The Next Big Shift In Christian Music

And why God doesn't write cursive John 3:16 in the clouds

Yesterday Joel Houston in collaboration with AMXNRADIO, released an album of house music. On it featuring Matt Crocker and a few other Hillsong refugees.

Its good.

And if you didn’t know otherwise you would probably think - “wow this is so fresh and creative”

but if you know you know…

I’m sure I feel the same way as people did in the early 2000s when Hillsong started using electric guitars and more drums. Innovative in the church world, but we all know it was just Coldplay and U2 but with lyrics about Jesus. And if you’ve been staying hip and happenin’ you know that Joel’s new album is just Fred again with different lyrics. It’s very innovative for the church but still about 3-5 years behind the world depending on who you ask.

Ben Hastings put out an amazing album this past year but if you listened to the latest 1975 album you know that it was exactly what they must have been listening to as well. Riders making tame impala type beats with christian lyrics. The church is simply behind creatively. Not just musically though, lyrically as well. Several years ago I started to notice a sort of conversational lyricism maybe from “pancakes for dinner” by Lizzy Mcalpine and now you hear that conversational approach in worship music. “The Blood” especially.

The list goes on.

It’s not bad to be inspired obviously. and let me be the first to say I’m an enormous fan of ALL of this music. I’m a songwriter. I’m a producer. I’m ripping off the same people, and chasing the same trends.

But is it just me or did the church used to be at the cutting edge of the arts??? We used to set the tone and the world would follow. So what happened?

And why doesn’t God draw John 3:16 in cursive in the clouds of the sunset every night?

Side note, I’m OBSESSED with this artwork:

Its Fred Again.. But About Jesus

yeah… so if you have heard fred again its as clear as day. And it’s beautiful. Just like the sound of Coldplay and U2, Fred again has a sound that feels so emotional yet hopeful. It’s a sonic aesthetic absolutely BEGGING to be christianified.

But why?

I think that there are just certain pieces of art that feel deeply transcendent. In the early 2000s Coldplay YUP… U2 YUUPP! And in 2025 we have fred again. He has this song called “cmon” that I swear sounds like William Agusto bought an OP-1 and started sampling vocals.

Too niche??

I guess what I’m feeling is that in the same way God’s creation speaks of the Glory of God, I think the art that humans (made in the image of God) create can do the same…. and yes, even without a lyric with a christian message.

Some of these thoughts are coming from a post I read on here called “Francis Schaeffer's Biblical Theology of the Arts” And in it he talks about how we have reduced the purpose of art to its message rather than just beholding its beauty. Beautiful trees point us to Jesus. Beautiful mountains point us to Jesus. And beautiful music does the same.

So I think what’s happening here is that christians are hearing the beautiful art that the world is making and are intuitively experiencing its transcendent essence and then attaching the Christian message to those musical landscapes.

I think house music is the future.

I think we will hear many more christian house songs. In fact, a good friend of mine is about to release a project of house music sampling worship songs! And guess what… we were HIGHLY inspired by fred again.

But yeah, house music will be played at your church. Old people are gonna hate it just like they hated drums and electric guitars, but the churches who do it well will open peoples eyes the the beauty of this genre. Heck! Fellowship Dallas’s creative conference a few months ago was filled with house songs in their worship sets! And this is just the beginning.

But back to why the church is just following the trends of the world;

I believe we have simply lost our value for beautiful art for the sake of beautiful art. God is the artist of all artists. He designed trees, rocks, colors, flowers, mountains, grass, the ocean, horses, lions, whales, and night after night as the day comes to an end He paints a completely new and ever evolving sunset. I think all the time about how God could have painted the sky grey, but He didn’t. He didn’t have to make grass green, but He did. Why? I think it’s because He just simply loves us and wanted to make a beautiful place for us to live. I think it just points to the generosity of His heart.

And no… He doesn’t write John 3:16 in the sunset clouds every night. The beauty and awesomeness of the image itself speaks to His nature. It’s intuitive.

Psalm 19:1

"The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands."
— Psalm 19:1 (NIV)

ITS RIGHT THERE!!

So I believe if the church viewed the creation of good art with value that God does, I think things would start to shift. I think we would see the church as the front runners in the creative space.

Creativity is just permission to do the first thing that came to mind, unironically.

We have ideas, but they seem different than whats normal so instead we just make a joke about it. listen to the jokes being made in a studio and ill show you the future of where music will be heading. How many people 10 years ago were making fun of country music or wearing cowboy hats as a joke then Lany puts out cowboy in LA and all the sudden we have permission to actually think that stuff is cool. I was in a session years ago and people were making jokes about putting an electronic four on the floor kick drum over the chorus of a worship song. Our jokes reveal our actual ideas that we are too insecure to suggest.

The Pioneers are the ones bold enough to be authentic despite the laughs of their critics. And those pioneers are the ones who give the world permission to paint with a new color pallet.

Those pioneers used to be Spirit Filled, and I think the world was better for it. Like bro literally the first time the Bible ever mentions someone being filled with the spirit it wasn’t so they could touch their head and make em fall out, it was the artists designing the temple. WHAT??? THE HOLY SPIRIT DID WHAT???

someday i’ll do a deep dive on the spiritual versus the material world and how in the new covenant us all being temples of the Holy Spirit should effect the way we see the material world. But that’s for a different day.

Timothy keller wrote his definition of work as:

“The rearranging of the raw material of God’s creation in such a way that it helps the world in general and people in particular thrive and flourish.”

maybe im off here but I think in heaven we are gonna see the best architecture, hear the best music, and see the most fantastic paintings we have ever seen imagined. And Jesus prayed “on earth as it is in heaven” and ABSOLUTELY that is PRIMARILY meant to be worked out in our spiritual lives but what if we didn’t isolate it to that. What if we in an effort to display the Glory of God sought to reorder the raw materials God has placed under our control to embody the beauty of heaven. God invented sound so let’s reorder it empowered by the Holy Spirit to produce the sound of heaven!

I want people to walk into a party at our house and every aspect to look like the kingdom. The joy, the unconditional love for one another, the peace, but also the artistic beauty of our home from the music being played in the background to the pictures hung on the walls.

What if it ALL spoke to the glorious excellence of the father??

-William Crockett