"The Spirit of the Great Commission"

Angel Isaacs

I would like to write to you about the Spirit of the Great Commission (Go ye therefore into all the world...) as it relates to the Churches of Christ and also to early contemporary Christian music. I see the spirit of these two entities as capturing what Jesus meant by his decree. I urge any Christian who has been given a talent, especially in the area of music, writing, poetry, missions, or theology to consider the spirit that I am going to talk about. I think that more "independent" contemporary Christian recording artists, in the true sense of the world, are desperately needed today and that their talents and gifts are irreplaceable treasures. The same holds true for communicating the gospel of Christ, God, and the Bible in any media by anyone who has a deep felt desire to obey Jesus' Great Commission. I will describe the Church of Christ and also contemporary Christian music to try to show you the spirit that I am talking about.

In the two different “cultures” of ccm and the Church of Christ there is one aspect of common ground that I would like to highlight. The early forms of ccm were very passionate in following the Great Commission. The way that they did this was to follow God themselves and then write songs from their experiences and from their hearts. I think this has become lost in today’s commercialized ccm industry. In the same way the Church of Christ has a matching passion for the accuracy of God’s scripture and belief in his word. I think that is magnificent and I do not want to damage that at all. Rather, I would like to blend this feature of the two cultures together in an attempt to inspire others to follow the same path. In the world of ccm it is the “independent” artists who are the only ones left who have the early spirit. Even they are now becoming corrupted by the mainstream industry in it’s greedy attempt to profit from the perception of “independents.” They are creating their own versions of an “independent” artist, in order to make money, and their versions are mere images of what a true independent artist is. An independent artist is a talented, musical performer/songwriter who is not signed and who performs and writes songs about God from their heart without consideration for monetary profit. I think that a worker is worthy of his wages. If your talent is ccm or Christian leadership then you should be fed from the use of your talent. But I don't believe that greed should enter into the equation. A humble walk with God eating the fruit of your labors is fine. That is not what I am talking about. I am talking about the kind of profit that makes men greedy and uncaring of the spirit and importance and value of God's gifts to us in carrying out the Great Commission.

The churches of Christ believe in acappella music based on the New Testament early church model. However even this can be carried too far.

Consider this quote from a Church of Christ source (that I uncovered during this research) that is even against the use of “acappella music” in the church as unbiblical and not what the first Century church might have used at all. His point is that the complex harmonies themselves are unbiblical. A simple melody with a lute like instrument was normal in Greece in the first Century. (So perhaps I, a solo-singer with a single melody, playing my 12 string guitar and singing songs from my heart without money considerations is more true to form than even I have realized, ha!):

Acappella, A cappella not Biblical: Modern songs sung with complex harmony by groups have no more Biblical authority than the use of Instrumental music…

We have often used the word a cappella to mean any kind of singing without musical instruments. However, acappella implies much more which is not being exploited by commercial interests moving their money tables right into the churches.

Ancient Greece appears never to have had a developed instrumental art. Percussion, brass, wind, and string instruments were all played, but he two primary instruments were the aulos, a double-reed pipe that accompanied the chorus in the dithyramb, and the kithara, a hand-held lyre used to accompany solo songs. The exact nature of the accompaniment style is unknown, but since no evidence of counterpoint or harmony appears in contemporary accounts, the accompaniment probably played a version of the melodic line, occasionally adding two-note plucked chords. (4)

The article goes on however to criticize even the writing of songs, even from your heart, about God since you are not singing the text of the scripture. Consider this:

Even today there are many, many groups which do not use instruments and are in part or totally Psalmody-Only. One of the earliest "sowing of discord" was using self-composed hymns when Paul clearly commanded the inspired text. (4)

So I guess the conflict can go even deeper until it appears to be totally beyond any sensible reason. I hadn’t realized this until I researched this paper. My reaction is that I will continue to address the normal meaning of “acappella” music used by churches of Christ and the standard division of acappella and instrumental music in worship services. I think that by imposing such strict standards you go beyond faith and begin to enter an area where you are no longer trying to capture the spirit and purity of the first Century church as portrayed in scripture. You begin to show a lack of trust in God’s graciousness and a pride in your own narrowness, I feel.

