Double Standards For Christian Musicians

Here's a link to an article which I recently posted via Google Docs. You may find it enlightening.

From Jesus Freaks to Control Freaks

In the 1970's, shortly after becoming a Christian in 1969, I became a part of the budding "Jesus movement". There were a lot of young people, in those days, who, despite the fact that we dressed like hippies and listened to rock music, loved the Lord. We were sometimes known as "Jesus freaks".

I miss those days. Some of my best friendships were developed during that time of my life. People weren't perfect, of course, but the people who were part of that movement did seem to have a genuine love for God and for all people, saved or otherwise.

These days, it seems to me, the church could use a lot more Jesus freaks, and a lot fewer control freaks. Many of our pastors (some of whom, ironically, were once part of the Jesus movement, and some of whom think that they still are) have become bullies who believe that the fact that they're in charge entitles them to run roughshod over the feelings and needs of others in their congregations. They may give lip service to the idea that ministers of the gospel ought to emulate Christ by serving others, but their actions speak more loudly than their words.

This is particularly true when it comes to the way many pastors treat musicians. Even though it would be extremely difficult to find a really successful church which had no talented musicians on its worship team, there are still pastors who treat musicians as if they are expendable, and as if their needs, material and otherwise, are utterly unimportant.

Even in cases where there is no evidence to substantiate such accusations, musicians are often presumed to be immature people who need to be "humbled" (or, to be more accurate, repeatedly denigrated and humiliated) in the name of spiritual discipline, for no better reason than the fact that they are musicians! And then people wonder why they aren't constantly bubbling over with the "joy of the Lord".

Admittedly, there are some musicians, just as there are Christians in all other walks of life, who deserve to be accused of being self-centered and immature. If and when that is the case, then it is appropriate for Christian leaders to speak the truth about such matters, provided that they are guided by love and humility when they communicate such things. But musicians have no monopoly on immaturity.

My father, for example, was once considered a "pillar of the community". He was an optometrist, and he loved the prestige which came from being called "Dr. Pettigrew". He was head of the local PTA, a well-known figure at Rotary and Toastmaster meetings, the Chairman of the Mayor's Commission on Human Rights, and (at one time) the president of the Missouri Optometric Association. He even had a photo of himself shaking hands with the Governor of Missouri, in his official capacity as the president of the MOA.

He was also a part-time minister (or what was called a "lay minister") in the Methodist church. Every Sunday morning, the people would stream out of the small country churches he led, saying things such as "What a wonderful sermon, Dr. Pettigrew!" They were right. My father had "charisma", and he could preach a magnificent sermon.

At one time in my life, I was actually very proud of him, despite his propensity for beating the living daylights out of me with his thin leather belt for the most trivial of offenses. But there came a time when I could no longer feel proud of my father. By the time he died in 1999, he had:

• Violently thrown me up against the wall because I inadvertently left my football out in the front yard.
• Committed adultery.
• Denied that Christ had risen from the dead (during a conversation which I remember vividly, despite the passage of more than 30 years).
• Divorced my mother.
• Ridiculed both me and my mother for our growing Christian faith.
• ... and gone from being a "tee-totaller" to an alcoholic who, at one point, was so drunk that he couldn't even put his own pants on.

How pathetic! But do you think he ever really apologized for anything? No, not my dad. He was, after all, a "pillar of the community".

Gosh, I guess it's a good thing he wasn't a musician, too --- then he would have been really bad!

Pastors need to get their own houses in order before they start taking musicians to task. This, by the way, includes pastors who also happen to be talented musicians.

One such person, from the Chicago area, is Glenn Kaiser, the very talented singer and guitarist who once led the Resurrection Band, which I still consider to be one of the best bands in the history of rock music. (Notice that I didn't qualify that by saying, "one of the best Christian bands". They were that good.) Glenn, who is a pastor at Jesus People U.S.A. (where I lived for several months in 1991), recently stated the following (in his Blogger.com blog): "Talent doesn't EVER equal spiritual maturity. Never. Nada." He's right, it doesn't. And that's as applicable to his talent as it is to anyone else's.

