Category: Music

“Infinite Playlists: How to Have Conversations [Not Conflict] with Your Kids About Music” by Todd Stocker

~ Bob Hayton ~ 25 Comments

In our day, few matters divide generations more readily than music. Each age group has its own musical preferences which the others don’t get, and often can’t appreciate. For Christians, this problem is even more pronounced. The Christian’s submission to Scripture leads inevitably to ethical questions surrounding various elements of modern culture, especially music. This is complicated by the tendency of some Christians to denigrate certain music styles as intrinsically evil.

When it comes to parenting, and dealing with teenagers in particular, it would be easy to ignore the issue of music altogether. Many Christian parents just suffer with whatever music choices their children make, even if they offer an occasional frown. Not a few parents take the opposite approach, and operate like the musical police. This can raise barriers between parent and child, fostering bitterness and resentment. For most of us, we’re not exactly sure how to handle the thorny topic of music.

This is why I was intrigued by the title of a new book from Kregel Publications by Todd Stocker (with notes from his son Nathan): Infinite Playlists: How to Have Conversations [Not Conflict] with Your Kids About Music. The title gets right to the point, and when you open the front cover Stoker wastes no time in confronting the issue head on. In fact, the book is only a short 89 pages, but for many parents and teens today, a shorter book may have a better chance at being picked up and read. Whatever the case, even in these few short pages the book more than adequately covers the problem at hand.

Todd Stocker starts out by describing his love for music and how his Christian faith made him reevaluate his musical choices. His son Nathan’s affinity for hard rock brought him to the place where he had to start working through what music he’d allow his children to tune in to. The book moves on to describe music as a gift from God, but a gift that has been distorted by fallen man. There is a spiritual battle going on over music, and recognizing music’s ability to capture our souls with wonder should help us approach the topic soberly. Make no mistake, however, Stoker is not about a kill joy approach to music. “God never intended Christians to live cloistered.” (pg. 25)

Stocker goes on to trace the emotional, physical and spiritual impact of music, often quoting secular experts and personal experiences to add flavor. He explores various musical genres, and the question of Christian vs. secular music. He understands that the attitude and ethos created by the song conveys some meaning, but ultimately the lyrics make the predominant difference. Yet “God is not in one thing and not in the other”, and so even secular music can be redeemed for His purposes.

The meat of the book comes in his discussion of the working guidelines he’s come up with for his family. They are:

  • What do the lyrics say?
  • What picture does the song paint?
  • What is the mood or feel of the song?
  • Will the song cause others to stumble?
  • Who is the artist or group?

Stocker is careful to convey that a firm, hard line is not easy to achieve. He prefers to discuss these questions with his son Nathan, and together agree on the verdict. Ultimately he has parental veto power, however. Including the children in the decision both empowers them and teaches them how to exercise discernment for themselves.

Stocker finishes the book by encouraging Christians everywhere to take the copyright laws seriously when it comes to music.

Some additional helpful features of the book include the chapter recaps, notes by 13 year old Nathan Stocker sharing his perspective on music at various points in the book, and a chapter exercise for working through the five guidelines and applying them with an actual song. The book also includes some helpful resources in the end-notes.

Before I close this review, I would want to encourage parents to pick up this book and use it as a tool in developing their own approach to how to parent their children when it comes to the arena of music. Stocker’s exhortation is worth quoting here at some length:

God has placed great importance and responsibility on your parental position within the family. Therefore, it is not OK to allow your children to listen to lyrics that could poison their souls. Think of it this way: you would never allow your children to drink gasoline even if it was their choice to do so. Neither should you let your children drink music that could cripple them forever. (pg. 58)

I can’t recommend this book more. It could perhaps have included a bit more material, but that’s the only complaint I’d have. It reads very easy, and manages to tackle a difficult topic with grace. It is immensely helpful, and definitely worth picking up at Amazon.com, or direct from Kregel Publications.

Disclaimer: This book was provided by Kregel Publications for review. I was under no obligation to offer a favorable review.

In Christ Alone, Take 2

~ Bob Hayton ~ 2 Comments

I recently updated my blog post on the powerful song, “In Christ Alone” by Stuart Townend and Keith Getty. Modern hymns, like that one, have been such a blessing to me over the past few years. Nothing will replace the grand old hymns, for sure. But many modern songs are coming very close. And they meet me where I am, and speak to me in fresh and lively ways that the old hymns sometimes cannot.

