In brief,

Does anyone here have any experience or knowledge of the success of music to minister to people? To evangelise?

I think of two examples - maybe four actually. Revive is a rock band that encourages young people. All Mankind (formerly the Beeston’s band) is an evangelistic outreach. Rob Smith is a congregational writer. Nathan Tasker is a straight up gospel reiteration most of the time.

All these artists deal with Christians (whether or not they always write Christian encouragement or evangelist tunes)… what level of effectiveness do they have, as compared to preaching in front of a congregation? Tasker and Smith at their best are preaching with melodies, so I don’t know if its different. But what is the effectiveness of these ministries? I’m wondering about the firepower involved. It was mentioned in my earlier thread that metalheads wouldn’t even make up a congregation if we tried unless it was a specialist group. I might be interested in evangelising metalheads (because I can relate to metal people) but trying to talk God to metalheads is like using acid as saline for your contacts. Painful and possibly damaging to everything involved!

What have people noticed in their experience? Did a song explain the Gospel enough to convert you? Did a song move you to commit yourself? Do you feel that music is over/underrated as a Gospel tool or focus?

Hi Leigh.

There is a guy I met called David Pierce. He is a full time evangelist and does his evangelism through a heavy metal band.

You can find more about him here

His book Rock Priest is highly recommended reading. It tells the story of how through his band they minister in some of the darkest places on earth and saw / see many people saved while ministering sometimes in the most depraved conditions.

I was doing security work at the Black Stump music fest a few years ago and saw a very effective gospel presentation given by a Christian Heavy Metal band and saw many kids come down the front - tearful kneeling down calling out to Jesus. It was not my type of music - but they reached kids that I wouldn’t be able to have done. There was one guy in particular we were keeping a eye on for we thought he was distributing drugs and alcohol and couldn’t catch was one of them.

I don’t think heavy metal has a place so much in the actual church environment - but it does have its place in Christian ministry.