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(RNS) — The most popular worship song in churches these days is “Build My Life,” from Bethel Music, the megachurch-based worship music hit machine based in Northern California.
Sitting at number one on the top 100 worship song chart from Christian Copyright Licensing International, which licenses worship music, “Build My Life,” first released in 2016, is an outlier in worship music, where hit songs are here today and gone tomorrow.
A new study entitled “Worship at the Speed of Sound,” from Southern Wesleyan University professor Mike Tapper and colleagues, found that the lifespan of a hit worship song has declined dramatically in recent years.
In the mid-1990s, a popular song like “Refiner’s Fire,” or “In Secret” had a lifespan of about a dozen years, rising for 4-5 years before hitting a slow decline. Two decades later, that lifespan has dropped down to 3-4 years, with songs like “Even So Come” or “Here as in Heaven” rising rapidly, then disappearing, according to the study, based on 32 years of CCLI data.
Mike Tapper. Courtesy photo
In an interview Tapper said he and his colleagues, including Marc Jolicoeur, a worship pastor from New Brunswick, Canada, had been seeing the increased pace and churn rate of new music and wanted to quantify it. Tapper, chair of the religion division at Southwestern Wesleyan, had already been studying the lyrics of worship songs when he got ahold of the CCLI data.
Tapper said the pace of new music, driven by technology, which allows new songs to be distributed far and wide quickly, has played a role in the declining lifespan of songs. So has the high quality of songs being produced, he said, which gives church leaders an overwhelming number of options.
“It is hard to say no to great songs,” he said.
RELATED: Twenty years later, ‘In Christ Alone’ still inspires millions to sing
Tapper and his team are trying to walk a fine line. They’re glad people are writing worship songs and are eager to sing God’s praises. But they worry about the unintended consequences of turning worship music into a disposable commodity — something Tapper says reflects the influence of the broader culture on churches.
While some songs buck the trend — like “In Christ Alone,” which turns 20 this year, or “10,000 Reasons,” which is still going strong after a decade — many songs disappear.
“It really does seem that we are on a rampage in terms of the quest for novelty kind of in our broader culture,” he said. “And evangelical churches are keen on reflecting that culture.”
Chris Walker. Courtesy photo
Chris Walker, pastor of worship and arts at Covenant Life Church in Grand Haven, Michigan, also suspects the churn of worship music reflects the way Americans consume media in general, where “everything is immediate and has a short shelf life.”
“They feed the algorithm because they are part of the cycle,” he said. “I could see that in churches that are always singing new songs and seeing what sticks. That’s not a bad thing.”
Walker’s church, which is part of the Christian Reformed Church, uses mostly contemporary songs during worship, but they mix it up with some hymns. They take what he called a “slower church” approach to worship and are not in a rush to use the newest songs.
A few times a year, Walker will put together a playlist of songs and send them to the team that helps plan worship at Covenant Life. That list will include brand-new songs but could also feature older songs people want to bring back. So it might take six months or more for a new song to make its way into worship, he said.
Recently, the church brought back two older songs for Palm Sunday. Both were popularized by Chris Tomlin, one of the nation’s most influential worship leaders, two decades ago: “You Are My King” and “We Fall Down.” And both really connected with the congregation. The song choices bucked church music trends, said Walker.
“In a lot of churches, a song has to be either 300 years old — or it has to be three days old,” he said. “The middle ground is purgatory.”
Will Bishop, a former church worship leader and now assistant professor of worship leadership at Mississippi College, said his students often feel anxious and worried they are missing out on the next big thing in worship music. They essentially have “FOMO” — the fear of missing out — when it comes to worships songs, he said.
Photo by Nathan Mullet/Unsplash/Creative Commons
Bishop said he tries to remind aspiring worship leaders not to overwhelm the people in their churches with new music.
“We want to move on to the next shiny thing, but our people can only absorb new songs so fast,” he said.
When Bishop began leading worship, he had access to a hymnal and then to lists of new worship songs from publishers. Now he has endless options, with more coming each day.
“Spotify is the new hymnal,” he said.
RELATED: Meet Anne Wilson, a 19-year-old singer behind ‘My Jesus,’ a surprise Christian hit
Steven Guthrie, a former church musician turned theology professor at Belmont University in Nashville, wonders if the decline of hymnals plays a role in the pace of new worship music. In the past, he said, church musicians had hymnals filled with hundreds of songs for every occasion in a church’s life at their fingertips. Now, as many churches have abandoned hymnals, musicians are trying to fill that void.
