A few weeks ago I introduced “Call Upon Your Name” from Marie Barnett’s new CD. The response has been unprecedented. I never thought a country-flavored song would be such a big hit. I have had more people ask me to play more songs like that than any other song type. Who knew? Diversity comes in many forms and country is a growing genre of music in the US so maybe it should find a place in our worship sets.
Discussion
6 Responses to “Diversity”
2
6 months ago
I think we’re at a spot in our culture where diverse music is a big deal. Some interesting thoughts by Dave Schmeltzer & the Not Religious folks: http://notreligious.typepad.com/notreligious/2010/02/what-is-worship-supposed-to-accomplish.html
It seems that even in our churches, we were largely unable to pull it off before, but now people are ready…
3
6 months ago
Hey Danno,
I would love to know the country/gospel tunes you have been doing. Can you respond with the list please? Maybe others would like to check it out.
4
6 months ago
We’ve taken several gospel choir and “Vineyardized” them with great success. For us it seemed like “Diversity” typically meant introducing different stylistic approaches along with our traditional Vineyard sound.
But to condense a song that is generally sung by a Black Gospel Choir down to a couple of acoustic guitars and a heartfelt vocalist seemed like a “diverse” approach at the time.
My fav’s are “I Need You To Survive” and “I Speak Life”.
I’m not really sold on the “Diversity for the sake of diversity” angle. I want to choose songs that my church wants to sing. If that’s Country, yeehaw! If that’s Jazz, cool baby! Gospel? Amen, brother. I do what I can do with what I got to get those things in there because hopefully it will help people connect with their God.
5
6 months ago
Kenny, thanks for the link to Dave’s blog on worship. Good stuff to ponder.
6
6 months ago
Well, we did a country version of “Nothing but the blood of Jesus”. We’ve also been playing “Your Touch” ( the one Crispin Schroeder sang) It’s the younger guys taking us there…
1
6 months ago
Haven’t heard that one yet, but we’ve been doing some country/gospel styled tunes lately. I think with the prevailing spirit that currently weighs down the secular world ( and can get on us if we’re not vigilant) people are digging the joy that’s released through these type of songs.