Within the culture of ccm - I believe it is important to use the medium of songwriting to communicate ideas about God that you have gleaned seriously through your own study and walk with God. This is not how I think the songs are being written. I think the songs are being written with "milk" concepts (not "meat") and are slanted to the widest possible audience or a cross-over audience. This is fine but I have noticed that as a result (of writing the song to generate money by its popularity) all we have on the radio is a bunch of "milk" songs. I want to inspire independent Christian artists, (and perhaps even signed ones and those responsible for marketing), to write "meat" songs and why the process should involve more than just following the standard song formulas. I hate seeing the precious airwaves filled with fluff. Christians turn on their radios believing in the music, that it will help them with their daily lives, and I don't think they are getting this. I don't think they even realize they aren't getting this and it is a shame.

The most wonderful possession of the churches of Christ is their absolute, dogmatic, obstinate faith and belief in the word of God. This sets them apart from every other church that has ever been, from every other faith. In the Old Testament there were a special class of Israelites, the Levites, the scribes, who were responsible for keeping the ancient scriptures, the word of God, absolutely perfect. If a scroll that contained a portion of scripture had to be copied, transferred to another scroll, perhaps the material was wearing out or perhaps they wanted another copy, then it was the responsibility of the Israelite scribes to copy each individual letter absolutely perfectly. If they had already copied an entire section, painstakingly, perfectly copied it and they made a tiny mistake on the last word then the scroll was destroyed and they began again.

Here are the rules:

The Talmud contains a strict set of rules for copying the Old Testament Scriptures. An examination of these rules will show that it was very difficult for errors to creep into the codex. A synagogue scroll was to be…

Written on the skin of a clean animal

Prepared by a Jew

Fastened together with strings taken from clean animals

Lined and spaced so that each page had a certain number of columns

The codex must meet the following requirements…

The length of each volume must extend not less than 48 lines and not more than 60 lines and the breadth must consist of 30 letters.

The whole copy must first be lined; if three words were written without first being lined, the copy must be discarded.

The ink must be black, developed according to a special recipe.

The transcriber could not deviate the least from the original.

No word or letter, not even a yod, could be written from memory. The scribe must look at each word before writing.

Between every consonant, the space of a hair or thread must intervene.

Between every new paragraph or section, the breadth of nine consonants must intervene.

Between every book, three lines must intervene

The fifth book of Moses must terminate exactly with a line.

Besides this, the copyist must…

Sit in full Jewish dress.

Wash his whole body.

Not begin to write the name of God with a pen newly dipped in ink. Should a king address him while writing that name, he must take no notice of him. If a mistake were made in the copying, he was not allowed to erase it or cross it out, but must throw the ruined page away and start anew.

With this kind of care being taken to insure a perfect copy, it is no wonder that the scribes considered the new copy to be just as authoritative as the original. (1)

This is the heritage of the churches of Christ. I think they are God’s counterpart of the spirit of the Old Testament scribes, in the New Testament setting. Who is to say whether or not their beliefs are absolutely true? They have tried their very best, with all the combined resources of hearts who have tried to do this, to copy the pattern of the New Testament church. That makes them the scribes of the New Testament, in my opinion. The spirit of respect and belief in God’s word is the real treasure that they carry. I believe that God will honor that.

This is from the Madison Ave. Church of Christ in Pierre, South Dakota:

Since there is no central organization, establishing a date of inception is not only impossible, it is also impractical. The most common beginning with which we associate is the birth of the first Christian church in Jerusalem on Pentecost in Acts 2. A more recent history has its roots in the "Back to the Bible" movement along the Western Frontier of the United States in the 18th Century. Our fellowship did not originate from that point, but it was a leading influence in a way of thinking to which we ascribe.(3)

Another:

In the Introduction of Volume 1 of The Search for the Ancient Order, Earl Irving West classifies Alexander Campbell with restorationists in various denominations:

Shortly after the turn of the nineteenth century various forces were at work in American religious circles pointing toward a restoration of apostolic Christianity. Few religious groups escaped the plea for reformation within their ranks. Among the Methodists there was James O'Kelley; among the Baptists, Abner Jones and Elias Smith; among the Presbyterians, Barton W. Stone; and in both the Presbyterian and Baptist ranks a little later, there was Alexander Campbell. In the popular mind Stone and Campbell are much better known as leaders in the plea for the return to the ancient order of things. (2)

