Oh Lord have mercy
Oh Lord have mercy
Oh Christ have mercy
Have mercy
Oh Christ have mercy
Oh Christ have mercy
Jesus have mercy
Oh have mercy
Oh God have mercy
Oh God have mercy
Jesus have mercy
Oh have mercy, mercy
Oh my God what have I done
Oh my God what have I done
What have I done
Oh Lord have mercy
Oh Lord have mercy
Oh Christ have mercy
Have mercy
Oh we will bend and break
In such a fragile state
We won’t be here long
No, we won’t be here long
Kyrie eleison
The one who I’ve searched for
For so long has come
With open arms
Today is the day of glory
Today is the day I’m home
Oh day, what a day
Oh day, I’m yours
Oh day of resurrection
You come and find me, find me and I
Oh I come alive
Oh I come alive
What can I do but offer my life
And I come alive
Oh I come alive
Again
Today is the day I rise like the dawn
Up out of death
To a Son, to a Son
Oh day, what a day
Oh day, I’m yours
Oh day of resurrection
You come and find me, find me and I
Oh I come alive
Oh I come alive
What can I do but offer my life
And I come alive
Oh I come alive
Beat the drum and say no more
The heart and mind and soul have flown
Oh what am I to do
Oh what am I to do
Beat the drum and say no more
Drift away with you my love
Oh what am I to do
Oh what am I to do
But surrender
To you
You come and find me, find me and I
Oh I come alive
Oh I come alive
What can I do but offer my life
And I come alive
Oh I come alive
Oh great God give us rest
We’re all worn thin from all of this
At the end of our hope with nothing left
Oh great God give us rest
Oh great God do your best
Have you seen this place it’s all a mess
And I’ve done my part to well i guess
Oh great God do your best
Could you take a song and make it thine
From a crooked heart twisted up like mine
Would you open up Heaven’s glory light
Shine on in and give these dead bones life
Oh shine on in and give these dead bones life
Let it shine, let it shine
On and on, on and on, come to life
Former Superbowl MVP and devout Christian Kurt Warner, remarked in a recent interview that Tim Tebow take it easy with all the God stuff every time. Speaking to the Arizona Republic, Warner said,
“You can’t help but cheer for a guy like that, but I’d tell him, ‘Put down the boldness in regards to the words, and keep living the way you’re living. Let your teammates do the talking for you. Let them cheer on your testimony.’
“I know what he’s going through, and I know what he wants to accomplish, but I don’t want anybody to become calloused toward Tim because they don’t understand him, or are not fully aware of who he is. And you’re starting to see that a little bit.”
Since officially becoming a starter in the NFL Tebow has gotten known for his praying on the sidelines, his frequent references to Jesus in interviews, and praying with players from opposing teams after games. While many Christians laud Tim for his bold stance, many are questioning the wisdom of this approach.
But Warner’s advice to Tebow is to limit that outward expression of religion on the field to avoid alienating coaches, players and fans and instead the right time to share his message.
“There’s almost a faith cliche, where (athletes) come out and say, ‘I want to thank my Lord and savior,’ Warner told the Republic. “As soon as you say that, the guard goes up, the walls go up, and I came to realize you have to be more strategic.
“The greatest impact you can have on people is never what you say, but how you live…. You set the standard with your actions. The words can come after.”
What do you think of Warner’s comments? Is he correct or mistaken on what Tebow’s doing?
Tim Tebow prays with members of both teams after their overtime win against the San Diego Chargers.
Matt Redman
“Don’t let your life give evidence against your tongue. Sing with your voices… sing also with your conduct.” St Augustine
Canadian Christian band trio, High Valley, won 5 big awards at the recent GMA Covenant Awards in Canada. High Valley won five categories that included: Group of the Year, Artist of the Year, Country/Bluegrass Song of the Year (“The Father’s Love”), Country/Bluegrass Album of the Year (High Valley), and Video of the Year (“A Father’s Love”).
“I’m so proud of High Valley and the Covenant awards they won recently,” says Jeff Berry, manager, Eaglemont Entertainment. “They are one of the hardest working artists out there and I’m proud to be on their team. Though they have had great success with four top 20 country singles in Canada this past year, they spent many of their early days singing in churches so it’s very special that the GMA community would honor them in this way.
High Valley signed with Centricity Music in 2007, and the group is comprised of three brothers: Brad Rempel (lead singer/guitarist), Curtis Rempel (background vocals/mandolin), and Bryan Rempel (background vocals/bass), who hail from Alberta, Canada. Within the last year, Brad has moved to Nashville with his wife and two children and is becoming a well-known songwriter in the country music community, having co-written with such high-profile writers as Rivers Rutherford (“When I Get To Where I’m Going,” “Real Good Man”) and Casey Beathard (“No Shirt, No Shoes, No Problems,” “Right Where I Need to Be”). High Valley’s video for “On The Combine” just went into rotation at CMT Pure Country and is part of the fan voting for Pure 12-Pack Countdown each week. The group has garnered quite a loyal fan following in Canada, and now also in the states, where they have played festivals/concerts with such superstars as Carrie Underwood, Reba McEntire, and Michael W. Smith. They played their first concert at CMA Music Fest last year on the Hard Rock outdoor stage to a tremendous response from the crowd.
#Greatness is a process.If your willing to go through the lows and highs to get there is what separates us from being good & being #Great
According to a piece in Publishers Weekly, News Corp. is paying $200 million for Thomas Nelson, the parent company of HarperCollins, which was disclosed in its quarterly filing on Friday. In 2006, InterMedia paid $473 million for the publisher, which had sales of $253 million at the time.
The filing reiterated News Corp. still hopes to complete the purchase before the end of the year, following regulatory approval and the completion of other closing procedures.
Centricity Music’s high-profile band, Downhere, won two major categories during the recent GMA Covenant Awards in Canada. The group won Song of the Year (“Let Me Rediscover You”) and Pop/ Contemporary Album of the Year (Two At A Time). Two At A Time was released in the summer of 2010 and had two new songs plus B-sides and demos in order to satisfy the high demand for new Downhere music between albums. Downhere’s current project, On The Altar Of Love, released in late August and as a result didn’t qualify for this year’s awards.
“It is such a thrill when artists we have been developing and working with get the recognition they deserve,” states Steve Ford, VP of marketing, Centricity Music. “To have Downhere continue to garner the accolades from their Canadian fans is overwhelming.”
Downhere continues to generate tremendous reviews for their projects, with JesusFreakHideout.com calling On The Altar Of Love “one of the best releases of the year.” The band is currently on The Called To Love Tour with labelmates Jason Gray and Aaron Shust, which ends Nov. 13 in North Carolina. Downhere will launch their highly anticipated How Many KingsChristmas tour on Dec. 1 in Overland Park, KS. At the same time, co-lead singer Marc Martel has become a music sensation with his Queen Extravaganza video audition that generated more than 4 million hits. It led to an appearance on the Ellen Show, winning the MTV O Awards 2011 for Best Fan Cover and Queen drummer Roger Taylor announcing in a FOX News interview that Martel “is an extraordinarily good singer.” The fan voting process begins Nov. 14 at www.queenextravaganza.com and concludes Nov. 25. Winners for the Queen Extravaganza Live Tour will be announced in December.
When you are in a touring band, there is a lot of time that is spent waiting. Waiting to board a plane, waiting for the bus to arrive at the venue, waiting for sound check…etc One of the many games that people in our band have implemented now and then to fill the waiting time is a little game we might call the “Christian or secular” game. Basically the game is simply playing a very short clip of music and having someone guess whether it is “Christian” or “secular” music. The person who is most accurate with his or her guesses is the winner.
This is surprisingly easy to do.
Especially when you talk about radio stations. It is easy for me to spot a Christian music radio station within about 3 seconds. Far before any Christian lingo is uttered to make it clear.
It’s weird. I’m always trying to figure out what it is that makes something sound like Christian music, because there’s definitely something… I’d love to get some of your thoughts about it. But for me (and I’m actually one of the better players of the game if I must say so myself), I find something very disingenuous about most Christian music. This is something I can simply feel at a gut level. If I hear a song, and I hear any sort of pretending or false emotion, that’s a good first indicator. I’m really not trying to throw mud here, I’m being honest at how I am good at this game. Christian music often has a sheen to it that other music doesn’t have. Some pop and country music has a similar sheen, but the Christian sheen is like a blander sheen somehow.
The vocals are always really hot in the mix because for Christian music, the words are the most important part. That’s kind of similar to country though as well, so you have to be careful there. Country has some of the same Nashville tones, players, and compression styles that Christian music has most of the time, but the twang is just a little deeper with the country side of things. There’s also a little more “humanness” or “soul” in Country to my ears.
The false emotion that I’m talking about might be familiar to some of you. There’s just something more believable about the whispery sexy voice that is singing about sex on the mainstream radio station than the voice that copies that style of singing while putting lyrics in about being in the arms of Jesus. And it’s really not even the style or the lyric that is the problem to me, it’s the fact that I don’t believe that the singer is feeling the kind of emotions in singing that lyric that would lead to that style of singing. It’s that same kind of creep out that you feel when somebody gives a really loud fake laugh. It’s just weird and uncomfortable feeling.
An example of this would be a song that somebody sent us recently of an older song of mine called “Wrap Me In Your Arms.” The lyric is a very intimate and soft sort of lyric. “Take me to that place where I can be with you, you can make me like you…etc” This person did a hardcore/screamo version of this song. Not just like getting a little loud, I mean full out death metal sounding, demon-voiced screaming. It was so freaking weird mostly because it seemed so disingenuous. You would never speak such gentle words to someone you loved by screaming in their face like you were possessed by Beelzebub. That’s an extreme example, but it’s very typical of the basic premise of most Christian music to me, which is–use whatever musical style you wish as a medium to communicate your message. It’s not about the art, it’s about the message. So use whatever tools and mediums you have at your fingertips to do so. If you want to reach emo kids, then sing emo music but with Jesus language. The problem with this is that emo music is not simply reducible to certain sounding tones and chords. There are emotions and attitudes of different genres of music that are the soul of the music. You can’t remove the anger from screamo and have it still be screamo. It’s the soul of that music, whether that soul is good or evil is not the point, simply that it is the soul. So when you remove the soul from music and transplant the body parts (chord changes, instrumentation, dress, lights, and everything but the soul…) and parade it around with some more “positive” lyrics posing as Christian music, then what you have is a musical zombie.
It looks like a human.. It eats like a human… It still walks and makes noise and resembles a human, but it’s not. It’s a zombie. It has no soul. It just uses it’s human body for its own purposes.
This is what I initially feel when I play the “Christian or secular” game. I look into its eyes, and I perceive whether the thing has a soul or not. And 9 times out of ten, I can do it very quickly and efficiently.
Why is this like this? I don’t know, and it makes me very sad. I don’t hate all Christian music. There are a few artists that I know in the Christian industry that are really trying to transcend the inherent limitations and zombying effect of the industry. But the industry as a whole is broken, friends. We call it Christian, but it’s certainly not based in Christianity. It is based on marketing. That’s it. I wish I could tell you otherwise, but it wouldn’t be true.
Example:
We just were part of one of the biggest tours of the fall in the Christian music industry. To my knowledge, every night but one night was sold out, and that’s because they added a second show in the same city kind of last minute. The interesting thing about this tour was that it was pretty much in all mainstream venues. Clubs, theatres…etc It was awesome.
But you know what made me sad? That empty bar every night.
Even though these shows were all sold out, I would imagine that the bartenders at all those clubs were like “oh man, Christian night… that means no tips for me.”
Sometimes the promoters would just buy out the bar so there wouldn’t be any liquor sales at all.
I’m not saying that I wished that everybody was getting hammered at the show… But for crying out loud, buy one beer. Or heck, if you don’t drink beer, buy a Coke.
But here’s what is super weird about this situation. I bet you if you took all of those Christians that came to the shows and split them up and had them go to “secular” shows, A LOT of them would have bought a drink. It’s the fact that there is this assumption among all of the Christians there that having a drink at a Christian event is sort of a questionable thing to do.
Why is this?
It’s certainly not because of the Bible. Jesus’ first miracle was turning water into wine at a wedding. And not just any wine. The kind of wine that made people think they saved the very best wine until the end. And you preachers who pervert the scriptures with your own extremely biased interpretations, here’s a news flash, people at parties don’t think the best wine is non-alcoholic grape juice. Religious people didn’t call Jesus “a glutton and a drunkard” because he ate communion loafers and grape juice all of the time.
Sheesh. It’s just so ridiculous to me.
And here’s the thing. I don’t even drink very much. I’ve never really been drunk, and I’m not advocating that people should just be foolish with their drinking or eating habits. But for crying out loud, this whole spiritualizing of alcohol being an inherently bad thing is so annoying. It’s mostly just an American thing, by the way (as well as places where America has exported these ideas with our missionaries). If you go most other places in the world, or anywhere else in history for that matter, Christians drink alcohol. Ever heard of a little thing called Communion? You know, the bread and the wine? That’s a pretty big deal in Christianity. Jesus didn’t pour out a cup of grape juice.
Man alive.
You know what the alcohol thing is based on? You ready for this? You sure?
Money.
Old people are the people that give the most money to Christian organizations like religious media outlets. And old people grew up in a time where alcohol was seen as a taboo social reality. Just like dancing or playing cards or “mixed bathing” (swimming). It’s based in an era of prohibition. These are old American values that we’re dealing with, not Christian values. It’s the old American people that have money that the Christian organizations do not want to offend. So they create an environment where drinking is seen as evil. If you want to start a television ministry, you can’t have it known to your donors that your staff likes to go out for drinks after work. So you implement rules for them. Do you know how common this is? I have friends that have lost their jobs over crap like this.
Do you see the irony of this? If you had been a disciple of Jesus and drank some of the wine of his first recorded miracle with him, you would be fired from a lot of the churches in this country. Shame on us.
So the point? (I haven’t forgotten) The point is that the industry that labels things as Christian and sells them to you has far more to do with marketing then Christianity. They are marketing to the mixed bag of values that has created the Evangelical Christian subculture. It’s a mix of some historically Christian values, some American values, and a whole lot of cultural boundary markers that set “us” apart from “them.” This sort of system makes us feel safe and right, and it makes some of its gatekeepers very wealthy and powerful.
The effect is then the filtering down of this subculture to people that don’t necessarily want to think through the viability of every one of these boundary markers, but in their simple desire to belong to what they consider the good guys, they acquiesce to the rules handed to them. At least in public. As the joke goes, why do you take two Baptists with you when you go fishing? Because if you only bring one, he’ll drink all your beer.
Here are some of the actual effects of this subculture though.
1. It makes us dishonest
When the foundation of the market and music you are trying to make is pretense, it’s very hard to be honest and successful. There is an unspoken assumption from most of us that we really want the people on the stage or on the book or album cover or on the radio need to have it together more than we do. Because we are messed up, we need them to be a sort of savior and hope for us. The result of this is that it’s often the people who are really good at pretending that they have it all together that make it to the stage and the book or album cover and the radio stations.
So Christians that would normally buy a beer don’t because they are in the Christian concert. Christian bands that smoke (which a lot of them if not most of them do, including some of my players) have to duck into back alleys as to not offend anybody. I think smoking is stupid. But I think it’s stupid because it smells bad and it kills you. I don’t use my religion to judge other people about it.
Rather than just being honest about where we are at and what we all struggle with though, we look to our gatekeepers to believe and live morally vicariously for us. That way we feel better about being part of the system of good, and the moral brokenness in our own lives is repressed like the fear of a child with her security blanket.
This sort of dishonesty is at the heart of much of what I and so many others find so repulsive about much of modern American Christendom
2. It kills creativity
I had a conversation with John Mark McMillan last night about something that I think is very interesting. By the way, I consider John Mark to be one of the ones I consider to be making a valiant effort in transcending some of these imposed limitations in this industry. But he mentioned to me how strange it is that people keep calling his new album “creative.” That word is actually one of the most used words when people describe our music as well. In fact, I bet some of you reading this have described as such. Here’s the weird thing about this…
Why do you find it necessary to say that?
Do you notice that nobody really uses that word about other types of music? I just was perusing some Itunes user reviews to see if this holds up. I checked John Mark and mine, and “creativity” is very often found. But it’s not often found in reviews of bands like Sigur Ros, Bon Iver, Radiohead, Sufjan Stevens or other artists who are certainly very “creative.”
Nobody goes to an art gallery and says, “boy, that painting is so creative.” Why? Because it’s art! Of course it’s creative! Why else would it be there? It’s very nature is creativity. Or like Lisa pointed out to me today, “that would be like saying, I love your house, it’s so architectural.”
But when someone in the Christian industry actually takes their art seriously, everybody is like “holy crap, listen to how creative it is!”
It’s like a person that’s been living among zombies for years seeing an actual human being and exclaiming, “wow, look at how clean her face is! She doesn’t even have any blood on it or anything!”
I’m not slamming the people that describe our music as creative. I appreciate the kindness that’s behind the words, but it does make me sad that the idea of creativity is so foreign to our industry that we have to actually point it out when someone actually sees the art as art and not zombie propaganda. Ok, that might have been a little much. But I like the sentence so I’ll leave it.
So that’s why I’m good at the Christian or secular game. I’ve seen behind the curtain, and I know the little man that’s pulling the levers, and he’s not impressive. I recognize his voice at this point, and it’s all over religious media.
Why am I writing this blog?
Some of you have commented in the past when I’ve been critical of the Christian music industry that I’m being hypocritical by still being a part of it. I don’t see it that way. I actually love a lot of the individual people in the industry. There really are some amazing people in it, many of who share my weariness about the way things have been. And I also love you guys. I love our fans. I love the people that we get to meet and I love being able to get our music to them. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try our best to purify the systems that we are part of. I just want to be honest about what I see and call us to find better ways of doing things.
Two quick recommendations and I’ll stop this blog that has already gone on WAY too long:
Consumers: I would suggest that you actively support those artists that you love that the industry hasn’t necessarily bought into. The cards are stacked against people that actually want to do honest creative art in this industry, and the people that try really need your direct help and support to have any chance. For us, we’ve had one guy for instance that has been sending us a check every month for years because he appreciates what we are trying to do. Do you know how much that one family has helped us stay encouraged? Even if it’s not a huge amount of money or anything, just having people behind you in this sort of battle is really helpful.
Industry people: Stop being so afraid. I know you want things to be different than they are as well. I know you want creativity to be valued as much as “Becky” analysis, but we need some of you to have some balls and make some decisions based on that value system. Yes money matters. But so does beauty. Art actually makes a difference in the world. Have the courage to actually make decisions on values and not simply on past numbers and trends. And for crying out loud, if it really is good, the numbers will follow eventually anyway.
Artists: Take heart. I think the tides may be turning. The recent attention and success of our band speaks to it I think. People are growing weary of the status quo. The machine and its sheen have seen its strongest days. So I encourage you as well to not be afraid. Your art is worth making even if the industry around you isn’t quite ready for it yet. Make it and let them catch up with you. Your art is sacred. Be honest. Be brave. And don’t let the markets or the industry be the final filter on your art, let your heart do that. Ok that’s all from me tonight.
Francis Chan, pastor and best-selling author of Crazy Love and Forgotten God, talked about his own experience as a Christian college student during Monday’s convocation in his first visit to Liberty University.
Chan’s message was about living biblically, while staying culturally relevant, to effectively make disciples for Christ. He reflected on his time as a student at a Christian college in California, saying his five years there were some of the worst in his life in terms of living out his faith.
“I was doing a lot of Christian things, but I didn’t have the intimacy with God that I have today,” Chan said.
He spoke about his struggle with hypocrisy because he was surrounded in a Christian culture that fueled complacency rather than a faith-driven lifestyle. During this time he said he “lacked peace” because he was comfortable in going through the motions.
“I’m at the most peace when I’m living by faith,” he said. “I want to look like a guy that walked out of the Bible, not one who walked out of the Bible belt.”
He explained that many times people think Christians are “weird” and “socially awkward” because they lack relevancy to the latest trends and relationship building that is vital to making disciples.
Chan reminded students “to work hard to stay in the world”—engaging the world without compromising.
He encouraged students to follow the example of the apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 9:19-23, making disciples but not being consumed by the Christian “culture.”
“[We must] be able to look at someone in the eye and tell them about what’s most important to us,” he said.
Chan is a founding pastor of Cornerstone Church in Simi, Calif. After recently stepping down as pastor, he is pursuing church planting work in San Francisco where he resides with his wife, Lisa, and their five children. He speaks at several conferences a year.
Ron Luce, the founder and president of Teen Mania Ministries, has publicly criticized cable news network MSNBC in recent weeks for the recent airing of its documentary “Mind Over Mania” wherein the network explores some of the inner workings and allegations of former Teen Mania Honor Academy alumni. Response to the documentary from past members about the portrayal of the ministry on TV has drawn both fierce criticism and praise. Clearly there is a huge difference in opinion between past members about the impact of Teen Mania’s Honor Academy.
Luce accused the station of using misleading sound bites and clips of events to cast an inaccurate and clearly negatively biased view of the Texas-based ministry. Saying, also that the network “lied to” and intentionally mislead Teen Mania staff and students about the goal of the documentary in order to gain access to interviews.
MSNBC has since fired back at Luce and Teen Mania, saying all allegations against their practices and documentary are false and unfounded. “MSNBC strongly disagrees with Mr. Luce’s characterization that what was broadcast in Mind Over Mania was inaccurate. MSNBC did not approach Mr. Luce and his group under false pretenses and we have shared those thoughts with Mr. Luce,” the network was quoted as saying. The documentary features Honor Academy alumni who say the program was more damaging than positive.
Viewer responses to the documentary on social networking sites have been divided and conflicted. With some praising the documentary and others lamenting what they view as obvious media bias. Teen Mania, has also released a statement saying, they “welcome any question of our motives and our methods in communicating the gospel of Jesus Christ and are dedicated to using feedback to create a better experience for the young people we serve, but MSNBC’s Mind Over Mania segment ultimately takes issue with the fact that many of the Biblical tenets celebrated in Christianity are at odds with our current culture.”
The debate continues.
David M. Edwards’ song, “Rising Up To Heaven,” was chosen to be the theme song of Regent University’s Global Day Of Worship, which is taking place this Friday, Nov. 11, 2011. The single hits INSPO radio for a sneak peak on Friday.
“I’m honored to be able to share new music from Rising Up To Heavenwith a global audience,” said Edwards, recording artist, creative director of the International Center for Worship and artist-in-residence at Regent University. “It is an exciting day for Regent University to host many talented worship artists gathered together for a common goal – to praise and lift up the name of Jesus Christ.”
The four-track EP is released by Maranatha! Music and produced by Phil Sillas. Rising Up To Heaven will be officially released digitally on Nov. 22, 2011.
“Maranatha! Music is thrilled to partner with Regent University for the Global Day of Worship, and we are delighted to work with David on his new project, Rising Up To Heaven,” said Randy Alward, president of Maranatha! Music. “He is a gifted songwriter and worship leader and has a unique ability to engage an audience of worshippers.”
The Global Day of Worship is a 24-hour worship event that takes place on Friday Nov. 11, 2011, at Regent University in Virginia Beach, VA. Worship artists from across the country and around the globe will gather for worship and the launch of Regent University’s new International Center for Worship. Edwards will perform along with Andrae’ Crouch, Aaron Keyes, Le’Andria Johnson, MANIFEST, Adlan Cruz, Sillas, and others.
Edwards released “Here With You” earlier this year through Maranatha! Music and EMI CMG Distribution. Edwards is the author of Worship 365: The Power of a Worshiping Life and the Worship 365 events. He is a columnist for Rev! Magazine and a popular conference speaker.
For more information on David M. Edwards, visitwww.davidmedwards.com.
For more information on Maranatha! Music, go towww.maranathamusic.com.
For more information on the Global Day of Worship, visitwww.globaldayofworship.com.
The Tim Tebow Foundation and CURE International are building a children’s hospital in the Philippines’s Davao City.
Dubbed the Tebow CURE Hospital, the surgical facility will offer 30 beds and focus primarily on orthopedics. Ground will break in January and the hospital is expected to open its doors in mid-2013. The project marks the first effort in a partnership announced in October.
Choosing the Philippines for the first Tebow-CURE hospital is no coincidence. Tebow, the starting quarterback for the Denver Broncos and a Heisman Trophy winner at the University of Florida, was born there.
“I was born in the Philippines and my parents have been missionaries to that area since 1985. The Philippines have always had a special place in my heart,” Tebow says. “I’m excited to be a part of this hospital that will bring healing to thousands of children who would not otherwise have access to care.”
The hospital, which is CURE’s first in the Philippines and 12th worldwide, will be on the island of Mindanao, a particularly poor area of the Philippines.
“Throughout the world, 80 million children suffer every day with crippling conditions like clubfoot and spine deformities, conditions that are correctable with surgery,” says Dr. Scott Harrison, the founder and president of CURE International. “We feel blessed that the Tim Tebow Foundation has chosen to partner with us to bring first-world quality care and spiritual healing to the children of the Philippines.”
The hospital will house a Timmy’s Playroom, which will provide faith, hope and love to children before and after their surgeries. It will be the Tim Tebow Foundation’s first international playroom.
The construction project is expected to cost $3 million, with donors from CURE and the Tebow Foundation sharing the costs. About one-third of the children treated at the hospital are expected to be charity cases.
San Francisco’s Tenderloin district houses 37,000 people in 586 apartment buildings—all in just one square mile. San Francisco City Impact dreams of planting churches in those apartment buildings—in every single one of them.
Francis Chan, author of Crazy Love and former pastor of Cornerstone Community Church, is working with the team, called Adopt a Building. SFCI is on mission to “holistically heal and transform” the San Francisco community through urgent relief works and preventive works.
The urgent relief works provide food, clothing, healing housing and rescuing for those in crisis; the preventive works of educating, counseling, training and spiritual discipleship exist to make sure the cycles of poverty and despair are not repeated.
The Adopt a Building method will pick an apartment building and assemble a prayer team to pray for those residents. Then a “grace team” will go door to door, visiting each unit in the building.
The grace team will ask residents if there is anything they need—food, medical or school supplies, prayer. The grace team members are there to say, “We don’t want anything from you, we just want to give,” Francis Chan explains.
The grace team will compile a list of needs and prayers for residents and return the next week to deliver what was requested. This allows the teams to continue conversation they started the week before and ask if prayer requests were answered.
Chan says if a residents’ prayer requests are answered, the grace team can ask if they’d like to know about God. The ministry would then bring in a discipleship team, which teach the residents how to study the Bible and know God for themselves.
“Our ultimate goal is that we would train some of these people and teach these people so well that eventually there would be a leader in that building who would gather the other believers together and even be the pastor of that apartment building,” Chan explains. “And our goal is to go to every single building and plant a church.
“I know that sounds a little far-fetched or maybe crazy to you, but we believe it can be done and we believe this is something God wants to do.”
Christian Huang, operations director for Adopt a Building, says the team will use a discipleship curriculum Chan is working on to train the pastors.
The ministry had a launch meeting Sunday night with 65 volunteers. They are currently working in four buildings, but hoping to add more in the near future.
“We believe God is gonna answer the prayers of his people and He’s gonna show His power,” Chan says. “We believe for His church to be established down here.”
WATCH:
An MSNBC documentary about Teen Mania Ministries suggests the Christian youth organization Ron and Katie Luce launched in 1984 may be a cult.
Teen Mania Ministries has sent more than 67,000 teens on mission trips with its Global Expeditions arm. More than 6,000 have participated in the Honor Academy, a yearlong internship for high school graduates and young adults to provide leadership training and present opportunities to grow in God. And more than 1 million have attended Acquire the Fire Youth rallies. Hundreds of thousands of teens have accepted Christ through Teen Mania programs.
Nevertheless, five former interns for Teen Mania say the ministry caused them harm. There is also a group of former Honor Academy interns that are making claims of spiritual abuse.
Awaken Generation sat down with Ron Luce to discuss the MSNBC documentary, called “Mind Over Mania,” which portrays Teen Mania as a mind-controlling cultish group. Luce says MSNBC’s broadcast is not only an attack against Teen Mania, but an attack against Bible-based Christianity.
Why did you agree to the interview with MSNBC?
Luce: The producers came to us under false pretenses about four months ago. They said they were doing a series on ministries in America. They wanted to interview us about youth ministry. We found out the day after the interview that a blogger group led by a girl who had a bad experience in our Honors Academy 12 years ago put them up to this. The documentary featured five girls who had been a part of our Honor Academy.
My heart goes out to these girls. You can tell that they are really hurting. We have met with most of them over and over again over the years trying to assuage them and love on them and help them walk through the challenges they face. We’ve asked them to forgive us for anything we’ve done to hurt them while they were interns. We are not a perfect organization, but we seek to improve ourselves and get better. They were taken advantage of by this MSNBC group for the sake of sensationalizing a story and generating revenue.
What did the documentary misrepresent about Teen Mania?
Luce: The program offered massive distortion and took things out of context. We used to do a weekend military-esque Navy Seals for God program, where we taught interns how they can endure more than they think they can.
MSNBC showed kids crawling through the mud and crying. They show a close-up where it looks like some of the kids are about to eat worms. This was in the day and age when Fear Factor was a huge sensation and kids really wanted that kind of raw challenge. No one was forced to eat worms, and these worms were organically grown for human consumption. So it seems MSNBC intentionally misled viewers by painting a picture of abuse.
For MSNBC to clearly imply that Teen Mania is negatively impacting the youth who come through our programs is completely untrue and unfair. But we have to consider the source. Christians can’t just believe what the furthest left-leaning network in the entire country is saying about a Christian ministry. We need to be careful and ask thoughtful questions about what MSNBC is airing.
MSNBC suggested Teen Mania uses mind control. Can you address that?
Luce: The producers have these self-appointed cult experts and walk the girls through eight points of how you can tell if mind control is being used. The eight points actually come from a booklet that was published about Chinese mind control, which has been totally debunked by all of psychologists and psychiatrists. They are using that as the standard of whether or not these girls have been under mind control.
What did Teen Mania do that was painted as mind control?
Luce: The producers suggest that if we insist on purity, then that’s mind control. But purity is all through the Bible. The points of contention that MSNBC called us out on have nothing to do with practices unique to Teen Mania. It’s more about what Scripture says we as Christians should be doing. This broadcast is contending and confronting core Christian beliefs. They are confronting every Bible-believing church in the country. These are things we all believe.
If MSNBC can show a program like this and get some believers to agree that this is mind control, they start softening our resolve to live scripturally and take the Bible for what it intends to communicate and live it. The program purports to be about Teen Mania but the case it makes is against the whole of the Body of Christ that believes the Bible.
Are you getting any feedback from supporters?
Luce: We have been overwhelmed with intern alumni who are telling us how God changed their life through our program. These five girls are not representative of the literally thousands that are out there changing the world. They are making a difference. They are missionaries around the world. They are executives of corporations. They are entrepreneurs and they are thriving in their faith. But some are questioning Teen Mania now because they’ve seen this program. But consider the source and how they’ve taken everything out of context.
Why do you think you are getting this attack?
Luce: We just started our new Acquire the Fire tour. We have events that are sold out across the country. This is a distraction the enemy is trying to put in our path and other people’s path.
What have you learned from this experience?
Luce: I’ve been interviewed by some of the toughest people in the media, like Christiane Amanpour from CNN. I’ve been on Nightline. I’ve been on O’Reilly. Secular media is not a new thing and secular media has dug and interviewed me with scrutiny. They’ve come to our campus. When it’s fair journalism, the stories turn out to be positive because they are really looking at the facts. What kind of hit us unknowingly is how blatantly biased MSNBC would be. In retrospect we should have known better. That’s their DNA.
What can Christians who believe in your ministry do to help?
Luce: Get on the blogosphere any place you are convicted and tell the story of how your kids were involved in Acquire the Fire or one of our missions trips or our Honor Academy and how God used it to change their lives. Post it all over the place so people from various streams can see that the truth. We are going to be releasing our own documentary in the next few days that gives context and tells the story from kids who have had a positive experience.
Word Entertainment, Warner Music Groups’ Christian music division, has been celebrating the storied label’s 60th anniversary of making Christian music this year. This past Wednesday, Nov. 2, Word Entertainment staff and executives threw a special anniversary celebration in Waco, TX, home of the label’s origin, which was founded by Baylor University graduate Jarrell McCraken in 1951. On hand for the celebration included members of the McCracken family as well as Waco Mayor Jim Bush; Chairman of Word Entertainment Mike Curb; Warner Music Nashville President & CEO John Esposito; Word’s first A&R Director and artist, Kurt Kaiser; Word Entertainment President & CEO Rod Riley; and Baylor University President Ken Starr. The event was attending by many Word employees both past and present with a special commemorative plaque presentation to the McCracken Family and Baylor University on behalf of Word Entertainment. Mayor Bush also presented a proclamation, naming Nov. 2 as “Word Day” in Waco, TX. The night concluded with an outdoor concert featuring Word Entertainment’s Dove Award-winning artists Chris August and Sidewalk Prophets on the Baylor campus. To view the historical video of Word Entertainment, visit here.
In honor of the label’s anniversary, Word Entertainment recently released a 3-CD compilation featuring a 51-song collection with a bonus excerpt from the company’s original recording, entitled, Word: Six Decades Of Hits. The anthology spans 60 years of great music that has come out of this landmark label featuring legendary artists such as Amy Grant, Sandi Patty, Point of Grace, Jaci Velasquez, and new breakthrough artists such as Francesca Battistelli, Chris August, and Sidewalk Prophets.
For further information on Word Entertainment and the 60th anniversary celebrations, visit www.WordLabelGroup.com.
Roman, Inc., a leader in the giftware industry, signed a licensing agreement with lovethislife debuting January 2012, to design and distribute everyday gift product.
In 2012, Roman’s lovethislife® line will offer an assortment of gift products that remind us to celebrate the moment. New offerings include: wall plaques, ornaments, jewelry, frames, and mugs, to name a few.
“Roman has been part of a long emerging trend of verse and/or message-related products. lovethislife, though completely different for Roman, falls right into this trend where the inspiring messages are about ‘you and your path in life.’ Messages are embedded into ‘swag’ organic art placed on updated functional items. This brand hit the market eight years ago with some heavy hitter celebrities making the emotional connection, which spurred its popularity. The logo icon is subtle, but for lovethislifers, easily recognized. The brand sees no age limit and is marketed to young and old at heart,” says Marje Reed, director of product development.
lovethislife originated as the name of musician/producer David Culiner’s one-man Malibu-based band until he realized the parameters of what constitutes a ‘band’ could be expanded to invite creators from all fields to adapt their passions and offerings to the spirit of ‘lovethislife.’ lovethislife as a lifestyle brand launched January 2003 via women and men’s apparel to measure viability of lovethislife’s appeal & resonance for future goods & services. The premium-priced apparel line continues to flourish and serve as the primary revenue stream and brand extension for lovethislife. The passion for writing and producing music remains the core essence of lovethislife.
Two B&H Publishing Group authors have won USA “Best Books 2011” Awards from USA Book News, the premiere online magazine and review Web site for mainstream and independent publishing houses.
Candace Cameron Bure, who starred for eight seasons in ABC television’sFull House and is now a featured cast member of ABC Family’s Make It or Break It, received her award in the Women’s Health category forReshaping It All: Motivation for Physical and Spiritual Fitness. Also a New York Times best seller, the book is a candid account of how faith ultimately reshaped her life, giving her true freedom from food addiction.
James L. Rubart took the Fiction: Visionary category for his widely acclaimed debut novel Rooms about a young software tycoon who inherits a coastal Oregon home that is really God’s physical manifestation of his soul. Rooms also won an RT Book Reviews Reviewers’ Choice Award.Publishers Weekly says, “(Rubart’s) premise is compelling.”
Other B&H finalists in the USA “Best Books 2011” Awards included What Women Fear by Angie Smith (Self Help: Motivational) and current New York Times best sellers The Resolution for Women by Priscilla Shirer (Women’s Issues) and The Resolution for Men by Stephen and Alex Kendrick with Randy Alcorn (Parenting/Family: General).
“We’re proud of these authors and grateful to be working with them,” says B&H VP of marketing Mary Katharine Hunt. “Their books are making a real difference in readers’ lives, and it’s an honor to be part of that.”
For a complete list of USA “Best Books 2011” Award winners, visit USAbooknews.com.
Warner Press announced that its youth fantasy fiction novel Hunter Brown and the Eye of Ends by the Miller Brothers has been awarded a bronze medal in the 2011 Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards in the category of Pre-Teen Fiction – Fantasy. With this award, all three books in The Codebearers™ Series now have received bronze medals in this category in the Moonbeam Awards.
Hunter Brown and the Eye of Ends continues the story of teenager Hunter Brown that began in Hunter Brown and the Secret of the Shadow and Hunter Brown and the Consuming Fire. In this final book of “The Codebearers” series, Hunter Brown finds that his memory is gone. Now he must fight to piece together the growing puzzle of his past under the constant surveillance of an intimidating detective, who isn’t all that he seems. But what begins as a harmless search for memories quickly leads Hunter into a deadly hunt for his missing father and a lost relic, the Eye of Ends, said to predict the end of the Author’s story.
The Miller Brothers, Christopher and Allan, combine their unique skills as authors and animators to produce stories of faith and fun for families everywhere. In addition to Hunter Brown and the Eye of Ends, their works include additional novels in “The Codebearers” series and the “Heroes of Promise” series, published by Warner Press. Growing up behind the shelves of their parents’ Christian bookstore, the Miller Brothers learned firsthand the value of faith-based stories. Founders of Lumination Studios, they live in Seattle, WA, with their families.
Baker Publishing Group and On Demand Books, the company behind the Espresso Book Machine® (EBM), have entered into an agreement to sell Baker’s list of paperback titles on the EBM “digital-to-print at retail” sales channel.
Baker is the first major Christian publisher to make available substantially their entire paperback list to the EBM network. This agreement will enable Baker to reach more readers both in the existing Christian market and in broader trade and academic bookstores that are equipped with an Espresso Book Machine.
Essentially an ATM for books, the patented EBM and its EspressNet®software system links to a vast network of content, enabling the instant distribution of books, on demand, at point of sale. With the push of a button, the technology converts a digital file into a quality paperback, in any language, with a full-color cover, in minutes. This environmentally friendly technology eliminates shipping, returns, and the pulping of unwanted books.
“We believe the Espresso Book Machine in a local bookstore offers the book-reading customer the best overall access to printed books at the time they are in a store and ready to purchase a title,” says David Lewis, executive VP, sales and marketing for Baker Publishing Group. “If the publishing community will support this technology by allowing all of their titles that fit the machine’s specifications to be printed locally, it will give the local bookstore a better opportunity to survive. This is the only way a bookstore can have hundreds of thousands of books to sell without the cost of holding all of that inventory. It allows a local bookseller to compete on selection with the on-line retailers.”
“We are delighted to announce the latest publisher to join our ever-growing Espresso Book Machine network,” says Dane Neller, CEO of On Demand Books. “Baker Publishing Group is one of the great Christian publishers, with a high-quality list of fiction and non-fiction titles that will appeal to our existing trade and academic bookstores. The inclusion of their titles also supports our expansion of EBMs in the CBA retail market. We hope Baker is the first of many religious publishers to see the great potential of the Espresso channel.
(Nashville, TN) – Multi-talented singer/songwriter, Karyn Williams has inked a recording deal with Nashville’s Inpop Records, paving the way for her first full-length album next year. She joins an impressive Inpop roster that includes Newsboys, Mat Kearney, Jaci Velasquez and more.
“I’m so excited to join the Inpop family,” said Williams. ”Christian music has had a huge impact on my life and has also played a big part in my walk with the Lord over the years. I’m honored to be able to work on this record with a company that believes in me so much.”
“She’s real and authentic,” said Andrew Patton, General Manager of Inpop Records. “She knows who she is, and has a powerful story that we can’t wait to share through her music. We were all won over by her immediate warmth, amazing songs, and her worldwide platform through Adoption that creates a ministry that few new artists start out with.”
Williams debut single and album will be released with a flurry of domestic and international appearances in the spring of 2012.
About Karyn Williams
The eldest daughter of Orlando Magic Senior Vice President and founder, Pat Williams, Karyn has been around giant hoops, giant hopes, and giant dreams for as long as she can remember. Her international family includes 19 children, fourteen of which were adopted from all over the world. She has teamed up with Holt International & the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute as an artist partner, an outspoken advocate and tireless worker on behalf of adoption and foster care. The 9-time marathoner and graduate of the University of Florida is also the author of the highly acclaimed book, The Takeaway , co-authored with her dad. (HCI 2009) She currently makes her home in Nashville, Tennessee with her husband, award winning songwriter & producer, Brian White. For more information, visit www.karynwilliams.com
About Inpop Records
Inpop Records is an independent music label based in Brentwood, Tennessee and is home to some of the best-known bands in Christian music. Distributed by EMI Christian Music Group, Inpop Records has become one of the top-selling independent labels within the industry, having established a reputation for seeking out the best artists in emerging talent and for expanding the music marketplace with sound and ideas. Inpop’s roster includes Newsboys, Mat Kearney, Jaci Velasquez, Tricia Brock, Jimmy Needham, and The Advice among others. For more information, visit inpop.com .
The 21st Anniversary Covenant House Candlelight Vigil in Times Square, sponsored by Aviva USA life and annuity company, also will feature the first-ever Covenant House CEO Solidarity Sleepout. Following the Nov. 17 vigil in Times Square, more than 40 influential leaders will be sleeping out in the shadow of the Covenant House New York Crisis Shelter in solidarity with homeless youth.
“On Nov. 17 and 18, we are going to transform Times Square and our crisis shelter into centers of hope and solidarity for homeless youth,” said Covenant House President Kevin Ryan. “Natalie Grant will light up Times Square with an inspirational performance. After the vigil, we will march back to our crisis shelter with 300 of our homeless kids and a generous group of CEOs and business leaders will sleep in cardboard boxes outside our crisis shelter.
“These leaders have selflessly decided they want to walk in our kids’ shoes and experience, if only for one night, some of what our kids go through,” said Ryan. “We will sleep out to show our support and to raise awareness that thousands of young people are struggling to survive every night on our streets.”
