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 sponosor 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.
Q. Who started ChristianSongwriting.org?
Q. Who owns ChristianSongwriting.org?
Dave Byers. He sponsors it from his music store http://proaudiomusic.com
Q. Who administers it?
Dave Byers and Jim Johnson are the list administrators. Mike Lehr, Peter Merz and Helen Robinson are the list moderators. See the Admins page for more information.
Q. What are the discussion goals of ChristianSongwriting.org?
The purpose of the group is:
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
If you came here via a search engine, click here for HOME to see the full site with navigation menu.
Updated 9/10/2002 jmj
