Cynicism- troubling the modern Christian

By Chris Brantner

I can’t count the number of times that people have told me to “stop being so cynical!” My typical response involves eye rolling and something like “quit being so naïve.” However, now that I’m well into my 20’s, I find myself looking inward and reevaluating my character. Here are the questions I’m asking of myself:

1. What exactly does “being cynical” mean?
2. Am I really a cynical person?
3. Does being cynical make me miserable?
4. Do I think I am better than other people?
5. Can I truly be a Christian and a Cynic?

While the answers to these questions meant little to me a few years ago, I feel like they’re necessary to further my journey into full-fledged adulthood. If you’re still a teenager, don’t think this doesn’t apply to you. You’ll be where I stand in the blink of an eye.

Modern Cynicism- I Don’t Know You and I Don’t Trust You

First of all, we need to know what cynicism means. Not to be confused with the ancient philosophical movement, modern day cynicism is basically extreme skepticism of the human race. In other words, the modern cynic pretty much distrusts everything and everyone.

So in reference to my second question, yes I think it’s safe to say I’m a pretty cynical guy. When I meet someone new, I almost always mistrust them. When I see a politician on the television promising me things, my stomach hurts and I change the channel. As a matter of fact, I stopped going to church for almost 10 years because I had a hard time swallowing the words that came out of the preachers’ mouths.

Don’t get me wrong, my skepticism isn’t directed at any one type of person. It’s just people in general. I find that people tend to do bad things and are almost always out only for themselves. And don’t think I haven’t put this idea to the test. Nearly every time I’ve given someone the benefit of the doubt and trusted that they had genuine motives—well, they let me down.

Cynicism and Happiness- Can I Have Both?

If you ask me, I’d say I’m a pretty happy person. I know I’m blessed with lots of good things. A successful career, a loving family, fun friends… I’ve been given lots of things in my lifetime and I recognize they all came from God.

But how can I be happy and enjoy the company of friends and family when I’m so wrapped up in assuming the worst in people? Well, that’s a good question with a difficult answer. First of all, I’m not one of those people with a large friend group (I know you’re shocked by that). I generally hang out with my immediate family and a mere handful of people I’d call true friends. These are the only people in this world that I genuinely feel like I can trust.

Trust is something I don’t give lightly. Trust takes work. You have to build it over a long period of time. Everyone I call a friend (including my close relatives) has put in many years of earning my trust. And likewise, I’d like to think that I’ve worked really hard to gain theirs.

Outside of my small friend group I have acquaintances. These are people I know, converse with, and maybe even hang out with on occasion. For the most part I enjoy their company, but usually in small increments. Do I trust these people? Eh… not really. Underneath all the casual conversation and friendly smiles, my brain is spinning, wondering what motivates their behaviors. And frankly, nothing surprises me. When I find out an acquaintance is in jail for some crime or has betrayed me behind my back— am I shocked? Not at all. Because I believe people are motivated by self-interest.   

The nice thing about my extreme skepticism is that every now and then someone comes along who surprises me (e.g. my recent bride and random new friends).

So does that mean I am both happy and cynical? You bet. Since I don’t allow people’s negative behaviors to surprise me, I don’t let them get me down. And when someone like my wife comes along and offers me a pleasant surprise, well I think I actually appreciate it more than the average person. When you have low expectations and someone comes along who completely blows them out of the water, well it’s that much better.

Do Cynics Think They’re Better Than Everyone Else?

I can’t answer this question for other skeptics, because frankly I think I’m better than them… Okay, just kidding. But in all seriousness, I can only apply this to my own experiences. Does distrusting the motives of others force me to set myself up on a pedestal? Well, yes and no.

All my life I’ve tried to hold myself to a higher standard than others. I think I do a good job of analyzing actions and possible consequences. I also try my best to make good decisions. But do I always make the right choices? Of course not.

So if I sometimes make terrible, selfish decisions, does that make me a hypocrite? According to www.merriam-webster.com, a hypocrite is:

1. a person who puts on a false appearance of virtue or religion
2. a person who acts in contradiction to his or her stated beliefs or feelings

As for the first portion of the definition, I try really hard not to put on the appearance of anything to anyone. And for part 2, well if I subscribe to the idea that humans in general are self-serving, doesn’t that mean I would expect myself to be the same way? When I say I hold myself to a higher standard, I mean that I recognize the problem with the human condition. This in turns makes me handle others with suspicion. It also causes me to strive to be different.

Do I fail? All the time. I’m warring with my humanity.

Can I Be a Cynic and a Christian?

To me, a true Christian is someone who tries to be like Christ. That said, could you describe Jesus as cynical? Eh, I suppose you could try. But admittedly, Jesus wasn’t focused so much on human intentions. His main focus was on loving people. Let’s face it, if we truly believe Jesus died for our sins, then that includes everyone’s sins. Mine, yours, and the dirtiest, stinking liar you know.  In fact, Jesus frequently ministered to the dregs of society.

What does that say about me– does my cynicism keep me from being a Christian? Honestly, I’m not sure. I want to be like Christ, yet I fight with my skepticism on a daily basis. And when it comes down to it, I realize that someone could make the argument that my cynical beliefs actually backfire and turn me into what I can’t stand- a selfish jerk.

So now what? I don’t know… but I’m praying for the answers.

What are your thoughts on the issue?

By Robert Ham

He refers to it as “the song” or even more vaguely as just “a song” that he wrote. But if you know the name John Mark McMillan, you know that “the song” he’s referring to – “How He Loves” – has quickly become one of the most revered worship songs in the world, and has been recorded by luminaries such as David Crowder, Todd Agnew, and Flyleaf.

 In spite of the song’s successes and his rabid fan base, McMillan has largely flown under the radar of the contemporary Christian music world. This will likely change for the 30-year-old singer/songwriter with the upcoming release of his third album The Medicine. It is his first album to be released by a major label (Integrity/Columbia), a move that will likely find him an even bigger audience for his potent blend of pop smarts and folk/blues grit.

