​I had a convo this week with a young american artist in which he assured me
he wasn’t a christian rapper, instead he was just a believer and a rapper… he felt
that by saying he was a christian rapper it made a divide and that as ‘believers’ we
need to be more open and not cause divides.
This isn’t a new thing of course, as much as this young artist would like to think that
he’s making a statement with this, he’s not, as many a christian artist goes through
the same thought pattern. Its a long running conversation amongst the die-hard
artists, the ones who have been in the game long enough to know the importance
of being relevant amongst their cultural peers.
​
In another convo with a UK grime rapper it was said “there has been a lot of hurt in
the underground christian scene”, what was being referred to is the artists out there
who gave up their rights as a christian and turned away from their faith due to them
having countless years fighting for a place in mainstream music, trying to be heard.
That being a christian and a musician doesn’t or shouldn’t mean that you’re
categorized or put in a box much like any major award ceremony where there is a
‘gospel section’.
Its great that the gospel scene has its own scene and can be allowed alongside the
mainstream awards but at the same time its a double edged sword because as
we’re placed in the gospel category we are almost certain to never come out of that
box. And why is that an issue you may ask (before believers start saying ‘well thats
being unashamed of the gospel isn’t it…), it’s an issue because as a music artist
you should be given the same respect as any other no matter what belief system
you have and a wider point of view would be to say that you can reach far greater
people inside the secular scene.
You still might be saying ‘Well that’s great though because I’m unashamed of the
gospel so I don’t mind being subjected to cultural categorizing’.
However, most artists who represent Jesus realize they need to hit the mainstream
in order to make the biggest impact and to follow Jesus’ calling ‘Go into all the
world and preach the gospel’ Mark 16:15.
It was Andy Mineo who said it best when he said “you wouldn’t say that’s a christian
police man and that’s a regular policeman or that’s a plumber and that other one is
a christian plumber’. So why do it with musicians?

​DJ 70x7 supports artists by bringing awareness to their talent and creativity. The HopeJamz Radio Show plays upbeat music from worldwide artists with New releases, Artist Introductions and Exclusive content!!
Listen to The HopeJamz radio show: https://www.mixcloud.com/70x7Music/
70x7 Music channel - https://www.youtube.com/c/70x7MusicHopeJamzradio
70x7 Music - http://www.70x7music.com/
HopeJamz Radio is also a part of the Tentmaker Music Podcast network. You can subscribe and download shows here - https://linktr.ee/tentmakermusic

We’re in the age of self-promotion and self-management with most musicians learning how to handle their own business, from do it yourself learning videos on Youtube to advice guides and gurus adding their knowledge.

The days when many artists were just dreaming of signing that mega deal with a record company seem to be ageing out as most musicians prefer to go the indie way.
Kings Dream Entertainment artist Ruslan is someone who has been posting videos on artist awareness, promotion and the teaching of business skills, along with there being other music moguls and aged veterans sharing their top tips too.
Personally I think it’s great that independent artists are realizing they can sell records and even make a living from their craft.
​
Look at the likes of Zuby (UK based emcee) managing to sell over 22,000 albums whilst never signing a record deal, on top of that he has managed to find other ways to sell and promote his craft by having one of the first popup shops across the UK with his Blue & Purple store.
The awareness for artists to be able to manage themselves is a great thing, especially for new artists coming up, but where does this leave personal managers and record labels, 
is their assistance no longer needed? 

Here’s the thing, whilst it’s great for musicians to learn how to do things themselves, it is also great to have management that can be your representation in the business side of music, because as you get more well known in the industry and your work load becomes bigger you’re going to need a hand. 
You’ll need someone on team who can point you in the right direction, plan your next move, push your promotion into the right lanes.
You will want a person or a team which is there for your every need so you can just focus on doing what you love… making music.

So if you’re just starting out in the music industry in whichever genre, I would urge you to learn the basics yourself, there’s some good self management do-it-yourself videos online.
When you do start growing you may need to find some good management to help pave your way, look for management companies which have a few artists on their books already and offer short contractual time periods so if you don’t partner well with them you’re not locked in and can easily exit!