By the same token, a position of authority in a local church or national ministry should never be automatically equated with spiritual maturity, either. From Jim Jones to Jim Bakker to Jimmy Swaggart to Jesse Jackson to the Catholic priests who have been convicted of the sexual abuse of minors, there are just too many examples of incompetent, self-centered, blatantly sinful pastors and priests for anyone but the most naive to think that authority in the church is equal to spiritual maturity.

Amazingly, despite many decades in which contemporary Christian music has had the opportunity to demonstrate its compatibility with the goals of the church, there are still pastors (usually theologically conservative pastors) who believe, despite the absence of any scriptures to support their views, that rock music is "of the Devil". When asked to cite the applicable scriptures, chapter and verse, they are unable to do so, of course, because no such scriptures exist in any known translation of the holy scriptures. Yet, rather than seeing Christian rock musicians as allies in the fight against the Devil's lies, they see such musicians as enemies to be opposed. Sometimes this opposition is very blatant, other times it's much more subtle, but in all instances, it can be a source of real spiritual stress for those who are doing their best to serve the Lord with the musical talents and extremely limited material resources given to them.

CCM, also known as Contemporary Christian Music, was a genre of music started by "Jesus freaks" who believed that it was irrational for Christians who claimed to be guided by the word of God to invent prohibitions (such as the prohibition against rock music) which had no basis in scripture. They saw no reason not to play or enjoy such music, and they saw it as a potent tool which could be used for evangelistic purposes.

Indeed, it was, as I saw firsthand when I promoted a Sweet Comfort Band concert when I was in college. Numerous people accepted Christ as Savior at that concert. That was hardly an isolated event. Many Christian rock concerts have led to conversions to the faith.

Yet, right from the start, Christian rock musicians faced an uphill battle. They were too Christian for the secular music market, and too radical for many of the older people who shared their Christian beliefs.

Eventually, after several decades of struggle, the vast majority of the church acknowledged that pop and rock music could be legitimate expressions of the faith. (Walk through any Bible bookstore today, if you don't believe me.) Unfortunately, it now seems legitimate to ask if it matters anymore. Somewhere along the way, people involved in the Christian music industry lost sight of why the pioneers (such as Larry Norman and Barry McGuire) had played and recorded contemporary Christian music in the first place.

The vision for changing the world with such music was lost. Instead of seeing CCM as a potent evangelistic tool, Christians started seeing such music as a "safe alternative" to worldly rock music. Instead of wanting to storm the gates of Hell, they wanted to retreat to a nice, warm castle which would protect them from the influence of the enemy.

I'm not completely unsympathetic. In any war, it's sometimes necessary to go on the defensive if you want to survive to see another day. But you'll never win any major wars if you stay on the defensive forever. To win wars, it's necessary to leave your comfort zone and take risks. These days, far too few Christians are willing to do that. There are a few Christian musicians who continue to try to bridge the gap between the church subculture and the larger culture which surrounds them, without compromising their faith or their commitment to musical excellence, but they seem to be the exception, not the rule.

As a result, American culture is on a downward path in terms of the collective moral values of our nation. While Christians hide behind stained glass doors and play church, people are dying outside.

Nostalgia can be a bad thing, of course. Even if we wanted to do so, it's highly doubtful that we could ever return to the glory days of the Jesus movement. But that doesn't mean that it's a bad idea to look at what we've lost, why we lost it, and what we could do and ought to do in order to recover that which was lost.

First of all, pastors need to stop selectively choosing to focus on only those scriptures which support their personal ambitions. They need to remind themselves that God is no respecter of persons. Every person in the Body of Christ is valuable. Therefore it is a disservice to the church and to Christ to run one's church in such a way that most people have no real voice with regard to the policies and practices within their own churches. In particular, Christians who seek to use the arts as a means of reconnecting the church to disenfranchised people ought to be encouraged and supported in those efforts.

Likewise, pastors need to recommit themselves to the principal that only the scriptures constitute God's word. Imposing their own personal preferences and prejudices on others, without any real scriptural justification for doing so, is simply unacceptable.

