Friday, March 23, 2007

Passion

Christianity Today reports on the 2007 Passion Conference in Atlanta. In the course of a long article describing the background, purposes and plans for Passion, one of the topics was the worship music. Songs introduced by the Passion organization have become important in contemporary worship. Louie Giglio:
"People have to remember when they're sitting in church holding the hymnal that they're looking at the top 100 hymns of all time," Giglio said. "I think as the church emerges 200 years from now, the best of the best of these new songs will survive." ....

For many years, critics have also landed blows against modern worship music for fostering individualism. Giglio hasn't been deaf to such criticism, and he's challenged Passion artists to resist the temptation. As Tomlin composed "How Great Is Our God," Giglio exhorted him to exclude any verses about our relationship with God. "If we keep saying it's all about God," Giglio said, "then every now and then a song will come along that doesn't have anything about us in it."

And if you keep calling your songs worship music, maybe that's what you'll get.

"You're going to lean away from singing about church," said John Piper, bestselling author and Minnesota pastor. Giglio has invited Piper to speak at every Passion conference. "You're going to sing about God. You'll look for stuff about God that awakens emotions and affections. You can go the intimacy route, which sounds like love songs. Or you can go the magnificence route, for transcendence." [more]

Source: Christianity Today: Passion takes it higher

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