Modern worship

I've come to a realization over the last couple of days that there is a gaping hole in the current landscape of artists pelting us with Christ-centered material... Very little of it is applicable for corporate worship. Ok enough big words, what I mean is that as a Worship leader (who considers himself to be more progressive and "modern/alt-rock'ish" in nature) theres a pathetic selection of music out there relative to other sub-genres in the big bucket of "Christian music". I think the space is smaller then most worship leaders realize and is dominated by a couple of bands.

To clarify, the space I'm referring to is the modern alt/punk/rock genre that people predominately between the ages of 15 and 25 listen to (almost exclusively) and adventurous 30+ year olds get excited to hear without calling it their favorite type of music. Saying alt-rock or punk may conjure images of fast moving guitars, etc but it can be slower and still have that same feel so I'm not scoping my observation by tempo. My observation as of late has been that there are very-very-very few songs in this space that can really be used as "worship" material. I listen to my 16 year old sister listen to music and there's some great stuff but it's all abstract and story like and not really singable in a worship service. I love it and find myself wishing I could do that one so I give it another listen then realize that no, it's great music but won't work come Sunday.

I should back up further too and say that my criteria for considering something for a typical Sunday is that it must lead people quickly and directly to worship. I've found in my own experience that if people are sitting there trying to find meaning and relation to an inspiring story-song then their attention drifts to their own relation to the song and away from God. That or 50% of the people get it, think it's cool but don't really sing it, and the other 50% of the group thinks "Dang my coffee's empty and I don't really get this song anyways". In other words unless it's clearly about/to/for God and easily singable (not 127 miles per hour) then it really just gets in the way and directs attention to the worship team instead of where it should be. It becomes a concert. I'll still do these songs from time to time but only if there's a purpose. Then it's usually the last song that ties in with a specific message. At that point I'm acknowledging that we're bringing people from a direct worship to a more thoughtful contemplative transition, blah blah blah, anyway...

So back to the point... We're lacking a lot of material that appeals to EVERYONE, including the up-and-coming in our midst. Any band that starts capitalizing on this and doing it well stands a good chance of being the next ubiquitous name in worship music not to mention probably having a lot of fun for a very long time. As for me it just tells me I need to finish one of the 20 projects spinning around in my head and play it for my sister.