Worship Star

In his fascinating book 'Selling Worship' Pete Ward says the following:
'Though it would always see itself as led by ministry and the Spirit, the charismatic scene is at the same time sustained by a wide range of companies and businesses. As the market has developed, new organisations emerged, but there have also been those that have fallen by the wayside. Along the path, a number of key alliances and business mergers have characterised the British scene. These activities represent the 'means' to engage in ministry. For a group such as Wesley Owen Bookshops, merchandising is explicitly acknowledged as the way that they are involved in sharing Christ. The connection between selling and faith has a long history but it was to find particular energy [in] the charismatic movement... For British worship music the one escape from the size of our market was the possibility of breaking into the lucrative American scene. For the previous thirty years the tide had flowed only one way from the USA to the UK, but in the mid-1990s this was to change. Leading the way was the Littlehampton-based band Delirious? Released in 2004, their latest album, World Service, has been supported by tour dates ranging across the USA. With sales of over a million and an American-based contemporary Christian music Dove Award to their name, the band has found significant success in America... Where Martin Smith was to lead, others were soon to follow. At the turn of the millennium, British worship bands and the songs they had written were to become very successful in the USA.' (pp. 98, 114-5, 116)

HT: Andy G