fromm the editor
What a Difference
The year was 1974. My friend, Ted Bleymaier and I were booking several
“Jesus Bands” in the Northern California area. We established a circuit
with groups such as Children of the Day, Wing and a Prayer, The Way,
Sweet Comfort, Daniel Amos, Mustard Seed Faith and many other groups
and soloists. These minstrel road warriors would launch from the shores of Southern California
and head up through central California and play at several cities on the way north and back
down highway 99.
Though that was an exciting time, in the 70s it would have been difficult to imagine
the level of talent, creativity and interest in Christian music that we are seeing today. And
it is at all levels—local and international. Pastors are giving permission to writers and other
creative types to author the worship of the Church. This form of revealing the story and heart
of prayer by local poets within congregations has been spreading like wildfire. We see it here
at Worship Leader in the rapidly growing submission
of new songs to the Song DISCovery program. And
the material is much more than what you might
call “home movies.” The digital age has blurred the
borderlines between “industry creative standards”
and “indie” attempts. What a difference 30 years
can make.
In the 60s and 70s we were witnessing
the birth of “message music” in the growing folk
music and, ultimately, singer/songwriter traditions.
A similar explosion is now occurring in the new
literacy of multimedia. Knowing how to create in
PowerPoint, design your own Web page and of
course text message at 40 words a minute is essential to communication in the digital age.
And all of this new communication technology is being adopted and used by the new evangelistic crusades and bands. A few weeks ago my 14-year-old daughter, Lexi, and I flew to the
San Francisco Bay area to participate in Greg Laurie’s Harvest Crusade. We were in for a shock.
We discovered that the 16,500-seat HP Pavilion Center, converted into a multimedia sanctuary
via the talents of the Harvest staff, was packed to capacity. There was not a seat or parking place
to be found. Ultimately, with the help of a security guard and a cell phone call we made our
way in. We raised our hands with the majority of the audience and sang along with Jeremy
Camp, “Here I Am to Worship.” Greg Laurie preached the gospel and 2,000 people responded
by making public declarations of a new faith in Jesus Christ.
Two weeks later Lexi and I were in another public arena at Universal Studios in Southern
California. There the audience of around 6,000 had come to see the Chris Tomlin band.
Again, multimedia turned the center into a sanctuary with an opening bricolage of words,
pictures and music focusing our attention on the purpose of the event—reminding us that
“God was the audience” of the night. This statement of purpose disavows the normal ritual for
entertainment where musicians act like gods or pay homage to their own music as a god.
Tomlin is indeed cognizant of the snares in the ritual road of a rock concert. It’s a slippery
slope for someone with his celebrity status to navigate, but he thoughtfully and masterfully
focused our “Gibson Theater community” on the Lord.
We can “see the morning,” as Tomlin’s new album declares. Events in which a mass
audience proclaims the faithfulness of God in song, and evangelists, such as Greg Laurie,
proclaim the good news, offer hope in reaching the burgeoning new generation who are
carrying the witness of worship forward in many new ways.
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A PUBLICATION OF WORSHIP LEADER, INC.
www.worshipleader.com
www.songdiscovery.com
www.nationalworshipleaderconference.com
www.theworshipermagazine.com
PUBLISHER/EDITOR IN CHIEF Chuck Fromm, PhD
EXECUTIVE EDITOR Julie Reid
SONG DISCOVERY A&R Phil Sillas
ASSOCIATE EDITOR Jeremy Armstrong
DIRECTOR OF SALES AND MARKETING Daniele Kimes
DIREC TOR OF TRAINING & DEVELOPMENT Suzie Stablein
SALES ASSOCIATE Brack Haynes
Sean Lewis
PRODUCTION & WEB PROPERTIES MGR Barbara Sullivan
ADMINIS TRATOR Melissa Brown
SUBSCRIBER SERVICES Carissa Drews
EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Melissa Williams
EDITORIAL BOARD Warren Anderson,
J. Robert Clinton,
Holland Davis, Maggi Dawn,
Jeff Deyo, Susan Fontaine
Godwin, Shaun Groves,
Tony Guerrero,
Debby Rettino Kerner,
Roberta King, Greg Laurie,
Hughes Oliphant Old,
Andy Park, Matt Redman,
Robb Redman, Jason Ritchie,
Mark Roberts, Lin Sexton,
Brenton Brown, Rick Warren,
Dr. Robert Webber
Worship Leader (ISSN 1066-1247) is published bi-monthly (except
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