Casting Crowns, Nickelback and the Gospel of Jesus Christ

Christianity Today's Entertainment Blog recently had a post about the Dover Awards.  The Dove's are the Christian version of the Grammy's...which means only Christians care about them!  What struck me about the post was that they mentioned that Casting Crowns had won the previous five Artist of the Year Awards before losing out this year to Needtobreathe.  While this sounds critical, saying Casting Crowns is an "artist" is like saying Nickelback reinvents their sound on every song! 

I have been a big fan of Christian throughout my life.  Especially as a teenager, Christian music was a source of inspiration for me and my faith.  Now, I don't follow Christian music as much as I used too, mostly because I find a lot of the music made in the Christian genre (or Christian ghetto, depending on your view) to be lacking creativity musically and lyrically.  For me, much of the Christian genre has become cheerleaders for Jesus rather than creatively communicating God's love, peace, grace, power and presence lyrically and musically.

The Church, in general, has lost the ability to influence culture through the arts, when the arts have the ability to communicate on such a powerful level.  I'm thankful for mainstream bands (Christian and otherwise) whose music and lyrics point to God through beauty and grace.  I could go on and name some bands, but I realize it's completely subjective! (Some of my personal favorites are U2, Needtobreathe, The Robbie Seay Band, Thrice, Derek Webb, Owl City, Switchfoot and Mutemath)  Those of us in the church need to encourage the our congregation to use the arts with excellence to communicate the truths of God's love and salvation.  We need to find our voice to communicate using the gifts and talents that God has given us.  Some of us have been given gifts of music- we need to use it to the glory of God! Some of us have been given the ability to paint and sculpt- we need to use it to the glory of God!  Let's not settle to produce material for the Christian ghetto- let's produce art that speaks to the world's heart about the love and grace of Jesus Christ.

Your turn- which bands/artist/songs speak to you about God's love, grace, beauty, peace, presence, justice or mercy? Talk it out in the comments!

CD Review: Passion- Awakening

This past January I had the opportunity to attend the Passion2010 Conference in Atlanta with several of our college students.  (You can read part 1 and part 2 of my recap)  The conference was really good.  I came away refreshed and renewed.  While the speakers were excellent, most people are aware of the music that comes out of Passion and the Passion artist.  Passion has been putting out albums from their conferences since the mid-1990's. Since I attended the conference- I was excited to get the CD, but also hoping it washed away the lackluster memory of the God of This City album from a few years back. More after the jump...

Jars of Clay Video

I wrote a review for the new Jars of Clay album. (you can read it here) Here is the video for the song Two Hands. Great Video!

CD Review- Jars of Clay (The Long Fall Back to Earth)

Has it really been 14 years since the Jars of Clay song "Flood" flooded the airwaves? I can remember as a 16 year old hearing that song on the radio and then purchasing the single cassette (you read right, a cassette single) from Wal-Mart. Their first full length CD, "Jars of Clay." still ranks as one of my favorites- both for the songs and for the memories it brings back of my high school years. Other than that initial CD, I have not really been a Jars of Clay fan.

That began to change when I picked up their Redemption Songs album in 2005. It was a rework of some hymns and I really enjoyed it. I also liked their Christmas Songs which came out in 2007. They were able to take some familiar and new Christmas songs and create a unique ambiance with them. Those two niche CD's led me to pick up their newest CD, The Long Fall Back to Earth. (yeah, I still buy CD's. I love peeling off the wrappers and reading the liner notes. iTunes will never be able to take that away.)

The CD begins with a long instrumental introduction (2:19 long). I've heard people say it reminds them of something that Coldplay would do. It certainly has that feel, but after the intro Jars gives us an 80's inspired (in a good way) indie rock album that I really have not been able to put down. Let me highlight a few songs that stand out.

Two Hands is a song about wanting to regain intimacy with the truth. Jars sings I'm a liar who thirst for truth/and while I ache for faith to hold me/I need to feel the scars and see the proof. There is a longing to worship- If I had two hands doing the same thing/lifted high, lifted high. Heaven finds the guys singing about how we are to be little bits of heaven here on earth. And Find, glowing on the inside/what's growing on the inside/heaven's not that far/glowing on the inside/showing on the inside/it's growing where we are. This song has a great 80's vibe to it!

Headphones is a song that address the disconnect that we experience in our society. We live in a world where we put our headphones on to drown out the noise of tragedy, the reality and messiness of relationships. I don't wanna be the one who tries to figure it out/I don't need another eason I should care about you/ You don't want to know my story/ You don't want to own my pain/Living in a heavy, heavy world/And there's a pop song in my head/I don't want to hear it/.

Where Headphones addresses the disconnect that is experienced relationally, Closer a love song about, well, getting closer! Jars uses some creative lyrics (almost cheesy, but hey, it's a love song!) You're my shirt iron-on, I'm the tick, you're the bomb/You're the L and the V, I'm the O and the E/Am I speaking clearly?/If you want my love, well you've gotta get close to me/Ooh, if you want my love.../ I don't understand why we can't get close enough/I miss the shivers in my spine every time that we touch. Hero explores our need for someone to save us. While none of the songs are explicit about God, this may be the closest. And we need a hero/to save us from ourselves/we need a hero/to save us from ourselves/save us from ourselves/save us from our fear/when the sirens wail, we need a hero here.

