Wow - I was quite shocked, I think, watching this. I wonder why they chose this song? If anyone knows, I'd love to know :-)

I'm from Australia, so I haven't been following this season of American Idol (we might get it later in the year). I do wonder whether they'd ever do something similar on Australian Idol (will we copy the Americans in everything....???)

Thanks for posting this - what an awesome proclamation to a whole country about the awesomeness of God and yet He is also our 'tower of refuge & strength'.

Yes, this really gave me chills. Even though most likely not everyone singing is a believer (and there's the issue about replacing the name "Jesus" with "Shepherd") - but to see God's name proclaimed in worship to millions and millions of people, and done so well. Really cool.

By the way, Sarah - how are things down under? Have you ever been to Hillsong church?

Ooo another Australian. My wife's from Newcastle (actually Kanwal, but most people over here don't know the difference). I've stayed there a couple of months as well. Very beautiful.

It was a good idea. It raises AI to a higher tone.

Two of the remaining contestants are Mormons: Brooke White and David Archuleta. It's possible that they had some influence, or that Fox believed they were attracting fans that might appreciate the song.

At the first of the show there was a really New AGEY sort of message from some of the guest stars.. I think AI included both messages in order to get donataions from all sectors of their audience.

In my totally biased opinion, I will say that the "Shout for the Lord" was a more powerful proclamation of truth than the predictable, forgettable worda of actors/actresses at the start.

This makes up for that Ditty about the whip in the earlier post. Another viewing of "Shout to the Lord", a reading of Habakkuk chapter 2 and maybe God will have mercy on me and blot that whip song out of my mind...

Can I just say that I knew NOTHING about this before I watched this clip just now. I didn't know this was American Idol, I hadn't heard about this at all from anyone. (Other than you people, I don't think I know anyone that watches this show. Unless one of the little old ladies at my church watch it and don't tell anyone.)

Anyway...here was my experience.

I started watching it, and I'm thinking, "Wow, big church"

Then I'm thinking,

"Yeah, it's good. That's a young praise team. Interesting how praise teams dress nowadays. Bill, why would you say anything snarky about this? Why would anyone think you would say anything snarky about this enough for you to say you're not going to say anything snarky about this? It's a praise team and yeah, they're doing a great job."

I watch a little more and then I'm thinking,

"Man the production values on this are pretty good. What is this? This is no ordinary church service. Dove Awards maybe? HEY! Did I just see an "American Idol" sign? Why would this Christian show advertise "American Idol"? Unless....Hey! there it is again, on the stage! Could this be? Could this actually be American Idol? Wowee, zowee, I think it is! THat means that guy showing off vocals is an American Idol Contestant?

Hey, Where's Simon? Simon! SIIIIIIIII-maaaaaan! Come out, come out wherever you are! I'd like to see the critique on this....

Oh wait, there's the closing credits. This is a finale of sorts. Why would they do a Christian song on American Idol as a finale. Hey there's video of kids...a la "World Vision" or something. Hmmmmm. So they're tying a praise song into feeding the poor. OK. Hey, it's "American Idol". Gotta give em credit where it's due.

Then it's over. and I see other video clips for something called "American Idol" gives back.

Can anyone explain this whole thing to me?

I agree with everyone else, btw. I think it's awesome that God was praised on national television.

Oh, and how many "phil"'s are there in the blogosphere? Glad to have you two guys above, but I'm going to have to go back to "shrode" now aren't I?

Philip, it started last year when American Idol decided to give a night to raise money for charity. They raised about $50M last year. So they decided to do it again this season - word is they raised over $70M this time.

That clip came at the end of the 2.5 hour fundraising show that was filled with celebrity after celebrity encouraging folks to give money to help the poor in Africa and the US.

Thanks Jen!

With a title like "American Idol gives back" it makes me wonder if Simon,Randy and Paula didn't take any salaries for that episode, or gave their salaries to charity. What about Fox network, and American Idol itself? Did they donate profits from advertising? Was there advertising?

Just wonderin...

I'm not sure about the judges, but I did read that Ryan Seacrest was planning to donate his salary for the episode - he makes a ton, so that's a lot of money.

There was advertising. I know a lot of corporations donated large sums of money, including NewsCorp (parent co. of Fox).

Here's a link for Idol Gives Back where you can see the corporate donors and other stuff.

http://www.americanidol.com/idolgivesback/

I saw an interview with the judges and they too gave their salaries, even Simon.

"Why would anyone think you would say anything snarky about this enough for you to say you're not going to say anything snarky about this?"

Well, this is the Christian blogosphere after all. :-)

Frankly, I thought I'd read a lot more criticism of this, or at least hear that someone thought it was "cheesy" (ah, how I hate that word) or something.

ok, i'll bite.

i wasn't as "inspired" when i saw it. i admit it. i thought, "they're performers... they're performing, not worshipping. they're trying to look inspirational/inspired." the night before when the contestants chose their "inspirational" songs it was all about "dream it, achieve it, that's what it's all about. think positive." my favorite performance was "over the rainbow." don't get me wrong, i dig idol this year (first season i've ever watched and i blame my brother and his wife for getting me hooked).

but when i see that they have no truth in their inspiration and are being driven by good feelings and mainly just playing to the crowd one night, it really sours "shout to the lord" the next night. i think people are lumping "shout to the lord" in with "dream on" and "you've got a friend". it's all warm fuzzy, higher power stuff. singing a song about God should be easily differeniated from songs about lemon drops. and the choreography didn't help.

BUT, despite thinking "they're just playing to the Christian audience to increase itunes sales and viewership" it was cool to see that song done on american idol. i know God can reveal Himself however He chooses and receive glory from any and all things. my doubts and cynicism aside, it was, ultimately, a pleasant surprise to see the song on national tv.

was that too harsh/snarky/cynical?

For context, I don't really watch AI, so I didn't see all the other stuff.

I don't think you were too harsh/snarky/cynical.

For my part, I just like seeing God lifted up. That's why I chose the title of this post. I know that not all of those singing are believers.

I found it encouraging, because I'm currently enduring some internal turmoil regarding worship (and music in general) - the whole "is it a performance/is it worship?" conundrum. I am troubled when performance intrudes on worship.

Well, in this case, it was worship intruding on performance (because it was, obviously, a performance). For some reason, that made it better for me. :-)

Stroke, I totally get what you're saying. And you're right - it was a performance and not worship. I wouldn't expect the lost to sing that song with any more meaning behind it than they did the songs they sang the night before. They're lost.

However...

I do believe that a couple or a few of them were singing that song in praise of God - you could see it on their faces, in their demeanor. Like Bill said, it was worship intruding on performance (I like that phrase) and God was glorified regardless of the motives of the people who chose the song or the people who sang the song.

I first heard about this on another blog and the guy was fair blowing steam. I was like, dude ease up. A) it's american idol, don't hold them up to some kind of standard and 2) changing one word (to another appropriate word) doesn't wreck the song. I was right. This was pretty good and I too heart the phrase "worship intruding on performance". Thanks for posting this.

Wow! Totally can't imagine that happening on Pop Idol (the UK equivalent.) Yeah, it's a performance, (and the phrasing's a bit odd, as if bits had been chopped out) but that doesn't exclude worship.
I'm sometimes in two minds about choirs singing sacred music. I used to sing in my chapel choir at Oxford (sung responses, collects, anthems, lots of William Byrd, Herbert Howells, traditional stuff) and it bugged that most of the people singing didn't believe what they were singing, they just liked the music. But then, being in the choir meant they sat in chapel week after week, singing and hearing some great words (and very occasionally some good preaching), and who knows what the long term effects of that might be?