Artificial Intelligence, CCM on the Secular Airwaves

PLUS: Carey Nieuwhof on Leadership

EDITOR’S NOTE: “Signs and Wonders” is a column that shares thoughts on news items that either do not rise to the level of a news story for MinistryWatch or are slightly (even significantly) outside of our normal charity and philanthropy “beat.” My goal is to be punchy, opinionated, and not to worry much about being slightly off brand. If that is not for you, no hard feelings. But if it is…read on.

Faith-Based AI. The University of Notre Dame has been awarded a $50.8 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. to support the DELTA Network: Faith-Based Ethical Formation for a World of Powerful AI. A statement from the university said the grant is the largest awarded to Notre Dame by a private foundation in the school’s history. Led by the Notre Dame Institute for Ethics and the Common Good (ECG), this grant “will fund the further development of a shared, faith-based ethical framework that scholars, religious leaders, tech leaders, teachers, journalists, young people and the broader public can draw upon to discern appropriate uses of artificial intelligence, or AI.”

Jesus FM. Is Christian music taking over the airwaves? Maybe. At least that’s what Pittsburgh’s City Paper is saying. According to a lengthy profile of Christian radio in the alternative paper, “Christian radio stations are beginning to dominate the Pittsburgh FM scene, as scans are increasingly populated with praise music, broadcast masses and sermons, and religious talk radio. Now, local listeners are just as likely to hear an ad for Patriot Mobile, a faith-based cell service promoted by…country artist Jason Aldean, as they are a round of Top 40 hits.”

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The article asserts, “Why Christian radio has gained a foothold in a decidedly liberal area of Pennsylvania reflects a national trend. It also demonstrates how it has diversified in an effort to attract a larger audience. Now, young Christians unmoved by dusty church hymns can get their Jesus fix through power ballads, rap, or pop songs like those by artists Forrest Frank or Brandon Lake, whose track ‘Hard Fought Hallelujah’ features Jelly Roll, the award-winning, born-again singer who straddles the worlds of mainstream pop and Christian music. Even the hootin’-and-hollerin’ singer Benson Boone, a self-professed former Mormon raised in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, explicitly thanks God in his mega-hit song ‘Beautiful Things.’”

This is not, of course, the first time Christian music has spilled into the mainstream. It’s happened from time to time since the 1970s, but – according to Leah Payne, a professor of American Religious History at Portland Seminary in Portland, Ore.,  and author of the book “God Gave Rock & Roll to You: A History of Contemporary Christian Music” – this time may be different because of the now more fully developed corporate and marketing infrastructure pushing these artists and their songs. To which I respond: “We’ll see.”

Carey Nieuwhof on Leadership. It should not be surprising that pastors are concerned about leadership. Developing leadership skills is part of the job. So, it should be even less surprising that some former pastors try to rebrand themselves as leadership gurus. I find most of them self-aggrandizing or just unhelpful. But lately I’ve become a regular listener to Carey Nieuwhof’s leadership podcast and have found it helpful. Nieuwhof got criticism a dozen years ago for his uncritical embrace of the attractional church growth model, but I find that most of that criticism is obsolete. He seems to have evolved beyond his former uncritical promotion of the church growth movement. I particularly recommend a recent conversation between Nieuwhof and the Barna Group’s David Kinnaman on revival. Maybe I like that conversation because their conclusion mirrors my own, which is that it is too early to tell. (To read my recent reflections on the topic, click here.)

A Rebirth of Christian Poetry. An interesting article over at Inkwell makes the case for a rebirth of Christian poetry. Paul J. Pastor is a poet himself and serves as an executive editor for Nelson Books, an imprint of HarperCollins. He cites as examples of a possible rebirth the work of Derek Walcott, Geoffrey Hill, Mary Oliver, Christian Wiman, Wendell Berry, Mark Jarman, A. E. Stallings, Billy Collins, Patricia Smith, and Dana Gioia. He singles out Malcolm Guite and Gioia for their public readings and social media recitations. He sees a growing publishing ecosystem, citing “Wiseblood Books and Slant Books, publications like ‘Liberties, The New Criterion, Plough, The Windhover, Presence, New Verse Review,’ and [Nelson Books’] own ‘Inkwell’ (formerly ‘Ekstasis’). Even publications not known for their poetry are publishing new poems, including ‘First Things,’ ‘The Lamp’, and others. A host of smaller journals and other outlets are also popping up, often of surprising quality.” I hope he is right. Poetry, the best of which used to come from the church, has been too long neglected. These signs of life are, to me, encouraging.