Goat Rodeo Cowboy said:
Is it strictly an entertainment vehicle? Is it part of the big picture as a 'para church' auxilary? What would Christian radio be doing or be sounding like... if it were to 'keep up with the times'?
Christian radio has always been a curious mixture of entertainment and an adjunct to the church. Since preaching, hymns, and praise and worship style CCM are on the air, the church members are served. I think future build outs have to be aimed at non-Christians, attracting them to the faith. If it takes techniques and formats proven to work in the secular market, so be it. I have no conflict at all with church being fun - the most fun you have during the week. And I have no conflict at all with radio being fun to listen to and entertaining. Christian stations should be the number one rated stations, because they offer the most fun and entertainment, while fulfilling the Great Commission. Too bad a lot a stations get caught up in taking money from local preachers of dubious qualifications and quality just to have a steady revenue. Christian radio can be fun to listen to, entertaining, and get great ratings. I've done it. The problem is that too many conservative old fogies own the stations, and they are scared of anything new and creative. So they suppress it - "you are having too much fun, time to put on your sackcloth and ashes, get purified and take your spiritual medicine". Then Reverend Bigbottom gets on there and preaches about hellfire and damnation, the dangers of Christian rock and roll, and how the 1611 version of the King James Bible is the only correct one. You know you are in trouble when they pronounce it "bapTIZE". Well - there is a way to attract and keep an audience of non-believers and attract them to the local church! We need to lighten up, get the telephone pole out of our eyes, and quit judging musical styles filtered by our own prejudices! Never, ever, compromise scriptural principles - but you can do that with creative new music done by young artists.
Personally, I think Christian music and Christian radio is about where secular music was in the mid 1950's. Still not mainstream yet, what passes for Contemporary music sounds a lot to me like music of the 40's. People suspicious of the new styles of music, not quite knowing where the new music should fit in - or if it should fit in. Christian music needs a Christian version of Dick Clark, who showed parents in the 50's and 60's that rock and roll was a legitimate genre of music, not to be feared, and the artists were sincerely good musicians and not evil people trying to lead young people astray. We need to show the most conservative church leadership that the new styles of Christian music are not to feared, they are not evil, they are not leading people astray - they are an asset to the church, something that can be used to make Christianity more relevant to youth and young professionals in the 21st century.
I remember a pamphlet published by first Baptist Houston on the occasion of its 150th anniversary. Conservative church members were convinced the new church organ was an instrument of the devil, and broke into the church one night, stole it, and threw it into Buffalo Bayou! Now days, it would be hard to think of a church without an organ. The people that were convinced organs were of the devil are DEAD. The people who were affected by that sin of theft are DEAD. But - the legacy of ignorance lives on right into the 21st century. Just go over to the Dial the "Truth" web site av1611.org and you will find an article actually trying to convince people that DRUMS are of the devil! Somebody ought to tell them what a "toph" is from the Psalms but whatever. We need some quality control over what is published on the web as "truth", because secular bigots in the press have a field day every time one of these nut jobs opens their mouth.
