If you are asking me to compromise my convictions so that I can reach a bigger, less religious audience, I’ll pass. If we could just get Christians to do what the Bible says, we could easily change this world.

But in the USA there is a completely separate industry called “Christian Music” with Christian artists, labels, etc. My friend remarked: “We have successfully kept the world from hearing our message.” You are right that we need to engage the world. We can be there as salt and light. As my dad has always said, “YOU are the message.”

This seems like a cop-out to me. We must reach the bigger, “less religious” audience. That is what the Bible says.

As always, Jesus is our example, and he spent most of his time with the larger. less-religious audience including sinners, adulterers, liars, thiefs, etc…. And He did it without compromise. Daniel would be another good example. He lived his faith without compromise and changed the heart of a King! He was not afraid of the consequences of living out his faith in front of the world…and God made a way for him to have great influence. I believe the same is true for us. It’s fear that intimidates us and keeps us from stepping out and reaching out.

Unfortunately, this same fear can cause us to limit our vision to a certain churched audience, and stay where it’s “safe.” This makes for a lot of big fish in a somewhat small pond…

Thank you for this post. It is a good reminder while working away in the industry and often losing sight of why I am going down this path. (It’s tough sometimes!) In my place of work, while I don’t (yet) have a large influence on content, one thing I have noticed is that I have had a unique opportunity to touch individuals’ lives and be challenged and encouraged by them, as well, even though they aren’t believers. If I stayed out of the mainstream, secular industry, I wouldn’t have this opportunity to know them and be a light here, each and every day.

As for you, Jim, I appreciate your thoughts and I know there have been a number of celebrities who, while professing to be Christians, have unfortunately been poor examples of sticking to religious conviction. Still, there are numerous stories of believers who have a major impact on people’s lives by using their talent to glorify God in so-called “secular” work. For example, my co-worker was just playing Switchfoot at her desk yesterday. It made me smile, because I know that while many of their lyrics do not have direct Christian content, they do sing songs of upright content, which is a big change compared to much of what she listens to. It also opens her up to listening to “similar artists” on music websites, and wouldn’t you know…she was playing outright Christian music another day. And then comes my opportunity to talk to her about it…

Conservative christians hold creative industries as somehow potentially more evil than any other.. but this is not the case.  Dole (the fruit people) just got busted for paying off rebel groups in S.America so they could keep their fruit trees.  Proctor & Gamble (the soap people) have probably wrecked as many streams and caused cancer.. they’ve been peddling cleaning chemicals for a long time. 

Most industries have a dominant culture, lots of brand strategists were college athletes, lots of pharmaceuticlal reps were cheerleaders, lots of arts administrators were music majors; that’s the level of the conflict in hollywood or rock n roll, lots of entertainment people don’t necessarilly embody “christian values.”  

The christian entertainment industry has more to do with exploiting an artists’ credibility, and opening a market with barriers to entry, than necessarily edifying the church, or not “sinning” while going to work. 

What Phil is advocating, is not a Christian Arts renaissance, not kids going to hollywood and making christian movies, or telling christian stories, or writing christian songs, or reporting christian news; but going to hollywood and making movies, telling stories, writing songs, and reporting news. Embodying Christ in the workplace and relationships, rather than in the marketplace.