“Sometimes Risk Works Out”
A friend of mine sent me the link to this post and asked whether he thought something like it would be able to fly at OBC – check it out:
A year and a half ago I met a new friend named J-Griff. He has become part of our church and has an amazing gift.
He speaks a different musical language than most of our congregation and I have wanted to use him as part of our worship experiences for a long time, but could never quite muster up the courage. Then I read this post and decided that just because something might fail I have no an excuse not to go for it.
The “this post” he’s referring to is some great thoughts from Tony Morgan on the “new traditional church music” –
Only it’s as if we got stuck in the 80s. While the church still leans on a mix of rock and pop music as the preferred worship genre, our culture has shifted once again. Now, according to iTunes, 1 in 3 of the top 100 songs in the country is either hip-hop/rap or R&B/soul. My guess, though, is that you can’t name a church in the country that’s using these genres of music for worship. Why is that?
Now, before you let your “it’s-not-our-culture” bias set in, consider this. Most of the hip-hop and R&B music has been recorded by black artists. 14% of the U.S. population is black. But, remember, nearly one-third of the music purchased on iTunes is one of these two genres. You do the math. White people like hip-hop.
If you want to hear the recording that inspired this song, check out “One Way” from Soul Survivor 2008 on iTunes here.
I love this. I’m willing to bet that song hit w/ more people than they think it did. Love it.
As for risk… to be effective in reaching people far from God, you’ve got to roll the dice a lot. Risk is essential in being a part of a effective ministry.
Thanks for sharing, Chris.
Good thing you took the risk. That was great on so many levels!
Dude…
Great post. My pastor says, “this century if for dreamers, risk-takers and strategists” . I tend to agree with him.
dave
Nice! Love it!
We use hip hop almost once a month in our sets. Love to see some others taking the plunge.
Here’s a BAD MIX of one of our rap segues into Shackles. Video stinks, but it was sweet live. http://russhutto.com/2009/06/sunday-setlist-61409/