By Attorney David E. Wells
All of us who call on the name of Christ should know that we are stewards of one kind or another. We all have gifts of time, assets and abilities which God expects us to use faithfully. Today instead of my usual column “talking law,” I want to address those who have been entrusted with musical leadership in church, either individually or as part of a worship team. If you have been given this particular stewardship, it is both a privilege and a responsibility. A privilege because you are called to a task which presumably you delight in doing, and which will hopefully bring delight to many other people as you carry it out. A responsibility because Scripture plainly warns that you will be asked some day, by the One who gave you your talent, to give account for how you used it.
I do not intend to wade into the debate of traditional versus “contemporary” (a/k/a pop) musical styles and which is more appropriate or divinely sanctioned. But I will make the observation, as a classically trained musician who also played in a garage band a long time ago, that quality tunes and quality lyrics are found throughout all styles of music. There is a reason why millennials are familiar with a lot of music from the baby-boomer era; the best tunes from that period are the ones that have lasted. Similarly, there is a reason why many worship songs written years ago in a “higher&rd ...