Second, Christians need to do some soul-searching with regard to their attitudes towards the lost. Do we really care about the masses of people who don't know the Lord? If so, why aren't we willing to reach out to them and communicate the gospel in a manner which will transcend the superficial cultural barriers which have prevented them from taking our message seriously? And why do we endlessly snipe at each other, when the only purpose that serves is to distract us from the task of fulfilling the Great Commission?

Ultimately, the Jesus Movement was not about superficial styles of clothing or music. It was about an attitude, one which transcends time and space, and that's the attitude that people matter. No one is expendable. Just because people dress differently or like different styles of music, that's no reason to treat them as if they are unimportant.

When the church becomes insular, when its focus is primarily on preserving the status quo rather than transforming it, it betrays the Lord, who came and died in order to seek and save all who were lost.

The Voice of Wisdom

I'd like to share the lyrics to a song I wrote some time ago. The song was inspired by the first chapter of the book of Proverbs (Verses 20-33), and also by the excellent book Death in The City by Francis Schaeffer.

There's a line in the song which says, "our children have nothing to eat". While it certainly refers in part to the needs of the poor, who literally go to bed hungry when they should not have to do so, it also refers to the spiritual hunger which has existed in cities ever since Adam and Eve committed the first sins. That hunger can only be satiated by Jesus, the Bread of Life.

The accompanying tune had a driving rock beat, in the key of E minor. I've always played it on the piano, but I'd really like to hear it performed by a hard rock band, since that was the feel I was trying to achieve.

(Incidentally, the lyrics to this song are copyrighted, as are all of the other materials on this blog site. If you wish to republish anything on this site for some purpose, send me a message at mark_w_pettigrew@hotmail.com to let me know specifically what you want to do with my creative work. Unless your utilization of my work stands to substantially cut into the money I might make from that work, I'll probably grant you limited permission to do so. Naturally, I have no problem with your linking to this blog entry, or others, on your own web page or in your e-mail messages.)

IN THE STREET

© Mark Pettigrew

Verse 1

Wisdom cries out, listen now, hear her voice in the street.
The city is dying, our children have nothing to eat.
Tell me, how long will you follow your own foolish plans?
How long will you be a slave to what Satan demands?

CHORUS
Turn your face towards Heaven.
Leave your past behind.
You can be forgiven;
given true peace of mind!

Verse 2
Jesus is calling and knocking at everyone's door.
Let him inside, and you won't be alone anymore.
Listen to wisdom, and not to your selfish desires.
Judgment is coming, and payment will be required.

(REPEAT CHORUS)

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As the above lyrics amply demonstrate, rock music doesn't necessarily have to glorify evil things, even though it's certainly been used for that purpose on occasions. In fact, I like to think that there's something vaguely prophetic about my lyrics for In The Street.

Speaking of good and evil, I recently posted some substantial updates to a blog entry I posted earlier. Even if you have already read the post entitled "When Bad Is Called Good," I invite you to check it out again. Its Web address is: http://markpettigrew.blogspot.com/2005/10/when-bad-is-called-good.html

River North Community Church

Sunday night, I decided to visit River North Community Church (a/k/a River North Baptist Church), a brand new fellowship which meets at 30 W. Chicago Avenue, Chicago, IL 60610 at 4:00 p.m. Pastor Bill Branks and his wife were there, as were two other people in addition to myself. It was more of a Bible study than a formal worship service, but I left with a positive impression of Pastor Branks. Later, I visited his website, at www.rivernorthbc.org. It's a nice website.

I see positive things in this new church's future.

UPDATE: I subsequently stopped going to this church for reasons pertaining to a narrow-minded attitude on the part of the pastor with regard to the types of music which were suitable for worship services, inasmuch as that attitudes directly affected my ability to use my own musical talents as a means of expressing my love for God. What a shame. Up until that point, I was very enthusiastic about what Branks was doing in the River North area.

My Grand Ambitions

When I was growing up, my parents would often take me to visit my maternal grandparents in St. Louis, on Lawn Avenue, just south of Forest Park and the Planetarium. They lived in the parsonage provided by Barnes Hospital, where my grandfather, George Bowles, served as the Methodist chaplain. It's been many years since I set foot in that house , but I have warm memories from the times I spent there.