 We caught up with McMillan before a tour stop in Seattle, Washington. Sitting in a local coffee house, nursing a cappuccino, he spoke about his still-young career, the move to a major, and the still-debated issue of David Crowder changing the lyrics of “the song”.

How did you get started playing music?

 My dad had a storefront church near Charlotte and they’d have musicians there, people coming in and out. Afterwards, I’d get them to show me some chords. I was terrible at sports. I was not very attractive to the girls. I thought I’ll learn some music and play some chords and maybe the girls will notice me. It didn’t really work but I started to fall in love with sounds. Later on, I really fell in love with songwriting. I came across Dylan and Springsteen and started to really enjoy the kind of things they had to say. More than what they said. It was what they did, the way they gave the average person a language. If you listen to Springsteen, he’s singing about regular people the things they go through and the things they do. I love that.

Did you always imagine you’d be a worship singer/songwriter or did you ever think, “Maybe I could be Springsteen”?

 I sing about Jesus because I like the story and I know what it’s about so writing worship music came naturally at first but we played other venues for a while. But the church thing started to take off, when I wrote a song that a lot of other people started singing. It came more naturally so we ended up doing a lot more of that kind of stuff.

How has that felt having people latch on to this song and watching your career grow from where you started from and where you are now?

 It’s been great. It’s been real interesting with the song. Because I grew up in church but I was never connected with any sort of mainstream Christian music. I probably couldn’t tell you four or five of the biggest artists even right now. It’s been really crazy how big that song’s become. A lot more conservative type folks listen to the music, which is cool. But people ask me questions about stuff that no one had really questioned before as far as how you do things. People have these super traditional mindsets in these areas where they might expect me to act a certain way and do certain things but I’ve never had that pressure before. It’s kind of a weird thing about the way I write songs. People feel like you have to write about certain things and do it a certain way or it’s wrong. I never wanted to be a Christian artist. I just wrote what I was thinking about and what I was feeling. People aren’t used to hearing different kinds of songs connected to the same things.

It’s interesting that you said that because I was chatting online with my sister today, and I told her who I was interviewing and sent her a link to your web site. I mentioned after the fact that you were a Christian artist and she said that she would never have guessed that based solely on your music. 

 I never thought the word “Christian” described the music really well. Maybe I’m crazy maybe I just think more of myself than who I really am. But I’m not sure my music fits with what you would consider Christian music. I have a real problem in the airport people ask what kind of music I play. I’m trying to figure out what to call it. I did an interview on TV and I told them I think I’ll call it gospel rather than Christian music.

How has it been now that you are transitioning to a major label from releasing things on your own? Do you feel any friction concerning not wanting to label yourself as a “Christian artist”?

 There’s definitely a little bit of that friction. Before when I was just independent, I didn’t have to label myself as anything. I’d just put the stuff up on iTunes and sell it at shows. I don’t really understand what world my music exists in. But I had an issue with being part of the Christian organization with the music. After a while, I realized the huge proportion of my market were believers. And it took me about a year to sign with Integrity maybe because of that I didn’t sort feel like I fit with the vibe of the company overall. But there are some really great people on the team. They spent a year to convince me they really wanted to try something different and they really do. They’re really taking a risk that a lot of other Christian companies would have taken.

How so?

 Christian music is heavily driven by Christian radio, and they have specific things like certain frequencies that they want you to mix your song. They want it this length. They want the chorus to come in within 30 seconds. They want it mixed a certain way they want certain frequencies within the mix and I just don’t like that sound at all. Many of the other labels said, “You can do what you want with the album, but let us mix two or three singles and produce them for the radio.” Integrity hasn’t asked me to do any of that. They’ve let me do the songs the way I want. They’ve been super cool and understanding of what I want to do. I’m really blown away at how much they’ve been willing to take risks in those areas.

Has anything from the record made its way on to Christian radio?

 They’ve serviced it to radio and some stations have picked it up, but none of the big ones. I think their view is that there’s not really a big radio home run on this album.  They’ve put a little energy into radio but they haven’t pushed it. I think they’ve known that I’m not super excited about radio.

Are you worried that you are going to get any pressure from them for the next record to move in that direction and cater it toward the bigger marketplace?

 There’ve been nights that I’ve laid awake thinking about that. They say that they’re not going to do that. I know the label is a business and they exist to make money. They want to make your audience bigger one way or another. But I’m cool with that. That’s part of the reason I came to the label. I want to grow our audience too. I don’t feel like they’re going to do it. I just won’t do it. I think they know that. I can do a lot of things but I just can’t do something that I don’t believe in. I don’t think I can hear my song mixed a certain way and be able to live with myself. I don’t need the money that bad. It’s not like we’re making that much money anyway. Most artists get into the business when they’re 18 or 19. I’m 30 and I just now signed a record deal. I took the long road and I’m willing to stick with it.

You posted something on your blog recently encouraging songwriters to make “dangerous music”. What did you mean by that?

 What I was talking about there was this idea that the church has become too safe in a lot of ways. You read the Psalms, which is based on musical worship and has become the model for what we do. There are issues that they deal with that most churches won’t even touch. 20% of the songs in there are the happy and joyful. Those are the only songs that the culture of church wants to have anything to do with. The other 80% of Psalms – the angry Psalms, the sad Psalms, the Psalms that question God – the church won’t deal with it. If you want to question the existence of God and the goodness of God, they don’t want to hear it. But it’s in the Bible. Some of the most revered people in the Bible had moments where they questioned God where they had to search out those kinds of things. They were angry or they cursed people. I feel like its time for worship people to explore some of those and feel comfortable exploring those things. To write music that isn’t so safe and it maybe not be dangerous for people outside of the church.

The reason I asked that is because of David Crowder’s version of “How He Loves” and his changing the lyrics of the song because it was bothering people in his church. That really goes against this idea of making “dangerous music.”

