Ruth Naomi Floyd's plenary talk from our 2015 Music Conference on the history of the African American spiritual. (The final song from Ruth's talk will not be available here, but you can look for a version of it to appear on her next recording.)
As November begins I realized that there are some tips for Christmas concerts that have helped us have a great celebration of music and Jesus' birth in a cross-cultural church.
So the pastor of a church seeking to have diverse worship calls the musician in and says, "do you know any black gospel music?" The question is sincere, but the ramifications are boundless.
A friend of mine asked for help with leads on where to get good congregational songs for worship in the Gospel style. I did a quick Planning Center filter of our songs at New City Fellowship and then cut it down to a solid 101.
So many changes have taken place in worship in just my lifetime. I was born in 1950 and it was in that decade that Billy Graham came to New York for the Madison Square Garden Crusade....
poster by Carrie Jones