It has made it very difficult for me personally to be a part of both cultures. The Church of Christ has very little provision for instrumental music about God. They also have very little provision for the role of women. It just so happens that my talents are musical and I was born a woman. So it has been very difficult for me to love and follow God with my talents and passions and still remain as true to God’s word as possible. Basically it is a road that has led to poverty. My passion for the purity of God’s word, sprung from my roots in the Church of Christ, made me snub my nose at any profit to be made with my musical talents. My talent for playing the guitar and singing and writing beautiful songs about God made it hard for me to fit into the Church of Christ and there was no avenue for helping me financially like there is for other artists, say Baptist or Pentecostal. So I have become a poor loner. Perhaps God has given me both of these marvelous cultures to keep the heritage alive. The heritage of music springing from a pure soul in love and praise and wonder at the Creator of us all, in music that reaches out in the spirit of the Great Commission. The heritage of studying like the ancient scribes and carrying the scrolls down through time. Perhaps poverty is the path that allows this heritage to remain true and possible.

So I am suggesting, with this website, that these two different heritages that God has placed on his earth are one and the same in spirit. I think that anyone who takes up this cross to carry will be honored. God’s love and truth can be carried forward by others with talent and a true love for mankind. In the same way that the ancient Israelites took responsibility for the ancient scrolls. In the same way that the generations of members of the churches of Christ have carried the spirit of caring for God’s word forward in time. Through those two different ways and cultures an example has been set for every other Christian. It is not the same path as the other churches. It is not the same path as the “signed” contemporary Christian artists, with songs in every record store. It is a lonely, poor path, but it can be done. The true scrolls can be carried forward, the Great Commission can still be followed, by hearts on fire for God. The website that I have created contains the pathways to the resources that are needed. God will provide the rest and the spiritual blessing inside believer’s own hearts and minds are treasures that make the path of the scribe the most precious path on earth.

Contemporary Christian music (aka Christian Rock or CCM) is form of religious music where the focus remains largely on the message expressed in the lyrics, which is from a decidedly Christian (often Protestant) perspective. Although there are many Christian music acts in the mainstream music industry, the term CCM usually refers specifically to artists within the Christian music industry that are played on Christian radio. The term "Contemporary Christian Music" originated in 1976, when artist and album reviewer Ron Moore used it to describe an album by Richie Furay. The industry itself began to emerge as early as 1975, when Myrrh Records began to sign Christian rock acts. (9)

CCM began with the Jesus Movement of the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. It began with Larry Norman. Larry Norman was a rock musician. He was also a Christian. When Larry Norman wrote his songs he naturally wrote about what he loved. He wrote about God and Jesus. It hadn’t been done before. The 1960’s were the hippie age, the age of the Beatles, of Elvis, of Woodstock. There was no such thing as contemporary Christian music. There was gospel, of course. But gospel has its own sound and it isn’t the sound of rock and roll. Larry Norman changed all that. His record company, a main stream label who was used to producing other rock bands, normal rock bands, decided to let him do it. The decided to let him sing his songs about God. The Jesus People movement was born. Other singers, were there in the early stages of course but this is where it began. As more and more people became interested and involved the music grew.

