Bonnie Keen was on stage doing what she does best \u2014 singing harmony \u2014 when she heard an alarm clanging in her soul.<\/p>\n\n
As a member of the trio First Call, she was singing behind one of gospel music\u2019s superstars. While Sandi Patty held the spotlight, Keen found herself paying especially close attention to many details of the concert.<\/p>\n\n
Everyone talked about freedom and letting God take control, while the tightly choreographed show marched in lock-step with studio backing tapes. The stars sang about praising God, while bathing in the crowd\u2019s adoration. The show looked like entertainment, while people called it worship.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cIt was like something hit me,\u201d said Keen, recalling the scene. \u201cI thought, `What is this supposed to be? Is this a concert? Is it a worship service? What is this?'\u201d<\/p>\n\n
These soul-searching questions remain just as relevant today, as Keen and her veteran vocal partner Marty McCall begin climbing out of gospel-music purgatory.<\/p>\n\n
It has been two years since the tabloids went wild covering First Call member Marabeth Jordon\u2019s extramarital affair with Michael English, who was gospel\u2019s rising star. Jordon was pregnant. Then came the divorces and news of a miscarriage. Gospel retailers yanked English\u2019s recordings off shelves and he has since begun a secular career. Jordan has quietly returned to studio work.<\/p>\n\n
Keen and McCall were blindsided. While most stores kept selling the trio\u2019s music, one insider\u2019s words to an industry journal captured the mood: \u201cAs far as we know, two-thirds of the group is still on solid ground, as far as ministry goes.\u201d All outsiders need to know about the Twilight Zone called Contemporary Christian Music, or CCM, is summed up in those words, \u201cAs far as we know.\u201d That was the bottom of the pit.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cWe were changed forever by what happened,\u201d said Keen. \u201cThe majority of people in the industry pulled away and that hurt \u2014 deeply. \u2026 Our experiences just didn\u2019t fit into anyone\u2019s little pigeonholes for how things were supposed to go.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
After two years of silence, Keen and McCall recently finished a new album as a duo, with the simple title \u201cFirst Call.\u201d Its opening song talks about life\u2019s burdens, while the chorus is both hopeful and defiant: \u201cYou gotta trust in the power of God, when nothing makes sense. \u2026 In the wake of the tears of the innocent, let the healing begin.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
The tears began long before 1994\u2019s scandal tore the roof off the sanctuary. In the early 1980s, First Call toured with the young Amy Grant. In recent years, Grant and her husband, singer Gary Chapman, have openly talked about how they saved their troubled marriage. Meanwhile, many Christians still attack Grant\u2019s profitable leap into pop music. First Call also sang with Russ Taff, who rose to stardom while doubting his faith. Even Sandi Patty got a divorce and married her lover.<\/p>\n\n
Keen has watched the drama unfold in a business in which revelation can be part of the stagecraft. Industry leaders continue to debate where \u201cministry\u201d ends and \u201cperforming\u201d begins. Some insist that CCM is about \u201cevangelism,\u201d while others admit that most of the music is entertainment for a Christian niche market.<\/p>\n\n
It all comes back to that question: \u201cWhat is this?\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Obviously, CCM artists are professionals who make their living performing on stage and in the studio. But for whom are they performing and why? They are not ministers. Yet it\u2019s clear many listeners look to them for spiritual inspiration and insights. They are rarely evangelists. Yet, like most clergy, they spend most of their time preaching to people who already believe.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cI think we\u2019re Christians who speak to other Christians \u2026 about our own faith and what it means to try to live out that faith,\u201d she said. \u201cBut we\u2019re going to have to be honest about that. If we\u2019ve suffered pain, if we\u2019ve suffered loss, we need to admit that. \u2026 Maybe the fact that we\u2019re still here \u2014 after all we\u2019ve been through \u2014 can serve as an encouragement to people who have suffered loses of their own.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Bonnie Keen was on stage doing what she does best \u2014 singing harmony \u2014 when she heard an alarm clanging in her soul. As a member of the trio First Call, she was singing behind one of gospel music\u2019s superstars. While Sandi Patty held the spotlight, Keen found herself paying especially close attention to many […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":610,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-930","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n