This week, staff from EMI Christian Music Group, Provident Music Group and Word Entertainment, along with volunteers from Belmont University, banded together to to package a record number 427,000 meals for the Minnisota-based non-profit hunger-relief organization, Feed My Starving Children. The meals will be used to feed children in Thailand.
The more than 1,500 volunteers worked in shifts that started at 10:00 AM and ran through 8:00 PM, packaging specially formulated meals in assembly-line fashion. Each FMSC meal provides the key nutrients a child needs to survive and thrive. The number of meals packaged at this event is enough to feed 1,169 children for one year.
Brandon Heath, Francesca Battistelli and Josh Wilson performed over the lunch break.
The volunteer event was billed "Wow Shares," because the three music labels have for years collaborated to put out and promote the WOW series of compilation projects.
I love that all of these people got together and packaged these meals for kids. I know a lot of people from all of these labels and they're dedicated, sincere Christians who would do this kind of thing even if their company wasn't getting any promotion out of it. So please, please understand that what I'm about to say is IN NO WAY a judgement on anyone's heart or motives.
But I'm not sure how I feel about using service to promote a product. It's something I think about a lot, and I go back and forth on the subject.
On the one hand, I love that Christian music celebrities are able to use their platforms to bring awareness to a cause or need. I think that these artists are genuinely concerned and active in the cause they represent, and their ability to give a broad voice to a cause ultimately helps the people in need. I can understand when a band goes on tour, for example, and donates a portion of their ticket sales to a charity, or even has someone from the charity join them on tour to speak. I can see how music fans would be willing to listen if more than one of their favorite artists were talking about a ministry or cause.
But when artists band together and do a publicized, coordinated event, I wonder if it doesn't somehow cheapen the actual service. That staff from these labels, for example, joined together to package meals is a great thing. What they did will help thousands of needy children in Thailand. That they called it something that promotes their WOW product, so that every time the media reports on their service they also promote the product, makes me feel a little icky. I think it takes away from their actual service.
Kind of like when Word artists built a house for Habitat for Humanity a couple years ago. During GMA Week, they had a little pr event and gave the family the keys to their new house while media snapped pics. I felt like they were kind of taking advantage of the woman for a press event.
Then again, every week I watch Ty Pennington hand over keys to a family on "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," after I've just watched him promote Sears for an hour. And I don't have a problem with that, because Sears goes on to use their influence to help other families, without the TV fanfare.
Like I said, I'm on the fence. What do you think? Can Christian music artists tie their product with service and do it without it being a press opp? Does it bother you, or does it help to know what ministries to support? Is there a line that artists can cross, and go from being service-minded to being promotion-minded?
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I think it's a very good thing these companies have done, and if it helps promote their companies/artists/products, I have no problem with that. These days, it's rare to hear about any people taking time to do something like these companies did-- give their time en masse to accomplish a big goal to help feed starving children overseas. If anything, I'd like to see more Christian musicians and music industry workers do these type of cooperative, helpful service projects more often, with promotion being a bonus for them. I'd also like to see them "give" to places in the USA that need help, not just overseas or in the Nashville area. They could really increase awareness about their companies and products in cities they've long ignored, like Buffalo, New York (the second poorest city in America), if they came into town for a day and rehabbed homes complete with a concert to celebrate their work-- perhaps Gospel Music Channel could make a series of it. I just would hope if they did this that they'd help "markets" they typically ignore in the States, towns and cities that are very poor and don't get attention from the mainstream press.
Thank you for the discussion, I am having a problem deciding how I feel about this issue. Where is the line crossed, service vs personal gain? When does our concerns/desires/ requirement for pure motives conflict with the need for good work? That is the issue which brought me to this page. I am not willing to leave my entire life family etc to be a monk, however I am willing to search my heart for a calling that is undoubtedly ahead. While the need for financial existence is required in the USA, I have come to understand that I do not require wealth or status. If I enter into a business of "service" which may provide for my personal financial needs, is it not ok to earn while promoting God and good causes, ie. ministers, charity managers, Red Cross employees, Christian musicians, christian radio stations, etc., are they not all promoting and earning. If I am in the business arena in any of these type fields promotion is required. So for me, to my own heart be true. As to EMI, they are by no means a charity or spiritual based organization. However the do facilitate many who strive to serve, through their business. So is our job to determine or care of others motives when good occurs. Maybe not, any good is better than no good. Let the hearts of the owners and employees of companies such as EMI be their concern. My command needs to be for myself to be the person Christ wants me to be today. For most that would be a worthwhile accomplishment.
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