My grandmother had a spinet piano in her living room. One day, when I was about nine years old, I sat down at the piano and began to improvise. I'm pretty sure that it sounded horrendous, since I'd had no training at all, but what it lacked in terms of melody and harmony, it made up for in terms of passion! Upon hearing me, my mother decided that it was time to get me enrolled in piano lessons. The following Christmas, I awoke to find a new Story & Clark console piano in the living room. Shortly thereafter, my parents found an elderly, chain-smoking classical piano teacher named Mrs. T.A. Baker, and I began taking lessons with her. (I didn't much care for her smoking habit, but she amply compensated for that deficiency by nurturing my musical potential.) Those first music lessons involved the most incredibly rudimentary melodies one could possibly imagine, but by the time I ended my lessons with her approximately seven years later, I had acquired a great deal of proficiency as a classical piano player. (Later, I studied classical piano, in college, with a Cuban pianist named Luis Rojas, who had performed at Carnegie Hall.)

However, I did not aspire to be a professional classical pianist, even though I loved classical music. My musical aspirations were shaped by other experiences in my life. Specifically, when I was 13 years old, I accepted Christ as my personal Savior. I'd been raised in the Methodist church, but I came to a point in my life where I realized that that wasn't enough. There was a spiritual vacuum in my life, in spite of my efforts to be a good kid, and it had become painfully obvious that I needed divine help. While becoming a Christian wasn't an instant panacea which solved all of my problems, it did help to reverse the downward spiral of my life at that time.

I started high school in 1970. During my freshman and sophomore years in high school, I became a part of what became known as the "Jesus movement". I started attending a storefront Christian coffeehouse downtown. Initially, it was known as The Encounter, and about the only person there, other than myself, was the proprietor, who was a student from a local Bible college. Then the place changed hands and changed its name to the New Wine Coffeehouse, and before long, it was the hip place to be on Friday and Saturday nights if you were a young Christian living in or near Springfield, Missouri.

During that time, I began to hear a number of Christian folk-rock singers and groups, and even a rock band or two. Larry Norman, who was to Christian rock what Elvis Presley was to secular rock, performed at the New Wine Coffeehouse. I became a huge fan of his. I also loved it when the E Band, from Fort Wayne, Indiana, came to town. (Greg Volz, the band's lead singer, later spent a number of years as the lead singer for a better-known band named Petra.) During those early years, other seminal contemporary Christian musicians who came to town included Love Song, the Children of the Day, and Andrae Crouch and the Disciples.

As an extension of my passion for my new faith (which also found expression in numerous hours of "street witnessing"), I started writing my own Christian pop songs, during my sophomore year in high school, and I performed on occasions at the New Wine Coffeehouse. I gradually became convinced, on the basis of public reaction to my performances, that this was what I wanted to do for a living once I graduated from high school. I thought that was entirely feasible; after all, others were showing that it was possible to make a living in such a manner.

Little did I know how difficult such a path would prove to be. Many years have passed since that time. I'm now 49 years old, and I still have not even come close to being able to earn a living as a musician, despite commendations from a number of highly respected musicians, both Christian and secular. Yet, I still persist in believing that God has great plans for my music. I would be lying if I said that it had not been extremely frustrating at times. My faith has been severely tried (and, in some cases, found wanting). Yet, I still have a passion for music, and for the God who gave me my musical talents. For some years now, I have focused primarily on instrumental music, particularly music which is influenced by my love for jazz, blues and Latin music, and by my classical music background (although it has been many years since I played real classical music). At present, I am practicing the piano, on a semi-regular basis, at a local church, which has a beautiful Boston grand piano. (Hence the title of this blog entry.) During the past year, I have written several new pieces of instrumental music, which I hope to record soon.

Therefore, I solicit your prayers, if you're reading this entry, and if you believe, as I do, that the world needs more music which promotes truth and beauty, and which is founded on a Biblical worldview. Please pray that I will find the resources I need, both monetary and otherwise, to make my "grand ambitions" a reality.