 It totally does. With Crowder, he called and asked to change the line. He said, “Can I change this one line?” And I said, “Why do you want to change it?” He said that a huge group of people that need to hear the song would never hear it because of this lyric. That’s the thing about Christian radio. There aren’t “rules” that say they won’t play it, but I know they won’t play it. So I assumed that’s a major reason that he changed it. And I got to the point that there was so much heat on the song and so many people doing it. And I know the label talked about other people doing that I wasn’t very excited about it. I thought it was just a matter of time before somebody changes that line. I like David and I thought if it’s going to be someone it might as well be him. I never knew it was going to be a single. I thought it was going to be on the back half of his album. But, lo and behold, it’s maybe the biggest single he’s ever had.

 We actually worked together a little bit on the song. He had a couple of things that didn’t really work. And he came up with the “unforeseen kiss” and I said, “Well, let me try this.” And he said, “Well, I’ve already recorded it.” [laughs]

 My community my small core audience was so fired up about it a lot of them got really angry saying bad things about David Crowder. I wrote a blog post because I didn’t want Crowder thinking that I supported the mean things they were saying about him. Truthfully, if I’d written that song now, I’d have written it totally different. Not just that line. I never thought that was an incredible line anyway, but I guess the fact that people said I couldn’t do it made me want to do it even more. I kind of want to put something in every worship song that makes someone uncomfortable. I want to make them a little bit nervous. I get excited about that. Because it makes them think about what’s going on instead of going through the motions.

The story behind “How He Loves” is a very emotional one [the song was inspired by the death of one of McMillan's close friends]. How does it feel to perform that song or to hear others play it? Is it hard to hear or play considering the emotions that are tied up with it? Or has enough time passed that you can just focus on the more positive side of the song?

 It’s been close to eight years now since my friend died, so you have moments where you’re back there in the beginning. But for the most part I’ve grown from that. It’s obviously a really painful experience. Over the years, you learn to grow and process it. So I don’t always feel that. Sometimes I still do. Sometimes it’s there. I get excited about the song when I hear other people sing it. When we’re at a show or a worship event and I hear people sing it back to me, it takes me back there and makes me feel that thing again. The good part of what I felt. It was a comforting thing to write that song. I don’t know why it is but whenever I’m feeling really far from God and really disconnected, something about me going back to that painful experience, I feel like a person again because I can hurt over that experience. That might sound kind of morbid, but something about pain that brings you into reality. I have to believe this is temporary and there’s more to life. I go back there sometimes on stage. Literally, the first year and a half that I sang the song, I couldn’t get through it. I got to the point that that was the song everybody wanted to hear, so I had to learn how to do it and disconnect myself a little bit. Every now and again, I go back to that place. It’s hard not to. I think that’s what people really want. They want to feel like we’re singing something that we’re really connected to. I know that’s what I want from the people that I listen to.

What inspired the song “Skeleton Bones’?

 I hadn’t written anything in along time when I wrote that song. I decided I’m going to sit on the porch tonight and I’m going to write something. My wife was pregnant with our first and only boy, and I was watching the process…that there was nothing there and then this person is there and is more there every day. And I saw that as a picture of resurrection: something coming out of nothing. And I feel like nothing a lot and I have this hope that something’s going to come from me. But seeing this thing come out of nothing, I started to contemplate on resurrection and the resurrection in me, and how if the same power that raised Jesus from the dead dwells in us, it gives life to our mortal bodies. I got this resurrection theme and I started to sing about the dead and the living, Ezekiel 37 with the dry bones. I saw me as one of the dry bones. Then I saw the people around me. I really believe there’s so much more for every single person then they even believe for themselves or want for themselves. And a lot of that is found in resurrection. I started singing about the dry bones in Ezekiel coming to life when the prophet speaks to them. It’s a really gross thing. These dead bodies stand and they come to life and become this mighty army. I saw that in me, singing to the skeleton as singing to myself, to the nothing, to the dead.  To become something and come alive. I saw this bones come together as something greater than themselves. I saw that as being in worship too, connecting with God to become more than a human, something bigger.

How have your wife and extended family felt watching you play music and become a popular artist?

 They love it. My wife is a singer. If she were more interested in it she’d probably be doing what I’m doing. We toured together for five years. She’s part of the band and still a huge part of what we do. She’s just more excited about being with the baby. She’s loves to write and loves music but she gets really burned on traveling. I think she’s starting to get a new wind on her music too. It’s been a challenge balancing family and the road. I’m still learning. If she ever told me – if things were getting weird or not working – “I wish you would just quit”, I would do it [snaps fingers] like that.

By: Dave Fidlin

For two-and-a-half centuries, evangelicalism – a belief system marked by the concept of being “born again” – shaped many Protestant’s approaches to Christianity across the globe. But the world is changing now more than ever before, and an offshoot of this belief system has emerged as society is being transformed.

Several factors are attributed to post-evangelicalism, a movement that has started picking up steam in recent years. Christians subscribing to a post-evangelical ideology differ from traditional evangelicals for any number of reasons, including opposing views on culture, politics and theology.

Scholars generally trace evangelicalism’s roots to Great Britain in the middle of the 18th Century. In addition to the aforementioned concept of being converted – or “born again” – some of the other fundamental beliefs within evangelicalism have included a high emphasis on the Bible and the Gospels, as well as the death and resurrection of Christ.

Evangelicalism was long lumped into one category, but it began to splinter in the 1950s when such popular preachers as Billy Graham started packing arenas to share the joy one can find in walking with the Lord. A separate grouping, fundamentalists, began breaking away because of disagreements with some of these popular preachers’ tactics.

Within the past six decades, new societal issues have bubbled to the surface. More than ever before, people from different racial, ethnic and religious backgrounds are talking amongst themselves. Because of this, the spectrums within evangelicalism have stretched even further.

On one far extreme are people who have that more fundamentalist view of their faith – meaning a continued strict adherence to traditional theology. On the other end are those who have tweaked traditional beliefs and conformed them to modern society. It could be argued evangelicalism is in the center. But the spectrums are growing increasingly complex, and attempts at simple categorization are difficult, if not futile.

