Music whether secular or faith based is all about emotion or rather the emotional response it can garner. The most popular and effective music there is will be the most personal; this is proven time and time again in the history of all music. Born of pain or born of joy all music carries some emotional weight, as Christians we seek to find ways to turn these emotional responses into a need for something more, either a realization of Christ or the want to know more of him. In this new century we have a challenge to find new ways to accomplish this and ways to remove the stigmas that Christian music carries. .
Music has always been a great love of mine, second only to God and the love of my life Mandi. I have always had close ties to the music industry, first thru my grandfather who was a southern gospel promoter and manager, second thru my own bands and singing career. In all of these years I have one grave concern in Christian music and that is our own pious and prideful refusal of change. We must come to grips as Christians with the bad name we have given ourselves, no longer does Christian mean upstanding person, trustworthy or honest, today it is synonymous with hypocrite and self righteous. In this day and age the title of Christian band or Christian music does more to hurt than help. Inside the church the title is fine, but outside when in the use of ministry it cause many to turn away who would otherwise listen. .
I am Christian, I am in a band, I make music that is personal and reflects the experiences in my life, the most important thing in my life is my relationship with Christ, but to say I am in a Christian band brings my audience down to less than 40 percent of America and my teenage audience to less than 20. According to CCM magazine only about 20 percent of Christian teenagers listen to Christian music on a regular basis, their biggest reason " The quality just isn't the same, I enjoy the sound of secular more.