Steven Guthrie speaks in Chapel at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, November 15, 2021. Photo courtesy Belmont University
While new songs are important, said Guthrie, there are some downsides. Songs can create community, he said, something that takes time and is hard to do when songs disappear so quickly. Songs are also no longer passed down from parents and grandparents to younger generations — and there isn’t time for a song to work its way into people’s hearts, he said.
When his mother was dying, said Guthrie, he and his sisters stood for hours at her bedside, singing one hymn after another that they had memorized — all songs their mom knew.
“Sometimes I think, what are my kids going to sing by my bedside?” he mused.
RELATED: There’s a theology driving Sean Feucht’s worship music protests — and it’s a popular one
Twitter’s edit button has been a joke for longer than I can remember, but it’s finally officially becoming a reality — and Jane Manchun Wong, who makes it her mission to find hidden features in companies’ code, has just given us our first real glimpse at what it might look like.
As you’d expect, the editing part is pretty simple: you press a button called “Edit Tweet” in the drop-down context menu, and then you can edit a tweet. Currently, it looks like you’ll get 30 minutes after you publish a tweet to hit that button; it’ll open a window with your entire original content laid out in front of you, and you can publish whatever you like — delete the whole thing and start over if you want. It’s not just for typos.
the current unreleased version of Edit Tweet reuploads media (images, videos, GIFs, etc) instead of reusing them. an inefficient use of the bandwidth and media processing power, might be lossy too. plus it turns my video into an image (mishandling media type) pic.twitter.com/HjoIA0CZhO
— Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) May 2, 2022
The bigger question, of course, is what happens afterward — how can readers tell if you messed with your tweets after the fact and what you messed with? That’s also fairly simple: there’s a little “Edited” button that’ll show up next to the timestamp, and you can click it to go to an Edit History page that should theoretically show all the previous versions of that tweet.
(Ignore the “edit: soup” bit in the tweet above, Wong added that for dramatic effect.)
Importantly, as Wong mentioned a few weeks back, Twitter appears to be making each individual tweet immutable — every version has its own ID, none of them get deleted, and it’s not clear whether Twitter’s backend will automatically propagate the newest version across the web. If you’re, say, reading a Verge story with an old embedded that got rewritten, will you now see the new tweet or the old one? Unclear!
But even if you’re looking at the old, unedited version of the tweet, Twitter will tip you off about that. See the “There’s a new version of this Tweet” below? If you click that, it should take you to the newest version right away.
Sum it up, and Wong tells me she thinks it’ll probably work this way:
trump originally tweets “covefe”, the tweets get ID #1, people embed the ID #1
then trump creates a new edit “coffee”, the new edit (technically a new tweet) gets ID #2, while the original tweet (#1) becomes the first version of the Tweet
and then in the embedded tweet which still points to #1, now shows “there’s a new version of this Tweet” indicator
Makes sense to me. And it sure sounds a lot like the solution that Verge contributing editor Casey Newton suggested in 2017:
I propose an option in a tweet’s inverted-caret drop-down menu that reads thus: “edit tweet.” Tap it and you can correct any mistake and republish. The new version is served across Twitter wherever the tweet exists, including retweets and quote-tweets. Next to the tweet’s timestamp, a prominent new word appears: “edited.” Tap the word and Twitter displays the previous versions of the tweet underneath the latest one.
Except here, it sounds like Edit History may be a different page rather than neatly unrolling underneath.
Keep in mind that Wong hasn’t been able to publish any completed, edited tweets to Twitter’s actual backend quite yet, so these findings are very tentative. She sleuthed it all out by running the app client-side, letting her see the user interface in action.
(CNN)Authorities in Alabama are searching for a corrections officer and an inmate charged with murder after they went missing on Friday.
Washington Hilton
Washington, D.C.
(April 30, 2022)
10:07 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Thank you, Steve, for that introduction. And a special thanks to the 42 percent of you who actually applauded. (Laughter.)
I’m really excited to be here tonight with the only group of Americans with a lower approval rating than I have. (Laughter.) That’s hard to say after what we just saw. (Laughter.)
This is the first time a President attended this dinner in six years. (Applause.) It’s understandable. We had a horrible plague followed by two years of COVID. (Laughter and applause.)
