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From mechanics to mathematicians, people in the pews are creating their own style of worship sounds
By Judith Lynn Howard
Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News
Reprinted from The Dallas Morning News, June 28, 1997
The featured song is Jesus Is The Light
At Church of the Savior in Plano it was a mathematician from Brazil who brought new music into the congregation. Gilberto Barreto, whose band and music previously received airplay in his home country, has led that church down a new musical path with his own compositions.
"He came up with a song … applying the message that was taught the Sunday before," says elder Antonio Dusi. "I think it was a neat thing for the church, because people really appreciated that application of the message."
Songwriters who minister in local congregations join past generations who made church history. Martin Luther. St. Francis of Assisi. Charles Wesley. Fanny Crosby. Thomas A. Dorsey.
While most churches seek a mix of music for their services, "They'll always make room for their local writers," says Mr. Christensen, who also writes for Worship Leader magazine. "And I'm seeing more and more a pattern of that."
For many of these songwriters, national exposure for their music is secondary to the goal of simply serving God, says Les Puryear, founder of the New Christian Music Network, a web site that features 61 unsigned artists and more than 160 song samples.
"I think the main reason that myself and other people write is because we feel that God is leading us to write - for whatever his purpose is," Mr. Puryear says.
The Richardson resident, who has seen his own work published and recorded, says that those who write first for God and then for themselves are unfettered by the formulaic writing the music industry often requires.
Mr. Christensen agrees that many songs that spring from local congregations offer trend-setting sounds. "What we see in the main-stream is a lot of terrific stuff, but it tends to be the more homogenized mass-market material. Out of the local churches you get … almost the Christian version of 'alternative' praise and worship that come out of 'real' congregations."
But songwriters who eschew the commercial route often face a difficult road. Some of the tapes Mr. Puryear receives may never be heard by a publisher or sung by a nationally known artist.
What may not make it to Nashville can make it to the Internet, though.
Mr. Puryear says that this technological link flings open new doors for songwriters. For example, as a result of being featured on the New Christian Music Network, artist Skatman Meredith's music was picked up by a secular radio station in Greece.
In Plano, computer programmer Elton R. Smith worked with Mr. Barreto to create a site featuring Mr. Barreto's music, along with Barreto-Smith collaborations and the work of other artists. Mr. Smith is also a musician and member of Church of the Savior.
The songs have become so popular that Web surfers download them and print the music scores. Some of the samples include the reggae song Bless the Lord 0 My Soul; The Shelter of Your Wings, a Brazilian samba; and Friendship Jazz, an instrumental piece Mr. Smith and Mr. Barreto wrote before he returned to Brazil in May.
Independent songwriters also are finding support from some music companies. As "praise and worship style" music grows in popularity, more opportunities exist for its production and distribution through operations such as Maranatha! Music and Integrity, Incorporated.
For instance, Integrity, based in Mobile, Ala., has "primed the pump for a lot of writers in their local churches to write music," says its creative director, Don Moen. By "harvesting" worship music and distributing it through its label, Hosanna! Music, the company provided a platform for local work.
But Mr. Moen advises songwriters not to write material with the aim of fitting a record company's needs. Instead, he says, write songs that reflect the needs of one's own congregation.
"What's God saying to your church? what is God saying to your pastor? Mr. Moen says. "I always say to people when they send me songs, 'You know what? Go to your music director first. Try the songs out in your local fellowship.' If they pass that test, chances are your song will be received in a broader platform in churches around the world."
A rewarding moment for the music minister at Atlanta Metropolitan Church is when the congregation enthusiastically sings the songs he crafted to mirror teachings from the pulpit.
"It's always a pretty humbling thing when the congregation sings the music because they believe it…. I feel a sense of approval from heaven," says music minister Richard Johnson. His church is sponsoring the Prophetic Music and Arts Conference July 28-31, where various arts-related workshops will be featured.
And at a conference recently led by artist Babbie Mason, everyone from novice songwriter to music minister had the chance to learn from industry professionals, says Ms. Mason's personal assistant, Brenda Godfrey. The conference also featured songwriting critiques and competition.
Music publishers often refer songwriters who want to break into a tough industry to conferences such as Ms. Mason's, says publishing assistant Paula Eden at Word Entertainment in Nashville. The volume of unsolicited material is hard to handle, Ms. Eden says. Word already has 65 songwriters and only two staff members to pitch songs to record companies.
Singer Chris Rice says artists are increasingly using their gifts in music ministries at local churches. Mr. Rice's new album, Deep Enough to Dream, includes original music reflecting his years of ministering to youth at camps and retreats.
"They're connecting to the people," he says of local music ministries. "And they're real people that the kids can know and touch and watch how they live their lives from a real standpoint - and not just a 'star' somewhere off… in a magazine and on a video.
"I almost feel like there's a wave of something that's God's doing to maybe even take attention off of the 'stars,'" Mr. Rice said.
While having a songwriter in the congregation can be a blessing, songwriter Paul Gentry of Sacramento, Calif., notes that the music style has to blend with that of the church.
"For the most part, if you get a talented songwriter in the congregation, he would join the worship team and mainly sing and write praise songs. If you write pop like I do, the congregations do not know what to do with you unless you are a very large church," he says.
Another songwriter on the New Christian Music Network web site is Shirley Johnson of Palatka, Fla. She and her nephew, Michael Bogert, regularly minister at their church, the 5-member He Lives Ministries.
"Sometimes I can look at a person, and I know God has a song for them," Mrs. Johnson says of her work at the church, where her husband pastors. She and Mr. Bogert sometimes respond with songs that they wrote previously. Sometimes they compose songs on the spot.
The pair also has produced music for children as well as cassettes with Scripture passages about healing for the sick. "We have so many songs now, we need to start sharing them," says Mrs. Johnson, who estimates that they have written more than 1,000 songs.
The pair's web site is entitled Jesus in Song. They offer what they call "free style worship" music - recordings that are not professionally produced.
"We don't go to recording studios because I don't want the spirit of God quenched," Mrs. Johnson says. "I don't want it to be a job."
Judith Lynn Howard, formerly a Dallas
Morning News religion reporter, is a free-lance writer based
in St. Louis.
New Music on the web
Photographs (not included):
Above: Singer Chris Rice says more artists are using
their gifts in music ministries at local churches. Left: Plano
computer programmer Elton R. Smith (right) worked with Gilberto
Barreto to create a web site.
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