The vigil in Times Square begins at 6 p.m. and will feature Grant, Gospel Music Association Female Vocalist of the Year for four consecutive years (2006-2009) and the top-selling adult contemporary female solo artist in 2005, 2006 and 2008. Grant is also an outspoken advocate for victims of human trafficking. Abolition International, which Grant created in 2005, has raised a significant amount of funds and awareness to fight the trafficking of women and children for the purpose of sexual exploitation.
“We are honored to have Natalie share her incredible talent with us in Times Square,” said Ryan. “Her songs are inspirational, and she has dedicated her life to raising money and awareness for child victims of trafficking around the world.” The vigil also will feature homeless youth from Covenant House, who will share stories of their journey through homelessness to independence.
Following the vigil, Covenant House will host the CEO Solidarity Sleepout on the concrete near the shelter at 460 West 41st St. with high-ranking executives hoping to improve this corner of the world. Among those planning to sleep out are: Philip Andryc of Berens Capital Management; Brian Cashman of the New York Yankees; Bill Donahoe of Allegiance Retail Services/Foodtown; Gary Dubois of Crum & Forster/Seneca; Dave Eklund of Aeolus Reinsurance; Tom Glocer of Thomson Reuters; Jeff Kaplan of Deerfield Management; Geraldine Laybourne, co-founder of the Oxygen Network and chairman of Alloy Entertainment; Julio Alfonso Portalatin of Chartis Growth Economies; George P. Reeth of Companion Property and Casualty; Adam Silver of the NBA; and Strauss Zelnick of Zelnick Media.
“No one can do this work alone, so we appreciate Aviva USA sponsoring this vigil, which will help thousands of kids in the years to come,” said Ryan. “Our friends at ABC, NASDAQ, Reuters, and Toshiba are donating their screens for the evening in Times Square to shine a light on the problems our kids face. And, of course, the business leaders who are leaving their homes to sleep in solidarity with our kids are showing a commitment and love for our kids that will make a tremendous impact. It is all of us working together that will save more lives and give a voice to the thousands of homeless kids who are alone on the streets.”
Covenant House provides 24/7 crisis care and on-going support for homeless young people in need of a safe haven. Assistance can be found by simply calling the Covenant House NINELINE (1-800-999-9999) or visiting www.nineline.org. More information about Covenant House and resources for homeless youth can be found at www.covenanthouse.org. ?
The First Baptist Church in Euless, Texas, gave $30,000 for the second time to its members on Sunday, asking them to invest the money and support missionary work around the world with the earnings.
Pastor John Meador asked the congregation “to take that money and invest in some way as to bring a return so that you can come and give it to the Miracle,” according to the33tv.com.
The Miracle Mission is the name of the church’s fundraising program for missions. Last year, church members turned the $30,000 reverse offering into $150,000 by creatively investing the money.
“We had one man last year that got a $10 bill,” Executive Pastor Gary Phillips said. “He’s an artist, and he bought a canvas. He did a piece of art work, sold it for a thousand dollars, and brought it back and gave it to the miracle.”
“Last year, when we first did it, I had actually invited someone to church with me that particular day, and we were sitting there and she looked at me and said, ‘Y’all pass out money every Sunday?’” Tonya Bowman, a church member, was quoted as saying.
But, the money wasn’t just a free gift – it was a challenge, she added. The $30,000 was handed out in $5, $10 and $20 amounts.
The church’s “Miracle” strategy is based on Isaiah 41:20, “Everyone will see this Miracle, and understand it is the Lord…. who did it.”
With a debt of $6.5 million in 2005 and no existing plan to service the debt, First Euless was going through one of the toughest moments in the church’s then 100-year history. Interim Pastor Dr. Bill Anderson stood in the pulpit one day and asked God to do a miracle. By 2007, the debt was cleared.
As a reminder of what God has done, a stone was placed in the waterfall garden area east of the worship center for every $1,000,000 given to the Miracle, the church website says. Six large stones are currently placed in this area “as visible reminders of God’s miraculous power and blessings.”
“Today, The Miracle is about others who need a miracle in their lives, as well as ours,” the church says. “It’s about how one church, calling out to God in prayer, those same three prayers, can send money, resources, and people to share the love and message of Jesus Christ to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria… and the uttermost parts over the coming year.”
The church believes in raising money on a regular basis to support Christian work. Pastor Phillips said, “We’ve seen 130 homes rebuilt over the last three years, we’ve given away food and clothing to over 15,000 families a year over the last three years.”
Yesterday, I got to speak at the church where I grew up in Lititz, Pennsylvania. I spent my formative years there from second grade to 11th grade… It’s been 19 years.
It was like stepping into a time capsule with the familiar smells, hallways, and faces. I saw young families of old schoolmates, young adults who were just small children when I knew them, and the parents of friends who are now… gulp… elderly people. And some of those I asked about were dead, divorced, gone.
I became kind of sad that I’d missed out on all of that.
Made me realize there are two kinds of people in the world: those who stay in one place and reap the benefits of life-long relationships… and those who move around a lot.
I wouldn’t trade all of my other experiences for anything. It shaped who I am. But there’s a richness of life that’s missing when you skip around. Like flipping TV channels.
Whether it’s by choice or against your will, would love to know which one you are: settler or pioneer.
Hillsong United will release a new Aftermath Tour Edition CD/DVD early next year. The DVD will be called ‘Aftermath- Live In Miami’. The CD/DVD will feature live versions of songs from their Aftermath album released in early 2011. The special concert film was taped in Miami, FL on August 6, 2011. According to reports post-production of the new tour special is already underway.
Kari Jobe, a worship leader at Gateway Church in Southlake, Texas, and a 2010 Dove Award Nominee for New Artist of the Year, released brand new music yesterday. “We Are” is the new single from her upcoming sophomore release and is available now wherever you buy music, including iTunes and Amazon. Fans, who have waited for over two years for a new album, have already made the single #1 on iTunes (Christian & Gospel)!
Kari, who is also well-known for her version of the praise favorite, “Revelation Song,” is working on a full-length album with producer Ed Cash (Chris Tomlin, Third Day) that will be released early 2012.
“The last few years my ministry has grown and reached farther than I ever dreamed!” she says. “I’m so excited to see what the Lord has for me next.”
It was just about a year ago we started filming Blue Like Jazz the movie, and since then we’ve been feverishly editing the film, adding a soundtrack and test screening the film.
At first, the movie ran for nearly two hours, but not we’ve got it down to 97 minutes and the movie, in my “objective” opinion, is singing. Seriously, it’s getting great reviews, and this is without color correction or sound editing, two factors that take a movie over the top.
So far, we are getting about 45% of the audiences saying the movie was excellent, about 49% saying it’s “very good” and the rest liked it a little less. Out of the thousands who have screened it so far, only 6 people rated the movie as “poor.” Of course, that’s going to happen no matter what we do, but we are still making the movie even stronger and by the time it hits theaters I think people are going to be pleasantly surprised.
The number one comment we get when we screen the film is “finally.” And by that they mean “finally a film that talks about faith that feels normal, not preachy, not heavy on agenda but heavy on meaning, cinematically beautiful and disarmingly honest.” Those are all from the notes we’ve received on our surveys.
As many of you know, this movie was funded by nearly 4500 backers on a website called Kickstarter. Since then, other investors have joined us and are still joining us on a much larger scale to get this movie released in theaters. That said, amazingly, our director, Steve Taylor has called more than 3000 of the backers and thanked them personally, and intends to call each of you before the film hits theaters. I’ve called hundreds myself and every conversation gives me the same sense of gratitude that we had when we first started filming. This movie was truly made with passion and creativity and mostly love.
If all goes according to plan, the movie will release on April 13 of 2012.
Third Day has been nominated for a 2011 American Music Award®, as announced today at the J.W. Marriott Los Angeles L.A. LIVE. This is the band’s fourth career nomination, winning in 2008 for its album Revelation.
For the fifth year, winners will be determined by online voting from now through Friday, Nov. 11, 2011. Fans can vote at the Coca-Cola AMA voting website, amavote.com, as well as http://is.gd/U2P4uY. Artists will be honored in the categories of Pop/Rock, Country, Rap/Hip-Hop, Soul/R&B, Alternative, Adult Contemporary, Latin, and Contemporary Inspirational.
The live broadcast of the 39th annual AMAs will take place at the NOKIA Theatre L.A. LIVE on Sunday, Nov. 20 (8:00-11:00 p.m. ET/PT) on ABC. For a complete list of nominees, presenters, and performers, visit: http://abc.go.com/shows/american-music-awards.
About Third Day:
Over the past decade, Atlanta-based, multi-Platinum rock band Third Day (made up of members Mac Powell, Tai Anderson, David Carr and Mark Lee) has racked up 27 No. 1 radio singles and sold more than seven million albums, including two RIAA Platinum as well as eight Gold certifications. A recent Georgia Music Hall of Fame inductee (2009), Third Day has garnered 24 career GMA Dove Awards from 42 nominations, 4 GRAMMY Awards (with 11 career nominations), an American Music Award (with 3 American Music Award nominations) and multiple ASCAP honors for songwriting. As a credit to its songwriting, Third Day’s memorable “Call My Name,” off its Revelation project, was selected by country star Keith Urban as a bonus track on his Defying Gravity album.
As a top-ranked touring band, according to Pollstar magazine, Third Day has played for audiences reaching into the millions. Because of its mass appeal, Third Day has been featured by top media outlets including “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” (NBC), “The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson” (CBS), “60 Minutes” (CBS), ABC’s “Nightline,” USA Today, the New York Times, and even graced the cover of Billboard magazine, which called Third Day “one of the best rock bands.”
For more information on Third Day, please visit: www.ThirdDay.com, www.facebook.com/ThirdDay or www.providentpress.com
John Waller, the popular recording artist who touched the world with his song “While I’m Waiting” from the hit film Fireproof, recently appeared on TBN’s Praise The Lord with host Russ Taff where Waller shared the behind-the-scene details of his latest song, “Heaven Just Got Better.”
During the interview with Taff, Waller discussed the recent birth of his son, Josiah Emmanuel, and the death of his mother less than 24 hours later. Waller also performed songs from his current CD, As For Me And My House, as well as debuting “Heaven Just Got Better.”
“I wrote ‘Heaven Just Got Better’ a couple of years ago, but never did anything with the song,” says Waller. “After my mother’s death, I went back to the song and finished it as a tribute to my mom. It was as if God was holding the song for just this time,” he adds.
“I never thought a perfect place like Heaven could get any better,” he says. “Now I know it is.”
As the segment ended, Waller said prayers over the studio audience, as well as the TV viewers, using Jewish blessings from the Old Testament, including the Aaronic Benediction from Numbers 6:22-27.
“It was truly an honor to be interviewed by the legendary Russ Taff. He was one of my favorite singers growing up,” Waller says of his experience at the show. “It was particularly special to sing ‘Heaven Just Got Better’ for the first time,” he adds.
About John Waller:
Waller first captured the attention of the Christian music community as frontman for the pop band According to John. His major label debut, The Blessing, included the powerful title track, “While I’m Waiting,” the theme song from Fireproof, the No. 1 independent film of 2008. Waller has long been known for injecting heavy doses of scripture into his songs, and his current CD As For Me And My House is no exception. He draws on Joshua 24:15 to boldly proclaim the Word of God to this generation through a rich variety of musical styles.
The title track, offered as a free download to those who sign the Joshua 24:15 Declaration for restoring our focus back to family values at Waller’s website, highlights the album’s theme of declaring our allegiance to God. The music video version of “As For Me and My House” has more than 190,000 views on YouTube so far. To sign the Declaration and to view the video, visit johnwallermusic.com.
Waller’s As For Me and My House is available through City of Peace Media and Provident Distribution. For more information on Waller and As For Me and My House, visit johnwallermusic.com or cityofpeace.com.
It’s a harsh reality, but I’ve discovered it is true: I can’t teach you to be creative. I work with creative hopefuls all the time who want me to teach them to be creative. And I’ve tried, but it just doesn’t work. What does work? Leading people through a process that allows them to stretch and build their creative muscles. Those muscles are there. In fact, we were born with them. But overtime, in the routine of life, the responsibilities of adulthood and the lack of use, they atrophy. And just like any personal trainer will tell you, as you begin to work those muscles again … they will come back.
John Maeda from CreativeLeadership.compublished the following tool…
The model above, which he calls Brennan’s Hierarchy of Imagination, outlines one of the best creative processes I’ve seen. Let’s start at the top and work our way down.
Imagination
Whether you’re a natural dreamer or a linear realist you can explore possibility. With no regard to limits or liklihood, using phrases like: What if? Imagine if? How about? Envisioning, seeing it in your mind. Pure Imagination.
Creativity
This is the brainstorming meeting. This is where the ethereal ideas are captured from our imaginations and take the shape of concrete ideas. Allowing concepts to rub against ideas, mixing up scenarios. The elements come together to form the clay that is shaped into ideas.
Problem Solving
This is where most Creatives exit the room. They put the ideas on paper and leave the rest up to Administratives to refine and execute. We leave the “NO People” to shoot our ideas full of holes and then fill them. But what if we let the “YES People” be a part of this process too? Most Creatives have weak refining skills. Beginning to flex the problem solving muscles will not only enhance the final result, but will also create stronger process. Problem solving refines our ideas.
Reflex
Our natural response to the stimulus we’ve experienced. The gut reaction to what you’ve taken in. No thought, no pretense, just human reflex. The more we immerse ourselves in the creative process, creativity becomes our natural response.
Just like the sponge soaked in water, releases water when squeezed – when we are soaked in creativity, submerged in this process – creativity will be our reflex.
Leading people through the creative process fuels my own creativity in a way I never expected. Watching the lights come one and ideas begin to flow and the look in their eye – is one of the passions of my life.
Challenging the ordinary, saying YES when others say NO, removing limits and destroying obstacles through creativity is the only way we can bring change to this planet. The problems are too big. Flexing our creative muscles and challenging ourselves to walk through the process will birth leaders who can face the mountains before us.
As I reported here a few days ago, the Hillsong Live team, along with all their superstars, are hard at work preparing for Sunday night’s live album recording for their 2012 album TOGETHER AS ONE. The live recording will taking place this Sunday, October 30, 2011. And in an attempt to check in on rehearsals that are going on full steam this week, I’ve had to keep tabs on a number of the Hillsong team’s twitter accounts. The great news is I was not disappointed. Many of the different well-known worship leaders and songwriters like Reuben Morgan and Ben Fielding and so on, have all posted various pictures. Here they are.
Below Is The Live Album Recording Video Promo.
WATCH:
NASHVILLE, Tenn.— The Winter Jam Tour Spectacular, Christian music’s largest annual tour and Pollstar’s #1 tour in attendance for the first quarter of this year, announced its highly anticipated 2012 artist and city line-up during a special launch event held earlier this evening in Nashville.
Founded and hosted by Grammy®-nominated Christian music mainstay NewSong (pictured at right) and produced by Premier Productions, the Winter Jam 2012 Tour Spectacular will be headlined by Grammy®-nominated alternative rockers Skillet. The 47-city tour will also featureSanctus Real, former Newsboys frontman Peter Furler, Kari Jobe, Building 429, Group 1 Crew, illusionist Brock Gill, and national speakerNick Hall. In addition, the OneVerse Pre-Jam Party will include performances from Dara Maclean, For King & Country, and We As Human.VeggieTales’ Bob and Larry will also make a special appearance.
Kicking off its 17th year January 6 at the Charleston Civic Center in Charleston, West Virginia, the tour is slated to stop at Philips Arena in Atlanta; Dallas’ American Airlines Center; the FedEx Forum in Memphis, Tennessee; the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Missouri; Charlotte, North Carolina’s Time Warner Cable Arena; the Verizon Arena in Little Rock, Arkansas; and the AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas, among other leading venues, before concluding April 1 at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Winter Jam admission is $10 at the door, with no ticket required.
“With one of the most powerful line-ups of Christian music’s top artists in Winter Jam history, we are thrilled to announce what promises to be our biggest tour yet,” said NewSong founding member and Winter Jam creator Eddie Carswell. “After seeing more than 90,000 people make decisions for Christ during last year’s tour, we enter Winter Jam’s 17th year of ministry excited to begin the adventure of what God has in store for us—and audiences around the country.”
Presented by Holt International, additional Winter Jam 2012 Tour Spectacular sponsors include the University of Mobile, The Creation Museum, OneVerse, Wayne E. Bailey Produce, Texas TransEastern, Premier Christian Cruises, Xtreme Conferences, and Camp Electric.
Additionally, 2012 marks the continuation of the popular Jam Nation fan program, which will offer individual and group memberships guaranteeing free and early concert admission. Members also receive a limited-edition Jam Nation t-shirt, a collectible Jam Nation Platinum Access Pass, and can participate in a Jam Nation Q&A with select tour artists, among numerous other exclusive benefits.
Since its formation by NewSong in 1995, Winter Jam has featured many of the top names in Christian music, including TobyMac, Third Day, Newsboys, Steven Curtis Chapman, and Jeremy Camp, among others. The Winter Jam 2011 Tour Spectacular outpaced attendance for all other tours in the first quarter, including Bon Jovi, U2, Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber, according to Pollstar’s 2011 Worldwide First Quarter Ticket Sales “Top 100 Tours” chart. In addition, for the first time in its history, the tour will hit 11 cities in the western United States this fall.
Celebrating 30 years in Christian music, NewSong has recorded 17 albums, garnering 20 #1 Christian radio singles and a Grammy® Award nomination, in addition to being inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame, among numerous other achievements. The band’s now-classic 2001 ballad, “The Christmas Shoes,” was a #1 hit at mainstream AC radio and inspired the best-selling novel and top-rated CBS television movie of the same name. NewSong’s latest recording, One True God, debuted at #1 on Billboard’s Top Christian/Gospel Albums chart earlier this year. The project features the new single, “The Same God.” For further information on NewSong, visit www.newsongonline.com.
With RIAA Gold certification, current scans easily surpassing 800,000 units, non-stop mainstream and Christian market touring, and RIAA Gold certification for each of their three hit Active Rock and Christian Rock singles, two-time Grammy® nominated alternative rockers’ Skillets’ latest, Awake has cemented the band as a top rock act in both the Christian and mainstream markets. Awake hit the ground running debuting at No. 2 on Billboard’s Top 200, selling over 67,000 units and peaking at No. 1 on iTunes® overall “Top Albums” chart and “Top Rock” chart. After two years, the album remains on the Billboard Top 200 with only a handful of other mainstream acts claiming the same honor.
With massive sales has come radio, awards and tour success, as Awake boasts four Active Rock radio hits with “Monster,” which was also AOL Music’s No. 4 “Mainstream Rock Song of 2009,” the No. 1 Christian CHR & Rock single “Hero,” which has been used by the NFL in their Sunday Night Football and NFL Weekend Kickoff promos, and their latest No. 1 mainstream hit “Awake & Alive,” a remix of which is featured on the TRANSFORMERS: Dark of the Moon soundtrack. And while Skillet’s intensely explosive live show consistently ranks within Pollstar’s Concert Pulse “Top 50 Tours,” the band also received the 2011 Billboard Music Award for “Top Christian Album,” and was Billboard’s No. 2 “Top Christian Album” and No. 9 “Top Alternative Album” in 2010. For further information on Skillet, visit www.skillet.com.
A complete list of Winter Jam 2012 Tour Spectacular dates and cities can be found at www.jamtour.com.
Uber acclaimed worship leader and songwriter, Matt Redman, took to twitter a few days ago to share what he referred to as “Tips For Creativity.” I thought the tips were brilliant. There are 5 tips in total. While most of them refer to song-writing, they can be applied to other creative arts too.
Tips for creativity, no.1 – “Imagination is like a muscle. It grows stronger when you flex it.” – John Piper
Tips for creativity, no.2 – “You can have 1,000 ideas, but unless you capture an emotion, it’s an essay.” – Bono, U2.
Tips for creativity, no.3 – “I have principles, not a formula.” -Director James Cameron describing his movie-making approach.
Tips for creativity, no.4 – “An unending curiosity for doing something different.” – Producer Sir George Martin on The Beatle’s approach to artistry.
Tips for creativity, no.5 “When a person speaks or writes or sings or paints about breathtaking truth in a boring way, it is probably a sin.” – John Piper
BEC Recordings’ Kutless is wrapping up another great year with the release of their first Christmas project on October 4 titled This Is Christmas. This album is filled with four classic holiday songs along with two original Kutless Christmas tunes (“This Is Christmas,” “Beautiful”). There will also be a 10-song exclusive version available at Wal-Mart this season. Kutless will also be touring heavily this fall as part of the “One True God,” Winter Jam and the “Very Merry Christmas” tours.
“The Christmas season is one of my favorite times of the year,” shares Kutless frontman Jon Micah Sumrall. “It is a special time for us to enjoy family, festivities, and gift giving but most importantly to remember the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. My hope is that This is Christmas will be an encouraging and festive reminder of why we celebrate Christmas. Truly Jesus is the reason for the season.”
Since the 2009 release of their hit worship album, It Is Well, BEC Recordings’ Kutless has catapulted to the top of the radio charts with their mega-hit song “What Faith Can Do,” which spent multiple weeks at No. 1 on AC, CHR and National Christian Audience charts. The second single, “Everything I Need,” also became a top 10 single at AC Indicator, Monitored and National Christian Audience charts. The current single “Amazed” is already a top 20 single at AC Indicator, CHR, and Inspo charts.
The band will be following-up to this highly acclaimed album that has sold more than 300,000 units with a brand new 2012 studio release. Kutless is putting the finishing touches on this new project with producers Chris Stevens (TobyMac, Mandisa, Carrie Underwood) and Dave Lubben (worship leader, Kutless).
For more information, go to www.kutless.com or the band’s official YouTube Page http://www.youtube.com/kutless. Follow the band on Twitter @kutless and become their fan on Facebook: facebook.com/kutless.
This Is Christmas Track listing
1. O Holy Night
2. This Is Christmas
3. Breath Of Heaven
4. Mary Did You Know
5. Beautiful
6. It Came Upon A Midnight Clear
I love sitcoms. Seinfeld, Friends, Everybody Loves Raymond, Frasier, King of Queens—newer ones like Til Death etc. you name it, I love them all. And I’ve been having this cool desire to create a sitcom that will be done by Christians, it won’t be a “Christian sitcom” it will be a normal sitcom that is family-friendly and free from so much of Hollywood’s propaganda stuff that permeates so much of sitcoms nowadays. The format as this stage is an open book (meaning undecided), I can create a sitcom episode with 4 friends, married couples whatever. All that matters is that it will be hilarious.
But before we can raise more money from friends to do maybe 4 episodes later, for now I will need to do a 20-minute first episode that will be a called a pilot. We’ll then show the pilot to people and ask them to help us to create more episodes.
But to create a pilot we’ll need a few things:
1. We’ll need to hire a production company for maybe 3 days to a week, to film it for us (this will cost about $10,000)
2. We’ll need to rent a studio
3. Build sets
4. Hire actors
5. Feed the actors and crew
6. Hire hair and make-up people
7. We’ll need to hire an editor to do post-production
All these things would cost money, but if we can get like say 500 -1,000 people who say, “I would love to see this come to life, count me in. I can kick in $20,” then we could do it.
If this is something you’d be interested in getting on bored with drop me a line seinfeldfan2006@yahoo.com and once we have 500 – 1,000 people who say they’d love to kick in $20 one time then we’ll do it. And it can easily be done by April 2012.
How Joining In Will Work:
If you email me and say, “count me in,” we’ll wait till the number of supporters has grown to more than 500 people. And once we have more than 500 people (this could easily take like 3-4 months to achieve). I will send out an email to all the supporters saying, “we’ve reached our required number, you can now go to our website to donate. thanks.” Then you donate it, and we’ll do it.
You could come visit us on set, maybe even be in it as a minor actor or background etc. we could possibly also host a viewing party of all our supporters once its finished. And you can be in the live audience the night we film it.
Mormonism is back in the news. And with two Mormon presidential candidates, including Mitt Romney (the front runner for the Republican nomination), there’s a good chance we will be hearing much more about Mormonism for the next twelve months. Denny Burk has a very helpful piece on whether Mormonism is a cult [1], and Albert Mohler has written a thoughtful article on “Mormonism, Democracy, and the Urgent Need for Evangelical Thinking.” [2] I won’t repeat their arguments, except to reiterate Mohler’s reminder that voting for a president should include examining the candidate’s religious beliefs, but should include other considerations as well.
Presidential elections are important. But believing the truth is even more important. With that in mind, I thought it might be helpful to provide a brief overview of Mormon history and theology. I won’t try to debunk Mormonism or prove Christianity. But I hope this quick survey will show that the two are not the same.
A quick note on secondary sources: Christian materials do not always treat Mormonism fairly or go the extra mile to present Mormon ideas as a Mormon would recognize it. One book that does is Andrew Jackson’s Mormonism Explained: What Latter-day Saints Teach and Practice [3]. I also recommend A Different Jesus? The Christ of the Latter-Day Saints [4] by BYU professor Robert Millet. Richard Mouw concedes too much in his Foreword and Afterword, but it’s still helpful to get Mormon Christology from a Mormon himself.
Mormon History
Joseph Smith was born in rural Vermont in 1805, the fourth of nine children. With little success farming in Vermont, the Smith family moved west to Palmyra, New York. There Joseph Smith was exposed to different revival movements, and most of his family became Presbyterians, though Smith later said he leaned toward Methodism.
The presence of so many variations of Christianity bothered Smith. Which one was right? How could he choose? At one revival meetings, a preacher quoted from James 1:5 “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him” (KJV). Smith, 14 years old at the time, went home, reflected on these words, and went into the woods to pray.
According to Mormon tradition, this is when Joseph Smith had his first vision. In this visions, which is foundational to the Mormon faith, Smith claimed to see two “personages.” The one-God the Father-pointed to the other and said “This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!” Smith asked them what sect he should join. They answered that he should join none of them. They were all wrong. All their creeds were an abomination and their believers corrupt.
Three years later, Mormons believe Smith received another vision. In this vision the angel Moroni told Smith of golden plates buried under a hill near Palmyra. The plates were revealed in 1827 when Smith was provided with two reading crystals–urim and thummim–by which he could translate the writing (Smith claimed the plates were written in hieroglyphics). In 1830 Smith published The Book of Mormon, which contains the story of the lost Israelites who migrated to America in the sixth century BC but were killed in battle in AD 428. Smith later received another vision from John the Baptist giving him the Aaronic Priesthood.
That same year (1830) Smith founded the “Church of Christ.” In 1838 he changed the name to “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.”
Smith continued to receive revelations telling him to move from New York to Ohio to Missouri and eventually to Illinois where he and his followers built a town called Nauvoo. There Smith and his followers tried to live out an utopian vision of society. They also instituted polygyny as early Mormon leaders argued that Jesus had had many wives. Smith and his brother were arrested in 1844. Later a mob stormed the jail and killed them both. Mormons consider Smith a martyr. Others say he died in a violent shoot-out.
Following Smith’s death there was a schism. A small group called the Josephites became the Reorganized Church with headquarters in Missouri. Most followed Brigham Young, who became their First President and prophet. In 1847, Young took the followers to Utah and built Salt Lake City.
Today there are more than ten million Mormons worldwide-about half in the United States. Mormonism is the largest new religious movement from the West since Christianity (which really came from the Near East). It is also the first homegrown American religion. Mormonism continues to grow because of it missionary impulse and its commitment to doctrinal and ethical distinctives.
Mormon Theology
Let me highlight seven areas of Mormon doctrine. Again, I won’t try to refute the Mormon position, but I hope you will see the explicit deviation from the historic Christian faith.
1. View of history. In Mormon thinking, the rise of Mormonism was not merely a reformation or renewal of the church. It was a complete restoration. Following the death of Christ’s apostles, the church fell into complete apostasy. The church lost divine authority and true doctrine. There is no unbroken continuity from the early church to the present. Christianity, for almost all of its history, was false and without the truth—until Joseph Smith and his revelation. As Mohler points out, Mormonism not only rejects historic orthodox Christianity, their whole religion is based on the need for such repudiation.
2. View of revelation. Mormons believe the Bible (the KJV version), but do not consider it inerrant. Neither do they consider the Bible complete. What makes Mormonism unique is their belief in continuing revelation sustained through prophets, seers, and revelators. So while Mormons affirm the Bible, they also affirm the inspiration of the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price. Through an elaborate hierarchy of President, First Presidency, Twelve Apostles, First Quorum of the Seventy, and Second Quorum of the Seventy, Mormons can receive authoritative interpretations and new authoritative revelations.
3. View of man. According to Mormon theology, men and women are the spirit sons and daughters of God. We lived in a premortal spirit existence before birth. In this first estate we grew and developed in preparation for the second estate. In this second estate we walk by faith in this second state. A veil of forgetfulness has been placed over our minds so we don’t remember what we did and who we used to be in our premortal existence. Our purpose in this life is to grow and mature in a physical body to prepare us for our final eternal state.
Mormons do not believe in human depravity. We are not implicated in Adam’s fall. We are basically good in our eternal nature, but prone to error in our mortal nature. The human is a being in conflict, but also a being with infinite potential.
4. View of God. In Mormon thought, God has a physical body. According to Doctrine and Covenants, “The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man’s; the Son also;” but “The Holy Ghost has not a body of flesh and bones, but is a personage of Spirit.”
Whether God the Father is self-existent is unclear. There was a long procession of gods and fathers leading up to our Heavenly Father. Brigham Young once remarked, “How many Gods there are, I do not know. But there never was a time when there were not Gods and worlds.” What is clearer is that the Mormon God is not a higher order or a different species than man. God is a man with a body of flesh and bones like us.
Mormons do not believe in the Trinity. They will talk about the unity of three personages, but the unity is a relational unity in purpose and mind, not a unity of essence. The three separate beings of the Godhead are three distinct Gods.
5. View of Christ. Mormons believe Jesus is Redeemer, God, and Savior. He is endless and eternal, the only begotten son of the Father. Through Jesus, the Heavenly Father has provided a way for people to be like him and to live with him forever.
But this familiar language does not mean the same thing to Mormons as it does to Christians. Jesus was born of the Father just like all spirit children. God is his Father in the same way he is Father to all. Whatever immortality or Godhood Jesus possesses, they are inherited attributes and powers. He does not share the same eternal nature as the Father. Jesus may be divine, but his is a derivative divinity. As one Mormon theologian puts it, Jesus “is God the Second, the Redeemer.”
6. View of the Atonement. Mormons believe Jesus died for sins and rose again from the dead. The atonement is the central event in history and essential to their theology. And yet, Mormons do not have a precise doctrine of the atonement. They do not emphasize Christ as wrath-bearing substitute, but emphasize simply that Christ somehow mysteriously remits our sins through his suffering.
While the atonement itself is not overly defined, the way in which the atonement is made efficacious is much more carefully delineated. Salvation is available because of the atoning blood of Christ, but this salvation is only received upon four conditions: faith, repentance, baptism, and enduring to the end by keeping the commandments of God (which include various Mormon rituals).
Finally, it should be noted Mormon theology stresses the suffering the garden rather than the suffering on the cross. Atonement may have been completed on Golgotha, but is was made efficacious in Gethsemane.
7. View of salvation. The goal of Mormon salvation is not about escaping wrath as much as it is about maximizing our growth and insuring our happiness. Salvation is finding our way back to God the Father and recalling our forgotten first estate as his premortal spirit children.
Mormon theology teaches that we cannot receive eternal reward by our own unaided efforts. In some respects, salvation is based on what we have earn, but what we earn is by grace. How this plays out in Mormon life may differ from person to person, but they stress that the gift of the Holy Ghost is conditional upon continued obedience. Mormons must keep the First Principles and Ordinances, which consists of the Ten Commandments, tithing, chastity, and the “Word of Wisdom” which prohibits tobacco, coffee tea, alcohol and illegal narcotics.
Temples are also important in Mormon doctrine and practice. Couples must be married in a Mormon temple to have eternal marriage, and every Mormon must be baptized in one of their 135 (and counting) authorized Temples. Because of the importance of baptism in the Temple, baptisms for the dead are extremely common. Mormons keep detailed genealogical records so that their ancestors can be properly baptized. By one estimate more than 100 million deceased persons have been baptized by proxy baptism in Mormon temples. Those who received this baptism are free in the afterlife to reject or accept what has been done on their behalf.
Death in Mormon thinking is seen as another beginning, complete with opportunities to respond to postmortem preaching in the world to come. We will live in the spirit world, and at some point our spirit and body will be reunited forever.
There are four divisions in the afterlife. The Lake of Fire is reserved for the Devil, his demons, and those who commit the unpardonable sin. The Telestial Kingdom is where the wicked go. It is a place of suffering but not like the Lake of Fire. Most people go to the Telestial Kingdom where they are offered salvation again. The lukewarm-not quite good, not quite evil-go to the Terrestrial Kingdom when they die. This Kingdom is located on a distant planet in the universe. The Celestial Kindgom is for the righteous. Here God’s people live forever in God’s presence. We will live as gods and live with our spouses and continue to procreate. This is the aim and the end of Mormon salvation.
Conclusion
I encourage you to study Mormonism for yourself if you have more questions. I think you’ll find that though the language sounds similar at times, the beliefs are quite distinctive. Mormons do not understand history, God, man, salvation, heaven, hell, the cross, Jesus, or the Trinity as the canonical Scriptures teach, nor do they agree with the doctrine taught by the holy, catholic, apostolic church over two millennia.
“Fabulous,” “infectious,” “exciting,” “spectacular,” “worshipful,” “captivating,” “creative,” “brilliant” – all of these adjectives and more are being used by the critics as they applaud The City Harmonic for its first full-length album, I Have A Dream (It Feels Like Home), which releases today on Kingsway with EMI CMG Distribution in the USA.
Already hitting No. 1 on the iTunes® Canada Inspirational Chart, the growing success has energized the band’s engaging live performances throughout North America. Recently finishing its headline tour with Aaron Gillespie, the band continues across North America this fall and will join newsboys for the “God’s Not Dead World Tour” that launches in January and travels coast-to-coast through April 2012. Tour dates to be announced soon.
For a limited time in conjunction with the release of I Have A Dream (It Feels Like Home), The City Harmonic is offering the title track and current radio single for free through its Facebook page. The song was actually written even before the songs on the “Introducing” EP (Nov. 2010), and has always been the lynchpin on which the full-length record would hinge.
“The dream, like Martin Luther King’s, is that there is another way,” explains The City Harmonic front man Elias Dummer, “that it can be what we say it is, the eventual truth that we will awaken, just as Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz awakened from her dream, to find ourselves home at last.”
The City Harmonic, consisting of Elias Dummer, bassist Eric Fusilier, guitarist Aaron Powell and drummer Josh Vanderlaan, wrote and recorded all of the songs for I Have A Dream (It Feels Like Home), which was co-produced by the band and Jared Fox. From the “now but not yet” tension of earthly Christian living heard in much of the album, including the title track and “Mountaintop,” to having hope in the midst of struggle in “Fell Apart” and “Be Still O My Soul,” to dealing with apathy in “Yours” and “Wake Me Up” and living missionally in “Spark” and “Benediction,” the songs take the listener on a poetic journey.
Here is how the critics are responding to I Have A Dream (It Feels Like Home):
“Following up their acclaimed Introducing EP, they prove here that they are no one-hit wonder. Artistic songs … will surely gain them even more accolades … Strong vocals and lilting instrumentation round out a fabulous first full-length album.” –CCM Magazine
“Musically captivating, the project builds from song to song, carrying the listener on a journey… Track by track, there are layers and mysteries and scriptural connections to explore… one of the best albums of 2011.” –Watchgmctv.com
“No worship band in recent history has created the kind of reaction The City Harmonic has with their EP, Introducing The City Harmonic… their album has remained in the top 15 of all of Christian music … I Have A Dream (It Feels Like Home) will continue the musical journey, with lyrics that point to the wonders of our God combined with sweeping melodies and infectious choruses … It has been this kind of embrace that has resulted in many naming The City Harmonic as the ‘New Artist of the Year.’” –Amazon.com
“Anyone who has heard and loved the song ‘Manifesto’ has an idea of the gifts the band The City Harmonic is bringing to current Christian music. Now… this new and exciting band … is getting ready to release its full-length debut.” –LancasterOnline.com
“A band to be reckoned with, it’s hard to believe this is their full length debut. If this band don’t go on to become one of the best in Christian music, then there is simply no justice. Oozing talent, brilliant musicianship, huge sounding rock songs, what more could you want? An absolute gem of an album.” –Louder Than The Music (5-star review)
“The City Harmonic are ready to take the world of Christian music by storm.” –I Am Entertainment
“A few adjectives to describe the band The City Harmonic: Uplifting. Brilliant. Grandiose. Jubilant. Fortunately for us music lovers, when they breathe in all that is good, they also breathe out this music that words can’t describe, speakers can’t contain, and other bands could never duplicate.” –Relate Magazine
“This album is uplifting, song after song. It’s filled with emotional vocals and meaningful lyrics … Cleverly crafted piano and guitar blend perfectly with lead singer Elias Dummer’s vocals for a truly spectacular listening experience.” –Teen Ink
“I believe this is the best debut album by any band in the history of Christian music. If it were possible I would give this album ten stars out of five.” –Christian Music Review Blog (5-star review)
“Definitely deserving of a five-star rating, the anticipated follow-up to their Introducing The City Harmonic EP was well worth the wait!!” –Jay’s Musik Blog (5-star review)
“While there is so much to be said for this kind of talent and creativity, it should suffice to simply know that quality in every regard positively abounds in this album. Is it worth your dollars? More than ten times.” –TheWorshipCommunity.com
“The record is outstanding both lyrically and sonically.” –AlphaOmegaNews.org
In less than a year, The City Harmonic went from being virtually unknown to international acclaim. The band has gathered an impressive five nominations, including New Artist of the Year, for the Gospel Music Association Canada’s 33rd Annual Covenant Awards that will be held in Calgary, AB October 28. Its unifying hit radio single, “Manifesto,” which is featured as a bonus track for a limited time on I Have A Dream (It Feels Like Home), has sold over 90,000 copies as its companion video has been viewed on YouTube by over 1,000,000 people. Becoming the best-selling new artist of 2011 on the SoundScan Top Current digital singles sales chart, the band has simultaneously gathered endorsements from Mac Powell (Third Day), Peter Furler, Matt Redman, Kyle Korver (Chicago Bulls), Seth Smith (Colorado Rockies), as well as “likes” from Tommy Shaw of Styx and thousands of others on its Facebook page.
More information on The City Harmonic can be found at www.thecityharmonic.com.
One of my favorite things in the world is to discover awesome new Christian songs that were hidden in fairly over-looked music albums. The song may not be new in the strict sense of the word, but they are new to me. And usually when that happens I love to share it with other people who never have heard or heard about the song. One such song is the song “Christ Is Risen” by Christian recording artist Matt Maher.
I was kidding when I said in the blog post title that’s its a song of 2011, it’s really off his 2009 album “Alive Again.” And in my view, its a true gem. If you’ve never heard it or heard about it before I think you’ll appreciate the heads up. I listen to this all the time, often replaying more than five times at a time.
Here is the youtube video that you can use to listen to the song. Definitely worth checking out.
HERE ARE THE LYRICS:
Let no one caught in sin remain
Inside the lie of inward shame
We fix our eyes upon the cross
And run to Him who showed great love
And bled for us
Freely You’ve bled for us
Christ is risen from the dead
Trampling over death by death
Come awake come awake
Come and rise up from the grave
Christ is risen from the dead
We are one with Him again
Come awake come awake
Come and rise up from the grave
Beneath the weight of all our sin
You bowed to none but heaven’s will
No scheme of hell no scoffer’s crown
No burden great can hold You down
Lyrics provided by http://www.kovideo.net/
Source - http://www.kovideo.net/christ-has-risen-lyrics-matt-maher-520839.html
In strength You reign
Forever let Your church proclaim
Christ is risen from the dead
Trampling over death by death
Come awake come awake
Come and rise up from the grave
Christ is risen from the dead
We are one with Him again
Come awake come awake
Come and rise up from the grave
O death where is your sting?
O hell where is your victory?
O church come stand in the light
The glory of God has defeated the night
Sing it o death where is your sting?
O hell where is your victory?
O church come stand in the light
Our God is not dead He’s alive He’s alive
Christ is risen from the dead
Trampling over death by death
Come awake come awake
Come and rise up from the grave
Christ is risen from the dead
We are one with Him again
Come awake come awake
Come and rise up from the grave
Christ is risen from the dead
Trampling over death by death
Come awake come awake
Come and rise up from the grave
Christ is risen from the dead
We are one with Him again
Come awake come awake
Come and rise up from the grave
Rise up from the grave
Charles Stanley — long-time pastor of First Baptist Church in Atlanta — and his son, Andy Stanley — pastor of the Atlanta-area North Point Community Church — appeared together on the platform of the Southern Baptist Pastors’ Conference June 14.
Charles Stanley was honored on the 25th anniversary of his election to a second, one-year term as SBC president; Andy Stanley, who was introduced by his father, delivered a sermon titled “Some things I’ve been thinking about recently regarding local church leadership.”
In a video montage that included several Southern Baptist leaders and pastors, Charles Stanley reflected on the 1985 Southern Baptist convention in Dallas, saying, “It was a very tumultuous time. In fact, it was just warfare, a time of great strife, disagreement, hardship in everybody’s life.”
Reluctant to allow his name for nomination as president in 1984, Stanley recalled that he had prayed, fasted and enumerated the reasons he couldn’t do it — and cited the others who’d do a better job. But after encountering God in a way “that scared me to death,” Stanley relented.
“When there’s so much at stake, you don’t count the cost,” Stanley told the Pastors’ Conference audience regarding the Conservative Resurgence. “You just decide you’re going to obey God and leave all the consequences to him. And one thing is for certain: you cannot fail obeying God; there’s no way.”
Shifting his attention to his son, Charles noted that the three campuses of North Point Community Church where Andy Stanley is pastor have a combined membership of 20,000 people, and that the church has started 20 congregations in other parts of the United States.
“As I look back through the years, and what’s happening in [Andy’s] life today,” Charles said, “I could not be more grateful than to say: I want to ask you to welcome my son, Andy Stanley.”
