About the CSO - Christian Songwriting Organization

Please continue down the page for instructions on subscribing, unsubscribing and changing your message delivery method.

The purpose of the group is:

to get help from like-minded songwriters
to share critiques of songs
to improve our songwriting
to share ideas, and experiences
to be a sounding board
to edify and encourage one another
to PRAY for one another
...All with the unified desire to glorify God.
Some of us have published music, some have written music we have used in our own churches and some are beginners. We are all here to help one another and learn.

POSTING Guidelines
Posts not adhering to the topics listed above are discouraged. Anyone who repeatedly posts off-topic messages will be asked to stop.
Posts not adhering to the topics listed above which are selling or promoting something are expressly forbidden, unless they are from a list sponsor. It is recognized that active list members may wish occasionally to promote some business or work they are involved in, which may be off-topic. This is permitted as long as it is only occasional.
Please do not use a blind carbon copy (bcc:) to address CSOlist.
Do not attempt to post HTML-formatted messages. The Yahoo! server automatically strips all formatting (HTML and otherwise) from incoming messages. If your message consists of formatted/rich text, the entire message may be rejected. Please make sure your e-mail program is set to send messages to this list as plain text only.
In addition to the above, binary attachments are not allowed! You will be warned the first time and suspended from the list the second time.
For posting purposes, we consider binary files to be anything other than plain text.

Some examples of binary attachments are:

Program files / executables (*.exe, *.dll, *.com...)
Multimedia files (*.mid, *.ram/*.ra, *.wav, *.mp3, *.avi, *.jpg, *.gif...)
Word processor- or database-specific files (*.doc, *.xls...)
UUENCODE files (a MIME encoding scheme for binary files)

*SUBSCRIBING, UNSUBSCRIBING, ETC.*
We have a mailing list in which we discuss many issues pertaining to songwriting, including critiquing the text of songs. This list is very active! After subscribing, you can choose whether to:
Receive individual messages throughout the day (easier to reply to messages, but you get them each individually),
Receive groups of messages in digest form (harder to reply, but you get several messages in one e-mail, which reduces your e-mail volume),
Temporarily suspend delivery (e.g.: for going on vacation, etc. - the messages wait for you until you come back!),
And if you join Yahoo Groups, you can read them from the web instead of having them sent via e-mail.

Yahoo Group instructions:

TO SUBSCRIBE: Send an e-mail to ChristianSongwritingOrganization-subscribe@yahoogroups.com, then reply to the confirmation.

TO UNSUBSCRIBE: Send an e-mail to ChristianSongwritingOrganization-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com, then reply to the confirmation.

You can also subscribe or unsubscribe by visiting the web page at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ChristianSongwritingOrganization

TO CHANGE DELIVERY METHOD: Just go to the above web page.

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Since this list started in 1997 there have been quite a few people who have gave of thier time and talent to make this Christian Songwriting Organization what it is today. Dave would like to thank them and recognize their efforts.

Frequently asked questions:

Q. How did ChristianSongwriting.org get started?

In August, 1997, Dave Byers posted Christian songs to USENET newsgroups. Discouraged at not being able to find many Christian writers and finding the normal comments towards Christianity on newsgroups he realized a need for a focused group for Christian songwriters.

Shortly after this, Dave sent invitations to form a private mailing list of people interested in discussing Christian songwriting. At about that time, we officially became the Christian Songwriters Group

In November, 1997, Praise! Net agreed to host the CSG, and became the owner of it, but allowed us to continue administering it.

In November, 1999, we were abruptly informed that our sponsor at Praise!Net would no longer host the Christian Songwriters Group, and that in fact, he intended to discontinue its operation. He owned the domain name and, even though he apparently wasn't going to use it anymore, declined the requests of founder Dave Byers to release it to him. So Dave Byers purchased the domain http://www.ChristianSongwriting.org and continues to sponsor the site through his business http://proaudiomusic.com Dave and three of the admins from the CSG, Jim Johnson, Liane Kuchmy and Marty Ward, became administrators of the new site, maintaining the site and list with Dave as the owner and head admin.