Generally speaking, post-evangelical Christians take aim at mainline evangelicals’ narrow views on the thorny issue of homosexuality – evangelicals tend to view the lifestyle as a flat-out sin, while post-evangelicals tend to embrace people within this community. 

Followers of the post-evangelicalism movement also take aim at evangelicals for perceived narrow, partisan political views – many back the Republican Party in the United States, regardless of who the specific candidate is – and a seeming deaf ear toward the intellectual community. Additional criticism toward evangelicals has been linked to little or no emphasis on the arts and media.

Michael Spencer runs a Web site, the Internet Monk, devoted to post-evangelicalism. In his Blog posts, Spencer says this movement is still in the defining stages.

“I do not recognize the boundary lines of American evangelicalism as the boundary lines of true Christianity,” Spencer wrote in a 2006 post on his site. “I recognize that Christian belief emerges from a matrix of the text of Holy Scripture, the history of interpretation, cultural and sub-cultural presuppositions, the use of reason, the place of experience, the wisdom of the teachers of the larger church and the work of the Holy Spirit in revealing more light.”

Post-evangelicalism, as a movement, also has received ink in a book, “The Post Evangelical.” The British-based author, Dave Tomlinson, grew up in a Christian household, but says the constraints within evangelicalism smothered his quest to find where God was calling him in his life journey. Once he began looking outside the boundaries, Tomlinson says he began experiencing an authentic relationship with his Maker.

In his book, Tomlinson says evangelical churches in England have oftentimes failed when it comes to addressing social justice and poverty. Tomlinson in published reports says he hopes Christians desiring to live out their faith in a deeper, more socially-relevant manner, will begin to question some of the constraints mainline evangelical Christians have placed on ideology.

Graham came to prominence at a time when television began as a medium, and he quickly realized the public airwaves could be a powerful means of spreading Christianity. This led to the emergence of other so-called televangelists. There have been a plethora of them, at times with differing views amongst themselves, in the United States in the past six decades. Televised preachers have included Jim Baker, Jerry Falwell, Joel Osteen, Pat Robertson, Charles Stanley and Jimmy Swaggart.

But the very public sins of some of these televangelists has led some people in the post-evangelicalism movement to take a critical view of the hypocrisy and lack of authenticity that can sometimes crop up in mainline evangelical circles.

Traditional evangelicals, not surprisingly, have concerns linked to the post-evangelical movement. Criticisms include diluting or outright ignoring the Bible and faulty theology. Other people within the evangelicalism movement discredit the popularity of post-evangelicalism.

On the Blog site First Things, author Joe Carter says evangelicalism remains a vibrant, growing and effective movement.

“The idea that the collapse of evangelicalism is currently under way is more wishful thinking on the part of post-evangelicals that anything that can be backed up with evidence,” Carter wrote in a 2009 Blog post. “There are more people that attend a Willow Creek associated church than there are post-evangelicals in all of America.”

Nathan Martin, another writer on First Things, says evangelicalism is in a refining stage, but makes a case for its continued existence in a Blog post from 2009.

“As Christianity is moving out of the mainstream, it’s harder than ever to be a Christian in America,” Martin said. “There has been a shaking off of the chaff and wandering from the fold of many church-raised children. But this doesn’t indicate the failure of evangelicalism, as it does the failure of churches within the evangelical community.”

While Protestant ideology is going through a transformation – and countless strands are developing – one notion is certain: God remains a profound force in Christians’ lives. In a world with millions upon billions of people, He gave everyone a unique, custom story. Human beings are so different, yet so alike, and this mind-bending concept is evidenced through the debate between the evangelical and post-evangelical movements – and all other ideologies.

By Robert Ham

 This latest album has one of the most direct album titles I’ve heard in a long time from a Christian artist. What was your thinking when you decided to call it Church Music?

I like language a lot. I think language is fluid. You couldn’t have put a record out like this 10 years ago and have people get the slightly ironic satire or at least understanding that we were aware of the strangeness of these words attached to what we’re doing. At the same time, it is what you’re saying. It’s very direct and stating the obvious. We’re writing congregational music even though it doesn’t fit universally in congregations. Nonetheless for us these are songs that we’re singing on Sunday morning together. If you’re coming from a more progressive setting you might think, “Ah this isn’t church music. Church music is more stodgy: choir robes, organs, that kind of thing.” If you’re coming from a more traditional setting you would hear what we’re doing and go, “Absolutely not. This is not church music.” I think what is beautiful about that is that there is critique available to all of us. We tend to think of everybody else like ourselves. And yet when you think of the global church, there are a lot of people coming from a lot of different cultures and the art and the expression coming from these cultures looks a lot different than our own. We like that two little words could play with expectation and hopefully in a positive sense could help people think about music in the church in a bigger way, including ourselves. That the Crowder Band could fall under that little moniker is fantastic. It’s cool that a couple of words could say that much.

Because you play these songs on Sunday mornings at your church in Waco, is that where you are trying things out and honing new material?

Most of the time, these things take shape there. We have the great fortune of having people that we live life with there that are kind to us. We get to see where things want to go. There’s a few on [the new album] that have their life just with the record. You stumble into things and things take you places that you wouldn’t have suspected so some of those pieces are new entities for our people as well.

This record is interesting in that all the songs flow into one another so it is this cohesive piece of work. How did you hit on that idea?

We did this world tour with Chris Tomlin and Matt Redman – folks we’ve been connected to for a long time. Knowing we’re going to do this Church Music record, we thought, “Oh, this is gonna be great. Maybe we can travel the globe and collect these songs and expressions from a lot of other cultures and have this album be a global church expression kind of thing.” Well, obviously it didn’t go there at all because what we found was apparently we as Americans have exported more than McDonald’s, we’ve exported our worship music. Because that’s all they were singing were these American worship songs! So then we started looking at the music coming out of these cultures. So we thought, “What if the Crowder Band was transplanted to Tokyo. What would our expressions look like trying to find an common authentic voice for the age group of people that we are giving expression for here in the States?”

