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Church/Bar Band....Thoughts?

#81
Russell L said:
I'm sorry to hear that, pal. A REAL church should, instead, gather you in its arms when you make a mistake.

Story: a stranger walks into church all dirty. The pastor tells him he should show more respect for the house of God, and tells him to come back next week all cleaned up, and to ask God to teach him how to dress at their church. When the man comes back all dirty again, the pastor asks him if he asked God to show him how to dress at their church. The man said, "Yes, but God said he didn't know since He's never been here."

It shouldn't matter how you look ar what you've done.
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Great story. Reminds me of a verse off Todd Agnews "My Jesus" song. It goes something like my Jesus wouldn't be allowed in my church, the blood on his feet might stain the carpet. Churches like that really need to examine their priorities. Thank God my church has more of a come as you are attitude. Mine belief has always been he who is perfect throw the first stone type of thing. And I'm not perfect. In fact my church has a sign in the entance that reads no perfect people allowed. Doesn't mean I don't try to live a Godly life, I just realize I'm flawed. For the record I play worship and am in a blues band the plays out. My entire band plays worship at one church or another. I don't push my religion on you but I will not deny it to seem "cool".
 
#82
pedroims said:
last year I got a DUI...3 beers and needed to go to court, fail on me, I told my pastor was happened, that week I did not get the song list for next Sunday service, pastor called me to tell me I needed to repair my relationship with Jesus and also that I was a bad testimony for the church, they banned me from the worship band for 10 months, they allow me to play now but is not the same anymore :hmm:
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I'm outta there....seems to me the church had a chance to show what it is to forgive by backing you up. If only for proof of the need for forgiveness. Nice of them to put you in the congregation and let everyone wonder why you aren't playing anymore.....I have a real problem with leadership like that. There are people in the congregation struggling with guilt, they needed to see that they can be forgiven. Not punished. I can't live in fear of God like that. But don't leave without telling the pastor and preferably the elders or leadership committee why. You have to give them information like that. And always be prepared to offer forgiveness your self. which it looks like you did.
I live in Oklahoma, I don't know about where you live but, there is a Christian church on every corner here. I like to think I'm a member of every one of them...so lots of places to go if Iever decide to play in church again.
 
#84
pedroims said:
last year I got a DUI...3 beers and needed to go to court, fail on me, I told my pastor was happened, that week I did not get the song list for next Sunday service, pastor called me to tell me I needed to repair my relationship with Jesus and also that I was a bad testimony for the church, they banned me from the worship band for 10 months, they allow me to play now but is not the same anymore :hmm:
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Yeah, that seems a little off somehow......a church that calls moral superiority a good testimony. Oh, well...not how the church I go to functions.

I was playing in the bar band about a month ago and during "Wonderful Tonight" by Eric Clapton, this woman kept rubbing up against me telling me that I was "wonderful tonight" (obvious the alcohol was taking over her eye sight).

I wanted to give her the back side of my P bass, but I was pretty sure that's not what Jesus would have done.
 
#88
Had a dream once that I was taken by an angel to a little white house on a hill surrounded by grassy pastures. I was told to go on up on the porch and have a seat. Soon as I got comfortable, God comes bouncing out the screen door and says, "Hey, man, what's up, Russell?" We then sit in rockers, telling jokes, cutting up like regular old friends. No damnation, no hang-ups, no fire and brimstone, just the love of companionship. Throwing rocks, taking a break for a sip, good food, playing music...we could've been doing any of these things. That's My God. And I'm proud to say I've sat on God's Front Porch.
 
#89
My uncle is a retired united church minister and he tells me that church decisions have very little to do with god or religion.

His experience is that he did his services, ceremonies and public speaking but ultimately all the decisions were made by a committee of parishoners that he reported to and they could dismiss (fire) ministers if they were too assertive or had ideas they they did not share.
 
#90
I wonder about this some. I have no problem with going to a bar and neither does my pastor. But I don't drink to excess and I'm a little uncomfortable with the idea that the band's role is to help the bar sell more and more beer. I think that a Christian should be able to have an honest night's fun at the bar (and that a Christian musician can be a part of the fun) but I don't want to come off like I'm egging people on just to get plastered and get laid.

