Whats on mission music? Music with the edge to keep Christians focused on their part in sharing Christ. God has inspired musicians and lyricists across the centuries to create sounds and pen words that encourage and enable others to be on mission. The unique style each Christian has to share Jesus is mirrored in the sounds of faith.

Sara Paulsons Christian music career is just getting off the ground, but already she has firmly established her lifes mission: taking Christ to the world.

Take the Word to the world God so loved that He gave His Son Take the Word to the world His is the way, the only One, so Take the Word to the world Sara Paulson

God has a special way of using each of us, she told On mission. If were faithful to seek His heart, He takes us in directions we never even dreamed of.

Originally, the 27-year-old singer had aimed her music ministry at church folk, but when she won the Miss Oregon contest in 1992, she recognized broader opportunities for evangelism.

All of a sudden I was speaking in public schools and inner-city settings. I decided I was going to talk about my life, including my relationship with God, Paulson says. Her passion for creating and taking advantage of opportunities to share Christ is reflected in the title song of Paulsons new CD Word to the World.

Paulsons reminder of our responsibility to share Christ is part of a long tradition in Christian music.

Singing and listening to such songswhether during a church service or on the morning commutecan help Christians stay focused on the need to always be ready and on the lookout for opportunities to share Christ.

On mission magazine has compiled a brief sampling of music with on mission lyrics that can help us stay focused on sharing Christ in our everyday lives.

On mission music has been around for hundreds of years. In 1869, Fanny J. Crosby penned Rescue the Perishing, which features these compelling lyrics:

Tho they are slighting Him,

Still He is waiting,

Waiting the penitent child to receive;

Plead with them earnestly,

Plead with them gently,

He will forgive if they only believe.

Fanny Crosby

Crosbys lyrics convey the urgency associated with pleading as well as the need for sensitivity and gentleness as we take Christ to those who need rescuing.

Other hymns follow in the same tradition. I Love to Tell the Story, wrote A. Katherine Hankey in the mid-1800s. Let Others See Jesus in You, B.B. McKinney implored in 1924. More recent Christian music writers have continued to encourage evangelistic efforts through on mission lyrics.

Twenty years ago Keith Greenthe sold-out singer/evangelist who died in a 1982 plane crashwas unrivaled in his ability to lay it all on the line about our need to share Christ. Asleep in the Light confronted our tendency to ignore the needs of those who dont know:

Do you see, do you see

All the people sinking down

Dont you care, dont you care

Are you going to let them drown

How can you be so numb

Not to care if they come

You close your eyes

And pretend the jobs done

Keith Green

In 1989 Christian singer Steve Green (no relation to Keith) recorded The Mission, a song that became an anthem played as a soundtrack to (no doubt) hundreds of church mission-trip slide shows. Inspired by the Greatest Commandment recorded in Matthew 22:36-38, Green, himself the son of missionaries, reminds us that our desire to reach others must flow from our total devotion to God:

The spring from which

our service overflows

Across the street

Or around the world

The missions still the same

Proclaim the Truth

In Jesus name!

Steve Green

One of the dangers of a privatized Christianity is to become ingrown and self-serving, Green recently wrote. The Lord constantly calls me to lift up my eyes and look at those around me. The evidence of my faith and love for Christ will be revealed in my care of others.

Jaci Velasquez, 18,  is one of the top artists in Christian music today.  She won a Dove Award for 1997 New Artist of the Year and her debut album, A Heavenly Place, scored several number one hits. One of them, We Can Make a Difference, encourages believers to come together and share the love of Jesus Christ.

We can make a difference

We can make a change

We can make the world a better place

We can make a difference

We can make a change

We can make the sun shine through the rain

Jaci Velasquez

In his latest projectentitled Mission 3:16veteran Christian music artist Carman focuses squarely on our primary responsibility. Our mission as believers is to share the message of salvation with others as fast as we can, Carman says. Thats what the title song is all about.

He adds: Not everyone can do what I do, and I cant do what other people do. Thats the beauty of all of us being different yet alike, spiritually we can relate to others on an individual basis. Sometimes everyone needs the courage to continue ... or start. If this album inspires them to go out to the highways and byways and actually be a part of saving someone destined for destruction, then Ive fulfilled my goal.

Carman hopes lyrics such as these will inspire other Christians to make reaching others a high priority.

Were on a mission

And well go

Where the brave

Dare to fly

Were on a mission

And we know its a race do or die

To know Him and make

Him known is our creed

Letting the fire be freed

Mission 3:16

Carman

In her 1994 debut album Rebecca St. James Here I Am reminds listeners of the need to be willing to go where God sends.

Jesus commanded us, Go and tell the good news.

For the harvest is many, but the workers are so few.

All that He wants is a head believing, serving, and loving Him.

Here I am, I surrender my life to the use of Your plan.

Here I am, I will do as You say. I will go where You send.

Here I am.

Rebecca St. James

Christian trio Phillips, Craig and Dean knows plenty about encouraging Christians to be faithful in sharing the good news each member of the group is a full-time pastor. As their music career has taken off, the group hasnt forgotten the basic need to help listeners know God and make Him known. In their song You Dont Have the Right, the group reminds Christians of how much God has done for us and the obligation we have to share Him with others.

You dont have the right to remain silent

If youve been arrested by Gods grace

Youve got to take the stand to tell the story

Of how your guilty stains have been replaced

Everything youve done has been erased

By the evidence of love

So you dont have the right

No, you dont have the right

Phillips, Craig and Dean

In 1996 Bob Carlisles Butterfly Kisses introduced him to millions of music listeners. But in 1993s We Are the People Carlisle reminded us of the important task of introducing people to Christ.

We are the people

God has put us in this hour

To be the shining light

Throughout the darkest night

We are the people

And the way we make a change

Is only by the way

We live our lives

We are the people of the light.

Bob Carlisle

What are your favorite on mission songs? Send them to us at: On mission, 4200 North Point Parkway, Alpharetta, GA 30022-4176 or fax us at 770-410-6006. E-mail onmission@namb.net.

All songs used by permission of Pamplin Music, Sparrow Records, Benson Music Group, Forefront Records and StarSong Records.