The following is from the Larry Norman website Biography section: “For almost thirty years the press has referred to him as “the father of Christian rock” because it was he who first combined rock and roll with Christian lyrics. Christian Artists Seminar awarded him their Lifetime Achievement Award and Contemporary Christian Music Magazine named Norman's Only Visiting This Planet record the most significant and influential gospel album ever released in the field of contemporary Christian music. This kind of recognition is not new to Norman. Time Magazine once called him “the most significant artist in his field.” He has said, “I’m just an artist, reaching toward Heaven.” His recording ministry started in 1966 when he was offered a contract by Capitol Records and found himself on the same label as The Beatles and The Beach Boys. His first single, “Riding High,” was a song about the Christian life through the Holy Spirit. His first album was titled We Need A Whole Lot More Of Jesus, And A Lot Less Rock And Roll. Larry and his band People! opened for secular groups like The Grateful Dead, The Doors, Janis Joplin, The Byrds and many others. Larry was outspoken about his beliefs. His music was original and thought-provoking. Pete Townshend credited Larry's own rock-opera, The Epic, for inspiring the rock-opera, Tommy, recorded by The Who. In 1969 Larry recorded his third Capitol album, Upon This Rock, which introduced the songs “I Wish We’d All Been Ready,” and “Sweet Song of Salvation.” His style of music had been controversial for almost fifteen years before the Jesus Movement sprang up. During the Fifties and Sixties, he felt pretty much alone, but when other Christians began to write songs which were more modern and rock-based, things began to change. Larry’s broken finger, held up after each song, had become the One Way sign for the 70’s movement and his song “I Wish We’d All Been Ready” had become its anthem. He started a new label, Phydeaux—as in “Fido.” At the time, Larry joked that “if Christian music was going to the dogs, then he wanted to remain on the cutting edge.” When critics attacked his Phydeaux albums for not keeping up with the fads and trends of the current gospel industry, Larry could only laugh about it. He had been ahead of his time for years and had his music censored and banned because of it. In the Eighties, he was only vaguely interested in making his albums available to the stores. Although he remained at odds with the gospel music industry, avoided Christian television, granted very few interviews, and did not try to push his ministry as a commercial business. His ministry continued to grow. (12) I wrote Larry an email and told him I was mentioning him in this project and sent the poem about him to him.

There was a small room next to Belmont Church in Nashville, Tennessee in the early 1970’s, a coffeehouse, a bookstore, called Koinonia. (I shyly sang my original songs and played my 12 string guitar there in the 1980's and a friend took me to Belmont once in the 1970's.) Belmont Church had been a Church of Christ but it had broken away and become one of the very first independent churches. They had instrumental music there, which was something the churches of Christ didn’t believe it. They believed in beautiful harmonies of the voice and soul sang purely and simply from the soul in worship to God. Koinonia had a little tiny stage in one end of a long rectangular room. Chairs and tables were set up for people to sit and listen to the music. In the other part of the space, through a broad doorway was a Christian bookstore. This was in downtown Nashville, in an area where you were a little afraid to park after you had finally located a parking space a couple of blocks away, at night. There were guards at the door. The door was locked. People would peak out and decide if you looked like you belonged or not and then decide whether or not to open the door. A guitar case in your hand was a good sign that helped them decide to open the door. When you went in you would sign your name on a sheet of paper and then later in the evening it would be your turn to go on stage and sing three of your songs, original songs, songs you had written.

Here’s an except from an article about how Christian Music Activities magazine got its start that mentions the early Koinonia:

Publisher Kathryn E. Darden is a Nashville native who has worked in the Christian music industry since 1984 when Darden & Associates was launched as a promotions and publicity agency. In while working with Koinonia Christian Books and Ministries in 1988, Darden began publishing the Creative ReSOURCE Directory which has become the leading source of information about Nashville’s Christian music industry businesses. Also an offshoot of her work with Koinonia was the Koinonia Concert Calendar, a one-page handout of local church and concert activities that was the foundation for Christian Activities Magazine. (9)

Here’s another:

We would like to take you back to the 1970's? Jimmy Carter was president, gas was $.32, stamps were just $.15, and Pat Boone was best known as Debby's father. Saturday nights in Nashville meant gathering at Koinonia Christian Bookstore and Coffeehouse on Music Row (a ministry of Belmont Church). You could count on the place being packed each night and you could count on a feast of love, fellowship and.. well... Koinonia!

The regular "house" band was Dogwood- Steve Chapman, Ron Elder, and at first Bobby Dennis... replaced in 1975 by Steve's wife Annie Chapman. Other regular bands included Fireworks, Homecoming, and Clay In The Potter's Hand. It was also during this time of Koinonia concerts that a young teenager from Belmont Church's youth group got up and shared her new music. Her name was Amy Grant. This was a very special time. It was a unique time in history and in our walk with new-found relationship with Jesus. It was all about Him. (8)

And another, this one mentions Koinonia, Rich Mullins, and Michael Blanton of Blanton and Harrell:

