Comments on: A Fun Opener

By: John

John — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 02:01:15 +0000

My goodness… what ever happened to “exalting” Jesus, and He “would draw all men to Himself.” Not trying to throw stones at anyone, esp. since I wouldn’t know who it was aimed at anyway (but that’s beside the point); I think this is where “We” the church have lost our focus. We’ve taken the work of convincing out of the Holy Spirit’s hands and have embraced a “Spirit-less” approach to reaching the lost. Why are you even afraid about unsaved folk freaking out because you’re singing Christian songs? While you’re at it, why not preach – not from the Bible – but some other book, just so your hearers don’t get freaked out by the Gospel. God has given us much – by way of His anointing, the Word, and the Spirit; let’s use what He gave us, and not lay it down to utilize man-made ineffective tools that make no eternal difference in anyone’s life.

By: Travis

Travis — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 06:10:00 +0000

Amen i totally agree with shawn trevor and sarah….My name is Travis and i am also a worship leader.. Our God will not be confined to anyones Box so stop trying to shove him in it… hes too big and wont fit!… im reminded of the song God Speaking by mandisa… it says He’ll do and he’ll use what ever he wants to , to tell us, i love you… he can use a song a movie a book anything… it doesnt matter if its secular… in the bible it talks about God going as far as to speaking through a Donkey.. thats my view on this… ill leave all of you with this… in the end do we not serve the same God. don’t let your views divide you.. thats what the enemy wantss, to divide us , the church… God bless =]

By: Sarah

Sarah — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 18:09:44 +0000

I think that this is a creative way to start worship. I disagree with the statement that secular songs cannot worship God. Just look at the lyrics for Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol.Often times I feel that “those three words are said too much , They’re not enough”. I feel at a loss for words and struggle to express my love for my Father. Also, when life gets crazy, I feel better to just manifest myself in his presence and “forget the world”. Worship is not about the lyrics, because words cannot even grasp a millionth of what should be said to our God. What makes worship is not music either, but it is your state of mind and your heart. If you look at the reason why the song Heart Of Worship was written was to show that worship is all about your heart and NOT about music. If you can worship and love on God through a secular song then go for it. God is not limited to work through only hymns or Christian songs. Our God is so mighty and amazing He is able to work through anything. Man’s biggest mistake is to limit God.

By: Mark V

Mark V — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 22:34:20 +0000

As a youth group leader myself, I have to say this is the worst youth group meeting I could possibly imagine.

This is 100% about the ego of the youth leader. His singing is not good so he should have gotten a student to sing it if this was really about “making kids feel comfortable.” But I’m sure he figured he has to sing the song because it was his idea (and it wouldn’t feed his ego if a talented student sang instead).

The supporters of this approach paint such a black and white picture of outreach. Either you’re singing Coldplay or you’re handing out Barth’s Church Dogmatics. Those are the only 2 options right? How about teaching Scripture in an engaging way and placing some faith that the Holy Spirit will inspire students to commit their lives to Christ? That’s not gimmicky, it’s not out-dated, and it has worked for the last 2000 years.

By: Mark

Mark — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 19:27:09 +0000

To Yvette,
you didn’t understand what he was trying to do. You can’t just hit someone across the head with the bible and hope to God that they will be saved. If you read in John 3, you will see how Jesus talked to Nicodemus and tried to explain how to be saved. Nicodemus was confused, so Jesus had to explain it in a way that a Pharisee (Nicodemus) would understand. And if you knew, a Pharisee was also a judge, someone who deals with politics basically. He didn’t understand Jesus with his “spiritual” talk, so he talked as if he was a judge also. What im getting at is, is that Jesus comes down to our understanding and speaks to us in a way that we understand. If you speak Japanese then he will speak in Japanese. So if you listen to nothing but secular music (which there is secular music that isn’t bad at all) then God will use that to bring you in. Last time i checked, God uses bad for the better of his Kingdom. So yeah, maybe God had to use a guy singing Cold play and throwing cheeseburgers around to get someone’s attention.
Also, i just simply love how you people think that singing Cold Play is a sin that deserves death. (sarcasm)

By: David

David — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 20:11:50 +0000

My main concern with this is that we try to teach the kids to steer clear of secular music all together. It’s like kinda telling them it’s ok to straddle the fence. Not bashing you, just my opinion.

By: Rodney Thacker

Rodney Thacker — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 20:27:40 +0000

I am a woship leader for a our churches youth group in N. Ga, and have never played secular music in our church, but I can relate to this in some aspects. I was a Younglife leader while in college. For those who aren’t familiar with Younglife, it is an outreach ministry in high schools who reaches out to students where they are; pot heads, drunks, gothic, prep, jocks…whoever they are where ever they are in life we reached out to them. At the beginning of every club/meeting we started out with two secular songs that had no controversal underlying messages followed by 3 or 4 worship songs, and this was done because the majority of the students who came were not church going students. The students didn’t feel uncomfortable in this setting and were more like to come back..each meeting had a 20-30 minute devotion brought by a leader. And if the cheeseburgers were given out in the youth area, I see nothing wrong with that…we have food in our youth and college/careers areas quite often. But, there is a fine line with secular music being played…but if the gospel of christ is brought forth, isn’t that the most important part!?!

By: Yvette

Yvette — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 16:50:23 +0000

scott, Jesus did not sin – He would teach them, but not FOLLOW their ways. big difference, thus that is not a valid argument. My ultimate point, is you cannot take something made for the world = devil and use it to worship God. That is silly, and you are right, what fruit is coming from this? If anything its a STUMBLING block to those who arent sure what to give up. Realistically, open the door to worldly music and people will stay playing with one foot in church another out. The temple is a HOLY PLACE. That is where you worship God. If you just consider it a building, yes its true, but a strip club is also a building will you let those things take place in a church? i’d like to point out in the song Viva la Vida ” i know st. peter won’t call me name” funny, you are playing that in a church, people are singing that, thus where are they going?! heaven? obviously not. They basically proclaiming they are going to HELL. wow interesting.
people shock me, there is no validity in this, so stop trying to make it valid, its wrong. period.

@ Brad, people come as they are, and are transformed, thus they leave what they were and are created into a new creature.

By: scott

scott — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 20:55:12 +0000

wow…im “saddened” to see how we still are divisive on things like this. Jesus was known as the friend of sinners. that title would rub people the wrong way today. there is a way to be in touch with the culture without becoming a part of it. i’m afraid that if we cant agree about a song that it spells bad news for us reaching this generation. i believe in using this world against itself to reach young people. instead of the world using us. this doesnt bode well for the church reaching people…”i wont even go into eating cheeseburgers in church”?? this is exactly the kind of things that keep young people from coming to church because we make the building a holy place instead of teaching that God is alive on the inside of you and you are the temple of God…but i too am prob adding to what the bible says about not getting caught up in useless debates…the real question about anything crossing over into secular and christian is – is it causing your brother to stumble? or is there fruit

By: Brad

Brad — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 20:57:15 +0000

Right on Yvette! We MUST come to Him CORRECT.. not “just as we are”. It’s time Christians take a stand for His word and what is right according to His holy and righteous standard… not ours. Like John the baptist said in John 3… “He must increase, but I must decrease.” I love you all and pray that you continue to learn and further understand His truth.. and present it the way it was meant to be understood.. not camoflauged by what mimics the world. I encourage you in this because I love you!

God bless!