Letter to my Fellow Christian Musicians

I think that it is now time to discuss the sad reality of what is called "Christian music" these days and in particular, I'm referring to modern gospel music.

Like many African-Americans, I grew up listening to gospel music as a child. My mother loved to play Mahalia Jackson in my household and I remembered how my mother used to sing Blessed Assurance in my house. Although I was trained in jazz and classical music, gospel music had a very strong impact in my development as a saxophonist. As I started to play in various churches, I began to listen to singers such as Daryl Coley and John P. Kee and it was quite obvious that these individuals were not singers... they were ministers and worshipers who God blessed with a singing voice. These were people who laid before the Lord and produced songs that emanated from a mature walk with Christ. There was one song that I sung often as a younger Christian named Beyond the Veil by Daryl Coley, which mirrored my personal heart's desire toward God:

Beyond the veil is where I witness all Your glory,
seated on Your throne in majesty and power.
I lay prostrate before You, oh my King,
in this place of sweet communion;
this is my earnest prayer, 
this is my earnest plea,
and You'll bid me, 
You'll say come ye beyond the veil.

I have entered Your gates with thanksgiving,
I've entered Your courts with praise,
Yet I hear You say, 
"come closer, step into this holy place".
And because the blood of Christ for me,
it continues to prevail,
now I'm standing in Your presence face to face, 
beyond the veil.

When I was first blessed with the privilege to minister through song, I played the song Oh the Glory:

Jesus all glorious 
Create in us a temple 
Called as living stones 
Where you're enthroned 
As You rose from death in power 
So rise within our worship 
Rise upon our praise 
And let the hand that saw you raised 
Clothe us with Your glory 
Draw us by Your grace

Oh the glory of Your presence 
We your temple 
Give you reverence 
Come and rise from Your rest 
And be blessed by our praise 
As we glory in Your embrace 
As your presence now fills this place

As I became older, I began to listen to hymns more and more often, as I realized how rich in truth they were. A song that I've sing often is How Great Thou Art:

And when I think, that God, His Son not sparing;
Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in;
That on the Cross, my burden gladly bearing,
He bled and died to take away my sin.

Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art.
Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art!

When Christ shall come, with shout of acclamation,
And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart.
Then I shall bow, in humble adoration,
And then proclaim: "My God, how great Thou art!"

Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art.
Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art!

Other songs that come to mind are Rock of Ages, What a Friend We Have in Jesus, and All Hail the Power of Jesus Name. These hymns have such profound meaning in their simplicity and with many of the hymns, it is clear that God breathed on the artists as they penned. The sad truth is that despite the great legacy and heritage that our past Christian artists have laid down for us, we have forsaken them to produce popular, easygoing, spiritually shallow (and sometimes doctrinally incorrect music). As each generation of Christian artists before us continued to hand off the responsibility of bringing others to a place of worship before our Holy God, we have dropped the baton, so to speak. 

As I have observed, the most pervasive problem these days are that praise and worship leaders are singing about a relationship with God that they do not have. In an attempt to lead others into worship, many have realized that they are constantly lying to God. Many claim that they love God, but the reality is that they love the attention and reputation that comes with being a gospel singer. Many claim that they are doing God's work, but the reality is that God didn't establish their ministry... they decided to do a good, religious deed and prayed for God to bless it. For some, they spend more time doing Christian work than ministering to God. 

Instead of deepening our worship for God, we have decided that we would make the musical quality greater. So these days, we have huge Christian bands and professionally trained singers with top notch production, but God's presence is visible absent. Many of us have acknowledged this and the solution that many have come up with has been to make the music louder. These days praise and worship in churches is more like a concert... the songs stir up our emotions and send us to a fit of frenzy, but in the midst of all of the noise, the presence of God is no nearer than when people walked into the building. I mean, even if our musical quality has improved over time, how can we expect anything different if our worship songs are as follows:

Bless me, Bless me 
Oh Lord, Bless me indeed 
Enlarge my territory 
Oh Lord, Bless me 
I pray for increase 
Bless me indeed, I pray for increase

Keep Your hand upon me 
So that evil cannot harm me 
Sunshine and rain, sickness and pain 
God I humbly come to You 
Enlarge my territory 
Oh Lord, Bless me

Or

We're all a part of God's body. 
Stand with me, agree with me. 
We're all a part of God's body.
It is his will that every need be supplied.
You are important to me, I need you to survive.
You are important to me, I need you to survive.

I need you, you need me. 
We're all a part of God's body. 
Stand with me, agree with me. 
We're all a part of God's body.
It is his will that every need be supplied.
You are important to me, I need you to survive.
You are important to me, I need you to survive.


In the New Testament, a person's ministry is an outgrowth of their private devotion to God. Just as much as a tree will not grow unless it's deeply rooted in the earth, Christian ministry does not produce fruit for God unless it's deeply rooted in Christ. When a minister attempts to grow faster than their own "root system" can support, then they are subject to fall and become unfruitful. The same is true concerning Christian musicians. No worship leader and musician can expect to develop any true fruit if their private life is shallow, but unfortunately, this is the reality of many. There are many worship leaders who live hypocritical lives and still expect the glory of God to appear in their churches. I know this because I've observed it with my own eyes and experienced it personally. When I was in college, I played with a couple of choirs on and off campus where there was sexual promiscuity among choir members. I played with choirs where some of the musicians weren't believers at all. 

For me personally, I experienced firsthand what it means to play in a church and to have a half-hearted devotion to God. I realized that although I played for a ministry throughout college, my private devotion was very shallow and had no real depth. Then God sent me to 2 passages: 1 Corinthians 3:10-15 and Hebrews 12:25-27. Whatever was not rooted in God, established in God, and finished in God will be shaken and removed by Him so that His work may be established. I realized that it was necessary for me to sit down from ministry until I was rooted deeply in God; otherwise, all of my work will be fruitless. I pray that other musicians will examine themselves in like manner.