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THE FAILURE OF CHRISTIANITY MUSIC BREAKS THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS by Jason Zasky Christianity was failing and Bob Briner knew it. He knew that 80 percent of Americans claimed to believe in Jesus. He knew that church attendance was at an all time high. Back in the early '90s, the statistics were impressive but the outlook troubling. In his mind, Christianity had become ineffective. What Briner found faulty about the behavior of believers was that instead of engaging secular society—being what he called 'salt' and 'light'—Christians were embracing the retreatist mentality of the church. In the process, followers reduced their ability to influence popular culture. Particularly frustrating to Briner was Christians' capacity for criticizing and complaining about secular culture, without making a personal effort to provide a positive alternative. Never before in its history had the church done so little with so much. As a successful television sports producer Briner had put aside aspirations of doing ministry work, and had long struggled with how to effect change without compromising either his work or personal life. In 1993 he reached that elusive goal, setting forth his ideas in "Roaring Lambs," a book that would quietly, yet profoundly change the lives of countless Christians. The book confronted people at the core of their beliefs and, not surprisingly, many balked at the premise that Christians were failing. But deep down, many members of the Christian community knew that Briner was right. Making matters worse, many churchgoers seem to have accepted this failure as inevitable. "The test of the vitality of a religion is seen in its effect upon culture." Of particular concern to Briner was the subculture that Christians had created—an escapist world of books, music, radio and TV, that has never been taken seriously by outsiders. He encouraged Christians to look beyond that subculture and produce high-quality creative works for the secular world. Perhaps more importantly, he implored parents to encourage, rather than discourage, their children in such pursuits. "You can't witness without being present," Briner succinctly stated. For Christians, Briner's background as an award-winning producer had a two-pronged effect. It allowed him to take a business-like approach to a very spiritual and emotional issue, making him a perfect role model for the community. In short, he gave many Christians the language and courage to proceed in implementing change in their own lives.
Prior to Briner's death from cancer in June of 1999, several of these artists were working with him to produce an album that reflected the book's message—an audio companion to his message. Afterwards, the project was continued as a way of perpetuating his work, and the resulting CD, "Roaring Lambs" (Squint) was issued June 6 in conjunction with the re-release of the book. Featuring artists like Smith, Steven Curtis Chapman, Jars of Clay, Sixpence and Charlie Peacock, the CD is a musical tribute to Briner's simple admonishment to "produce something good." While it's too soon to quantify the impact of the book's rebirth, the quality of work produced by the Contemporary Christian music industry has undeniably improved since 1993, and crossover hits are no longer a surprise. "The bar has been raised," says best-selling CCM artist Cindy Morgan. "But it would be nice if more mainstream people felt comfortable listening to Christian music. Like Bob Briner was saying, we need to go out in the world and speak the language of people who don't understand the Christian lingo." If nothing else, the publicity surrounding the book and CD has Christians once again debating its message, and Internet chat rooms are filled with lively, often argumentative exchanges. One wonders if Briner would consider this dialogue a further indication of the problem; another example of Christians spending time criticizing, allowing their generally pessimistic world view to get in the way of taking action. The Quaker teacher and writer Elton Trueblood once said, "The test of the vitality of a religion is seen in its effect upon culture." While Briner admitted that "Roaring Lambs" was more a testimony of opportunities missed than taken, he looked forward to the day when Christian salt would become light and lambs from all religions and backgrounds would find their voice. 
THE FAILURE INTERVIEW CHARLIE PEACOCK by Jason Zasky As an award-winning producer, composer, performer, writer and speaker, Charlie Peacock has a reputation in Nashville music circles of being a Renaissance man—a musician's musician. Equally comfortable in front of a keyboard or a mixing board, Peacock possesses that rare blend of business acumen and creative drive that his friend, Bob Briner, would admire. But what makes Peacock a more than appropriate spokesman for the "Roaring Lambs" album is his musical history. After all, he came from the clubs of the San Francisco Bay area in the early '80s, surrendering to alcohol before becoming a Christian. When Peacock resurfaced it was within the safe confines of the Warehouse Fellowship, an experimental mix of church and music. In those early days of alternative Christian rock, he rubbed shoulders with some of the genre's most significant players—Steve Scott and Vector's Steve Griffith and Jimmy Abegg, to name a few—before breaking out and joining the industry's exodus to Nashville. After settling in Tennessee, Peacock delved into the commercially rewarding waters of pop music. He would go on to produce several well-known Christian artists, open his own studio, author a book ("At the Crossroads"), co-pen the Amy Grant hit "Every Heartbeat," and release more than a dozen albums. Today, Peacock splits his time between speaking, teaching and creating music. I met up with him in Nashville to discuss Bob Briner and the concept of "Roaring Lambs." Tell me about reading "Roaring Lambs" for the first time. Reading the book was exciting. It re-introduced the idea of Christians in culture. That wasn't a new idea because I had read Francis Schaeffer's work. But it was new in that it addressed the evangelical subculture, and it was presented by a fellow who knew what he was talking about and practiced what he preached. Why did you lend your name to the project as a spokesman? First of all, Bob Briner was a good friend of mine. I counted him as a mentor, fishing buddy and friend, so I would do anything to perpetuate his work. But it was also the idea that the book was being put out again with the same cover as the recording. The fact that it was a concerted effort on a lot of people's parts to make it work—that was exciting. And then just the music itself. "People have said, 'because I read Roaring Lambs I can't continue on with life as I knew it.'" Why do you think the message of the book is timely? I think it's always timely. Christians are often guilty of abandoning culture. When they enter into it they tend to do so in terms of what they're against rather than what they're for. Through this work we can encourage the church to take an active, proactive, positive place in culture.