So, we collected a lot of j-pop in Tokyo and in Korea collected k-pop thinking, “What would the local church sound like if they were to follow our model which is to throw your arms around whatever is happening in pop culture to find the common voice of the people that you’re in front of?” And when we get to Europe, the club thing is way way bigger than it is over here. What we started hearing were a lot of influences that were happening for the producers of pop music around here in the States, pinpointing the things in Europe that were influential on the charts in America. And one of the things we decided initially is that when you hear a DJs work, when they hit play, it a takes you on a journey from start to finish. The logistics of pulling off what they’re pulling off isn’t that difficult ’cause you’re talking about 5 to 10 BPMs one way or the other and keys are sort of irrelevant I don’t think they’re aware of music theory as much as we are. For us, we’re talking massive jumps in BPM and massive jumps in keys, so the actual pulling it off incredibly tedious. But we’re kind into that thing; the harder it is the more joy we have.

Do you think that you have been successful in attracting people to the faith through embracing popular music and culture?

That’s a little disingenuous. We don’t view at all what we’re doing as proselytizing. What we feel like we’re doing is providing people the ability to express or articulate a response to God in the sense of a corporate worship experience. We’re using music to say things back to God with. I turn to hymn writers and people who have written about the struggle how you do that. It seems like to [Isaac] Watts or to [John] Newton, any time they’re talking about what your role is and what you’re trying to accomplish, it is so much easier when you find the common language of the people that you’re in front of. And for us pop music is a no brainer. How do I on behalf of the people that I’m in front of articulate faith through music and it’s mostly through collecting sounds and finding out where we are as people. It’s pretty natural for us because it’s the environment you exist in you’re around all this music that shapes your sensibilities. Being on a college campus like we are, most of it is college radio and straight up pop music so it’s really natural for our expression to be what’s common among us. [W]hat we’re trying to do is to provoke response or allow response to happen in a way that’s authentic and not forced. That’s what’s been successful or at least the successful moments of music in the church have seemed to be, in my opinion, when the writers were throwing their arms around what was happening in popular culture and were in conversation with what was going on in popular culture rather than being cloistered and oblivious. So, it’s not an attempt to proselytize but what we have seen is that people from outside of the church, mostly in the mainstream media or even in the club environment, go “Wow, this is not what I would expect coming from a group of musicians playing music in the church.” I think that’s what we’ve seen interesting and surprising.

Would you ever conceive of making an album strictly for yourself and not for a corporate setting and what that would sound like?

I can’t even think of what that would look like. I don’t have a drive to do that in me. I just think about what we’re doing in such utilitarian terms. What we’re doing is useful and it just fell in my lap to be the guy that says something on our behalf in our community in Waco and so yeah I don’t even know. The stuff we’re making and the sound that we’ve got makes me grin and pulls at me in an emotional way, so I don’t think it would sound too terribly different. Granted the stuff that we are doing is so varied that I think if I were doing something, it would have as many twists and turns as this stuff because I get bored and need to find different ways to express things. I would suspect it would be similar journey.

Most people that I talked to when I told them I was interviewing you wanted to know about you changing the lyric of John Mark McMillan song “How He Loves.” Were you shocked at all about the response that happened to you changing part of the song?

No not at all. Getting the feedback immediately was unexpected. There was this division of people that felt like these are the greatest words that they’ve ever heard in a song in their entire life and there are people who are equally emotive in saying that these are the worst words I’ve ever heard in a song. I found myself all these bizarre conversation about two little words. Then I started to do some checking and some research on the Web and sure enough there’s all kinds of stuff about these two words preventing it from being in a lot of corporate settings and it causing as much of a ruckus as it had with us. There were two arguments that I felt were absolutely legitimate and worth visiting with John Mark about. One is that the imagery just doesn’t work. Again, to point back to hymn writers, one of the things they struggled with was imagery. To read Newton and Watts talk about the songs that they’ve written which have a lot of imagery in them they struggled with it because what you’re trying to do is find something that’s common. You’re trying to give expression to a group of people that brings them together rather than divides. Something that is common in our experience that would let us understand God in a way that’s fuller and that has more depth to it. And these two words seem to fail in that light.

Granted, John Mark didn’t write this thing for that purpose. It’s just his personal expression. And as a writer he’s successful because he stumbled on to two words that are probably one of the more provocative lines that have been in a song in a long long time and as a songwriter that’s a great success. But as a person whose trying to say something on behalf on a corporate entity it fails because it is not uniting, it’s dividing.

The second thing was a guy came and said, “I did some research and found this guy doing this deal on YouTube where he tells the story of the song. It’s pretty emotional, but knowing where the song comes from, I think the anthropomorphic language that exists in that line is unhealthy for our theology.” He said that if this is coming out of an experience of tragedy where this guy is trying to figure out what’s God’s role in this thing, our anthropomorphic language ends up with something sloppy and I think that this is a danger in a corporate expression. So, in talking with John Mark, I offered up both of these things, both of which he’s probably already dealt with. After some time, he came back and said, “Let’s go somewhere different with it and try to maintain the initial intent.”

I mean this song is about the love of God, and it’s not like we haven’t as a church explored the love of God before. But to find something that lets you rediscover and feel it and experience it in a way that’s similar to where you first were with it is unique and special I was determined that two words weren’t going to keep people from having a similar rediscovery. Because there’s something really, really special about the song. The only people who were going to be upset are going to be those who have already fallen in love with the song. They’re welcome to stay with the “sloppy wet” if that’s what they’d like. We’ll take the heat and allow the song to get a lot of places that it hasn’t gone before.

Did you ever consider just leaving the song as is no matter what people’s issues were with it?

