Tim Sweetman is a 20-year-old freelance writer, blogger, and student who lives near our nation's capital,
Washington D.C. He is much more widely known by his "code-name," Agent Tim. This name also serves as
the name of his popular blog, which has received well over 750,000 visits since its debut. Contact Tim 
In case you aren’t really into the whole “instant message” lingo (otherwise known as im lngo), “BHOD” is the short way to say “banging head on desk.” You can even add “L” at the end for “banging head on desk laughing.” I’m not really sure which one I would choose to use if I were speaking about this article by none other than Pastor Rick Warren. Let’s just say, well…he don’t have it quite right. In fact, the guy is just dead wrong in some instances.
So what’s all this Tim’s whining about? It’s called “Some Rules for Selecting Music.”
Rick has a few suggestions (or unbreakable rules in some people’s cases), such as:
And I almost forgot,
Well Pastor Warren, last time I checked the church was for, uhhhhhh, believers. That’s right, the church is for, no kiddin’, the believers. Churches aren’t supposed to be a place where unbelievers go to enjoy the good music. If unbelievers are present, they will (or should) hear the gospel (which should be preached to the saved and the unsaved). There aren’t supposed to be “seeker services.” People aren’t dumb. They can understand what we tell them. Why dumb things down, whether it be a song or a sermon? The gospel is not hard to understand.
Rick Warren also uses Psalm 40:3 to make his point about having new songs and songs correlation with evangelism:
He put a new song in my mouth,
a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear
and put their trust in the LORD.
If I take that literally, like it should be taken, it’s saying this. We sing. We praise. We exalt. Nonbelievers see our passion and our fear of God. They fear as well. They put their trust in God.
All this said, Pastor Warren does some some good things. We need to preview the songs that guests will be singing. We need to “choose songs that sing to the Lord instead of songs that sing about the Lord.” That’s huge, and right on. Also, music is powerful, and it must be used correctly. Rick Warren is right about its power, but I think he’s far off on how to use music. Music is used to worship God, not please unbelievers. Reading through the article, I almost see a double standard: music is to worship God, then suddenly music is to please nonbelievers. Just makes you want to say BHOD.
May 4th, 2006 at 3:15 pm
Excellent post, Tim. Your point that the purpose of the church is for believers, was especially relevent.
May 4th, 2006 at 3:34 pm
No really, Tim, tell us how you really feel. Don’t hold back next time.
Actually, I couldn’t agree more, but while I am BHODL at your frankness, I appreciate and agree wholeheartedly with your stance.
May 4th, 2006 at 3:54 pm
AgainsttheFlow,
Thanks…as soon as I saw that article, I just couldn’t pass it up.
May 4th, 2006 at 5:01 pm
Great post Tim! I was wondering though why you think we should only sing songs to the Lord and never about the Lord? I think songs that magnify who He is also can glorify Him.
May 4th, 2006 at 5:10 pm
Lydia,
I believe what happened was a misread on my part. I thought Warren said one thing, but he actually didn’t. I don’t usually do big edits in my posts, but I may need one here.
But that is an interesting question…I think what we must do in worship is to make sure the songs aren’t about “I.” We really need to avoid those types of songs.
May 4th, 2006 at 6:00 pm
Well, I’m glad that I now know what all of your GTL’s throughout today were about!
Your post reminded me of what my dad said tonight, “You can’t have salvation without the Bible.” Songs and music might encourage you but they definitely ain’t going to save you! Bravo Tim.
May 4th, 2006 at 7:54 pm
Excellent treatment of this, Tim. It’s so good to run across another young person with higher standards on music!
May 5th, 2006 at 12:22 am
Ok, I agree with that, Tim. Since the focus of our worship is God, our songs should reflect that instead of the “I” centeredness of the world.
May 5th, 2006 at 1:07 am
Good post tim.
I was kinda laughing as i read his article. Some of the stuff was right, some not. this stuck out
“Even Aristotle had some thoughts on this subject. He said, “Music has the power to shape character.” Satan is clearly using music to do that today. The rock lyrics of the 1960s and 1970s shaped the values of most Americans who are now in the 40 to 60 age bracket. Today, MTV shapes the values of most people in their 20s. Music is the primary communicator of values to the younger generation. If we don’t use contemporary music to spread godly values, Satan will have an unchallenged access to an entire generation. Music is a force that cannot be ignored. ”
Music is a force that cannot be ignored? how about GOD is a force that cannot be ignored. Even if satan took all the music and made it evil, God would have the “rocks and stones” to cry out in worship.
