What My Hands Have Done’ as you can singing Rick Founds’ ‘Lord I Lift Your Name on High’.

The point to be made on the website link I gave was not to condemn either contemporary or hymns, but, rather that we examine what we sing in the light of Scripture just as we would what we receive in a message. In some cases, the text of what we sing may be more appropriate for our personal worship time than it is for corporate worship.

At least at Bellevue it isn't an either/or situation with regard to music... unless you're in attack mode against the current staff, in which case even the smallest thing that isn't "the way it used to be" can be a stepping-stone for another character assassination attempt.

--Mike
http://thebrattonreport.blogspot.com

Thanks Ed. My point wasn't to be contentious, but rather to examine the scriptural validity of the song itself. So many contend that contemporary Christian music is empty or worldly when, in fact, there are many beautiful and meaningful contemporary praise songs. I will concede that there is quite a bit of "stuff" out there labeled as CCM when it should be labeled as dung instead.

I grew up listening to Southern gospel music as I attended a small country church and the folks there were just common people, many of them farmers etc. My grandfather was the pastor there and he firmly believed in freedom of worship as well as sound doctrine and order. We raised our hands and shouted Hallelujah when Miss Virginia would play the piano and screech out the words to something out of the hymnal and we raised our hands and shouted Hallelujah when the young lady who came in with the gifting of praise began singing more contemporary music accompanied by other instruments.

In my experience, our worship was never about entertaining a congregation. It was about worshipping together corporately, as a body of believers. What moved some taste wise didn't move others and vice versa, but we knew we weren't there to "feel good" and be entertained. We were there to worship the Lord of Lords and the Kings of Kings as a unified body and "little things" like the genre of music never did cause much trouble at all as, in the scheme of things, it was inconsequential.

My grandfather passed away in Jan of this year and our little country church dissoved. I now attend a larger, more contemporary church where the praise and worship is more contemporary but it is sincere and meaningful.

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