Petra vs. Rolling Stones

[brent]

Three things that killed Petra


1. Radio: If your not a minivan mom CCM radio could careless who you are.

2. Message: Petra would not water down their message(which I give them credit for) I hate CCM for what it has become. I wonder what God thinks about this.

3. Music Styles: Petra tried to change and become more relevant in this area and it hurt them severly. I believe No Doubt was the turning point and was the biggest mistake they have ever done. I don't even own No Doubt any longer because of the distaste it brings to my ears. It was NOT Petra in anyway shape or form.

I hate to rehash an old thread but somebody else did it first, so I will chime in.

We all are to grow, and will grow, whether we like it or not. This last year was a transitional year for me. I could not see where I was going, but now looking back, I see God's hand all over my life, and it is very comforting and amazing. God isn't as small as I make him out to be.

I said that to say this. I now am working for one of the largest Methodist churches in the world, and they have opened my eyes to some things. They have had phenominal, exponential growth from 1 to 13,000 people in a short amount of time. They are replicating themselves, and only target those who are CEC people (Crisis, Christimas and Easter). The way that they maintain their size and effectiveness, is to not be divisive.

This world is full of extremists, both far right conservatives and far left liberalists. Then there are all the varying combinations in between. As a minister today, we must all be able to reach these people and answer their questions. The next generation is going to be harder to reach because of how political and dogmatic the talking heads of Christianity have become. Since these people are lost as lost can be, and view their best worst examples of Christians as their version of the norm, we have alot of damage control to do (no pun intended).

So because this world an d the generation to come needs to be reached, and they want truth, in their time, and lived out in real life in front of them, I believe now that there will need to be a continuation of three types of Christian music ministry. The one left of center, and the one right of center, and the one that is borderline fundamental.

The left of center should be the ones that are in the secular world, giving the nuggets of truth, which most people, reguardless of religion, would be able to believe and agree on. The ministry would be on the shoulders of the bandmembers themselves, in interviews, one-on-ones, meet and greets, etc. These bands currently exist. They draw fire from both sides for either being too Christian or not enough.

The left of center will be a bit more noticable, and more meety scripturally, still not using church lingo, etc. The message of this music will be more horizontal in nature (the way Christian music used to be). This music will need to be for those who were "nominally religious" but not quite yet dedicated, sold out Christians.

The fundamental position will be more of the bible verses copied from scripture, more personal, praise oriented. This will be the vertical music that is sung out of experience and praise to God. So this will be by Christians for Christians.

So it is a three step program in content. One is out there with truth, just not blatently THE truth in your face, to open their minds and ears. Then the next one is more defining and ministerial, and the last one is after the person arrived into the Kingdom.

Sorry for the long rant. But this is my vision for our little operation, and why I believe God has put me in the position to learn what I have, especially from Guys like John Schlitt and Louie Weaver and the like. This is also why I believe I am at this church. We need to go where Jesus went. Share and live in front of those that Jesus died for. We need to stop spending time and resources reaching the believers evangelistically. They are in. They have the same Word that we have, and the same power of the Holy Spirit that we have. If they do not want to live close with God, that's their choice. We need to focus on giving the world the choice.

I have a feeling. On judgement day, when we are all dripping wet with blood from out hands, that the lost will turn to us and say that they would have listened. We need to suck it up and make the music that will draw them in, even if the mainstream church doesn't like it. Well you know what? 80% of all churches are in the 100 to 250 member bracket, and 95% of the time attendance is only 50%. Now. If they have the procedure down, where is their fruit?! If they have the ministery down, why do they not grow?! If they are living it, they should be, unless the Holy Spirit is sleeping on the job.

It's time to go to war folks.

Brent Handy

[LexingtonPethead]

So does this mean that when I am 40 I will look back and my favorite music will be 35-40 years old? Its hard enough to believe that my favorite recording (Beyond Belief) is 15 years old. I sure do hope the old styles come back.

I'd say your favorite music will be about 30 years old and less when you reach age 40, depending on when you got really interested in music.

I think for guys, the music we bond with the most is the music we lisened to as we grew through our pre-adolescence years through early adulthood. That age range is different for everyone.

[nacman]

Well my music intrest started when I was 15 or 16 but that was only two to three years ago. Even then most of Petra's work was well over ten years old.

[LexingtonPethead]

Well my music intrest started when I was 15 or 16 but that was only two to three years ago. Even then most of Petra's work was well over ten years old.

Well, I think it's awesome that you're taking such an interest in music that not only is old material, but also the best rock of all - Petra!!

[charl]

By the time I'm 40, some of the music I love will be...nearly a hundred years old! Crazy Blues will be exactly 98.

[Michael]

Brent,

That's such an interesting post you've made. To me, an even more interesting thing is that it roughly amounts to a chronological outline of the history of the development of contemporary Christian music (lack of caps intentional, becuase I'm talking about the music going back to the 70's and even the 60's before that phrase was invented). Even Petra has followed that to some extent. The oldest Christian pop/rock is very much outreach music ("Why don't you look into Jesus?" from Larry Norman, or "Wake Up" from Petra, or whatever). Later, in the 80's, the music started to develop into Christian-to-Christian music, and the people who were trying to reach out to unbelievers started to make churchy people uncomfortable (mainly because they tried to do it by entering the mainstream music world, which these days is the rule instead of the exception). Now everybody on Christian radio thinks they're a praise and worship leader.

You know, I kind of long for the outreach days. There's something refreshing and kind of charming about hearing a song where someone says "Hey you, you guy over there with the bottle in a bag... have you ever heard that Jesus loves you?"

[LexingtonPethead]

There's something refreshing and kind of charming about hearing a song where someone says "Hey you, you guy over there with the bottle in a bag... have you ever heard that Jesus loves you?"

Michael, is that actually a line in a song or did you make that up in your post? It's pretty catchy!