WRITE WITH ALL YOUR HEART

This week I was listening through the Billboard TOP 200 albums and the #39^th album is a metalcore artist Parkway Drive and the featured song was “Alone”.

Let’s just say if my 85 year old Mom listened to Parkway Drive she would have thought Provident Label Group artist Red’s performance at the Dove Awards was close to heavenly! But again I digress from the point of this blog…

So I am listening to “Alone” and I had to look up the lyrics as I couldn’t understand any of the words. Here are some excerpts “Stranger to the world, alone in my abandonment” “Darkness, erase this lonesome place from my every existence” “No light to guide. No ties, no ties to bind. “

The song has a very despairing message.

Then in the #40 spot is Hillsong’s “A Beautiful Exchange: Live” and the song that plays is “Our God Is Love”. Some lyric excerpts “Every distant and broken heart, every prayer, every outstretched arm, finding hope in the love of the Father” “Our fear is overcome Our God is love”

WOW - what a tremendous contrast between the two songs!

What Hillsong and Parkway Drive do have in common is that they both are from Australia!

In my last blog I talked about how I want a song to make me feel something. In the case of the Parkway Drive song I didn’t like what it made me feel but it made me feel something.

I know that this is an understatement but songs are a powerful vehicle for communicating one’s beliefs.

I am very thankful that my work is focused on equipping songwriters to create art that is reflective of a creative and redemptive God. Whether they are writing metalcore or Southern Gospel they have a responsibility to create songs that bring glory to God. Whether they are in a Christian band or if they are Christians in a band, each is as valid and needed in reaching the lost and communicating the good news of Jesus.

In a couple weeks the GMA Immerse Conference is being held in Nashville and I have had the privilege of putting together the Songwriting Track for the week. We are having a panel called Writing For The Mainstream Market and the guests are Tom Douglas, Andy Dodd and Amy Stroup, all who are believers and have had tremendous success writing for mainstream artists.

“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.” Colossians 3:23

I encourage you songwriters to work at your craft with ALL YOUR HEART so that you can continue to creatively and effectively communicate the truth of our very great God.