"Crossing Over"

(appended 6/26/2004)

I’ve touched on this topic in several articles (including my book CCMSM) but a few recent things have pushed me towards addressing it directly.

I met with a group of Christian writers recently and one of the fundamental principles on which it was based was an effort to essentially introduce Christian principles into the secular market without being so overtly Christian as to be dismissed out of hand.

I also read an article by Charlie Peacock which disturbed me. Below is an excerpt:

“I’ve traveled across the United States and back many times since moving to Nashville in 1989. This recent trip has revealed the biggest shift in public opinion regarding Christian music that I’ve ever seen. Let’s start with the musicians themselves.

Out of all the musical artists (and I’m talking the best and the brightest), I met only a handful who have any interest in being a part of Christian music as an industry. These few gifted ones want to love God and His church through music, which is excellent. The majority (easily 90 percent in my experience) all want to take their art and unique worldview into the music mainstream via indie or major non-Christian labels. This, too, is excellent.” - Everything That's on My Mind With Charlie Peacock: A Change Is Coming—A Change Is Here By Charlie Peacock

http://ccmcom.com/features/2616.aspx

One of the most popular concepts today in Christian culture (especially CCM) is that of “crossing over” into the secular world. The rational given is that the Christian industries are so isolationist and creatively restrained that the non-Christian world will never be reached by them. By contracting with their secular counterparts, we can reach the non-Christian world which otherwise would never hear these artists. This concept is reflected in many popular growth-oriented church programs, books, and most notably CCM. Sounds reasonable…but is it true? And what are the real motivators behind this concept?

Christian Management / Labels vs. Secular

Read just about any interview or article that touches on the topic and what you will soon discover is an often vehement underlying opposition to companies who limit their line-up to Christian artists with Christian values. The CCM industry is seen as rigid, legalistic, and corrupt while the secular music industry is seen as open-minded, liberating, and caring. The Christian artists who limit themselves to working with Christian management and Christian labels are seen as isolationist, fearful, and exclusionary while those who use secular management and labels are seen as innovative with a real desire to reach non-Christians.

Granted, many of the Christian labels which started out in the early days of CCM have since been gobbled up by secular companies. But there are still labels out there who are run by Christians and whose decisions are NOT entirely based on what is profitable but by what is right and best for building the Kingdom of God. The same CANNOT be said of ANY secular label.

Andrae Crouch (a Grammy award winning Christian artist and one of the first to have a world-wide following) talked about how the first Christian label to sign him followed him around for months without his knowledge to see if his “walk” matched his “talk.” I wonder how many Christian artists would get signed if they had to pass the same test?

Insisting on Christian management and Christian labels is NOT isolationist. It’s just an incredibly obvious requirement if you want decisions about your band to be made based on God’s will instead of financial expediency. Where in God’s Word do you find ANY justification for allowing God’s message to be owned and controlled by non-Christians?!

Is the fact that you’re managed by a Christian company or on a Christian label what’s keeping you from getting secular airplay? Is it the fact that you’re “labeled” a Christian artist? In many cases, it’s both. Shouldn’t the fact that you have to lose any overt identification as “Christian” in order to achieve your goals tell you anything?

What’s the Message?

And what message are we really “reaching” non-Christians with by contracting with secular management / labels and seeking secular airplay? Can you understand the lyrics? If so, are the lyrics so generic or ambiguously “religious” that the topic or principle being espoused could apply to any religion or perhaps even a brief romantic interlude? If so, then how is the listener being exposed to the gospel by listening to it? Couldn’t they get the same message from listening to any number of secular artists playing secular songs with similar themes? With only a handful of exceptions, songs that explicitly and clearly present the gospel do NOT get airplay on secular radio stations. And artists which insist on a clear presentation of the gospel in their concerts and on their CDs do NOT get signed by secular labels. The only exceptions are those few Christian bands who have reached a high enough plateau of popularity and CD sells that the secular labels are willing to sign and keep them as long as they continue to bring in a certain level of income. They’re willing to let you say anything you want as long as the dollars keep flowing. But I wonder how many of these “crossover” artists would keep their sales and airplay levels if they gave a clear presentation of the gospel in their concerts and CDs? What usually happens is the lyrics become so watered down as to be meaningless and they may mention God in their concerts but “it’s cool” because they keep it low key. I wonder how many people have surrendered their life to Christ (as opposed to having had a religious experience) by listening to any of these “crossover” artists?

I believe that any objective analysis of the content of “crossover” artist’s songs receiving airplay will come to the conclusion that the message being delivered is negligible and the potential for it leading anyone to a relationship with Christ is minimal. I praise God for such anointed songs as “I Can Only Imagine” by MercyMe and it’s a miracle of God that it has received such secular airplay. But it is a RARE exception.

Which Is More Likely?

