Independent Baptist Leaders Recommending Rock & Roll Church

Crosslight Church of Singapore is one of the newest rock & roll independent Baptist church plants that are proliferating across the world led by a batch of young, very cool preachers. Crosslight was founded by Chantha Chhim, a Cambodian missionary recommended by Jack Trieber, Eric Capaci, Joseph Esposito, Robert Meyer and Don Sisk of BIMI, and others. See http://chanthachhim.com/recommendations. I contacted Capaci’s church and received an enthusiastic recommendation of Crosslight Church, being told that the Chhims “are a part of our sponsored missionaries here at Gospel Light Baptist Church in Hot Springs, Arkansas.” Crosslight has a full-blown contemporary worship band, complete with a long-haired guitar player and a female praise singer in tights. They play songs by groups beloved by Lancaster Baptist Church, such as Casting Crowns, but Crosslight isn't just dabbling with the stuff like Lancaster. For this we commend them. If you love CCM, don’t mess around; embrace it and don’t try to tame it. Plug in the guitars; roll out the drums; pull out the stops; raise those hands, sway and dance! Paul Chappell and other “old-guard” independent Baptist leaders have given a green light for this by their unrepentant use of CCM and their shallow justification of it. Chhim’s vision is to use Singapore as a base for ministry across Asia. He is “passionate about revival in Asia” and plans to “partner with like-minded leaders for global Gospel impact.” I, for one, am sad that he is spreading his contemporary philosophy. Will the aforementioned leaders repent of supporting Crosslight? It is doubtful, because they set the stage for it with such things as Quick Prayerism, a pragmatic, man-centered philosophy, and the “adaptation” of contemporary worship. See Why Most Independent Baptists Will Be Emerging within 20 Years, available as a free eBook from www.wayoflife.org. Chhim’s rock & roll is no more unscriptural than Trieber’s “100% Hyles” buttons or their “1-2-3 pray after me” evangelism.

(Friday Church News Notes, May 30, 2014, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)

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