Carefully Created Worship Music Playlists

How Were These Playlists Created?

There is a kind of question that we get at Sound in Worship that is worded like this:

"Why don't you have (insert artist/band) in your playlist?"

If it's not a question, it is oftentimes that a certain group or artist is being recommended often. I think this is great, and it is very appreciated! That's how this playlist grows.

We don't add songs after hearing them one time and thinking they were catchy. We also don't add just any song with the word "God" or "Lord" in it.

Latter Day Saints use those words and mean something completely different than we as Christians do. We really desire to look into each song and what it's teaching or proclaiming in its lyrics. To the above point, we also look at where worship music is coming from.

If a song is coming from an artist who is representing a movement like Bethel Church, we do not add that song. We don't want to be a part of helping lead someone to an artist that could very well introduce them to unsound and unbiblical (gold dust, mantle grabbing (grave soaking), Gandalf, Holy Spirit is like "the genie from Aladdin", etc.) teaching.

Maybe you're thinking, "but we could still use their songs because some of them have biblically sound lyrics". We respect your opinion, but we would have to wonder what it is about those songs that are so desirable? Is it worth the risk? That's the stance we've taken. We welcome the opinions of others, and respect them, but that is the direction we've dedicated ourselves to.

With that being said, we know there is no way to recommend perfect artists because there are none. We've all fallen short, but there is a difference in falling short and repenting (something all Christians have done and still do) and continually spreading bizarre teaching that can hurt someone's walk, or possibly even lead someone to pursue something other than the biblical Jesus.

So we've set out to find worship music that comes from talented artists, whose churches are preaching sound doctrine, whose lyrics glorify God in truth, and whose songs can lead worship in spirit. We haven't found them all, and that is exciting! We may mess up, but we're correctable and have been corrected before.

There will also be artists who are really a tough choice. An artist may have excellent lyrics in their songs, but they write songs with Bethel Church. What do you do? It gets complex doesn't it? Another artist may write biblical lyrics, have a long record of leading worship to glorify God (praise the Lord!), but they openly recommend and teach others how to use songs from Bethel. Maybe their church is teaching Word of Faith doctrine. It gets complex, and it's going to come down to your convictions.

So, we set out to recommend artists that we are very confident will lead listeners in sound doctrine. Worship music teaches us, or reminds us of, theology as we sing and listen to it. Music is often effective in drawing listeners into the teachings of churches.

So it comes down to our analysis. It will not be perfect, and some may disagree with our approach. We respect that. We just feel that something must be done in the world of Christian worship music.

The above playlist is "our favorite" songs. They came from our findings and from your recommendations. The playlist is shaped by all of us as we seek to find excellent worship music that lines up with God's Word. We've set out to create a biblically and theologically sound worship music playlist with you. Thank you for listening with us.