All over the world, Christians are using secular things to reach people with the gospel. In situations where missionaries are serving in countries hostile to the gospel, this is called “having a platform” – a real legitimate reason to be there. Generally in countries not hostile to the gospel, missionaries don’t need a platform; they just go in and start doing ministry work. Obviously in the United States we are perfectly free to preach the gospel. Many Christian radio stations take advantage of that and air teaching, preaching, and overtly Christian music. Some Christian radio stations take this freedom a step further and create a Christian sub-culture with language no pagan could comprehend. The Call takes a totally different approach and uses the platform of music – good music, usually by musicians who call themselves Christians – to have a legitimate reason for your average worldly teenager or college student to tune in.
Recently, my husband has fielded criticism regarding the “Christian-ness” of the songs and/or bands played on The Call. I’ll be the first to admit that not every single song played on The Call is identifiably about Jesus Christ and in a very few cases even obviously not about Him. One listener wrote to say that the station should not play a particular band because they are not a “Christian Band”. All this led me to wonder, how important is it that a band be a “Christian Band”? What if they are just a band that plays some songs about Jesus? If all this labeling is so important, will we need Christian car insurance and should we drink Christian coffee? I don’t think having a particular label is the same thing as finding our identity in Christ1.
Ron Hutchcraft produces a very interesting program called Real Time, which is aired on The Call and other stations around the country2. He mixes music played by Christian bands with music played by secular bands. He uses the messages of the songs to point teens to Jesus. You would have to be completely ignoring his program to notice only one secular song and condemn the entire half-hour as being non-Christian. It unapologetically proclaims the gospel.
But not all of The Call’s less than spiritual songs are played specifically to make a point. Sometimes the music played is used to develop the image of the station. This image sometimes is offensive to some Christians. What they don’t realize is that traditional Christian radio stations manipulate their programming to create an image too. And while that image may seem Christian enough, it usually does not embrace the evangelistic aspect of the gospel and only seeks to edify the church.
While The Call may not be “all things to all men”3, it is a real thing making a real impact in the lives of many teenagers who often are not only not Christians, but hope they wouldn’t be caught dead listening to a traditional Christian radio station.
1 I recently heard the testimony of some missionaries to a Muslim nation who had to identify themselves as “Followers of Jesus” because the word “Christian” had such a distorted meaning in that part of the world.
2Ron Hutchcraft’s Real Time airs on The Call twice on Sunday nights at 8:30 and 9:30 Eastern Time. The Call streams music and programming on the internet and has listeners around the world.
31 Corinthians 9:22
A few years back there was a movement to have Christians only do business with Christians. Lists of Christian businesses and services were circulated and people were urged to confine their dealings to those on the list. The problem was that not all that is done in the name of Christ is Christian or is done well. IMHO the CALL is done well and invites listeners to a life changing message. Keep up the good work.
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