Chris Tomlin is probably a really nice guy, has true faith, has talent, and is good looking. No one wants to hate him, and I'm not asking you to. I am asking you to consider that he's part of CCM, which is an industry.
CCM has important problems that are never addressed by Christians because they don't want to criticize the songs that make them feel closer to God. But I don't feel close to CCM songs anymore. So here we go.
1. Sexism in the industry: In Evangelical Christianity, male leadership is encouraged and instated. Women are encouraged to support men, or to teach and support each other and children. With a lack of focus on Bible passages that recognize women leadership, most churches use men to lead the significant stuff like "worship." In the CCM industry, female artists have started to emerge but the Weekly Contemporary Christian Music Charts are still largely dominated by men. The biggest CCM cash cow is the large concerts where the venue is charged a set amount, CDs and merch are sold, and ticket sales run high. Most of those concert tours are all men. Evangelical Christianity promotes male worship leaders, creating a market for CCM's male worship leaders. Men profit the most.
2. Racism in the industry: Joe Bob Briggs, a film critic/comic, once defined contemporary Christian music as "bad songs written about God by white people." Mark Allan Powell, professor of New Testament at Trinity Lutheran Seminary and whom I got the quote from, disagrees and states that many ethnic groups are represented. While that may be true, Briggs's joke rings true because we don't really know any of them. The larger evangelical movement follows white, cisgender male songwriters and worship leaders. Test the assertion...QUICK! Name the top five worship songs you love to sing. Who sings them?
The Chris Tomlin video linked above is ludicrous. I feel annoyed when secular artists like Bruce Springsteen and Billy Joel bring up African American gospel choirs. They appropriate black music for their own monetary gain, and very little gain for the choirs. Yet, Christians wave their arms and sing along when Chris Tomlin produces this multicultural rubbish to pretend like they are all connected through Christ, when only a few on that stage or screen have access to the same privileges in life. It perpetuates only the emotion of "being one in Christ" and ignores the complexities of reality, in which Jesus seemed deeply invested.
3. Profit, profit, profit: The object of any industry is for fame and ultimately money. CCM's got market shares, ticket sales, concert promotions, merch, CDs, digital downloads. It promotes their artists as rock stars, encouraging people to scream over them, climb over each other to meet them, buy their music the second it's released, get autographs and pictures. Many young Christian women and men are more than willing to give it up. Male worship leaders learn the guitar like Tomlin and step away from the mic to let the voices sing. Female fans swoon over his simple lyrics and wonder if they'll ever find a man who understands how they feel about God, like Tomlin's song can do (see #1 concerning sexism promoted by CCM). The Blah Blah, an indie music blog, quotes that "one well-known worship group he had spoken with was asking over $35,000. $35,000! To play worship music! I have a family of four, and I don’t make that much money in 2 years, let alone 2 hours of playing music that is supposed to be for God." Mark Allen Powell quotes Daniel Smith of the band Danielson, who "dismisses the whole notion of a Christian music market by saying, 'I just find it hard to believe that Christ wants to be in a market. Didn’t he turn over those tables?'"
Most Christians I know ignore that CCM and Chris Tomlin are a subset of a larger music industry. Instead, they personalize their own experience with CCM music: "Well, I feel God using the songs to talk to me. That's all that really matters."
Not to me.
