According to Webster, the term secular is defined “of or relating to the worldly or temporal; not overtly or specifically religious”. Since that term can be QUITE subjective and could encompass much of what is considered “gospel”, we will use the term “non-gospel” for the sake of this discussion.
Over time, this debate has seen prominent gospel artists choose to sing non-gospel music. Conversely, time has watched artists who have achieved prominence in non-gospel genres move to the gospel industry to sing God’s praises. In seemingly every scenario, the transition has been an event and a source of great controversy. From Al Green and Aretha Franklin to Coko, Kelly Price, and Dave Hollister, these genre switches seem to be big news to the faith-based community.
Recently, gospel powerhouse Kim Burrell launched her new website, where she debuted a brand new look, celebrated an international endorsement deal, and announced plans to record her first non-gospel album. That announcement sent social networking sites into a virtual frenzy, debating the success and conventional wisdom of this move. Many felt that Burrell “sold out” or fell victim to the lures of worldly success.
There’s a LOT to consider with this move. Please indulge me for the next few moments as I share my perspective on this. There are many who make the argument that our gifts were designed to glorify God, with the suggestion that the ONLY way to do that musically is to sing gospel or Christian based, vertical music. If that inference is indeed true, then that principle should be universal across every line of work. Every doctor should only work in Christian hospitals and serve Christian patients. Every carpenter should only construct buildings that will house the worship of God. Following this principle, believers should only purchase “Christian” products or support “Christian” ventures.
In reality, believers don’t operate like this. In fact, this thought only seems to be applied to the arts. Isn’t it funny that we will celebrate a believer finding success and receiving promotion on their “non-gospel” corporate job, but will lambaste the believer who sings and finds success if their “non-gospel” job is a club or record label of another genre? Well, what is the Bible’s position on this?
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