Anyway, the updated post now has all the broken links fixed, and several new links to the story behind the song, and other such helpful resources. In the process, I rediscovered Stuart Townend’s short description of authoring this song, which was likely the most wide-reaching and impactful new Christian song of the past decade. I thought I’d quote Stuart here, and then show an example of the impact of this song.

In November 2000 I was at a worship conference in Eastbourne, and introduced through a mutual friend to Keith Getty, who I had heard was a terrific melody writer. We met up for a coffee, and he promised to send me a CD of song ideas.

I didn’t really think any more about it. Then a CD arrived in the post containing three song ideas played on a piano. I didn’t get past the first melody, because I was so taken with it — it was quite hymn-like, but with a beautiful celtic lilt – I immediately started writing down some lines on the life of Christ.

Often lyrics come in quite a haphazard way. You write loads of couplets, then re-write some, then gradually piece it together to give it continuity and shape. The process for “In Christ alone” was much more linear. Once I’d worked out the rhyming structure (it felt like the song had better shape if lines 1 and 3 rhymed as well as the more usual 2 and 4), I started working on the first verse, setting the scene with a fairly subjective exploration of what Christ means to the Christian. Then I as I worked through the life, death and resurrection of Christ, I was getting more and more excited and emotional, and verse 4 kind of spilled out as a declaration of the impact of these amazing events in our lives.

Within a couple of days I had the whole lyric, sent it to Keith, he suggested a couple of changes, and “In Christ alone” was finished.

I think maybe one of the reasons the song is so popular is that it can stir up our emotions (I still often cry like an old softie when I sing it) — but the emotion is not the central feature of the song. Because the lyrics stay fixed on the unchanging truths of our salvation, it not only provokes emotion, but engenders faith, strengthening our spirits, not just stirring our souls.

The ability of the song to stir up emotions and move people is on display, oddly enough, in a recent reworking of the song by a popular secular musician. Adam Young of the Owl City band talks of how the song moved him to tears, in this post. He uses the song to make a testimony of his faith in Christ, too. He also gives us quite the melodic and artistic rendition of the song, available in full on his blog. I encourage you to check it out, if you haven’t already.

For more on “In Christ Alone”, check out the lyrics and links I’ve collected in my post.

Casting Crowns – Set Me Free

~ Bob Hayton ~ 6 Comments

I enjoyed my first Christian concert in a large venue last night. I saw Casting Crowns with Tenth Avenue North and Caleb Chapman at the Excel Energy Center in St. Paul. I really enjoyed the concert as Casting Crowns has amassed quite a list of really good, rock solid, God-centered songs over the last several years. Plus I was with some friends from church.

I thought I’d just post a video of my favorite Casting Crowns song, which unfortunately they didn’t do last night. I don’t post video clips often, and its good to have a change of pace every once in a while. Let me know if you like the song. The song is from the perspective of the demonaic of Gadeira in Mark 5. May this song move you like it has me.

“Hear No Evil: My Story of Innocence, Music and the Holy Ghost” by Matthew Paul Turner

~ Bob Hayton ~ 3 Comments

Author: Matthew Paul Turner
Publisher: Waterbrook Multnomah
Format: softcover
Publication Date: 2010
Pages: 228
ISBN: 9781400074723
Stars: 2 of 5

Hear No Evil is a collage of stories from Matthew Paul Turner’s past. A former independent fundamental Baptist (IFB), Turner chronicles his spiritual journey with special attention to the role his love for music played.

As a former IFB myself, I could identify with many of his experiences. I was raised KJV only, and also used my Bible as an autograph book (for the great men of God who I was privileged to hear). One of Turner’s memories is particularly relevant to the audience of my blog. Sadly it rings true, to some extent, of my own experience and many others. He recounts:

I didn’t study God. I just memorized Scripture verses and practiced Bible trivia. I could have told you the names of the twelve sons of Jacob or offered you a biblically accurate play-by-play of the events that led up to King David sleeping with Bathsheba. I learned facts. I knew a thousand Bible verses by heart, but I couldn’t explain why God’s story was important to me, personally. (pg. 122)

Clear and extremely well-written, the book makes for easy reading. In a light-hearted manner, with equal parts humor and candor, Turner recounts his escapades expertly. The stories are interesting and to some extent comical.