There are times you draw the line. I was going to audition for one band, got their set list to learn, a few times through "Crazy Bitch" and it was just, like, I can't let my kids come to my show when it's that breed of songs. So I pulled out of that. New project, the singer just included AC/DC's "Big Balls" and I'm having the same reaction (though here I'm a founding member, not joining someone else's band, so we can just go in a different direction). I don't mind innuendo and the occasional swear but you've got to decide where you draw the line.

Oh, a thought on the "stumbling block" thing. I don't think that means you have to let legalistic pharisees dictate what everyone in the church can and can't do. It means you shouldn't act in a way that's going to make people do things that they themselves think are sinful. If someone thinks it's sinful to eat meat, I'm not going to invite them to my house and slap a steak on the grill. But that doesn't mean I'm going to stay out of restaurants that serve steak just because my vegetarian friend might show up there.
 
#91
Russell L said:
Had a dream once that I was taken by an angel to a little white house on a hill surrounded by grassy pastures. I was told to go on up on the porch and have a seat. Soon as I got comfortable, God comes bouncing out the screen door and says, "Hey, man, what's up, Russell?" We then sit in rockers, telling jokes, cutting up like regular old friends. No damnation, no hang-ups, no fire and brimstone, just the love of companionship. Throwing rocks, taking a break for a sip, good food, playing music...we could've been doing any of these things. That's My God. And I'm proud to say I've sat on God's Front Porch.
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Very cool. Sounds like you learned well.
 
#92
I am a Christian (Love Jesus :) I refer to myself as a Jesus-follower),personally don't drink (I'm a teenager), play bass for church on Sundays (electric guitars and all that stuff, we are a non-denomination church), I love most music, especially jazz fusion. I don't see a problem with social drinking but being drunk is a totally different story.
But anyways, back to the bar-church thing. It's one thing to go to a bar and be a good Jesus-follower, and play clean music, but it's another thing to go out and play at a bar, get drunk and have a one-night-stand with the waitress. Jesus-followers should be the light in a dark world. Heck, Jesus talked to the hookers and tax-collectors, he even ate with them. But Jesus never had sex with a hooker and got drunk.
I've always wanted to go to a bar and play some good music, like amazing grace or something (maybe like victor wooten's version!) because you never know how God could use you to change someone's life.
That's just how I see it.

BTW, it really bothers me on how judgmental a church can be. Christians aren't suppose to judge anyways. And there will always be hypocrites. Yes, it sucks, but whatever.

So all in all, I think it's okay to play at a bar as long as you're being salt and light and then playing worship the next morning. As long as you give God the glory, give him the praise He deserves, and love Him, the rest will fall into the right place.
God Bless
 
#100
sneha1965 said:
It depends on if it violates your conscious. Here's my situation. I play in my churches praise band and have been playing in a group that does original music. I recently decided to break from the group not because of what anyone else thinks but because it helps me make a clean break away from bad influences. YMMV, but my past is such that this particular group at this particular time does not encourage me to have a strong walk in my faith. For that reason alone I have decided to take a break. This is not to say that there may be another time when it could be the right situation. Also this is no judgment on you or whatever you decide is right for you in your situation.
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This about sums it up for me. You need to have accountability to and for yourself. I play at two churches and in a secular band. One of the churches is my "home" church and I am responsible for coordinating the music for the 4th Sunday of every month. I also play bass and/or sing on the other 3-4 Sundays a month. People seem to be very appreciative of that and could care less what my secular band does.

But at the same time, it is MY responsibility to make sure that my involvement with this band is on the up and up. When our original lead singer wanted to to the "Dan Band" version of "Total Eclipse of the Heart" as well as a profane version of "Summer of 69", I put my foot down. I had never heard of The Dan Band, but I can say now that I have no use for them. We wound up dropping "Total Eclipse...." and sticking with the original version of "Summer....". The lead singer left for other reasons and the current makeup of the group knows I won't go for profane lyrics. We're working on Cee Lo Green's song........"Forget You", not the original version ;)
 

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