Difference Between Spirit & Song and spiritandsong.com

By Ken Canedo

How does one follow up the excellent series of World Youth Day Spirit Spots by Robert Feduccia? Not easily! So I thought this might be a good time to dig into our email box. Occasionally, we get emails from folks who have questions about our ministry here at spiritandsong.com. The following email asks a very interesting question.

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Hi Ken,

I've been listening a lot to Spirit and Song online. It's great to hear all the music and get ideas for songs that we can use in our liturgies.

I'm just wondering. I've heard some songs that seem like they would have no place in a liturgy, so I am wondering what the rationale was for putting them in the Spirit and Song collections. I'm not criticizing; just wondering how these songs are supposed to be used. I'm thinking of songs like "The Prettiest Girl at the Mall," or "Hotel Hallelujah." I guess Hotel Hallelujah could be a funeral song maybe??

Thanks,
Maureen

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Dear Maureen,

You ask a good question about the Spirit & Song repertoire. I just want to say that there is a distinction between Spirit & Song (the songbook) and spiritandsong.com (the website and contemporary music publishing division of OCP). Almost everything in Spirit & Song (the songbook) can be used in liturgy or youth ministry settings. The songs I recommend in my weekly Liturgy Podcast are especially geared for liturgy. I would never recommend a non-liturgical song.

However, spiritandsong.com (the website and contemporary music publishing division) promotes both liturgical and evangelical music. i.e., music for liturgy and music for use in concert / coffeehouse / youth ministry settings that might not necessarily be liturgical. We have quite a few artists whose ministry is to reach the young church through personal concert appearances: Matt Maher, Tom Booth, Steve Angrisano, Sarah Hart, Jesse Manibusan, and so many others. Although they have all composed some songs for liturgy, a lot of their repertoire is geared more towards preaching the Good News in a concert or "Praise & Worship" setting, much like our Protestant counterparts do in Contemporary Christian Music (CCM): Stephan Curtis Chapman, Christ Tomlin, Amy Grant, etc.

So, yes, The Prettiest Girl at the Mall is definitely not meant for liturgy, but it can be a way to reach young people who enjoy Christian music. Does this help you to understand our ministry better?

In the Spirit,
Ken

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Do you have a question about our ministry, our music, or our artists? Please feel free to send me an email at kenc@spiritandsong.com. I will try to answer your question and share it here on Spirit Spot if it has general interest.
Thanks and God bless!