Andy called it “a real treat” to be with his father at the Pastors’ Conference before turning to the subject of church leadership. Andy recalled when, in the early 1990s, the Atlanta-based Chick-fil-A restaurant was facing stiff competition from the upstart Boston Market restaurant. Chick-fil-A leaders were trying to figure out how Chick-fil-A could get bigger, faster. Company founder Truett Cathy pounded on the table and said, “I am sick and tired of listening to you talk about how we can get bigger. If we get better, our customers will demand we get bigger.”
Applying Cathy’s prescription to church growth, Stanley said that getting better, and ultimately bigger, requires evaluation and clarification. “I think the local church should be the best-run organization in your town,” he said, because the church is “the vehicle through which the Gospel is fed to and communicated to the whole world.”
Too many churches are making it difficult for unchurched and unsaved people to attend church, Stanley said. “We’ve created church for church people,” he said. “And that reflects a desire more focused on keeping people in the church than reaching those outside of it.”
For North Point, Stanley said that if any program or project isn’t about “bringing people to faith … we don’t do it. … We want an organization that reflects the Great Commission.”
“Identify and remove unnecessary obstacles,” Stanley advised the pastors. Being careful not to discount the gospel, he said it is offensive, but that neither the parking lot nor the children’s ministry should be offensive. “It’s OK to offend people with the gospel, but, good grief, let’s don’t offend them with something else.”
Photo (L-R, standing): Blaine Barcus, VP A&R, Provident Label Group; Chris Brown, Elevation Worship; Terry Hemmings, President & CEO, Provident Music Group; Mack Brock, Elevation Worship; Scott Knight, VP Business Affairs, Provident Music Group; (L-R, seated) Wade Joye, Elevation Worship; London Gatch, Elevation Worship; Holly Zabka, Senior Director, Essential Music Publishing.
(NASHVILLE, Tenn.) Oct. 18, 2011– Elevation Worship, a Charlotte, N.C.-based worship team from one of America’s fastest growing churches will release its national debut album, For The Honor, on Essential Worship November 22.
Worship leaders Wade Joye, Mack Brock, Chris Brown and London Gatch lead Elevation Worship and serve full-time at Elevation Church in Charlotte, N.C. The church, established by Pastor Steven Furtick, launched with eight families and one massive vision to reach people far from God.
In fewer than six years, Elevation Church has grown to more than 10,000 people at six locations across the Charlotte area, making it the second fastest growing church in America. Pastor Steven is also becoming one of the most influential leaders, speakers and authors in the country.
From the beginning, Pastor Steven had a vision for Elevation Worship to write and record songs that reflected the church’s journey, experiences and needs. The fourth album from Elevation Worship, and its first national release, For The Honor features all original songs including the title track, “Give Me Faith”, “All Things New,” “Exalted One” and “The Church.” A complete track listing for the release follows:
1. Exalted One
2. Lord is My Rock/You Lifted Me Out
3. For The Honor
4. God Be Praised
5. The Church
6. The Highest
7. Victorious
8. We Rejoice
9. Give Me Faith
10. All Things New
11. The Gospel
12. You Reign Alone
13. Give My Life to You
14. Our King Has Come
Additionally, a digital deluxe version of the album will contain 3 bonus songs, 5 music videos, For The Honor documentary, chord charts for all songs and more.
As with recent movements including Hillsong, Passion and Jesus Culture, Elevation Worship seeks to bring new ideas to the worship arena, connecting with other worship leaders as well as churches to better serve God and His Church through worship.
Worship Pastor Wade Joye says, “We have seen God do the impossible in our church time and time again, and we consider it such an honor to give voice through these songs to the great things He has done. Our prayer is that all who hear this project will be inspired to believe that the Lord can do the same in their own lives and churches.”
For further information on Elevation Worship, including album artwork and press images, please visit: www.providentpress.com orwww.elevationworship.com
Kisses from Katie: A Story of Relentless Love and Redemption is now available at your local bookstore! I cannot say enough about Katie, her inspiring story and the impact that she is having (with Amazima) on the people in Uganda. I visited her in May and met her girls and met the Amazima team and I feel so privileged to know these people and serve with them.
In Kisses from Katie you read how Katie Davis graduated high school and moved to Uganda at the age of 18 to teach Kindergarten in an orphanage. She did not know the language. She had very few connections in the country. She took the untraditional, unconventional path and followed Jesus to Uganda, away from her sheltered upbringing, leaving behind her little brother and her boyfriend and all her high school friends, to live in a tiny bedroom (more like a closet) in a land of red-clay dirt, orphaned children, poverty, and disease. Yet she would find in Uganda a joy that surpasses her greatest expectations. She discovers the closer she gets to following Jesus, the more beauty and joy and purpose she experiences.
Some of my favorite parts of the book are describing all her first impressions and cultural observations of Uganda. Believing she would teach 12-15 students, she arrived to 138 pairs of eyes eagerly waiting her instruction. Can you imagine it? She describes encounters with rats, diseased children, her first trip to Masese, how she came to add her daughters to her family, and the birth of Amazima Ministries, the organization I work for and love.
Mostly this book is about an ordinary woman who is able to do extraordinary things, not because of who she is, but because of who He is. I really love Richard Stearn’s endorsement of her book:
“When you think of what one young woman can accomplish by simply being open to God’s call no matter the cost, you begin to ask questions like, Am I really open to God’s will for my life? Through Katie’s story, we’re reminded how God can use ordinary people to do extraordinary things for Him. We simply need to be willing to be used.” Rich Stearns, president of World Vision U.S. and author of The Hole in Our Gospel
I will never forget the evening I was standing in the airport at Thessaloniki in Greece waiting for my bags and thrilled to finally be there.
I had delays coming in from Australia and was already tired before I had started.
I wondered if my bags were ever going to come out, the Greeks never seemed to be in a rush. While waiting I glanced up to see posters of young children and women with the word MISSING boldly stamped across the top.
I asked the pastor who was hosting me what these pictures were and she said they were the alleged victims of human trafficking. I could not believe what I was hearing and did not believe this actually happened.
Our bags came and we went to eat and chatted through the conference schedule. We did not speak about the posters again, only the conference.
Later that evening back at the hotel I could not shake the images I had seen. I had been disturbed, and my life interrupted although I had no idea how much.
I was a wife and mother of two little girls 1 & 5. We were based in Australia as part of the leadership team of Hillsong Church and travelled as a family for over 8 months of the year building network churches worldwide through leadership training, teaching & evangelism.
My life was full, focused, planned, and fruitful and did I mention FULL. I had no time, space or desire for anything else. In fact I was the queen of absolute focus, no distractions, and delegation.
But I could not sleep.
I sat up and read Luke 10, the story of the GOOD SAMARITAN. I had always thought I was the Samaritan. I was traveling and serving churches and leaders, doing mission and evangelism, in fact I spent my life running from event to event trying to help people.
As I read the story I felt as though I was more like the Levite and the priest who were also so busy going to their next religious meeting that they walked past the very person they were called to reach.
They saw the wounded man as an interruption to their ministry not as the object of their ministry.
The Samaritan had compassion “and so he went to him”. It was these 6 words that changed my life and leadership paradigm. Compassion is the thing that fueled all that Jesus did, and if I was going to go the distance in Christian ministry I had to be motivated by what motivated Jesus. My heart had to beat for His very heart beat.
We often confuse compassion with emotion, but true compassion is never compassion until we cross the street and get PERSONALLY involved in a lost and hurting world. We must touch people to effectively reach people.
I had a choice that day. Was I going to cross the street and hide behind the busyness of my schedule, life and ministry… Or would I go to them I had started ministry with a heart to do whatever I could to love, serve and reach people… Had I become so professional, organized, busy, and successful that I could no longer be interrupted by God?
Were my goals, objectives, strategies, timelines, performance indicators and outcomes so clearly defined that there was no longer any room in my life for divine interruptions?
And that my friends is how The A21 Campaign started. I simply allowed my life to be interrupted by God and decided to take a risk and jump in to help the fight against human trafficking. Why? Because I could. Because it is the right thing to do. Because 27 million are waiting for our help. Because I never signed up to be a professional Christian, a professional speaker, a professional writer, or professional anything.
I became a follower of Jesus Christ which still means anywhere, anytime; I will allow divine interruptions to turn my life and ministry upside down…
Or perhaps right side up.
We must always allow God to interrupt our best plans-it’s the only way we can change the world.
Nicole C. Mullen celebrates the success of her album Captivated with a nod from Worship Leader Magazine for one of 2011’s Best of the Best “Top Worship Albums” and her upcoming induction into the Christian Music Hall of Fame on Nov. 5, 2011. Mullen’s new single, “Holy Captivated,” is impacting AC and INSPO radio now.
“Nicole is such a joy to work with and a true woman of God,” said the album’s producer, Ed Cash. “‘Holy Captivated’ was the first song she sent me, and I knew immediately that I wanted to be a part of her record. The words to this song just take me to the throne room.” Early response to the new radio single is another reflection of the incredible impact Captivated is having on audiences.
Riding on the momentum of Captivated, “Holy Captivated” is Mullen’s second single from the album produced by Cash. Written by Mullen and Antonio Neal, the song features Mullen’s heartfelt vocals backed by equally powerful lyrics.
“‘Holy Captivated’ is a song that I began to write one morning as I was waking up,” explained Mullen. “Without sounding ‘hyper-spiritual,’ it was as if my spirit was singing it before my mind could craft it. The song is a declaration of the awesomeness of God, regardless of our emotional climate. He is good in every season of life, even when horrible things happen. He is worthy of worship when our lives are experiencing the freshness of spring. He is worthy of worship in the hard winter seasons. He is worthy of worship in death and in life. He is HOLY, HOLY, HOLY!”
Mullen’s brilliant resume, highlighted by her CD, Captivated, and her lifelong commitment to ministry are key reasons why Worship Leader Magazine named the recording one of the best of the best this year and why she is being honored as an inductee into the Christian Music Hall of Fame in November.
“We are very pleased to induct Nicole C. Mullen into the Christian Music Hall of Fame,” said Christian Music Hall of Fame Chairman Andy Woolard. “Her career spans 20 years since her first release of uplifting and encouraging people and praising our One True God. Her Multiple Dove Awards and GRAMMY nominations, along with continued touring, show us Nicole is worthy of our recognition and induction. We pray Nicole continues to be an encouragement and has many more years of spreading the word of God through her music.”
Nicole C. Mullen possesses a diverse resume as a wife, mother, singer, songwriter, speaker, and successful businesswoman as well as a minister and mentor. She has written and recorded such classic songs as “Redeemer” and supplied signature songs to other worshiping artists. Songwriting has always been one of Mullen’s most treasured gifts and she’s used it as a vehicle to encourage, inspire and to teach. Her creativity and compassion have fueled a life of ministry with global impact, mentoring young people through her Baby Girls Club and Team NCM.
For more information, visit www.maranathamusic.com andwww.nicolecmullen.com.
Christian music pioneers the Newsboys is releasing a new album called God’s Not Dead, their first worship album since 2004, on Nov. 15 and are gearing up for a tour in promotion of the record.
Joining the Newsboys for the tour are: The City Harmonic, Anthem Lights and Abandon, with preaching from Bob Lentz.
This will be singer Michael Tait’s second album with the Newsboys since he took over vocal duties for them in 2009 due to the departure of band founder Peter Furler.
Tait was in the band in 2009, but the album In the Hands of God was written and recorded with Furler while Tait sang live.
Prior to the Newsboys and some solo work, Tait was in the biggest Christian group of all time, dc Talk from 1989 to 2000, with Toby Mac and Kevin Max Smith, before the group went on hiatus with solo careers.
Furler, originally the band’s drummer from 1985-97, took over vocals when former vocalist John James left due to an admitted drug and alcohol problem.
Together the band has released 15 albums spawning countless singles and major tours, and received worldwide critical success with their 1994 album Going Public featuring their biggest single “Shine” and 1996′s album Take Me to Your Leader.
They’ve been nominated for four Grammy’s and 24 Dove Awards winning five including Rock Album of the Year, Rock Recorded Song of the Year, Recorded Music Packaging of the Year, Short Form Music Video of the Year, and Event Album of the Year.
Other awards won include Best CCM Video 1999 by the Billboard Music Video Awards, 1995 Video Award and 1999 Video Award from the International Angel Awards, and Favorite CCM Album 1999 from the Nashville Music Awards.
The Newsboys is currently touring Canada before they join THE STORY TOUR with Max Lucado, Steve Curtis Chapman, and more.
Date, City, State Location
12/1 Wichita, Kan. Central Christian
12/2 Dallas, Texas American Airlines Center
12/3 Tulsa, Okla. BOK Center
12/4 Austin, Texas Shoreline Christian Center
12/7 Longwood, Fla. Northland Church
12/8 Atlanta, Ga. Philips Arena
12/9 Winston–Salem, N.C. LJVM Coliseum
12/10 Virginia Beach, Va. Rock Church
12/11 Woodbridge, Va. Hylton Chapel
12/14 Plymouth, Mich. Northridge Community Church
12/15 Grand Rapids, Mich. First Assembly of God
12/16 Hoffman Estates, Ill. Life Changers Church
12/17 Eden Prairie, Minn.Grace Church
12/18 Independence, Mo. Independence Events Center
I came across this incredible video a few days and was just blown away. You have to watch it.
Wait until you see what this little girl does when her parents reveal her biggest birthday present.
Her name is Lily.
WATCH:
Atlanta, Ga –October 10, 2011 –Dedicated to providing uplifting music and family entertainment, gmc announces the acting debut of four-time GMA Dove Award Female Vocalist of the Year Natalie Grant this Sunday in the gmc world premiere movie, Decision. Sharing the story of a family in despair rediscovering their faith, Decision debuts October 16 at 7 PM and 9 PM EST as well as re-airing Sunday, October 23 at 11 AM EST.
Grant stars in this touching and dramatic movie dealing with family, loss, love and faith. Decision also features award-winning country music star Billy Dean as well as the theme song by American Idol contestant Ricky Braddy (Season 8).
“I’m so excited that my debut acting role was in a film that offers so much hope and stresses the importance of faith and family,” shares Grant. “I was also honored to work along side some wonderful people who were patient with me and helped this ‘rookie’ every step of the way!”
In this uplifting drama, Grant stars as Ilene, a mother struggling to make ends meet after the tragic death of her firefighter husband (Billy Dean). When she begins to lose control of her heartbroken teenage son Jackson (Michael Rosenbaum), she reaches out to her estranged father Wyatt (Rusty Whitener) to take in the troubled boy. Gradually, they form a bond that will require Jackson to find an inner strength he never knew he had to avert yet another family tragedy.
For a sneak peak of the movie, check out the trailer on watchgmctv.com.
It’s official, there is a God in heaven!!! Tim Tebow was named the starting quarterback of the Denver Broncos.
I can’t tell you how much joy it brings me to share the good news of Tim Tebow’s promotion to number 1 QB in Denver. It’s no secret that all of us here at Awaken Generation are huge Tebow fans and are rooting for him to do great things in the NFL. We love his unashamed stand for Christ in culture, his humility, class and winning spirit. And we love those Bible verses he tweets every game day for all the world to see.
Coach John Fox informed Broncos players at a team meeting on Tuesday that Tebow would get the call in Week 7, following Denver’s bye week, at Miami.
Tebow replaced Orton in the second half Sunday with the Broncos down 13 points at halftime, and completed four of 10 passes for 79 yards and a touchdown off a screen pass in his two quarters of action. He had his troubles with a few snaps. But Tebow’s practice reps were limited and he’d hardly played since preseason, so some rust can be expected.
The former first-round pick has legions of followers and supporters but also many detractors who doubt his ability to win consistently in the NFL because of an unorthodox throwing motion and poor downfield accuracy. He entered the season expecting to start, but when the Broncos failed to complete a trade of Orton, Tebow was outplayed in training camp and fell behind Orton.
Ironically, the Dolphins will be honoring the University of Florida’s 2008 National Championship team on Oct. 23 when Tebow and the Broncos visit. Dolphins rookie center Mike Pouncey played on that team, as did Tebow.
I do want to say that we appreciate and respect Kyle Orton tremendously as a quarterback and by no means do we intend to demean or slight Orton as Tebow fans. And I really feel for him considering he had to go out there each week knowing that the entire city was calling for Tebow to play. It really is not personal Kyle, you’re one heck of a football player.
One of the things I have found particularly ridiculous are the constant cheap shots Tebow detractors have been taken throughout this whole Orton-Tebow debacle, both at Tebow himself and his many fans, saying “Tebow’s a joke and will never make it in the NFL and everyone calling for his instatement are ignorant so and so’s who know nothing about football.” I want to say to them, as Tebow fans we are not delusional, we know he’s got a long way to go and a lot of improvement to undergo. We know right now he’s not the best QB in the league, we know that. The reason we’re rooting for him and want him to play is because he is a proven winner and we know that given the time to develop he will find great success in the NFL. I just find it so surprising that his detractors are writing him off, and he’s not even had one full season of playing in the NFL. He just got out of college, and has spent all of his two years in the league on the sidelines, so why so quick to pan him? Seems very unjustified to me.
Many people forget that Kobe Bryant used to be on the bench for the Lakers for many years before he became the Kobe we know today. So was Derek Fisher. Aaron Rogers was very poor QB when he first started in the NFL as a back-up to Brett Favre but he got better over time—more than five years. There are many great sports stars who weren’t always that good when they first started in the big leagues, but they grew and got better over time. As Tebow fans, we know that is needed for him too—we’re not delusional. But he’s proven himself before so we have no reason to doubt him. We know he’ll do great things. And we can’t wait to watch him sling it every Sunday for a long time to come.
Response is in my mind one of the best Phil Wickham albums to date. And his voice shines with particularly brilliance on this album. Response is quickly becoming one of my favorite albums of this year. Phil Wickham actually surprised me, because I did not expect Response to be this good. The lyrics are some of the most meaningful lyrics I’ve heard in a very long time. This album is filled with emotion and it just seeps out through every single song. Each song sounds unique and each song sends chills up your spine because of how powerful it is. You will quickly fall in love with this album.
“Heaven Fall Down” is a great song to start the album off with. Some albums (like this one) start off the album with an amazing song that really sets the mood for the rest of the album, then there are some albums that start off with a song that has nothing to do with the concept of the album and it really starts the album off on a bad note. Phil Wickham did a great job of selecting this song to be the first track you hear on Response. The chorus has as much emotion as every single song by Hillsong combined. I love it when you can literally feel the emotion in a song. You feel as if you are there with Phil Wickham when you listen to “Heaven Fall Down.” His heart’s song becomes your heart’s song. He says, “We’re crying out in desperation for You!” Listen to it a couple of times, and this line will make you get down on your knees in reverence for God.
I really love the track “One God.” This song really makes me feel empowered. When he says, “Wonderful Savior from death you rise,” it makes me feel like I can do anything. The whole song reminds me that God is there in everything and He reigns over all. Think about it, he says, “Father of mercy You break the chains, now there is victory in Jesus’ name!” God is there for us. This song has amazing lyrics and also a nice beat to go with it.
The first single from the album “At Your Name (Yahweh, Yahweh)” is a nice melodic song. It is one of those songs that helps to close your eyes and really revel in the music and his voice. This song talks about how majestic our Lord and Savior is. Just close your eyes and listen to it and think of all He has done for you. You will quickly be filled with awe for our Savior.
“Sun and Moon” is a great ballad between Phil and God. He says that if God is the sun then he wants to be the moon because he wants to reflect Him. It is such a beautiful song that really captures the heart of most Christians. Lecrae said the same thing a while back in DJ Official’s song “Show Off.” I absolutely love that analogy, and I think Phil Wickham has probably done it the best in song that I have ever heard.
Response is a beautiful album that I am quickly growing to love. Phil Wickham knows how to craft words and make them sound more beautiful than anything you have ever heard. This album is definitely his best so far. Every single song on the album is worth listening to. If you like worship music, then this is the album for you. It has the most meaningful lyrics of any CD to come out this year. You will be blown away.
Favorite Song: Sun and Moon
Favorite Lyrics: “Take these hands, I know they’re empty but with You they can be used for beauty in Your perfect plan. All I am is yours.” (From the song “All I Am”)
New York, NY – (October 10, 2011) – Platinum selling artist Mark Schultz is known for his deeply emotional music that same powerful sound will be heard on his upcoming instrumental album titled Renaissance releasing November 1st.
Always on the move, Mark recently spoke to several major New York City press outlets in support of the new album and his novel Letters From War. These included SIRIUS/XM Satellite Radio, ABC News, CBS Radio, PIX 11 Morning News and an appearance on FOX News Live, which can be seen here - http://tinyurl.com/markschultzFOX. The attention has rallied fans both old and new and sent preorders forRenaissance soaring to over 70,000. However, there is nothing that Schultz enjoys more than being in concert halls with his fans and he looks forward to all of his performances this year.
For more information, please visit www.markschultzmusic.com
Saw this video a few days ago of Troy Palumalu pranking fans at Madame Tussauds Wax Museum. Who is Madame Tussauds any way? But never the less, it was hilarious. Thought I’d share it here.
(Nashville, Tenn) October 5, 2011—Over the years praised singer/songwriter Phil Wickham’s works have been met by critical acclaim and commercial success. Response is proving to continue this trend as it released this week and has already flown to No. 2 on the iTunes ® Christian Chart. Also trending with his past critical success are the rave reviews Response is receiving:
“Wickham’s a true original thanks to clever wordplay, adventurous arrangements, and the ability to strike just the right balance between reverence and resourcefulness.” –ChristianityToday.com
“This is the worship album Phil Wickham fans have been asking for. With his trademark poetic lyrics and infectious melodies, Responsepresents pop worship songs- the perfect collection of vertical songs for your church, car, or playlist.”-Christian Musician Magazine
“Wickham’s songwriting is in a higher caliber than most songs on Christian radio right now…It’s easy to dive into God’s glory with Wickham on this album. It’s one of the best worship records you’ll get this year and you won’t want it any other way.” –JesusFreakHideout.com
“Phil Wickham’s enthusiastic and reverent style of writing and singing praise and worship songs has consistently been a draw. Wickham’s prayerful sentiments are consistently filled with his personal adoration of God. Response is no exception. Several of these songs should be added to your Sunday morning worship set.” –New Release Tuesday
“It’s a very humble and reverent album, declaring who God is, what He has done for us, and sums up what our proper Response should be.”-HollywoodJesus.com
“You will be inspired to worship along with this gorgeous, serene music as you contemplate the goodness of God and His glory and power. You will also enjoy Phil’s dynamic vocals that only magnify this powerful fourth album from Phil Wickham.” -ChristianMusicReview.org
Featured on the chart-topping album is Wickham’s latest radio hit “At Your Name (Yahweh, Yahweh)” that is climbing the radio charts with support from top Christian radio like K-LOVE radio network, KSBJ/Houston, KXOJ/Tulsa & WDJC/Birmingham among others. Watch Wickham open up about the single and the full album here.
In conjunction with the new release, Wickham will also tour around the country this fall performing songs from Response and more. For more information on Wickham, his music and a full list of tour dates please visit www.philwickham.com.
About Phil Wickham:
Phil Wickham is at his core a humble and sincere artist who writes songs and worships God using the medium of music. It is with that brush that he paints images of a loving and creative God across the canvases of listeners’ hearts and minds. The evidence of this gift has been apparent on all three of his critically acclaimed efforts: Phil Wickham (2006); Cannons (2007) and Heaven & Earth (2009). He continues to prove this on his latest fourth studio album, Response, which released October 4 with Fair Trade Services.
Selling 200,000 albums to date, Wickham has been featured in major publications such as CCM, Relevant, Worship Leader, Christian Music Today, About.com, SongTouch, Advance Magazine, and more. Both Heaven & Earth and Cannons made their way into the top 5 on iTunes Christian album charts, and the single “Safe” placed in the top 20 on Billboard’s Christian AC and Soft AC/Inspirational charts.
Wickham has toured with some of the industry’s most renowned artists including MercyMe and the David Crowder* Band. For more information please visit www.philwickham.com
I just came across a tweet by Max Lucado, stating that Zondervan is making his latest book available for free download. That’s a retail value of $24.99 for FREE !!!.
You can click here to download your free copy.
You can download it from different retailers like apple’s iBooks, amazon, Barnes & Noble & Christianbook.com. I chose to go with Christian book since I don’t have a kindle or iPad, which is what you’ll need to download the ebook from those retailers. However, before I could download the ebook from Christian book I had to:
1. Open a Christian book account (since I didn’t have one)
2. Download and install Adobe’s Digital Reader on my computer
3. I had to open an account on Adobe to use the reader.
But after I did all this I got Max’s new book free. So I am happy about that.
Below is a trailer for his new book.
WATCH:
Brian Houston
“When your heart is no longer in it, the first two things that disappear are your joy & your generosity. 2 Cor 8:2.”
Wow.
Vice Verses (Credential Recordings/lowercase people and Atlantic Records), the new album from GRAMMY-winning rock bandSWITCHFOOT, debuts at No.8 on The Billboard 200. It also debuted at No.5 at iTunes Album chart, No.5 on the Internet Album chart and No.3 on iTunes Alternative chart. The band will perform “Dark Horses,” their new Top 15 Modern Rock hit, on “Conan” on October 25th. The track was just added by Clear Channel Alternative Premium Choice, WTCL (Denver),WRFF (Philadelphia), KNDD (Seattle), WRXL (Richmond) and WVIC (Lansing).
SWITCHFOOT’s co-headlining tour with ANBERLIN is currently underway. (See below for itinerary.) After performing for a packed house at New York City’s Best Buy Theatre last week, lead singer/guitarist Jon Foreman took the show outside, performing atop a newspaper stand for thousands of people in Times Square. Along the tour route, local chapters of StandUp for Kids (www.standupforkids.org), a national nonprofit volunteer outreach organization dedicated to making a difference in the lives of at-risk, homeless and street kids, will be collecting new and used backpacksat the concerts. The backpacks will be used to distribute food and essentials to kids served by the organization.
“The War Inside,” another track from Vice Verses, can be heard in the trailer for In Time, an upcoming 20th Century Fox film starring Justin Timberlake and Amanda Seyfried. SWITCHFOOT has contributed an exclusive new song, “Out of Control,” to the just-released Hawaii Five-0 soundtrack. The track was heard in this week’s episode of the hit CBS show. You can also check out SWITCHFOOT’S recent performance on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” at: http://www.hulu.com/watch/280337/jimmy-kimmel-live-switchfoot-dark-horses
SWITCHFOOT waged a Game Day takeover of ABC, with Vice Verses tapped as the exclusive music for the Oklahoma vs. Florida State football game. ESPN hosted an exclusive stream of Vice Verses and partnered with the band to give away a trip for two to the 2012 Rose Bowl in Pasadena, CA. Hurley selected SWITCHFOOT as the exclusive music for the Hurley Pro, held last month in Trestles, CA and the band performed at a recent San Diego Padres game.
Vice Verses, the eighth studio record from the multi-platinum rock band, explores the polarity of what it means to be human. “Between the dialectic of life and death we are pulled tight, stretched out like the strings of my guitar,” Jon Foreman explains in his latest Huffington Post piece, which you can read at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jon-foreman/vice-verses-making-art-ou_b_974302.html. “We are the notes dancing from the strings of time, held firm between life and death. This is the polarity of our existence, pulled tight between despair and hope, belief and doubt. We are strung tight between our birth and the grave. Humanity is dancing on the fretboard in-between. Death will one day cut the string. Until then, we live in the tension.”
It’s an adventurous collection that builds on the harder-edged sound of 2009′s Hello Hurricane and puts the rhythm section upfront, with hip-hop influenced tracks like “Selling the News,” “The Original” and “Blinding Light.”
“[The] gorgeous, swelling ‘Restless’ sounds plucked from U2′s Achtung Baby,” said Alternative Press. “But the real standout is ‘Souvenirs,’ a stunning ballad that, if there’s any justice, will go down as one of the band’s biggest hits to date.” Billboard praised Vice Verses‘ “powerful, anthemic rockers” and Relevant Magazine called it SWITCHFOOT’S “most unique” album yet.
SWITCHFOOT – comprising Jon Foreman (vocals/guitar), Tim Foreman (bass), Chad Butler (drums), Jerome Fontamillas (keys/guitar) and Drew Shirley (guitar) – recorded most of Vice Verses in the band’s San Diego, CA home studio, working with producer Neal Avron (Sara Bareilles, Weezer). Mike Elizondo (Eminem, Dr. Dre, Pink) who produced 2009′s Hello Hurricane, served as executive producer. Hello Hurricane entered The Billboard 200 at No. 13 and contained the Modern Rock hits “The Sound (John M. Perkins’ Blues)” and “Mess of Me.”
The band took home “Artist of the Year” honors at the San Diego Music Awards earlier this year and remains very connected to their hometown. Each year they host theSwitchfoot Bro-Am Presented By Hurley (http://www.switchfoot.com/c/bro-am), an annual concert/surf contest/silent auction. The event has raised more than $500,000 to date for San Diego-based children’s charities, including StandUp for Kids.
SWITCHFOOT/ANBERLIN FALL 2011 U.S. TOUR
10/5 Bowling Green, OH Bowling Green State University – Stroh Center
10/7 Boulder, CO Boulder Theatre
10/8 Salt Lake City, UT Gallivan Center – X96 concert
10/10 San Francisco, CA The Warfield Theatre
10/11 Los Angeles, CA The Wiltern
10/13 Amarillo, TX Azteca Music Hall
10/14 Siloam Springs, AR John Brown University – Bill George Arena
10/15 Longview, TX Le Tourneau University – Belcher Center
10/17 Dallas, TX House of Blues
10/18 Austin, TX Stubbs Waller Creek
10/20 Albuquerque, NM Kiva Auditorium
10/21 Phoenix, AZ Grand Canyon University Arena (SWITCHFOOT ONLY)
I came across this verse the other day.
“In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence.” Hebrews 5:7
It struck me as odd that Jesus was “heard because of his reverence.” It has caused me to raise the level of reverence in my prayers. I hope it does the same for you.
Heaven is for Real sits at No. 1 on the Top 20 General best-sellers list, while Beverly Lewis’ final installment of “The Rose” trilogy, The Mercy, heads the Top 10 Fiction list in the new weekly best-sellers introduced by Christian Retailing in association with the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA). In addition, Zondervan took all five spots in Top Five Bibles, with the hardcover NIV Adventure Bible leading the list.
The Mercy also stands at No. 8 on the General list, while Francis Chan sees three titles (all David C. Cook) posted this week, Crazy Love at No. 4, Forgotten God at No. 18 and Erasing Hell, co-written with Preston Sprinkle, at No. 19.
Courageous, Randy Alcorn’s Tyndale House-published novelization of the new Sherwood Pictures’ movie, sits second to Lewis’ Amish fiction and at No. 17 on the General list. B&H Books’ The Resolution for Men by Stephen and Alex Kendrick is at No. 18.
In full, the Top 20 General list is as follows: Heaven is for Real by Todd Burpo (Thomas Nelson); Every Day a Friday, Joel Osteen (FaithWords); Jesus Calling, hardcover, Sarah Young (Thomas Nelson); Crazy Love; Radical, David Platt (Multnomah Publishers); Not a Fan, Kyle Idleman (Zondervan); The Mercy (Bethany House/Baker Publishing Group); One Thousand Gifts, Ann Voskamp (Zondervan); The Well, Mark Hall with Tim Luke (Zondervan); Expecting to See Jesus, Anne Graham Lotz (Zondervan); One-Year Women’s Devotional (NavPress); Jesus Calling, deluxe, Sarah Young (Thomas Nelson); Empowered Evangelicals, Rich Nathan and Ken Wilson (Ampelon Publishing); KJV Standard Lesson Commentary 2011-2012 (Standard Publishing); The 5 Love Languages, Gary Chapman (Northfield Publishing); The Resolution for Men; Courageous; Forgotten God; Erasing Hell; and Living Beyond Your Feelings, Joyce Meyer (FaithWords).
Top 10 Fiction: The Mercy (Bethany House/Baker Publishing Group); Courageous; The Healing, Wanda E. Brunstetter (Barbour Publishing); The Crossing, Serita Ann Jakes (); Forbidden, Ted Dekker and Tosca Lee (Center Street); The Judgment, Lewis (Bethany House/Baker Publishing Group); Fatal Convictions, Randy Singer (Tyndale House Publishers); Learning, Karen Kingsbury (Zondervan); Code Triage, Candace Calvert (Tyndale); and A Lineage of Grace, Francine Rivers (Tyndale).
Top Five Bibles: NIV Adventure Bible, hardcover; NIV Church Bible, navy, large print; NIV Teen Study Bible, hardcover; The Story, NIV, hardcover; and The Journey, NIV, softcover.
Drawn from the ECPA’s national Pubtrack Christian store data, the lists track sales for the week ending Sept. 24.
Sherwood Pictures’ Courageous was the No. 4 movie in the country last weekend during its opening and the No. 1 new movie. The fatherhood-themed film ranked just behind No. 1 Dolphin Tale, No. 2 Moneyball and No. 3 The Lion King 3-D.
The weekend box-office take for the Sherwood Pictures’ PG-13 drama was $9 million, $2.2 million more than its predecessor, Fireproof. With a production budget of around $2 million, Courageous opened in 1,161 theaters nationwide. Dolphin Tale opened previously in 3,507 theaters,Moneyball in 2,993 and The Lion King 3D in 2,330.
“What a great weekend for us, between Moneyball and Courageous,” said Sony Worldwide President of Distribution Rory Bruer, according to The Hollywood Reporter. “Moneyball had a tremendous hold, while Courageous, only costing $2 million to make, was a huge success. It hit home for that core audience,”
Market research firm CinemaScore gave the film a rare A+, while the film saw mixed reviews.
Frank Scheck from The Hollywood Reporter thought that Courageous revealed Alex and Stephen Kendrick’s “growing expertise as filmmakers with its skillful blending of moving drama, subtle comedy and several impressive action sequences. …
“The characters are complex and well-drawn, struggling with various personal issues that test their faith and character in believable ways. But the episodic and frequently melodramatic storyline contains enough incidents and subplots to fill an entire television season.”
The Los Angeles Times said the film “proves a particularly clunky, tunnel-visioned vehicle whose overbearing, overlong script nearly smothers the movie’s quibble-free message: Fathers must be responsible. And what of the importance of mothers here? It often feels like a case of ‘Oh, them.’ ”
The fourth film from Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany, Ga., Courageous follows the faith and fatherhood journey of four police officers.
I have already expressed my immense sadness at the breaking up of iconic and iconoclastic Christian band David Crowder Band here. And as such I am super eager to find out whatever information I can about their final album that is slated to be released in 2012.
I just found out that their last album will be entitled, “Give Us Rest.” According to reports the album is will drop on January 10, 2012.
DC*B also released a brand new Christmas record this week entitled, “Oh For Joy.” I listened to some samples on iTunes yesterday and again they’ve raised the bar again with their creativity and inventiveness.
The band is currently on their final tour, the 7 Tour, and will perform their final show at Passion 2012, the annual Passion Conference led by Louie Giglio.
I don’t know if I’ll find rest with their break-up.
Carlton Cuse has teamed with author/pastor Rob Bell for Stronger, a drama project with spiritual overtones, which has been sold to ABC via ABC Studios in a hefty script deal. Stronger, which the former Lost co-showrunner and the founder of Michigan’s Mars Hill Bible Church are co-writing and executive producing, revolves around Tom Stronger, a musician and teacher, and his spiritual journey as he becomes a benefactor and guide to others. Music is expected to be a big part of the show, which features autobiographical elements as Bell is a former musician and played with rock/gospel bands in the 1990s.
Cuse and Bell met at the 2011 Time 100 gala — Bell was a 2011 honoree and Cuse had been on the magazine’s list of the world’s 100 most influential people in 2010. The two immediately hit it off and soon concocted the idea for Stronger. While spiritual, Stronger won’t be supernatural. It will touch on the spiritual side of people’s lives much like the final season of Lost did and like Bell has done in his career as a pastor speaking to congregations of more than 10,000. Bell last week announced that he will be leaving the Mars Hill Bible Church in December to move with his family to Los Angeles. The series with Cuse is one of many things Bell plans to pursue, including touring and writing more books. (His most recent tome, Love Wins, is currently on the New York Times bestseller list.) Bell’s expertise is expected to add authenticity to the project, which won’t be straight and square like previous spiritual network offerings, including Touched By An Angel and 7th Heaven, and is also expected to feature a healthy dose of humor. Because the genre is missing from TV at moment, the networks have pursued projects with spiritual elements. Marc Cherry’s Hallelujah was picked up to pilot at ABC last season and is currently being redeveloped. In addition to Stronger, Cuse has another project, Civil War drama Point of Honor, in development at ABC.
Christy Nockels, worship leader and recording artist on Louie Giglio’s sixstepsrecords, is hard at work finishing her new album.
“Making a record this week some amazing fellas” Nockels tweeted a few days ago and shared this picture below.
The “amazing fellas” she’s referring to I think is Chris Tomlin and his band, who can be seen in the photograph.
A few days later the singer tweeted: “Feel like I’m leaving camp as we wrap up this first part of recording, thank you to all who are making this the best experience ever!”
Chris Tomlin, tweeted the same week: “At the studio with Christy Nockels listening to the beginnings of her new record. a new sound, a new day. So good. Can’t wait for u to hear.”
According to reports, the new record will be titled, “Knock, Knock, Knocking On Nockels Door.”
Rob Bell, pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church in Michigan, stood before his 7,000-member congregation Sunday to discuss his departure from the ministry he founded more than 12 years ago.
Telling Mars Hill Bible Church members that they would “be fine,” Bell spent much of his half-hour sermon discussing the new calling he felt had been placed on his life to “share God’s love” in new ways, according to ABC 13.
That new calling for his life involves moving his family to Los Angeles within the year to undertake several projects, which include penning more books and undertaking speaking engagements, such as his “Fit to Smash Ice Tour” in Canada and the U.S.
Bell, 41, also informed the Mars Hill congregation that he would not be starting a new church.
According to congregants who posted their reactions on Twitter, Bell’s remarks were very emotional. ”To be honest with you, I thought I would die here, but that’s not really the right way to say it… Change is a form of loss,” Bell said, according to Heidi Fenton. Chris Zoladz, also tweeted Bell as saying, “We serve a big God and none of this is shocking to him. All we can do is embrace a future that is going to be brilliant.”
The Love Wins author attempted to comfort worried congregants at the Grandville church about his departure by telling them, “You are going to be fine.”
Bell, who received a standing ovation as he concluded his remarks Sunday, will continue preaching at Mars Hill Bible Church until he departs in December.
Mars Hill staff members made the announcement Thursday that Bell had resigned, revealing in a statement:
The news had attracted so much attention that Mars Hill Bible Church’s website suffered a crash that same night.
Bell’s recent book was so concerning to many evangelicals that some released their own writings to counter Bell’s claims about hell. Among them, Francis Chan recently released Erasing Hell, Mark Galli authored God Wins: Heaven, Hell, and Why the Good News Is Better than Love Wins, and a group of theologians including R. Albert Mohler, Jr. and J.I. Packer collaborated for Is Hell for Real or Does Everyone Go to Heaven?
Still, some applauded Bell’s work, calling it timely and prophetic.
Bell will be traveling across the U.S. and Canada in November for his “The Fit to Smash Ice Tour.” On his official website, Bell says “Fit to Smash” will involve “several hours of entirely new content I haven’t given before, exploring all the exhilarating ways we stumble and fumble and fail and bleed and limp along and just how good and sacred and thrilling it all is.”
Shane Hipps, the Michgan church’s co-pastor, will continue preaching after Bell’s departure. Hipps joined Mars Hill as a teaching pastor in early 2010.
LOS ANGELES, Calif. (September 27, 2011) – Today, Reach Records’ Grammy-nominated hip-hop artist Lecrae is releasing the newly-formatted REHAB Deluxe. In this latest installment, Lecrae offers Rehab Deluxe, which includes the Grammy-nominated Rehab, Rehab: The Overdose, previously unreleased tracks and a documentary chronicling Lecrae’s life and story of rehabilitation. In conjunction with the re-release, an exclusive offer is also available nationwide at Target this week featuring Rehab Deluxe at $9.99 which includes two additional songs (Finally Free ft. J. Paul and Hope ft. Coffee).
The new package features the smash “Hallelujah” and encourages listeners to keep pursuing Christ who brings freedom from our past experiences and present struggles. An album full of conviction, Rehab Deluxe features new powerful songs like “Wish it Wasn’t True” and “Jesus Muzik Dubstep Remix by Karac.”
The 4th project for Lecrae, REHAB is a straight up call to conviction in real life through its unique style and lyrical content. Lecrae gets support from Sho Baraka, Trip Lee, Tedashii, Pro, J.R., Benjah and many others along the journey towards restoration–with several memorable collaborations. PK, CheeseBeats, J.R., and Benjah contribute on production and sonically, help take the listener along a soul-full ride.
“My hope is that people will not just gain practical insight for their lives, but they would find real sympathy from myself and mostly in the High Priest who sympathizes with us—Jesus,” says Lecrae.
Having established himself as the frontrunner of Christian Rap, Lecrae returned in 2010 with an album whose influence extended into mainstream media and culture. REHAB, arguably his most heartfelt album to date, broke into the Billboard Top 200 Albums debuting at No. 17, while reaching No. 3 on the Top 10 Albums chart on iTunes. With an offering of rehabilitation found in Christ alone, Lecrae also maintained his established base, reaching No. 1 on the Billboard Contemporary Christian chart and No. 1 on the Billboard Gospel Albums chart. The impact of this album continues to spread across the globe, receiving nominations for several awards including a Grammy for Best Rock/Rap Gospel album.
With the influence of his groundbreaking album REHAB continuing to expand, Lecrae is gearing up for a nationwide tour in support of the new release. The REHAB Tour, featuring performances and also new music from label mate Trip Lee, emergent CHH artist Thi’sl and newcomer C-Lite, is an eight-city tour and will be kicking off in Indianapolis, IN on September 29, 2011.
REHAB 2011 Tour dates:
Date Location
September 29, 2011 Indianapolis, IN
September 30, 2011 Grand Rapids, MI
October 1, 2011 Cincinnati, OH
October 2, 2011 Pittsburgh, PA
October 6, 2011 Columbus, OH
October 7, 2011 Memphis, TN
October 8, 2011 Birmingham, AL
October 9, 2011 Charlotte, NC
For further information and a list of upcoming Reach Records and ReachLife Ministries events, please visit http://reachrecords.com/. For more information about ReachLife please visit http://reachlife.org/.
