I Love Cheesy Christian Music

Hey Guys!!

Just got back from Spirit West Coast Monterey, CA (SWC) where we played with the band Chasing Truth on the Jr. High Hyperspace stage. We had a great turnout. We want to thank everyone for coming out to see us. Thanks especially to Mr. T, Roy Pina, Kevin Looker, Ezra Web Radio and our parents (Tom & Sheri), for your support - and most important we thank GOD, for the amazing opportunities to serve HIM!

SWC is a huge three-day Christian music festival where approximately 25,000 people gather to hear their favorite (or not so favorite) bands play. Some people worship, some head bang, and some enjoy the “fair like” atmosphere. We felt humbled and honored to play at SWC. We were scheduled to play on Saturday evening. So on the other two days when ever we met someone we invited them to come out to see our concert… One of these times, Beth approached a girl, who was about 15 yrs. old and said,

"Hey come see us play tomorrow night,"

"What kind of music do you play?" the girl asked,

"Christian Rock," Beth replied.

"Oh, I don't listen to Christian music." The girl responded.

This seemed odd to us, especially since we thought the Festival was a Christian event? OK - so we are a little slow about the whole genre thing - We did not realize it then, but at this event, many of the bands that played there do not like to identify themselves as a “Christian band.” From their own mouths, they say they do not even want to be affiliated with Christian music; but ironically, they are playing at a Christian festival and having their music played on Christian radio stations and making money from it. These bands say that they go mainstream so that they can reach more people, they say they do not want to be narrow minded like Christian bands or “cheezy” like Christian music, yet if you really look at the lyrics of some of these bands, they are written so obscure that whoever is listening can take the lyrics however, they want. We are not downing artists who are Christian and play mainstream music and we are not against Christian bands and musicians who play or listen to secular music. There is a lot of fantastic music out there… We just wonder about the bands who play both sides of the coin, secular and Christian, claiming to be Christian and then continue to trash the phrase “Christian music” their very bread and butter. Confusing? Perhaps, however, how much does one sell out to self-promotion? Many bands write great lyrics, but what’s up with double meanings so that Christians will think that it is acceptable, and so will non-Christians - all for what? The integrity of their music? We have been told Christian music must become all-encompassing but for whose sake? It reminds us of the following scripture in Rev. 3:16 “So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.”

Over the past few weeks we have been bombarded by fellow Christians old and young a like who have adopted the “band cross-over philosophy” (as of now the current “Christian fad” goes something like this) “I do not listen to Christian music, nor do I like Christian music it’s too cheesy.” Then these same people go to church to worship GOD and criticize the worship music as being “to Christian“ or complain “that a worship leader is “to Christian” What about singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, to GOD? Maybe what we are talking about is semantics? Have we in the church become so musically prideful we cannot tolerate our own? We understand a person’s right not to like certain types of music, the sound, instruments, tone, lyrics, etc. we understand about analyzing and intellectualizing music. We understand the importance of music theory classes and never deviating from the written note. However, what about the need to serve and worship our Creator - through simplicity - music and singing is just one way to do this… We feel the above music viewpoint is dangerous and is permeating many churches today - Christian bands must take some of the responsibility for this attitude.

To say, “I don’t like Christian music” at church or at a giant Christian concert is an oxymoron. Paul quotes Isaiah in Romans when he says, “See I lay in Zion a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall, and the one who trusts in Him will never be put to shame.” If Christian musicians are afraid to use the name of Jesus Christ and His gospel, they have tripped up. If someone is offended by the word of God, GOOD! Jesus did not come to make people happy; He came to make them holy. Christian music should praise Jesus Christ and exalt Him and not worry about pleasing people. Christian bands who worry about being too Christian need to read 1 Timothy 6 they have, “ a corrupt mind that think godliness is a means to financial gain.” We struggle with the attitudes of professed believer musicians who do not have enough conviction or enough love for our Lord to proclaim His name.


In the last 5-6 months, (after we prayed and fasted as a family) things started to look very different to us as a band, than they did 2 years ago when we seriously committed to this ministry. We have always wanted to be a Christian witness to all people, we wanted people to know who we were, and know our songs. We wanted to play on all the big stages at all the big festivals. We wanted the praise of man, we wanted to be good musically and lyrically - However, in the last 5 months, our attitudes and viewpoints have changed, so much so that it makes us want no part of what we wanted before. At our Worship Revivals, we have seen kids our age cry, falling to the ground, unashamed, adoring our loving God. We have seen people and relationships healed, and older people who would never do more than sing in church, jump and dance with joy out of love for Jesus - We have seen the Spirit move… we have experienced it!

As of now, we have clear direction of what God wants from us. Which is simply to continue to sing about HIM and speak boldly about Jesus wherever HE takes us. We realize that this is going to make us un-popular and people are going to think we are lame for writing songs directly about Jesus and why we love HIM, but that is ok. People can think we are dumb, un-hip, narrow minded, because it is true, we are. We are not here to please people…

The time is coming, and it is coming fast where we all will have to make a definite stand for what we believe in. If you are a Christian, be bold and intentional in your faith, love the LORD and love others.

So stay strong guys, and be prepared for God's power to be seen. It is coming; we believe it with all of our hearts. This summer we have experienced so much - and we are so thankful and humbled by it all. We see God gripping hearts - Something immeasurable is already happening… A worship revolution is coming. People all over the world are going to worship God like they never have before, and people are going to be saved. They will see Jesus and they will believe. We are excited…

Thanks for reading this long letter, please feel free to respond.
We love you guys,


Love B.C-


www.blamelesschild.com

http://www.purevolume.com/blamelesschild

Hit The Road Jack Video

Hit The Road Jack from happylou and Vimeo.

SWC fast approaching guys!

Hey Y'all!

