In reviewing the blog stats, feedback we’ve received throughout 2015, and the limited polling we did over the Christmas break, it was abundantly clear that we need to focus more on expanding our Discernment in Music (DiM) coverage. The problem of poor theology in music is far bigger than what we can cover in our small blog, but we can try to do more by God’s Grace. We will be expanding in two directions, first we will be looking to address Evangelical Worship Songs… songs that are being heavily marketed to church worship leaders for inclusion in their services. We’ll also be shifting our attention over to what is being purchased on iTunes, since this has become the predominant metric for music popularity and penetration.
Evangelical Worship Songs
For now, we’ll be dedicating our Thursday posts to DiM work reviewing the most popular/promoted Evangelical Worship Songs. Our primary source for song selection will be WorshipTogether.com. They have been in the business for a very long time… since I was a keyboardist in the praise and worship band of an NAR church. They are partnered with CCLI (Christian Copyright Licensing International), Hillsong, Passion, and Jesus Culture. What a winning collection of questionable theology we have driving the evangelical music-for-contemporary-church-worship train, eh? If you search through the page, you’ll find that this is likely a go-to site for every “contemporary worship service” leader in the country… regardless of denomination.
In doing some preliminary research for today’s post, I was worried that I would be starting completely fresh. I’m not sure why, but the fear was there. I found a top new songs for 2015 list on the website, and to my surprise, we have already covered one of the songs on the list, and at least two others I saw pop up on the top 20 charts last month. I didn’t realize churches were playing so many CCM Radio songs in their church services. Let’s look at the list from 2015:
Touch The Sky (DiM Post)
Good Good Father (DiM Post)
O Praise The Name (Anastasis) (DiM Post)
He Shall Reign Forevermore (DiM Post)
This Is Living (DiM worship edition) (DiM CCM edition)
It Is Well With My Soul (DiM Post)
One Thing (DiM Post)
Unbroken Praise (DiM Post)
Heart Like Heaven (DiM Post)
Shout Hosanna (DiM Post)
What this means for our DiM posts is that for the most part very little will change in our format for covering these songs. I will need to be more explicit in the evaluation of these songs within the context of corporate worship, so I’ll have to work out how we go about that. We will work through chart over the next week in an attempt to play a bit of “catch-up” on the new year and to work out how we might distinguish the corporate worship context to that of individual listening that has been our paradigm.
iTunes Top 100 Gospel & Christian Songs
The other area in which we’d like to expand is that of the top iTunes songs being purchased and downloaded. This is the metric that drives the industry because this connects the questionable theology to real dollars for the Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) Industry. There will undoubtedly be some overlap between what is the most popular music on the radio and the most played music in “contemporary worship services”, but keeping an eye on these charts is important for understanding not only what “those who should know better” are pushing onto the public, but for seeing what the public has bought into, both literally and figuratively. This approach will also expose us to cross-musical-genre metrics that we don’t get when we track pop station lists alone. We won’t be going to iTunes directly, we’ll be using a site called popvortex for their Top 100 Gospel & Christian Songs chart. Let’s take a look at the top 40 songs on the list to see how much of it we’ve covered thus far:
1. Good Good Father – Chris Tomlin (DiM Post)
Release Date: October 2, 20152. The River – Jordan Feliz (DiM Post)
Release Date: October 2, 20153. Just Be Held – Casting Crowns (DiM Post)
Release Date: January 24, 20144. How Can It Be – Lauren Daigle (DiM Post)
Release Date: April 14, 20155. First – Lauren Daigle (DiM Post)
Release Date: April 14, 20156. This Is Amazing Grace – Phil Wickham
Release Date: September 24, 20137. Oceans (Where Feet May Fail) – Hillsong UNITED (DiM Post)
Release Date: February 26, 20138. Holy Spirit – Francesca Battistelli (DiM Post)
Release Date: April 22, 20149. Trust In You – Lauren Daigle
Release Date: April 14, 201510. Same Power – Jeremy Camp (DiM Post)
Release Date: February 3, 201511. My Story – Big Daddy Weave (DiM Post)
Release Date: September 18, 201512. Alone (feat. TRU) – Hollyn (DiM Post)
Release Date: October 16, 201513. Flawless – MercyMe (DiM Post)
Release Date: April 8, 201414. Touch the Sky – Hillsong UNITED (DiM Post)
Release Date: May 26, 201515. Come As You Are – Crowder (DiM Post)
Release Date: May 27, 201416. Tell Your Heart to Beat Again – Danny Gokey
Release Date: June 23, 201417. Fix My Eyes – for KING & COUNTRY (DiM Post)
Release Date: September 16, 201418. Wanna Be Happy? – Kirk Franklin (DiM Post)
Release Date: November 13, 201519. He Knows My Name – Francesca Battistelli (DiM Post)
Release Date: April 22, 201420. We Believe – Newsboys (DiM Post)
Release Date: May 27, 201421. Lift Your Head Weary Sinner (Chains) – Crowder (DiM Post)
Release Date: May 27, 201422. Feel It (feat. Mr. Talkbox) – tobyMac (DiM Post)
Release Date: August 7, 201523. No Longer Slaves (Live) – Bethel Music, Jonathan David & Melissa Helser
Release Date: January 26, 201524. I Can Only Imagine – MercyMe