About Reach Records and ReachLife Ministries
Reach Records and ReachLife Ministries strive to, “bridge the gap between biblical truth and urban context.” Founded in 2003, Reach Records is a Christian music record label dedicated to using music as a means of reaching the urban community in a biblically sound way. While Reach Records employs music to reveal biblical truth, ReachLife Ministries aims to empower ministry leaders with this music in order to grow the urban church.
One of the world’s top worship bands Jesus Culturewill release a new full-length live album on 29th November 2011. Recorded live over three days in Chicago at Jesus Culture’s Awakening 2011 conference, ‘Awakening: Live From Chicago‘ will be the band’s sixth full-length album and follows last year’s well received ‘Come Away‘ live album.
‘Awakening: Live From Chicago‘ will feature worship songs by the Jesus Culture Band as well as songs from Jake Hamilton, Kristene DiMarco, and Byran & Katie Torwalt. “Live From Chicago is a highly anticipated release and is sure to ignite a generation of passionate worshippers across the globe”, says EMI CMG. The album is currently being mixed by Sam Gibson (Hillsong United, Delirious?, Pearl Jam, Crowded House).
Jesus Culture Band began as the local youth group worship team led by Banning Liebscher when he was youth pastor at Bethel Church. The band consists of Kim Walker-Smith and Chris Quilala along with Jeffrey Kunde (lead guitar), Brandon Aaronson (bass), Ian McIntosh (keys) and Josh Fisher (drums). In 2006 Jesus Culture Band recorded their first album ‘Everything‘.
A European Tour by Jesus Culture kicks off in London later this month. The band will perform at the HMV Hammersmith Apollo, on 24th September and then visit Amsterdam, Netherlands (27th Sept), Kolding, Denmark (28th), Berlin, Germany (30th), Budapest, Hungary (2nd Oct), Zurich, Switzerland (4th) and Paris, France (5th).
‘Awakening: Live From Chicago’ Track Listing (Not Final):
01. You Are Glorious
02. He Is Faithful
03. Break Every Chain
04. Father of Lights
05. Fill Me Up
06. Dance
07. My Everything
08. Burning Ones
09. The Anthem
We are so excited here at Awaken Generation to congratulate proud parents Chris and Lauren Tomlin on the birth of their baby girl Ashlyn Alexandra Tomlin!
A big congratulations to the lucky parents from all of us here.
Ashlyn was born on Thursday, 22 September 2011. Both Mother and Baby are doing great.
According to Chris, the name ‘Ashlyn’ means dream, because they have pray that she has great dreams for her generation.
Australian mega-church Hillsong will record their latest live album on 30th October 2011 at a special event taking place in the Allphones Arena in Sydney. The album, to be titled ‘Together As One‘, will be the twenty-first in the annual live praise and worship albums from the Hillsong Church.
Each year Hillsong record and release a live album featuring new worship music from the Hillsong team, which includes Reuben Morgan, Joel Houston, Ben Fielding, Darlene Zschech and Hillsong United.
The latest Hillsong live album, ‘God Is Able‘, was released in July 2011. Since 1992, Hillsong Live has resourced the local church and received gold and platinum album status multiple times, writing such well known worship songs as ‘Shout To The Lord‘, ‘Inside Out‘, ‘Hosanna‘, ‘The Stand‘ and ‘Mighty to Save‘, awarded the 2009 Dove for Worship Song of the Year and currently the Number 1 CCLI song in the USA and Canada.
It was the morning of October 27, 2007 and my prayer time had degenerated into a venting session. I was the youth pastor at The City Church in Seattle at the time, and in my opinion the youth ministry wasn’t growing big enough or fast enough. My team and I were all trying our hardest, but we had hit a plateau and couldn’t seem to break through.
The book of Acts with its supernatural stories and explosive church growth wasn’t blessing me so much as it was frustrating me. “Why, God? Why don’t we see these things here in Seattle? How can we make our youth group and church grow?”
My prayer time ended and I got in the shower, still frustrated, still complaining to God. He’s used to that, I’m sure. David was a great complainer. The entire book of Psalms can pretty much be summed up by: “God, why do the wicked have all the gold, glory, and girls, and here I am running for my life and you don’t even care; please, please, PLEASE help me . . . actually, come to think of it, you are God and you are good, and I trust you and sooner or later things will work out for your glory and my salvation, and I guess I’ve got a great life after all and I love you. Selah.”
When I stepped out of the shower, God spoke to me. Not audibly—if He ever does that I’ll probably hide under the kitchen table—but a phrase branded itself on my brain: Grace grows the church. Immediately I remembered Acts 4:33: “And great grace was upon them all.”
I didn’t think too much about it at the time, but looking back, that was a defining moment in my life and ministry. I began to see grace everywhere I looked: in the Bible, in my church, in God’s dealings with me.
I didn’t know that a year later I would become the preaching pastor of our church, or that two years later I would take over from my dad as lead pastor. Leading a church with a weekly attendance of over six thousand, a staff of over a hundred, and a multimillion-dollar budget is more than intimidating, and without that revelation of grace, I wouldn’t have survived.
While the transition has not always been easy—change never is—God’s grace has been more than enough. Our attendance is up, dozens are getting saved each week, giving has increased even in the midst of recession, and lives are being changed.
Grace is the central theme of the Bible. Taking grace out of the Bible would be like taking speed away from a running back: you wouldn’t have much left. Fourteen New Testament books begin with a reference to grace and fifteen end with one. The message is clear: start with grace and end with grace, and you’ll get the job done.
Think back to the origins of the church in Acts 2. A group of uneducated and fear-struck nobodies were filled with the power of the Spirit, and in one afternoon three thousand people were saved. Soon the number grew to five, ten, twenty, one hundred thousand. In the words of their enemies, they turned the world upside down. Two thousand years later, two billion people are called Christians.
Was that the ingenuity of a man? Were the disciples holed up in the upper room, plotting how to create a worldwide phenomenon that would span two millennia? Did they just get lucky? Or was great grace upon them all?
Forget the spreadsheet, calculator, and pencil—you won’t figure out how the Early Church grew with logic alone. It’s no coincidence that the first time we see church growth mentioned, we hear that “The Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved” (Acts 2:47).
Please don’t misunderstand me: I’m not dismissing the importance of strategy or hard work. But they must begin and end with grace or they won’t last. If I have to be smart enough and tough enough to do this all on my own for the next thirty years, please, just shoot me now! As I’ve told my church more than once, if you were thirty years old and had six thousand people showing up every week expecting to hear something new, profound, and biblical, you’d be preaching grace too!
Our greatest efforts and best-laid plans won’t accomplish in a lifetime what God’s grace will do in a moment. His grace is the reason we are serving Him in the first place. It’s why we care about the lost and why we minister to people—even the mean ones. It’s grace that draws in hurting people who need to belong before they can believe or behave.
It’s grace that grows the church.
Rob Bell announced today that he has decided to leave Mars Hill Church, the Grandville megachurch he and his wife founded 12 years ago, to focus on a broader audience, the church announced today.
Shane Hipps, author of Flickering Pixels will take over for Bell during spring 2012 after Bell finishes his series on Acts in December.
The church released the following statement on its site:
Feeling the call from God to pursue a growing number of strategic opportunities, our founding pastor Rob Bell, has decided to leave Mars Hill in order to devote his full energy to sharing the message of God’s love with a broader audience.
It is with deeply mixed emotions that we announce this transition to you. We have always understood, encouraged, and appreciated the variety of avenues in which Rob’s voice and the message of God’s tremendous love has traveled over the past 12 years. And we are happy and hopeful that as Rob and Kristen venture ahead, they will find increasing opportunity to extend the heartbeat of that message to our world in new and creative ways.
Bell’s ignited a firestorm in the evangelical world earlier this year when he released his book “Love Wins.” In it he questioned the traditional Christian view of hell, arguing that hell was not eternal. He wrote that people could choose to leave hell if if they wanted too. This view drew the ire of some of the most influential evangelical leaders including John Piper. After seeing a video promoting “Love Wins,” Piper tweeted “Farewell Rob Bell” on his Twitter account. That set off a furious online debate about the book. The controversy helped propel it to the number two spot on the New York Times bestseller list.
Bell founded Mars Hill Bible Church in 1999, spending 18 months gathering in a school gymnasium before expanding to a former mall in Grandville, Mich. The church seats about 3,500 and holds two Sunday morning services. Bell was formerly an assistant pastor at Calvary Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Other prominent pastors and leaders, including Francis Chan, N. T. Wright, and Jim Belcher, have left their church positions in the past few years to pursue broader activities.
Below Is The Full Text of Mars Hill Church’s Statement:
To our community of attendees, listeners, and supporters:
The infamous quote “change is the only constant” certainly holds true at Mars Hill. We have experienced ongoing changes that have improved and transformed—as well as at times unintentionally created tension or heartache within our community. And now, we have another significant change to hold together.
Feeling the call from God to pursue a growing number of strategic opportunities, our founding pastor Rob Bell, has decided to leave Mars Hill in order to devote his full energy to sharing the message of God’s love with a broader audience.
It is with deeply mixed emotions that we announce this transition to you. We have always understood, encouraged, and appreciated the variety of avenues in which Rob’s voice and the message of God’s tremendous love has traveled over the past 12 years. And we are happy and hopeful that as Rob and Kristen venture ahead, they will find increasing opportunity to extend the heartbeat of that message to our world in new and creative ways.
Rob and Kristen started Mars Hill and helped create a church that removes the barriers to meeting Jesus. And while we recognize that no one person defines a community, we acknowledge the impact of Rob’s leadership, creativity, and biblical insights on our lives, and face a deep sadness at the loss of their presence in our community.
Rob will be addressing our community in both Gatherings on Sunday, September 25, to describe his journey and call to pursue a new venture. For the remainder of this year, he will be teaching our Acts Series several times with his last teaching being in December.
As we plan for the future, Shane Hipps will continue to teach our community and we will be inviting other familiar voices to teach on Sundays during the spring of 2012.
We continue to be amazed by the grace and trust of the community we serve. Your voice and heart will be important elements of how we move forward together as a community of believers. We invite you to continue on this journey with us and ask that you would join us in prayer while we carefully discern what lies ahead for the Mars Hill community.
Grace and Peace,
The Elder Team, Ministry Leadership Team, and staff of Mars Hill
Our thoughts and prayers of all of us here at Awaken Generation Blog go out to Rob and his family during this time of transition.
Fervent Records’ multi-award winning artist Chris August has always loved spending his few days of summer vacation at home surrounded by friends. But, this summer he joined K-LOVE in honoring special families by filling his days off with intimate performances at their homes as part of his first “Living Room” tour. K-LOVE listeners had the unique opportunity to win one of only five intimate concerts for a local family in need or a family with a unique story, spreading the neighborhood ministry. Traveling nationwide the week of 8/22, August lent his talents to celebrate with and encourage communities in Indianapolis, Kansas City, Oklahoma City, Phoenix, and Denver. The performance in Oklahoma City was not the typical family living room as the show was held at Fort Sill army base with about 30 soldiers and their families. The highlight of the day was when K-LOVE winner Bruce Chim presented August with personalized army fatigues and a plaque to commemorate his performance. The concert crowds ranged in size from an intimate group of 20 to a full on block party with over 350 neighbors gathered around to see August’s live performance featuring his smash hits “Starry Night” and “7×70” as well as his current single “Battle.” These fan-favorite tunes are from his award-winning debut albumNo Far Away co-produced by August and Ed Cash and available everywhere now.
“It was an amazing experience,” Chris August stated, “I can’t say enough about how much it blessed me to be a part of these peoples lives.”
August will be playing a whole different string of venues this Fall as he opens for David Crowder*Band on their upcoming nationwide 33-city farewell tour, “The 7 Tour.” The tour kicks off on 9/28 in Austin, TX, and will wrap on 11/13 in Jackson, MS.
Fervent Records’ Chris August is quickly becoming a favorite in the CCM genre. With an impressive sweep at the 42nd Annual Dove Awards, he earned awards for “New Artist of the Year” and “Male Vocalist of the Year,” adding him to an elite group of only three artists in the history of the show who have received both awards. He also claimed the nod for “Pop/Contemporary Album of the Year” for his debut album No Far Awaythat he co-produced with acclaimed producer Ed Cash. The album delivered August’s debut single “Starry Night,” which hit No. 1 on Billboard’s Christian/AC chart in September and stayed put for six weeks as well as the hit follow-up single “7×70,” launching this self-taught pianist, guitarist, and producer as an artist in his own right. Featuring a resonant collection of soulful pop-rock sing-alongs, touching balladry, and heart-on-sleeve lyricism, No Far Away has become the best-selling New Artist project released in 2010. A native of Dallas, TX, August previously toured as the keyboard player and opening act for pop sensation Ashlee Simpson and worked with Ryan Cabrera, Brian McKnight, and Jessica Simpson before shifting his focus to a solo career.
For more information and additional tour dates on Chris August, visitwww.ChrisAugustMusic.com.
Had a long talk tonight with a friend about our flaws, how as we were growing up we were fat or freckled or wore glasses, and about no matter how much we change, we still feel like that rejected kid. She wasn’t quite as chubby as I was (or still am!) but she still got made fun of in school. For both of us, the healing really came when we learned to accept ourselves as we were.
It’s a slow process, for sure, and for me it included forgiving myself without feeling sorry for myself, and deciding to enjoy life now, not “when I lose weight.”
For me, that was the beginning of a long journey of losing more than 150 pounds. I don’t always love my body, but I rarely if ever hate it anymore. I’ve come a long way from those times that, in high school, I’d stress about not fitting into my band uniform. It’s been an incredible journey. I never diet anymore, and I keep a closer check on the crap I tell myself than I do on the scale (though I confess I weigh every day as, for me, it’s healthy to see that number and accept it rather than hate it.)
I used to hate seeing pictures of me back when I was so much heavier, but now, I love them. I was a good guy back then. I was carrying around a lot more than weight and it only produced muscle. And being that big gave me a big heart. I’m grateful.
It’s true we impress people with our supposed perfections, but we connect with each other in our flaws.
I’d rather be connected than perfect. After talking to my friend tonight about our flaws, I’m going to bed connected. Feels pretty good. Hope you’ve got some folks to celebrate your flaws with too.
Thought this video from Caitlyn Crosby was great.
Feel free to share your very favorite flaws in the comments below!
(NASHVILLE, Tenn.) Sept. 15, 2011 – Eight-time GMA Dove Award nominee Matt Maher heads out on a coast-to-coast fall headlining tour, visiting more than 25 cities through late October. “The Love In Between” tour is named after Maher’s forthcoming Sept. 20 studio release, whose debut single, “Turn Around,” is currently impacting Christian radio.
Kicking off Sept. 15 in Longview, Texas, the first half of Maher’s tour will be sponsored by his own non-profit, Comm+Unity, and feature guest artists Essential Worship’s One Sonic Society as well as recent Integrity Music signing All Sons & Daughters. Compassion International will present the remaining tour dates, joined by award-winning singer/songwriter Laura Story and new Essential Records artist, labelmate Andy Cherry. Information about the tour can be found at http://mattmahermusic.com/tour/.
Among the tour’s key dates are a The Love In Between CD release show in Phoenix on Sept. 20 and a concert at The City National Grove of Anaheim (Anaheim, Calif.), host to several sell-out concerts including Ray Charles, Morrissey, Jill Scott, Cyndi Lauper, George Lopez, Merle Haggard, Jamie Foxx, Dropkick Murphys and Seal, among others, on Sept. 22.
Maher comments, “My hope for this tour is to bring together believers of all ages and denominations and provide a night where we can reconnect with God and each other; that we’d leave with a greater desire to see, in concrete ways, how connected we are meant to be.”
Interconnectedness is also a theme on Maher’s new album, along with the ideas of suffering, grace, redemption and hope. These concepts are neatly swaddled in a new folk-Americana “blue collar gospel’ sound, fusing rootsy, hook-laden tracks with compelling stories and undeniable truths. The project’s debut radio single “Turn Around,” is already connecting with listeners nationwide, climbing its way to No. 11 this week on the National Billboard Christian Audience chart and No. 10 on the Billboard AC Indicator chart. WONU-FM radio listener Jen comments, “The song is awesome. I think it has potential to reach non-Christians because it is realistic in its lyrics. Definitely play this one on the air.”
Greg Cassidy, JOY-FM music director and morning show host, also comments, “St. Louis is lovin’ the new Matt Maher tune! It’s hitting real people where they really are. From the 51-year-old woman in her seventh day of sobriety to the couple that have been pondering divorce…that simple reminder to ‘turn around” has made its point! Home run for Matt!”
To sample an audio stream of “Turn Around” and for an up-to-date tour itinerary visit www.mattmahermusic.com. Also follow Matt on Twitter atwww.twitter.com/mattmahermusic.
About Matt Maher
Matt Maher – worship leader, songwriter, singer and recording artist – has embraced his calling as a “musical missionary” to impact a global stage.
Maher is well known for writing moving worship anthems including “Your Grace Is Enough,” “As It Is In Heaven,” “I Will Rise,” “All To Us,” “Here For You,” “Hold Us Together” and “Christ Is Risen.” His songs have appeared among the top 10 ranked songs on the CCLI chart, marking their popularity in church services worldwide, while also being recorded by artists including Chris Tomlin, Audrey Assad, Matt Redman, and the Passion movement. Additionally “Alive Again” was selected by iTunes as the best Christian & Gospel song of 2009. Such popularity has prompted more than 350,000 career sales. National media exposure includes the covers of Breakaway and Christian Single, a live performance on “FOX & Friends,” and guest writer for Billboard magazine.
Maher sits on the board of directors for the Catholic youth organization, Life Teen, and is a staple writer with EMI CMG Publishing. Amid busy touring and writing schedules, he hosts WorshipTogether’s “New Song Café” and is an active, bylined contributor to The Washington Post’s “On Faith” section ( http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/on-faith), an interactive conversation on religion.
Maher is from St. John’s Newfoundland, Canada and currently resides in Mesa, Ariz. with his wife Kristin and son Conor. For more information on Matt Maher, visit www.mattmahermusic.com.
About Comm+Unity
Comm+Unity is a new non-profit organization started by Matt Maher with the objective to fund local relief organizations who might not otherwise have the opportunity to be publicly recognized.
About Compassion International
Compassion International is the world’s largest Christian child development organization that permanently releases children from poverty. Founded in 1952, Compassion successfully tackles global poverty one child at a time, serving more than 1.2 million children in 26 of the world’s poorest countries. Recognizing that poverty is more than a lack of money, Compassion works through local churches to holistically address the individual physical, economic, educational and spiritual needs of children – enabling them to thrive, not just survive. Compassion has been awarded ten consecutive, four-star ratings by Charity Navigator, America’s largest charity evaluator.
My counselor shared a statistic with me two years ago that floored me…90% of the people entering ministry DO NOT RETIRE from ministry, they either quit or have some sort of moral/ethical failure that disqualifies them.
I’m not a rocket scientist…but I honestly do not believe that is what Jesus called us to OR what He wants for our lives.
AND yet so many of us (church leaders) struggle/wrestle with this (usually inwardly because if we said out loud that we are dying inside we fear that people may perceive us as weak!)
Here are ten signs that you are near a burnout and/or meltdown…
#1 – You are beginning to despise people and your compassion for them is continually decreasing rather than increasing.
#2 – You OFTEN think about doing something other than ministry…and your biggest desire isn’t to honor God and reach people but to simply find relief from the pressure that seems to be building daily inside of you.
#3 – You cannot remember the last time you simply had fun with family and friends…and joy is something you talk about but are not experiencing for yourself.
#4 – You are disconnected at home…when you get there you do not want to engage with your spouse or your children, you cannot enjoy being around them…you spend more time online than you do with your family…and you find yourself wanting to sleep all of the time.
#5 – You continually tell yourself and those you love that “this is just a really busy season and that you will slow down soon.” (However, the truth is that you have been most likely “singing that same song” for years!)
#6 – You are continually becoming obsessed with what others say about you…and one negative comment from someone who does not like you can put you in an incredibly deep valley and cause you to feel hopeless.
#7 – You begin to make easy decisions rather than the right ones…because the right ones take too much work.
#8 – There is no hope in you…and, you actually despair life. You have actually thought of death…and some have even entertained suicidal thoughts.
#9 – You are experiencing unexplained depression and/or anxiety. You are even having panic attacks and you can’t explain it!
#10 – You are increasingly becoming withdrawn from family and friends.
“How did you come up with this list,” you ask…it’s quite simple, I went back to December 2007 until January of this past year and listed out the qualities that were the most prominent in my own life. That’s right…my life! I went through a trial of intense depression and anxiety during that time period and, the best way I can describe my life would be “dark!”
However, through me swallowing my pride and asking for help, the support of an incredible wife, the support of great friends and seeking out an incredible counselor…and the unbelievable mercy of God I broke free from my darkness this past January. Oh sure, I still struggle with it more often than I wish I would…but I cannot tell you the incredible feelings of freedom and joy I’ve had since January that I haven’t had in YEARS!
And…this is the motivation for Reawaken – a one day worship/seminar for senior pastors, their wives and other church leaders as well. It’s going to be an event where I am going to be talking about the things that pastors don’t talk about that often…how to overcome the desire to quit and actually get your passion/joy back at a level that you didn’t believe you could have.
ALSO…I am bringing in who I would consider to be THE BEST counselor on the planet for pastors and church leaders. His name is Dr John Walker…and not only is he a licensed psychologist but he has also planted churches, pastored churches and served in nearly every capacity as a church staff member. In others words…he understands our world.
It’s going to be an incredible day…in fact, it COULD be the day that the Lord uses to SAVE your ministry! You can go here to find out more information about it...but I can tell you right now that it is going to be the most raw and real event that you will EVER attend. AND…pastors, I am REALLY encouraging you to bring your spouse to this one!!!
God called us to do a lot of things for Him…but He did not call us to flame out or drop out. I want what Paul said in II Timothy 4:7 to be true of all of us! I want us to finish well!
September 19, 2011 – Los Angeles, CA – Fort Worth’s explosive heavy rock band OH, SLEEPER has announced a partnership with non-profit organization To Write Love on Her Arms to present the Children of Fire Tour, which kicks off October 27 in Little Rock, AR. The band will be joined by Greeley Estates, Ten After Two, At the Skylines and Secrets touring in support. Tickets are on-sale today (links are below).
“We are extremely excited to partner up with TWLOHA for this upcoming tour,” says guitarist James Erwin. “It’s an organization we’ve loved and supported for years now, so it’s cool to come together with them to help get the word out to our fans about TWLOHA. It’s an important issue, so hopefully this will help bring light to a situation that plagues so many youth today.”
“Over the past five years, we have found a home within the greater community of music,” adds TWLOHA spokesman Chad Moses. “Here, we have had some of our greatest opportunities to engage individuals and grow incredible friendships. We met the guys in OH, SLEEPER a few years ago at Cornerstone Festival, and they have since become some of our most visible supporters in the hard music scene. At TWLOHA, we value working closely with music we believe in, but beyond that we also get to work with musicians we firmly stand behind. I remember vividly an interaction between Micah and a young fan directly following their set at Cornerstone. The young man approached an exhausted Micah and simply expressed gratitude for the honest nature of their debut album When I Am God. He said that some of those songs kept him going and were the reason he did not die by suicide. Immediately, Micah stood up, gave the fan a bear hug and said, “We are honored to have you as a fan. Thank you for staying alive! Never give up!””
“Who wouldn’t want to collaborate with guys like that?,” continues Moses. “They are creating music because they have a message to spread and fans they love. It is clear that we are all working toward the same thing: spreading hope. OH, SLEEPER’s creativity and personality have had TWLOHA’s support for years now, and this Fall, we have the chance to work together on their tour for the release of Children of Fire. The new album exists in a world full of questions, a world which many of us relate to on some level. The hope with this tour is to start a conversation and let the people in the audience know they are not alone, that their story is important and their life matters, that hope is real and help exists.”
OH, SLEEPER unleashed their third studio album, Children of Fire, digitally on September 6 and will release the album on CD on September 27. The much anticipated release has set message boards, blogs and websites on fire with grassroots buzz and has garnered rave reviews across the board.
To Write Love on Her Arms:
To Write Love on Her Arms is a non-profit movement dedicated to presenting hope and finding help for those struggling with depression, addiction, self-injury, and suicide. TWLOHA exists to encourage, inspire, inform, and also to invest directly into treatment and recovery. Since its start in 2006, TWLOHA has donated over $850,000 directly into treatment and recovery and answered over 160,000 emails from over 100 countries. http://www.twloha.com/
OH, SLEEPER Tour Dates:
Oct 27 – Little Rock, AR – Downtown Music
Oct 28 – Oklahoma City, OK – The Conservatory
Oct 29 – Rogers, AR – Pinnacle Hills Cross Church Oct 30 – St. Louis, MO – Fubar
Oct 31 – Omaha, NE – Sokol Underground
Nov 3 – St. Paul, MN – Station 4
Nov 4 – La Crosse, WI – Warehouse
Nov 5 – Joliet, IL – Mojoes
Nov 6 – Toledo, OH – Frankies
Nov 7 – Jamestown, NY – Jamestown Savings Bank Ice Arena
Nov 8 – Annapolis, MD – Knights of Columbus
Nov 10 – Richmond, VA – Kingdom
Nov 11 – Lynchburg, VA – Cross Point Venue
Nov 12 – North Charleston, SC – The Wharehouse
Nov 13 – Jacksonville, FL – Murray Hill Theatre
Nov 14 – Lake Wales, FL – Club DeCosey Nov 15 – Douglasville, GA – The 7 Venue
Nov 16 – Chattanooga, TN – The Warehouse Venue
Nov 17 – Nashville, TN – Rocketown (White Building)
Nov 18 – Tupelo, MS – Good Time Charlies
Nov 19 – Baton Rouge, LA – North Gate Tavern
Nov 20 – Waco, TX – Art Ambush/Runt Entertainment
For More Information:
https://www.facebook.com/ohsleeper
http://www.myspace.com/ohsleeper
http://twitter.com/weareohsleeper
http://www.twloha.com/
When it comes to TV Shows, I prefer sitcoms any day of the week over anything else. I can watch the same episode 60 times and still love it and want to watch it again. So I was thinking now the other day about who I think are my favorite TV characters of all time and I think I came up with a top five list that I think is on the money.
So My Favorite TV Characters Of All Time Are:
1. Cosmo Kramer (Seinfeld)
2. George Costanza (Seinfeld)
3. Ross Gellar (Friends)
4. Frank Barone (Everybody Loves Raymond)
5. Martin Crane (Frasier)
Who’s on your top five list?
In this week’s edition of Cool Song Fridays, I want to introduce to one of my favorite songs of the last few months called “Awakening.” If you’re familiar with the Passion Movement (Louie Giglio, Chris Tomlin etc.) then you’ve heard this song before, but if not you’re in for a cool surprise. This version that I love, however, is a cover version of this song performed by Hillsong on their latest release “God Is Able.” It’s the last track on the album and truly a gem.
First of all, let me open this post by saying that I’m a huge Tim Tebow fan. I want him to succeed in the NFL like no one else (besides Colt McCoy). So like many other Tebow fans I’m disappointed that we don’t get see him play every week. In other words, I want Tebow to be the starter. I think he’ll surprise everyone with just how impressive he is if given the chance. Sure he’ll have to go through a learning slump but that’s just part of the process. It’s not that I have anything against Kyle Orton or that I want him to fail, it’s just that I really really want Tim Tebow to succeed.
And it’s because of this that I had a big laugh while watching The Broncos vs The Raiders on Monday Night Football when I heard the Broncos fans Boo Orton and chant “We Want Tebow, We Want Tebow!!!”
The booing of Orton started early in the fourth quarter, shortly after a 1-yard run by Oakland quarterback Jason Campbell gave the Raiders a touchdown that put them in firm control against the Broncos. The chants for Tebow were first heard with 6 minutes remaining in the game, even as Orton was marching the Broncos toward the end zone in an effort to rally his teammates from a 10-point deficit. And when Broncos coach John Knox, was asked about the QB situation after the game he ignored the question.
If I could offer my two cents about the whole Tebow debacle: Here’s the thing—I think given the chance and the right amount of time Tim Tebow would blow everyone away with just how good he is. But so far he hasn’t been given the chance, so as a result I don’t think any criticism of him is justified. Even his game time in the preseason games wasn’t fair in terms of seeing what he can do. Because first of all, the Broncos kept running the ball – 2 out of every 3 downs they ran the ball leaving Tebow one chance per drive to throw the ball, meaning that if he didn’t make that pass they’d have to punt. So he’d essentially get 2 or 3 chances to throw the ball the whole half of the quarter. There’s no way that’s enough time to see what Tebow can do.
Of course Tebow’s success will mean nothing to those who don’t like him, even if they don’t know why. Either way, in the end coach John Knox can’t ignore or drown out the call of the masses of Broncos faithfuls. That’s a call he’ll have to answer one time or another.
(NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE) –September 13, 2011 –Salem Radio will present Grammy® Award winning Christian artist Rebecca St. James as the headlining force on the “Purity & Worship Tour” being presented nationally this fall in major Salem Radio broadcast markets across the U.S.
The concert dates will begin September 16 and 17 in Colorado Springs and Denver markets and continue through December. Salem Radio affiliates in Washington, DC, Orlando, Tampa, Atlanta, Detroit, Minneapolis, Omaha, San Antonio, and Houston are already committed with additional host cities being added.
The “Purity & Worship Tour” is being presented as an unplugged, acoustic evening of music and ministry geared to offer family themed entertainment, content, and messaging from one of Christian music’s most articulate contemporary voices.
The “purity” theme of the evening is designed to attract young people and their parents—mothers and daughters in particular, on a key issue of St. James’ messaging. Since the release of her signature song Wait For Me in 2000, the Australian born singer has been a major voice for the purity and abstinence agenda who has consistently carried the message throughout her ministry in music, books, and film worldwide.
Salem Communications is a leading U.S. radio broadcaster, Internet content provider, and magazine and book publisher targeting audiences interested in Christian and family-themed content and conservative values. Salem owns and/or operates approximately 95 radio stations –58 of which are in 23 of the top 25 radio markets nationally. Salem Radio Network® syndicates talk, news, and music programming to approximately 2,000 affiliates nationally.
About the tour presentation of Rebecca St. James, David Santrella, President of Salem’s Radio Division, notes:
“The message of purity and abstinence in today’s culture that is saturated by sexual imagery is perhaps one of the most important messages young women can hear. Rebecca St. James has been uniquely gifted with the ability to deliver through her music and her ministry, a message of sexual purity in a way that easily connects with parents and their daughters, helping to open the door to discussions which may not otherwise occur. Salem Communications is proud to be partnering with Rebecca to present The Purity & Worship Tour which will deliver that message in an entertaining and relatable way to our Salem markets nationwide.”
A key element of the “Purity & Worship Tour” will also be the presentation of her established music as well as new worship material from St. James’ latest album release I Will Praise You which debuted this spring as her first studio project under a new creative association with the Provident Label Group.
Now recognized also as a best-selling Christian author whose latest book on dating What Is He Thinking? (Hachette-Faithwords)will release nationally on September 26, St. James will also share a special screening segment of her pro life message film, “Sarah’s Choice” at the Salem events.
Joining Rebecca on the tour dates will be exciting new Contemporary Christian duo, For King & Country, whose debut single for Fervent Records “Busted Heart (Hold On To Me)” is now reaching national audiences via Christian radio.
Resource Rebecca St. James online: www.rsjames.com
Focus on the Family founder and best-selling author James Dobson is recovering from a fall while horseback riding in Montana on Sept. 10.
Dobson broke several bones, according to his successor at Focus and the nonprofit organization’s president, Jim Daly. In his blog, Daly wrote that Dobson, 74, was “in good spirits and expected to make a full recovery.”
Dobson founded Focus in 1977, resigning in 2009 so that the ministry could be passed on to the next generation of leaders. In 2010, Dobson—along with his son, Ryan—launched his new radio program, “Family Talk.”
Dobson’s fall caused a fractured and fractured scapula, as well as several broken ribs, according to a “Family Talk” press release. “His condition is stable, and his spirits are good at this early stage in his recovery,” said his daughter, Danae Dobson. “Hospital tests revealed there is no internal bleeding or other complications.”
Dobson was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2002. Dobson also experienced a major stroke in 1998, making it hard for him to speak and articulate words during recovery. In 1990, he suffered a heart attack after one of his tri-weekly basketball games, which forced him to give up the sport.
Dobson’s books include The New Strong-Willed Child, Family Man, Bringing Up Girls and Bringing Up Boys (all Tyndale House Publishers).
After selling a quarter million albums and over a half million song downloads to date, a chart topping radio single, receiving accolades for his previous three efforts and being featured in major publications such as CCM, Relevant, Worship Leader and Christian Music Today, Fair Trade Services’ recording artist Phil Wickham returns October 4, with his latest album Response.
On his fourth release, Wickham provides listeners with eleven tracks that seek to give a voice to humanity’s acceptance of God’s love in any circumstance. In the same way that the Psalms offer expressions of joy, sorrow, repentance, hope and victory, Response gives a voice to the appreciation and adoration of God in every chapter of life.
“When I see the different aspects of who God is in different situations of life, my response to that love can be seen as jumping for joy where other times I respond by saying, ‘You are Holy and I am not,’ humbled and falling on my face,” Wickham describes.
For his previous three projects- Phil Wickham (2006); Cannons (2007) and Heaven & Earth (2009), Wickham worked solely with longtime friend and producer Pete Kipley (MercyMe, Matthew West, The Afters). On Response, Wickham invited reputable producer Brown Bannister (Steven Curtis Chapman, Amy Grant, Michael W. Smith) to co-produce the album as an intentional effort to stay true to the album’s theme of voicing a collective worshipful response to God.
“There are more musicians playing on the record than I normally work with,” Wickham says. “Multiple drummers, bass players, etc and I wrote with more people on this record hoping to have these songs be an expression of everybody’s heart not just mine.”
The first single from Response, “At Your Name (Yahweh, Yahweh),” is currently receiving airplay on 26 stations nationwide, including national networks KLOVE and American Family Radio. The song has already cracked the top 15 on the INSPO radio chart and is No. 35 on the National Christian Audience radio chart. In support of the track, Wickham has been out on the road visiting radio stations across the nation including stations in Nashville, TN; Charlotte, NC; Minneapolis, MN and Kansas City, MO.
In conjunction with the new release, Wickham will also tour around the country this fall playing his new single, other songs from Response and more.
For more information and a full list of tour dates please visit www.philwickham.com
With over four million albums sold worldwide, 16 No. 1 radio hits, seven GMA Dove Awards, and three RIAA certified Platinum and three Gold records to her credit, Jaci Velasquez has signed a record deal with Inpop Records. Her first project with the label, titled Diamond, is slated for a Feb. 7, 2012 release.
“I’m personally and professionally thrilled to welcome Jaci to our Inpop family,” states Andrew Patton, GM/VP, Inpop Records. “I’ve had the pleasure of working with Jaci and her team for more than a decade, and to reunite and bring her new music to the world is an immense honor. Jaci has been and continues to be the driving positive force in the Latin music community, and her reach in and through the CCM world is also long and sustaining. Having the ability to link arms with any artist with such a broad foundational platform is a win-win out of the box for us.”
Taking a few years off to marry fellow musician Nic Gonzales (Salvador) and have two children, Zealand and Soren, Velasquez is returning to her career with a frenzy of activity. In addition to the upcoming release of Diamond, she is writing a new book and is starring in two new films, “The Encounter” and “Jerusalem Countdown,” both slated to release this year. And in the midst of all of this she manages to co-host Salem Broadcasting’s syndicated network show, “Your Family Friendly Morning Show With Doug & Jaci Velasquez,” which reaches more than 1.5 million listeners nationwide every week.
“I am so excited to be with Inpop,” exclaims Velasquez. “There are many new, creative, and talented faces in the Inpop family that I very much look forward to working alongside. This is in addition to a number of familiar faces that I have worked well with in the past, so it’s like a family reunion, but better! The way I look at it, it’s the best of both worlds.”
John Piper is releasing a new book on racism later this month wherein he candidly talks about his own past racial prejudice and the power of the Cross to overcome racial prejudice in all its forms. He begins Bloodlines with a confession of his own sins and experience with racial tensions, and shares about the journey of transformation God has taken him and his Church on, on this deeply personal yet controversial subject.
“I grew up In Greenville, South Carolina, where enforced segregation was almost absolute,” he writes. Comparing his world to that of Jesse Jackson, who lived just across town, he observed that it was no wonder Jackson attended a liberal theological institution rather than a fundamental or evangelical school in the South, which were “committed to segregation.”
Despite his racist tendencies, Piper had an affection for Lucy, a black woman who came to clean the family’s home every week. His mother, a “gutsy Yankee fundamentalist,” invited Lucy to their church for his sister’s wedding—a daring move in 1962 when the congregation had voted not to allow blacks into services. Piper’s mother was the lone voice against the motion.
Along with his mother’s good example, Piper was strongly affected by a comment by an Urbana missions convention speaker in favor of interracial marriage. God’s work in his life regarding his racist attitudes continued at Fuller Seminary and beyond.
Today, working in an urban parish, he doesn’t see himself as a model multi-ethnic pastor, but his congregation is intentionally aiming for greater diversity, and not long after he turned 50, he and his wife, Noel, adopted an African-American little girl.
Piper wrote Bloodlines with the aim of seeing Christ-followers learn to live “the kind of lives that advance the cause of Christ-exalting racial diversity and Spirit-enabled racial harmony.” He sees the gospel as “the only sufficient power for this effort, and the only power that in the end will bring the bloodlines of race into the single bloodlines of the cross.”
He devotes much of the book to the gospel remedy for racism, and addresses the Reformed church, acknowledging that some of its representatives have not always been good examples of racial reconciliation.
Piper also warns against another extreme—making race an idol. “Some churches have never taken the first baby steps in thinking biblically about race and ethnicity. Others devote so much focus to it that people get sick of the issue, and backlash sets in,” he writes, urging a God-centered balance.
In Bloodlines, Piper enables readers to grasp the reality and extent of racism, and then he demonstrates from Scripture how the light of the gospel penetrates the darkness of this destructive sin.
To order Bloodlines, call 800-323-3890, or visit www.crossway.com or find it on amazon here.
We could be reveling
Forever in the love you bring
And we could be wasted on
You and not count it lost
Like fools in love
We’re bound to make a scene
Our hearts bleed for you, oh
Our hearts bleed for you, oh
Our hearts bleed, our hearts bleed
For you
We could burn down the days
Inside the light of your face
And we could throw the years away
And not regret the price we paid
Like fools in love
We’re bound to make a scene
Our hearts bleed for you, oh
Our hearts bleed for you, oh
Our hearts bleed, our hearts bleed
For you
You have loved alive the dead and gone
And filled our thirsty veins with blood and song
Our hearts bleed for you, oh
Our hearts bleed for you, oh
Our hearts bleed, our hearts bleed
For you
The devil’s dealing dirty
In broken hearts and counterfeit currency
The living isn’t easy
When a heart’s regret can tax the air you breathe
But like diamonds we shine
Up against the sheet of night
The jet-black sheet of night
We overtake the cityscapes
We scale the heights
We break but we don’t die
Whoa we’ve got a blood
We’ve got a love that’ll brave the flood
Whoa we’ve got a blood
We’ve got a love that’ll brave…
The cold will leave you guilty
And the wind will shake you like a tambourine
The dogs will leave you hungry
And your superiors will tax the blood you bleed
But like diamonds we shine
Up against the sheet of night
The jet-black sheet of night
We overtake the cityscapes
We scale the heights
We break but we don’t die
Whoa we’ve got a blood
We’ve got a love that’ll brave the flood
Whoa we’ve got a blood
We’ve got a love that’ll brave the flood
But like diamonds we shine
Up against the sheet of night
The jet-black sheet of night
We overtake the cityscapes
We scale the heights
We break but we don’t die
The devil’s dealing dirty
In broken hearts and counterfeit…
It’s no secret that the Twilight book and film series have become a phenomenon among teenage girls, and in her new book, The Gospel According to Twilight: Women, Sex, and God, author Elaine A. Heath takes a closer look at the vampire story’s theology and the impact it could have on young women and girls.
Heath, the associate professor of evangelism at Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University, told Awaken Generation Blog that the first reason why girls love Twilight is because it’s exciting.
“I think it really captures a lot of the spiritual and social questions and anxieties of a generation that describe themselves as spiritual but not religious,” she observed.
Twilight, which began as a series of novels by Stephenie Meyer and has since been made into several blockbuster films, is centered around a teenage girl, Bella, who falls in love with a vampire, Edward. Mix in a few werewolves, some danger, and a lot of romance and you have a cultural phenomenon.
The Twilight franchise raked in nearly $70 million in U.S. ticket sales on opening weekend for both the first and third films in the saga, according to The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) website. In 2009, the second installment, “New Moon,” brought in a staggering amount of nearly $143 million.
Despite its popularity, Heath has concerns about what young people might be learning from the stories.
“The most alarming aspect of the books,” she said, “is the systematic gender violence and gender stereotyping that’s negative … especially about women and girls.”
She believes the main female characters in the series are all victims of violence, but because it is mixed with romance and justification attempts, the violence toward women becomes “normalized” to the audience.
“Edward has many characteristics of men who batter,” she noted, “and his behavior and his control (stalking, demanding to know where she is), all these different things that he does to intimidate and control her, those are things that abusive men and boys do to girls.”
On the bright side, there are a number of positive theological themes to be explored in the series as well.
The strongest Christian theme, Heath suggested, is that of reconciliation. In the end, Bella’s character is able to bring peace between the warring species of humans, vampires, and werewolves. The theme of salvation is also present throughout the series.
The Cullen family (Edward’s parents and siblings), she added, are also a model of what a strong faith community is like – they encourage each other to do what’s right, sacrifice for the common good, and use their gifts to protect one another.
