c. 2007 Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly

MEMPHIS, Tenn. _ Music, for many, is at the heart of the black worship experience.

“Music comes as a softener of people,” said the Rev. Frank Thomas, pastor of Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church in Memphis, Tenn. “It allows me to gradually open myself to receive the word. That’s why you have so much music in church, because people can’t just receive … the raw word.”

Music, when done well, can both transcend and transform. Leo Davis Jr., minister of music at Thomas’ church, recalls a woman who told him that on a particular Sunday she “`had made up my mind to commit suicide … but the song that you ministered that particular Sunday gave me hope to live on.”’

But black churches face a problem: Accomplished ministers of music are a vanishing species and churches throughout the country are finding it harder to hire skilled musicians.

“It’s a difficult thing to try to find someone trained,” said the Rev. Gary Simpson, pastor of the historic Concord Baptist Church of Christ in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Simpson knows the problem firsthand _ his church has been without a minister of music for nearly a year.

“We are not training musicians in the music of the church, which the black church did all along its tenure,” Simpson said. “That kind of commitment is gone, for the most part.”

There are a number of reasons for the problem, including public schools slashing music programs.

But the biggest handicap facing the churches, Simpson said, is the world outside, where musicians can find greater fortune and fame.

“The big money is in producing,” said Davis. “The big money is in rap. They’re looking at rappers with the million-dollar houses with gold ceilings. And why do I want to work in a church and make $30,000?”

Glen McMillan has been auditioning for four months to fill the vacancy at Concord Baptist and said he knows he will be judged in large part on how well he performs.

“We are in this whole megachurch mentality where the church has become so performance-based that everything is a quick fix,” McMillan said. “The church has been a place where you could express your gift and nurture your gift in the process.”

And that is yet another dilemma facing black churches _ they are not just competing for musical directors.

“There are a lot of things competing for people’s attention,” said Mississippi Boulevard’s Thomas. “So how do you get people to pay attention to you, you know? So you have to be very good at what you do. Mediocrity will not get you a hearing in today’s world.”

And that competition can be fierce. Church members are increasingly accustomed to dazzling performances on VH-1, Black Entertainment Television and their iPods. To reach these members, some churches conclude they, too, must entertain.

Davis said he sees it “all the time. When it’s not planned well, when it’s not open to the moving of the Holy Spirit, then it becomes entertainment.”

Thomas refers to it as “sunshine music.”

“Some music has bad theology,” he said. “Some music, you know, has stuff that the Bible does not say. It’s like giving people cotton candy. We can give people cheap answers to deep questions.”

McMillan, working as the interim music minister at Concord Baptist, notes that while congregations may appreciate the sounds of hip-hop, “where are those things that are so important _ the tradition of music, the hymns, and especially in terms of black people, the Negro spirituals?”

With few accomplished musical directors _ and more “sunshine music” _ many fear worship will be diminished.

“I don’t believe that if you did hip-hop 20 years ago, you’re going to remember a hip-hop line,” McMillan said. “But you will remember `Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing,’ if you learn it. Or you will remember `Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.”’

“Those songs live on,” Davis added. “They live on because they’re sustaining. And you want the younger generations coming up to be part of that. And to embrace that. And to learn it and pass it down.”

(OPTIONAL TRIM FOLLOWS)

McMillan said he tries to imagine what music ministry might look like 15 to 20 years from now. “I have kind of concluded that hymn music is going to be obsolete,” he said.

McMillan said he got off to a rocky start at Concord but his audition is now going well. In Memphis, Davis, after 17 years on the job, shows little sign of slowing down. But both agree: The problems are serious _ and finding someone musically gifted is not enough.

“I would never tell anybody who played or worked with me it’s about the money,” McMillan said. “It’s about the commitment first. It’s about God. It’s his music. It is a calling. Music ministry is a calling.”

Adds Davis: “The calling comes with a passion. You have to have a passion to serve.”

Editors: To obtain photos of Leo Davis Jr., Glen McMillan and the choir at Concord Baptist Church of Christ, the choir at Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church and Gary Simpson, go to the RNS Web site at https://religionnews.com. On the lower right, click on “photos,” then search by subject or slug.

Editors: A version of this story first appeared on the PBS program “Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly.” This article may be reprinted by RNS clients. Please use the Religion & Ethics Newsweekly credit line.)

DSB/PH END FAW