{"id":102,"date":"2008-12-19T19:00:17","date_gmt":"2008-12-19T19:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/textmessages\/2008\/12\/john-mark-mcmillan-is-a-keith.html"},"modified":"2008-12-19T19:00:17","modified_gmt":"2008-12-19T19:00:17","slug":"john-mark-mcmillan-is-a-keith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/textmessages\/2008\/12\/john-mark-mcmillan-is-a-keith.html","title":{"rendered":"John Mark McMillan is a Keith Green-U2-My Morning Jacket Mashup"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

When I became a Christian in 1993, I became a very radical Christian. (Read all about it.<\/a>) On some days back then, the only music I could find worth listening to was this odd 1970s worship legend named Keith Green<\/a>. He had big bushy hair and a big bushy beard–from 1994-1999, we were basically twins–and he wrote these Elton-John-style, eerily radical songs about Jesus. To wit:\u00c2\u00a0<\/div>\n
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There were reports of Keith Green getting under his piano and weeping in the middle of concerts. Back then, that was the kind of concert I wanted to be at. I’d have been likely to get up on stage and join him under the piano.\u00c2\u00a0<\/div>\n
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Soon after my Keith Green fandom, lots changed for me, including a total loss of faith, and then a gradual piecing back together. Long story, of which my book<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0(there’s that nagging Amazon link again) really only addresses the very beginning. \u00c2\u00a0<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Well, a couple weeks ago, a friend of mine who is one of the most talented musicians I know called me and told me to download “The Medicine” by John Mark McMillan<\/a> as soon as I could open iTunes. He said it’d remind me of the first time I heard Delirious?<\/a>, which was this crazy popular worship band in the late 1990s. But the Delirious? craze missed me entirely, so when “The Medicine” started with its U2-meets-My-Morning-Jacket-flanked-by-Pete-Yorn sound and lyrics straight out of Jeremiah and Isaiah, all I could think of was Keith Green. It gave me chills.\u00c2\u00a0<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Check out these lyrics:<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

TheLions in the street bend their heads<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Forthe reckoning day<\/span>
Causethe interstate’s giving up her dead<\/span>
Forthe reckoning day<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n


<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Wouldyou come alive everybody<\/span>
Wouldyou come alive everyone<\/span>
Getup out of bed for the sound of the song unsung<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n


<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Buryall your guns in the sand<\/span>
Causethe temperature’s changed<\/span>
andthe blood shot eye of the sun<\/span>
stainsthe bones of the slain<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n

\n

<\/span><\/p>\n


<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Wouldyou come alive everybody<\/span>
Wouldyou come alive everyone<\/span>
Getup out of bed for the sound of the song unsung<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n

\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

As many a person has pointed out, there’s a lot of sentimental, self-focused Christian worship pop floating around these days, just as there has been for decades (some would say “since 19th century hymnody,” but that’s another story). John Mark McMillan is a tonic for that sentimentality. Every now and then he strikes a theological note that rubs me wrong, but more often, his independence, conviction, and vision are like something out of Flannery O’Connor.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If you like American rock and he’s not on your radar, put him there.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

P.S.: If I wasn’t won over by his sound, I would have been by this interview<\/a> where he answers the “What are you listening to” question more or less as I would:\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

I really love the Fleet Foxes, Bon Iver, and My Morning Jacket. I’ve had a love\/hate relationship with Ryan Adams for years that I can’t seem to shake and which is probably a little too obvious. I’m always down for some Springsteen, and lately, believe it or not, I’ve been digging on some classic Guns’ N’ Roses and a little\u00c2\u00a0Thriller\u00c2\u00a0<\/em>era Michael Jackson.\u00c2\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n


<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I became a Christian in 1993, I became a very radical Christian. (Read all about it.) On some days back then, the only music I could find worth listening to was this odd 1970s worship legend named Keith Green. He had big bushy hair and a big bushy beard–from 1994-1999, we were basically twins–and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christianity","category-music"],"yoast_head":"\nJohn Mark McMillan is a Keith Green-U2-My Morning Jacket Mashup - Text Messages<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/textmessages\/2008\/12\/john-mark-mcmillan-is-a-keith.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"John Mark McMillan is a Keith Green-U2-My Morning Jacket Mashup - Text Messages\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When I became a Christian in 1993, I became a very radical Christian. 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