There are also Mormon themes present in the novels, Heath pointed out, because Meyer belongs to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
So there are good and bad lessons to be learned from the series, but the story can be used to open up a dialogue with younger generations.
“I think it could be very helpful in unearthing unhealthy relationship and gender issues that are in our culture,” she said. “Likewise, it could help us to have some great spiritual conversations and critiques of social problems in our culture.”
The key to discussing cultural issues, Heath noted, is to do so with respect.
From her experience, Twilight fanatics will “shut down” if you speak badly about their favorite character; so in order for parents or youth leaders to create a dialogue over cultural issues they need to approach them thoughtfully and lovingly.
Many more theological and social issues are covered in Heath’s book, in which she included a series of questions to help encourage dialogue over the important issues she discusses.
The newest film in the Twilight series, “Breaking Dawn, Part One,” opens in theaters on Nov. 18.
A few years ago, I was part of a mission team that helped build a Teen Challenge Center in Ocho Rios, Jamaica. After a week of hard work, our family stuck around for a few days to enjoy the island. When we checked into our hotel I happened to pick up a tourist brochure about cliff jumping and the second I saw it I knew I needed to do it. But a few lazy days later, we were on an airplane headed back to Washington, DC and I remember having this thought at about thirty-thousand feet: I might never get back here. I felt like I had forfeited a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. And I still regret it. In fact, one of my life goals is to go back and not just jump off a cliff. I want to do a cliff baptism. Talk about baptism by immersion!
So I missed an opportunity to jump off a cliff. So what? In the grand scheme of things, that regret is rather benign. But that experience taught me a valuable lesson: at the end of our lives, we’ll regret opportunities missed a lot more than mistakes made.
That conviction is backed up by the research of two Cornell sociologists, Tom Gilovich and Vicki Medvec. According to their study, time is a key factor in what we regret. Over the short-term, we tend to regret our actions. But over the long-haul, we tend to regret inactions. Their study found that over the course of an average week, action regrets outnumber inaction regrets 53% to 47%. But when people look at their lives as a whole, inaction regrets outnumber action regrets 84% to 16%.
In theological terms, action regrets are sins of commission. And they certainly cause a twinge of guilt. But it is the inaction regrets or sins of omission that haunt us the rest of our lives. We are left to wonder: what if?
One of our core values at National Community Church is everything is an experiment. And that experimental approach to ministry gives us the freedom to fail. We’re not afraid of making mistakes. In fact, we’re afraid of not making mistakes because that means we aren’t taking enough risks.
Every sermon series is a teaching experiment. Every outreach is an evangelism experiment. Every small group is a discipleship experiment. Even our vision of meeting in movie theaters at metro stops throughout the metro DC area is an experiment in doing church in the middle of the marketplace.
I just don’t want to get to the end of my life and my ministry and wonder: What if?
I’d rather have some action regrets from falling flat on my face than leave a trail of inaction regrets in my wake.
I’m afraid that too many churches are playing not to lose instead of playing to win. We’re playing a prevent defense instead of storming the gates of Hell. We’re boycotting the Aeropagus instead of competing for the truth like the Apostle Paul.
Does it bother anyone else that the church is known more for what we’re against than what we’re for? We can do better than that can’t we? Instead of pointing our finger at what’s wrong with culture, the church needs to offer better alternatives. We need to make better movies and better music. We need to write better books. We need to start better schools and better businesses.
In the words of Michelangelo, we need to criticize by creating.
I have a core conviction that drives my ministry: there are ways of doing church that no one has thought of yet. That is what gets me up early and keeps me up late. I can’t imagine a more exciting time to be doing church. Podcasting is e-vangelism at the speed of light. Blogging is digital discipleship without borders. Our generation has an unprecedented opportunity to fulfill the Great Commission if we simply redeem technology and use it to serve God’s purposes.
But we need to stop doing ministry out of memory and start doing ministry out of imagination. We need to stop repeating the past and start creating the future. We need to stop being so afraid of doing something wrong that we don’t do anything right.
I know sins of commission grieve the Spirit of God. But I honestly don’t think they grieve God half as much as the God-ordained opportunities we fail to seize.
So what will you always regret if you don’t at least try it?
My advice is this: go jump off a cliff.
(Nashville, Tenn) September 1, 2011— According to TIME magazine over 40 million people sing the songs of Chris Tomlin each week, suggesting he is “likely the most often sung artist anywhere.” As a result, church congregations worldwide feel a connection with the lyrics and music Tomlin writes. On November 15th, sixstepsrecords will release a collection featuring many of Tomlin’s most defining songs to date on How Great Is Our God: The Essential Collection.
How Great Is Our God: The Essential Collection will feature 14 tracks; seven of which went to #1 at Christian AC Radio, 4 are currently in the Top 10 of most sung songs at Churches, and all 14 songs are in the top 120. Accolades aside, these are songs that not only have defined Tomlin, but have given a voice to the Church and millions of people around the world as they worship Jesus. Most notably, the record will also include new renditions of “Forever,” “We Fall Down” and a new version of the title track and current #1 CCLI song newly entitled “How Great Is Our God (The World Sings)” featuring the voices of influential worship leaders from around the world. For a full track listing see below.
Before the release of his new project, Tomlin will once again unite with friends Louie Giglio and Christy Nockels for the fall leg of his “And If Our God Is For Us…Tour.” Tomlin’s spring leg of the tour drew sold out crowds across the country. The event was in such high demand, second shows were added in Portland, Phoenix and Houston, and seats sold out shortly after they were announced. This season the tour will visit fans in Colorado Springs, Washington D.C., Indianapolis, St. Louis and more. See a full list of tour dates below. Tickets for all dates are currently on-sale now at www.christomlin.com.
Track Listing:
Chris Tomlin AND IF OUR GOD IS FOR US… TOUR with Louie Giglio & Christy Nockels 10/19 Colorado Springs, CO
10/20 Wichita, KS
10/21 Little Rock, AR
10/22 Pensacola, FL
10/25 Austin, TX
10/26 Corpus Christi, TX
10/27 College Station, TX
10/28 Shreveport, LA
10/29 Hattiesburg, MS
11/2 Indianapolis, IN – SOLD OUT
11/3 Johnstown, PA
11/4 Washington DC
11/5 Charleston, WV
11/11 Nashville, TN
11/12 Corbin, KY
11/16 Bourbonnais, IL
11/17 Memphis, TN
11/18 St. Louis, MO
11/19 Birmingham, AL
Marvin Sapp, whose wife passed away in 2010 after a battle with cancer, has announced plans to record songs for a new album expected to be released in 2012.
Sapp, who wowed fans with his 2010 Here I Am album, will be recording his next body of work live on Oct. 7, at Evangel Cathedral in Upper Marlboro, Md., near Washington, D.C.
The album was expected to address how Sapp overcame the loss of several people in his life, including wife MaLinda Sapp, who passed away in September 2010 due to complications from colon cancer.
“The focus of this record is how you can come through situations and still remain on top. It’s about how the enemy has a way of hitting you with stuff to cause you to fold and buckle, but I’m still standing,” Sapp told Billboard.com.
Sapp noted that although the album would be recorded live “some will sound like it’s studio. We’re gonna mix it up.”
As for why Sapp, pastor of Lighthouse Full Life Center Church in Grand Rapids, Mich., planned to record the music at a church in Maryland, the minister said Washington, D.C., is home to some of his biggest supporters.
“D.C. is one my largest audiences. They buy tons of records of mine in Washington, D.C. … So we’re going to do something different and see how it works,” he told Billboard.com.
The gospel album to be released in 2012 will be Sapp’s seventh, according to his official music website.
Sapp’s 2007 album “Thirsty” went gold and won seven Gospel Stellar Awards in 2009. His 2010 album, “Here I Am,” won several Stellar awards and a Dove Award. “Here I Am” was also recorded live.
Sapp debuted in the 90s as a gospel singer with the group Commissioned before launching his solo career in 1996.
“I am a preacher, called by God, who happens to sing,” was how Sapp defined his ministry.
In case you’re not too familiar with Marvin Sapp’s music, you can take a listen to one of my favorite songs by him below entitled, “Never Would’ve Made It Without You.”
Author William P. Young’s contract dispute regarding his runaway best-seller, The Shack, has been settled out of court.
Court documents show that a jury trial was scheduled for late September in Ventura, Calif., but on Aug. 12 the case was dismissed without prejudice.
Young filed suit in November 2009 against Brad Cummings and Wayne Jacobsen. Windblown Media countersued for $5 million in federal court and made a claim over the authorship of the book. Cummings and Jacobsen collaborated with Young in writing what became a No. 1 New York Times best-selling novel and founded Windblown Media to publish it after it was rejected by multiple publishers. Cummings did not respond to queries for comment by press time.
Hachette Book Group, which in 2008 began to distribute The Shack, also filed suit against Young and Windblown Media to determine where royalties should be paid and to protect itself from future lawsuits. In the wake of the dismissal, Hachette’s statement to Christian Retailing on the case was: “We’re very pleased that the parties have resolved their differences and we can move forward.”
Nichole Daiger, communications/public relations specialist for Los Angeles law firm Loeb & Loeb—which employs Young’s attorney, Michael Anderson—confirmed that the case was settled, but said that “the terms are confidential, so unfortunately we are not able to provide any comment or details.”
Attorneys for Windblown Media had a similar comment. “All disputes by the parties have been resolved by mutual agreement,” said Allison Hart of Los Angeles firm Lavely & Singer.
The suits filed concerned more than $8 million in royalties. Young’s contract had promised him 50 cents per paperback sale and $1 per hardcover sale, and a third of net profits.
“After we did an accounting, we recognized that he wasn’t getting paid anywhere near what he should,” Anderson told Christian Retailing in 2010.
Jacobsen said earlier that God was not “for us or against our brother Paul [Young]. He is for a resolution steeped in the very things we wrote about together—love, grace, truth, forgiveness and laying down our lives for each other. I’m sure Jesus yearns for a full reconciliation, but lacking that, would at least appreciate it if we could find a gracious resolution and a peaceful parting.”
When I was a junior in high school, my church youth group voted me to be their president. Apparently the qualifications for office had nothing to do with living like a Christian, and before I knew it, my one-year term “earned” me a partial scholarship to a Christian university. With athletics covering the rest of my room and board, I embarked on what I hoped would become a new, God-pleasing beginning.
I set off with a carload of clothes, Bic pens, my Cindy Crawford poster, and lofty dreams. Instead of being surrounded by young Billy Grahams and Mother Teresas, however, I was bombarded by miniature Lindsay Lohans and Kanye Wests and quickly pulled into the party scene.
Sin is fun — at least for a while. But it never fails to come back to haunt you, usually when you least expect it. Like a sneeze, sin feels good at first, but it leaves a huge mess. By my sophomore year, several of my fraternity brothers got busted for grand larceny, putting our whole fraternity at risk of being kicked off campus. Around the same time, because of a major hangover, I slept through tennis practice, which placed me exactly one mistake away from losing my athletic scholarship. And many people on campus despised me because of how I had treated a few girls.
Feeling lower and lower by the second, I decided to look up toward God — again.
I decided to start a Bible study in our fraternity house. I sold this unusual idea to my frat brothers by explaining that it would be great PR to help our sullied reputation. Truthfully, I wanted to learn about God. Since church hadn’t really helped me in that department, I thought I might as well go straight to the Bible to see what I could discover for myself.
On the Tuesday morning before our first Bible study, I was strolling across campus between classes when it dawned on me that I didn’t have a Bible. (I left the family’s gold Bible at home.) On my way to my world literature class, an older gentleman introduced himself to me, saying he was a Gideon. He asked me if I wanted a free Bible. I wasn’t sure what a Gideon was, but as
far as I was concerned, he might as well have been one of God’s angels.
That night, a handful of us started reading the Bible in a small, sweat-soaked, party-stained room in the Lamba Chi Alpha house. We started reading in Matthew, chapter one, and once we moved past who begat whom, the pace picked up. At the end of our rookie Bible studies, we prayed the only prayers we knew: “God, protect us as we party. God, keep Joe’s girlfriend from getting pregnant. God, don’t let us get caught cheating on the American history test.” They weren’t the typical prayers prayed at Baptist student unions, but they were honest.
We were a bunch of guys who believed in God but didn’t have a clue who God really is.
Although we didn’t know what we were doing, our little Bible study started to grow. Apparently many of our party friends bore a similar spiritual curiosity. The more Bible we read and the more prayers we prayed, the more people showed up and the more God seemed to do.
After finishing Matthew, we discovered that Mark, Luke, and John had several of the same stories. Three chapters into Acts, we got bored and skipped to Romans. Midway through Romans, I got so excited that I started reading ahead. When I reached Ephesians, I encountered two verses that would forever change my life: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God — not by works, so that no one can boast.” Could this be true? We’re saved by God’s grace and his grace alone? It’s not by our works? Why didn’t anyone tell me?
I felt like a caged animal and had to escape that tiny room. Someone was sitting in front of the only door, so I slipped out the closest window and dropped to the ground. Sensing something important, I dashed to a nearby softball field, needing to be alone with God. What happened next is hard to explain and even harder for me to believe. The presence of God became real to me.
I always thought that only wackos actually hear from God. Sure, you heard God. And there’s a teeny angel on your shoulder right now telling you what to do next, right?
Well, that evening I became a wacko. Kneeling on the grass, I heard a voice. It wasn’t audible — it was actually way too loud to be audible, too present inside me. “Without me, you have nothing. With me, you have everything.” I knelt and prayed the shortest, most power-packed, faith-filled prayer of my life.
Not so much whispering as mouthing the words, I said to God, “Take my life.”
That was it. I had knelt down in the field as one person, and I stood up as a completely different person. I had the same body, the same voice, and the same mind, but I wasn’t the same. I’d later learn that I’d become what the Bible calls a “new creation” (2 Cor. 5:17). The old was gone; the new had come. I had finally transformed from a Christian Atheist into a Christian.
For the first time in my life, I believed in God and began to live like he is real.
Mission Not Accomplished
Since I was a new person, I became aware of a new mission: to spread the gospel into all the earth — starting with my roommate. No one was immune from my infectious faith. Not my fellow athletes, not my fraternity brothers, not my party friends, not my professors. To say I became a fanatic would be an understatement. I started collecting converts to Christianity like Michael Phelps collects gold medals. The more that God did, the more I began to understand that God was calling me to give him my whole life in full-time, vocational ministry.
As if on cue, when I was twenty-three, God opened a door for me to work at a historic downtown church. My dreamcome-true slowly turned into a spiritual nightmare. What started out as a good thing quickly became an obsession. My service was never enough. And as my love for ministry burned hotter, my passion for Christ cooled.
My mission had become a job. Instead of studying God’s Word out of personal devotion, I studied only to preach. Instead of preaching messages to bring glory to God, I preached to bring people to church. I promised hurting people I would pray for them, but I usually didn’t follow through.
At the age of twenty-five, I was a full-time pastor and a part-time follower of Christ.
An Invitation
Does any of this resonate with your experience? Was there a time in your life that you were closer to God than you are today? If you’re like me, your spiritual drift didn’t happen on purpose. Like a tiny leak in a tire, slowly but surely, your spiritual passion quietly slipped away. Maybe it has just become clear to you. Instead of a fully devoted follower of Christ, you’ve unintentionally become a full-time mom or full-time student or a full-time bank clerk — and a part-time follower of Christ.
Maybe like so many, you’re a member of a church, but you’re secretly still ashamed of your past. Perhaps you’ve heard about the love of God, but you’re still not convinced that God totally loves you. Or though you’re convinced God exists, your prayer life isn’t what you know it should be. Perhaps like many other well-meaning Christians, you know what God wants you to do, but you still do whatever you want. Or you genuinely want to trust God as your provider, but you find it so hard to actually do. Possibly you believe in heaven and hell, but sharing your faith with others is still foreign or simply way too intimidating for you. Or you may believe in God but don’t see much need for the church.
I’ll be honest with you about my struggles, and I hope you’ll be honest as well. And together, with God’s help, perhaps we can learn to know and walk with God more intimately.
Craig Groeschel is the founder and senior pastor of LifeChurch.tv, an evangelical Christian multi-site church with multiple locations in Arizona, Oklahoma, and Texas that feature live satellite video services. His new book, The Christian Atheist, was released March 23rd, 2011.
SWITCHFOOT will perform on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” on Monday, September 19th. The GRAMMY®-winning band will give “Dark Horses,” the lead single from its upcoming album, Vice Verses, its television debut. The track is climbing at Modern Rock radio, where it has already been added by KTBZ (Houston), San Diego’s 91X and KBZT, CIMX (Detroit), KPNT (St. Louis), WXDX (Pittsburgh), KXRK (Salt Lake City) and numerous other stations.
Credential Recordings/lowercase people and Atlantic Records will release Vice Verses, the eighth studio record from the multi-platinum rock band, on September 27th. Working with producer Neal Avron (Sara Bareilles, Weezer), SWITCHFOOT recorded most of the album in their San Diego, CA home studio. Mike Elizondo (Eminem, Dr. Dre, Pink) who produced 2009’s Hello Hurricane, served as executive producer. Hello Hurricane entered The Billboard 200 at No. 13 and contained the Modern Rock hits “The Sound (John M. Perkins’ Blues)” and “Mess of Me.” The band won “Artist of the Year” honors at the San Diego Music Awards earlier this week.
On September 22nd, SWITCHFOOT will launch a co-headlining tour with ANBERLIN in Wilmington, NC. A pre-sale for fan club members is underway now at http://switchfoot.artistarena.com/. Tickets will go on sale to the general public this Friday, August 12th, at http://www.switchfoot.com/switchfoot/c/tourdates. (See below for itinerary.)
SWITCHFOOT and ANBERLIN have also teamed up with Eventful http://eventful.com to give their fans in the cities where the tour is routed the opportunity to bring an exclusive VIP acoustic performance to their city. Fans have until September 15 to cast a vote for their city at http://eventful.com/switchfootandamberlintour. The tour city with the most Demands will host the VIP performance prior to the regularly scheduled show. Eventful’s “Demand it!”™ service is used by over 100,000 performers who engage with millions of their fans to find out where they are in demand, and then utilize this essential data to optimize future tour routing.
Local chapters of StandUp for Kids (www.standupforkids.org), a national nonprofit volunteer outreach organization dedicated to making a difference in the lives of at-risk, homeless and street kids, will be collecting new and used backpacks at the concerts. The backpacks will be used to distribute food and essentials to kids served by the organization.
SWITCHFOOT has raised more than $500,000 for San Diego-based children’s charities, including StandUp for Kids, with its annual concert/surf contest/silent auction, the Switchfoot Bro-Am Presented By Hurley (http://www.switchfoot.com/c/bro-am). The seventh annual Bro-Am took place in June at Moonlight Beach in Encinitas, CA.
ESPN college football will host an exclusive stream of Vice Verses on September 17th and the album will provide the soundtrack to the NCAA games airing that day on ESPN. SWITCHFOOT will perform at the San Diego Padres-Arizona Diamondbacks baseball game on September 18th at PETCO Park in San Diego.
SWITCHFOOT – comprising Jon Foreman (vocals/guitar), Tim Foreman (bass), Chad Butler (drums), Jerome Fontamillas (keys/guitar) and Drew Shirley (guitar) – expands its sonic palette on Vice Verses. Songs like “Afterlife” and “The War Inside” take the harder-edged approach of Hello Hurricane a step further, creating what Billboard has called “powerful, anthemic rockers.” Tracks such as the groove-oriented “The Original” and “Blinding Light” benefit from a hip-hop backbeat as does “Selling the News,” a Beck-like song that finds Foreman performing spoken word. “The War Inside” really puts the rhythm section up front while the snappy “Rise Above It” recalls the Chili Peppers punk-funk. “‘Restless’ is the story of my life: thirsty, reaching, yearning for more,” confesses Foreman as his unflinchingly honest lyrics drive the current single rapidly climbing the AC/CHR Christian radio charts.
With its play on words, the new album’s title suggests its theme: everything has two sides. “Every blessing comes with a set of curses,” singer-guitarist Jon Foreman sings on the title track, all the while wondering if “there’s a meaning to it all.”
“The whole thing is about polarity,” says Foreman. “We wanted to write about the polarity of what it means to be human, the lights and darks. I’m always intrigued by the tension that exists between life and death. When making Hello Hurricane, there was a graveyard right by the hotel we were staying at while we were mixing it, and I spent a little bit of time there each morning walking through and sorting it out…really Vice Verses started there. This record is as much about loss as it is about what we still have while we’re living.”
The pre-order for Vice Verses is currently underway at www.switchfoot.com.
SWITCHFOOT/ANBERLIN FALL 2011 U.S. TOUR
9/22 Wilmington, NC UNC-Wilmington
9/25 New York, NY Best Buy
9/26 Philadelphia, PA Trocadero
9/27 Oneonta, NY SUNY College
9/29 Grand Rapids, MI Hoogenboom Center – Calvin College
9/30 Columbus, OH Newport Music Hall
10/1 Bourbonnais, IL Olivet Nazarene University-Centennial
10/2 Dekalb, IL Northern Illinois University
10/5 Bowling Green, OH Bowling Green State University – Stroh Center
10/7 Boulder, CO Boulder Theatre
10/8 Salt Lake City, UT Gallivan Center – X96 concert
10/10 San Francisco, CA The Warfield Theatre
10/11 Los Angeles, CA The Wiltern
10/13 Amarillo, TX Azteca Music Hall
10/14 Siloam Springs, AR John Brown University – Bill George Arena
10/15 Longview, TX Le Tourneau University – Belcher Center
10/17 Dallas, TX House of Blues
10/18 Austin, TX Stubbs Waller Creek
10/20 Albuquerque, NM Kiva Auditorium
10/21 Phoenix, AZ Grand Canyon University Arena (SWITCHFOOT ONLY)
Why did you want to spend two years in Atlanta to help start a church?
We’ve loved being around the Passion movement for the last decade, and have shared much life with those guys—leading and traveling together, dreaming up songs together, so many good stories along the way. When we heard Louie and Shelley [Giglio] and Chris were planting a church, there was no way we weren’t going to hop across the ocean and join in the fun! It was a great adventure for those first couple of years, but we felt the pull back to our homeland and life and ministry here. We ended up moving to Brighton, the most unchurched city in England—a very different kind of challenge!
What attracts you to church plants, and what was your role in Atlanta?
We’ve been around for the planting of a few new church communities, and it’s always such a faith-filled adventure. They’ve involved different sizes, styles, expressions, and cultures, but with all of them it’s been amazing to see Jesus building his church, and to realize that the gospel of Christ really works. If you put his hope, love, and glory on display in a relevant way, you’ll see it change, save, and transform lives. Who wouldn’t want to be part of something like that?
You had two kids born in the U.S., and both needed critical care. Tell me about that.
Jackson and Levi both had some breathing difficulties when they were born, and ended up in the ICU for a little while. Those moments are never easy to navigate; you’re expecting sheer joy in that season and then you get some struggle thrown in with it. But isn’t that so much of what life is like on this journey of faith? So often it’s battle and blessing all mixed up into one. But the longer you walk with Jesus, the more you realize just how utterly faithful he is, and I hope that conviction comes through in some of the songs we’ve been writing. It’s no coincidence that some of the most fruitful songs we’ve written have flowed from some of the hardest moments of our lives—like “Blessed Be Your Name,” “You Never Let Go,” and now “Never Once,” they all came from seasons of intense struggle and confusion.
How would you describe Passion City Church?
Louie is the last person to claim that PCC was some brand new innovative expression of church. But having said that, I think that Louie, Shelley, Chris, and the team are all creative people with a big worldview, so that’s going to add some spice. I think perhaps the unique thing about PCC is that it was a local community being planted from an already existing global movement. Usually it’s the other way around.
What have you learned from two years immersed in American culture?
I love the optimism in so much of the USA church. Sometimes we Europeans can be a bit more cynical or embarrassed to dream and live big. I think American optimism mixed in with a kingdom of God mindset is a wonderful, explosive mix. It reminds me of Psalm 18, where the writer is convinced that he can rise to the occasion: “With my God I can do this thing … I can do that thing.” I see that a lot in the USA church, and I’ve found it really inspiring.
What has been your focus since returning to the UK?
We’re now at St. Peter’s in Brighton—a recent church plant by Holy Trinity Brampton, a London church. One of the major landmarks in Brighton is St. Peter’s, this huge cathedral-like building in the center. Until a year or so ago it was increasingly rundown and empty. But now with this new church community, it’s starting to fill up again and be that “city on a hill” it was always meant to be. We are so excited to be jumping into the adventure as we’ve for a long time had a heart for that city—the most unchurched city in England. We’d love to play a tiny little part in its transformation.
Why is your new album called 10,000 Reasons?
It comes from a lyric in the title song: “For all Your goodness I will keep on singing: 10,000 reasons for my heart to find.” We’re never short of a reason to worship Jesus; his goodness and glory are flying at us steadily and speedily from every imaginable angle. So if we wake up one day and can’t think of a reason to exalt him, there’s something wrong with our spiritual outlook. I hope the album itself is flowing with reason after reason for the worship of God. There’s not really one over-arching theme; there are songs of the cross, songs of the holiness of God, songs of his faithfulness, songs about eternity, songs of how he gives us a bright future.
Why did you decide to do a live album, instead of a studio album?
There’s something about the singing worshipping church which is just so distinctive—it’s the people of God, in the presence of God, pouring out the praises of God. Honestly, there’s nothing quite like that dynamic on the face of the earth, outside of the worshipping church.
Pick a song or two and tell the story behind it.
“Never Once” is about the constancy and faithfulness of God. I began to write it in Atlanta on my first visit back since our family returned to the UK. Our house in Atlanta hadn’t sold, and the song started out in the empty, echoey kitchen—just me, my guitar, a few chords, and some very solid truth about our God. Transition is always tough, and I was thinking through the journey of the last few years—all the joys and struggles. I had a very real sense of God’s immense kindness and faithfulness over every page of my life. Jason Ingram and Tim Wanstall, two great friends and songwriters, jumped in to work with me to finish the song.
“Holy” is an attempt to paint a big picture of God, focusing on how worthy he is. My friend Jonas Myrin initiated this song. He’s a Swedish guy with a great melodic sensibility and a pretty amazing grasp on the poetry of the English language, considering it’s his second language! But most of all he has a big heart for worshipping God. On the day we wrote, this we were in a little English chapel near my house, composing all day. Jason and I had both ducked out for an hour or so to call our families and check in on home. We assumed Jonas was also taking a break, but arriving back at the chapel, he was still at the piano, and singing out the foundation of something that seemed so special. We were glad to join him in helping shape and develop the song. But it’s one of those songs where the moment I heard those opening bars, I had a strong sense that were being entrusted with something special. As it turns out I think this song became the centerpiece of the whole album in many ways. There was a wonderful response when we led it at the recording.
How do you feel like you’ve grown as an artist over the years? Any regrets?
There are a few lyrics I regret, but I’m not telling you which ones! Seriously though, I don’t take lightly the craft of congregational songwriting. We’re putting words into people’s mouths, and therefore their hearts and minds. So in a good (or bad) way, we are actually at times shaping the way someone thinks about God or approaches him. That’s an awesome task. You have to become more than just a musician writing some nice tunes to make Sundays more jolly.
When you start presenting songs in your local church, you are in effect a pastor, a teacher—maybe even a prophet or evangelist. Scary! The thing I’m learning more than ever is that teamwork is essential. Every song on the new album is a co-write, and I know that all of the songs went to a different place because of that. Working together we can spur each other on to create harder, dig deeper, and therefore I hope, go further.
You have a new book coming out in August, Mirror Ball. Please describe it in a nutshell.
The book is about living a big, bold, and bright life of worship. I hope it helps people get a heightened view of the amazing God we serve, and then propels them into a new confidence of who they can become in him.
What’s the difference between songwriting and writing a book?
I love working with words. Songwriting is interesting because ultimately you’re trying to say something in the most concise way possible. The aim for me is “simple but not shallow”—so it can be easily learned, but hopefully contains some important God-truths. Writing a book, on the other hand, you get a little more space to reflect and unpack a theme. But I find that what both disciplines need is the ability and diligence to shape, mold, re-form, and edit. Often we give up too early. Creativity is always a mix of inspiration and perspiration.
Jeremy Camp’s story has inspired thousands since his debut in 2002. He has now penned this story along with co-writer Phil Newman and will release the book to retail in September 2011. Camp’s book, I Still Believe: Discovering Hope and Healing in the Midst of Life’s Deepest Valleys, is a personal reflection on his story of the passing of his first wife, Melissa, to cancer just months after marrying, and how he has grown in his relationship with God through the past ten years. This touching book portrays a full-circle account of Camp’s story that has impacted his music.
“I’ve wanted to put this story in book form for many years, but it just hasn’t been the right time until now,” states Jeremy Camp about the timing of the book. “God was and is still working in my life, but this book is a result of the last ten years of pain, healing, restoration and new beginnings.”
Within each page of I Still Believe, Camp opens his heart and soul as he shares with the reader about responding to life’s most difficult hardships. He tackles how to turn earthly sorrow straight to God when faced with the passing of a loved one.
“As clear as things are now compared to the way I felt during Melissa’s illness and after her passing, I still see only partially, imperfectly, and incompletely,” shares Camp in the book. “I have tasted and seen the goodness of the Lord in the form of one life after another life changed because of the testimony of God’s faithfulness, even in the midst of pain and sadness. There will be a day, however, when everything truly becomes crystal clear.”
Fans have heard Jeremy share his story on stage and in interviews. Many do not know and will no doubt be touched by the complete story and details of his testimony and his heartbreaking story about his first wife, Melissa. Readers will also learn more about Jeremy’s modest life growing up in Indiana, his struggles growing into adolescence and how the start of his music ministry began to open more doors than he ever thought possible. The book also shares of his unexpected friendship with Adrienne Liesching, which eventually brought about healing and restoration as well as a new life together.
Camp’s deep heart for ministry and his desire to see the next generation become truly alive is so vivid within the pages of I Still Believe. Here are what others are saying about I Still Believe:
“We have choices when life hits us with tragedy or despair, crisis or loss. That’s the message of Jeremy Camp’s books, and it’s the reason you will find hope and healing by journeying through the pages of his story.”
- Karen Kingsbury, Bestselling author
“Jeremy Camp is an extremely talented artist. But what many do not know is that he has suffered greatly in life. Out of this suffering many of the songs we have come to love have been born and have brought encouragement and comfort to untold thousands around the world. Now, for the first time, Jeremy Camp tells his whole story. I heartily endorse it.”
- Greg Laurie, Senior Pastor, Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, California
“Jeremy’s music has always had a powerful impact on me, and now I know why. Behind his voice is a heart that’s uniquely connected with God. Through his pain, grief, sorrow, and loss, his life has become a crucible where the Lord’s love and mercy are real revelations. Reading Jeremy’s story has reinforced my faith in He who is able and alive!”
– Bob Coy, Senior Pastor, Calvary Chapel in Ft. Lauderdale
David Crowder*Band has announced that they will release their first ever Christmas record on Oct. 4, just months before the GRAMMY ® nominated band will debut their final album. Oh For Joy will include eight Christmas classics such as “Joy To The World,” “O Holy Night,” “Silent Night” and more, presented with the band’s distinct mark, final track listing below. The unique, nutcracker-themed cover was also revealed this week.
“Back in January we decided to start working on a record. It was to be a final masterpiece, our last statement, if you will. But we got sidetracked, and we made a Christmas album instead,” explains the band in a statement to their fans. “This is something that we are very excited about, something that we have wanted to do for years and years. Well, that Christmas album is now officially finished, and we are pleased to announce that on October 4th, Oh For Joy will release!”
Announced first to their the fans, David Crowder*Band will additionally be unveiling their final studio record on January 10, 2012. The album title is forthcoming, and the band is at work on the final project in their Texas recording studio. To read the original statement from the band, visit http://www.davidcrowderband.com/.
Up next for the band will be headlining the highly anticipated “The 7 Tour” with acclaimed artists Gungor, who is doing an acoustic set, Chris August and John Mark McMillan. This will mark the final tour for the GRAMMY ® nominees. The shows will span from September through November and hit over 30 clubs and theaters across the U.S. including key markets such as: Dallas, Texas, Los Angeles, Calif., Portland, Ore., Seattle, Wash., Chicago, Ill., New York, N.Y., Atlanta, Ga. and Orlando, Fla. Already, several dates including Dallas have sold out with many other markets being close to capacity.
Sales of religious books saw a major turnaround last year, rising 12.5% after declining 10.6% in 2009, according to the new landmark statistical survey by the Association of American Publishers and Book Industry Study Group.
Sales for the religious segment—in all print and digital formats—totaled $1.35 billion in 2010, said the joint report, released this week.
Incorporating net sales revenue and unit data from more than 1,100 U.S. publishers, BookStats is billed as the most comprehensive evaluation and analysis of the book industry, with information covering 2008-2010.
The report revealed that publishers’ net sales revenue was $27.9 billion in 2010, a 5.6% increase from 2008. Additionally, publishers’ 2.57 billion net units sold last year represented a 4.1% increase since 2008.
“The study indicates that the publishing industry is healthy and growing during a time of unprecedented change,” said Dominique Raccah, founder and CEO of Sourcebooks and chair of the BookStats committee. “Publishers have made significant investments in content and technology to better serve their audiences’ needs, and those efforts seem to correlate with the results we’re seeing.”
Click here for more information, and to purchase the complete BookStats.
Nothing is more difficult for us to get our minds around than the unconditional grace of God.
It offends our deepest sensibilities. We are actually conditioned against unconditionality–we are told in a thousand different ways that accomplishment precedes acceptance and achievement precedes approval.
Society demands two-way love. Everything’s conditional; if you achieve only then will you receive: meaning, security, respect, love, and so on. But grace, as Paul Zahl points out, is one-way love, “Grace is love that seeks you out when you have nothing to give in return. Grace is love coming at you that has nothing to do with you. Grace is being loved when you are unlovable.”
Like Job’s friends, we naturally conclude that good people get good stuff and bad people get bad stuff. The idea that bad people get good stuff is thickly counterintuitive; it seems terribly unfair and offends our sense of justice. Even those of us who have tasted the radical saving grace of God find it intuitively difficult not to put conditions on grace. The truth is that a “yes grace, but” posture is the kind of posture that perpetuates slavery in our lives and in the church.
Grace is radically unbalanced. It has no “but”; it’s unconditional, uncontrollable, unpredictable, and undomesticated. As Doug Wilson put it recently, “Grace is wild. Grace unsettles everything. Grace overflows the banks. Grace messes up your hair. Grace is not tame. In fact, unless we are making the devout nervous, we are not preaching grace as we ought.”
With this in mind, let’s look at Luke 7:36-50. This is the famous account of the sinful woman (most likely a prostitute) barging into a party of religious leaders and washing the feet of Jesus with her tears of repentance. Two rescues are happening in this passage: the obvious rescue of the immoral person but also the rescue of the moral person.
Normally, when we think of people in need of God’s rescuing grace, we think of the unrighteous and the immoral. But, what’s fascinating to me is, throughout the Bible, the immoral person gets the gospel before the moral person. It’s the prostitute who gets grace and the Pharisee who doesn’t. What we see in this story is God’s grace wrecks and then rescues, not only the promiscuous, but also the pious.
The Pharisee in this story can’t understand what Jesus is doing by allowing this woman to touch him because he assumes that God is for the clean and competent. But Jesus shows God is for the unclean and incompetent, and when measured against God’s perfect holiness, we’re all unclean and incompetent. Jesus shows the Pharisee the gospel isn’t for winners, but losers. It’s for the weak and messed-up person, not the strong and mighty person. It’s not for the well-behaved, but the dead.
Remember: Jesus came not to put into effect a moral reformation but a mortal resurrection (moral reformations can, and have, taken place throughout history without Jesus. But only Jesus can raise the dead, over and over and over again). As Gerhard Forde put it, “Christianity is not the move from vice to virtue, but rather the move from virtue to grace.”
Wrecking every religious category he had, Jesus tells the Pharisee he has a lot to learn from the prostitute, not the other way around.
The prostitute, on the other hand, walks into a party of religious people and falls at the feet of Jesus without any care as to what others are thinking and saying. She’s at the end of herself. More than wanting to avoid an uncomfortable situation, she wanted to be clean–she needed to be forgiven. She was acutely aware of her guilt and shame. She knew she needed help. She understood at a profound level that God’s grace doesn’t demand you get clean before you come to Jesus. Rather, our only hope for getting clean is to come to Jesus.
Only in the Gospel does love precede loveliness. Everywhere else loveliness precedes love.
What the Pharisee, the prostitute, and everyone in-between need to remember every day is that Christ offers forgiveness full and free from both our self-righteous goodness and our unrighteous badness. This is the hardest thing for us to believe as Christians. We think it’s a mark of spiritual maturity to hang on to our guilt and shame. We’ve sickly concluded that the worse we feel, the better we actually are. The declaration of Psalm 103:12 is the most difficult for us to grasp and embrace: “As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.” Or, as Corrie ten Boom once said, “God takes our sins—the past, present, and future—and dumps them in the sea and puts up a sign that says ‘No Fishing Allowed.’” This seems too good to be true…it can’t be that simple, that easy, that real!
It is true! No strings attached. No but’s. No conditions. No need for balance. If you are a Christian, you are right now under the completely sufficient imputed righteousness of Christ. Your pardon is full and final. In Christ, you’re forgiven. You’re clean. It is finished.
This week’s tweet of the week comes Dr. Tony Evans who tweeted:
“God is not opposed to greatness. God is opposed to pride. Big difference. God wants you to be great!”
Preach on, preacher.
Amid fears of an economic crisis, listeners of national Christian radio stations, K-Love and Air1 donated nearly $2 million in a daylong campaign to provide Compassion’s Water of Life safe water systems to those living in extreme poverty in Rwanda.
K-Love and Air1 focused on the immense need for safe water in Rwanda where 60% of the population lives below the poverty line. In addition, more than one-third of the population is without improved drinking water sources and nearly half are without improved sanitation facilities.
“The money raised will provide over 35,000 Compassion children and their families with safe drinking water for the rest of their lives,” said Mark Hanlon, Compassion’s SVP, USA.
“Thanks to the tremendous generosity of the K-Love and Air1 listeners, these kids and their families will never have to worry about diseases from unsafe drinking water,” Hanlon said.
“God continues to bless K-LOVE and Air 1 with a large stage from which to spread His word. We feel that part of being a good steward is to share this stage with like-minded ministries,” said Mike Novak, president and CEO of K-Love and Air 1.
“Compassion and the ‘Water of Life’ campaign was a natural fit. The K-LOVE and Air 1 listeners blessed about 35,000 families in Rwanda with these remarkable life-giving water filters, by donating $1.9 million to Compassion in a one-day event. To that, I say, ‘Praise God,’” Novak said.
Though economic reports threatened to reduce donor generosity, over 19,000 people gave an average of $90 to provide the systems. Air1 also initiated a pledge drive where a major donor agreed to provide a Compassion Water of Life system for Haiti for each person who signed up as a recurring donor to the station. As a result, 2,600 additional water systems were made available.
The benefits of safe water have more than health implications. It is also a financial issue.
“The direct result of safe water for families means that fewer resources will be needed to treat illnesses. And when children are healthy, they can go to school,” said Hanlon. “Safe water seems like such a simple thing, but for children in living in poverty in countries like Rwanda, it has the power to bring practical change through improved health and education.”
Compassion International is the world’s largest Christian child development organization that permanently releases children from poverty. Founded in 1952, Compassion successfully tackles global poverty one child at a time, serving more than 1.2 million children in 26 of the world’s poorest countries. Recognizing that poverty is more than a lack of money, Compassion works through local churches to holistically address the individual physical, economic, educational and spiritual needs of children—enabling them to thrive, not just survive. Compassion has been awarded 10 consecutive, four-star ratings by Charity Navigator, America’s largest charity evaluator.
Martin Smith sits down to talk about the best approach to writing Christian songs that will resonate with people for many years to come.
Acoustic duo Shane & Shane is partnering with Fair Trade Services for its first studio release in two years, The One You Need. Available Oct. 4, the project’s debut single and title track is currently impacting Christian AC, CHR and Inspirational Radio.
After a brief hiatus from recording, Shane Barnard and Shane Everett have returned to the studio with two years worth of new material, all self-written and self-produced. The duo, who has been playing together for 13 years, has joined efforts with Fair Trade Services, home to top artists including The Afters, MercyMe, and Derek Webb, for its latest album.
“Shane and I are so excited about our new record label Fair Trade Services,” says Everett. “It feels amazing to have a team around us who is not only concerned about selling records but also about the Gospel moving forward through song!!! We love these guys.”
The Shanes, now both married with children, created this latest record through the lens of fatherhood and community. In fact, Barnard penned the title track—a poignant letter from daddy to daughter—a week before his daughter Lucy was born. Having also recently assumed the role of worship pastors at their local church, The One You Need additionally contains songs intended to minister to those hurting around them.
“For the first time, we’ve been in community; and when you’re in community, you see the hurt,” Everett explains. “Being on staff has been an eye opening experience for us, rubbing shoulders with broken hurting people helps us not only in our own struggles, but lets us know how to pray and how much we desperately need it.”
Preceding the record’s release is lead single, “The One You Need,” which went for adds at radio July 22. Shane & Shane wrapped a national promotional tour in support of the single earlier this month. Watch Part I and Part II of their road trip at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihajxCkyZ4c and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZ9DcP3QNjA. The duo also filmed a music video for the song, which will premiere on GodTube Aug. 4. Additional details are forthcoming. For more information on Shane & Shane and The One You Need, visitwww.shaneandshane.com.
Shane Everett and Shane Barnard formed the duo, Shane & Shane, after meeting at Central Baptist Church in College Station, Texas in the late 90’s. Since then, the acoustic-guitar wielding pair has become a college-circuit favorite with six label releases to its credit, and countless hours logged on the road, including tours alongside Bethany Dillon, David Crowder Band and Robbie Seay Band, among others. In total, the band’s career sales exceed half a million units. Follow Shane & Shane at www.facebook.com/shaneandshanemusic orwww.twitter.com/ShaneandShane.
Hachette Book Group announced that it has signed an agreement for a new novel with Wm. Paul Young, author of The Shack.
