The Bible teaches that we are to “make a joyful noise unto the Lord.” There are those who wish that God had been a little more specific and commanded something more like a joyful “melody” instead, but for some reason He didn’t. That was, no doubt, for the best. Had He been more specific, every generation of parents would have used that to justify their distaste for the music of their children’s generation. Come to think of it, parents haven’t really needed the excuse.
Grumbling about the next generation’s music has been a time-honored parental rite for centuries.
Our boys grew up during the time when popular Christian music really came into its own. Though I could remember valiant attempts by various Christian artists going back as far as my college days, it wasn’t until the late 1990s that the whole contemporary Christian music industry really exploded.
Happily for us, the music that started coming out during this time was something we and our boys all enjoyed.
Around that same time, Huntsville was chosen as host city for a new radio station called WAY-FM. The station was part of a Christian music network that originated in Ft Meyers, Florida and was beginning a major expansion that would eventually reach 70 cities in 25 states. That gave us a chance to hear a lot more of the music and become more familiar with the different artists.
Then, riding the wave of enthusiasm for WAY-FM, organizers of Huntsville’s annual Big Spring Jam music festival decided to add a contemporary Christian stage. So all of a sudden we could actually go watch our favorite artists, live!
With this perfect storm of enthusiasm for contemporary Christian music swirling all around us, it’s no wonder our boys got caught-up in the excitement. The video below documents what happened when our bunch of hams decided to pay homage to D.C. Talk’s signature song, “Jesus Freak”.
Since that time, the members of the group D.C Talk have moved-on to separate careers. Eventually our boys’ tastes in music moved on as well. A lot of what they listen to now just sounds like noise to me, but that’s OK.
It turns out God was always more interested in the “joyful” part anyway.
originally published 1/23/12| next post Man Movies
