There are MANY things which disturb me about CCM

That title is a quote from Brother Enda and I respect his opinion as a brother in the Lord but I'd like to discuss this topic from a place of agreement and go as far as we can.

I would agree that there are SOME things which disturb me about CCM....

but does that mean it is entirely ungodly? This is where I have to disagree with my brother.

There was a time when I believed this way. I thought anything that wasn't worship being sung in my congregation was surely from the devil himself. I might not be exactly like Bro Enda but I can understand that point of view.

In my case, tragedy struck. I had been married for 14 years but born again for only 5 years when my wife left me and our four children. I resigned from the music team and went to another church where I could sit in the back anonomously while the Lord healed me.

It was tough....I couldn't hardly choke worship songs out of my mouth. I was hurting more than I can tell you..

One day, I heard a song coming from my son's room. It was Bryan Duncan's song "I'll Not Forget You".

This was the beginning of my healing. That album entitled "Mercy" spoke to my situation in a way that no hymns or worship chorus could do. It ministed me back to Jesus.

There were a few other songs during those days that carried me when I would consider suicide. "Hold Me Jesus" by Rich Mullins, "Summer Solstice" by Susan Ashton...etc...etc..

The point is that CCM does have a place of ministry though it might not be appropriate for the morning church service.

In my case, it probably saved my life...

I hope that we can understand why Enda sees this as a threat to the body. I'm sure he has some valid points...but since I love a good debate I also hope to convince him that there is more under the surface that he isn't considering.

Hop in...the water will soon be warm!

 

Bro Enda says:

there is plenty to start with;

1. what is the "whole package"? Are you talking about from musicians to writers to singers to management to booking agencies to radio stations to record labels to distributors to bookstores to consumers?

I agree that there are plenty of things to "fix" in all aspects of that chain...but your position seems rather extreme. Do you have this belief because you don't like it personally or do you believe that it dishonors the Lord?


2. What do you define as CCM? Does it include Southern Gospel? What about hymns that have been redone? Does this include praise & worship that is being played on the radio? How do you differentiate the differences and why? What makes a song CCM? Are you sure it's not just the intrumentation or production that you find offensive?

3. Where would a CCM lyricist go if he "came out of it"? What other market is there?

 

Brother Enda,

you don't have to "justify" anything. I hope we can keep this conversation out of that realm.

I would just like to know how you come to this conclusion.

Frankly, it seems like you are judging the intent of literally millions of people [whom you don't even know] to be at odds with God...and I would just like to know why. Maybe I can't make a dent in you but I want to at least understand that view.

Feel free to blast away at me personally if that helps your prosecution of this topic. I know the stigma of divorce all too well so I doubt you will surprise me.

 

Great article, Dale. And I'm bored by CCM on the radio these days, too, Abiyah


baptist in richmond....thank you so much for your concern. I can see that it's all about helping people with you. The Lord has done amazing things since that time, though. I'm happier than I ever thought possible and this life of faith just keeps getting greater...and with greater challenges, too.

The only reason I mentioned it was to gauge where I stopped thinking CCM was evil. This was a time where I found ministry value in music I had formerly despised.

there are things about the overall industry that disturb me but that is different than saying that the "music" is evil.

No matter what style of music one likes, we could go back into time and find where a previous generation thought it was "worldy music"

All music is a form of communication. To make a blanket statement rejecting anything about CCM
is either;

1. rejecting what they are communicating
2. rejecting the method of communication
3. both

From what I can tell, it looks like Bob doesn't like the method and Enda chooses option #3. Is that correct?

Would it be possible to separate songs from the industry itself? What about the songwriters?

 

Let me talk about the thing that disturbs me most in CCM.


Marketing and promotion!

On this, I'm sure we will all agree. The hype it takes to get attention and sell music to a large demographic of people (a "hit") is in stark contrast to the humility of Jesus.

He went around doing good and asking people not to tell anyone. Marketing and Promotion wants you to see the face of the latest/greatest singer who hasn't really done a darn thing yet.

Marketing and Promotion in CCM puffs up young "stars" as being super-spiritual beings that can teach us something?

They are signing children these days because of the youth "image" (and we know what God says about images!). How can most of them have any maturity when they haven't even graduated high school yet?

Marketing and Promotion makes ordinary people who might have a talent for singing into "stars"
And many of these "stars" actually believe the hype written about them.

Marketing and Promotion is in the business of selling a product and the promotion of Jesus is not in their priorities for the most part.


But the flip side is this:

Why would that be any different than a christian who owns a roofing company making commercials about how great of a job they do at their particular craft?

As I can see it, the only difference is that the CCM artist is "owned" by the company and has very little say in how they are promoted unlike the owner of a roofing business.

And the Record label is selling a person as much as a product and therefore must make this artist appealing....even if there is an artificial element to it.

Somewhere there must be a balance. Any ideas?

 

I once had a Nashville record label owner tell me that I was too old and overweight to be in the music business....so I changed the name of my band to "Big Methuselah".

 

the problem is...where would someone hear them to find out whether they liked em or not?

 

and this is why christian labels sign youngsters...

Only youngsters are buying the records they put out.

I guarantee that if all the millions of Baptists went out and bought YOUR record, you would have labels lining up at your door in the morning.

 

I'm gonna tell you a secret. Please don't tell Enda or Aaron because they will surely hate me.

I'm on a record label...a christian record label at that! Ya'll might call me CCM but CCM does not.

My label is distributed by the same company that does Bob Carlisle...because he owns a big part of it. He got dropped because his last record was such a failure.


It's a niche label I'm on...we do messianic worship. (boy am I asking for it now!)

In other words, they cater to a specific audience. I was 42 when they signed me last year. I'm fat and ugly...go figure.



The point is that there are still SOME labels out there who are looking for ministry minded musicians. It's a huge risk to sign anyone because of the money it takes to break a new artist. The big companies can spend upwards of a million bucks promoting a new band!

This is another reason why they are signing them young. It might take 5 years to see a return on their investment and another 5 years to see a profit.

I'll be 53 in 10 years...think your kids will by any geriatrics records?