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COGLayman

Campmeeting music - I don't get it

Friendly Face Posts: 255 **6/26/19 8:11 pm**

I watched a couple of camp meeting services from this week. I listened to the music and it was all newer contemporary. When the camera panned the audience no one was singing, no one seemed to know the music. The audience was basically older folks. When the speaker sung a well known South Gospel song before his message the people came alive.

Why not music that fits the camp meeting demographic? The younger people don't seem to care for camp meeting regardless of music. The older people love the older style but don't care for the new music. Doesn't anyone see the solution?

THE LOVE OF GOD

Re: Campmeeting music - I don't get it

Friendly Face Posts: 383 **6/26/19 9:21 pm**

Cojak

01000001 01100011 01110100 01110011 Posts: 24277 **6/26/19 10:18 pm**

Camp Meeting is and always has been OLD STUFF. It is a time to just turn loose, sing, shout and praise God. That said if we want to encourage a continuation of CAMP MEETING as a yearly few days of worship we must figure a way to work the younger Christians in. How? That is above my paygrade, but someone had better figure it out if Camp Meetings are to continue.

In the back of my mind I am laughing because these 'services' of today are nothing like a Camp Meeting. We actually camped at camp Meetings, that ain't gonna happen! Smile

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Travis Johnson

Acts-dicted Posts: 7862 **6/26/19 11:39 pm**

Cojak is 100% right.

Camp Meeting is over if we fail to tell the story to the next generation. It is only very recent that some of our largest camp meetings provided a nursery.

We can sing the songs. They are beautiful and powerful. But, our sons and daughters sing other songs. So, weâ€™ve got two choices:

1. Value the handoff, the passing of a baton the each subsequent generation.

2. Sing the songs we love and lose the next generation to places and people who make a place for them.

The decision gets more difficult with each year that goes by as the differences become more stark. My kind of music and my kind of preaching is important. But, I will say that as a father of two teenagers and a soon to be teen, I very much want them to want to be in the camp meeting altars that have been so important to me.

THE LOVE OF GOD

Friendly Face Posts: 383 **6/27/19 1:56 pm**

A simple solution is to sing BOTH types of music to accommodate both taste of the people.

revuriah

Golf Cart Mafia Underboss Posts: 3682 **6/27/19 4:26 pm**

Agree 100% with Travis. I may actually take this a bit further, and dig myself into a hole.

Shouldnâ€™t the older generation have a desire to make the spiritual blessings of campmeeting something young and old both can connect with? My kids donâ€™t get the Gaithers. They arenâ€™t listening to the Happy Goodmans, theyâ€™re rocking Hillsong United, Young and Free, and Elevation. Those are their â€œhymnsâ€. Ought we not do our best to include what touches our children just as much as we want what touches us? They sing different songs, but they lift up the same Savior. And it ought not be saved for youth night only.

Same in our churches. Weâ€™ve got older saints that pay the bills, and they want it a certain way. But they seem to forget that the younger generations donâ€™t connect in worship exactly as they did.

Weâ€™ve got to make sacrifices to ensure our kids have a place.
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Dean Steenburgh

Golf Cart Mafia Capo Famiglia Posts: 4682 **6/27/19 4:50 pm**

In a recent convo with AB O'Neal I asked him if we could have Monday-Tuesday for the throwback model of campmeeting & then Wednesday-Friday for the contemporary.
Here in Calif. the older folks have either died off or pretty much stopped showing up. I wanted to ask for a two day period where we do it the older way we used to do it (but not as old as Cojak did it with camping Laughing

)

It just so happens that this was the first year they had planned to do our campmeeting in 3 different locations since the state is so big geographically.
But for you guys who still have somewhat of a traditional agenda in a shorter week, ask your AB if you could have a day or 2 to offer the older style campmeeting.
Seems like a lot of the states have gone to a Wednesday-Friday format.

We wanted to sing the older hymnals, break out some old campmeeting song books, bring in a blow torch preacher & if time allowed have a morning session & an afternoon session following lunch ...at least thats how we used to do it.
It's all open for discussion & planning but sure makes sense to go back to our roots & pray with some younger guys in the altars - one of these youngsters is going to be our PB someday & I want him to be Holy Ghost filled in one of those ole gully washer style meetings.

.
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COGLayman

I watched another state camp meeting services from yesterday...

Friendly Face Posts: 255 **6/27/19 8:36 pm**

Not a single song from the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, or even 90s. All newer contemporary stuff. Nothing that appealed to the older generation. These singers and music would not have been allowed on the platform back 40 or 50 years ago.

A lot of older folks I know have no desire to attend camp meeting any longer. It's not like they remember and no effert is made to accomodate them. And our leaders wonder why camp meeting is dying. It's a sad situation.

However there are still a few old fashioned camp meetings around. I watched some of the Dallas Church of God services from last week. They were fantastic.

MrSippi

Re: I watched another state camp meeting services from yesterday...

