Question:
I lead worship in a youth group of 100-150. I have been leading it for the last two years, and have been involved for four, and I am growing tired of worship music. I have never been a contemporary christian fan whatsoever, but I have always been able to stand worship. Until the last few months.

It seems that most songs that are "youth friendly", and even boomer generation friendly, make God out to be a forgiving teddy bear. And I'm just about fed up with it.

It's like God is truely something huge, and this music is putting it in a tiny little box that can fit in the palm of your hand. It's like the goal of the music is to give people a nice warm fuzzy feeling, or to raise the hair on the back of their neck whenever theirs a dramatic key change. I know that there are times for this, and times for a God of comfort, but it seems to me that most of the worship songs around in the standard American evangelical church are leaning heavily that way. (an example of folks that I see like this are the Passion worship leaders...occasionaly excellent stuff, but the majority of the time not so much)

So I suppose to the point of my post is just to ask your opinion on this, and also to maybe get some song reccomendations of youth friendly (i.e. more rockish) stuff. Thanks for reading.
Answer:
Suggestions:
It is You- Newsboys
Grace Like Rain- Todd Agnew
Take It All- Hillsongs United
Undignified- David Crowder Band
I'm not quite sure what you mean by that. Are you saying that God is being made to look simple and easy to follow?
Answer:
In a way. Mostly that He is a simple God. It's just the feeling I get when listening to most stuff.
Answer:
what about hymns? They've got a bunch of content and theology along with great poetic form
igracemusic.com has some good upbeat versions.
Answer:
I've seriously considered hymns, but it is tough to make a selection in the context of a youth group. I've also thought about writing some of stuff, or just setting Psalms to music (I do realize that I wouldn't be the first to do so). I read an interesting interview in Relevant magazine last night that I'll have to pull some quotes from. Rob Bell and Mark Driscoll (I believe that was his name) expressed nearly my exact sentiments on the issue in a much more accesible way.
Answer:
Sovereign Grace Music has some very good quality worship songs.
Answer:
Hymns (particularly from the RUF hymnal at Indelible Grace)
Anything Shane & Shane have written (not just recorded)
Anything David Crowder has written (not just recorded)
Really, I think David Crowder is your single "best bet."
Answer:
My current favorite hymn is "Thy Mercy, My God" as performed by Caedmon's Call. But I know what you mean; last week at my service, they sang the lyric "God's grace abounding" and I was shocked. A large part of our songs talk about Jesus as an invisible best friend, an awesome dude we have to live for. And not much else.
Answer:
Originally Posted by Nate
Really, I think David Crowder is your single "best bet."
I like Crowder much more than other artists around.
Heres the Relevant article quotes I referred to earlier.
In response to the question "What trends in church and worship styles do you see? Are they positive or negative?"
"I'll be happy when we have more than just prom songs to Jesus sung by some effeminate guy on an acoustic guitar offered as mainstream worship music. Right now most worship music is still coming from the top down through such things as Christian radioand record labels. But the trend today in a lot of churches is writing your own music to reflect your culture and community, and I pray that this trend of music from the bottom up cotinues"
-Mark Driscoll
Frederica Mathewes-Green response to the same question, only from a different perspective...Eastern Orthodox.
"As an Eastern Orthodox Christian, I'm glad to see communities digging into the treasures of the ancient church, particuarly in terms of beauty. The lass we try to make worship like an evening in the family room, the more we make it something directed beyond our familiar experience-bringing us to the God of the beauty, awe, and mysetery-the better. My personal hunch is that this is more attractive to seekers, too. The negative, I think, is a consumerist attitude, in which which worship leaders shop for the elements they find most appealing, rather than joining the ancient community and seeking to understand something beyond their limited experience. Consumerism feels like "being true to myself" or "choosing what rings true to me", but it's actually isolated, lonely, myopic, and culture-bound."
Just some thoughts. Thanks for the responses. I will definatly look to incorporate some hymns.
Answer:
That first quote, no matter what truth may or may not exist in it, comes from a very bitter heart, imho.
If God hears the prayers of a righteous man then Mark has a way to go in thinking his prayer for the end of a trend will be answered to his liking.
The second quote rings familiar to me as my nephew is currently attending an Eastern Orthodox church. He used to attend a protestant church of I-forget-the-demonination but he spoke almost these exact words to me in explaining why he left the "consumerism"-based worship of his former church and instead sought the God of beauty, awe and mystery in EO.
He's a young guy and one of the best saxophonists I've ever heard...he'd be an asset to any worship team and has a heart for the Lord and for seeking His will...it's for this reason that he doesn NOT want to serve on a "worship team" as God has not called him to that place of service.
For that I totally respect him and his desire to worship in spirit and in truth and not because it's convenient, easy or popular.
As far as other artists to look into for songs, I always recommend Tommy Walker's stuff. The great majority of it is derived right from Scripture and it's Holy Spirit-inspired, born from a heart that doesn't seek to fabricate emotionalism nor seeks fame but, if I can speak for Tommy, simply wants to dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
A lot of his stuff is not the most simplistic to play and may require the musician(s) to learn a few adult chords but, imho, it's well worth the musical growth.
Answer:
I know this is not a hym, but I really like Delirious Miracle Maker. It's a deep song song with powerful lyrics that starts pretty slow, then brings in some electic guitar with meat to it. I would recommend checking it out, it's on "The Mission Bell" cd from them. Hope this helps.
Answer:
Originally Posted by Deuceswild26 Suggestions:
...
Take It All- Hillsongs United
Undignified- David Crowder Band He's asking for songs with a meater view of God...I'm not sure how a song telling God all the things I will do is what he's looking for.
Answer:
Originally Posted by fendstratplaya Rob Bell and Mark Driscoll (I believe that was his name) That's right. Ironically they both come from a church called Mars Hill.
Here's a video of Driscoll speaking against Christian culture:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=KHGvxaG9eP4
Here's a video where he speaks against singing "love songs to Jesus" and feminine music...the first minute or so is on church planting.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKHILew-laI
Answer:
Originally Posted by gtrdave That first quote, no matter what truth may or may not exist in it, comes from a very bitter heart, imho.
If God hears the prayers of a righteous man then Mark has a way to go in thinking his prayer for the end of a trend will be answered to his liking. You can see people's hearts and know who's bitter?
Answer:
Originally Posted by Sean You can see people's hearts and know who's bitter?
When they say things like "prom songs to Jesus sung by some effeminate guy on an acoustic guitar", yes, they make themselves easy to see and know.