No, not at all. I think of music in a different way than that. Maybe it’s because I come from a congregational setting where you’ve got a hymn like “Amazing Grace” that took 50 years to find its melody and the verses. Knowing that hymns are so fluid, it’s always going to take some time to find the right language for it. For most people it existed in a form that it was and people got to experience it and I hope that by letting it change and evolve, more people will get to know it.

Have you come up against issues like this considering the music that you play is so varied and is not your typical worship music?

From record one, people have said, “Hey this is a great record but these aren’t songs that you’ll find useful in your corporate settings.” Well, for you these aren’t congregational songs but for us these are all congregational songs. There’s an awareness that these don’t fit in a lot of places which is awesome because to point back to our world tour experience, it’s a disappointment to me that there aren’t more organic expressions of unique communities happening. That there’s this tendency to co-opt whatever’s happening elsewhere and stick it in to your unique setting rather than allowing the creators and creative types among your community and try to make something that’s your own. I understand and appreciate that it doesn’t fit everywhere and I would hate to think that we would feel any sort of need to be something other than just providing a voice for the people we’re in front of on a weekly basis.

Looking at your YouTube channel and your Twitter account, you guys put out a very goofy image of yourselves. Do you make sure that that sort of material gets out to balance out the depth of the message in your music?

You’re exactly right. You’re on to us. Early on, we felt like there was a tendency to ask too much of music. Talking about the fluidity of language, if I was to say the word “worship”, what would come to mind for most people is a setting of a lot of folks staring at a screen with words on it, singing and I don’t think that was always the case. That’s a recent phenomenon that that word would evoke that thought process. So it felt like we’re asking too much of music in the sense that you’re setting up the segmentation of our spiritual experience. When I think what we’re trying to do is involve the human in more holistic way and humor is a really easy way. People put their guard down. It just lets the human be more human and in the process you get people to be more human rather than posturing. If you can provide something that takes the legs out from under the initial pretense or posturing then you get to a more authentic place with a person. There’s an attempt to add irreverence in a thoughtful reverent way.

The other thing that my friends wanted to know is whether you would ever shave off your goatee?

I have! It was in the year 2000, just before midnight, and I’m in this little bathroom in the house that we had and I’m about to be the spiritual cleansing moment. And at the time I had hair down to my shoulders. So I got the Bic out and I went for it. Midnight happens and I come out of our bathroom and my wife sees me and…I had neglected to run this by here because this was a personal cleansing moment. But apparently if you make any massive changes to your facial follicles and any thing on your hair, this is something you’re going to need to run past your significant other because she said, “You put that back” and started feeding me all kinds of vitamin E and horse mane and tail and stuff. That’s the one and only time that that beard’s gonna go anywhere. I got in a lot of trouble over that.

By Pablo Darelli

The annual debate starts predictably after the first leaves of fall begin cluttering gutters and blanketing lawns, and then continues right up until the last present is hastily ripped open on December 25th.  No, this will not be another rant decrying our materialistic habits, the War on Christmas, or how the true meaning of the holiday has been forgotten. Though the contentious topic of the commercialization of Christmas merits examination and everyone should at some point question the virtues being extolled by the manner in which it is celebrated, I will not re-tread the well worn arguments that have been used to either support or demonize our gift giving and sometimes secularized holiday traditions.  Instead I would like to take a more critical look at what occurs during the other 10 months of the year when Christmas is not at the forefront of our collective conscience.

Christian oriented products and services are a 4.5 billion dollar a year industry fueled by the wallets and checkbooks of millions of Christians. There are board games, jewelry, calendars and even auto insurance policies that are geared specifically towards this demographic.  Christian music has a large following as well, with many bands gaining prominence on the national stage.  The scope of these efforts to market to Christians and evangelize compels one to question the effects of such an extensive commercialization of Christian beliefs, values and traditions.  Is a Jesus action figure an appropriate plaything for a small child?  Will one’s faith be strengthened by the mug with a scripture verse etched on it?  Is it ethical for entrepreneurs to make a profit off of another’s religious beliefs?  The answers to these questions can be occasionally uncomfortable to consider and are difficult to uniformly apply.  The mixing of business interests with a
religion that encourages altruism is not always easy to reconcile.  It is a delicate balancing act that requires equal attention be paid to our inner spiritual growth as opposed to only focusing on the outward expressions of our faith.

The possible danger of purchasing toys with Biblical themes and characters is that children may confuse religion and fantasy.  What’s the difference between a comic book superhero and an Old Testament prophet or even Jesus Christ if it comes packaged in the same form?  Teens, young adults or even twenty-somethings may only be superficially attracted to Christianity due to the popularity of a particular trend, celebrity or musical group. The Passion of the Christ by Mel Gibson raised some amount of controversy by stressing the suffering that Christ endured while rarely emphasizing the importance of his teachings.  It may have encouraged some to come closer to Christ, but it did so in a sensationalist and perhaps less substantial manner.

Surrounding ourselves with figurines of Biblical figures, wearing t-shirts with religious messages, or having a Christian bumper sticker attached to the back of the car does not make one a good Christian, it simply provides the means to generate that appearance.  A too zealous approach in acquiring and displaying such items can blind one to more important aspects of Christianity.  Instead of simply proclaiming Christian virtues, it may be better to put more effort into allocating resources towards causes in line with them.  You can donate money to a local charity and emergency relief agencies or perhaps volunteer your time to aid the less fortunate.  Even more troublesome could be using Christian paraphernalia as a substitute for faith and conviction.  Regular personal prayer, scripture study and pondering Christian teachings are better solutions when doubts and difficulties creep into our lives. 

The potential positive aspects of having a range of Christian products available should not be ignored.  They can remind us of our commitments to both our God and to our fellow men.  A ring, a cross necklace or a daily bible verse may spur us to make better decisions on a day to day basis. Incorporating religious elements into family or recreational activities can reinforce the concept that Christian mores and teachings should not be limited to only Sunday services, but are in fact an integral part of living a good life.  They offer an alternative to the mainstream concept that in the ‘real world’ one must check religion at the door.  The difference between a useful reminder and a purely ornamental accessory or product though, is whether it can influence actions and attitudes.  The usefulness of having a vibrant Christian music industry should also not be dismissed.  The Christian music scene provides a refuge from the often times denigrating and
amoral attitudes that are evident in popular hip-hop, rock or metal song lyrics.  Large social music events can provide the support and camaraderie that can make living a Christian lifestyle a more fulfilling experience.