Friendly Face Posts: 156 **6/27/19 10:09 pm**

revuriah

Re: I watched another state camp meeting services from yesterday...

Golf Cart Mafia Underboss Posts: 3682 **6/28/19 5:08 am**

roughridercog

Id love to see one night

Acts Mod Posts: 25306 **6/28/19 6:47 am**

Go old school. A piano, organ, maybe a drummer , and pull out the old red hymnal songs. For cutting out loud, turn down the cotton packing sound system. Use a song leader instead of a whole bunch.

I dare you!
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Nature Boy Florida

Acts-pert Poster Posts: 16619 **6/28/19 7:43 am**

Campmeeting is dying because you made it so no one but preachers can attend - or laypeople that live nearby.

No Saturday or Sunday services.
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Eddie Robbins

Acts-pert Poster Posts: 16509 **6/28/19 9:13 am**

When we have family reunion, it is tradition to sit around the campfire and sing. We sing the same old songs from many years ago. The kids love hearing and learning the old songs. Next, the kids take turns and sing their songs and we love to hear them. Campmeeting is really a reunion. We go to see old friends more than worship. Just be honest about it. It is a great time of fellowship. Of course, we worship because thatâ€™s what we do. So, mix it up. Sing the old songs. Sing the new songs. Enjoy each other and share what Christ has done in your life over the last year. And, for goodness sake, go to Shoneyâ€™s afterwards with a group of friends!

Aaron Scott

NBF...that's actually a good point.

Hon. Dr. in Acts-celeratology Posts: 6032 **6/28/19 10:02 am**

Dave Dorsey

Some thoughts from a youngster

[Insert Acts Pun Here] Posts: 13654 **6/30/19 9:34 am**

I think both sides are missing it a little, to be honest, but I think I'm more with the senior saints here.

First, the last thing in the world I want to worship to is an organ and some dude tearing up the ivories. I absolutely prefer a contemporary style. And since that's the overwhelming preference among anyone under sixty, and since it's hard to support multiple styles in one worship service, I think that's how it should be.

But... for the most part, I'm not convinced it's style that's boxing the older saints out. I think it's the fact that we never sing their music. I suspect if we did, even in a contemporary style, most would be able to overcome their personal preferences for style.

But this would be a lot more than a compromise. Honestly, when we don't sing their music, we are robbing the younger generation. That's not because their songs are better. But their songs have stood the test of time.

Most of the songs that are released are not that great. This is true of songs released today, and this is true of songs released then. It's true of hymns released hundreds of years ago. It's true in the secular world. There were a lot of albums released in 1975, but there was only one "Wish You Were Here".

We are right to charge the older generation that their primary responsibility to the kingdom of God in this stage of their lives is to steward the handoff of God's covenants and promises to the generation to come. A senior generation that's living for God is a generation that is living and laboring for the generation to come.

But why don't we recognize their music as part of this handoff? Why don't we see the value and theological richness of the songs of their era which have stood the test of time? Yes, the style should change. But the lyrics and music that has stood the test of time are always going to be better than the majority of songs being released today. Not all, because there are songs being released today that will stand the test of time. It's important to sing those as well. But when we only sing them, we are singing a number of songs that will not stand the test of time and neglecting those that have.

This morning we sang five songs, all in a contemporary style. But two of the five were hymns, Holy Holy Holy and The Wonderful Cross. I enjoyed the modern musical style of those renditions. But mostly, my soul was filled by the theological richness of their words. These songs have stood the test of time for a reason.

We are right to charge the older generation to focus on the good of the younger, and to serve them and sacrifice for them for the sake of Christ's church. But we want to do that without trying to understand their values in worship, or trying to understand how we can contextualize those values for our generation.

I can't stand organs in worship. They're just awful. But I'd rather hear a theologically rich hymn on an organ than an empty modern pop worship song played by the greatest contemporary band in the world.

We are right to charge the older generation to focus on the next. But we are fumbling the handoff when we don't realize their music is a part of what we are charging them to pass on.

Eddie Robbins

Acts-pert Poster Posts: 16509 **6/30/19 9:47 am**

For those of you who think we always sang the old hymns at Campmeeting....no, we used to have a new convention song book each year. Churches in the district would get together and sing several of the new songs in anticipation of Campmeeting. Now, some of those songs are our old songs we want to hear.

Always sing a new song but keep singing old songs. Itâ€™s not that complicated.

Dave Dorsey

[Insert Acts Pun Here] Posts: 13654 **6/30/19 9:54 am**

Cojak

01000001 01100011 01110100 01110011 Posts: 24277 **6/30/19 9:05 pm**

Cojak

Re: NBF...that's actually a good point.

01000001 01100011 01110100 01110011 Posts: 24277 **6/30/19 9:10 pm**

Eddie Robbins

Acts-pert Poster Posts: 16509 **7/1/19 10:54 am**