A week ago, I sat at a local eating establishment and they happened to be playing the local (Inspirational format) Christian station. As usual, I didn't know half the songs because I don't keep up with Mark Schultz, Selah, or Newsong. But that didn't bother me.
Somehow, though, the subject of Derek Webb, who recently has reunited with Caedmon's Call, came up. I ended up sitting through 5-10 minutes of my coworkers going over how much they hate him and his solo albums. And, honestly, I can't figure out why.
Is it because Derek is calling for unity within the church? Ok, so one of my coworkers likes his first album, so it might not be that. If it was, I'd totally say that I side with Derek on this one: people need to hear that message and stop fighting about the little things. We have to work together as the body of Christ.
Is it because Derek Webb gets political on a couple songs? Maybe. But, seriously, if you still think that the United States government has everything together, you're mistaken. I'm still trying to figure out when the evangelical church and the Republican party have their big break-up. It should have happened by now, but it doesn't seem to have happened yet.
More and more, I think it's just the fact that most Christians can't handle the types of honesty that Derek Webb gives them. There may be times to hear trite little stories of how God worked miraculously in the life of a friend of Mark Schultz, but I don't want to listen to that every day. Today's "Christian" church seems to wall themselves off so far from the rest of the world that they've convinced themselves that everything is fine and their world is perfect. When Derek Webb comes in and acts as their conscience, they cannot handle it and go back to singing "There She Stands" by Michael W. Smith.
Sure, Derek Webb is somewhat controversial. But in any one of his songs I see more truth than a whole day of typical Christian music programming.
As a P.S., one little thing that my coworkers talked about is the lack of interaction Derek has with fans. I'm not complaining because I know Derek is a busy man, but I'd love to see the podcast you started flourish a bit more or see you actively write a blog. That way, these thoughts and ideas could be discussed online. That would be awesome.