It is our prayer and goal to share the love of Jesus through one of his gifts…..music. It gives us an opportunity to share and serve others with food, fellowship, and entertainment. As I have posted before , we have a Christian open mic night at our home, once a month.
My daughter and son, host the event. Dad and I are the chaperones and servers. We like to make sure that everyone is having a good time. We refill their plates, interact with them, and talk about what is going on in their lives. It has been a very rewarding time, getting to know these teenagers.
Why do we do it? While most parents might cringe at the thought of hearing a bunch of teenagers pounding on drums, or screaming their electric guitars, we think it is great! Nothing has been more wonderful than following the Christian world of music.
We as a family, enjoy very much, scoping out all the new bands, finding those that are on the underground, and exposing them to other teens. We have been shocked to find out that most teenagers, even in the Christian circles, do not listen to Christian music. They find it not “as cool” as the world bands. It has been our hope to expose some of the alternative bands that sound like worldly bands to this youth. We have a great Christian radio station that has been revamped this past year and it offers so much rocking, jamming music.
I was excited to see our local station really branch out and expose our younger generation to all of these great bands through some awesome music. I am very thankful for them. I believe they have an app that you can download here at their site to listen to their music, free of course.
Influence of music
Most of the time, when we hear a song, we begin to form an image of the lyrics in our minds. We may even imagine ourselves acting out the song’s lyrics.
For example, a slow, romantic song may easily put someone in a romantic mood. A song with angry, violent lyrics may lead someone to commit violent acts.
Music with words that produces images of sexual immorality, violent behavior, or other negative images appeals to the lowest nature of mankind.
People might not think much about it, as some of the messages are subtle. But they can cause problems later in life if those negative images are allowed to become rooted in our minds.
While there are other factors that help to influence our decisions in life, music has proven to be an influence that can change our attitudes and perspectives.
Take a moment to consider the negative impact certain song lyrics may have had on you. Music’s powerful influence can be contributed to people being encouraged to drink alcohol, try illegal drugs or participate in pre-marital sex.
Many young people enjoy listening to popular music with friends and feel odd and left out when they don’t. However, the problem comes when lyrics encourage destructive behavior and cause teens to give in to peer pressure. Music has been linked to certain violent behavior in youth. It sometimes inspires many young people to resort to violence whenever they have a conflict.
Words are very important!
What we say (or sing) with all our hearts will lead to actions that could bring either positive or negative results.
Proverbs 18:22 says…
Life and death is in the power of the tongue
Music was originally designed to praise and worship God. Christian music appeals to the highest nature of mankind.
When we listen to praise and worship music, it captures our minds and inner-most beings, and we begin to fall in love with our Creator over and over again!
For every secular artist on the market, there is a Christian alternative. These born again artists are just as good but with a better message. This is what we need to be promoting to our teenagers. Please consider supporting your local Christian radio station so that they can help put into the ears of our teenagers good music with an uplifting message.
It is not wise to try to give up one thing without a better alternative to put in its place. Find more positive, uplifting music
Here are our performers for this months open mic. We had Daddy-Greg and daughter, Lauren perform. Austin got up there and played some guitar with them. We had a newbie first time performer–way to go Rosalie, a boy that is blind, play and sing some Colton Dixon and Capital Kings–Logan you rock!!! He had his 2 lovely sisters, Chloe and Autumn up there singing as well. Chris played us some amazing electric guitar, a trio of girls sang, Oh, how He loves us–Hope, Grace, and Molly with Dad Anthony playing guitar. Hope, Katie, Lauren and Jared sang by themelves. Alyssa sang with Collin some Lifehouse. They ALL did an amazing job!!! You guys are awesome.
For food, in case anyone wonders what we served this bunch:
- hot dogs over the fire
- brownie, strawberry skewers
- smores with fudge striped cookies
- hummus and pita chips
- vegetable and spinach dip
- watermelon and grapes
- licorace
- pop and water
You can click here to see our previous open mic and how we made a stage out of plywood and free pallets.
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God has moved our family away from church youth group and we have been inspired by your idea of open mike night at our home. If you could share what electronics you needed such as mikes, amps, etc. besides basic instruments we would really appreciate it!
Blessing,
Danni
Danni—-I am sooooo excited for you!!! This has been ONE of the things that we enjoy thoroughly as a family. We actually have a complete sound system. Has the sound board, the speakers, the amps and all the cords. I will ask my husband who knows WAY more than I do what you could get away with for the minimal. Be blessed. Amy
This all very awesome, it’s encouraging to see something like this especially in this generation. I didn’t manage to read if this open for anyone to come and play? I used play open mics a lot… But they’re mostly in bars or non-christian venues.
This was something that we started way back when my teenagers were needing a place to hang out. We set up the sound system, made a stage out of pallets and plywood and invited friends to come and hang out. We had food, bonfire, and music. It was a good, safe place for them to hang out with other friends. We haven’t had one in years, as mine are grown, but I have another set coming up and we just may do this:) It gives them a chance to just have fun.