“Just as he did with The Shack, Paul’s new work is a compelling story that touches deeply felt emotions and needs, and questions of the heart,” said Rolf Zettersten, SVP of Hachette’s Nashville division.
“I am very pleased to have signed with Hachette for my next book,” added Paul Young. “We have had quite the adventure this last couple of years and I look forward with anticipation to what the future holds. The folks at Hachette are creative and passionate about the process and I am grateful for the integrity and support I have found at every level of this company.”
The Shack was published in 2008 and became an international phenomenon with more than 15 million copies in print (10 million in the United States and more than 5 million in foreign translations). It spent 50 weeks at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list and has been translated into 41 languages.
I’ll be honest.
I’ve never been a Dennis Rodman fan.
I’ve always thought of him as a reckless, self absorbed, ego maniac. And while my assessment was probably fairly accurate, I think I forgot one thing. He’s a broken human being just like me.
His acceptance speech into the NBA Hall of Fame was unbelievably telling. If you have a moment you should watch (Warning: The language is a bit rough).
In his speech he did something that athletes (or anyone else) rarely do. Instead of focusing on his career he talked very candidly about his personal shortcomings and the pain he’s been through in life.
I almost started crying with him when he admits: “I have one regret; I wish I was a better father.” His own father abandoned him when he was five years old, and Dennis said that later in life: “He wrote a book about me and made a lot of money, but he never came and said hello to me.”
Just remember today before you judge that:
Arrogant boss
Self-absorbed friend
Angry parent
Everyone needs healing… Everyone.
Any thoughts?
hi there
Aaron Shust opens up his heart in this personal video about his son’s illness and how its affect him and his family, and how it all inspired his new album THIS IS WHAT WE BELIEVE that releases today. We all see some footage of Aaron at work on the new album in studio. You can get your copy on iTunes
More congregations than ever are hosting Ramsey’s Financial Peace University. Now he’s looking at their budgets, too.
It’s December 28, two days after the last Sunday of 2010. Dick Giesler has just reviewed the year’s financial numbers—three years after the start of the country’s worst economic disaster in nearly a century. Giesler, administrative pastor at Immanuel Baptist Church in Gurnee, Illinois, is fully aware of the challenging financial position of both the church and many of its members.
But Giesler is aware of something else. In addition to his administrative responsibilities, Giesler leads the church’s two weekly meetings of Financial Peace University, a personal finance course produced by radio and television host Dave Ramsey. More than 800 people have taken the course since the church started offering it three years ago, and at least 250 of them do not attend Immanuel. In those meetings, Giesler has heard the stories of mounting debt and seen struggles with budgeting. But despite the personal challenges, for the third year in a row, giving to the church is up more than 5 percent, placing Immanuel among the minority of congregations that have seen giving rise since the economic downturn.
“I can’t attribute it to anything specifically other than Financial Peace University,” Giesler said, “and obedience to the Lord’s principles about handling money.”
Shredding the Debt
Giesler himself is a former Financial Peace student and enthusiastic convert to Ramsey’s financial system. Ramsey preaches frugal living, generous savings, and, most of all, avoiding debt. (If you must borrow to buy a house, Ramsey instructs, make it a 15-year mortgage.) Giesler’s office displays a clear, cylindrical tower about two-and-a-half feet high. Inside are the remains of 950 credit cards representing millions of borrowed dollars that Financial Peace students have repaid through Ramsey’s program. During the 13 weeks of the class, he says, attendees typically pay off $6,000 in debt and save an extra $2,000. Often, members sign up for a second course.
Among the members are Chris and Amy Rupert, who now lead classes with Giesler. Chris, a software engineer, was introduced to Ramsey because of his initial concern about government debt—not his own. A Christian book on economics mentioned Dave Ramsey’s 2003 book The Total Money Makeover. Chris bought it and read it in a day.
“I got sick of getting to the end of the month and finding we were spending into a deficit,” Chris said. “We make good money and had nothing but a pile of debt to show for it.”
The information in Ramsey’s curriculum is not new or unique, Chris said, but it is trustworthy and gave them a plan.
“What I like about Ramsey is that it’s about behavior modification and small steps,” Chris said. “We make the same [amount of] money, but now we spend intentionally, and giving is on the list.”
The program had a marital bonus, one that nearly every couple in the class mentions. “Amy bore the bulk of stress with budgeting, because I just did not pay attention,” he said. “I was not engaged in my marriage as I should have been.”
Thanks for the Ministry
Throughout the course, a series of 12 videos plus one more on tithing, Ramsey returns to a few phrases. Children do whatever feels good, he says, but adults create a plan and follow it through. Another is, “Live like no one else today, so that later you can live like no one else.” He rails against a consumer culture that people fail to resist, trapping them with loads of stuff and debt. “It’s stooopid!” he shouts.
Ramsey has been giving out this kind of advice for 20 years, born out of stooopid behavior of his own. In his 20s, making $20,000 a month with a real estate portfolio worth several million, Ramsey says his wealth left him dissatisfied. But he didn’t have to face the burden of wealth for long: banks called his loans early, and Ramsey was forced to declare bankruptcy.
The churches he had attended looking for meaning he now turned to for financial help. A new Christian, he resolved to live differently, especially with his money. And he began telling others about his newfound, debt-free, frugal lifestyle. He self-published his Financial Peace curriculum in 1992, the same year he landed a spot on a then-bankrupt Nashville radio station.
For the first decade, Ramsey and his company, Lampo Group, lived in an uncomfortable tension between being Christian and being featured on secular radio stations. That tension followed him to the Fox Business Channel, where callers regularly thanked him for his “ministry” and asked God to bless him. (Fox ended the show in 2010, but Ramsey is still a regular guest on many of its programs.) “I had radio stations say, ‘We love the show, but does he have to talk about God all the time?’” said Bill Hampton, Lampo Group’s executive vice president.
The organization changed after the attacks on September 11, said Hampton. As the country turned to prayer following that day, Ramsey and his organization committed to integrating their faith into their financial teaching. “This is who we are,” Hampton said. “This is truth, and we’re going to be a business that operates in truth.”
Ramsey doesn’t claim that his financial principles are based on the Bible. But he talks about his personal faith, incorporates Scripture into his teaching, and speaks about the spiritual dimension of material things. “We found that people respect the consistency of the message. We don’t beat people over the head with the Bible,” Hampton said.
Still, integrating the Bible makes good business sense: While military bases, corporations, and other non-religious groups host Financial Peace classes, the majority of the 20,000 held last year were at churches. (About 251,000 families took part last year; 1.3 million have done so in the organization’s history.)
Irreverent Investor
Ramsey has his critics, most of whom are concerned with his investment advice. He is a severe critic of Biblically Responsible Investing (BRI), which strongly discourages people from investing in products that make money off of abortion, gambling, tobacco, or pornography. One financial adviser says he received e-mails from Ramsey “forcefully telling me not to tell people about BRI.”
The Financial Peace curriculum calls such investing “a slippery slope.” The financial adviser said, for instance, “If you no longer invest in funds that might invest in a company that supports abortion, you would also need to stop banking, because nearly all banks contribute to United Way, which supports Planned Parenthood …. [D]on’t choose these funds out of guilt. Don’t make poor investment decisions to choose these funds.”
“It’s a very sad reflection on the church when good ethics is deemed a slippery slope,” said Christian financial adviser Gary Moore. “Pastors should be very careful about his teachings.”
“Values-based investing is a good concept,” Ramsey stated in an e-mail interview. “However, I recommend that you invest in funds that have a five-year or longer track record of strong rates of returns, and few of these funds have that.”
Another financial adviser listed as an “Endorsed Local Provider”—someone who does business “Dave Ramsey’s way”—said Ramsey’s advice often goes overboard. “My recommendations are specific to the client,” he said. Some should probably invest outside the stock market, but such advice would get him delisted from Ramsey’s organization, which recommends only stock investments.
Most people who have gone through Ramsey’s program probably don’t recall the details of his investing advice. For them, it’s about quitting credit cards and budgeting. These simple but often dramatic behavior changes are unquestionably changing families around the country, as they did when Larry Burkett and Ron Blue were the top personal finance gurus of the conservative Christian world.
“You’re not free until you’re financially free,” said Chuck Bentley, CEO of Crown Financial Ministries. But that’s more than just free from debt and credit cards, he said. A human definition of financial freedom is financial independence. For God, “financial freedom is the freedom to serve only one master. You’re free to be Christ’s slave and no longer controlled by money, regardless if you have a lot or a little.”
Like Ramsey, Crown offers practical help, from a budgeting system to online bill paying. But Bentley said it’s most important to get someone’s heart in the right place and not simply deal with overspending. “The rich young ruler was probably debt free. But Jesus challenged his heart regarding his wealth.”
Rob Leacock, administrative pastor at Christ Church Assembly of God in Fort Worth, Texas, has used material from both Financial Peace and Crown Financial Ministries.While Financial Peace focuses on getting out of debt, Leacock said, Crown’s “focus is what the Bible says …. In a perfect world, we would do Crown first and get the biblical basis.” Then Financial Peace would provide a more step-by-step approach of putting the biblical principles into action. The people who had already gone through Crown classes, Leacock said, responded best to the Financial Peace classes.
Ending the Capital Campaign
In September, Howard Books will release Ramsey’s next book, one that has more in common with Peter Drucker than Larry Burkett. EntreLeadership signals Ramsey’s efforts to translate his expertise in personal finance into the areas of leadership and small business. (He has been conducting EntreLeadership conferences since 2005.)
‘Churches see the pain that finances cause in people’s marriages and families.’— Dave Ramsey
Meanwhile, Ramsey’s Lampo Group (lampo is Greek for “give light” or “shine”) has been quietly reshaping Ramsey’s church outreach. The Momentum curriculum, aimed at pastors and church leaders, shares many of Financial Peace’s themes: eliminating debt, saving, and giving. But it looks at church budgets, too. Perhaps most controversially, the program argues that churches should not conduct capital campaigns for any purpose. Instead, Ramsey argues, churches should just teach members to mind their finances.
“In the capital campaign model, you’re tapping the few members who are giving and you’re asking for more,” said Hampton. Instead, he said, “If you free resources, families will give. They want to; they just don’t know how to fit it into their budget.”
The argument convinced the leadership of the 1,200-member Christ Church Assembly of God. Leaders had been planning a capital campaign in order to pay off the debts from two new buildings. Then, in September 2009, leaders talked to Ramsey’s Momentum staff.
Executive pastor Stephen Blandino said Momentum consultants told them, “If you have a capital campaign, and your people are in debt, how will you reach your goals?”
The church instead signed 763 people up for Financial Peace. During the 13-week course, attendees paid off $951,899 in personal debt and saved another $219,274. The church asks for annual pledges to its building fund, but hasn’t yet launched a capital campaign.
“We want to eliminate our [church] debt, but we want to help our people get rid of their debt,” Blandino said. The church’s use of Ramsey’s programs, he said, “is about how we change the culture of our church when it comes to how we think about money.”
As the father of four energetic boys and a beautiful daughter, I am regularly jumped upon in the comfort of my own home. Often I will be minding my own business, perhaps walking past the stairs, when one of my sons will leap from a great height and land on me, trusting that I will catch him. Having gotten over the initial shock of being mugged in my own house by a person half my size, I’ve learned to take this activity as a huge compliment. It says so much about what they think of me and of what they consider me to be capable of.
Apparently, they even think I have eyes in the back of my head. When they launch themselves from the sixth or seventh step, they are counting on my strength and quick reaction to make sure they don’t end up in a heap on the floor. I love their bounding confidence and enjoy the way it fuels a sense of carefree adventure in them.
I wonder if we could start to live the same way in God our Father. Could we be so convinced of His strength that we live with a new holy confidence? Could we become so utterly sure of Him that our lives are marked by some big, bold and courageous leaps of faith?
Perhaps the strength of God is something we underestimate and underemphasize today. In Psalm 21:13 the worshipper cries out, “Be exalted, O Lord, in Your strength” (NASB). God’s strength in the Old Testament is very clearly on display for all to see. We see Him bring victory on a battlefield and turn a weak army into a mighty winning force.
But what does His strength mean in our own context today? What does it look like in your life or mine? I think that the strength of God manifests itself among us in at least three separate ways: It creates the possible; it turns around the inevitable; it overcomes the hostile.
As Moses led the people of God out of captivity in Egypt and to the edge of the Red Sea, there seemed to be no way through—but the strength of God held back waters so the Israelites could cross over. In that moment the inevitable recapture they dreaded was flipped on its head, and they continued to live in their newfound freedom. And to cap it all off, when they were safely on the other side, God let the sea reform, overcoming and overwhelming the Egyptians in their hostile pursuit of His people. This is the true strength of God in action, and we must apply these principles to our own lives. You may be at a complete loss for how to go forward in a situation, but the strength of God can create a way.
You may feel that in your current circumstance you will lose or that a certain person, stress or pressure will gain a hold on you. But God in His mighty strength is able to maintain your freedom and turn around the seemingly inevitable. He can stand strong against the hostilities you may face in life, and He will overcome anything outside His plan for you.
We talk of the love, peace and grace of God at work in our lives—and rightly so, for this is absolutely the case. But we would do well to take hold of His strength at work among us, too, and begin to live in a place of confident expectation.
*Matt Redman has been a worship leader since he was 20. He has released five albums and written six books including his newest July album and book releases: 10,000 Reasons and Mirror Ball, respectively. Copyright 2011 Matt Redman. Mirror Ball is published by David C Cook.
In conjunction with Zondervan re-releasing her book Expecting to See Jesus: A Wake-Up Call for God’s People this month, author and speaker Anne Graham Lotz will hold a national webcast on the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Titled “A Wake Up Call for God’s People with Anne Graham Lotz and Joel C. Rosenberg,” the 2011 simulcast will feature messages from Lotz and the New York Times best-selling author.
“My prayer is that this simulcast … would serve to gather the church and reissue the wake-up call to the hearts of Christians everywhere,” said Lotz, whose other books include The Magnificent Obsession (Zondervan) and Just Give Me Jesus (Thomas Nelson). “It is my prayer that it would refocus us on Jesus as our hope for the future, and re-ignite such an intense longing for His return, that we live the rest of our lives with no regrets.”
The simulcast will be broadcast at 7 p.m. EST, Sunday, Sept. 11. Click here for more information.
“What are you doing?”
This seems to be the first question everyone asks when they see me, so I’m posting the ministries I am currently involved with…
1) I’m working with my friends David Platt and Mark Beuving in developing a discipleship tool that will help equip believers to make disciples. I am very excited about this, as I believe the greatest need in the American church is for allwho call themselves “Christian” to be out baptizing and making disciples.
2) I’m helping my friend Chris Huang develop a conference on August 26-27. Much of the conference involves walking around San Francisco and actually doing ministry rather than just talking about it. You can find out more about it atwww.cityimpactconference.com
3) I’m helping my brother Paul launch a new service that ministers to people who attend English services in Chinese churches. By combining worship services, it frees up the pastors to focus on discipleship throughout the week. We had our first service last Sunday and it was a great time.
4) I’m involved with my friend Brad Buser in establishing a new school that will train people to reach unreached people groups. We’re hoping to launch in about a year. The Lord has increased my burden for reaching those who have never heard the gospel.
5) I’m working with my friend Dave Lomas in figuring out how to implement discipleship at his church in SF. I’ll be team teaching and helping develop leadership this fall in hopes of launching a discipleship movement.
6) I’m teaching a preaching class for inner city ministers. We recently had our first class, and I was pretty blown away by their testimonies. I believe God is going to do significant things through these individuals.
7) Lisa and I decided to write a book over a year ago, but we haven’t gotten very far. Now that our baby is sleeping through the night, we should have some more time to write.
8) I have been spending a lot of time meeting pastors in the area and trying to support them in any way. I have met a lot of great leaders. I’ve learned a lot from them and hopefully I have been of help to some of them.
I still travel and speak almost every week. I tried to cut back significantly, but the calendar gets full somehow. No complaints though. I am enjoying ministry a lot. I love the new friends we have made in San Francisco. It’s beginning to feel like family, but we miss our friends at Cornerstone a ton. I still go back to preach there every 6-8 weeks or so.
Most importantly, I have really been enjoying my time alone with God. I readDesiring God by John Piper again last week. It still tops my list of books everyone needs to read. Besides the Bible, no other book has had as much impact on my life.
Minister and author Max Lucado has written a lot of books. Well, that’s an understatement. According to his publisher, he now has 100 million products in print, making him the most widely-read Christian writer on the planet. But behind the publishing juggernaut is a gentle man with a quiet voice, a pastoral heart, and a tender affection for the local church. His latest book, Max on Life: Answers and Insights to Your Most Important Questions (Nelson, 2010), is a series of questions and answers gleaned from his years at Oak Hills Church in San Antonio, Texas. Drew Dyck talked with Max about responding to tough questions and the best uses of a pastor’s authority.
Your new book, Max on Life, is intensely pastoral. You’re responding to people’s problems and fielding their questions. How have the questions you’ve received over the years shaped you?
They’ve been extremely formative. I can’t overstate their importance. I love the church. I honestly do. I love this little pond that God’s given me to fish and oversee here in San Antonio.
There is that time after services, where you’re just greeting one person after another after another. And about every fourth or fifth person will have a question, sometimes a difficult question.
Typically there’s not a lot of time to chat, but I’ve realized that truly hearing people’s questions is every bit as important as the sermon. So I lock in on that person, and I try to, for those few minutes that we have, hear that question as deeply as I can.
I pretend nobody else is in the foyer. It may be my only chance to hear this person’s heart. These questions have meant a lot to me. They seem to stick in my memory vault. Then they will work their way into messages in the future. Remember that guy who asked me about divorce? Or that person who wondered if it’s all right to play with an Ouija board? They just seem to surface. Yes, questions have been tremendously helpful for me.
Questions about God’s goodness, even his existence, have been raised by popular atheist authors. Do pastors today have to be philosophers? How do you deal with those really tough questions?
We have to be ready to respond to what people are hearing throughout the week. Most people, however, don’t want a complicated response. My goal is always to keep the cookies on the lower shelf, to keep the answer accessible. Most of the books on a pastor’s shelves are too complex for what people want. My main job is to distill an understandable answer that people can take home.
There are some exceptions to that. Every church has some people who are extraordinarily intellectual. But 90 percent of the people are saying, “I prayed that God would heal my father, but he still died. How am I supposed to process that?” That was a real question that someone asked me yesterday.
So for three minutes I tried to gently suggest that sometimes God doesn’t do what we want, but he always does what is right. I didn’t try to get too philosophical. She just needed somebody to reassure her.
Some pastors, like Tim Keller or John Piper, are different than I am, and they excel at reaching those deeper thinkers. I listen to their sermons, and they’re just at a different level. And I think that’s phenomenal. I’m so grateful for people like that. I speak to folks who don’t dwell at that altitude.
When a person first asks you a question, are they just testing to see if you can be trusted?
Yes, a person’s first question isn’t really the question. Their first question is kind of like tossing the tennis ball into the air. It’s a practice swing. They’re just testing to see if I am listening to them or not.
So I make a habit of following up the first question with a question of my own: “Can you give me an example of that? When did that last happen to you? What effect has that had on you?” When I do that, I find that I hear them better.
If I answer too quickly, my odds of providing a good answer diminish. Sometimes people don’t want an answer; they just want to be heard. They just need to get something off their chests.
I heard a counselor once say, “Try to find the question behind the question.” That’s good advice for pastors. Even when people come at you and they’re a bit antagonistic, I’ll sometimes be so bold as to say, “Now, what’s the question behind this question? What do you really want to talk about?”
Are you generally tempted to answer a question with too little information or too much?
Probably with too little information. Even this morning I was reflecting on yesterday’s services and conversations. I was thinking, Oh, I wish I’d said this. I wish I’d said that. I could have done a better job of giving practical solutions.
Sometimes people come to you with such huge issues, even in casual settings. I’ll be in the grocery store and somebody will come up and say, “I’ve got to talk to you about my father, who just got put back in rehab. What can I do?” I think, Wow, this is not the time.
Often I will say, “I really want to put you in touch with the right person for this question.” That’s been a helpful phrase for me. It implies that I may not be the right person. Or I’ll say, “Call my office tomorrow. Let’s talk about this on the phone, and we’ll see if we can put you in touch with the right person.”
That keeps me from pledging an eight-week counseling commitment right on the spot, which I’m probably not best qualified to do. I know I wouldn’t do as well as other people would. Pastors can’t take on every problem and solve everybody’s need.
What does it mean to be a pastor with people’s questions? Do people view you as a representative of God, or more as an empathetic friend?
They’re asking me questions because they believe God has told me something. And of course I know that’s not always the case. But they’re asking because they think I will bring a frame of reference to this conversation that is biblically-based and God-centered. So I really want to do that. When people ask me questions, I find myself praying: Lord, is there a verse I can give here? Is there something I need to be especially sensitive to? And if a verse comes to my mind, often I’ll just quote that verse.
My wife is exceptional at this. When people come and ask her for prayer, she doesn’t do much more than quote a verse or two, and then she’ll start praying. She’ll say, “Now don’t be anxious about anything, but by prayer and supplication make all your requests known to God.” The person may not realize she just quoted a verse. She doesn’t say, “I’m about to quote to you Philippians 4.” But that’s a very effective way to minister. So I’m learning from her, and trying to do that more.
You don’t need a huge arsenal of verses. Maybe six or eight verses that you’re very familiar with, and that you are comfortable reciting. For instance, every preacher should be ready with Matthew 11:28: “Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Or Psalm 23. Those should be part of our vernacular. What a gift those verses can be in difficult situations.
When people come with questions, they reveal a glimpse into the state of their spiritual life. Do you feel obligated to inquire about their spiritual condition?
Yes, I do. That’s why I usually follow up their question with a question of my own: “How’s this affecting you?” “Do you feel close to God these days?” or “Is this discouraging to you?” That helps me see where they are. So many people come to us because they’re angry at somebody. So you’ve got to feel that anger with them for a little bit, but then say, “Now, if you really try to get even with them, is that going to solve this problem?”
You may need to say, “Sounds like your biggest challenge is to forgive.” At some point every angry person has to deal with forgiveness and turning things over to Christ. Sometimes you have to speak firmly and clearly about that aspect of being a Christian.
How does pastoral authority apply here?
The first thing that comes into my mind is when we find ourselves giving counsel to an individual who is about to make a decision and we are trying to urge them down a particular path.
We no longer live in a day in which the pastor is given authority just by virtue of the title. That change is probably good for us. Now we must earn the authority to speak into someone’s life.
By nature I’m a pretty gentle person. But when I have seen our church members head down the route of divorce, or head into a career that’s going to take all their time away from their kids, I feel within me a burning, a passion rising, and I’ll warn them directly. And I reserve terminology for times like that: “Now, brother, I want to offer some counsel and to talk to you as a pastor.”
How do people respond?
They respond well. They may not always agree with me. But I think they respect it. Part of that is that I’ve been here since 1988. Some of that comes with time. But even as a young pastor, we have to take Paul’s words about not letting anybody despise our youth. We are called to speak into people’s lives. The Holy Spirit is leaning into us, counting on us to speak truth to people. In those one-on-one settings, that’s absolutely essential.
Sermons provide a wonderful opportunity to be the voice of authority in someone’s life. It’s not a one-on-one setting, so they don’t feel quite as threatened or defensive. But in a sermon we can speak direction into someone’s life. I’m doing a series on grace right now. I’m concerned about the person who thinks, Okay, grace gives me license to sin. The Romans 6 question: “Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?” So in one sermon, I said, “If you’re thinking these lessons on grace are giving you permission to do evil, consider yourself corrected.” And I just stopped. I let that sit for about 30 seconds. I think that’s effective—just giving a firm word like that. “Consider yourself corrected.” I’m really not an in-your-face kind of preacher. I’m more pastoral and gentle. But one of our privileges is to speak against bad thinking.
[Kasica is the guy on the far left]
Earlier this year, Skillet guitarist Ben Kasica announced his departure from the two-time GRAMMY-nominated band. Kasica left to pursue a new venture, which he shares below in a personal letter to his fans, industry and artist peers:
Dear Friends,
Many of you know after 10 years of playing with Skillet, I’ve chosen to move on. Many people have questioned why I would leave a band ‘at the top’ to pursue ‘smaller’ things. Here is my answer.
When I was 16, I was given the opportunity of a lifetime – to play guitar in my favorite band Skillet. I had been a fan since I was 12, attending loads of concerts, “moshing”, proudly wearing Skillet t-shirts, etc. I never thought I would ever actually be in the band. I was just a normal kid that loved God and believed He had the best for me. But, through a good friend, I got a call for an audition and somehow really believed in my heart it was going to work out. Two weeks later, I was on the road touring and playing in the band. Ten years, almost two million records, countless amazing fans and a myriad of priceless memories later, I’m here writing this memo.
I grew up on Christian music and it maintains a special and unique place in my heart for the way it inspired and shaped me as a child and for how it has contributed to my maturity as a young adult growing up in the business. I often think back to when I was a 12-year old kid, lying in bed with my headphones blaring, dreaming about being a rock star. I think every kid has moments when they dream big dreams like these. The trouble is, most don’t really know how to ever achieve those dreams, even if they know a sense of calling from God. This next phase of life for me is committed to seeing others’ dreams become reality and encouraging people along in their destiny in God.
I recently formed a company called Skies Fall Media Group. The name ‘Skies Fall’ was inspired by the imagery of the Kingdom of Heaven coming down to the earth. The mission of the company is to facilitate a wide range of creative business development in the world of the arts and media. Initially forged as a small recording and production company in 2005, the company was expanded in 2008 to take on artist development, publishing and management and become an artist-centric independent record label, Skies Fall Records. Coinciding with the record company, we operate a full-service recording studio where we are writing and producing music with our clients.
To artists, I hope to be an encouragement to you to continue in your heavenly calling and that you would know refreshment in your work; that you would be reminded of when you were a young musician dreaming of doing music, when you were on a mission to make a difference in this world, speaking the most powerful language in the world through music; that the long drives and early mornings and the absence of normal church-life would be met by a renewed desire to live out the mandate of God on your lives; that you might actually live in the fullest measure of who God created you to be.
Pope Benedict XVI met with artists in the Sistine Chapel recently and said, “You are the custodians of beauty…you have the opportunity to speak to the heart of humanity, to touch individual and collective sensibilities, to call forth dreams and hopes, to broaden the horizons of knowledge and of human engagement. Be grateful, then, for the gifts you have received and be fully conscious of your great responsibility to communicate beauty, to communicate in and through beauty! Through your art, you yourselves are to be heralds and witnesses of hope for humanity!”
I hope that together we can make a difference in the world, that we can communicate the heart of God through creativity and inspiration. I hope that together we can set precedents in business, the arts and media worthy of being modeled by the world. I hope that our success not be gauged solely by sales and numbers, but by our honor for each other, by our excellence in our spheres of influence and by the measure we allow the Spirit of God to lead us. I’m privileged and excited to join you in these endeavors.
Sincerely yours,
Ben Kasica
Skies Fall Media Group is focused on an artist-centric approach to give the artist maximum creative control and profits for their work. In 2010, they released A String Tribute to Skillet from Cellofourte (featuring Tate Olsen, cellist for Skillet). Earlier this year, they released Americana/folk artist Everett Thomas’ Visions of the Sea.
Skies Fall Media Group is now gearing up for this week’s release of the debut radio single, “Live for Love,” from the new band, We Are Leo. This Chicago-area based pop/rock quartet has developed their distinct brand of energetic, message-based music over the course of three years of touring, earning them a legion of loyal, grass-roots fans while playing with the likes of Skillet, Family Force 5 and House of Heroes. More information is forthcoming on their debut release this fall.
For more information on Skies Fall Media Group, visit www.skiesfall.com.
Steven Curtis Chapman is practically a legend in Christian music. Yet, even with a 20 year+ experience in the Christian music, and 50+ GMA Dove Awards, this beloved singer releases his 17th album, Re:Creation to Sparrow records August 2nd, 2011. But with this album, Steven returns to his classic pop sound as he delivers six all-new tracks, as well as remaking several of his well-known tracks. He also includes the popular “Morning Has Broken,” featuring vocals from his son Caleb. These combinations make for an enjoyable album from Steven Curtis Chapman, most comparable to his award-winning project Declaration.
The upbeat radio single “Do Everything” immerses the listener into Steven’s enjoyable pop sound, creating a track very similar musically to “Dive.” With “Do Everything,” Steven reminds the listener to “do every thing that you do to the glory of the one who made You… to bring a smile to His face, to tell the story of grace with every move that you make and everything that you do.” This track was simply perfect, and it was awesome to hear some new, but classic sounding music from Steven again. The more acoustic “Long Way Home” has a bit of a country feel to it, a track about how with the Lord’s help, we will get through any trials in our life, even if it does feel like we are taking the long way home.
Steven next brings life to the 90s classic “The Great Adventure,” adding more of an acoustic feel to it, but definitely making good use of pounding drums. “Dive (Deeper)” has almost a Celtic feel to it, but also sounds very serious and almost a bit haunting, making for a very enjoyable new take on this beloved SCC hit. “All That’s Left” is a bit mellow, but speaks of how all we really have to give is love and is all that matters. It is largely based on 1 Corinthians 13, so it was very enjoyable to hear this beloved chapter of Scripture put to music.
“Heaven In the Real World,” this time made up of acoustic guitars and strings was nice to hear again, as was “Speechless,” which was much slower and also made up again of acoustic guitars. But because “Live Out Loud” was acoustic with a funky pop beat, I actually enjoyed it more than the original! Then, one of my favorite Steven Curtis Chapman songs, “For the Sake of the Call” (featured on his fourth project by the same name), and “Magnificent Obsession,” were very slow and acoustic as well. They did have a slight drumbeat, making them still enjoyable to take a listen to.
Remember that Steven Curtis Chapman single featured in Veggietales’ It’s A Meaningful Life, “Meant to Be”? That song is on here, too! Another original, the track reminds the listener that they have a purpose and aren’t here by accident. The strong strings at the ending were a very nice asset to this track. “More to this Life” is recreated as well, this time with a bit of strings but a lot of acoustic guitars, making it sound almost sad.
The mellow “Morning Has Broken”/”Sing Hallelujah” mixture featuring Steven’s son Caleb and a ton of choir effects was very angelic and moving, obviously chosen to be a part of this project because of Steven’s daughter Maria, putting a very serene and moving ending to Steven’s Re:Creationproject.
It was great to hear some new music from Steven Curtis Chapman! Some of the tracks on this project are remakes, and some are brand new, but all of the tracks combine to create a refreshing acoustic album. Re:Creation is a must-have for fans of Steven Curtis Chapman!
Rating: 4/5
Track listing:
1. Do Everything
2. Long Way Home
3. The Great Adventure (Recreated)
4. Dive (Recreated)
5. All That’s Left
6. Heaven In the Real World (Recreated)
7. Speechless (Recreated)
8. Live Out Loud (Recreated)
9. For the Sake of the Call (Recreated)
10. Magnificent Obsession (Recreated)
11. Meant to Be
12. More to This Life (Recreated)
13. Morning Has Broken
14. Sing Hallelujah
This week’s tweet of the week comes from Louie Giglio who tweeted this past weekend:
“Vision wed with patience rooted in sacrifice combined with endurance clothed in humility…these mark the road to greatness.”
Say no more.
GRAMMY Award-winning artist Steven Curtis Chapman sings songs & shares stories on fall tour presented by Show HOPE.
This fall, Show HOPE will present iconic music veteran Steven Curtis Chapman’s “Songs & Stories” tour. In a unique songwriter’s night experience rarely seen outside Nashville, TN, Chapman will be sharing the stage with acclaimed and emerging artists, Andrew Peterson and Sparrow Records’ Josh Wilson. The tour will run from September to November of this year in conjunction with the release of Chapman’s newest album, re:creation, coming to stores Aug. 9. To see Chapman explain more about re:creation, visit http://www.godtube.com/watch/?v=FJ219MNU.
Each night, “Songs & Stories” tour concert goers will hear the brand new songs featured on re:creation, including Chapman’s new single, “Do Everything,” which has already hit top 10 on both the AC-Monitor and AC-Indicator charts. The newest single is also No. 14 on the National Christian Audience Chart, and has over 77 stations supporting it. The GRAMMY Award winner will perform re-imagined versions of some of his biggest hits while taking advantage of the unique format to share the stories that inspired him to write both his current hits, and songs that have entertained for decades.
Additionally, audiences will also be treated to Chapman, Wilson and Peterson collaborating together on stage with a vast assortment of instruments from the ukulele to the cajon for a rare and memorable event.
The 24-city tour kicks off Sept. 29 and will hit major cities such as Atlanta, St. Louis, Denver and Portland before wrapping up on Nov. 3.
Chapman is also offering a unique pre-show experience for fans called “Soundcheck and Stories” which will include a Q&A with Chapman, an acoustic performance and an exclusive signed poster. For more date and ticket information about Steven Curtis Chapman and the upcoming “Songs & Stories” tour visit http://stevencurtischapman.com/.
1) Where are you right now? Sydney, Australia. Sitting on my couch, with my feet up, Tim Hughes record playing softly in the background 
2) What’s in your pocket? A few Australian coins, a guitar pick, and a set of keys in my back pocket that I should have removed before sitting.
3) Latest set list? Here’s a list I recently worked on for a small, stripped back night of worship at church (Hillsong Chapel).
Hosanna (E) You’ll Come (E) Run (E) The Time Has Come (G) Savior King (D) Yahweh (A) Came To My Rescue (Bridge) (A) Stronger (A) This Is Our God (E) Hold Me Now (B) From The Inside Out (B) Mighty To Save (G) Salvation Is Here (A)
4) Last album you purchased? The Civil Wars- “Barton Hollow”
5) Best piece of advice you ever received? Our Pastor, Brian Houston, often says “the best is yet to come”. It’s a pretty great piece of advice to hold on to. Not resting on yesterday’s success, or being defeated by it’s dissappointments.. But looking forward, realising God’s not finished.. He’s alive, His word is living and active, He’s working all things together for good.. And we’re a part of it!
6) How do you stay sharp? I make sure I’m around people who are creative, motivated and inspired. Finding people doing what I do better than I do it…
7) What do you do 5 minutes before you lead worship? Sip honey/lemon tea and pray with our worship team.. Never want to try and just fit God somewhere into our songlists and plans.. Always want to come open, fitting into what it is that He is doing.
8) Biggest worship horror moment? Ha.. Probably when I was leading worship in a small meeting (disclaimer: not at home).. In the middle of a quiter song, a guy in one of the front rows called out “nope.. It’s too high, I can’t sing it.. I won’t sing it”. I think I just closed my eyes, and kept on singing.. A moment I’ll never forget.
9) How would you define worship? It’s our response to even just the smallest glimpse of Jesus.. and as we respond in awe, in praise and action, He reveals a little more of Himself.. And we are once again ruined for anything else.
10) One encouragement to worship leaders? Never diminish the value of your role.. Start by never diminishing your value of the One you are worshipping.
Justin Bieber isn’t shy when it comes to talking about his faith. He told thousands of fans at the Teen Choice Awards Sunday to keep God first.
After nabbing the choice music male artist award – in the form of a surfboard – Bieber thanked his screaming fans and brought his faith into the mix by saying: “I want to say that anything is possible. … You got to keep God first and always remember to keep family first. Jesus loves every one of you!”
The teen pop sensation has made similar comments before.
He told Entertainment Tonight earlier this year that “if you put God first and remember to always stay humble and always be gracious then anything can happen.”
With millions of fans, sold out tours, a double platinum album and Grammy nominations – all within three years – Bieber has been asked many times how he stays grounded.
His answer has always been God.
“I think that God is the only thing keeping me sane right now,” he said in a backstage interview at the American Music Awards last year.
The self-identified Christian, who has a new tattoo of Jesus’ name in Hebrew under his arm, has told media outlets, including The Associated Press, that he believes Jesus died on the cross for his sins and that he has a relationship with Jesus.
“He’s the reason I’m here so I definitely have to remember that,” he told AP. “As soon as I start forgetting, I got to click back and be like, you know, this is why I’m here.”
Bieber’s mother, Patricia Lynn Mallette, is a devout Christian. Initially, she was hesitant to have her son enter the secular music industry and pondered the Christian music industry instead. But she has said that she prayed about it and realized that God wanted her son to be a light in the world.
Bieber also won choice TV villain (from his appearance on “CSI”), choice male hottie, and choice twit at the Teen Choice Awards.
The “Ultimate Choice Award” went to country artist Taylor Swift.
Zondervan has defended its updated New International Version (NIV) following criticism of the revision of the world’s best-selling Bible translation by a Southern Baptists forum.
The censure came during the denomination’s annual meeting in June in Phoenix, when a debate on the 2011 translation was brought forward by a delegate rather than church leadership.
Passed overwhelmingly, the resolution faulted the new NIV, which combines the 1984 NIV and the controversial Today’s New International Version (TNIV), replacing both versions.
Calling the revision an “inaccurate translation,” the resolution said the new NIV changes the meaning of hundreds of verses, erasing gender-specific details that appear in the original language.
“We are disappointed that delegates to the Southern Baptist Convention passed a resolution opposing the updated NIV against the wishes of the SBC resolution committee, who affirmed the transparency of the NIV translation process,” Zondervan said in a statement.
The resolution encouraged that the Bible not be carried by LifeWay Christian Stores, which are affiliated with the SBC. Al Mohler, president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, said that he regretted that the resolution addressed the chain so directly, according to Baptist Press.
However, LifeWay stores “continue to sell the 2011 NIV, while working through the process of review with our board of trustees,” LifeWay Christian Resources Director of Communications Micah Carter told Christian Retailing.
David Rooker, manager of The Scroll Discount Christian Store in Tyler, Texas, said that the new NIV was “being received well.” “As far as sales and customer response, it is being accepted,” he told Christian Retailing. “We’ve done pretty well with them so far. … We accepted Zondervan’s original buy-in, which gave us extra terms and discount. It also gave us a much deeper selection of NIV in our Bible department than we had previously. The result has been encouraging. … The new NIV criticism is much ado about nothing in the wider scheme of things.”
BEC Recordings’ and Tooth & Nail Records’ artists have been confirmed for one of the anticipated fall tours, MUSIC WITH A MISSION TOUR, in partnership with Compassion International and NewReleaseTuesday.com. Headlining the tour will be Hawk Nelson along with label mates Manafest and Hyland. Other artists to join the tour are Superchic[k], Fireflight, MIKESCHAIR, Kiros, Samestate, and on select dates Chasen. Full tour details, along with a list of dates, will be posted at http://www.musicwithamissiontour.com.
Founded by veteran artist managers Scott Andrews and Yogi Allgood, along with Mark Claassen (owner of Elite Talent Agency), the MUSIC WITH A MISSION TOUR will be an experience unlike any other. Focusing on the strength of Christian communities, the tour aims to give bigger purpose to music by providing a platform for organizations to help give to those less fortunate than themselves.
“We are thrilled that Music With A Mission is teaming up with Compassion International to bring a missional opportunity to each tour stop,” shares Stephanie Waldrop Artist Relations, Compassion International. “Our hope is that the lives of many children who live in underdeveloped nations across the globe will be impacted and released from poverty in Jesus name.”
Admission for a majority of the shows for the MUSIC WITH A MISSION TOUR will be only $15 at the door. A select number of VIP Ticket Experiences will be sold for each date, which will give fans access to behind the scenes action, early entry, exclusive merchandise among other bonuses.
Yeah I’m on a mission, Yeah I’m on a mission, Yeah I’m on a mission, Yeah I’m on a mission
P-p-p-playing my position, playing my position, playing my position, playing my position
I-I-I-I am blasting off to Mars and you know I ain’t stopping
I am blasting off to Mars and you know I ain’t stopping, I am blasting off to Mars and you know I ain’t stopping
I am blasting off to Mars, (Houston we have a problem)
Soaring like a rocket, but I’m not Kevin Martin
I’m so unashamed for this cross I have my heart in
He set me ablaze I’m on fire, arson
Ain’t no turning back boy, I have just departed
It’d be Looney Tunes to quit, Marvin Martian
Yeah I’m on a mission, I ain’t worried ’bout no haters
I’m blowing up this gospel with my space modulator
Wait a minute it’s the grace of the king coming forward, no opposition
In a marathon running for the cross
I can see the finish line and there ain’t no quitting
Everybody wanna rap for the Lord
What you asking for, boy yes I’m with it
Our __?__ are ready for the takeoff already, do we have ignition?
Yeah I’m on a mission, Yeah I’m on a mission, Yeah I’m on a mission, Yeah I’m on a mission
P-p-p-playing my position, playing my position, playing my position, playing my position
I-I-I-I am blasting off to Mars and you know I ain’t stopping
I am blasting off to Mars and you know I ain’t stopping, I am blasting off to Mars and you know I ain’t stopping
Ok I’m blasting off to Mars, yes sir I’m ’bout to leave Earth
And if I fall Christ catch me like a wide receiver
Bye-bye to my problems, they are old like a beeper
I hope you hear me loud and clear let me adjust my tweeters
The stars have war ’till they get crushed my Darth Vader
But I walk on that sky and be at peace with my maker
I don’t need your fame, addicted to the Lord’s name
I’m a fiend while my heart beat, Eddie King
I don’t wanna ever be the one the Lord said lived his life in vain
If that sounds crazy, then guess I am clinically insane
I’m not of this world, boy you should get that up in your brain
I-I am taking off, but I-I ain’t on a plane
Yeah I’m on a mission, Yeah I’m on a mission, Yeah I’m on a mission, Yeah I’m on a mission
P-p-p-playing my position, playing my position, playing my position, playing my position
I-I-I-I am blasting off to Mars and you know I ain’t stopping
I am blasting off to Mars and you know I ain’t stopping, I am blasting off to Mars and you know I ain’t stopping
Evangelical Christian leaders from around the world having pouring out their tribute to evangelical icon John Stott, who died recently at the age of 90.
Stott, known for shaping 20th century evangelicalism through his writing and preaching, died 3:15 p.m. in his retirement home at St. Barnabas College, located 30 miles away from London. He was surrounded by his longtime secretary Frances Whitehead and close friends who read Scriptures and listened to Handel’s “Messiah” when he passed.
