CCM and Steve Taylor

W

hen I was but a lad... Okay, I know that was a dorky introduction, but.... In my mid- to late-teens I began to formulate my Libertarian bent. I hated being forced into any mold. And there seemed to be a tremendous amount of coercion coming from just about every imaginable angle.

Because I was a musician and loved music, the coercion surrounding music was particularly irksome to me. I struggled to throw off the chains I felt from the older generation that just didn’t quite understand the appeal of drums and electric guitars. And I struggled to throw off the chains of the people my age who thought anything other than FM rock -n- roll was unworthy of our time.

My music philosophy formed well before I even comprehended the aversion I had to fundamentalist legalism. But by my late teens I was beginning to develop a philosophy against that as well.

Into this volatile mix came Steve Taylor, a Contemporary Christian artist who seemed to have lived through many of the same things I was going through. He was a committed Christian who held firmly to important Christian principles such as the sanctity of life and the need for personal evangelism. But he also spoke out against the legalistic tendencies of so many conservative churches and against the apathy of young people who were turned off by that legalism.

Steve Taylor’s name came up in a conversation today and it reminded me of his music and how much impact that music had on my developing music philosophy and ecclesiology in the midst of my emerging adulthood. So, I searched Grooveshark and came up with some of Steve’s music. I hope you enjoy it, as I have.