There Is No Such Thing As Bad Music?

“What if you’re church band was playing Hillsong style songs with a drummer bent on playing the polka?”

I had coffee with my pastor this morning and part of our conversation turned to expressions and styles of music. He told me a story of being in Nepal on a mission trip and seeing the worship and a Nepalese church. It was foreign to him in a very literal sense. It was not “his thing”. But he saw of Jesus was glorified in the hearts and songs of these brothers and sisters. Before he would have said that the worship music was bad, but now he wouldn’t dream of it. What changed? God redefined “bad” music for him. How do we define it?

The Accidental Worship Leader

LET ME TELL YOU A STORY

I had a friend, who we’ll call Phil. He was a theatre major who began to feel God calling him to full time ministry.  You would think that Phil would start or join a drama ministry or maybe with his degree he could work as a christian educator. Prehaps God was calling him to work in a “missional way” in secular entertainment, or since he was good on stage in front of an audience maybe he was supposed to be a pastor. But the ministry position that he was offered was facilities, God was calling this theatre major to be a church janitor.

The problem was that he didn’t know what he was doing. He could use a vacuum and he knew how to change a light bulb, but beyond that he wasn’t the handiest of men. Now he was in charge of the facilities and maintenance needs of an entire church. What was he supposed to do now?