Don’t give up! 

The indie road can be a tough one but at the same time very rewarding not just because of the amount of knowledge you gain but also because it gives you the freedom to create and showcase your art the way you want it whilst being able to pursue whatever you want.

DJ 70x7 supports artists by bringing awareness to their talent and creativity. The HopeJamz Radio Show plays upbeat music from worldwide artists with New releases, Artist Introductions and Exclusive content!!
Listen to The HopeJamz radio show: https://www.mixcloud.com/70x7Music/
70x7 Music channel - https://www.youtube.com/c/70x7MusicHopeJamzradio
70x7 Music - http://www.70x7music.com/
HopeJamz Radio is also a part of the Tentmaker Music Podcast network. You can subscribe and download shows here - https://linktr.ee/tentmakermusic

A Blog By Josh Trombley

There has been a lot of doubt and skepticism from “high profile” Christians. Many have felt that there hasn’t been a place for this line of thinking in the Christian movement. While there are circles where this is not encouraged, there are also a ton of circles that are exploring.

I have seen a few rebuttals by bloggers and musicians that have some excellent points. Some have pointed out the holes in the arguments; others are urging us to follow God and not celebrity.

As much as these points are valid what needs not to get lost in the conversation and what I want to say to those who identify with the struggle of faith that has invaded so many Christian leaders is, It is ok to struggle with God and your faith. I believe it is un-Christian to not.

To not struggle in some capacity or another is to say that you have a full understanding of not just what the Scriptures say, but of God. If you believe in the God of the Scriptures, then both of those premises are absurd! Us understanding God is like a chair trying to understand it’s maker. The maker of the chair is so far beyond what the chair could ever comprehend.

Luckily we have Scripture and can experience God in beautiful and rich ways. To say that Scripture should be the thing that pulls us through and anchors us into the world of certainty is to claim that we have a perfect understanding of what the Scriptures say, which we don’t. Not even close. We rely on wisdom, experience, and tradition, and we do the best we can.
Often not recognizing this, we fix our faith to unhealthy paradigms.

When doubts and questions appear to unfurl our sails of faith, we become crippled. Instead of pushing forward to discovering brave oceans of new realities in God, we can either give up and lose hope or bunker down in safe coves.
I see neither of the later as viable options.

I believe it is good to doubt and question. When I look at the Scriptures, I can’t help but see a God who wants us to wrestle with the big issues, always realizing that there is more to learn.

There is a story at the beginning of Scripture that articulates this. There is a story about a man named Jacob. Jacob, like us all, has some serious baggage, much of which is self-inflicted.

As Jacob begins to travel to create a new life for himself and his family, he begins to wrestle with his ideas of what his life is and who God is. The book of Genesis records the Jacob has an encounter with an angel where they wrestled, and Jacob left with a limp and a new name. In the words of Switchfoot, however, “[he] wrestled an angel for more than a name.”

The Scriptures record,

“Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.” 
Genesis 32:28

While the name change is important, we must not lose sight of how the ancient rabbis interpreted this verse. They believed that this set the premise for our approach to the Scriptures and a relationship with God. (more in this in Chapter 2 of my book Hidden faces).

There should never be a point when we stop wrestling with God, Scripture, or hard questions. It doesn’t mean a patchwork of ideas that we throw together as though we’re filling a pothole, but there are times when we need a fresh coat of pavement.
It is not that Scripture, tradition and experience don’t matter. That somehow our wrestling with the big and small questions undermine everything. It just means that sometimes we need a tweak and other times we need a new street.
For me, because I have experienced God, it demands me to push to understand this life deeper. There have been times when my tradition has let me down, majorly. There have been times when no matter how much I trusted and looked at Scripture, it left me frustrated, confused, disillusioned. I had an experience that I could not deny. I knew and still know that there has to be something beyond myself and that faith isn’t built upon the straw of others nor upon the weak foundation of my limited understanding of an ancient text.