It is possible that in some cases the act of ‘commercializing’ Christianity is in actuality a practical step in introducing the gospel to non-believers. Most religiously apathetic individuals would likely reject a knock on their door, or a pamphlet passed along on the street, but may instead be receptive to the advice of a pop singer.  When examining the effects of commercialization it is vital to consider the intent and purpose of the product, and whether it has sufficient potential of drawing yourself or others closer to God.

Do you view the commercialization of Christianity as negative or do you see, within it, positive aspects that can promote the faith? Let us know!

By: Dave Fidlin

Be in the world, not of the world. 

The popular saying, paraphrased and abridged from Scripture in John 17:14-16, has been uttered in churches and Christian circles for ages. Case in point: Avalon, a Contemporary Christian Music group, devoted a song, “In Not Of,” to the topic on their 1999 album, “In a Different Light.”

But for a Christian, the exact interpretation of how to live this philosophy out has been scrutinized and debated. Some members of the Christian community concede it is blasphemous to evangelize outside a traditional church setting or an event sanctioned by a Christian organization, while others take a far more liberal view, saying even bars or strip clubs can be used as venues to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ.

In general, evangelical Christians tend to embrace the “go out into the world” mentality, while more conservative-leaning Christians tread much more lightly on this philosophy.

During his time on earth, Jesus displayed an example of how to live a life of faith and effectively spread the Gospel. While He came down hard at times – as evidenced by his angry response toward occupants of a temple, who turned the venue into a market – He also was compassionate and associated Himself with people who were not walking in God’s footsteps. The fact Jesus gave the time of day to a prostitute like Mary Magdalene is proof that He did not associate solely with church-goers.

Perhaps one of the boldest modern examples of a Christian evangelizing in an unorthodox setting is Heather Veitch, founder of the Las Vegas-based ministry JC’s Girls. (JC stands for Jesus Christ.) Veitch, a former stripper, claims to have turned away from her past lifestyle and advocates against the sex industry. Members of JC’s Girls visit strip clubs across the country and offer invitations to the women to attend church. Veitch also serves on the staff of Central Christian Church in an area nicknamed “sin city.”

The ministry has even set up booths at the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo – a venue where a Christian presence would seem most unlikely. Members of JC’s Girls have given out gift packages accompanied with messages saying God forgives all sins. In interviews, Veitch said the goal of the ministry is to reach out without coming across as judgemental. 

JC’s Girls have raised more than a few eyebrows in the Christian community. 

“Heather’s intentions may be good; I’m going to put the best construction on her intentions,” Ingrid Schlueter, a Milwaukee-based conservative Christian talk show host, wrote on her blog, Slice of Laodicea, last year. “But the lack of solid biblical teaching today is resulting in ‘ministries’ that are bringing only more shame on the name of Christ.”

Schlueter and other Christian leaders have been critical of several of Veitch’s tactics, including a critique that she continues to wear somewhat revealing clothing, which could lead to a stumbling block for men struggling with their own fleshy desires.

But there are some members of the Christian community who believe a fresh approach to evangelizing is necessary in a culture that is growing increasingly cynical toward the seemingly judgmental, narrow-minded attitudes of people in churches. 

“I’m always inspired by (Veitch’s) love for the girls (in the adult entertainment industry) and her passion; her ideas for reaching people are fresh, bold, crazy and innovative,” wrote a member of Ethur, an organization aimed at intertwining Christianity and culture, on the blog, A Polite Rebellion Against Mass Thought.

The Veitch scenario raises an interesting point of evangelizing outside the church. One aspect is certain: Christians should not expose themselves to situations that could cause them to stumble in their walk with the Lord. It would be hard to argue this would be crossing the line between being in the world and not of it. A recovering alcoholic who has come to Christ, for instance, might not be best suited to share the Gospel in a bar. Not initially, at least. However, a Christian’s previous sins, and God’s transformation of that person’s life, can become a powerful testimony to those who have yet to proclaim a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

Perhaps one of the most effective means of straying from vulnerable situations is to pray for discernment each day – especially when going out into “the battle field” and sharing Christianity with nonbelievers. The book of 1 Thessalonians speaks to the topic of discernment, particularly in 5:21-22, where Christians are instructed to “examine everything carefully,” “hold fast to that which is true” and “abstain from every form of evil.”

Amid the debate of being in the world, not of it, is an important point: Whenever a Christian steps outside the church doors and wants to share the Gospel with the world, authenticity is a key ingredient to the witnessing efforts. 

The old adage, “People don’t care how much you know until they know you care,” is in danger of being deemed trite because it is tossed around so casually, but it holds true when any effort is made to bridge the gap between Christianity and pop culture. Memorizing Bible verses is only one step in sharing the Gospel with others.

Letting one’s guard down, and perhaps being somewhat vulnerable, is a second, and powerful, step believers can use when sharing the benefits of a walk with Christ. All too often, it can be tempting to come across with a polished, I’ve-got-it-all-together attitude. But a Christian giving their testimony – sharing how God has worked in his or her life – is a powerful means of witnessing to a world searching for answers to tough questions. 

Anyone can shout Bible verses into a megaphone and tell passers-by they are going to hell if they do not repent. Taking an active interest in someone’s life, on the other hand, can be demanding. It means investing in that person by sacrificing time and, at times, it can result in emotional fatigue.

But, borrowing another clichéd phrase, “What would Jesus do?” Based on his interactions with believers and nonbelievers alike, the answer appears fairly obvious.

