Melinda/American Idol and Christian "Music"

I confess that I am a clandestine fan of American Idol. Well, today, I am coming out of the closet to protest the voting off of Melinda Doolittle. America, you got it wrong! Granted, Blake is very creative and very refreshing in a cookie cutter crooner world and Jordin is very good, albeit a little one dimensional, but Melinda had more talent and class than either of the other two combined,squared and multiplied by 10! But I shouldn't be surprised. America has been conditioned to listen to music with their eyes for two decades now and M-Dawg was not as marketable in the pop world as the other two. She has mature voice, and isn’t as glamorous as either Blake or Jordin

Interesting because from the very beginning of this year’s series, Simon kept saying to contestants who wanted to dance, or add a little flair “This is a singing competition”

While I respect Simon's assessment of talent he is only partially correct, as last week's voting revealed. The music industry is less about virtuosity, and talent , and more about marketability and image. Andre Agassi, the tennis player from a few years ago spoke correctly even prophetically when he said “Image is everything”.

Why this rant about Melinda getting the axes from Idol? Because as the world of secular music has gone, so has the music in the church. As a musician (of sorts) I don’t listen to much Christian music and I certainly don’t buy any CD’s and if they are given to me, they usually end up in the garbage can. Sorry; it just doesn’t scratch my musical itch. Ironically, I am on the board of directors for a local 100,000 FM watt Christian radio station. This morning I was driving to a quarterly meeting and I figured I should probably listen to the “product” over which I am responsible and switched the dial to the right frequency and began listening. On the air was a well known female singer. I was mortified. She is cute, photogenic, but can't sing. I have produced a couple of records in my life and can tell, her voice was weak, devoid of control, training, or soul and her voice was heavily processed to make her sound like she was slide over notes like Whitney Houston used to do. It was as if a computerized digitized voice were singing instead of a human being. And the lyrics...impotent and fruitless .

Not wanting to jump to a quick or hasty judgment, I listened until a little longer and another over processed voice came on singing what sounded to me like bad karaoke. This girl, another Christian Pop-Tart, had as much soul and personality as the back wall of a racquetball court, and she began each phrase with a groan that sounded like an engine starting up on a cold Minnesota morning! It was embarrassing.

As well as being a pastor, I sometimes lead worship in my church. Can I be honest? It is very difficult to find a good worship song. One of the last good worship songs was “Shout to the Lord” or maybe “God of Wonders” . I’ll listen to 25 or 50 songs before I can find one I will put in a worship context. Most songs are directed toward the worshiper and not the Lord. For instance, “Open the Eyes of My Heart, Lord is a good song, and I agree we need to have our spiritual eyes opened, but what’s the focus if the song? Me, Us, I. Should I me, us, be the focus of a worship set?

A few years back, Sonic flood made popular a tune whose lyric was, “In the secret in the quiet place…in the quiet hours I wait only for you….” Another good song that speaks of the spiritual discipline of waiting and being quiet before the Lord, but is it worship?

Some (like my friend Laura) might say "yes" but in the book of Revelation, chapters 4-6 the church is seen in heaven and there is a worship service. Listen to the words they sing: “Holy, Holy, Holy; Lord God Almighty who was and is and is to come” And as you read through those worship songs, you’ll realize there is one word missing from all the worship choruses” The word, “I”. It’s not there. I believe worship is the only real gift we can bring to the Lord. But when the songs we sing are to motivate me to worship more, or focus on the gift we bring or anything other than the character and awesomeness of God, in my song book, it's not really worship and we miss out on a great opportunity to be transformed into the likeness of Christ.

You may not know it but I am completely bald. I shave every morning. I like the look. But baldness was a characteristic of my father and it is a characteristic of both of his sons. In worship God inhabits the praises of His people. He infuses his spiritual DNA to ours and we take on more and more of his holy characteristics.

So what do we do? First let's begin to demand more from our song writers, musicians, and worship leaders. I believe we should settle for nothing less than skill, and musicianship. That’s not to take away from those who are less talented but, on a grand scale, I have had it with shoddy musicianship and lousy “me" oriented music.

Secondly, let’s begin to seize control again of the Christian music industry. In the 80’s most of the major Christian labels, Word, Myrrh, and others were "absorbed" by secular companies like A&M and EMI. The record companies began to dictate to us what we should and and shouldn’t like.

Thirdly, get Christian music out of concert halls and into churches again. This will mean that church will need to support it’s artist. One of the reasons A&M and EMI were successful at a Christian music take over was the church didn’t pay their artists well. The big labels promised to take care of the Christian musicians financially, where the church failed

Lastly, let's not be dictated to by the labels. Let’s demand more from our Christian music and our worship songs. Let’s stop listening to music with our eyes and start listening with our hearts. Let’s foster environments where God directed worship songs can be composed. Let's draw upon the wisdom and ability of talented song writers and musicians who have gone before us like Bob Bennett, or Roby Duke or Billy Crockett, or Twila Paris. And if we do this, the record labels whose only real interest is money, will get the message, and either quit making merchandise of the church, or wise up, get a clue and start start producing music that is glorifying, edifying and skillful.