Directory of Contemporary Worship Musicians - Way of Life Literature

Chapman, Steven CurtisSteven Curtis Chapman (b. 1963) is “the most honoredChristian artist of the 1990s” (CCM magazine, July 1999, p.28).He is a member of the Pentecostal Christ CommunityChurch near Nashville, Tennessee. An article in Newsweekmagazine noted that “Christ Church in Nashville has thehottest choir in town, bar none, and the Pentecostal serviceon any given Sunday is liable to rock the pews” (“God and theMusic Biz,” Newsweek, May 30, 1994). e Christ Churchchoir performed “Put a Little Love in Your Heart” with DollyParton during the 1993 Country Music Association Awards.Lindell Cooley, the worship leader at Brownsville Assemblyof God in Pensacola, Florida, was in charge of music at ChristChurch before he moved to Pensacola and played the musicfor the wild-eyed “revival” that broke out there in ----.In the 1990s, Chapman “embraced high energy rock” andsome elements of rap (Moody Monthly, Nov. 1994). An articlein e Tennessean, September 21, 1996, observed thatChapman had “taken a radical le turn with his music.”Some of the songs on his 1997 Greatest Hits album wererecorded live at Abbey Road Studios in London, the studiowhere the Beatles recorded their albums. Why would aChristian desire to produce an album at the studio madefamous by an antichrist rock group which has influencedmultitudes of young people to reject the Word of God?Chapman says he tries to communicate a biblical worldview in a way that will not be “abrasively preachy” (HuntsvilleTimes, Huntsville, Alabama, Oct. 30, 1994). He says his questfor relevance has shown that the best way to communicate hisfaith is “not to preach fire and brimstone” (Ibid.).Contrariwise, the Lord Jesus Christ was very much a “fire andbrimstone” preacher (Mk. 9:44-48).e song “Lord of the Dance,” co-written by Chapman andScotty Smith, pastor of Christ Community Church, first53