We have completed a new multi-media video presentation entitled "Is Southern Gospel Music Safe?"

The video is professionally produced and a multiplicity of photographs and other visual and audio aids are mixed into the presentation to illustrate the message.

A lot of research has gone into these messages. I grew up with Southern Gospel in churches in central Florida. In the last several years I have built a large library of books and articles on Southern Gospel. In 1999 I attended the National Quartet Convention with press credentials. Earlier this year I toured the Southern Gospel Museum and Hall of Fame in Tennessee, as well as the Gaither headquarters in Anderson, Indiana. I have discussed this issue with many different people, those who support it as well as those who reject it.

I believe it is important to speak out on this for two reasons. First, Southern Gospel is big business today and is very influential in fundamental Baptist churches, not only in the South, but also throughout the country and even in Canada and elsewhere. Second, following the lead of Bill Gaither and other prominent names, Southern Gospel groups are rapidly adopting the "music is neutral" philosophy of the Contemporary Christian Music world. In fact, any walls that once existed to separate Southern Gospel from the Christian rock world are rapidly being torn down.

In this presentation we do not take the position that all Southern Gospel is wrong. In our estimation (though not everyone might personally enjoy the country-folk style), there is Southern Gospel music that is spiritual and seeks not to entertain the flesh but to edify the spirit. We praise the Lord for all Christian music, Southern or otherwise, which rejects sexy dance rhythms, which has scriptural lyrics, which seeks solely to glorify Jesus Christ and edify the saints, and which is produced by faithful Christians.

Sadly, though, much of the Southern Gospel Music incorporates worldly pop, country, boogie, and rock rhythms, and is oriented toward entertainment. It is the latter that is closely akin to Contemporary Christian Music. As a matter of fact, commercial Southern gospel today is one of the branches of the larger CCM world.

In this presentation we give the history of Southern Gospel quartets in the early 1900s and describe the evolution of the music toward commercialism and entertainment, particularly in the 1940s and 1950s. We show how that Southern Gospel quartets adopted the sexy dance music of the early 1900s, borrowing rhythms from ragtime, jazz, western swing, honky tonk, boogie woogie, and the blues.

We show that there have been two streams of Southern Gospel since the mid-1900s, a conservative stream and a contemporary stream. The conservative Southern gospel people have used music solely to glorify Jesus Christ and edify the saints. They have refused to jazz up the music with worldly rhythms and sounds. The singers and musicians who represent this category have lived godly, Christ-honoring lives. The contemporary side has used music for entertainment and enrichment. They have sought to jazz up Christian music with the world's rhythms in order to make it more popular. The singers and musicians in this category have often lived spiritually careless, worldly lives. The contemporary stream has grown ever more worldly in recent decades.

We reveal the close connection between Southern Gospel and the formation of rock music in the 1950s. We show that Elvis Presley and other fathers of rock and roll loved the jazzed up, entertainment-style Southern Gospel performed by groups such as the Statesmen, the Blackwood Brothers, and the Stamps, and that Southern Gospel singers performed with Elvis in Las Vegas and even recorded as backups on his rock hits, such as "Hound Dog" and "Heartbreak Hotel." Those same singers have been praised and awarded in recent years by the Southern Gospel industry.

We describe the vast influence that Bill Gaither has wielded on the Southern Gospel field since the 1980s. The Gaithers represent the very heart and soul of Southern gospel music today. In recent years his "homecoming" specials have brought together most of the well known Southern gospel groups. These include members of the Statesmen, the Blackwood Brothers, the Cathedrals, the Goodman's, the Stamps, the Speer Family, the Florida Boys, the Gatlin Brothers, and many others. We document Gaither's rapid transition into the contemporary pop sounds. We also expose his ecumenical philosophy and show that this unscriptural philosophy is permeating Southern Gospel.

The presentation concludes with four practical suggestions about "When to Avoid Southern Gospel Music."

This is an important presentation for Churches, Bible Colleges, and Home Schools that want to prepare their people to deal with the apostasy and compromise of these last days.

AVAILABLE ON DVD. Please specific when ordering.