On December 14, 1999, Dave posted an announcement to the members of the CSG stating that it was closing down, and inviting everyone to join the new list. The new website at http://www.ChristianSongwriting.org began partial operations on Dec. 16.

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Q. Who started ChristianSongwriting.org?

Dave Byers.

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Q. Who owns ChristianSongwriting.org?

Dave Byers. He sponsors it from his music store http://dcmusicstore.com

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Q. What are the discussion goals of ChristianSongwriting.org?

The purpose of the group is:

to get help from like-minded songwriters,
to share critiques of songs,
to improve our songwriting,
to share ideas, and experiences,
to be a sounding board,
to edify and encourage one another,
to PRAY for one another
all with the unified desire to glorify God.
There are no more specific topics which are mandated for the group. A lot of discussion (most discussion) focuses on what may be called "CCM" songs: Christian Contemporary Music. These are basically popular songs with a Christian flavor. Some are appropriate for worship, and some are only appropriate as special music or anthems in Church.

A number of types of Christian music are 'under' discussed. These include: Chant, choral music, liturgical (i.e., mass) music, worship music, hymns, rap, hip-hop, rock, country

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Q. What types of messages are off-topic for ChristianSongwriting.org?

Virus alerts, theology (except as it relates to Christian songwriting), denominational disputes, chain letters (i.e., any message that says 'send this to as many people as possible!'), cartoons, etc.

Before sending a message to the list, it's not a bad idea to ask yourself the following question: Is this post relevant to Christian songwriting? If the answer is no, perhaps it is better to post it privately.

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Q. Why are some types of messages considered off-topic?

There are a large number of people on this list, of many denominations. This list has a specific purpose: To discuss Christian songwriting. Think of the consequences if everyone on the list sent messages that had nothing to do with Christian songwriting: We would lose the very purpose of this list.

In order for this list to continue to provide value to its members, we need to focus our discussion on Christian songwriting.

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Q. Are most of the folks here worship leaders?

The list has a wide range of members from worship leaders, to professional musicians as well as first-time songwriters.

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Q. Are the list members part of any particular denomination?

ChristianSongwriting.org has no affiliation with any particular denomination. Members are Christians from many denominations.

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Q. I understand there is a php forum also. What is the information on it?

Some people enjoy the flexability of a php forum as opposed to the yahoo group. So we created a forum in addtion to the yahoo group. Some post both places and others at one or the other. The php forum is located here and the yahoo group is located at this link.

Statement of Faith

The following is the basic Statement of Faith for the Christian Songwriting Organization.
We, the administrators, believe that these are the minimum Christian standards to which all lyrics, comments and other posts in this list must adhere.
The administrators reserve the right to actively, prayerfully moderate the list in order to ensure that these standards are upheld.

We believe in one God, who is God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. (Matt 28:19; Gen 1:1,2; John 1:1-3)

We believe in God the Father, maker of all things. (Gen 1:1)
We believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, truly God and truly man, through whom all things were made; who died for our sins and rose from the dead that we might be saved by his grace through faith. (John 1:1-3; John 1:14; Romans 3:23-24; Romans 6:9; Ephesians 2:8)

We believe in God the Holy Spirit, who spoke through the Prophets, guides us into all truth, and makes Jesus known to us. (Genesis 1:2; Hebrews 1:1; John 16:13-14)

We believe that the Bible is God-breathed, inspired by the Holy Spirit and authoritative. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

In Memory of Our Dear Friend, Liane Kuchmy
of Ontario, Canada
Co-administrator and Chat coordinator

Liane went to be with the Lord on January 27, 2001. She was 32 years old, married to Ed Kuchmy, and had three young children: Joshua, Justin and Rachel. Although we will all miss her terribly, we must remember that her family will miss her the most, and so we must keep them in our prayers.