He really makes a good point especially the point that we are to sing with and to each other to edify, not entertain. "Let the message about the Messiah dwell richly among you, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, and singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, with gratitude in your hearts to God. " (Colossians 3:16, HCSB)
From Dr. James Leonard
Have I ever told you what I really think of the
contemporary worship band?
- How short would my preaching career be if I insisted that the sound system blast my voice as loud as the band's music?
- The quickest way to kill congregational singing is the worship band, whose music is so loud that no longer does the Christian church sing to "one another" songs and hymns.
- The unity of the church is seriously impaired by these ephemeral praise songs that have a currency of about 8 months, and will not get passed down to future generations. Thus, the old folks who have served the Lord faithfully for 50 years do not share the joys of the songs of Zion with the younger generation.
- And don't get me started about the light show. When did the church's worship become a rock concert?
- I guess the worship band's music is so uninteresting, so uncaptivating that it has to be blasted as loud as possible.
- And I guess that the text of the music of most contemporary praise songs must be so mediocre that one must gin up the emotions by excessive use of musical tricks.
The tragedy of this is that our denominational institutions actively promote the contemporary praise band movement--with all the above characteristics, and so incidentally promote the demise of congregational singing. We send our youth to camps and conferences featuring really cool people playing the same five or ten songs over and over again, with great expertise, and they get hooked on the sensational. And when they return to your typical Baptist church with its musical limitations, they think songs like "No One Ever Cared for Me Like Jesus" and "And Can It Be" are boring and unrelatable. Our seminaries even might be doing the same thing.
Here's some good congregational singing.
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