in the style

of the popular music of that time, which would have made them

like

bar songs. So, for people to revere that particular style of music out of tradition, and decide that only music in that style is ‘sacred’ is a fallacy.

I do think that it is right to make sure you have the facts to back up your stories. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard some sort of inspirational garbage from the pulpit that’s been passed around like backyard gossip that is not even close to the truth. I mean, if it’s a parable, that’s one thing, but if you are telling the thing like it really happened or happens, check your facts.

Anyhow, Dub, I feel a little bad about this, but the one time I had to meet Lindell Cooley was earlier this year at a worship team conference that Lenny Leblanc hosted at Faith Church in Florence. Lindell had spoken to the large group about the origins of hymns, and used the bit about the music for old hymns actually being taken from bar songs (that is, bar-room songs). This is a pretty popular theory, but it’s far more likely to be incorrect than accurate. However, it makes a heckuva good argument for using rock music to go behind songs of praise to God (something that I don’t have a problem with).

I went up to him afterward and said that while I appreciated his heart, it was very irresponsible for him to have said the “bar” thing to a large group of people (or anyone, for that matter), because there’s no factual basis for that statement. The reason I said anything to him was because I knew that it was something that had been passed on via word of mouth rather than study.

And I felt really badly for it afterward, though I think I did the right thing. I started to feel like I was being legalistic, but to correct a factual error when someone is speaking in the name of Christ is definitely not legalistic, and I didn’t mean it as negatively as I’m sure I came across. He probably went home that afternoon thinking, “Wow, that guy was really a jerk.”

That was my blog-jacking story about Lindell Cooley. My story is very similar to yours; just substitute Don Moen for Lindell Cooley and Paul Baloche or Lincoln Brewster (I wish…) for Chris Tomlin.