While just a taste of the songs that are present on Long Fall, this CD has fourteen songs on it clocking in at 59 minutes. Jars explores themes of grace, love, worship, hope, forgiveness, and the need for salvation. This has been a great CD musically and lyrically to keep going back to!

The CD Is In The Mail

Finally! The CD that our worship team recorded is in the mail to have the cover work designed and the duplication/packaging done! It has been a long process (Started in February). Still, I listened to it for the first time in a while the other day and really enjoyed it. It won't win any awards, but it is fun.

Here are a few shots from the photo shoot for the CD.

Guitars and Violin. The four of us (and 2 drummers) recorded most of the music for the CD.

I really like Steve C.'s (on the right) mischevious grin/smirk. He knows something you don't...that track #4 is absolutely smoking!

Um, how did I get in here?

Here's the entire team. Yeah, there are 10 of us.

CD/Artist That Impacted My Life (pt. 3)

It's been awhile since I've continued this series on CD's and artist that have been influential in my life. This post- The O.C. Supertones.

I first heard the Supertones at The Mustard Seed Jam House in my hometown of PA. The Jam House was a Christian Coffee House for teens and featured some great music. The Adventures of The O.C. Supertones was like nothing I had heard before. Being from rural PA, I didn't hear any Ska or reggae influenced music until the Supertones. I really liked what I heard.

The thing that was most influential about the Supertones was always their lyrics. They were always Christ-centered and challenged me not to compromise my faith as a teen. Later CD's by the Supertones took on a worshipful feel on many of the songs. The Supertones were always in rotation on the CD player and continue to be on the iPod.

I cannot remember the first time I heard the Supertones live. I know I saw them at DC/LA 2000. In all, I probably saw them 6-7 times in concert. Their shows were pure feel good energy with lots of dancing. I had the priveledge of attending their farewell tour when it came to the Baltimore area with four good friends. It was a great evening! The picture below is one I took from the frontrow at DC/LA 2000 in Washington DC.

CD's/Artist That Impacted My Life (Pt. 2)

So it's time for part 2 of my blog series on CD's/Artist that made an impact on my life. We're still not out of the cheesey period that was 80's/90's Christian Music. And yeah, some of this is cheesey, but it helped me stay focused on my faith while. So, here we go...

DeGarmo and Key- The Pledge (1989)

I've gone through a couple websites with discography information on D&K and I still think The Pledge was my favorite. They definately fit the 80's mold of synth rock. They got a little heavier on guitar as the 90's rolled in. The Pledge was a perfect mix. Boycott Hell was one of my favorite songs growing up and listening to this tape. D&K had their video, "Six, Six, Six" on MTV back when MTV still played videos (Mid-1980's). Rumor has it the video was removed (which it was) because it was too violent. Most likely, the folks at MTV realized that D&K was a Christian band. Here is their video for Six, Six, Six:

Yeah, that video looks pretty dated. Classic though.

The thing that stands out to me for the album The Pledge...is the title song. As a young Christian, I was challenged by the chorus which stated, "He died for me. I'll live for Him." Very simple, but it was an easy way for me to keep focused on Christ in what I did.

I saw Degarmo and Key at least once in conert. I believe it was for their "Heat It Up" Tour. I know that I had all of their tapes that came after The Pledge, which is why they show up here in the series.

CD/Artist That Impacted My Life (Pt.1)

So I was going through my iTunes collections and searching the store for some music from the past when I thought it would be fun to do a series of post on CD's and Artist that impacted my life and my faith. Like many, music has influenced me in a great way. When I was a teenager and struggling to find my way, music (especially Christian music) helped me stay the course. Now, some of the CD's and Artist listed wouldn't are pretty cheesy sounding now (most Christian music was) but this will be a fun exercise.

Petra- Beyond Belief

I think most Christian kids into music in the 80's and 90's listened to Petra. Beyond Belief was, perhaps, my first cassettes that I owned. (That's right cassettes) This particular album was also one of my favorites. Beyond Belief and Unseen Power was Petra at it's best. I thought the band line-up was the best too. They tried to go too young in the mid-90's and held on way too long as a band.

I saw Petra in concert once. I believe I was in 7th or 8th grade and our youth group went to the Star Lake Ampitheater outside of Pittsburgh. I have no clue who opened up for Petra, there were several bands. But Petra just rocked. I played piano at the time and keyboardist John Lawry has his keyboard programmed to 'sing' Jesus Loves Me...it was pretty cool at the time. I also remember head banging (oh, how I wished to have long hair) and that my neck was so sore on the ride home that I could barely hold it up on my own. Good times.

Petra had a long, long career and a great ministry (I believe they saw their music as a minsitry). So today, I salute Petra as a cornerstone of my youth!