Misc. thoughts

This CD is a collection of digital images that I took at the Alive 2002 festival. If you have never been to an Alive festival, you should definitely plan on it someday. For further details go check out their web page at: http://www.alive.org .

My reasons for putting together this CD are many. For one, I love taking photographs. I also believe that Christianity in America today is missing a huge opportunity to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ through the vehicle of Contemporary Christian Music..

I have been a Christian since 1970. Since that time, I have always been troubled by what seems to me to be a lack of Christian music that is culturally relevant. Please don't misunderstand me, I love the old hymns. My personal favorite is "A Mighty Fortress is Our God" -- powerful words! However my question is, how many of us who are Christians drive around in our cars and listen to traditional church music? My guess is not many of us. I am reminded of a Gallup poll that was published in USA today (Aug. 7, 1990). The poll said that approximately one-third of Americans claim to be professed evangelical Christians. Yet less than 2% of them listen to Christian music. This same poll then asked why. The reason is that they don't "relate" to the music. So, if we as Christians don't relate to traditional church music, how much less will non-Christians "relate" to this same music?

Another interesting statistic is that of those who become Christians, approximately 85% of them accept Christ before they are 18. With this in mind, the question that should then be asked relating to all of this is, "What kind of music do teens listen to?" Certainly not church type organ music. So, if we as Christians are to have a positive impact on society proclaiming the gospel, the focus needs to be where the most is to be gained. That is our youth. Honestly, I don't know of any teens who listen to traditional church music while driving in their cars, or at home in their rooms. And I hear parents and various church leaders complain about how their youth are listening to secular "rock" radio stations and CDs, yet no Christian alternative is provided. With this being the case, a huge opportunity is being missed.

The Alive festival brings to our area Contemporary Christian music, and addresses my concerns mentioned above. If you are an adult, you might not like the music. That is fine. Music is nothing more than an art form, and therefore morally neutral as a medium of communication. The problem arises when immoral people use this, or any art form to communicate immorality. Likewise, don't condemn moral people for using the same art form to communicate morality. Above all, please don't spiritualize your own personal preferences regarding a music style. Please be honest. If you don't like the music style, then say so, and leave it at that. To generalize and say, "Rock music is evil," because of what is heard on the radio is wrong. To show the problem with that thinking, use the same logic in another art form like oil painting. That is like saying that oil painting is evil because certain painters paint people naked.

I have personally had the privilege to talk to several of the band members shown in these digital images. Don't misunderstand. I am not talking about standing in line for an hour only to shake their hand and tell them I enjoyed their show. What I am talking about is spending time with them, and engaging them in long, meaningful conversations without the pressure of other people also wanting to talk to them. In doing so, I have been able to capture a bit of the essence of their hearts. I can tell you this, the band members that I have talked to are devoted followers of Christ, and want to serve Him with their music, and their lives.

If we are to capture the hearts and minds of our youth for Christ, we must first get their attention. Almost every teen I know is into music. Therefore we as Christians must use this form of communication that the youth of our culture relate and connect to so much. The answer to this is contemporary Christian music.

A quick word to parents. Some of you may not approve of some of the band members' appearances. If you fall into this category, please consider the following words from the verse John 7:24. "Stop judging according to outward appearances; rather judge according to righteous judgment." Be open to the devotion of their hearts and the influence for Christ that they have, even if you may ultimately disagree with the way they look. If the lyrics of the songs are of concern, whether because you can't understand them or for any other reason, please visit the web sites I have listed for the bands below. In almost every case, the words of the songs are there. You will quickly find that these Christian bands are truly proclaiming the truths of God as revealed in the Scriptures.

So much for my rambling. If you have made it this far thanks for reading. Concerning the "technical" side of this CD, I started out with approximately 850 digital images taken at Alive 2002 festival. They started out as 1024 x 768 format, and from there were cropped and color balanced as best I could. Unfortunately, I was not able to get very many images of the night shows as I was always in the "mosh pit". This meant I was constantly being bumped and pushed. I really didn't mind, that is just how mosh pits are. The down side is that I would guess that my exposure time was 1/4 - 1/2 second. Knowing this, I almost constantly took pictures at the night venues in the hope that I would get a few good shots.

For best viewing, your screen should be set for 1024 x 768 or higher resolution. Also for best viewing, use Internet Explorer Version 6.0.

If I didn't get your favorite band, I apologize. But then there is next year! Yeah!! Hope to see you there.

-- Mike

 

MISC. web sites:

To easily view them, connect to the internet, and click the link.