“If we don’t use contemporary music to spread godly values, Satan will have an unchallenged access to an entire generation. Music is a force that cannot be ignored. ”
is totally wrong too. Its obvious.
I liked this post
-God Bless
May 5th, 2006 at 9:31 am
I started to read his article, and just couldn’t…that was ridiculous. Humorous, but sadly, ridiculous.
Music is powerful, no kidding, but music would not exist without God. A force that cannot be ignored. Hm. Quite right, Walker-how about GOD?
May 5th, 2006 at 10:31 am
Very good, Tim. I totally agree. Many churches these days have their focus in the wrong place. It’s nice to see people that realize this. Besides, organs sound great, hymns are beautiful, and pews, well, pews are traditional.
Keep up the good work!
May 5th, 2006 at 11:58 am
I agree that the church should not force itself to update merely to draw in unbelievers, but that’s not saying that updating is bad. Going from pews to chairs I am heartily in favor of, and there’s nothing wrong with contemporary worship. There is some quality contemporary worship music out there(check out Sovereign Grace and Staurt Townend, among others), you just have to find it.
Really, it all comes down to your heart attitude. Are you using contemporary music as another means to glorify God, or are you trying to make yourself “relevant”? That’s what determines whether your worship will truly be effective in what it’s trying to do.
Great post, Tim, very thought provoking.
May 5th, 2006 at 12:22 pm
It’s been a while since I’ve been here…and I hate to disagree with the first post I’ve read. It seems like everyone these days have different opinions on worship…especially music in worship. I have a post on the site that my name is linked to about that right now. But I’d like to address one of your points right now, specifically, the one about believers and non-believers.
I agree with you to an extent. Church SHOULD be for the believers. But you say that the non-believers should be able to understand everything and simply SEE our passion, and FEEL God…I think you’re getting too much on the fantasy side. Sure, God could reveal Himself to someone. But it very rarely happens. God prefers to use our words, deeds, and even music to reach out to unbelievers. I can’t help but think of the VERY FIRST Christian worship service in Acts. The disciples had just recieved the Holy Spirit, and what did they do? Worship. But how did they worship? By only talking to themselves, only singing by themselves? No. They made the CONCIOUS decision to reach out to others and use their words/actions as a tool to spread the gospel.
Now, Christ also commanded us to “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations.” If we as INDIVIDUAL Christians are commanded to do that, then why in the world are churches exempt!? And if we are truly worshipping God, then we should be able to worship no matter what the circumstances. Just BEING with other believers is wonderful, worship just flows out of that. This ties back into the post that my name links to.
One last thing. The churches of today are getting younger. More teens, more young adults, and a lot of those people are coming by confession of faith. A lot still listen to secular music…most not biblically knowledgeable, or used to hymn sings or organ music. They worship through rock, hip hop, and rap, with easy to understand, yet powerful lyrics. Our churches are being MADE of the unbelievers who have become believers. So we should be focusing on THEM as well. And suprisingly, focusing on BOTH isn’t that hard to do.
May 5th, 2006 at 1:20 pm
Sam,
Good, good thoughts. I’m all for contemporary music. I love it, and I play it all the time (I’m a worship leader in my youth group). But I also still enjoy hymns…ancient or modern.
Andrew,
I think I see what you’re saying. It’s like this: We go to church, we worship God. We leave church, we witness like nobody’s business. People get saved. Then the church is a place where they can come to worship (not that I’m witnessing to get more members in my church). Our churches need to be a training ground for missions. We need to be equipped to share the gospel everywhere at all times. The church can be a place for worship and equipping.
May 5th, 2006 at 3:47 pm
Tim, I think you’ve taken R.W. out of context a little bit here, and I don’t think he’s nearly so far off as you think he is, although I disagree with him on a few points (I think the occasional use of certain old hymns in their old rythms if very beneficial). We shouldn’t expect non-Christians to sing with us at church. And as far as being expected to update old hymns with new beats, are we singing them because we like them or are we singing them to please God? Wouldn’t it please God if we did our best to reach nonbelievers?