And let’s take a closer look at the artist’s motivation. Does the fact that signing with a secular label seeking secular airplay will (if successful) result in an exponential increase in gigs, income, popularity, and fame play any part in the artist’s decision? Which is more likely; that the widespread attempt by CCM artists to break into the secular music world is entirely motivated by the desire to win more souls for Christ and that they will not have to water-down their lyrics or compromise their faith in order to sell more CDs or that it is a self-delusional attempt to gratify their own desires for fame and wealth while salving their conscience with the notion that they’re reaching more people with the “gospel”? That’s a rhetorical question. It really is great to be able to not only increase your wealth and fame but be able to reach more people with “the gospel” in the process, isn’t it? After all, the gospel which consists of man’s sinful nature and the reality of Hell necessitating the need for God to sacrifice His only Son to pay for our sins and His resurrection to give us new life which empowers us to repent from those sins and deny ourselves as we take up our cross has always been a popular message with the world, hasn’t it? That will sell a bunch of CDs I bet!

The reality is that “reaching the world with our message” is only an excuse we use to ease our conscience as we water down the message and ministry which God has commanded us to bring to the world in an attempt to raise our popularity and income.

What of Obedience?

Another common justification for “crossing over” which is popular today is that we’re not “under law but under grace” (Romans 6:14) and “if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36). Does that mean that we are under no obligation to seek out God’s will through prayer and His Word and then OBEY it?

Romans 6:15-18 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be! Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness? But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.

One of the foundational principles of the New Testament is that what the world calls freedom and “following your heart” is just slavery to sin!

Matthew 16:24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.”

Galatians 5:17 For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.

1 Corinthians 6:19,20 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.

The point of the previous scriptures is that we are first and foremost Christians…NOT musicians! We belong lock, stock, and barrel to God. That includes ownership of who we THINK we are. Many Christian musician’s identities are so wrapped up with being “an artist” that they would rather compromise their obedience to God than compromise their image of themselves or their creativity. And that is just sin…plain and simple.

But Jesus Ate With the Sinners

There are those who use the argument that Jesus did not call us out of the world but to represent Him in the world. This principle is self-evident. The analogy is then made that just as Jesus ate with the sinners we should work within the framework of the secular music world. But is this really an accurate analogy? Let’s apply the “cross over” principle as it is currently being implemented today to Jesus in the time and culture in which he lived. Jesus was not a musician but (in worldly terms) a teacher who sought to instruct people in the ways of God. As the secular music industry is the world’s equivalent of the CCM industry, the secular or pagan equivalent of Judaism (which was established by God) and Christianity which grew from it was the Roman religion with its various gods, temples, priests, and rituals. If He wanted to reach the unbelieving masses who sought to know and worship God (instead of being restricted to the small subculture of Judaism), then He would need to go where they were gathering to hear teaching about God (just as “cross over” Christian musicians seek to play secular tours and not be limited to the “Christian subculture”). In order to teach in these places, He would need to become a Roman priest (similar to signing a contract with a secular management or recording company). Although He did not believe what the Roman religion taught (just as Christians musicians do not believe in the goals and methods used by secular companies), he would need to work through their system in order to reach the most unbelievers. In addition, His teaching would be subject to censoring by the authorities within the Roman religion so He would have to find ways to interject what He knew was the truth in his teaching without overtly opposing the ideals and methods espoused by the Roman religion (just as Christians must do in order to succeed within the secular music industry).

I know that to even consider Jesus having taken this approach is ridiculous in the extreme but it is a much closer approximation to the “cross over” phenomena than Jesus eating with unbelievers. Jesus sat at a table and ate with unbelievers. He did NOT water down His message in order to gain their acceptance nor did he contract with unbelievers and give them authority to profit from and influence His message. There is a WORLD of difference!

Bottom Line

The blurring of the lines between the secular and Christian music world is not indicative of enlightenment on either’s part. It is not some recently discovered and radical approach to ministry. It’s simply compromise in the name of fame and money.

If you want to go to a place where non-Christians gather (mosque, synagogue, shopping mall, park, bar, city street, etc.) and give a clear presentation of the gospel through your music then you are acting in the best tradition of Scripture and fulfilling the Great Commission. If you want to promote your CD which contains unapologetic Biblical lyrics to secular radio stations then I wish you success and God’s blessings. But if you want to give unbelievers authority over your message (which should be God’s message) by contracting with a secular management company or recording label and then make your lyrics so generic as to be accepted by anyone considering buying a CD then you are simply compromising your faith for success and fame.

If you’re considering “crossing over” to the secular world, then you need to take a long honest look at why you’re doing it, what you will have to compromise to be successful, how effective the message that you will be presenting is, and whether it’s God leading you to do it or just the reasoning of the world. Listening to both sides of the “crossover” argument pro and con, can you imagine the pro ones coming from the mouth of Jesus? Now consider the con arguments being spoken by Jesus. Which seems more likely? The ONLY thing capable of bringing people to surrender their life to Christ is a clear presentation of the gospel under the power of the Holy Spirit. Not a message watered down enough to make it palatable and profitable.

Romans 10:14 How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher?

Acts 20:26,27 "Therefore, I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men. For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God.”