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Tune It Up!
(A
message to Music Ministers, Singers, and Musicians:
Are we fulfilling music ministry the bible way?)
By Laird G. Sillimon
as published by Pentecostal Herald
While in
high school, and even before having complete truth in my
life, I can remember being impacted by the chorus of a
song that had these lyrics: “What good is a song if it
can’t inspire/ if it has no message to bring/ if a song
cannot take you higher, higher, higher/ then it’s not
good enough to sing.” I’ll always remember thinking to
myself how much sense that made. Why sing a song if it
cannot inspire, or if has no message to bring? One
might argue that ‘every song has some kind of
message,’ and that may be true, but then the question
becomes “what is the message,” and then, is that
particular song the best use of the moments of
influence that God allows us to have in any given
situation, whether it be a church service, street
service, concert, a national venue such as Youth
Congress, General Conference, or even something more main stream.
I believe songs need to be inspirational,
but the more I attempt to go a little deeper, the more I
believe that every opportunity
that God allows ought to be met with the most significant use of the music medium that we
Apostolic Music Ministers, Singers and Musicians can
produce. Music is one of the few mediums that will not
ask a person’s permission to influence them. It will
most likely influence whether that influence is desired
or not. That’s why worldly music genres can cause
people to think, speak, and even dress differently from
the way they may have been reared to think, speak and
dress. Perhaps they have recognized something that we
have not. Or maybe our adversary has placed a higher
premium on capturing souls than we have on using our
influence to win those souls. So my question becomes
this: ‘are we in tune?’ And further, are we fulfilling
music ministry the ‘bible way?’
Much of the battle that we face has been
taught to us from society. We many times feel that we
must fit into a certain mold or style in order to be
effective, or accepted as being musically ‘in,’ however,
Jesus never fit the mold. He almost always
did what the Pharisees saw as unacceptable or
non-traditional. Now, I’ve done it, and hopefully we can
continue this discussion on a multi-level plain. Let me
be clear, I believe our music should be fresh and
interesting musically, but scripturally
inspirational and instructional.
Obviously, we want our music to be anointed and to
inspire an atmosphere of praise and worship. But the
scripture actually challenges us to understand that our
songs are meant for more than just that. Take for
example our songs about ‘heaven;’ they cast vision of
how wonderful it will be to
live
with Jesus in the afterlife. This type of song casts a
‘vision,’ and an application can be made of Proverbs
29:18, “Where there is no vision, the people perish: but
he that keepeth the law, happy is he.” So saints are
encouraged to keep fighting the good fight of faith
because one day eternal life with Jesus awaits us in
heaven. So a song about heaven is teaching a biblical
principle. It is of utmost importance that we, whom God
has given charge of music in the apostolic church, not
get caught up and carried away with what I consider to
be the commercialization of church or gospel music in
our day. I’m not saying that every new thing is bad,
but what I am saying is this: 1) As Apostolics, our
music/song must ignite genuine worship and true praise;
2) It must teach a biblical principle; 3) It should
teach our doctrines; 4) It should offer thanksgiving for
what God has done and is doing; and 5) It should always bear His Name is some form.
Eph 5:18-20 says this:
18 Do not get drunk on wine,
which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the
Spirit. 19 Speak to one another with psalms, hymns
and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart
to the Lord, 20 always giving thanks to God the Father
for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ.
Similarly,
Col
3:16-17 says this:
16 Let
the word of
Christ dwell in you richly as you teach
and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as
you sing psalms, hymns
and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to
God. 17 And whatever
you do, whether in word or deed,
do it all in the
name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to
God the Father through him.
- Songs should be for the
purpose of teaching and admonishing one another.
- Our songs should teach our
theology
- Our songs should have
references to the name of Jesus (No Apostolic should
have a problem with this at all.)
In conclusion, my thinking is along this
line. Maybe we shouldn’t be following all
of the trends. Maybe we should get in tune
and begin setting some trends, or more importantly,
setting some things straight. We have the message, and
the message needs to be IN our music. Our fundamental
doctrines are our heritage. And, yes, it
still needs to be fresh and interesting
musically, but scripturally inspirational and
instructional.
How about some songwriters writing new songs about the
blood, the Oneness, baptism in Jesus Name, holiness,
etc… We don’t want
to change our message,
but we might freshen its package!
Bio Info:
by Pentecostal Publishing House, a
division of UPCI, Inc.
Laird Sillimon
Laird
Sillimon is Associate Pastor and Music Department
Chairman of Christian Life Center, in Stockton, CA,
under Pastor Nathaniel Haney. As an accomplished
songwriter he has seen his music recorded by Edwin
Hawkins, NorCal, Passion In Praise Workshop (Modesto,
CA), JCM, Pentecostals of Alexandria, and more. Laird
also served on our national commission for Music
Ministry, currently the PMA and is co-chairman of “To
the Chief Musician” Music Conference sponsored by
Christian Life College and Christian Life Center in
Stockton. Prior to moving to California, he spent
seventeen years at CLC in Gaithersburg, MD with his
former pastor, Ron Libby. He is married to Angela
Sillimon, and has two children – Laurynn and Tre. He
is loved and respected across the country and our
fellowship for his many years of music leadership,
seminars, and songwriting.
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