So Spirit West Coast, Monterey is soon upon us. Aug 2-4 @ Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey CA..

We are so excited to be playing on the Jr. High, Hyperspace Counter Top Stage, on Saturday, Aug 4 @ 6:00 PM - we want to give a special thank you to Mr. T - you rock! Thanks for your support! (Philip Tantillo, and Roy from Cypress Community Church, Salinas, CA) you guys are great!

Also during Spirit West Coast, listen online to Ezra Web Radio @ www.ezrawebradio.com for a Blameless Child Interview taking place on Friday Aug 3rd @ 1:00 PM - A big Thanks goes to Kevin Looker at The Good Shepherd Studios, Chico CA. for making this possible...
We love you guys @ Good Shepherd! also thanks to Theresa Schneider from Ezraweb Radio!

So far, our Hit The Road Tour has been awesome! We've seen the Lord moving in unexpected and glorious ways. Now, due to what has been transpiring on this tour, we are not entitling it a tour any longer. Instead we are re-naming it "A Traveling Worship Revival" because that seems to be what God is making it into. He's reviving people and relationships with worship. It's awesome, and we're doing our best to go where ever HE wants.

If you read the last newsletter, you know what we mean when we talk about being in the trunk. The Trunk is a place to get into and allow JESUS to control our lives... dying to self... in short term... the trunk is not usually cushy nor does it have a great view, but it is secure, and it's where Jesus wants us to be. And everyday there are new struggles and it's hard to stay in the trunk for to long, but with a strength not our own, we can lay down our life and give up all over again... thanks to God's grace in Jesus Christ!

Love yuns!

Blameless Child-
Liz, Beth, Sam, Blake, and Isaac



www.blamelesschild.com
http://www.purevolume.com/blamelesschild

On Tour

For the last 6 days, the band has been on our first "tour." It was entitled "Hit The Road Tour" - however we are changing it to Worship Revival... So far, it has been completely awesome! God has been working in some extraordinary ways, and we love it. We played and worshiped non-stop for three days in Yreka, CA, it became a revival as we met with adults and kids until the wee hours of the morning! Throughout the last six days we have seen GOD heal broken relationships, soften hearts, heal drug addictions, and show HIS mighty power as we humbly bow before HIM. Blake has faithfully traveled back and forth from his job to our worship revivals - so he may take part in GOD's plan... words are not adequate as to what is happening ... however, a prophesy was given to us some weeks ago... the year of the "drums and cowbell" AND so be it... GOD IS calling HIS people IN... we are so humbled by what is happening... on a joyous note... Isaac has been practicing some of his sweet dance moves..It's pretty cool the way he dances and has brought many smiles to peoples faces!

We are off to Happy Camp this next weekend, where we will lead worship and our dad will give a message... so please pray that God's Spirit opens doors, gives us boldness, and that we have a spirit of love for all...

Love you guys:)
BC

Relay For Life

Tonight the band is going to be playing at the Relay For Life, walk for cancer event at Shasta College at 2:00 AM.
So as of now we are trying to gather energy for this unusual time for a concert. This involves drinking lots of coffee and energy drinks.
This is an awesome event because it really supports the fight against cancer. This is a 24 hour event where people walk around a track and donate money to support the research to hopefully find a cure for cancer.
Sam and I went last year, Relay For Life 06' just as participantes walking around the track; However before we went, we anticipated that walking around a track would be quite boring; but we were pleansently suprised to find that it was anything but boring; There was an abundance of booths full of food, souvineirs, and water guns. The water guns were especially nice, especially since the temperature reached over 100 that day.


Relay For life is an awesome event, and it supports an awesome cause. We are so blessed to have the opportunity to play and share God's love at this event for an hour. Even if it's at 2 am. God will still hear us that early if if no one else does.

We will post on how it went soon!

Isaac and Beth's debut

An awesome thing happened this past weekend, Redding Transformation's 40 Days of Grace ended it's forty days of prayer with a festival in the downtown Redding Area. It had three different locations each with music, prayer tents, and various things like face painting, balloon making, and food.

We played on the Krista stage, which was great since we have a heart for kids who are in the Foster Care system or have been adopted - God knew just where to put us!

We had two debuts... First, our little 11 yr. old brother Isaac,
( tambourine/cowbell/keyboard player) made his debut in singing with Beth. Second, they sang their own rendition of "Hit The Road Jack." (check out the clip above on our new, "Video of the Week")
Yes, it is a secular song, however, we have prayed as a family and want to reach people through music - so we choose to play this song to illustrate what relationships are like without God in them. Kind of like a mini message...through song... we received a lot of positive feedback from this! We are excited and pray that God will use this part of our ministry as we cultivate it to reach more people! As the Apostle Paul says..."I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some" (1 Corinthians 9:22)

Isaac and Beth did a great job, and we keep saying that Isaac will soon be our new lead singer..ha ha!

Also, if you want to know more about Redding Transformation, and what an awesome ministry it is, then check out www.reddingtransformation.com

Question..." Should secular songs be used in Christian ministry?"

Happy Camp

A couple of weeks ago, the band traveled to beautiful Happy Camp Ca, for two days. While there,we played a concert on the 24th, and lead worship on the 25th along side some of our good friends the Welins' at the Happy Camp Assembly of God Church.

We were really blessed and humbled by the outpouring of God's
love to us from the people of this wonderful church and community.

We had a great time, and really saw God at work there. We had hoped to be an encouragement to this community, however, they will never know how much of an encouragement they were to us! What a confirmation to our ministry and out-reach! We praise GOD and give HIM glory for allowing us to serve HIM at Happy Camp!

We want to give a huge thanks to the Welin Family, and Happy Camp Assembly of God, we love you guys, and can't wait to go back to Happy Camp again.