My faith is built upon the fact that I have had experiences with something beyond myself. It now demands of me to wrestle.

Saying this, if my faith stopped at the experience and didn’t have the structure of tradition (tried and true practices, rituals, and paradigms) and the Scriptures (God’s word that tells of the Word, Jesus) then my faith becomes a kite flying in the wind with no string.

Finish reading at www.joshtrombley.com & also check out more excellent blogs from Josh. 

By Joe Bragg

Yesterday (8/13/19) a buddy of mine sent me an article written by George Brahm from Cogent Christianity  and I am not going to lie I was super curious. Those who know me well, know that I am not a big Skillet fan. I can appreciate them and I certainly acknowledge all they have done in the Christian rock scene, but I personally don't dig their music much. Skillet was actually my first Christian concert after coming to Christ and I left disappointed. They put on an amazing show as far as rock concerts go but I felt that it lacked Jesus. To be fair, my expectations were high, I had never been to a Christian concert and I expected it to be Spirit filled, the gospel clearly presented and that it would be so evident that these bands were different than what I had come to know in the world. Sadly, that wasn't the case. I looked around and felt that Skillet and TFK had in some way dropped the ball (side note, Decypher Down was the opening act and they were the only band to say the name of Jesus, they made a fan of me that night).  I share all of this to say, when I saw an article from John Cooper speaking about the apostasy of young Christian leaders, I knew I had to read it. 

As I read what John had to say, I was honestly blown away. 

John was transparent and real in his response to the recent falling away of Hillsong's worship leader Marty Sampson and Josh Harris author of "I Kissed Dating Goodbye". John didn't pull any punches and he said what needed to be said. I know it is a Facebook post and we can read whatever tone we want to read into it, however, it is as if you could feel John's sadness and frustration. The post is filled with edifying admonishments to the church and other believers and it is refreshing to hear someone with John's influence draw people back to the Word of God and to take Christ seriously.  I felt that George of Cogent Christianity summed it up well at they end of their article when he said... "I am glad to see one of these ‘influencers’ come out in defense of the authority of Scripture and the importance of a robust faith that can outlast even the harshest of challenges."

Below you will find John's Facebook post. It's a little long but it is very much worth the read. I am curious to hear your thoughts so be sure to leave a comment! As always thank you for stopping by and taking the time! God bless!

“Ok I’m saying it. Because it’s too important not to. What is happening in Christianity? More and more of our outspoken leaders or influencers who were once “faces” of the faith are falling away. And at the same time they are being very vocal and bold about it. Shockingly they still want to influence others (for what purpose?)as they announce that they are leaving the faith. I’ll state my conclusion, then I’ll state some rebuttals to statements I’ve read by some of them. Firstly, I never judge people outside of my faith. Even if they hate religion or Christianity. That is not my place and I have many friends who disagree with my religion and that is 100% fine with me. However, when it comes to people within my faith, there must be a measure of loyalty and friendship and accountability to each other and the Word of God.

“My conclusion for the church (all of us Christians): We must STOP making worship leaders and thought leaders or influencers or cool people or “relevant” people the most influential people in Christendom. (And yes that includes people like me!) I’ve been saying for 20 years(and seemed probably quite judgmental to some of my peers) that we are in a dangerous place when the church is looking to 20 year old worship singers as our source of truth. We now have a church culture that learns who God is from singing modern praise songs rather than from the teachings of the Word. I’m not being rude to my worship leader friends (many who would agree with me) in saying that singers and musicians are good at communicating emotion and feeling. We create a moment and a vehicle for God to speak. However, singers are not always the best people to write solid bible truth and doctrine. Sometimes we are too young, too ignorant of scripture, too unaware, or too unconcerned about the purity of scripture and the holiness of the God we are singing to. Have you ever considered the disrespect of singing songs to God that are untrue of His character?

