[Dixielandjazz] Bad times are good for churches (and OKOM)

[Stephen G Barbone]

What on earth does this have to do with OKOM?
Quite a bit if you are a band leader, or a musician. With all the  
extra folks going to church these days, this is one venue where music  
performances will thrive. A little N.O. gospel mixed with high energy  
joyful tunes works well. Or you can do a revival program. Those in the  
Philadelphia area might wish to attend our two church gigs in January  
for ideas.
The bottom line for bands, especially those that can play OKOM and  
gospel, is that there are gigs in churches, both evangelical and  
otherwise waiting for you to book them. It is a great time/venue for  
feel good music.  As one pastor said; "leverage this moment." Below  
article excerpted.
Cheers,
Steve Barbone
www.myspace.com/barbonestreetjazzband

December 14, 2008 - NY TIMES - by Paul Vitello
Bad Times Draw Bigger Crowds to Churches

The sudden crush of worshipers packing the small evangelical Shelter  
Rock Church in Manhasset, N.Y. — a Long Island hamlet of yacht clubs  
and hedge fund managers — forced the pastor to set up an overflow room  
with closed-circuit TV and 100 folding chairs, which have been filled  
for six Sundays straight.

In Seattle, the Mars Hill Church, one of the fastest-growing  
evangelical churches in the country, grew to 7,000 members this fall,  
up 1,000 in a year. At the Life Christian Church in West Orange, N.J.,  
prayer requests have doubled — almost all of them aimed at getting or  
keeping jobs.

Like evangelical churches around the country, the three churches have  
enjoyed steady growth over the last decade. But since September,  
pastors nationwide say they have seen such a burst of new interest  
that they find themselves contending with powerful conflicting  
emotions — deep empathy and quiet excitement — as they re-encounter an  
old piece of religious lore:

Bad times are good for evangelical churches.

“It’s a wonderful time, a great evangelistic opportunity for us,” said  
the Rev. A. R. Bernard, founder and senior pastor of the Christian  
Cultural Center in Brooklyn, New York’s largest evangelical  
congregation, where regulars are arriving earlier to get a seat. “When  
people are shaken to the core, it can open doors.”

Nationwide, congregations large and small are presenting programs of  
practical advice for people in fiscal straits — from a homegrown  
series on “Financial Peace” at a Midtown Manhattan church called the  
Journey, to the “Good Sense” program developed at the 20,000-member  
Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Ill., and now  
offered at churches all over the country.

Many ministers have for the moment jettisoned standard sermons on  
marriage and the Beatitudes to preach instead about the theological  
meaning of the downturn.  .  .  .

Mr. Bernard plans to start 100 prayer groups next year, using a model  
conceived by the megachurch pastor Rick Warren, to “foster spiritual  
dialogue in these times” in small gatherings around the city.

A recent spot check of some large Roman Catholic parishes and mainline  
Protestant churches around the nation indicated attendance increases  
there, too . . . .

Part of the evangelicals’ new excitement is rooted in a communal  
belief that the big Christian revivals of the 19th century, known as  
the second and third Great Awakenings, were touched off by economic  
panics. Historians of religion do not buy it, but the notion “has  
always lived in the lore of evangelism,” said Tony Carnes, a  
sociologist who studies religion.  .   .   .

  “We need to leverage this moment, because every Christian revival in  
this country’s history has come off a period of rampant greed and  
fear. That’s what we’re in today — the time of fear and  
greed.”   .   .   .