Unfortunately, Turner’s tone is rather disturbing. As I read the book I was struggling to find a point in it all. Some of the stories seemed a bit over the top. Even granting for some authorial exaggeration, some of the scenarios he described stretched the limits of reality. Often the humor seemed self-serving. And Turner spared no punches in his shots of fundamentalists and other wider segments of Christianity.

Several scenes were painted without a clear resolution. What really is Turner’s assessment of all of this? Where did he end up on the other end of the story recounted in the book? He was not timid in his insinuations about the state of Christian rock music. A Christian bass player ejects from his group and considers himself agnostic. Turner doesn’t try to win him back, rather he empathizes with the pressure the Christian rock industry puts on its performers to remain virgins, albeit only in a “technical sense”. Biblical literalists like the stern publisher of CCM (the magazine Turner edited for a while), have an agenda and aren’t to be trusted. A gay former worship pastor, who visits his church on Easter Sunday indiscriminately receives Turner’s cheerful welcome.

I do want to be careful not to judge the book too harshly. It is a personal recounting of events and nothing more. Perhaps I’m expecting too much from it. The flavor of the book is perhaps best captured in the following excerpt. Speaking of a fellow Amy Grant aficionado and staffer at CCM, Turner says:

The story of Michael’s early years is nearly identical to mine. Different parents, different churches, different states, but our experiences were the same. Both of us were raised Independent Fundamental Baptists. When we met people who hadn’t heard of our form of Baptist, we told them it was Christian for “scary beyond all reason.”

By the time we turned twelve, Michael and I were convinced we knew everything there was to know about God. If that information wasn’t already stored in our brains somewhere, our parents had flashcards to help us memorize it. People who told us that God was more or less than what we’d been taught were liars sent by Satan to deceive us. Our teenage years brought questions, college brought doubt, and we spent the better part of our twenties in therapy, trying to reconcile our understandings of God, sex, relationships, and what we believed to be true.

But there was one consistent thread of grace in our lives, a trail we could follow all the way back to when our memories began: music. Music reminded us that we could trust God even when “his people” failed us.

And at some point, our paths crossed with Amy’s music, which gave both of us hope that God wasn’t nearly as hateful as we’d been taught. (pg. 200-201)

This book will resonate with many. But some will be emboldened by it to continue along a trajectory outside of confessional Christianity and orthodox faith. The book is good reading, but must be read with a discerning eye.

Matthew Paul Turner is a blogger, speaker, and author of Churched: One Kid’s Journey Toward God Despite a Holy Mess, The Christian Culture Survival Guide, and several other popular books. Turner attended Nashville’s Belmont University, where he received a BBA in music business, and is the former editor of CCM magazine. Turner has written for Relevant, HomeLife, Christian Single, and other magazines. He and his wife, Jessica, have one son and live in Nashville. Visit his Web site: www.matthewpaulturner.com.

Disclaimer: this book was provided by the publisher for review. The reviewer was under no obligation to provide a positive review.

This book is available for purchase at the following sites: Amazon.com or direct from WaterBrook Multnomah.

Sovereign Grace Ministries Super February Sale

~ Bob Hayton ~ 2 Comments

The past couple years, Sovereign Grace Ministries has put on a SUPER SALE all through the month of February. I’ve taken advantage of the sale myself in years past. I grabbed up some of their superb music CDs, and also picked up a couple of their song books. (Many of the songs I’ve showcased on my blog over the years, have been produced by Sovereign Grace Ministries.) I have many of the books they are selling, but if anyone really wanted to bless me 🙂 they could send me one of the following titles– Living the Cross Centered Life and Sex, Romance, and the Glory of God by C.J. Mahaney; Love that Lasts: When Marriage Meets Grace by Gary and Betsy Ricucci; and Worship Matters by Bob Kauflin. All of these titles and others, are sure to bless you. I encourage you to take advantage of this great offer. Plus, for all orders of $15 or more, there is free shipping.