CMD™ Changed Our Family


Good morning, Al!

I have been intending to send you this message for some time, but just never got around to it.

A little background: our daughter (and only child), Anna, is 27. She is married and lives in Austin, Texas. Back when she was in late elementary school I heard you (probably at ACSI) challenge parents to spend money on Christian music for their kids. I accepted the challenge. We already frequently listened to Christian radio in the car, and I played Maranatha Praise at home, but Anna didn't identify that as her music. I told Anna we would buy her all the Christian music she wanted, but that she would have to buy her own secular music. We put no limits on the type of Christian music she could listen to. Thanks to a Christian record club at the time, we avoided going broke buying Christian music for her during those years.

Like mother, like daughter--she mostly listens to Christian music today (with a little of the pop music from her teen years and some of her new secular favorite, country).

A couple of months ago a friend she had made at church a several years ago died unexpectedly.

The next morning she emailed me to tell me she had been listening to Rich Mullins' "Hold Me Jesus" as she mourned the loss of her friend. She thanked me for introducing her to his music and for encouraging her to listen to Christian music AND for buying it for her.

I don't know how often you receive follow-up thank yous this many years later, but I wanted you to know that I believe your challenge changed our family. I certainly would not have bought Anna harmful music and we would have limited her ability to listen to it in our home, which likely would have been a source of strife and tension. But it is doubtful that I would have taken the positive approach of buying as much of the Christian music as Anna wanted.

Thanks, Al.

Chris Luketic

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