An Anglican theologian from the U.K., Stott was the chief architect of the 1974 Lausanne Covenant and the author of over 50 Christian books in which he took complex theology and explained it in a way lay people could understand. One of his most popular books wasBasic Christianity (1958), which has been translated into more than 60 languages, according to Christian book publisher InterVarsity Press. He has also influenced millions of Christians through other well-known titles including Christ the Controversialist (1970),Issues Facing Christians Today (1984) and the one he always considered his best: The Cross of Christ (1986).
In 2005, Stott was featured in TIME magazine as one of the world’s “100 Most Influential People.”
Despite his wide influence on the evangelical faith, many fondly knew him as “Uncle John.”
When news broke of his death, evangelical leaders immediately posted statements to mourn and honor Stott as a beloved mentor and one of the greatest evangelical thinkers of his time.
“The evangelical world has lost one of its greatest spokesmen,” famed U.S. evangelist Billy Graham said in a statement.
“I have lost one of my close personal friends and advisors. I look forward to seeing him again when I go to Heaven.”
Graham helped organize the international meeting that unveiled the Lausanne Covenant, a historic document that served as a manifesto for Christian evangelism worldwide. When he heard of Stott’s death from his assistant, Graham shed tears and was speechless, his grandson Tullian Tchividjian said via Twitter.
California megachurch pastor Rick Warren called Stott one of his “closest mentors.”
“I flew to the UK recently just to pray for him &sit by his bed. What a giant!” the Saddleback Church pastor tweeted.
Dr. Geoff Tunnicliffe, secretary general of the World Evangelical Alliance, the largest global body of evangelicals, said he was personally impacted by Stott’s teachings.
“Uncle John, was a great influence in my own theological development. His commitment to biblical orthodoxy, global mission and unity in the body of Christ were foundational in my own spiritual journey,” said Tunnicliffe in a statement.
Stott was the primary author of the Preamble to the 1951 constitution of the WEA, which today represents 600 million evangelicals in 128 countries. In the document, Stott provided a biblical framework and the three primary purposes for the existence of the WEA.
A major legacy that Stott left to the world church is the Langham Partnership International and its U.S. chapter John Stott Ministries. The organization trains preachers, funds doctoral education for evangelical thinkers and provides evangelical books to pastors around the world.
Chris Wright, international director of Langham Partnership International, issued a statement on the John Stott Memorial website celebrating the preacher’s Christ-like character.
“Like Moses, he was one of the greatest leaders God has given to his people, and yet at the same time, one of the humblest men on the face of the earth. He was, for all of us who knew him, a walking embodiment of the simple beauty of Jesus, whom he loved above all else,” wrote Wright.
Lausanne Movement executive chair S. Douglas Birdsall and international director Lindsay Brown said in a joint statement:
“We are saddened by his departure, but strengthened with the knowledge that his great confidence and his lifelong hope in Christ has now been made real to him, and his life’s work has been vindicated.”
They noted that Stott’s “greatest contribution was to articulate clearly and to defend robustly the evangelical faith which he always understood to be biblical faith, grounded in the New Testament.”
The Langham Partnership International is welcoming those affected by the life and ministry of John Stott to post their comments in an online remembrance book on the John Stott Memorial website. Information on memorials and event commemorating the life of Stott will also be released on the site.
With an intention to proactively reduce the risk of early sexual debut, best-selling author and speaker Dannah Gresh is bringing her mother-daughter connecting event, Secret Keeper Girl LIVE-the Pajama Party Tour, to the Brooklyn Tabernacle as part of a joint outreach to support moms in one of the most at-risk neighborhoods in the country. Billed as a practical modesty, fashion, and beauty truth event, the event is scheduled for Friday, Aug. 19 at 6:30 p.m. and is designed for girls ages 8-12 and their mothers living in the projects of Brooklyn. Tickets are free.
“I’ve known for years that one of the best ways to reduce the risk of early sexual activity, eating disorders and depression for a teen girl is a parent-child connection while they are tweens, which is why we created the Secret Keeper Girl line of resources in the first place,” says Gresh. “But, as I’ve learned through recent research, for single moms with limited incomes in inner city projects, this kind of connectedness only seems to occur if there is peer pressure or a movement to initiate it.”
Gresh, whose book Six Ways to Keep the “Little” in Your Girl (Harvest House) reached the number one spot on Amazon last year for parenting books and continues to be a top seller, held a similar event in January 2011 in the Bronx and during that time received a call from the Director of BTKids at the Brooklyn Tabernacle about bringing her message to their local community. Gresh’s alma mater, Cedarville University in Ohio, also got on board by providing significant financial support to make the event free to attendees.
“These moms desire for their daughters to be safe and sexually protected as much as the moms of Santa Barbara or the suburbs of Atlanta, but they need our help to win this battle,” says Gresh.
Featuring a pajama party theme, the two and a half hour show brings together music, crazy mother-daughter showdowns, and a hilarious look at fashion during the “Totally Tubular TV Moms Show,” which shows off the fashion of famous moms like Lucy, Jane Jetson, Alice from the Brady Bunch, and Claire Huxtable. Another highlight of the evening is the fashion show for the girls featuring some of today’s hottest styles and how to wear them in a modest way. Between the two fashion shows, Gresh’s team of teachers takes the audience into the Bible to talk about peer pressure and internal beauty.
Tickets to the Brooklyn event are available by e-mailingsecretkeepergirlbt@gmail.com. Tickets are free and free childcare is also available for younger children. For more information, please call (717) 290-2097. A limited number of Secret Keeper Girl: 8 Great Dates and Six Ways to Keep The “Little” in Your Girl will be given to those attending.
The Brooklyn event is the first stop for the 40-city fall Secret Keeper Girl—LIVE tour. The event has appeared in more than 100 cities across the United States, with over 200,000 tween girls and their moms experiencing the Secret Keeper Girl connecting resources.
Dannah Gresh has sold nearly a million copies of her books, including Six Ways to Keep The “Little” In Your Girl: Guiding Your Daughter From Her Tweens To Her Teens, written for moms of tweens who are concerned about the cultural pressure to grow up too fast. Gresh has been featured in major media around the country including Fox News, CNN.com, Woman’s Wear Daily, TIME, USA Today, the Chicago Tribune, and on numerous radio programs.
It might be short and simple, but the title of the latest Hillsong LIVE album is packed with God-inspired wisdom and Kingdom-shaped truth. In every season, in every situation, being reminded that God Is Able can help keep hearts on fire and lives on track. How do I know this? Because that precisely what I’ve experienced for myself.
But this is not going to be a testimony piece. My life has been no harder, no more dramatic than anyone else’s. Yes, there have been times of great rejoicing, times of suffering, tears of happiness and tears of sorrow, and some of you will have known greater grace, more dramatic rescues or harder journeys home to our Father.
The lessons and experiences that I want to share are the ones that are woven in and out of the songs on God Is Able. These songs are packed with meaning, each one slightly different, but together they unite to form something far louder and larger. Together they are stronger.
The title song was written last year with a specific weekend in mind. We were approaching our annual event where we gather as a church and make a deliberate choice to give money in support of a unique mission – often overseas, always doing something to overcome injustice and build the Kingdom here on earth. It’s a great time and I’m always amazed and encouraged by the passion and commitment which people put into it. Many will put aside extra money all year so that they can lend their support. So, knowing this was coming up, I wanted to write a song that reminded us of God’s amazing ability to use our generosity in powerful ways. When it comes to the matter of giving, generous hands will never be empty because – as we are reminded in Ephesians 3 – God is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine.
So I suppose I should have seen it coming. I thought the song would inspire people a little, encourage them in their giving and maybe lead some to think about the ways in which God could transform others through their kindness. I had no idea that the three simple words – God is able – would become so important to us, but they did. As Australia was shocked by floods and cyclones, as we watched our neighbors deal with earthquakes and saw friends from further away go through the horrors of further earthquakes, tsunami and nuclear crisis, those three little words became our anchor in the storm. Troubles come, but God is Able. Sorrow rips at the soul, but God is Able. Hope appears lost, but God is still – always and forever – Able.
What started out as a song of celebration ended up sustaining us through our desperation. Isn’t that a great illustration of the power of praise? What happens when our hands are lifted high can often end up helping us when our heads hang low.
So many of the songs on the album are linked by this theme of overcoming – from “Rise” to “The Lost Are Found,” “With Us” to “You Are More” – and yet it is not an album of laments. This sort of paradox is typical of worship, and it seems to me that there is always something upside down about singing songs to God. I suppose it’s even there in the titles: we start with “Rise” and come towards the end with “The Cry of the Broken.” Normally it’s the brokenness that precedes the standing up, but in God’s order everything is different: when we rise up and sing it, there should never be too long before we’re aware of the world beyond the walls and our call to be among the people whose journey back to God is still in motion.
The other day I heard someone say that some people meet Jesus on the road to Damascus, but for others, their conversion is more like the road to Emmaus: a gradual realization that Jesus is with them, alongside them, igniting their hearts and opening their eyes. It struck me that this is another good thing to remember – not just when we are praying for our friends and family who do not yet know God for themselves, but for those of us within the church as well. Sometimes God acts with such power we are left stunned and silent, but at other times, He works quietly, almost imperceptibly, gently warming our hearts to Him. Remembering this makes me even more amazed at the power of those three little words that sit on the cover of the album: God is able to work in ways that we can never hope to predict.
One last thing. If you take a look at the album cover you will see some pretty fancy, handmade art. It took a long time and a lot of patience to create the piece, and again it’s a beautiful illustration of church. Thread is such a fragile thing, and only when it is combined with other strands can it really begin to stand out. Isn’t that just like the local church? None of us are strong enough on our own, but together we are stronger. And there’s one essential ingredient we must never forget: it is only when these threads are taken in the hands of the artist and transformed over time that they become something that is truly beautiful and beautifully true.
Eddie Carswell and Billy Goodwin, founding members of GRAMMY-nominated NewSong, were named Musician of the Year at the inaugural The Champions of the Faith Awards & Benefit Concert, held this week at the International Christian Retail Show in Atlanta.
Presented by the Premier Foundation, in partnership with CBA, the awards recognize businesses, organizations, entertainers, individuals and Christian retailers and vendors who are “champions” of the Christian faith by living lives dedicated to the principles taught by Jesus Christ.
In addition to Carswell and Goodwin, honorees included NASCAR’s Trevor Bayne (Athlete of the Year); Karen Kingsbury (Author of the Year); World Vision’s Richard Stearns (Charity of the Year); and AFFIRM Films/Sony Pictures Entertainment’s Rich Peluso (Business Person of the Year), among others. The event featured a concert by NewSong, along with GMA Artist of the Year Francesca Battistelli, as well as special guests Mike Donehey of Tenth Avenue North and visual artist Jared Emerson.
The Premier Foundation is a 501 (c)(3) public foundation committed to fulfilling the mission of spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ. With the cooperation of the Premier Group (Premier Productions, Premier Christian Cruises, Premier Festivals and Camp Electric), the Premier Foundation touches millions of people every year through Christian concerts, radio and other Christ-centered events.
Co-founded by Carswell and Goodwin in 1981, NewSong is celebrating an unprecedented 30th year in Christian music. One True God, the band’s 17th recording, debuted at #1 on Billboard’s Top Christian/Gospel Albums chart in May, while NewSong’s Winter Jam 2011 Tour Spectacular was the #1 tour in the world for the first quarter, according to Pollstar. The group has amassed 20 #1 singles, a Grammy nomination, and a #1 mainstream adult contemporary single, among numerous other achievements.
For further information on NewSong, visit www.newsongonline.com orwww.turningpointpr.com, and for additional information on The Champions of the Faith Awards & Benefit Concert, visitwww.thechampionsofthefaith.com.
Yeah I’m on a mission, Yeah I’m on a mission, Yeah I’m on a mission, Yeah I’m on a mission
P-p-p-playing my position, playing my position, playing my position, playing my position
I-I-I-I am blasting off to Mars and you know I ain’t stopping
I am blasting off to Mars and you know I ain’t stopping, I am blasting off to Mars and you know I ain’t stopping
I am blasting off to Mars, (Houston we have a problem)
Soaring like a rocket, but I’m not Kevin Martin
I’m so unashamed for this cross I have my heart in
He set me ablaze I’m on fire, arson
Ain’t no turning back boy, I have just departed
It’d be Looney Tunes to quit, Marvin Martian
Yeah I’m on a mission, I ain’t worried ’bout no haters
I’m blowing up this gospel with my space modulator
Wait a minute it’s the grace of the king coming forward, no opposition
In a marathon running for the cross
I can see the finish line and there ain’t no quitting
Everybody wanna rap for the Lord
What you asking for, boy yes I’m with it
Our __?__ are ready for the takeoff already, do we have ignition?
Yeah I’m on a mission, Yeah I’m on a mission, Yeah I’m on a mission, Yeah I’m on a mission
P-p-p-playing my position, playing my position, playing my position, playing my position
I-I-I-I am blasting off to Mars and you know I ain’t stopping
I am blasting off to Mars and you know I ain’t stopping, I am blasting off to Mars and you know I ain’t stopping
Ok I’m blasting off to Mars, yes sir I’m ’bout to leave Earth
And if I fall Christ catch me like a wide receiver
Bye-bye to my problems, they are old like a beeper
I hope you hear me loud and clear let me adjust my tweeters
The stars have war ’till they get crushed my Darth Vader
But I walk on that sky and be at peace with my maker
I don’t need your fame, addicted to the Lord’s name
I’m a fiend while my heart beat, Eddie King
I don’t wanna ever be the one the Lord said lived his life in vain
If that sounds crazy, then guess I am clinically insane
I’m not of this world, boy you should get that up in your brain
I-I am taking off, but I-I ain’t on a plane
Yeah I’m on a mission, Yeah I’m on a mission, Yeah I’m on a mission, Yeah I’m on a mission
P-p-p-playing my position, playing my position, playing my position, playing my position
I-I-I-I am blasting off to Mars and you know I ain’t stopping
I am blasting off to Mars and you know I ain’t stopping, I am blasting off to Mars and you know I ain’t stopping
We have seen a darkness
But we have seen a light
We have felt the love
Of a hope’s hot blood
In the machinery of night
We have seen a darkness
But we have seen the sun
We have come undone
To a love’s hot song
In a symphony of blood
The valley of the shadow knows our name
We have seen a night
But we have seen the day
Dressed in the blood of love’s hot veins
We have overcome
Yeah, we have overcome
Born into the grave
But born a second time
We’ve been born again
Into loves hot hands
On someone else’s dime
The valley of the shadow knows our name
We have seen a night
But we have seen the day
Dressed in the blood of loves hot veins
We have overcome
Yeah, we have overcome
You have called us loved
And you have called us wanted
One time we were bruised
We were bankrupt and haunted
Raise your voice
Chase away the ghosts
The pain that haunts a heart
The things we fear the most
The entropy of life
The slow decay of time
that wars against our bones
All these sinking ships
Are ruled against the wave
The raging of the tide
The tyranny of days
And sleep would chase us down
Sleep would have its way
And night would fall upon us all
But I believe you can overcome my economy
You can dig me out of the grave
I believe you can overcome my economy
You can dig me out of the grave
The weight of love
It rests upon us all
The people we’ve become
The people that we’ve known
Longing for a day
Arrested by a hope
That death could not foreclose upon
I believe you can overcome my economy
You can dig me out of the grave
And I believe you can overcome my economy
You can dig me out of the grave
I believe you can over come my hearts economy
Yeah you can dig me out of the grave
And I believe you can over come my economy
Yeah you can dig me out of the grave
A room sometimes is a body
With the loneliest view
And the porch lights grow dim
With every on-setting hour
Where the stars seem so finite to you
But love it ain’t like the chemicals babe
Cause the chemicals don’t hang around
While everybody’s drilling for a fountain of youth
Losing years on the way down
A melody can be exhausted babe
Short of friend and fame
Cause the birds they don’t sing
In the winter short of spring
And, even then, they only sing in the day
But love, it ain’t like a melody babe
Cause the birds don’t hang around
Well, everybody’s drilling for a fountain of youth
But sometimes in these fountains they drown
Sometimes in these fountains they drown
But I want to love you
When the blood of my veins
Don’t know how to call out your name
Yeah I want to love you
When the birds don’t hang around
But love it ain’t like the chemicals babe
Cause the chemicals don’t hang around
While everybody’s drilling for a fountain of youth
But sometimes in these fountains they drown
All our sins are stones
At the bottom of your oceans
And all our filthy stains
Have been washed away
By the blood of a son
I have overcome the grave
By the blood of a son
I have overcome the grave
The grave
Recompense is made for
The guilty and the shamed
For eternity is gained
In the arms of the slain
By the blood of a son
I have overcome the grave
By the blood of a son
I have overcome the grave
The grave
Oh my soul
Praise him
Oh my soul
By the blood of a son
I have overcome the grave
By the blood of a son
I have overcome the grave
The grave
Oh my soul
Praise him
Oh my soul
Who is this
The King of Glory
Who is This
The King of Glory
Who is this
The King of Glory
Open up your gates before him
Open up you doors
You everlasting doors
Open up you doors
You everlasting doors
Open up you doors
You everlasting doors
Open up your gates before him
You set us up above all the stars
You set us on a high place by where you are
While we were dead you made us your friends
And scattered our debt upon the wind
Glory to One
God’s murdered son
Who paid for my resurrection
Once from the dust, once from the grave
Daughters and sons from the ashes you’ve raised
And hidden our faults even from your own face
And scattered our debt upon the waves
Glory to one
God’s murdered son
Who paid for my resurrection
Glory to One
God’s murdered son
Who paid for my resurrection
Glory to the one who
Who overcame in death
Glory to the one
Who paid for my offenses
Glory to the one
Once from the dust
Once from the grave
Daughters and sons
From the ashes you’ve raised
And hidden our faults
Even from your own face
And scattered our debt upon the waves
And scattered our debt upon the waves
Chase me down like a lion
Like a bird of prey
Lift me up from the ashes
Of my hearts own shallow grave
Cause I know that I love you
But sometimes I’m afraid
Whoa oh…
Spare my body from the wolves, God
That crouch down at my door
Lift me up above the waters
And the sharks that guard your shore
Cause I know that I need you
But sometimes I know it more
Whoa oh…
Harbor me in the eye of the storm
I’m holding on to love you swore
Daylight comes to meet you on the road
Like a prodigal son, a prodigal hope
That you gave up on when you were young
Yeah, but daylight is coming on
We live on the edge
On the edge of a darkness oh
We live on the edge
On the edge of a darkness oh
But daylight is coming on
Heaven bends low for the naked and the poor
To settle up a debt, to settle up the score
To set up a table on the edge of a war
Cause we’ve been bleeding on the edge of a sword
We live on the edge
On the edge of a darkness oh
We live on the edge
On the edge of a darkness oh
But daylight is coming on
The boardwalk is painted red with the blood
Of a thousand prospective heroes but one
Still cries out beyond all the grave and the flood
Where the blackest abysses cannot overcome
Cause we live on the edge
On the edge of a darkness oh
We live on the edge
On the edge of a darkness oh
But daylight is coming on
I spend a lot of my time around church leaders. It’s always fun to watch how we interact with each other when we’re all together. Just picking a restaurant to have dinner at can be quite the feat because so many of us tend to be control freaks.
I think being a “control freak” is something that many church leaders struggle with. Most strong leaders have a pretty clear picture of the way they want things to go.
You know, there are few words that control freaks around the world, like me, struggle with more than “surrender.”
We like to think we can manipulate almost anything to go our way.
We like to think that given enough time and money we can make almost anything happen.
We like to think we are where we are because of what we’ve done.
Taking our hands off a circumstance and trusting someone other than ourselves seems totally counter-intuitive.
But there are few things more powerful than the act of surrender. In fact, in life, it may be the most powerful thing you can do.
Surrender can be the turning point in your life and leadership. There is life-changing, heart-shaping power when you say to Jesus, “You are God. I am not. I will trust you.”
I will trust YOU with my marriage.
I will trust YOU with my children.
I will trust YOU with my finances.
I will trust YOU with my future.
I will trust YOU with my church.
There is an unexplainable, immeasurable, transcending power that comes along with the act of surrender.
We see this even in the life of Jesus. The most powerful moment in His life was not necessarily when He made the winds and waves calm with just His spoken word. It probably wasn’t when he fed the 5,000 or even when he brought Lazarus back from the dead by simply calling out to him.
His most powerful moment, in my opinion, was in the Garden of Gethsemane when He chose to let go of any temptation to control His own fate or future and He completely surrendered saying, “Not my will, but Yours be done.”
I hope you’ll take some time to think through your life and leadership. Is there an area in your ministry that you need to surrender to Jesus today? Maybe a relationship you need to trust Him with?
There’s nothing more difficult or more rewarding. I’m praying you’ll surrender today.
The new Shane & Shane single The One You Need has been receiving a lot of buzz especially from fathers with daughters. I think you’ll agree.
Reporting from Houston— Appearing before more than 15,000 people he summoned to a national prayer meeting, prospective Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry prayed for President Obama and asked God to keep the president’s family safe. ”Like all of you, I love this country deeply,” said Perry, greeted by a roar of approval when he took the stage at Reliant Stadium in Houston shortly before noon. “Indeed the only thing you love more is the living Christ.” The Texas governor, expected to enter the Republican presidential race soon, said he organized the daylong prayer meeting to seek divine help in fixing problems that are beyond the ability of government to solve.
To applause, Perry gave his view of a “personal God” whose “agenda is not a political agenda. His agenda is a salvation agenda.” The governor added, with a chuckle, “He is a wise, wise God, and he’s wise enough to not be affiliated with any political party.” Perry, who issued a proclamation earlier this year urging Texans to pray for an end to the state’s severe drought, initiated the privately financed rally. He has used the event to promote himself nationally among religious conservative voters, a powerful bloc in GOP presidential primaries. Critics assailed the gathering as an improper mingling of church and state and attacked the prominent role given to a number of controversial evangelists. Perry and other speakers were careful to avoid overt partisan appeals and the governor’s office said taxpayer money wasn’t used to put on the event, which was financed by the American Family Assn. of Tupelo, Miss.
Perry’s public role at the event itself was a relatively modest one. He delivered a prayer after reading several Bible verses, including from the book of Joel, a minor prophet whom Perry cited as the inspiration for the meeting. ”Father, our heart breaks for America. We see discord at home. We see fear in the marketplace. We see anger in the halls of government and, as a nation, we have forgotten who made us, who protects us, who blesses us, and for that, we cry out for your forgiveness,” said Perry, praying with hands clasped. ”Father, we pray for our president, that you would impart your wisdom upon him, that you would guard his family,” the governor said. “You call us to repent, Lord, and this day is our response.”
Legendary recording artist and Gospel Music Hall of Famer John Schlitt, best known as the lead singer for award-winning Christian band Petra during the era when the band won four GRAMMY Awards and 10 Dove Awards, is expressing his gratitude to his fans today.
“Thank you folks! We’re ahead of schedule and are already moving into Phase Two!” Schlitt says, on the heels of meeting the initial financial goal of $35,000 for the recording of his new music project, titled The Greater Cause, through Kickstarter, a popular “crowd-funding” platform for creative projects.
“We’re experiencing tremendous momentum, and only God knows the limit,” Schlitt says.
Additional funds which come in by the deadline of noon ET on Aug. 8 will go toward the necessary expenses of packaging, manufacturing and promoting the new CD.
“Every dollar past the initial goal will help us complete the total package…not just the process of recording, which is now taken care of, but these additional funds will take us further down the line to total completion,” Schlitt continues.
Pledges are taken on Schlitt’s personal Kickstarter site (kickstarter.com orthegreatercause) and powered by Amazon, enabling backers’ credit cards to be charged via a secure website.
Using a system of pledges and rewards, supporters worldwide, dubbed the TGC Crew (The Greater Cause Crew), in honor of the new CD title, have partnered with Schlitt to produce the rocker’s fourth solo project.
“This Kickstarter project has opened my eyes to a whole batch of new friends; not only those who have pledged, but those who have been praying for the project and for myself,” Schlitt says. “I have a feeling that this is the beginning of a team that will be sharing in the next stage of my life.”
Throughout the Kickstarter process to meet the funding goal, Schlitt has captured the attention of his fans through a series of updates and early rewards, including a free demo download of one the first Christian songs that Schlitt ever recorded, as well as personal thank-you messages to each donor via Twitter and other social networking sites. As a bonus to pledgers, Schlitt is creating an exclusive website with a behind the scenes look at the recording of The Greater Cause, including photos, videos and a blog.
“The Greater Cause will be a ‘back to the roots’ rock album, which is what my supporters have been asking for,” Schlitt says. “It is intended to be a fresh and powerful tool to accomplish what God has been doing through me for many years: connecting and encouraging people through my music. We need to use common sense in this world and awaken to the fact that Jesus is Lord, no matter what those around us may say — or do. This is my goal with The Greater Cause.”
For more information about Kickstarter or The Greater Cause, go tokickstarter.com or thegreatercause.
“The Rock and Worship Roadshow” will venture into their second leg of the tour hitting 12 markets this November with a stellar cast including MercyMe, Jars of Clay, Disciple, Hawk Nelson, Matt Maher, and Group 1 Crew. Talented rapper Trip Lee along with other artists will serve as the pre-show entertainment. This will mark the first time “The Rock and Worship Roadshow” will tour in the fall in addition to their annual spring trek.
Admission prices will be the traditional $10 at-the-door, making it an affordable event for the whole family. Compassion International will once again serve as a tour sponsor. Compassion International is a Christian child advocacy ministry that releases children from spiritual, economic, social and physical poverty and enables them to become responsible, fulfilled Christian adults. For more information on Compassion International go tohttp://www.compassion.com.
Kicking off Nov. 4 in Grand Rapids, MI, the tour will stop in cities such as Cleveland, OH; Atlanta, GA; Columbia, SC; Oklahoma City, OK; and Kansas City, MO, before wrapping on Nov. 20 in Memphis, TN.
See full list of markets are listed below, but stay tuned towww.rockandworshiproadshow.com for the latest tour information.
What’s in the distribution deal? A new relationship, according toVeggieTales’ Creator and Jellyfish Labs Founder Phil Vischer and Bill Hearn, President and CEO of EMI Christian Music Group (EMI CMG) who have announced a long-term distribution agreement for Vischer’s Jellyfish Labs and its “Buck Denver Asks…What’s in the Bible?” DVD series.
EMI CMG Distribution will assume distribution rights for the DVD series, forthcoming ancillary products and the music products created by Jellyfish Labs for the Christian retail marketplace in the U.S. and Canada, as well as the digital domain, including iTunes and Amazon.com. This fall, EMI CMG will re-launch five DVDs and release a new music CD and new DVD.
“I’m excited that Jellyfish Labs and our Buck Denver Asks…What’s in the Bible? DVD series has found a new home at EMI CMG Distribution,” said Vischer, who, before embarking on his latest venture, created VeggieTales. “I’ve always appreciated Bill Hearn and his team; their commitment to excellence and innovation make them great partners as we work to enhance the spiritual journeys of families everywhere through creative children’s products.”
“EMI CMG has worked with Phil on past VeggieTales music and feature films projects, making it a genuine fit for us to work together on his newest venture, Jellyfish Labs and the What’s in the Bible? DVD series,” said Hearn. “Families need What’s in the Bible more now than ever before. What better way to share the good news of the Gospel than this creative DVD series that is fun and informative for the whole family.”
Vischer and his Jellyfish team first launched the What’s in the Bible? series in early 2010. Vischer set out to teach children “the story of the Bible – about God’s great rescue plan and how stories like those of Moses, Noah, David, and Jesus fit together to tell one big, redemptive story.” Vischer’s signature wit shines through with his all-new cast of characters, fast-paced flash animation, puppetry and catchy tunes.
Each DVD contains two 25-minute episodes filled with original music, animation, puppets and creative storytelling. Hosted by the suave news anchor (and puppet) Buck Denver (voiced by Vischer), the series introduces unforgettable new characters including Sunday School Lady; brothers/archeologists Clive & Ian; pastor, teacher and gospel singer Brother Louie; and Captain Pete the church history-loving pirate. For the first time, Vischer also appears in the series. Vischer has written and voiced all but one of the characters in the series along with most of the original music.
Jellyfish Labs and EMI CMG will re-launch the first five DVDs in the DVD series in September 2011. The five DVDs will be repackaged and will include newly created family study guides as well as a digital copy for fans to place on their computers and mobile devices. The DVDs, which will be at retail on Sept. 27, include:
Also on Sept. 27, the first Buck Denver Asks…What’s in the Bible? – The Songs! music CD also releases through EMI CMG and features 18 favorite songs from the first five DVDs.
The following month, on Oct. 18, two brand new DVDs will debut, including the next installment in the series and a special holiday episode:
“Breaking new brands is difficult work these days and breaking new children’s brands would be considered treacherous! Such work requires great partnerships and a willingness to innovate, experiment and take some risks. EMI CMG is one of the few companies in the Christian marketplace that’s positioned for this kind of challenge. We’re delighted to have them as a partner in our efforts to help families better understand God’s word and raise up the next generation of Christians,” said Erick Goss, managing partner Creative Trust Media/Jellyfish Labs.
A testament to Vischer’s ability to create products that resonate with families, Buck Denver Asks…What’s in the Bible? was the best-selling new children’s DVD series at Christian retail in the past year and has sold almost 175,000 units.
Greg Bays, SVP of sales and marketing for EMI CMG Distribution, says: “It is exciting to watch Phil Vischer use his creative genius and theological expertise to develop brand new characters and stories for our families to treasure. For EMI CMG Distribution, it is our job to ensure that these new DVDs and the music CD penetrate the marketplace so that they might impact children and their families for years to come. Our team is honored and humbled, and we take our stewardship of Phil’s vision very seriously.”
In this week’s edition of Cool Song Friday I present to you the first single off Phil Wickham’s new record RESPONSE, called “AT YOUR NAME.” I’m a huge Phil Wickham fan and am already loving this song. Below is a youtube video where you can listen to it for yourself.
Blake Mycoskie is releasing a new book START SOMETHING THAT MATTERS IN September 2011. According to the official press release:
The incredible story of the man behind TOMS and One for One ™, the revolutionary business model that matches social good with sales. Blake Mycoskie never made a pair of shoes, attended fashion school, or worked in retail but he created one of the most iconic companies in the world by giving new shoes to children in need.
This is a book that will make you think differently about the work you do, the products you buy, and the difference one person can make. Blake Mycoskie is the founder of TOMS, and in his first book, he offers his own amazing story of success, inspiration, and the power of one idea: to provide new shoes to children in need.
Blake became interested in creating a for-profit business that at its center could support a sustainable way of giving that would address ongoing needs worldwide. It all started several years ago, when after selling his fourth start-up, Blake visited Argentina, and was shocked to see the number of children unable to afford shoes. This simple fact changed his life forever. He leftArgentina determined to return and hand deliver thousands of new shoes to these children, protecting them from potential diseases, providing access to education, or allowing them to walk to collect clean drinking water—all basic needs that most of us take for granted. Shortly after that trip, Blake created TOMS, which began with shoes and recently launched a second product, eyewear, to address another global need: vision.
In START SOMETHING THAT MATTERS, Blake addresses the following:
START SOMETHING THAT MATTERS shows the evolution of a company that started out modestly in a small Los Angelesapartment and then went on to become a global movement – one of the fastest growing companies in the world. Praised by Bill Clinton as “one of the most interesting entrepreneurs [he'd] ever met,” Blake lives on a sailboat in Los Angeles, and holds the title of Chief Shoe Giver. In this new memoir, he shares his transformation from a “regular business guy,” motivated primarily by profit, into one of the emerging leaders in Conscious Capitalism. Blake also presents the six simple keys to creating and transforming one’s life and business, from discovering one’s core story to being resourceful without resources; from overcoming fear and doubt to incorporating giving into every aspect of a person’s life.
Blake’s philosophy offers a new way of thinking about success, defined by creating work that simultaneously fulfills our hunger for material success, philanthropic impact, and personal meaning. Blake’s story will inspire a wide range of people: youth just beginning their careers and hoping to make a difference; those who want to change careers to something more meaningful; and leaders who want to take on the challenges of changing the world of business to make it a culture that is passionate, creative and ultimately capable of making the world a better place.
In keeping with the TOMS One for One ™ philosophy, with every copy of START SOMETHING THAT MATTERS purchased, TOMS will provide a new book to a child in need. One for One. TOMS will give new books through the innovative non-profit First Book (FirstBook.org) to children in the United States.
Learn more about this exciting project at http://www.startsomethingthatmatters.com/.
Zondervan announced it signed award-winning and bestselling authors Bodie and Brock Thoene to a four-book contract with the first title, Beyond the Farthest Star, to release December 2011.
Beyond the Farthest Star is a novel based on the major motion picture screenplay by Andrew Librizzi with the film (Pathlight Entertainment) anticipated to release nationwide in time for the holidays. The emotionally compelling novel tells the tale of a father desperate to reconnect with his daughter and regain the love of his wife. In it, he discovers that reconciliation and trust begin, not with words, but with the revelation of the heart.
“Beyond the Farthest Star is a powerful story with gripping characters and fascinating twists and turns,” said Bodie and Brock Thoene. “We are excited and proud to be partnering with the dynamic Zondervan publishing team as this film and novel come to life.”
After the release of Beyond the Farthest Star, the Thoenes will begin their most powerful and climactic writing project ever with a new historical fiction series titled “A.D. Scrolls.” The series begins with the first book, releasing in October 2012, which focuses on those who followed Jesus into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday and continues on with a new release each year which will take readers through the Last Supper, the Crucifixion, Resurrection and on into the first tumultuous days of the Church.
“Bodie and Brock Thoene are a wonderful addition to the Zondervan family of fiction, quo; said Sue Brower, executive editor for Zondervan. “I have wanted to work with these legends in Christian fiction for a long time and am thrilled that the opportunity has finally come.”
Bodie and Brock Thoene have written more than 65 works of historical fiction with more than 25 million of these bestselling novels in print. They have won eight ECPA Gold Medallion Awards affirming what millions of readers have already discovered—the Thoenes are not only master stylists but experts at capturing readers’ minds and hearts.
This has been a week of extreme highs and lows for singer/songwriter and recording artist John Waller.
On Thursday, July 28, son Josiah Emmanuel Waller was born to Waller and his wife, Josee. On Friday, July 29, Waller’s mother, Joyce Scarbrough Waller, died of a heart attack. She is survived by her husband, four children, and 16 grandchildren.
“It’s in moments like these when you realize how deeply God loves you,” says Waller. “I am so overjoyed by the birth of my son and so very grieved by the unexpected loss of my mother. She was young. I so wanted and expected her to be holding her grandson now. Instead, she is being held by her loving Savior. Thank you for your prayers, especially for my precious father.”
A funeral service was held yesterday at the First Baptist Church of Jonesboro Worship Center with John Waller and Dr. Mel Blackaby officiating.
Our prayers and thoughts go out to John and his family during this difficult time.
I’ve shared elsewhere on this blog that I’m a huge PRISON BREAK fan, I thought the first half of the first season was the worst but then after that it just got better. Well in case there are any other Break fans reading this, let me ask you: Do you remember this kid in the picture on the right who appeared in about 4 or 5 episodes? Teabag’s little lap dog? Remember how’s his time on the show ended? Well I just found out a few days ago that this kid actually has a name and it’s Blaine Hogan and . . . he’s on staff at Willow Creek Community Church in Chicago. How crazy is that? Apparently he serves as a Creative Producer at Willow overseeing stuff like multimedia, and performance art. Not too shabby.
He’s also a blogger over at blainehogan.com and he just released a new book called “UNTITLED: Thoughts On The Creative Process,” but the book is only available in kindle version. I don’t know about you but I think that’s pretty cool, only thing is I wish he didn’t play such an unflattering, victimized character.
The band members of Switchfoot celebrated the completion of their new 2011 record VICE VERSES, recently with the band’s first listening session of the entire finished album. The new album is scheduled to drop on September 27th.
The Track List For The New Album Is As Follows:
Below is a video of the band’s first full listening session. Pretty cool video.
WATCH:
Just two months shy of his fourth birthday, Colton Burpo, the son of an evangelical pastor in Imperial, Neb., was rushed into emergency surgery with a burst appendix.
He woke up with an astonishing story: He had died and gone to heaven, where he met his great-grandfather; the biblical figure Samson; John the Baptist; and Jesus, who had eyes that “were just sort of a sea-blue and they seemed to sparkle,” Colton, now 11 years old, recalled.
Colton’s father, Todd, has turned the boy’s experience into a 163-page book, “Heaven Is for Real,” which has become a sleeper paperback hit of the winter, dominating best-seller lists and selling hundreds of thousands of copies.
Thomas Nelson, the book’s publisher, said it had broken company sales records. The publisher, based in Nashville, began with an initial print run of 40,000 copies. Since the book came out in November, it has gone back to press 22 times, with more than 1.5 million copies in print. On the New York Times best-seller list for paperback nonfiction last Sunday, “Heaven Is for Real” was No. 1. The book remains in the top spot this coming Sunday.
Much of the book’s success has been fueled by word of mouth, since it did not begin with the usual best-seller channels: there has been no elaborate book tour, big-name publisher or brand-name author. But it has gained traction with a few well-placed appearances on the morning show “Fox & Friends,” “The 700 Club” and CNN.
The book has sold just as strongly in national chain bookstores like Barnes & Noble as it has in Christian specialty shops, said Matt Baugher, the vice president and publisher of Thomas Nelson. Mass merchants like Wal-Mart have pushed the book heavily in their stores, and large orders from churches and ministry groups are growing steadily.
“We all are perhaps desperate to know what is on the other side of the veil after we die,” Mr. Baugher said, adding that his initial skepticism about the Burpo family’s story was short-lived. “This was a very down-to-earth, conservative, quote-unquote normal Midwestern family. We became fully convinced that this story was valid. And also that it was a great story that would just take off.”
The book was an instant hit in Barnes & Noble outlets and was near the top of the best-seller list on its bn.com. The chain’s religion buyer was an early advocate for the book, ordering copies for every store, said Patricia Bostelman, the vice president for marketing at Barnes & Noble.
“When you buy the religion subject, you are presented with many stories about heaven, personal experiences about near-death and the afterlife,” Ms. Bostelman said, noting that several other books with “heaven” in the title have sold well recently. “But what was unusual about this book was that it was the story of a little boy. It deactivated some of the cynicism that can go along with adults capitalizing on their experiences.”
Todd Burpo wrote the book with Lynn Vincent, who collaborated with Sarah Palin on “Going Rogue.” Mr. Burpo, the pastor of Crossroads Wesleyan Church in Imperial, a farming community in southwest Nebraska, said in an interview that he had shouldered some criticism over it.
“People say we just did this to make money, and it’s not the truth,” Mr. Burpo said, referring to anonymous online comments about the book. “We were expecting nothing. We were just hoping the publisher would break even.” (He said he planned to give away much of the royalty income and spend some of it on home improvements.)
At first, he and his wife, Sonja, were not sure if they could believe their son’s story, which came out slowly, months and years after his sudden illness and operation in 2003. The details persuaded them, Mr. Burpo said. Colton told his parents that he had met his younger sister in heaven, describing her as a dark-haired girl who resembled his older sister, Cassie. When the Burpos questioned him, he asked his mother, “You had a baby die in your tummy, didn’t you?” While his wife had suffered a miscarriage years before, Mr. Burpo said, they had not told Colton about it. “There’s just no way he could have known,” Mr. Burpo said.
And the Burpos said that Colton painstakingly described images that he said he saw in heaven — like the bloody wounds on Jesus’ palms — that he had not been shown before.
Eventually the Burpos decided to tell their story beyond their town. Mr. Burpo, in his Sunday sermons, had already introduced some anecdotes to his congregation. Through a pastor friend, they met Joel Kneedler, an agent with Alive Communications, a Christian literary agency in Colorado Springs. Mr. Kneedler sold the book to Thomas Nelson, a publisher known for Christian titles like “40 Days With Jesus” by Sarah Young. The advance was in the low five figures.
The book’s list price is $16.99, but that is discounted to $9.34 on amazon.com.
At the outlets of Barbara’s Bookstore, an independent chain mostly in the Chicago area, the book is No. 1 on the store’s nonfiction best-seller list. Interest in it began to perk up around mid-February, said Greg Sato, a store manager.
“Of the nonfiction books lately that seems to be the one that people are asking about the most,” Mr. Sato said. “I have pegged it in the same vein as ‘The Five People You Meet in Heaven’ or ‘The Shack.’ Like an Oprah book, but a little more religious or spiritual.”
Colton, who appears as a blond, round-faced little boy on the cover of the book, now plays the piano and trumpet, is fascinated by Greek mythology, listens to Christian rock and loves Nebraska football.
Telling his story matter-of-factly, Colton said he was pleased that people were finding the story inspirational.
“People are getting blessed, and they’re going to have healing from their hurts,” he said. “I’m happy for that.”
Joel Houston, lead singer of Hillsong United was robbed at gunpoint in New York city a few days ago. ”Robbed at gunpoint tonight… thank you brooklyn… lost my phone.. spent the night with NY’s finest…” Houston tweeted. According to Houston 3 of his other friends who were with him were robbed too including songwriter Matt Crocker.
It got even worse since Houston had 200 songs on his phone he wanted to keep. ”seriously.. for real” Joel added later, “.. at gunpoint… tried reasoning with him.. only cause i had 200 song idea on my voice memos i didnt wanna lose…”
Not to worry though, Houston and his friends were just happy no one got seriously hurt. Writing, “spent the night with NY’s finest.. never laughed harder in my life…”
Glad to hear no one was hurt. So sad to hear about those many songs being lost though.
Today on our weekly cool song fridays spotlight we bring you one of the best songs from Matt Redman’s new album “10,000 Reasons.” It’s called “Never Once” if you haven’t heard it before you’re in for a treat. And if you keep listening to it for the next few days its going to become one of your favorite songs of 2011 hands down.
WATCH:
David C Cook announced that Francis Chan has three trade books on The New York Times “Paperback Advice & Miscellaneous” list on July 24, 2011—Erasing Hell debuts at #3, Crazy Love appears at #4, and Forgotten Godat #10. This is a first for Francis Chan and it is a first in its 135-year history for Chan’s publisher David C Cook.