I think we agree on the basics, but Bob would also say that a big part of the concept is searching out your own individual calling and being faithful in that arena. Bob spent a good deal of time in the book talking about content providers. He saw writers as people who need to be encouraged, and he felt we need people to encourage others to write beyond the stereotypical inspirational level of Christian writing. Obviously, the book indicates that people are failing as Christians. Do you have to be evangelical to be a Christian? No, absolutely not. I think that was Bob's community, so that sometimes became a focus, but it shouldn't necessarily. How do you feel Christianity has fallen short of permeating mainstream culture? One of the most significant ways is neighbor love, which Jesus called his disciples to—just in terms of caring for others, in the workplace and with neighbors. I think there's a real theological division between those Christians that see this as our Father's world and those who see it as a stopping off place while you wait to get to heaven. Bob was about the former not the latter. What does Christianity have to do to succeed in the mainstream? Is that possible? Yeah, I think it can succeed, but it has to succeed on its own terms. In other words, there's all kinds of things that you can do in living out a Christ-centered life as a disciple of Jesus that may look like absolute failures to the world. One of the things that was significant about Bob is that after having a tremendously successful career, he spent the last seven or eight years of his life giving himself away, both personally and in terms of his resources. I think that's counter-cultural. We're taught to protect ourselves and in the latter part of his life Bob felt that it was a wiser move to give up some protection to give himself away. He was a huge advocate of kindness and manners, really caring for people and finding a person's significance. That's the thing that he would want people to get out of "Roaring Lambs" more than anything. If it's just this utilitarian function of, 'Christians, get off your duffs and get out there in the world and roar,' it's to really miss what he was about. That's far too simplistic. It's about loving, caring for people, and caring for God's creations. You mentioned before about things looking like failures to the outside world. Do you have any examples? Jesus was the best example. They wanted him to be king; instead he was a failure by the world's standards. He hung on a cross. Three days later the world was changed forever. That's the upside-down economy of God that Christians profess to believe in, but don't always live by. The "Roaring Lambs" concept is about making those hard choices in terms of giving yourself away.
I think the music does. Certainly the book is directed at the church. What you have is a professional person who came from the world of sports television and wrote a book to the church to encourage them not to live compartmentalized lives. The recording, while it works in conjunction with the book, shows that there are some artists who are about loving the church through music as well as loving the world through music. The artists don't see it as secular and sacred. They just see the music as an integral part of their lives. What do you think the chief cause of failing to roar is? Fear. All of us, whether we're Christian or not, find comfort in groups and cliques and people that we have things in common with. Christians are no different. It's more comfortable to hang out with your Christian friends or to attend church services than it is to get out into the nitty-gritty of life. Do you think the Christian music scene has been guilty of what Briner was saying? Most definitely. In my estimation, that's one of the reasons why God designed it for Bob to speak to that community. They saw him as a man of wisdom and authority, and incremental changes have occurred as a result of Bob's integration into the community. People are different. Lives have been changed. There are people who have said, "because of Bob Briner or because I read 'Roaring Lambs' I can't continue on with life as I knew it. I'm responsible for what I know and I need to make changes." I think that's powerful. What's the best example of someone who has succeeded in roaring? I think in the Christian community the most recent example is probably Sixpence None The Richer. Sixpence was a young band that got involved with Christians in the music business and quickly found out that they didn't fit there, but didn't know where to go or how to proceed. They probably shouldn't have signed with a Christian record company to begin with, and fortunately Squint came along and had the vision to promote them to the general market. Are you guilty of not roaring? Yeah, I think so. I think that's why I've tried to take the same tact as Bob did. Writing my book was a way for me to work within the existing system. What books, other than "Roaring Lambs," would you recommend? The complete works of Francis Schaeffer. In the '60s, Schaeffer first mapped out this territory, largely for the evangelical community. Do you have to learn how to roar? Yeah, I think so. I think that people learn to do that by example. That's one of the great things about the way that Bob ministered to the Christian music community—they could see it. He'd tell stories about his life. He told them what it was like to go to Saudi Arabia for a tennis tournament. People used him as a sounding board all the time. He took some of the fear out of it for people. It sounds like more mentors are needed. Definitely. Hopefully, out of this project, some of the people who are standing in the wings will move forward. EMAIL THE AUTHOR
LINKS http://www.charliepeacock.com (Official Web site of Charlie Peacock)
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