Release Date: December 31, 200025. Oceans (Where Feet May Fail) – Hillsong UNITED (DiM Post)
Release Date: September 10, 201326. Salvation’s Tide (feat. Kristian Stanfill) – Passion
Release Date: January 1, 201627. Soul On Fire (feat. All Sons & Daughters) – Third Day (DiM Post)
Release Date: February 27, 201528. 10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord) [Live] – Matt Redman
Release Date: December 31, 201029. Redeemed – Big Daddy Weave
Release Date: April 17, 201230. Guilty – Newsboys
Release Date: September 25, 201531. Grace Wins – Matthew West (DiM Post)
Release Date: April 28, 201532. Live On Forever – The Afters
Release Date: August 28, 201533. At the Cross (Love Ran Red) – Chris Tomlin (DiM Post)
Release Date: October 27, 201434. Even So Come (feat. Kristian Stanfill) [Radio Version/Live] – Passion (DiM Post)
Release Date: April 28, 201535. Call It Grace – Unspoken
Release Date: April 1, 201436. It’s Not Over Yet – for KING & COUNTRY
Release Date: September 16, 201437. Worth (Full Version) – Anthony Brown & group therAPy (DiM Post)
Genre: Gospel38. God’s Not Dead (Like a Lion) – Newsboys
Release Date: November 11, 201139. Greater – MercyMe (DiM Post)
Release Date: April 8, 201440. Broken Together – Casting Crowns (DiM Post)
Release Date: January 24, 2014
Conclusion
Looking back, we’ve covered a lot of ground… but as I look ahead I see there is a lot more work left to be done. It is my sincere prayer that this work will be a blessing to the Body of Christ, not in simply following our recommendations here, but in employing the methodologies demonstrated. Practicing biblical discernment in reviewing a song you already love is probably the most difficult thing to do fairly. I don’t recommend starting there. It is best to start with an unfamiliar song by an unfamiliar artist. Listen to the song, then read the words, then listen while reading the words and then open up your bible to see if what the song says falls inline with what is written in Scripture. Pray for us as we look to focus our efforts more on the DiM work here at FaithfulStewardship. As I indicated before, we’ll be posting updates as they are completed, and we’ll probably need to update the DiM Archive page and Resources page as well.
Romans 15:8-13 (ESV) | Christ the Hope of Jews and Gentiles
8 For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God’s truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, 9 and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written,
“Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles,
and sing to your name.”10 And again it is said,
“Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people.”
11 And again,
“Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles,
and let all the peoples extol him.”12 And again Isaiah says,
“The root of Jesse will come,
even he who arises to rule the Gentiles;
in him will the Gentiles hope.”13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.
Amen.
In Christ Jesus,
Jorge
Faithful Stewardship 
Jorge, I do believe you have found your niche with D.I.M. I for one appreciate what you are doing. I have an idea – feel free to take it or not. Why not expand DIM to not only cover the big hits, but to also include songs from lesser known christian artists and older hymns? Lesser known groups like Sovereign Grace, Shane and Shane, Shai linne, Ghostship, Sons of Korah, Indelible Grace and on and on…it would likely increase your “approved” section 😉
Keep up the good work.
Thank you so much for the encouragement. Our “approved” section is in need of some loving, to be sure. I’m planning on covering some of the older hymns, particularly if I can find one with modernized accompaniment or melody. I’d like to cover more solid songs, but my time constraints make finding such resources the problem. I probably need to start asking for reader submissions for review, but I need a good source for lyrics and audio/video, since I really don’t have time to transcribe a audio file. The less known a music artist, the less likely I’ll come across him/her/them in my spare time. I spend most of my time listening to Christian talk radio now, so that is why I’ve focused on top charts for song choices.
yep, going to have to start eliciting user submissions for song reviews. Keep an eye out for a future post, I’ll need to work out some of the details.
Thanks again for your encouragement and advice.
I have to thank you for what you are doing. It is certainly a blessing to me. I lead worship for a youth group and Wednesday night Bible study at a moderately large church, and a recent conviction of mine is prayerfully exercising prudence regarding what songs we use for any given set. I have gone through the archives and it has been informing me as to what songs in our existing repertoire are no longer acceptable, in addition to providing a model for me to to formulate the best construction of songs that we still do… Praise God for what this is, and I do believe this can be a mighty resource for those who seek to glorify Him.
Thank you so much for taking the time to share a word of encouragement, and for your commitment to sound doctrine in song and in study. The LORD be praised for His tender mercy and grace.
Jorge, now would be a good time to catch up on one of the songs on this list – I Can Only Imagine by MercyMe. With the movie coming out March 16, it’s getting more airplay and secular coverage. Bart Millard’s book is out now, too, which goes along with the “true” story in the movie, so you’ll have lots of background as to why the song was written and what Millard thinks of its success.
That’s an excellent idea. Thank you for the suggestion.