In the summer of 1981 the group (Rich Mullins) appeared at the Koinonia Coffeehouse in Nashville, Tennessee. It was there that a copy of the group's custom album - and album composed of songs written by Rich - made its way into the hands of Mike Blanton. At the time, Blanton was looking for one more song for Amy Grant's Age to Age album. Rich's "Sing Your Praise to the Lord" was perfect, Amy recorded it, and Blanton/Harrell signed Mullins as a writer. (7)

As the Jesus Movement spread and became the inspiration for the struggling writers who would appear on Koinonia’s doorstep a young girl named Amy Grant joined in. She was from Nashville, from the Church of Christ. This is from her website biography: Music was always a part of Amy Grant's life. She can still recall the thrill of a cappella singing at her family's Church of Christ services and later, as a teenager, discovering a freer musical expression with the young people in her school and church. (11) I do know that she began to take her guitar and sing at Belmont, in the regular worship services. The culture was still young, pure, naïve. Amy's first album, the aptly named, AMY GRANT, introduced the world to a fresh-faced and fresh-voiced young woman with a contagious faith and engaging spirit. Contemporary Christian music was still an undefined amalgam of gospel music, church hymns and the more provocative Jesus Music movement…(11)

Companies started springing up, small companies, pure companies, enthused about this new form of music. Christians whose hearts were on fire and pure and true, determined to follow the Great Commission, determined to reach out to the world in song began to be grabbed up by the small companies and everyone grew. Everyone grew and grew and grew. Michael Blanton and Amy Grants’ brother-in-law, Harrell, who was a banker joined forces and with Brown Bannister and they led the industry. Michael Blanton and Brown Bannister were from the Church of Christ - they both attended Abilene Christian University. CCM music started growing and it’s editor John Styll had a lot of influence.

In the late 1970’s publisher John Styll (I went to his office and told him about what I was trying to do for the ccm recording artists/industry leaders with my property Chapelgate in the 1980's) began a magazine which focused on the genre, appropriately called Contemporary Christian Music Magazine. At the time, the magazine covered everything from gospel artists to “Jesus Music” artists of the 1960’s like Larry Norman, Love Song and Randy Stonehill, to mainstream artists with spiritual messages like Bob Dylan, Al Green and T-Bone Burnett. By the 1980’s, the range of what was considered "Contemporary Christian Music" narrowed to artists primarily within the ever growing Christian music industry, like Amy Grant, Michael W. Smith, Steven Curtis Chapman, Sandi Patti, DC Talk and Carman although mainstream artists like U2 and Bruce Cockburn still appeared from time to time. By the 1990’s however, mainstream artists were rarely mentioned within the pages of CCM. (9)

The Gospel Music Association was there too and they branched out into ccm. The Dove Awards became the premier status symbol. This culture was sweet and young and naïve and almost pure. As it grew the weeds started growing and stifling out the flowers of sincere hearts. The rest of the music industry, who had previously been ignoring this young upstart, Christian music, began to get interested. There was money to be made here. Rumors started going around and small Christian companies who had been there from the early days began disappearing. They were bought out, sold, merged, with big companies. Big companies that really didn’t have anything at all to do with Christian music, but wanted in on the potential growth and cash. Big companies whose only concept of The Great Commission was in going out to the world with signed Christian artists and top ten songs and publishing rights and professionally manufactured and marketed albums in hand in a “great commission” to make money. This is the culture that Contemporary Christian Music today comes from and exists in. Here is a quote from an article about it on the web:

The Jesus Movement was the Christian component of the Hippie Movement, composed of the Jesus People or Jesus Freaks. It arose spontaneously on the American West Coast in the 1960’s and 1970’s and spread throughout North America, Europe, and Afghanistan. It was a portion of one of the periodic Awakenings that occur in American history, in which the values of American society are radically altered.

Jesus People were known for great openness and honesty. They were primitivist in theology, seeking to return to the original life of the early Christians. They often therefore viewed the American church as apostate and took a decidedly anti-American stance in general. They called for a return to simplicity and Holy Poverty, and were against materialism.

