As my son and I walked through the press screening and out to the gathering space for Rededicate 250, I began having flashbacks to my years in a white evangelical megachurch. With a pre-roll video set to worship music filling…
Evangelical worship is the sugar that helps the poison of power go down
In today’s world of white supremacist politics, white evangelical worship is the sugar that helps the poison of power go down. And perhaps no event has put this more clearly on display than the Charlie Kirk memorial service. When many…
New history sees CCM as a ‘soundtrack’ for white evangelicalism
“What can one learn about the development of evangelicalism by looking at CCM, one of the largest, most profitable forms of mass media produced in the 20th century?” asks Leah Payne in her new book, God Gave Rock and Roll…
Is our ever-changing worship music giving us spiritual amnesia?
There’s something I’ve noticed in the 10 years since my slow drift away from the contemporary worship movement began. When I walk into a contemporary church service, or accidentally find a CCM radio station, I almost never know any of…
My journey through purity culture and Christian worship music
The year was 1993. I was a sweaty junior high kid who had recently gotten my first stick of deodorant and had begun experiencing sensations in my body that felt both good and confusing. But one night, as my brothers…