Why does this podcast exist? Why should we have a conversation about music making through the eyes of faith?
In the 8th session of the CMB Podcast I go into what I call the 3 Pillars of CMB.
Listen to or download the podcast here, and check out the detailed show notes below….
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Soundcloud
Some of you are on soundcloud. What a great tool!
If you are writing songs and recording music, Soundcloud is a fantastic way to get the feedback of others, have people share your music, and meet other people…
It’s social technology meets music making… I love how you can comment right in the wave form. What a cool way to interact with people’s music and sounds…
So CMB is there…
…and I record what I call Soundcloud exclusives; short little snippets of me talking with you raw and unedited. And, from time to time, I may even post a little song idea I’m working on to get your thoughts on it…
So if you’re not on Soundcloud… just sign up for a free account and you can find us at…
An Update on The Site
The website is scheduled to launch mid June, and currently, we are on schedule…
Lord willing things will continue to run smoothly behind the scenes, while we get the design finished and all the web development things that go with that.
In fact, this last weekend I was with Robert Poveloness, the web developer who I’ve been working with… and I was getting so excited about getting this site up and going for you guys….. really excited.
I can’t wait to have this up and have a home for all that we’re talking about. It will be a place for you to interact with the things I’m saying and a place to interact with each other…
Did I mention I was excited? (In fact I say the word stoked like 50 times in the episode…)
Let me share with you now a few things that you can expect from christianmusicblog.com…
(1) The podcast
Lord willing it will keep going, and you can listen to a new episode every Friday. By God’s grace, there will be a season of weekly podcast episodes. And along those lines let me just say how stoked I am about some of the future episodes that are coming… I have some more great interviews and conversations coming soon on the podcast. But more on that later…. back to the upcoming site.
(2) Your music
I’m going to promote you, the subscriber, right here at the site… Already I have been talking with some of you about sharing what God is doing in your context on the new blog. So, in articles, videos, interviews, and more, I’ll be promoting you the person of faith who makes music.
This gets me going just thinking about this. Selflessly promoting others is huge to me…
But…
I will have some kind of process of selection…. but I will be as open as I am able. There is a tension between promoting as many people as possible and protecting the value of CMB’s content which is honestly for your sake…
I can’t just endorse everything. I want to earn the trust of my subscribers and listeners, but I want to promote as many music makers as I am able.
(3) Resources
Over time, as content is being created, there will be an archive of resources for you.
An example would be ESM.
That is a resource… It’s meant to equip you to grow in your music making. I have some other ideas that I’m currently working on….
I’ll give you a sneak peak of this one; coming in the future:
A manifesto I’m calling: How I Write A Bad Song – which is really designed to show songwriters what not to do… more on that later…
(4) Music Reviews
You can expect me to write reviews on current music that is being released… I’ve actually reviewed a few albums before and I really enjoyed it.
I’d like to share with you my thoughts on various albums that are being released… This includes secular music as well as CCM and worship music… but I’d like to comment on music that is being made today. The good, the bad, and the ugly… All of course my opinion!
This leads me to the 5th and final point on this list, as far as things you can expect….
(5) You Contribute
I don’t want to be the ONLY voice here. As a person of faith who makes music, you have something to say as well… So I’m looking to put together a team of great writers and contributors to the new site.
If you would be interested in writing and submitting content to CMB, I’d love to hear from you.
Maybe just take some time and think it over.
If you have any questions just email me…. Let me know if this interests you and I’ll send you some more information….
email me at nate@christianmusicblog.com
The Purpose of This Site
Music through the Eyes of Faith (you’ve heard me mention that book a few times….) had a huge impact on me. I have over the years wrestled with the common tensions that Christian music makers wrestle with…
But reading books like Music Through The Eyes of Faith…. and others have really instructed me… God has used them to help me think differently about creativity and music making…
So this has prompted me to simply start a conversation with you.
You are a person of faith who makes music and you’d be lying if you didn’t struggle with at least some of the things I mentioned…
I want to see musicians come together, to talk about these things in a way that encourages us, builds us up, and inspires us to get about the business of leveraging our lives, our songs, our music…all for the glory of God’s great son Jesus.
But what is it all built on?
The Three Pillars of CMB
1) Jesus Christ, his cross, his empty tomb, and his exaltation over all things
CMB, by God’s grace, is going to be Christ centered… gospel-centered.
Everything we talk about… from capos to keyboards, from ableton live to garage band and pro-tools, from CCM to Christians on NBC’s the voice – everything, must be about Jesus’ good news and his mission that he’s invited us on with him.
He has dealt with sin, he has defeated the enemy and he is establishing his kingdom in the earth through the preaching of the gospel. I want the music I make to somehow be tied to that big vision of Jesus…. and want CMB to do the same. It’s about Jesus….. In light of that….
(2) A biblical understanding of art (music)
Music and art is relative.
Electric guitars, scream, hip-hop, worship styles, G chords, Coldplay or Mumford…
Relative.
The only absolute is the gospel…
And I believe this kind of mind-shift in music frees us up more than we might even realize. I want CMB to be all about provoking and challenging our western understanding of “Christian music”. I’m not going to throw stones at the CCM or worship industry, but I want us to think bigger…
3) A biblical understanding of work
CMB is going to get practical in things like, recording your music, what mics you should think about, craftsmanship and hard work…. included in that are things like marketing, promotion, publishing – you know the whole commerce side of things….
If you’re feeling called to a more serious music ministry of some kind, you would be naive to think that it’s easy. SO…
….hard work from a biblical perspective is vital in this whole discussion because again, it’s about leveraging everything in your life for God’s glory.
So those are the three pillars of christian music blog.
Everything that is said on the podcast, written on the blog, or whatever… must be built on these three things… And in that order by the way:
1) Jesus
2) Christian worldview of music
3) Christian worldview of work
Thank You
You know I gotta say I’m new to all this podcasting stuff, but any fears I’ve had have been dealt with because I’ve been energized by you. And that’s very confirming and telling me that we’re on the right track….
And by the way…. if you ever feel like there’s any piece of content whether here on the podcast or on the blog that doesn’t point back to these three things…. I give you permission to gently nudge me and get me back on track…
Other Things Mentioned in This Episode: