Many artists in the mainstream have had massive success with songs featuring the electronic dance music (EDM) style these past few years, reminding me of the synth-pop songs I grew up listening to in the 1980s. The good news is that there are now several artists of faith in the Christian music world also recognizing that "there is a time for everything, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance." (Ecclesiastes 3:4). Part of applying this means employing the EDM style to present Gospel-grounded messages.

 

One of the artists at the forefront of the Christian "dance" music genre has been LA's Press Play, who have really paved the way for other artists of faith with their catchy and encouraging hit song "NY2LA." They followed up that album with 2011's World Anthem, which features the hit song "F-I-R-E." Now they are back with a brand new collection of songs for 2013, #LITO (Love in the Open), available everywhere October 1.

 

I had the opportunity to interview founding Press Play band member Dave Hanley about their catchy title track "#LITO." This is what he shared with me.

 

Please tell me about the message behind the song.
 

We were very intentional with the writing process. In such a vocal world, with a world focused on freedom of speech and freedom of posting in the era of social media, we were very intentional of writing a song that would use those tools of that media to get the Word of Christ out to the world. We used a hashtag in the song and album title to speak that language. 

 

Having been raised as a preacher's kid, we sometimes feel like it is more love to be quiet than to speak and be vocal about the things that Christ spoke out about. "Love In The Open" is about being vocal and to speak Christ's love into people, and not to hide it. Our thought process is that if Jesus spoke about it, speak about it, and if Jesus was silent about it, be silent about it. 

 

The song's message is to love openly and be strong in your faith, to walk it out and live it out. That doesn't only mean serving as far as random acts of kindness or other things we usually relate to loving someone, but also tough love in standing up for things that Christians believe in.

 

1 Corinthians 13:1 (The Voice): "What if I speak in the most elegant languages of people or in the exotic languages of the heavenly messengers, but I live without love? Well then, anything I say is like the clanging of brass or a crashing cymbal."
 

...Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 (NIV): "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace."
 

...1 John 4:8 (NIV): "Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love."
 

...and Matthew 5:14-16 (The Voice): "And you, beloved, are the light of the world. A city built on a hilltop cannot be hidden.  Similarly it would be silly to light a lamp and then hide it under a bowl. When someone lights a lamp, she puts it on a table or a desk or a chair, and the light illumines the entire house. You are like that illuminating light. Let your light shine everywhere you go, that you may illumine creation, so men and women everywhere may see your good actions, may see creation at its fullest, may see your devotion to Me, and may turn and praise your Father in heaven because of it."
 

Our pastor tells us that we are all citizens of Heaven. The Word of God is the highest law of our land. Let's speak God's Word and be bold, in Christ's love, and shout it from the mountaintops. It talks about in 1 John 4:8 that "God is love." 

 

There are several Scriptures that connect to the message of this song and this album. The 1st Corinthians 13 passage challenges us that we can speak out as Christians, but if we aren't speaking in love, then we are like a crashing cymbal. We can be busy, and have good intentions, but if we aren't sharing Christ's love, then it's not love. We need to share God's biblical definition of love. 

 

The bottom line message of the album is that the ultimate and only definition of love is Jesus. We are to use that model of love in all that we do. In our work, in our families, we need to use God's model and definition of love. If we all keep God's Word and His principals at the forefront of all that we do, we can live biblically. We want to speak the Word of God. "Song for the Broken" and "Top of the World" are also songs about spreading God's love. Worldly and secular people serve and have charitable organizations. But without the definition of Christ's love behind serving, people aren't seeing Heaven.

 

 

We are challenged in God's Word in Matthew 5:14-16 as believers to not hide the light of Jesus that is in us as His redeemed sons and daughters. The children's song "This little light of mine" gives the word picture to not hide our light "under a bushel." God has gifted people to create the technology that we currently have, including social media. The language of social media is another way as Christians we can shine the light of Jesus and be "love in the open" by sharing the biblical definition of love, which is God, because "God is love."

 

Many Christians feel that they should stay away from technology and avoid the world. It is true that we should be in the world but not of the world, and that we should "not conform to the patterns of this world" (Romans 12:2). However, you can't reconcile that to mean avoiding people altogether. Jesus also commands us to "preach the Gospel to every living creature" in the Great Commission. 

 

As I discussed this great new song with Dave Hanley, I like that Press Play intentionally set out to reach the lost for the Kingdom of God by creating music that the world finds attractive, and using the tools of social media like a hash tag #LITO to spread the Good News of the love of Jesus. 

 

As the song proclaims, "Sing it out, sing it out, sing it out," which is a great example of Romans 1:16: "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ." People like good art, and they're going to seek it out even when they are lost. When they encounter the truth of these lyrics, my prayer is that they'll think about their own stories. As this song challenges, "You only live once / so tonight I'm gonna live it well / This is your life / Your chance / To love in the open." Amen to that!