Christian music, or Jesus Music, began as an industry within the Jesus Movement. Many music groups developed out of this, and some became leaders within the Jesus Movement, especially Keith Green. The music of the Jesus Movement eventually became the full-fledged industry of contemporary Christian music. (10)

Contemporary Christian Music has grown into a massive industry, mostly run by the same companies who bring us cigarettes and porn and alcohol in their other costumes. The music has been watered down to reach the masses. “God is good, praise the Lord,” are about as deep as the lyrics get. Consider this quote from an encyclopedia describing ccm:

By the late 1980’s, 1990s and 2000s, these views became more and more rare. However many artists within the industry have become increasingly critical of CCM for similar reasons. Some, like Steve Camp, feel that too many CCM artists have watered down the message too much in order to sell more music. From Camp's website: "Those of us who are privileged to represent our Lord Jesus Christ in the arts should be galvanized by mission, not by ambition; by mandate, not by accolades; by love for the Master, not by the allurements of this world. Is there justified concern that Contemporary Christian Music has abandoned its original calling from the Lord, left the Biblical standard for ministry and has failed to remain accountable to the local church? I believe it so." (9)

Here’s another:

Others, on the other hand, feel that regardless of what message is included lyrically, the art itself has been watered down, making the music bland and uncreative. These artists also usually feel like the industry puts too many restrictions on lyrical content and music production in an attempt to appeal to the largely politically conservative audience and Gospel Music Association. Many of these artists refuse to be called "CCM artists" these days, and in some cases, have cut ties with the industry altogether. One well known case of this was singer Leslie Phillips, who made a number of well received CCM pop rock albums in the early 1980’s. By 1987, Phillips was ready to leave the industry completely, because she felt it was holding her back artistically, lyrically and musically. Other artists that feel this way have stayed in the industry, but have gone entirely independent, distributing their albums through mailorder and the internet. (9)

Or else the lyrics have been specially crafted to “cross-over” which means they are capable of being played on the bigger, more lucrative Country music radio stations, or Rock or Pop or Hip-hop, whatever. In 1985, Christian music was a formidable force, but still a world within itself. Enter Amy Grant and a new concept, sort of: crossing over. Some early Jesus Music folks had tried to take their music to the broader mainstream world. In truth, most of them had begun in mainstream music and used that platform to introduce their faith-based music. Amy Grant was different. She was firmly entrenched in the gospel world and was ready to take her message to the outside world. (11)

Where has God gone? Where have the hearts on fire, spawned by a brave rock and roll singer named Larry Norman disappeared? They have disappeared inside an illusion that everything still exists the same as always, they don’t know that the heart is gone and that the Great Commission has another meaning. This is the culture of CCM.

My Personal Background related to both the churches of Christ and ccm:

My personal background in both these areas is extensive, the focus of my entire life. The churches of Christ have very strict ideas about the interpretation of the scriptures as far as music in the worship assembly is related. One of the premier foundational cornerstones of the churches of Christ is their acappella music. They believe that they should recreate today’s church by following the original first testament church as closely as is humanly possible. They have carefully studied the way that the New Testament scriptures tell us the earliest Christians worshipped. In those scriptures there is no mention of the use of musical instruments. There is a reference about “singing and making a joyful noise in your heart,” however. Therefore, since the use of instrumental music is not explicitly mentioned, churches of Christ have stood firm on only using our voices to sing in worship. Instrumental music never has been a part of the churches of Christ’s worship assemblies.

Here’s an quotation from Batsell Barrett Baxter:

What kind of music is used in the worship? As a result of the distinctive plea of the church - a return to New Testament Faith and practice - acappella singing is the only music used in the worship. This singing, unaccompanied by mechanical instruments of music, conforms to the music used in the apostolic church and for several centuries thereafter (Ephesians 5:19). It is felt that there is no authority for engaging in acts of worship not found in the New Testament. This principle eliminates the use of instrumental music, along with the use of candles, incense, and other similar elements. (5)

Here’s an except from a Church of Christ in Katy, Texas website:

One of the several distinctive marks of the church of Christ that visitors immediately notice is the absence of instrumental music. No pianos, no organs. The New Testament does not mention musical instruments being used in worship (except in Revelation where they are used in Heaven) so in keeping with biblical example, members in the church use only their God-given voices to sing hymns and psalms (songs), worshipping Him and edifying each other in praise of the Lord. (6)