By: Allysen Mahaffey

One thing that makes Christians stand out like a sore thumb in American mainstream culture is views about premarital sex. It is almost unheard of today for someone to wait to have sex before marriage, and if someone does decide to wait because of his or her Christian beliefs, people may look at them strangely or mockingly with disbelief. For instance, think of the Christian tradition involving the so-called “purity ring,” where young unmarried Christians choose to wear a ring symbolizing their commitment to abstinence until marriage. In some church traditions, fathers give their young daughters this “purity ring.” To an onlooker, this might look like these people belong in a different century or are part of a cult-like group that follows the strictest of rules. This is especially true in the context of our contemporary secular culture, which practically worships sex and the idea of it. Sex seems to be everywhere, in advertisements, TV shows, movies, music, magazines and the Internet. How can Christian views about sex, which traditionally teaches the only place for sex is marriage, be so different from contemporary American popular culture? Is Christianity’s mainstream view about premarital sex too old-fashioned for today’s culture?

Sexual temptation is nothing new, and has been around since the beginning of time. The biology of our bodies and the feelings, passion, and lust that arise in a relationship is something Christians have dealt with for a long time. Today’s culture, however, does not make things any easier for Christians to strive for sexual purity until marriage. For many, making the choice to wait may sound insane. It is much easier to be like everyone else then rather stand out and be that person who is still a virgin, and will be until…when, marriage?! Perhaps it was easier when the mainstream American culture agreed that sex should be saved for marriage only. American popular culture views about sex drastically changed during the 1960s, a decade famous for the Civil Rights Movement and anti-war demonstrations, but also known for its cultural revolution. The Baby-Boomer generation led the way for what is known as the “Sexual Revolution.” Amongst other things, views about sex drastically changed. For example, “free love” came about and is described as unrestricted sexual practices and a casual attitude towards sex. People were “freed” of sexual boundaries and rules, and premarital sex was no longer such a taboo or hidden deed. However, this much more relaxed, open view about sexual behavior did not come without negative consequences, such as unwanted pregnancies and an increase in sexually transmitted diseases, including AIDS. These negative consequences did not stop American culture from continuing on become more relaxed about premarital sex, however. After all, here we are half a decade later, as a generation that does not quite remember chastity as ever being the norm.

Not only is sex everywhere, it is also celebrated greatly. Premarital and casual sex is the standard behavior for characters in TV and movies, and the basis for lyrics for many popular songs and magazine articles. Pornography is also more accessible than ever, and is an industry that makes billions of dollars annually. Rarely does our popular culture focus on the long list of possible negative aspects of casual sex. A fictional character in a TV show or movie that indulges in casual sex hardly gets a STD, an unwanted pregnancy, or deals with negative emotional aspects tied to sex. If one of these issues should arise, they are solved in an unrealistic timeslot. For example, think of the popular sitcom Friends. The characters of this show have premarital sex frequently; yet deal with very little negative consequences, except for one unwanted pregnancy. However, the mother and father end up together in the end, are over 30 years old and financially stable. Although this is just one TV show, it is representative of the problem with the way sex is viewed and dealt with in our popular culture. Much of it seems to say that sex is extremely important and vital in a dating relationship, that you should have it as much as possible, and if you do not have it frequently, you are not a man or are a prude.

Some might say that Christianity needs to keep up with contemporary culture, or it may become irrelevant and outdated. Sure, this may be true for the type of music that is played during a worship service or how people dress for church, but should this really be the answer for a serious and important issue such as sex? Sex is not as simple, and the choices we make about it can be life changing. Did God give us boundaries for the sake of giving us rules because He doesn’t want us to have fun, or is there something more to these moral guidelines? Many people, including the non-religious and religious, often claim rules that religion place on people restrict individual freedom and choice. Perhaps the Christian church is somewhat at fault as well for over-emphasizing these rules so greatly instead of Christ’s grace, mercy, and freedom.

It is important to read what the Bible has to say about sex and its boundaries. Just like other sayings and phrases in the Christian tradition such as the “Holy Trinity” or the “Second Coming,” an exact phrase condemning premarital sex does not exist in the Bible, which does not make things exactly easy. However, there are verses that infer God does not want His followers to live in sexual immorality, which amongst other things includes premarital sex. Both 1 Corinthians 6:18-20 and Ephesians 5:3 say to “flee sexual immorality.” The passage in 1 Cor. 6 also says that our bodies are a temple of the Holy Spirit, and that people who sin sexually sin against their own body. In 1 Cor. 7, Paul wrote that men and women should get married to avoid burning with lust and fornication (defined as having sex outside of marriage). Having sex or satisfying lust is of course not the only reason for marriage in the Bible, but the language used in these verses makes it clear that God does not want us to engage in sexual immorality, including premarital sex, and for good reason.

In can be extremely difficult for a young Christian couple to wait to have sex before marriage. When two people are in love, it feels natural and right to advance their physical relationship. However, even our own feelings can lie to us.  In the moment, what we think is right and what may feel great may not be the best for us. The world around us is also constantly lying to us. “Free-love” is an ironic term that is not so freeing after all when you consider all of the possible negative and life-changing consequences that such a relaxed view about sex brings about. Sex may feel right and good at the time, but like many other things in life, it may turn sour if practiced outside of the boundaries God gave us. As Christians, we believe God is the Creator and Sustainer of our universe and humankind. If this is true, then we must trust He knows a lot more about what is good for us then what the world and our minds tell us. God has made boundaries for a reason, and these boundaries are not to restrict us but to ultimately set us free. Many parts of the Bible celebrate sex in the context of marriage, and it is important to remember that God created our bodies and sex as good and beautiful things. Sex in the context of marriage is an intimate and important act, as well as a gift from God. Unfortunately, sex has been perverted into what American mainstream culture thinks of it today. Things like casual sex, promiscuity, and pornography, are hurtful to society, as well as demeaning and destructive to women, men, and relationships. It is not what God intended for sex or us. God did not create sexual and other boundaries to hinder our fun, yet to ensure we can enjoy life to the fullest without so much unnecessary worry.