We should be very careful when we critizise our fellow believers. Christians should be some of the least critical people on the face of the planet. And no, I didn’t mean we shouldn’t be discerning.
Andrew: props to ya, dude!
May 5th, 2006 at 11:21 pm
Tim, you misunderstood what I’m saying. I’m saying that these unbelievers that, by everything you’ve said, should be able to see God in the theological terms, fancy tunes, old fashioned instruments, and indepth teaching are the very people God commands us to reach out to no matter what. They, when they are saved, and are now believers, still can’t handle the “meat” that you seem to be implying must be provided to the believers. What I’m saying is that we cannot separate our worship from our ministry. They must be one and the same. And the fact is that today’s youth doesn’t buy/can’t stand the music that we old fashioned Christians do. Hey, not even all CHRISTIANS can stand that music…look at Switchfoot, Toby Mac, Steven Curtis Chapman. All CHRISTIANS, but all worshipping in different ways. This again leads to the post that the link in my name leads to. We as Christians shouldn’t REQUIRE anything in order to worship. And if that is the case, as I believe it is, then we should be able to worship while ministering to young Christians and unbelievers alike.
May 6th, 2006 at 12:39 pm
Andrew, you are right in that everything a Christian does should be worshipping. However, that does not mean that corporate worship in a church service should reflect every aspect of life because all of life is worship. Corporate worship is specifically for the edification of believers, and its witnessing power is secondary to this purpose. We should not be orienting our worship in order to reach out to unbelievers if that worship is not first and foremost edifying believers. Performing a song instead of singing it as a congregation is fine, and can be used quite effectively, but that should not be the purpose of our worship. Even the Christians in Acts did not start reaching out until people started asking questions about their obvious passion. That is what will truly reach out to these people, not just “relevant” music (and as a sidenote, congregational worship with rap doesn’t work very well).
And for new, young believers who can’t stand the music used in church, I think there’s a heart problem that we’re dealing with. It shouldn’t matter the style, you should be able to worship even to a song you don’t like by focusing on the lyrical truth. That’s why I’m in favor of using good, solid contemporary worship as well as old hymns.
At my church (Covenant Life Church in Gaithersburg, MD), we spent a month in a series called “It’s Not About the Music.” On five consecutive Sundays, we worshipped with different styles of music: one time we were very traditional, then we did a country/western service, then a world music one, then a gospel/R&B one, and one more. What we discovered through this experience was that you can worship with any style of music, it’s all a heart thing. Even if you don’t like a particular style (my senior pastor at the time, C.J. Mahaney, hates country, for example), you can still worship by meditating on the Biblical truth of the words.
I hope that clears up some of the issues. You can’t have a congregation sing a rap song together, but you can have a congregation sing Amazing Grace or Here I Am to Worship or anything like that, and that’s where relevance takes a back seat to effectiveness.
May 6th, 2006 at 1:28 pm
To follow up my last post, Bob Kauflin is one of the best voices on the blogosphere when it comes to dealing with worship. His blog is http://www.worshipmatters.com. He actually just did a post talking about this kind of issue, I would encourage you to read it: http://www.worshipmatters.com/bobkauflin/2006/05/healthy_tension.html
May 7th, 2006 at 2:29 am
Tim,
I wonder whether you’ve read the purpose driven church? Perhaps not, which might be a reason for the confusion here.
Why not move your ‘traditional’ Sunday morning meeting to another day of the week (in smaller groups, so you can actually be involved in each other’s lives, pray for one another, break bread, share as each has a need) and use the Sunday morning for an ‘outreach event’. Call this event a ’seeker-sensitive’ church service, invite all the believers to participate and serve this morning and guess what you end up with?
*A service NOT for believers, but for unbelievers.
*A service where the gospel needs to be presented (every time!) and people can respond.
*A service where care must be taken to choose the right music, like Rick suggests in the article.
Now, whether or not the above takes place at Saddleback (I can’t judge that from my limited experience there), isn’t this precisely what you would do for an outreach event?
Read the article again from that perspective, perhaps you’ll find it makes more sense than you originally thought.