Just imagine if my predecessor came to this dinner this year. Now, that would really have been a real coup if that occurred. (Laughter.) A little tough, huh? (Laughter.)
But I’m honored to be here at such an event with so much history.
As already referenced, the very first President to attend the White House Correspondents’ Dinner was Calvin Coolidge in 1924. I had just been elected to the United States Senate. (Laughter.) And I reme- — I remember telling him, “Cal, just be yourself. Get up there and speak from the heart. You’re going to be great, kid. You’re going to do it well.” (Laughter.)
Of course, Jill is with me tonight. Jilly, how are you, kid? (Applause.) I think — I think she’s doing an incredible job as First Lady. (Applause.) The First Lady to continue working full-time, and she does as a professor.
She doesn’t pay much attention to the polls, though she did say the other day: Instead of introducing myself as Jill Biden’s husband, maybe I should introduce myself as her roommate. (Laughter.)
I’ve attended this dinner many times, but this is my first time as President. And the organizers had — had it hard — made it pretty hard for me tonight. Although the good news is, if all goes well, I have a real shot at replacing James Corden. (Laughter.)
It was great having him over at the White House the other day, just as he announced he’s leaving the show. A great performer is going out on top after eight years in the job. Sounds just about right to me. (Laughter and applause.)
And it’s tough to follow pros like James and Billy Eichner. Billy, where are you again? Do you — where is he?
Well, Billy, you’re famous for interviewing — your interviewing skills. Billy, you should know what you’re doing, pal. You know it — you know it well. And you should — I think you should host “Meet the Press.” Maybe they’ll start to watch it again. (Laughter.)
I’ve never had — (laughs) — never had to — (laughs) — I’ve never had to open — I’ll never be — I’ll never be invited to “Meet the Press” again. Anyway. (Laughter.)
I’ve never had to open before Trevor Noah. Trevor is great. When I was elected, he did a show and he called me “America’s new dad.” (Laughter.) Let me tell you something, pal: I’m flattered anybody would call me a “new” anything. (Laughter.) You’re my guy.
And, folks, it’s been a tough few years for the country. That’s one reason why it’s great to be here again.
Everyone at the White House is so excited. I told my grandkids and Pete Buttigieg they could stay up late and watch this show tonight. (Laughter and applause.)
Tonight — tonight we come here and answer a very important question on everybody’s mind: Why in the hell are we still doing this? (Laughter.)
I know there are — I know there are questions about whether we should gather here tonight because of COVID. Well, we’re here to show the country that we’re getting through this pandemic. Plus, everyone had to prove they were fully vaccinated and boosted. (Applause.)
So, if you’re at home watching this and you’re wondering how to do that, just contact your favorite Fox News reporter. They’re all here, vaccinated and boosted — all of them. (Laughter and applause.)
And, look, Fox — Fox News, I’m — I’m really sorry your preferred candidate lost the last election. To make it up to you, I’m happy to give my Chief of Staff to you all so he can tell Sean Hannity what to say every day. (Laughter.)
In fact, Ron Klain is here at the CBS table, which hired Mick Mulvaney. Mick, on CBS? I was stunned. I figured he’d end up on “The Masked Singer” with Rudy. (Laughter.)
Amazing hire, guys. Really quite amazing.
Look, I know this is a tough town. I came to office with an ambitious agenda, and I expected it to face stiff opposition in the Senate. I just hoped it would be from Republicans. (Laughter.)
But I’m not worried about the midterms. I’m not worried about them. We may end up with more partisan gridlock, but I’m confident we can work it out during my remaining six years in the presidency. (Applause.)
And, folks, I’m not really here to roast the GOP. That’s not my style. Besides, there’s nothing I can say about the GOP that Kevin McCarthy hasn’t already put on tape. (Laughter.)
And, you know, at the same — at the same time, a lot of people say the Republican Party is too extreme, too divisive, too controlled by one person. They say, “It’s not your father’s Republican Party.”
Ronald Reagan said, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear this wall down.” Today’s Republicans say, “Tear down Mickey Mouse’s house.” (Laughter.) And pretty soon, they’ll be storming Cinderella’s Castle, you can be sure of it.
But Republicans seem to support one fella — some guy named Brandon. (Laughter.) He’s having a really good year, and I’m kind of happy for him. (Laughter and applause.)
Let me conclude with a serious word.