“I have a few specific thoughts and rebuttals to statements made by recently disavowed church influencers…first of all, I am stunned that the seemingly most important thing for these leaders who have lost their faith is to make such a bold new stance. Basically saying, “I’ve been living and preaching boldly something for 20 years and led generations of people with my teachings and now I no longer believe it..therefore I’m going to boldly and loudly tell people it was all wrong while I boldly and loudly lead people in to my next truth.” I’m perplexed why they aren’t embarrassed? Humbled? Ashamed, fearful, confused? Why be so eager to continue leading people when you clearly don’t know where you are headed?

“My second thought is, why do people act like “being real” covers a multitude of sins? As if someone is courageous simply for sharing virally every thought or dark place. That’s not courageous. It’s cavalier. Have they considered the ramifications? As if they are the harbingers of truth, saying “I used to think one way and practice it and preach it, but now I’ve learned all the new truth and will start practicing and preaching it.” So the influencers become the voice for truth in whatever stage of life and whatever evolution takes place in their thinking.

“Thirdly, there is a common thread running through these leaders/influencers that basically says that “no one else is talking about the REAL stuff.” This is just flatly false. I just read today in a renown worship leader’s statement, “How could a God of love send people to hell? No one talks about it.” As if he is the first person to ask this? Brother, you are not that unique. The church has wrestled with this for 1500 years. Literally. Everybody talks about it. Children talk about it in Sunday school. There’s like a billion books written on the topic. Just because you don’t get the answer you want doesn’t mean that we are unwilling to wrestle with it. We wrestle with scripture until we are transformed by the renewing of our minds.

“And lastly, and most shocking imo, as these influencers disavow their faith, they always end their statements with their “new insight/new truth” that is basically a regurgitation of Jesus’s words?! It’s truly bizarre and ironic. They’ll say “I’m disavowing my faith but remember, love people, be generous, forgive others”. Ummm, why? That is actually not human nature. No child is ever born and says “I just want to love others before loving myself. I want to turn the other cheek. I want to give my money away to others in need”. Those are bible principles taught by a prophet/Priest/king of kings who wants us to live by a higher standard which is not an earthly standard, but rather the ‘Kingdom of God’ standard. Therefore if Jesus is not the truth and if the Word of God is not absolute, then by preaching Jesus’s teachings you are endorsing the words of a madman. A lunatic who said “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the father except through me.” He also said that he was alive before Abraham, and to see him was to see God because he was one with God. So why then would a disavowed christian leader promote that “generosity is good”? How would you know “what is good” without Jesus’s teachings? And will your ideas of what is “good” be different from year to year based on your experience, culture trends, poplular opinion etc and furthermore will you continue year by year to lead others into your idea of goodness even though it is not absolute? I’m amazed that so many Christians want the benefits of the kingdom of God, but with the caveat that they themselves will be the King.

“It is time for the church to rediscover the preeminence of the Word. And to value the teaching of the Word. We need to value truth over feeling. Truth over emotion. And what we are seeing now is the result of the church raising up influencers who did not supremely value truth who have led a generation who also do not believe in the supremacy of truth. And now those disavowed leaders are proudly still leading and influencing boldly AWAY from the truth.

“Is it any wonder that some of our disavowed Christian leaders are letting go of the absolute truth of the Bible and subsequently their lives are falling apart? Further and further they are sinking in the sea all the while shouting “now I’ve found the truth! Follow me!!” Brothers and sisters in the faith all around the world, pastors, teachers, worship leaders, influencers…I implore you, please please in your search for relevancy for the gospel, let us NOT find creative ways to shape Gods word into the image of our culture by stifling inconvenient truths. But rather let us hold on even tighter to the anchor of the living Word of God. For He changes NOT. “The grass withers and the flowers fade away, but the word of our God stands forever” (Isaiah 40:8)”

Here is the link to the original post bit.ly/2KPuq5o

Thoughts? Start a conversation and leave us a comment. Thanks again for taking the time! God bless!