My growing up in the Church of Christ was very rewarding to me musically. From an infant I regularly listened to the beautiful singing and harmonies all around me whenever I went to church. Singing was a very important part of our worship. I was about eleven - eighteen years old when I lived in Lewisburg, Tennessee and was a member at the Church Street Church of Christ. I can remember when I was about fifteen years old how proud the congregation was when we hired a new music minister because he had been highly trained and intended to teach the young people how to sing properly. Never before had we had a choir in our church. But every Wednesday night the junior high and high school age students gathered together in a room. We stood on a three tier stand, in three rows, and divided up into bass, tenor (men), and soprano, alto (girls). Our new music minister tested each one of us individually to listen to our voice and decide which of the four harmonies our voice fit into. I was very eager to learn, I had never heard any of this before, except just by the example of the singing all around me. I was an alto. My voice was low. There was one girl in class, an older girl, who had an amazing high soprano. My voice was soft and low. But whenever I sang the sound was so beautiful that people were startled and turned to look to see who it was. That was fun. I was just a teenager but I had found a special place in the church where I belonged.

When I was fourteen years I my mom and dad bought an acoustic guitar for me, my very first. They also bought me a couple of songbooks, “Top 100 Country Music Hits” and “Top 100 Pop Music Hits.” They allowed me to take lessons from Mr. Julian Sharp, the guitar teacher at the school. He held our little lessons in a tiny, long room under the stairs in the school, a dark room with one hanging light bulb and sheet music everywhere. He taught me the basics and how to pick old folk songs like “Red River Valley.” On my own, though, I poured over my two Top 100 songbooks and soon learned the chords, there were little pictures of where to place your fingers, to songs I knew and songs I had never heard before. I loved singing and playing my guitar, in private, in my room, all by myself. I was never a showman, I didn’t really like people watching me, I just loved to sing and play all by myself. Soon I wrote my very first songs.

I have described all of this to set up the conflict that has resulted in my becoming both a mass communication graduate at Abilene Christian University, and a theology graduate at David Lipscomb University. I am now working on this missions research project as part of my second master’s degree, my Mdiv. Master of Divinity degree. These have been the areas that I have loved my entire life, based on the Great Commission. When I was young and growing up at Church Street the Great Commission was highly emphasized. God wanted his children to go out into the world and tell the entire world about Him. I wanted to do that. Just like God said. But it was such a big, big world - how in the world would it ever be accomplished? As I grew up singing acappella in the Church of Christ and writing my songs and playing my guitar in my room at home it never occurred to me once that the two areas might be joined. Not even when I finally graduated from High School and left Tennessee to go to the place where I was born, Abilene, Texas, to attend the college my mom and dad had met at - Abilene Christian University. When I arrived I was asked to decide on a major. Ok, I had never really thought about this idea before. Here was a catalog filled with all the directions one could go in life. Which one should I choose? Then I saw Mass Communications - Radio/TV for the very first time. That was it!!! That was how you could fulfill the Great Commission. You could go into all the world through mass media. I immediately chose that for my own degree - what could be better or more important than that! I could finally do it - I could obey that hard to do verse about going into the whole world. So I studied and I played my guitar in my dorm room. But never did it occur to me that the two could be joined.

Later, I was a young married lady with small children living in Houston, Texas. I still played my guitar but not as often. I had been a Christian for a very long time, my whole life, but I had reached a place in my walk with God that was average. One day I wondered for some reason if there was more to being a Christian than being average. I was driving in my car and I prayed, as I often did, a little silent prayer as I drove. I said, “Dear God, if there is more to Christianity than I understand would you please explain it to me?” Nothing happened. So I thought, “What can I do myself?” I decided to do three things: 1. To follow God when it involved doing something that I didn’t really want to do. 2. To read my Bible every day. 3. To stop listening to my favorite country music and start listening to (yuck!) gospel music. My hand reached for the radio to turn the dial and that was when I found, for the very first time in my life, contemporary Christian music. I loved it! It strengthened me and filled me with hope and gladness. I listened to it constantly. It finally occurred to me to write songs about God. So I did. I began writing songs about God.

This was where my acappella Church of Christ background and my love for singing songs that I had written about God on my guitar finally met. That is why I have created this website. There was no place for me to sing. Other ccm artists sang in their churches. I couldn’t do that, I didn’t want to do that because to me it wasn’t right. But where could I sing? No place really. That was ok. I just kept singing in my room and writing my songs about God.