We live in serious times. We’re coming through a devastating pandemic, and we have to stay vigilant. I know Kamala wanted to be here, for example, and thankfully she’s doing well. You should all know she sends her best. (Applause.)
We’re in a time when what we so long have taken for granted is facing the gravest of threats. And I’m being deadly earnest.
Oversear [sic] — overseas, the liberal world order that laid the foundation for global peace, stability, and prosperity since World War Two is genuinely, seriously under assault.
And at home, a poison is running through our democracy of all — all of this taking place with disinformation massively on the rise, where the truth is buried by lies and the lies live on as truth.
What’s clear — and I mean this from the bottom of my heart — that you, the free press, matter more than you ever did in the last century. (Applause.) No, I really mean it.
I’ve always believed that good journalism holds up a mirror to ourselves to reflect on the good, the bad, and the true. Tonight, I want to congratulate the awardees and the scholarship winners who carry on that sacred tradition.
We’ve all seen the courage of the Ukrainian people because of the courage of American reporters in this room and your colleagues across the world who are on the ground, taking their lives in their own hands. (Applause.)
And although it’s not in Ukraine, it’s Russia — Mom, I’d like to meet you and Dad to talk about your son.
We just — we just saw a heartbreaking video: Nine have been killed reporting from Kyiv — struck by a kamikaze drone strike after a shopping mall attack; shot in the neck while decounci- [sic] — while — while documenting Ukrainians fleeing; killed when Russian missiles hit the television tower in a residential neighborhood. One journalist from Radio Liberty just killed days ago.
So many of you telling the stories and taking the photos and recording the videos of what’s happening there, the unvarnished truth shown — showing the — the destruction and the devastation and, yes, the war crimes.
Tonight, we also honor the legacy of two historic reporters, and that is Alice Dunnigan and Ethel Payne. I’m glad you saw that tonight. (Applause.) I didn’t know you were doing that. These are the first Black women to be White House reporters who shattered convention to cover a segregated nation.
We honor journalists killed, missing, imprisoned, detained, and tortured; covering war, exposing corruption, and holding leaders accountable.
We honor members of the press, both national and local, covering a once-in-a-century pandemic where we lost a million Americans, a generation reckoning on race, and the existential threat of climate change.
The free press is not the enemy of the people — far from it. At your best, you’re guardians of the truth.
President Kennedy once said, and I quote, “Without debate, without criticism, no administration, no country can succeed,
and no republic can survive.”
The First Amendment grants a free press extraordinary protection, but with it comes, as many of you know, a very heavy obligation: to seek the truth as best you can — not to inflame or entertain, but to illuminate and educate.
I know it’s tough. And I’m not being solicitous. The industry is changing significantly.
There’s incredible pressure on you all to deliver heat instead of shed light, because the technology is changing so much, the system is changing. But it matters. No kidding. It matters. The truth matters.
American democracy is not a reality show. (Applause.) It’s not a reality show. (Applause.) It’s reality itself. And the reality is that we are a great country.
Our future is bright. It’s not guaranteed, because democracy is never guaranteed. It has to be earned. It has to be defended. It has to be protected.
As you’ve heard me say many times: There’s not a damn thing this country can’t do when we stand united and do it together. And I know we can do anything we want to do that’s right.
I’ve been around a long time, as has been pointed out many times tonight. (Laughter.) But I give you my word as a Biden: I’ve never been more optimistic about America than I am today. I really mean it.
At times of enormous change, it presents enormous opportunities. For despite all the crises, all the partisanship, all the shouting and the showmanship,
I really know this and you know it too: We are a great nation because we’re basically a good people.
And here in America, good journalism, good satire about our leaders, about our society is quintessentially an American thing. It demonstrates the power of our example.
And I, honest to God, believe it reveals our soul — the soul of our nation. And that’s what I’d like to toast tonight, if I may.
(The President offers a toast.)
To the journalists and their families, to the people and their elected representatives, to the United States of America. (Applause.)
And by the way, Madeleine Albright was right: We are the indispensable nation. (Applause.)
Ladies and gentlemen, I’m going to turn this over to Trevor now, strap myself into my seat. (Laughter.)
And, Trevor, the really good news is: Now you get to roast the President of the United States and, unlike in Moscow, you won’t go to jail. (Laughter.)
The podium is yours. (Applause.)
10:21 P.M. EDT
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USHL Clark Cup Playoffs: Adversity prepared Fighting Saints for nights like this telegraphherald.com
