The Road to Rwanda, Take 1: He is a Whore, He Does Confess...

Having seen him in concert a couple of nights ago for at least the eighth time in my life, I thought I would kick off the Road to Rwanda series with a discussion of the oh-so-dreamy Derek Webb and the influence his life and music have had on my perspective and worldview.

This guy blows my mind. I'm going to write about him in a bit more formal style than you may be expecting, but bear in mind that its either this or incoherent bumblings and giddy tee-hees as if I were a thirteen year-old girl writing about my first kiss. Although, in some way, my experience with Derek Webb has been a sort of "first kiss", that being with a growing desire for transparency and a bold but honest proclamation of the Gospel. How's that for a good analogy?

Derek Webb is one of the founding members of Caedmon's Call, and after ten years with the band he left to pursue a solo career, and that choice has revolutionized my life. In 2003, he put out his first solo album, She Must and Shall Go Free (SMASGF). It was an album specifically targeted to the Church, addressing her (in the US, at least) unfaithfulness to the Gospel and its relevance in our lives. Because of the heavy nature of the album content, Derek Webb chose to tour for SMASGF by playing predominately in people's living rooms, affording a much more intimate atmosphere to discuss these pertinent issues with other Christians. This method made possible the sharing of some ideas that were really revolutionary to me and my mindset. Luckily, someone recorded one of these shows and released it as The House Show (One of the most eye-opening discussions of the nature of the Christian life I've ever heard is found on this album as an intro to "I Repent". I tried to type out the sermonette that Derek preached, but it was resoundingly cumbersome. You may just have to get the album to hear it.). What was so beautiful to me about Derek Webb's first album and his subsequent tour was that it was a bold, unadulterated proclamation of the Gospel, and it seemed tailor-made for the American sub-cultural Christianity to which it was directed. The House Show specifically has been a tremendous source of conviction and molding toward a freer, more integrated existence for me, and I can't recommend it enough.

These shows and the conversations they initiated with Christians around the country led the way for Derek Webb's second studio album, I See Things Upside Down. It was less an indictment on the Church, as SMASGF essentially was, and more a diagnosis of the spiritual state of the Church in America, and of his own heart as well. Songs like "I Want a Broke Heart" and "I Repent" shot straight to the distorted value system and false righteousness that many heralding the name of Jesus have assumed, myself included, but they somehow did so in a completely non-judging manner. That's another thing I love about Derek Webb: the hard issues he brings up are issues that he's dealt with or is dealing with at the time. He doesn't speak from somewhere off in Undefiled Super Holiness-Land; he speaks and sings as one fighting the fight and struggling as much as anyone.

After I See Things Upside Down, Webb came out with Mockingbird, a collection of songs covering some of the most polarizing topics known to man: politics, war, and social justice. And he didn't do it with much mincing of words, either: "Come on and follow me/ But sell your house, sell your SUV/ Sell your stocks, sell your security/ And give it to the poor" (from "Rich Young Ruler"). And as if the content of the record were not enough of a stick-it-to-the-man, he decided to make Mockingbird available for free online for a few months after its release. I mean, who does this? It's ridiculous. It's like he went postal, Christian music-style.

One day the dam broke and out flowed four of the most spiritually nourishing albums I've ever heard.

But Derek Webb, remaining on the cutting edge of what my heart yearns and needs to hear, was not finished. In April of this year, as I was in the preliminary stages of preparation for my trip to Rwanda, he released The Ringing Bell. As an album, it is heavily influenced by the concept of "the being-made-right of all things," to use Derek Webb's words from a couple of concerts, and it culminates with "This too Shall be Made Right," a song that proclaims the message I want to declare with my life better than I could hope to express in my own words. I now give you a fairly appropriate video, made some fellow blogger out there, using the song:






So there it is. The short version of my journey through Webbworld. In my opinion, every Christian in America should immerse themselves in the music of Derek Webb. He is one of the most needed voices in our culture right now.

How's this for irony? If I struggle with Derek Webb being an idol in my life, its only because of his penetrating proclamation against the propping up of idols and the chasing after gods not fit for salvation. May the Lord have mercy on us all.