Follow-Up on "Independent Baptist Leaders Recommending Rock & Roll Church"

On May 30 we published a report about Crosslight Church of Singapore and its contemporary music and its recommendation by prominent independent Baptist preachers, including Jack Trieber, Eric Capaci, and Robert Meyer and Don Sisk of BIMI. We included a photo from Crosslight’s web site of the contemporary worship team, including a long-haired guitar player and a female singer in tights, which is as sensual and immodest as any fashion. When we invited feedback on this issue in 2007 while writing the book Dressing for the Lord, most of the men who contacted us indicated that tight clothing holds “a very great potential” for lust. One man said: “I would say the number one problem is any garment that is form fitting, be it jeans, pants, skirt, dress, shirt, whatever. Anything that is tight, no matter how long it is, leaves nothing to the imagination, and that defeats the whole purpose of covering the skin in the first place!” A worship team like Chhin’s is used for only one purpose, and that is to perform contemporary music. Another photo at the web site shows Pastor Chhin’s wife with her hand raised exactly after the fashion of female worship leader Darlene Zschech. This is a charismatic practice that has no support in Scripture. 1 Timothy 2 instructs MEN, not women, to raise holy hands. The practice of raising hands in contemporary worship reflects its goal of “experiencing God.” The hands are raised to channel the Spirit. We have documented the experience orientation of contemporary worship in the new book Independent Baptist Music Wars. I have no doubt that Chhin’s wife is doing this in ignorance, but she needs to study the background to contemporary praise music and not be swept along with its error. In response to the report, Chhin wrote to one preacher on about June 17 and said, “No. We are not a contemporary church. No. We do not have a female worship leader. No. We do not have a rock-n-roll church. No. We are not charismatic. No. We do not sway and dance. No we do not have drums.” No one said that they have drums or that they have a female worship leader or that they are charismatic, but they most definitely play soft rock music with electrified guitars and they sway and they use contemporary worship music. A Singapore Baptist pastor wrote to me as follows in regard to those who doubt Chhin’s contemporary style: “They just need to google the words of the song behind his wife in the photo and find the name of the group that recorded that song [‘Hallelujah you have won the victory’ by Planetshakers]. I went on Youtube to listen to the song and it told me everything I needed to know. It just takes 30 seconds of work to do all this. People need to stop being lazy. BIMI [who claims to be looking into the issue] should send people down to Chhin’s sending church [Gospel Light Baptist Church in Hot Springs, Arkansas, pastored by Eric Capaci] and attend a worship service and or join their youth outings and find out what ‘christian’ concerts they attend. The Singapore church that wanted to merge with Chhin’s church had him come over to conduct ONE service and they were shocked. Many tried to retract their decision.” I've discovered that the use of contemporary music by independent Baptist churches is often accompanied by a lying, compromising spirit that affects the entire ministry.

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Darlene Zschech

Pastor Chhin's wife

(Friday Church News Notes, June 27, 2014, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)