Why We Need Songs Christian Radio Won't Play
A PANEL DISCUSSION FROM YOUR IMAGINATION REDEEMED 2018.
When music is 100% commercial and therefore 100% driven by what will appeal the most to the most people, we must ask what is music really for? In this session, we will explore how to build stronger relationships between songwriters and listeners, and we will discover a richer, more expansive vision of what Christian music can be and what it can do beyond the limited scope of Christian radio. The Church needs songs and genres that can build up who we are individually and communally and prepare us to be the people of God in a difficult world, and the world needs a robust singing Church whose songs address the full range of human experience with the Holy Trinity’s transformational presence.
Biographical information below.
PSSST! Want to listen on your music player? The Anselm Society is pleased to make available the audio from every lecture and panel from the conference..for free. Please consider making a donation to support the cost of this resource. If you donate, we'll email you the audio files from the entire conference so you can upload them as a playlist into your favorite music player!
MATT MELLEMA
Co-Host, Believe to See Podcast
Matt Mellema is a writer and attorney in Colorado Springs who moonlights (technically daylights) as the founder and co-host of the Believe to See Podcast, an Anselm podcast that brings artists of faith together to talk about deep, challenging, and frequently funny things. You can listen on iTunes or on our Soundcloud page. Matt's writing can be found at mattmellema.com.
TERESSA MAHONEY
Singer-Songwriter
Teressa Mahoney is a singer/songwriter who likes to sing about beauty and goodness that crash through into the shadowlands. Her debut EP, "Made New," was released in the fall of 2017. She sings and plays guitar at local venues as well as leading worship for churches and events. Teressa is currently working on her first full length album. She lives in Castle Rock, CO with her husband and their four children.
MARCUS ROBINSON
Singer-Songwriter
Marcus Robinson (aka Mearlan) is a songwriter taking songs into his neighborhood. Around the age of fifteen he picked up a guitar and started banging out his own songs, singing them against the walls of his bedroom as if life depended on it. Maybe it did. Music became a vital part of Marcus' pastoral calling after college. He led worship bands for congregations, conferences, camps, and once even led songs from the front of a train climbing Pikes Peak. Marcus kept writing his own songs and even formed an occasional band with friends. As director of the Anselm Society Arts Guild he is being shaped by writers, painters, poets, visual artists, classical musicians, and other songwriters. His music and live show schedule can me found at mearlan.com.
MATTHEW CLARK
Singer-Songwriter
Matthew is a singer, songwriter, and storyteller from Mississippi. In a hurried, dislocated world, often the music we take in is like eating candy for dinner alone. Clark’s approach is more like lingering with friends around the kitchen table over a home-cooked meal and the interweaving of life’s stories. Matthew Clark’s most recent album, Come Tell Your Story, combines an eye for the resonate personal narrative and musicianship one might find in the work of David Wilcox or Paul Simon with the human warmth and spiritual depth of artists like Rich Mullins and Andrew Peterson.