Last night I watched the American Music Awards, and I’ve gotta tell you… I was impressed. (PLEASE, if you’re easily offended, DO NOT CONTINUE TO READ THIS POST OTHERWISE A BITTER, OFFENSIVE VIRUS WILL EXPLODE YOUR HARD DRIVE & YOUR HEAD!!!)
Here’s the crazy truth… I can understand why people would rather go to the AMAs (or a lot of other places for that matter) than to church - it kept my attention!
So, here’s what I think the church can learn from the AMAs:
1) Excellence matters. In spite of some weird hair and tons of ink, every performance was pulled off with a HIGH degree of excellence. Apparantly the artists felt the crowd that they were performing for was worth doing it well. (Yep, the sarcasm was intended)
2) Visuals matter. I was blown away by the cool effects. I realized a sad point too. Our church uses “Keynote” (stop laughing) and we’re light years ahead of many churches (stop crying)… and compared to the visuals at the AMAs we’re pretty passe (archaic).
3) Normal “Church music” isn’t going to pack the place out. I guess it’s been a while since I’ve seen a place packed to sing the normal Sunday morning repertoire that most churches would die for! (Sarcasm again…)
OK, some commentary…
I don’t think we should apologize for wanting to be excellent in what we do. We do what we do for God. Our efforts are missional – we do what we do to bring people to Jesus on the weekend. If they are bored what do you think the chances of them coming back are?
I don’t want to be bored on the weekend and I certainly don’t want to be boring! What happens on the weekend is a picture of our philosophy of God. In other words, what we do on the weekend is what we believe about God. If we offer crappy performance… guess what we think about God (if you don’t agree with this check out what God says in Malachi 1:6-14). If we are boring and create an environment that puts the insomniac to sleep… guess what we say about God!
Here’s what I want…
I want our church to be ”The place to be on the weekend!”
I want people to skip other “stuff” in order to be at and serve through the church!
I want other activities to “take the hit” because people have committed to church!
I want our church to be the most exciting, entertaining, high energy point in people’s lives, because I know that Jesus Christ is thoroughly exciting, entertaining, and energizing!
Peace!
DUDE YOU HIT IT ON THE HEAD.
and i really want that for everyone.
for the hiphop kids, for the punk kids, for the emo kids, for the pop kids, for the 18-30somethings, and for the parents and new families.
im so glad i get to be part of getting those people to notice how AMAZING God really is.
p.s. you are spiffy. keep on keeping on.
LArryBeans
I hate music awards shows because they rarely recognize musical excellence. It is more about who is hot and popular. Sadly, popular radio and television is out of touch with the artists who are producing musical excellence. The same can be said for Christian media. While I appreciate the Family Life Network for its hard work, speaker series, and kids programming, they are just one of many Christian radio stations across the country failing to reach the young people. The majority of people 16-30 do not want to hear Point of Grace, Avalon, Steven Curtis Chapman, etc. For those who want to, great, but for the rest of us (including myself), I would love a station that plays artists like Phil Keaggy, Sufjan Stevens, Five Iron Frenzy, Edison Glass, The 77′s, Daniel Amos, PFR, Over The Rhine, and Kevin Max (to name a few). There is a vast amount of musical excellence and genius out there that is indeed glorifying God but the Christian community has fallen into the same trap as the secular community. We focus on what is popular and makes us feel good and tingly inside rather than what is created with passion and integrity. As Christians, we must strive for excellence and integrity. That definitely goes for praise & worship in the church. I enjoy many P&W songs that are sung, but there are songs that are so trite, boring, cookie-cutter. I feel we are insulting God because it is like we are saying: “Well God, this is the best I could do. I basically ripped off five other songs but it’s all for You!” We need to challenge ourselves, the church, and the entire christian community to strive for excellence and not settle for anything the music industry and the media throws at us.
Way to go Aaron! Very inciteful. My wife and I agree with you wholeheartedly. It seems the church has gotten so wrapped up in attracting the world, we are no longer distinguishable from the world. Jesus was not out to entertain people while here on earth. He was here to confront, convict and redeem.
I am all for doing your best (i.e. excellence and integrity) but if it’s perfection your shooting for, count me out. I’m letting it go!!! God uses even weaknesses/mistakes! What a relief:)
As for Sunday morning performance/entertainment, count me out on that too. I have really had to search my heart on what Sunday morning’s purpose is for me. As I have seen the church grow over the last 9 years, it’s become gradually more difficult to FEEL GOOD Sunday morning. (Don’t get me wrong… Growth IS exciting, but it’s also overwhelming. I think intimacy suffers.) Why do I go anyway? Why do I come back? TO WORSHIP MY GOD! not for any pastor, or ministry, or the dear friends I run into, not for the building, or the praise band, or the childcare. I come to worship HIM. It’s not about me and how I feel or what I want.
Yes, each individual needs to be honest with themselves and God about giving their best to Him. That’s something to pray about, let go of, and let God work on.
Performing and entertaining … in my heart it seems too much like it’s about looking good and bringing glory to people (people suceeding, achieiving, attaining acceptance)… Worshing is about bringing glory to God.
“Man looks at outward appearances, but God looks at the heart.”
Your sister
Melody
Melody, I can’t agree with you enough on the entire performance and entertainment. I do not think people need to be WOW’D but loved!! However, after examining my own personal cirmcumstances, the change in my life vs the change of our Church over the last year, I feel that the only age group that matters is the 18-30 yr old. Actually, I don’t know how much longer I will be attending for reasons I will leave unsaid on here. I am definitely not about being performed to or entertained. Worship is getting more difficult too, Sadly. We seem to be conforming more to the world.
I agree with the points made by Melody and Dawn – but don’t give up yet, girls. We need to give Anthony a chance to lead our worship. We need to see that the leadership team RECOGNIZES some of this by dedicating south campus to the 18-30′s and having a Thursdays worship there. The three weekend services are still yet to be critiqued until until you give it a chance to try the ‘new look’ they told us about. Worship is for you individually. You don’t need to look at the outward appearance of any of the leaders – thats not what God wants. Listen, every service has something that they say, something for me to hear. Every service pokes at my heart to lift up in praise, or to go down on my knees. I don’t find that ‘feeling’ at other churches traditional services. I need to be at Northgate – you do, too. Wear blinders and have your ‘feelers’ turned on.
You go Anthony – You’re up!