However, I also think it’s easy to see the distinction that sometimes the Gospel is not evident in both SG and CCM. I think it’s easy to see the distinction that the Gospel is evident in both SG and CCM. But the lyrical content more easily ignites the heart into repentance and ultimately, faith in Jesus Christ. The music can start a soul-stirring Hallelujah spell. But I know a few who felt compelled to, once the lyrics were sang or read. I don’t know many people who had never heard the Gospel, hear a piano player gently play, “Jesus Paid It All”, throw their hands up in surrender and accept Christ. That is of the utmost importance and the theological context of a song should always be THE priority. And case by case, he’s usually right about lyrical content. I appreciate him and believe him to play an important role in this genre. The music lover in us has drawn a line in the sand, literally saying, “are you in or are you out”?ĭaniel Mount is the king of “theological context”. We would rather collect every Gold City table project than get to the point in saying, “it’s not really about my preference in style, it’s about glorifying Christ”. Not just southern gospel fans and supporters, but Christians all across the board that love music and prefer different styles. So what has lost its appeal? Our Gospel? Or our music? What once glittered as gold throughout the 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s has subtracted, by adding. But my fear of southern gospel is that we have flaunted it as the “only acceptable style, as ordained by God”. And that just ain’t worth splitting a church over. And God can essentially permit Satan to split a church over styles of music. Men can split a church over styles of music. Don’t put it past church politics to kill the music as well.
And especially if you are also born into a ministry-minded family. Especially if you are raised in a music world. But for anyone who has sought after what the world has had to offer, only to later be changed and transformed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ, it’s something you have to go through. That may seem too simple a conclusion to admittedly post for all the world to see, and for you to see the depravity of my stubborn, little mind. That thought led me to an old reality, now revitalized. Crossing the border of music genres, and being involved in many aspects of ministry and seeing how they were influenced by each other, I came to the self-reflective conclusion that some artists in other genres were also lacking in authenticity, and some others were as real as it gets. (I was never liberal enough to think the King of Kings and our Messiah would be a fan of Led Zeppelin or Pearl Jam, although in my flesh, I certainly was). Comments such as “God’s favorite music is southern gospel music”, to which I always pictured Jesus being a fan of U2 and Steve Perry, and many times became my reply. One reason I came to be bored with southern gospel for a season, was due to what I perceived to be a lack of authenticity as well as a lack of creativity. I’m leaving man’s opinion out of it this time. Not because of old acquaintances in the industry. Yet being a part of the world for a short time, and coming back to my southern gospel roots with a fervor and zeal I have not possessed in years, what was fake, has become real once again. The music and the people have attacked me with a soft and patient love, as if they have been praying for the prodigal to return home once again. I encounter something new in what I had thought to be old or experienced to grow stale. In Calvinist ‘TULIP’ terms, it has progressively become my “irresistible grace”. But the older I get, the more I seem to come back to my first love. It was never out of my comfort zone, even when I wanted nothing to do with it. Having grown up in a southern gospel world with family in the industry, it’s my hard roots. To be quite honest, I’m not really sure what that means. Many of us have heard, “If it sounds like the world, it’s of the world”. Some of us we’ll never find a reason to to find middle ground between SG and CCM or any other genre of Christian music.
This is clearly a horse that’s been beaten to death. And we love it.Ĥ) Insert your own argument as to why it is so special here (for there are many more): But what we do know:ġ) It’s traditional in structure and shall ultimately remain so.ģ) Interaction with artists is vital and different from most genres of music. Frankly, there is a case to be made to either side of the debate. There is obviously no question that every southern gospel fan has either thought it, heard it, breathed it, whispered it, directly opposed it, or directly ignored it…is southern gospel music dying? If you have never talked about it, or heard it talked about, you have read about it on other blogs.