Eventually my husband and I bought a beautiful home in middle Tennessee, called Chapelgate, and we moved there from Houston. It was close to Nashville and I immediately began driving into Nashville to go to a Christian coffeehouse called Koinonia. Now Koinonia was where Amy Grant and a whole lot of other young ccm artists had begun singing just a few years before. I made friends there and soon was making plans to turn my beautiful home, Chapelgate, into a private hideaway retreat for contemporary Christian music recording artists and those who were in the business of bringing their music to the world. Here I could belong. All my friends were excited about becoming signed to a label. If you were “signed” then you would become a big star and your songs would be on the radio. I didn’t like that idea much. Oh, I’d like to have my songs on the radio, of course, that was part of the Great Commission after all, the plan I’d had for ages and had trained for. But what about the money part? There were a lot of scriptures warning about the evils of money. What about Jesus and the moneychangers in the temple? What about keeping your heart and mind and intentions pure. If I became “signed” then I wouldn’t be in control of the lyrics in my songs anymore, would I? I could write what I thought and felt about God but someone else could come along and have the authority to change what I had written. That wasn’t pure and right and honest. No, I didn’t want to be signed after all. But then how would I be able to have my songs on the radio and fulfill the Great Commission? I didn’t know. Maybe I could do it all by myself. So I began studying how to create my own albums. My husband and I built one of the very first home recording studios ever made. The Akai 1212 had just come out and we bought one of the very first ones. This piece of recording equipment allowed us to record my songs, mix them, and create a master. We could take the master to a duplication house and have it turned into cassettes (cd’s weren’t made yet). So that’s what we did. I made two albums of the songs that I had written about God. Songs that were from my heart and pure and true and that no one had the right to change a single word of. There. Phase One accomplished. But how to get the songs that I wrote and recorded onto the radio so that people could hear them and so that I could obey the Great Commission? It would take another decade for that to happen. The Internet would have to be created first and I would have to study and learn how to use it and how to create websites and how to get my songs into the right form and how to get them out to the world. Which brings us full circle back to this website and my missions Research Project and how I have blended the Church of Christ and Music, Poetry and Fiction.

You see, I didn’t have a place to sing or a way to get my writings out to the world yet, but I did have the heart and soul and the ability to write and create in my room. That is what I did for many years until finally I had about 180 songs about God, which could also be read as poetry, and I had written all about my Chapelgate experience and turned it into a Christian fiction series. Working on my Master of Divinity at David Lipscomb University has given me the deep knowledge and ideas about missions, about the Great Commission, that I am using here for you today. I hope that if my little website says anything at all to you then what it says is this: God told us to go out into the world, in love, to his other children and tell them about him. The Great Commission. You can do that, just like I have done. You can do it with purity of heart and mind and intentions, not for fame, not for money, not to write one thing and have someone else change it. Here are the tools that you need to get started.

I have divided the tools that you need into two areas. Not everyone has the same musical talents. Some have the talent for teaching, some for praying, some for speaking, or writing. But these links on these two parts of this website are what you need in order to use whatever talent you have been given by God to fulfill the Great Commission. You just have to look at yourself and see what your own talent is, then look at the two sections of the website and pick and choose for yourself the tools that you need. These are the tools that I need. They are very broad. There are a lot of people like me who can use these same tools for their own talents, there are others with similar talents that can use some of these tools. Whatever your talent is, here is an example of how you can “go ye therefore into all the world….” out of love for God our creator, to do as he has asked.

Bibliography (Articles, books, web)

1. http://www.angelfire.com/nt/theology/Bible06.html

2. http://www.geocities.com/athens/agora/3958/Alexander_Campbell.htm

3. http://members.aol.com/madavecofc/whoare.htm

4. http://church-of-christ.org/who.html#music

5. http://church-of-christ.org/who.html#music

6. http://www.katycoc.com/music.htm

7. http://www.dbamusicgroup.com/koinonia_concerts.htm

8. http://www.brianmason.com/replay_records.htm

9. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contemporary_Christian_music

10. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus_Movement

11. http://www.amygrant.com/pages/alookatthelife.php

12. http://www.larrynorman.com/bio.html