Christopher J. Priest for PraiseNet.org writes regarding the Gospel Music Workshop of America~

“Local chapters assemble these nice, well-meaning folks together who work very hard all year, running here and there singing their hearts out, looking forward to the big GMWA convention where these folks will finally get the chance to sing before the national convention. The unspoken hope, of course, is that they’ll get a record deal and/or get to sing with the national GMWA choir when it makes its annual recording. What many don’t realize is, there are travel costs to the convention, entry fees to the convention, performance fees if your choir wants to sing at the convention. Want an official portrait? Another fee. Want a VHS or DVD of your performance? Another fee. If you want to sing with the recording choir, there’s a fee for that. Yes, you actually pay to be on the album recording from which you derive no royalties or other income. The fact is, from the moment your plane touches down, you are paying. You are constantly opening your wallet for the next week or so. Many if not most visitors are happy to do it. The convention seems more like a frat party or perhaps a trip to Disney—they’re excited, lit up like Christmas trees. Grinning and giddy about their chance to rub elbows with the stars and perhaps become one themselves. So very many of us pack up our hopes and dreams and head to this event, our CD or demo in hand, hoping to make a connection with a record company or artist.”

[...]

“Over the years, it has not once been reported to me that personal evangelism was being conducted there. Among the vast litany of vendors offering every conceivable church folk trinket or hat or sharkskin suit, it has never once been reported to me that anyone was offering Jesus. I suppose the presumption is that everyone attending this conference is already saved, but personal evangelism apparently takes a back seat to the general competitive nature of the event and the star-gazing at celebrity singers and preachers. And the paying. Every day, all day, out comes the wallet. Pay for your packets, pay for your lunch, pay for these photos or that recording. The major GMWA event could be fairly considered a racket. One designed to get Church Folks’ money, and Church Folk are both eager and willing to give it to them. So far as I know, the GMWA is not about evangelism. Not about ministry. Not about comforting the lowly or feeding the hungry. I’m prepared to fall on face and be flat wrong about this, but I find no mention of money donated toward AIDS or GMWA grants to support church musicians, scholarships for religious music education, or funds available for evangelism or church planting.”

Priest raises some great points all throughout his piece (whew!). Please read the whole thing when you get a chance.

While I do love gospel music, I have seen and heard so many things over the years in that industry (and I do have problems with gospel [the good news of Jesus Christ] being considered an “industry) that I just cannot stomach most of it. No, I do not expect folks to be perfect. But I do expect folks to turn the other way when someone happens to have great talent, but are outright living in sin.