Shout to the...Huh?

Last week on American Idol Gives Back (their program devoted to raising money for the needy), they closed the show with the extremely popular Christian worship song "Shout to the Lord." Watch it here:



Now there was some controversy over this because (beyond the fact that they sang an evangelical song on the most popular show in America) they replaced the phrase "My Jesus" at the beginning with "My Shepherd." But the next night, they sang the tune again and included Jesus' name. Now this probably should not have been as controversial as it was. Some friends of mine were quick to point out that having this song sung was a good thing and planted "seeds". I agree. I am pretty sure it will bring about more good than confusion. And this was made clearer to me when I read a post on a blog from a Christian who works on a different Fox show. Her comments are illuminating and help direct our prayers:

“I work on one of the ‘sister shows’ of American Idol...so picture an office, with all of the producers, crew, etc. gathered in watching the live feed at our CBS offices, then this song comes on...an office filled with a few Christians....atheists and agnostic Jews. You could hear a pin drop....it was awesome.....the power that came through....nothing had to be said...no debates....just people being touched more than they realized...producers, writers...crew that had never darkened a church door in their lives, or their only experience with Christians was a negative one. You don't always see the workings of us Christians that are behind the scenes...you don't know how much prayer went into getting a song with that message on a, let us not forget, a SECULAR show. So, from someone behind the scenes, the best thing you can do is write to the producer of Am. Idol and simply state how much you appreciate the diversity they showed in having a very inspirational song in their program. Period. No criticizing. This will go farther than you realize. Also, pray, pray, pray for us Christians who have chosen Hollywood as our vocation, career and our mission field.”

HT: Josh Harris