I was not familiar with Dan Cogan or his blog before someone shared it on Facebook. I was rather stunned to read that this guys experience and thinking in so many ways mirrors my own. I too really disliked hymns in our church and favored contemporary music until I realized the difference between the two in terms of depth of history and theology. Now, the worship music on my iPod is nearly all contemporary renditions of old hymns and new hymns. I still like Crowder and Redman and others, but it’s just more exciting for me to be immersed in rich hymns. Dan writes:
I have been what many would call a “worship leader” for close to two decades. When I first became
involved in “worship ministry” in an Assemblies of God youth group we sang such songs as The Name of the Lord Is a Strong Tower, As the Deer, Lord I Lift Your Name on High, and others of the era of the 1980s and 90s. Ours was considered a stylistically progressive church since we used almost exclusively contemporary songs.
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This meant that if I were to visit a “traditional” church, not only would I be unfamiliar with the hymns, I would also likely cringe when they sang them and in my heart ridicule them (the people rather than the songs) as being old-fashioned.
It was during these formative years in my experience as a worship leader that I began to introduce even more contemporary songs to our youth group. It was then that I discovered artists like Delirious, Darrel Evans, Matt Redman, and Vineyard Music with their songs Did You Feel the Mountains Tremble, Trading My Sorrows, Heart of Worship, and Hungry.
As a young musician who desired to honor Christ, I found these songs to be particularly compelling. I felt different when we sang them. The way Nirvana gave voice to the angst of Generation X, bands like Delirious were giving voice to a generation of young Christians who didn’t feel they could relate to the songs of their parents and grandparents.
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