Says Don Pape, publisher of David C Cook: “Francis is resonating with readers all over the world with his timely and challenging messages. By having all three of his books on The New York Times bestseller lists simultaneously, we see how he is poised to increase his influence not only to the church but in all thoughtful conversations about God and religion. Francis is the face of Christianity for the future millennium.”
Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God released in May 2008 and has spent 38 consecutive weeks on The New York Times bestseller list.Forgotten God: Reversing Our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit released in September 2009 and has appeared on The New York Times bestseller list for 10 consecutive weeks. Erasing Hell: What God Said About Eternity and the Things We Made Up released on July 5, 2011.
Chan’s previous two books have inspired millions to contemplate and pursue radical, spirit-led living. Currently, Chan feels called to address one of the most controversial topics in the religious world today – hell.
Francis Chan is the founding pastor of Cornerstone Church in Simi Valley, CA, founder of Eternity Bible College, and also serves on the boards of Children’s Hunger Fund and World Impact. His three books, Crazy Love,Forgotten God, and Erasing Hell are international bestsellers having all appeared on The New York Times bestseller list. Crazy Love has sold more than 1.6 million copies. First published in 2008, Crazy Love has spent more than 38 weeks on the Times bestseller lists, and the title was named Family Christian Store’s “Book of the Year” for 2011. Chan has also written three children’s books: Halfway Herbert (September 2010), The Big Red Tractor and the Little Village (September 2010), and Ronnie Wilson’s Gift(March 2011), all published by David C Cook. Chan has sold more than 2.1 million books in total.
I understand the tendency.
You put out a free thing. People sign up. You think you’ve got a tribe. But you don’t.
You have rallied people who want a free thing.
It’s an insincere tribe.
I’m interested in finding a sincere tribe. People who are like minded, who have the same collective purpose. People who aren’t compelled by freebies but by a cause, a community, a life-altering vision. A fraternity of friends…
Where 10 years from now, everyone looks at us and says, “How did those people happen to know each other way back when?”
*
Ben has launched a variety of creative projects, including The Whiteboard Sessions, STORY, and now Dream Year. He serves as a development strategist for several national organizations and wrote the book Church in the Making through B&H Publishing. Ben and his wife Ainsley live in Virginia Beach, Virginia with their three boys: Wyatt, Dylan, and Cody.
Great news for all the eager Phil Wickham fans like me, Phil sent out an email yesterday announcing that he’s new album RESPONSE is available for pre-order starting this week and those who pre-order will get his first single immediately. You can buy it on his website here.
Eager to get back to work, Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow beat just about everyone to the team’s practice facility.
The veteran he’s trying to replace wasn’t as ambitious.
His future with the team uncertain, Kyle Orton didn’t show up at Dove Valley on Tuesday, the first day players were allowed to voluntarily report following the 4½-month lockout.
Training camp opens today with the first full workout slated for Thursday.
Tebow was one of the first players to roll in for voluntary strength and conditioning, driving through the gates at 7:40 a.m., just behind offensive lineman Jeff Byers.
This soon could be Tebow’s team, especially with speculation swirling that Orton’s days in Denver are numbered.
Orton has started the last two seasons for Denver, posting career-best passing numbers to go with 41 touchdowns and 21 interceptions. But with the Broncos looking for a fresh start following a franchise-worst 4-12 season, Orton might be more valuable on the trade market, paving the way for Tebow to be the starter for new coach John Fox.
Teams are allowed to orchestrate trades Tuesday and Orton’s name keeps surfacing. He is due more than $8 million this season, a hefty price tag with Tebow and Brady Quinn waiting in the wings.
There were more than two dozen players who arrived at the facility over the course of the day, including Brian Dawkins and Robert Ayers.
“This lockout has been a long time,” defensive tackle Kevin Vickerson said. “Football is back.”
The Broncos spent the day negotiating with their draft picks, including No. 2 overall selection Von Miller, who said he planned to be ready to practice when training camp starts.
“I want to come in and just learn. I don’t want to put myself anymore behind than I already am,” Miller said.
Miller stands to make much less money in the new labor accord, with a four-year deal likely worth about $25 million or so, some $45 million less than he could have gotten under the old setup.
“I’ve been playing football all my life for free. So, whatever it is, whatever my contract may be, I’m good with whatever,” Miller said. “You really can’t be possessive over something you didn’t have.”
John Stott, world-famous pastor, theologian, author of numerous bestselling books and Rector Emeritus of All Souls Church in London, died July 27, 2011. He was 90.
New York Times columnist David Brooks wrote (quoting Michael Cromartie of the Ethics and Public Policy Center) that if evangelicals chose a pope, they would likely select John Stott. As a principal framer of the Lausanne Covenant (1974), a defining statement for evangelical Christians, Stott was at the heart of evangelical renewal in the U.K. for more than half a century. In 2005, he was honored by Time magazine as one of the “100 Most Influential People in the World.” His many books and sermons have inspired and transformed millions throughout the world.
John Robert Walmsley Stott, CBE, was born April 27, 1921, in London to Sir Arnold Stott, a leading physician, and his wife, Emily. His father was an agnostic, while his mother was a Lutheran who attended church at All Souls, Langham Place. He converted to Christianity at Rugby School in 1938, and after finishing there he went on to study modern language at Trinity College, Cambridge. After earning double firsts in French and theology, he transferred to Ridley Hall Theological College, Cambridge, and was ordained as an Anglican clergyman in 1945. Stott became a curate at All Souls Church (1945–1950) and then rector (1950–1975). He resigned as rector in 1975, although he remained in the church and was appointed Rector Emeritus. In 1974 he founded Langham Partnership International (known as John Stott Ministries in the U.S.), a ministry that seeks to equip Majority World churches for mission and spiritual growth. Stott finally retired from public ministry in 2007 at the age of eighty-six.
Stott’s influence on evangelicalism throughout the world is extensive. He has written more than fifty books, including various Bible studies and Bible commentaries. As Stott’s main publisher in the U.S., InterVarsity Press enjoyed a wonderful partnership with the man they called “Uncle John.” IVP associate publisher for editorial Andy Le Peau said that Stott’s works were embraced for their “clear, balanced, sound perspective on Scripture and life. He was filled with a grace and strength that will be dearly missed in this era of extreme viewpoints and harsh rhetoric.”
Stott is best known for his many books, especially Basic Christianity(InterVarsity Press), a clear statement of the gospel of Jesus Christ that has been translated into over 63 languages; The Cross of Christ(InterVarsity Press), which former InterVarsity Press publisher James F. Nyquist says “demonstrates the depth of Stott’s understanding and lifetime commitment”; Christian Mission in the Modern World (InterVarsity Press), in which Stott makes the case that Christian outreach must encompass both evangelism and social action; Your Mind Matters(InterVarsity Press), a forceful appeal for Christian discipleship that engages the intellect as well as the heart; and The Birds, Our Teachers(Baker), a study on birds combined with biblical truths and personal anecdotes. InterVarsity Press has also published a biography of John Stott entitled, Basic Christian by Roger Steer. Stott was also the New Testament editor and a major contributor for the highly acclaimed “Bible Speaks Today” commentary series.
“We are deeply grateful for this long publishing partnership and friendship with one of the most influential and beloved evangelical leaders for the past half-century,” said InterVarsity Press Publisher Bob Fryling. “John Stott was not only revered; he was loved. He had a humble mind and a gracious spirit. He was a pastor-teacher whose books and preaching not only became the gold standard for expository teaching, but his Christian character was a model of truth and godliness. We will miss ‘Uncle John’ but we celebrate his life and writings as an extraordinary testimony of one who was abundantly faithful to his Lord Jesus Christ.”
God Is Able marks the 20th annual live release from Hillsong Church Australia. Wow, 20 years of live albums, that in itself is an amazing feat. Recorded during the Hillsong Conference in November 2010 at the Sydney Entertainment Centre in Australia, ‘God Is Able‘ features 11 brand new songs including ‘Rise’ (Joel Houston), ‘The Cry of the Broken’, (Darlene Zschech) and ‘God Is Able’ (Reuben Morgan). Hillsong Church (formerly Hills Christian Life Centre) is a Pentecostal church located in Sydney whose music has become internationally well-known amongst Christian groups. Songs such as Power of Your Love by Geoff Bullock and Shout to the Lord by Darlene Zschech have become popular and are sung in churches worldwide.
Hillsong have been creating album after album of songs that the worldwide church has taken on as a tool to use in their local times of worship, and as a worship leader myself I know I look forward to the next fresh album from Hillsong to see what I can use as songs to bring people closer to God. Many harmonies and voices singing together in praise to the Almighty God, and compared to some Hillsong live albums I feel this album at times moves slightly towards the Hillsong United sound, the band that Joel Houston leads.
This album is full of declaration songs, with big melodic anthem singing choruses, for example in The Lost Are Found you can hear everyone together declaring “The lost are found, the blind will see, the lame will walk, the dead will live, and You our God, forever You reign”. Again the anthemic lyrics continue throughout the whole of the album, including opening track Rise, which is a really brilliant track to start the album. It kicks off the album with high energy praise, with the bass beating out a distinctive powerful sound while Joel sings “We will rise, we will run, we will lift to declare your name, forever to give you praise”.
I have found myself over the years whistling or humming Hillsong songs in work, on the train, or at the bank. There is something about the melodies in these songs that gets stuck in your head. Well this album is no exception, Alive In Us has a very catchy chorus, and could easily be one of my standout tracks, but as I’m only allowed three, Alive In Use will have to just miss out.
This album has the unmistakable Hillsong sound that we have come to know and love, with high energy musicianship, voices singing out to God, and a huge spark of power. I’m sure in time these songs will be used in the festivals and then in local churches. God Is Able – there isn’t much more we can say or do apart from be ready to worship Him.
David C Cook announced the signing of pastor, author, and church planter Britt Merrick to a multi-book publishing deal, with the first offering scheduled for release in the summer of 2012.
In an age where shallow religion and shaky commitments rule the day, Merrick’s provocative new book calls for believers to quit “playing church” and to truly follow Jesus no matter the cost. “There is a discrepancy today between the lives of most American Christians and the life of Jesus in the gospels—and the world has noticed. Yet a growing number of believers feel that something’s missing and they’re aching to live authentic lives like Jesus,” explains Merrick.
The first book in the deal (as of yet untitled) will equip the 21st-century church to join with Christ as He is presently on mission, working all around them. Jesus said, “As the Father sent me, I also send you.” The book follows this pivotal passage to reveal the Father’s mandate for mission, the Son’s model of mission, and the Spirit’s ministry through mission. A life engaged in this way is one that truly looks like Jesus—and ultimately changes the world.
“We share Merrick’s passion for transforming the world by stirring the church to a radically new spiritual depth and commitment to Jesus,” says Don Pape, vice president of trade publishing for David C Cook. “We’re excited to have the opportunity to support his vision.”
Merrick is the founding pastor of Reality Church, which began in 2003 in Carpinteria, CA, and has grown to include church plants in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Ventura, Stockton, Santa Barbara, and London, England. The Reality church movement is focused on biblical faithfulness, community transformation, church birthing, and equipping the next generation of leaders. Reality is a biblically grounded, missionally minded, and relationally oriented network of churches rooted in prayer, worship, and the authority of God’s inerrant Word.
In 2009 Britt’s 5-year-old daughter, Daisy Love, was diagnosed with a stage III Wilms’ tumor, which returned again after successful treatment in the summer of 2010. As the family battled cancer, a wide ministry emerged through Britt’s teaching and Daisy’s blog: www.prayfordaisy.com.
Britt continues to serve full-time as lead pastor at Reality Santa Barbara and recently wrote the book Big God, which released in 2010. In recent years Britt has spoken at the Children’s Pastor’s Conference (CPC), both East and West, Catalyst West, One Conference, and Pure Worship Conference, and he has appeared on TBN’s Praise the Lord. He lives with his wife, Kate, and their two children in Carpinteria.
The uber talented Christian rock band out of Nashville has just released their new music video for their song “Lie To Me (Denial).” Definitely worth a watch.
People often say they don’t read the Bible because they can’t understand it, mainly because of the language used. NavPress commemorates the Message Bible’s 10-year anniversary with 16 million copies sold, The Message is written in American English, words we use every day, making the Bible easy to read and understand; making the beauty and relevance of God’s Word available to everyone.
Eugene H. Peterson, the author for The Message, was pastor of Christ Our King Presbyterian Church when he translated several parts of the New Testament and Psalms for his congregation from the original Greek and Hebrew texts. These translations caught the attention of an editor from NavPress who proposed to Eugene the idea of translating the whole Bible into contemporary American vernacular. Reviewed by a team of exegetical consultants who examined the text to ensure a genuine communication of the original Greek and Hebrew, The Message New Testament was released in June 1993. By September of 1994, The Message had sold over 2 million copies, signifying the marketplace need for the full Bible, which was released Jul. 15, 2002.
“The Message is so well liked because of its readability,” states NavPressBible Publisher Jill Johnson. “It is written in the style and language that you would use to write an email to a friend making it easy to read and bringing a new perspective to passages that have been read hundreds of times.” Jill also adds that The Message makes an excellent companion Bible and is not designed to replace a reader’s current version of choice or traditional Study Bible. “When paired with a favorite study Bible, The Message offers deeper understanding to passages that are hard to understand.”
NavPress is celebrating The Message’s 10th anniversary for one full year with several new products, including a special limited-time edition of the full Message Bible that released Jul. 15, 2011. Designed as a reading Bible, with no distracting verse numbers or formal language, the 10thanniversary editions are bringing back the non-numbered original format, set in a single column that made it first unique to the marketplace.
Often described as a “para-translation,” Gold Medallion Book Award winnerThe Message makes a great tool for discipleship or evangelism. Eugene H. Peterson, who earned his B.A. in philosophy from Seattle Pacific University, his S.T.B. from New York Theological Seminary, and his M.A. in Semitic languages from Johns Hopkins University, works exclusively from the original languages, telling the miraculous, tragic, and triumphant true stories of the biblical past in a way that makes them come uniquely alive in the present; it will be like reading them for the first time.
The legendary Hillsong Live has just released their latest album today everywhere !!! The new album features 14 brand new songs penned by the iconic worship leaders. And to top it all off they have reached the top ten on the overall charts on iTunes.
Congrats to the Hillsong team!
Below Is A New Trailer For New Album.
WATCH:
hi there.
Sing hallelujah
The sun’s breaking through
To take back the dark sky
And make everything new
We knew joy was coming
But we just had to wait
And now we sing hallelujah
‘Cause it’s a brand new day
So let’s sing hallelujah
The dark night is gone
Creation is singing
So come join in the song
The Father is calling
To come out and play
So we’ll sing hallelujah
‘Cause it’s a brand new day
Sing hallelujah
It’s a brand new, beautiful day
STEVEN:
Morning has broken, like the first morning
Blackbird has spoken, like the first bird
Praise for the singing, praise for the morning
Praise for them springing fresh from the word
CALEB:
Sweet the rain’s new fall, sunlit from heaven
Like the first dewfall, on the first grass
Praise for the sweetness of the wet garden
Sprung in completeness where His feet pass
STEVEN:
Mine is the sunlight, mine is the morning
Born of the one light, Eden saw play
Praise with elation, praise every morning
God’s re•creation of the new day
God’s re•creation of the new day
Morning has broken
Morning has broken
Morning has broken
Long before you drew your first breath
A dream was coming true
God wanted to give a gift to the world
So He wrapped it up in you
Every step that you’ve taken
Every move that you make
Is part of His plan
CHORUS:
You were meant to be touching the lives that you touch
And meant to be here making this world so much more
Than it would be without you in it
You were meant to be bringing the gifts that you bring
And singing the songs you’ve been given to sing
You are perfectly, wonderfully, beautifully meant to be
You were meant to be
Long before you took your first fall
And stumbled to the ground
God started telling the story of you
To the angels gathered around
Every failure and victory
And everything in between
It’s all in His hands
(Chorus)
You are, you are, you are meant to be
You are, you are, you are meant to be
For every breath that you’re taking
And every move that you make
It’s a meaningful life you’ve been given
So live it well
(Chorus)
Lord, You know how much
I want to know so much
In the way of answers and explanations
I have cried and prayed
And still I seem to stay
In the middle of life’s complications
All this pursuing leaves me feeling
Like I’m chasing down the wind
But now it’s brought me back to You
And I can see again
CHORUS:
This is everything I want
This is everything I need
I want this to be my one consuming passion
Everything my heart desires
Lord, I want it all to be for You
Jesus, be my magnificent obsession
Capture my heart again
Take me to depths I’ve never been
Into the riches of Your grace and Your mercy
Return me to the cross
And let me be completely lost
In the wonder of the love
That You’ve shown me
Cut through these chains that tie me down
To so many lesser things
Let all my dreams fall to the ground
Until this one remains
(Chorus)
You are everything I want
Lord, You are everything I need
You are all my heart desires
Lord, You are everything to me
(Choruses)
Nobody stood and applauded them
So they knew from the start
This road would not lead to fame
All they really knew for sure was Jesus had called to them
He said “Come follow me” and they came
With reckless abandon they came
Empty nets lying there at the waters edge
Told a story that few could believe and none could explain
How some crazy fishermen agreed to go where Jesus lead
With no thought for what they would gain
For Jesus had called them by name and they answered
CHORUS
We will abandon it all for the sake of the call
No other reason at all but the sake of the call
Wholly devoted to live and to die
For the sake of the call
Drawn like the rivers are drawn to the sea
No turning back for the water cannot help but flow
Once we hear the Savior’s call we’ll follow wherever he leads
Because of the love He has shown
And because he has called us to go we will answer
We will abandon it all for the sake of the call
No other reason at all but the sake of the call
Wholly devoted to live and to die
BRIDGE
Not for the sake of a creed or a cause
Not for a dream or a promise
Simply because it is Jesus who calls
And if we believe we’ll obey
CHORUS
Imagine this
I get a phone call from Regis – he says, “Do you want to be a millionaire?”
They put me on the show and I win with two lifelines to spare
Picture this
I act like nothing ever happened
And bury all the money in a coffee can
Well, I’ve been given more than Regis ever gave away
I was a dead man who was called to come out of my grave
I think it’s time for makin’ some noise
CHORUS:
Wake the neighbors, get the word out
Come on, crank up the music, climb a mountain and shout
This is life we’ve been given, made to be lived out
So, la, la, la, la, live out loud, you gotta live it out loud
Think about this
Try to keep a bird from singing after it’s soared up in the sky
Give the sun a cloudless day and tell it not to shine
Think about this
If we really have been given the gift of life that will never end
And if we have been filled with living hope, we’re gonna overflow
And if God’s love is burning in our hearts, well ya’ know we’re gonna glow
There’s just no way to keep it in
(Chorus)
Everybody
La, la, la…la, la, la…la, la, la, live out loud
Every corner of creation is a living declaration
Come join the song we were made to sing
Everybody sing
Every corner of creation is a living declaration
Come join the song we were made to sing
(Chorus)
Every corner of creation is a living declaration
Come join the song we were made to sing
Every corner of creation is a living declaration
Come join the song we were made to sing
Words fall like drops of rain
My lips are like clouds
And I say so many things
I’m just trying to figure You out
But as mercy opens my eyes
My words are stolen away
With this breathtaking view of Your grace
CHORUS 1:
And I am speechless, I’m astonished and amazed
I am silenced by Your wondrous grace
You have saved me
You have raised me from the grave
And I am speechless in Your presence now
I’m astounded as I consider how
You have shown us
A love that leaves us speechless
So what kind of love could this be
That would trade heaven’s throne for a cross
And to think You still celebrate
Over finding just one who was lost
And to know You rejoice over us
The God of this whole universe
It’s a story that’s too great for words
CHORUS 2:
And we are speechless, we’re astonished and amazed
We are silenced by Your wondrous grace
You have saved us
And You have raised us from the grave
We are speechless in Your presence now
We’re astounded as we consider how
You have shown us
A love that leaves us speechless
We are speechless
Oh, how great is the love
The Father has lavished upon us
That we should be called
The sons and the daughters of God
And we are speechless
(Chorus 2)
Your love leaves us speechless
I saw it again today in the face of a little child
Looking through eyes of fear and uncertainty
It echoed in a cry for freedom across the street and across the miles
Cries from the heart to find the missing part
Where is the hope, where is the peace
That will make this life complete?
For every man, woman, boy and girl
Looking for heaven in the real world
To stand in the pouring rain and believe the sun will shine again
To know that the grave is not the end
To feel the embrace of grace and cross the line where real life begins
And know in your heart you’ve found the missing part
And there is a hope, and there is a peace
That will make this life complete
For every man, woman, boy and girl
Looking for heaven in the real world
Looking for heaven in the real world
It happened one night with a tiny baby’s birth
God heard creation crying and He sent heaven to earth
He is the hope, and the peace
That will make this life complete
For every man, woman, boy and girl
Jesus is the hope, and the peace
That will make this life complete
For every man, woman, boy and girl
Jesus is heaven in the real world
Jesus is heaven in the real world
Yes He is
Jesus is heaven, He is heaven in the real world
Matt Redman’s newest project, 10,000 Reasons, available nationwide, is receiving praise from critics across the board. The album also made a strong debut upon its release, dominating the charts by taking the No. 1 spot on iTunes Christian Albums Chart and placing in the Top 15 on iTunes overall albums chart. 10,000 Reasons adds eleven new worship anthems to Redman’s catalogue that already includes favorites sung in churches worldwide such as “Blessed Be Your Name,” “Heart of Worship,” and “You Never Let Go.”
The new album, with songs co-written by Jonas Myrin (“Our God,” “You Alone Can Rescue”) and Jason Ingram (“Give Me Your Eyes,” “By Your Side”), is already proving to be a hit with an extensive online and print feature in Christianity Today, along with receiving critical acclaim from New Release Tuesday, About.com, Worship Leader Magazine, and more.
In support the album’s first single, “Never Once,” which is making its mark at radio now, Redman recently visited radio stations KLOVE and KSBJ. Earlier this week, Redman also presented his new project to numerous radio personnel at a special event held in Atlanta.
While in Atlanta, he took some time to lead worship at his home church in the U.S., Passion City Church, pastored by Passion founder and director Louie Giglio.
Slowly drawn moths to the flame
We think we’re strong we think we’re anchored down
Then it comes, the hurricane
Down come the walls up come the foundations
We’ve been building on
And suddenly….we’ll see that
CHORUS:
All that’s left is to love
That’s all that we have
That’s all that we ever really had and
All that’s left is to love
That’s all that we have
That’s all that we’ll ever have
So let us look into each other’s eyes
And read the stories written there between the lines
And take the list of all the wrongs we keep
And tear it into pieces let mercy be the only thing we’re harboring
‘Cause eventually….we’re gonna see that
(Chorus)
This is why our hearts are beating
To love each other as we have been loved
Everything else is a fleeting shadow
But love endures all things, believes all things, and hopes all things
And love never ends
Love never ends
(Chorus)
All we really ever have
All we have in the end is love
Oh, the only the thing that matters is to love
This is the only lasting treasure
Love endures all things and believes all things and hopes all things
Love endures all things and believes all things and hopes all things
The long awaited rains
Have fallen hard upon the thirsty ground
And carved their way to where
The wild and rushing river can be found
And like the rains
I have been carried here to where the river flows
My heart is racing and my knees are weak
As I walk to the edge
I know there is no turning back
Once my feet have left the ledge
And in the rush I hear a voice
Telling me it’s time to take the leap of faith
So here I go
I’m diving in, I’m going deep in over my head, I want to be
Caught in the rush, lost in the flow, in over my head, I want to go
The river’s deep, the river’s wide, the river’s water is alive
So sink or swim, I’m diving in
There is a supernatural power
In this mighty river’s flow
It can bring the dead to life
And it can fill an empty soul
And give a heart the only thing
Worth living and worth dying for
But we will never know the awesome power
Of the grace of God
Until we let ourselves get swept away
Into this holy flood
So if you’ll take my hand
We’ll close our eyes and count to three
And take the leap of faith
Come on let’s go
I started out this morning in the usual way
Chasing thoughts inside my head of all I had to do today
Another time around the circle try to make it better than the last
I opened up the Bible and I read about you and me
Said we’d all been a prisoner and God’s grace had set us free
And somewhere between the pages it hit me like a lightning bolt
I saw a big frontier in front of me and I heard somebody say, “Let’s go”!
CHORUS
Saddle up your horses we’ve got a trail to blaze
Through the wild blue yonder of God’s amazing grace
Let’s follow our leader into the glorious unknown
This is a life like no other – this is The Great Adventure
Come on get ready for the ride of your life
Gonna leave long faced religion in a cloud of dust behind
And discover all the new horizons waiting to be explored
This is what we were created for
(Chorus)
BRIDGE
We’ll travel over, over mountains so high
We’ll go through valleys below
Still through it all we’ll find that
This is the greatest journey that the human heart will ever see
The love of God will take us far beyond our wildest dreams
(Chorus)
I set out on a great adventure
The day my Father started leading me home
Said theres gonna be mountians to climb
And valleys were gonna go through
But I had no way of knowing
Just how hard this journey could be
Cause the mountians are steeper
And the valleys are deeper than I ever would had dreamed
But I know were gonna make it
And I know were gonna get there soon
And I know sometimes it seems like, were going the wrong way
But its just the long way home
Some rocks on my shoes
Fears I wish I could lose
That make the mountians so hard to climb
And my heart gets so heavy with the weight of the world sometimes
There’s a bag of regrets,
Should’ve beens, and not yets
That keep on dragging around
And I can hardly wait till the day I get to lay them all down
I know that day is coming
I know its gonna be here soon
I won’t turn back even if the whole world says I’m going the wrong way
Cause its just the long way home
When we cant take another step
The Father will pick us up and carry us in His arms
And even on the best days, He says to remember were not home yet
So don’t get too comfortable
Cause we are just pilgrams passing through
I know that day is coming
I know were gonna be there soon
I keep on singing and believing
What all of my songs say
Cause our God has made a promise
And I know everything He says is true
He promised He would never ever leave us
He’s gonna lead us
He’ll lead us home
Every single step of the long way home
So keep on, were gonna make it
Were just taking the long way home
So keep on, were gonna make it
I know, were gonna make it
Its just the long way home
Your picking up toys on the living room floor for the fifteenth time today
Matching up socks
Sweeping up lost cheerios that got away
You put a baby on your hip
Color on your lips and head out the door
While I may not know you,
I bet I know you
Wonder sometimes, does it matter at all?
Well let me remind you, it all matters just as long
(CHORUS)
As you do everything you do to the glory of the One who made you,
Cause he made you,
To do
Every little thing that you do
To bring a smile to His face
Tell the story of grace
With every move that you make
And every little thing you do
(VERSE)
Maybe your that guy with the suit and tie
Maybe your shirt says your name
You may be hooking up mergers
Cooking up burgers
But at the end of the day
Little stuff
Big stuff
In between stuff
God sees it all the same
While I may not know you
I bet I know you
Wonder sometimes, does it matter at all?
Well let me remind you, it all matters just as long
As you do everything you do to the glory of the One who made you,
Cause he made you
To do
Every little thing that you do
To bring a smile to His face
Tell the story of grace
With every move that you make
And every thing you do
(BRIDGE)
Maybe your sitting in math class
Or maybe on a mission in the Congo
Or maybe your working at the office
Singing along with the radio
Maybe your a down and out rock star
Or feeding orphans in the Myanmar
Anywhere and everywhere that you are
Whatever you do
It all matters
So do what you do
Don’t ever forget
To do everything you do to the glory of the One who made you,
Cause He made you
To do
Every little thing that you do
To bring a smile to His face
And tell the story of grace
As you do everything you do to the glory of the One who made you,
Cause he made you
To do
Every little thing that you do
To bring a smile to His face
And tell the story of grace
With every move that you make
And every little thing you do
In every little thing you do
In every little thing you do
In the wake of last week’s devastating shooting attack on the Norwegian island of Utøya, several tales of individual heroism and survival are now starting to emerge.
One 32-year-old roofer from Germany, for example, sped on his boat to the island, and helped guide many young people who had tried to swim away from the massacre back safely to shore.
“I just did it on instinct,” Marcel Gleffe told The Telegraph. “You don’t get scared in a situation like that, you just do what it takes. I know the difference between fireworks and gunfire. I knew what it was about, and that it wasn’t just nonsense.”
Gleffe was camping with his parents on the mainland directly across from Utøya. The three were discussing the recent bombing in Oslo when Gleffe heard some shots and then saw a teenager swimming to shore, yelling “help,” he told Der Spiegel. He immediately realized that the shooting he heard was connected to the Oslo bombing, and he jumped in a small boat his family had rented for the trip and began speeding to the island.
Gleffe says he helped at least 20 teens get to shore, throwing out life jackets and making several trips in his boat to the island and back to the mainland. Some of the fleeing teenagers were frightened to accept his help, since the accused gunman was dressed as a policemen and told his victims to come closer before he opened fire. “It was unbelievable to see how strong they were,” he told Der Spiegel of the campers. At least 150 people were pulled out of the water after the massacre, and psychologists told the German paper that many of them are suffering from crushing survivors’ guilt.
One survivor, 16-year-old Ingvild Stensrud, told Ann Curry on the Today Show that after she’d been shot in the leg, she played dead in order to survive. She lay under the body of a dead woman until the shooter left the building.
The accused mass murderer, Anders Behring Breivik, wrote a 1,500-page manifesto railing against multiculturalism and Muslim immigration, among other things. He attacked a political camp for young people run by the country’s ruling Labour party. ”I think it’s horrible, and it’s horrible that my friends were killed, that I was shot, because I believe in a multicultural Norway; for my beliefs,” Stensrud said. A Ugandan man at the camp said he hid in a tree to escape the shooting.
Even Norway’s royal family has been personally affected by the tragedy: the stepbrother of the Crown Princess of Norway, Mette Marit, was gunned down by the assassin. Trond Berntsen was an off-duty police officer who was hired as security for the island, and was one of the first people whom Breivik killed, according to The Daily Mail.
At least 100,000 people gathered today in an anti-violence rally in Oslo, Reuters reported. Both Princess Metter Marit and her husband, Crown Prince Haakon, were in attendance. “Tonight the streets are filled with love,” Crown Prince Haakon said.
Thomas Nelson Publishers announced that in October 2011, renowned and iconic preacher and evangelist Billy Graham will release his first major trade book in more than five years: Nearing Home: Life, Faith, and Finishing Well.
“Billy Graham, by the grace of God, has singlehandedly guided millions to faith,” says Matt Baugher, VP and publisher at Thomas Nelson, Inc. “His legacy as an evangelist is unmatched. Now in his nineties, he is reaching out to help all of us again by picking up the pen one more time, and we at Thomas Nelson could not be more honored to play a part in this eternal message. Nearing Home is hands down one of the most important works that Mr. Graham has ever written and one of his most vulnerable. Time catches up to all of us. At his age, with all that has come before, he is in a unique position to guide all of us on what it means to finish well in this life. God bless Billy Graham.”
In this moving narrative, Billy Graham shares his personal experience of growing older, but also teaches some important lessons on how to view our time here on Earth. He says that the Bible makes it clear that God has a specific reason for keeping us here. So what is His purpose for these years, and how can we align our lives with it? How can we not only learn to cope with the fears and struggles and growing limitations we face but actually grow stronger inwardly in the midst of these difficulties?
“The best way to meet the challenges of old age is to prepare for them now, before they arrive,” says Dr. Graham. “I invite you to explore with me not only the realities of life as we grow older but also the hope and fulfillment—and even joy—that can be ours once we learn to look at these years from God’s point of view and discover His strength to sustain us every day.”
“We have worked with Dr. Graham on the creation of this project for several years. As the content developed, we had a growing sense that this book would be destined to impact literally generations of people. It is perhaps the best guide available on living every day to the fullest,” says SVP and group publisher for Thomas Nelson, David Moberg. Thomas Nelson, Inc., (through its acquisition of Word Publishing in 1992) has been Dr. Graham’s trade book publisher since 1975, and has enjoyed numerous million-copy bestsellers with Dr. Graham over those 35 years.
This major trade release, with a hard street date of Oct. 18, 2011, will be supported by an extensive national marketing campaign. The campaign will include national advertising, multiple retailer merchandising options, and advance reader’s copy distribution. Nearing Home will be simultaneously released internationally, and in Spanish through Thomas Nelson’s division, Grupo Nelson.
Our hilarious quote of the day comes from Mr. Gary Busey. Busey and his wife have an 8-month old baby at home and he tweets:
“Trying to get a baby to do what you want is like trying to get a woman to do what you want which is like trying to baptize a cat.”
Always is a track off Kristian Stanfill’s latest album “Mountains Move” and truly a special song, if you haven’t heard it yet I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.
Since starting StuffChristiansLike.net in March of 2008, there’s been a single question that bubbles up more than any other. People tweet it to me. They email it to me. They ask me in 3D when I go speak places. Across the country, I hear one question and this is it:
“How do I get more followers?”
The exact language changes of course. Some people ask about more readers or more clients or more fans, but the sentiment is usually the same. And it’s not a bad question. In a world where it’s free and easy to measure everything we do online, it makes sense that we’d be invested in growing our platforms and our communities.
I’m not opposed to that question. I think it’s a good one and I think branding and marketing are geared at answering it. I just think it’s the wrong question for leaders to ask. Instead of asking, “How do I get more followers?” I think we need to be asking, “How do I give more of me, to more of them?”
That is, how do I give more of that unique passion God’s blessed me with, to more people that might need to hear it too? How do I give more of what I’ve been gifted with, to more people? I like that question for two reasons:
1. It forces us to look at what’s inside.
Sometimes we get so wrapped up with branding and growing our platforms that we don’t take the time and effort to really dig deep into the “why” of what we’re doing. Reframing the question changes the way we approach leadership, allowing us to be patient with what we do.
2. It puts the focus on the vital, not the viral.
I think the greatest way to not create something viral is to try to create something viral. But you see the double rainbow guy blow up or the hide yo wife, hide yo kids and hide yo husband guy, and you think that overnight success is the only definition of success. It isn’t. Focus on the vital, not the viral. Viral is quick and loud and bright and like a firework fades fast into the night. Vital is slow and strong and powerful.
Ultimately, I think that the things that move people. The ideas and concepts that catch hold of hearts and whole communities of people have something in common. They tend to be the overflow of someone’s heart. They tend to be something uncontrollable. Something honest and raw and real that was simply too wild to hold inside. So it was shared, someone explored how to give “more of me” and in doing so found a whole lot of “them.”
The perfect example is the Save Blue Like Jazz movie campaign. What an amazing testament to the power of crowds and movements that is. It’s difficult not to see that and be absolutely amazed that they raised over $300,000 in a month to save the Blue Like Jazz movie. It was just started by two guys who believed in the book and the power of the movie.
But here’s the truth about that. It took 30 days to raise the money, but it took 10 years for Donald Miller to make people care about it. In 2000 he released his first book. He focused on giving more of himself, to more of “them.” And 10 years later, the them wasn’t just a small group of fans and readers.
It was a virtual army, able to quickly mobilize and raise an insane amount of cash in an insanely short amount of time.
I can’t wait to see what you do. I hope it’s what you’re called to. I hope it’s an overflow of what’s inside. And most importantly, I hope you’ll not lose sight of it in your search for “them.” Focus on what matters first and don’t let audience growth, come before your audacious God.
Since its release earlier this year, Love Wins has flown off the shelves, reaching No. 2 on the New York Times bestseller list and the top 10 on Amazon.
While it has clearly struck a chord with people looking for an alternative to the hellfire and brimstone concept of God, many critics have pounded the book and denounced Bell as a universalist or a heretic.
They accuse Bell of distorting biblical truths about judgment, wrath and hell, and diminishing the meaning of the blood and the cross in salvation, with potentially devastating consequences for the spiritual fate of those who embrace his perspective.
Love Wins was released in mid-March and yet the firestorm had erupted weeks earlier, when a short film announcing the book’s publication prompted a flurry of responses.
Speaking to journalists in London on Monday, Bell said it was “tough” being misunderstood, misread and “accused of all sorts of devious things.”
Asked if he found it hurtful that some people had criticized the book before it was published, he responded: “It hurts more than me.”
“Some of the things people say and the way that they act, this can’t be the way of Jesus. There’s got to be a little higher standard of civil discourse,” he said.
He added later, “My first thought is that [people] should read the book first. That was a phenomenon that I didn’t expect, that there would be that sort of level of discussion surrounding a book that nobody had read.
“So when people said [about] the controversy, I was like ‘has anyone even read the book?’ Because then there is something substantive to knock around.”
Despite the fierce criticism from some corners, Bell said others have been “extraordinarily supportive and appreciative,” and that some had been set free because they realized they could be a Christian and “ask that sort of question.”
“The Christian tradition’s quite diverse. It can handle the discussion. It can handle different perspectives. That’s part of its strength and its vibrancy.”
Regarding whether there was any moment in which he had regretted writing the book, he said: “Any moment like that has been immediately followed up with an email or phone call or someone telling me ‘hey, thanks.’
“So no. This was sort of in my bones and this is just part of the cost of capturing it and writing it down and putting it out there.”
Later in the evening, Bell got up on stage to talk about his book in front of some 3,000 people at Methodist Central Hall in Westminster.
He told them it had never been his intention to be controversial but that his book was rather about “recapturing the Gospel” and pointing out that Christianity has a “wide variety of perspectives” on judgment and reconciliation.
“I don’t think that trying to be controversial is a noble goal. I don’t know if God honors those sorts of intentions,” he said.
“I’m interested in what’s true, what can be trusted, the hunt, the discovery, the exploration, and if that turns out to be controversial, I’ll accept that, but that was never the intention.”
That exploration has led Bell to conclude that Christians should be open to the possibility that repentance can come later.
He described it as a “tension” between the “urgent, immediate call of Jesus to respond, repent, trust, believe and accept,” and the “possibilities of all things, the reconciliation of all things, the renewal of all things, [and] God’s desire for the restoration of all things.”
There is a hell, he stressed, and that hell is what people experience when they reject the love of God and choose to take a different path.
“The reason why I called the book Love Wins is that the very nature of love is freedom. You can choose, you can resist, you can reject, you can rebel against God,” he explained.
“Does God want everybody to be saved? Yes. Do we see right now people who resist this pursuing [love of God]? Yes,” he continued. “That’s why in the book I talk about hell and the reality of hell. I think we should leave room [for that] because the Bible leaves room for people to reject and resist God.”
Just like the drug addict who knows his behavior is destroying him and those he loves but chooses to carry on taking drugs instead of seeking help to overcome his addiction, he said.
“I don’t understand that. That’s why I leave room for hell as the reality of our freedom to say that I don’t want that (love of God),” the Grand Rapids, Mich., pastor said.
Although he denies being a universalist, Bell went on to say that he is also open to the possibility that repentance and, therefore salvation, could come at a point beyond this life.
Asked whether he believed in an eternal hell for people who do not respond in this lifetime to Christ, Bell said he could already see a “very living, breathing hell on earth” being lived by people right now in such forms as greed, rape, abuse, genocide and sex trafficking.
“My assumption is that people are still free to pursue such things when they die. I assume that people have that choice and that you can go on in this life and the next saying ‘no, I want nothing to do with the party, I want nothing to do with the invitation,’” he said.
Countering that, however, he said he could also read in the Scriptures of a God who wants everybody to be saved and admitted to a degree of speculation when it comes to considering what happens after we die.
“And so the question is: Does God endlessly pursue? Is there some point where God says ‘listen, you had your chance and now there is no more hope for redemption for you?’
“And I have no idea, I haven’t been there, and when I am there and see it, then I’ll tell you,” he quipped.
On a more serious note, Bell said it was important with questions like this to pause and consider where God’s heart was.
“We have justice and the reality of consequences. There are very real destructive choices and a momentum that develops. How exactly will it pan out? I don’t know I haven’t been there,” the author said. “What I do think is important is that God wants everybody to be saved and we should long for the things that God longs for.
“And when I do run into a Christian who says ‘they’re going to burn, we’re going to be ok,’ that doesn’t seem to reveal the heart of God for me, which is a longing for all people.
“And a sort of decisive, crisp ‘we’re in, they’re not, end of discussion,’ doesn’t seem to reveal the God that Jesus talks about that goes searching for the sheep and the coin and the son.”
He invited the audience to consider the writer of Revelation who described a wall around the city with a gate that isn’t locked.
“Can you at some time repent? Is that still a possibility or has God created a world where there is no hope, where he says the repentance thing doesn’t work for me anymore?” he posed.
“I’m going to assume that God creates the possibility that those [people] could actually turn and that’s all, of course, speculation, but I leave it open because it’s a beautiful picture and it’s justice.”
He continued: “That’s holding out to justice. It is crucially important that God decisively acts against all sorts of evil. Can that co-exist with all sorts of possibilities? That’s a tension I think should just be left in all humility, intact.”
Beyond all the controversy, discussion and debate, Bell was clear that the one thing he most wanted people to take away from his book was the understanding that God is love and that ideally love should be responded to “now.”
“My experience has been that just the idea of ‘maybe God loves everybody’ and truly will pursue everybody, my experience is: that unlocks,” he said.
“I have seen people just at that suggestion become alive and trust Christ out of the absolutely fantastic vision of ‘God possibly has that kind of love? Well, I’m in.’”
“People are more interested in sharing their faith and telling the story because the story may actually be way better than we first realized,” he noted. “People go ‘oh, that’s a story I can tell and I can tell that story right now,’ because the God behind that story is good.”
David C Cook announced the addition of Tullian Tchividjian to its roster of acclaimed authors. Tchividjian (pronounced cha-vi-jin) is the pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, a visiting professor of theology at Reformed Theological Seminary, and a grandson of Billy and Ruth Graham.
“Tchividjian’s approach to spiritual matters is never casual or flippant, and his aim is always dead-on accurate, “ said Don Pape, publisher of trade books for Cook. “His relationship with arguably the most famous preacher of all time and his experience at the helm of one of the most visible churches in the nation will lend a novel perspective to any subject he undertakes, including suffering.”
Through an in-depth study of Job, the first book in this three-book deal (as yet untitled) will take a fresh look at the long-standing dilemma of human suffering. “There is nothing more certain than the fact that you and I will suffer in this life,” Tchividjian says. “This book sets out to show that suffering is one of the primary tools God uses to set us free. The gospel alone provides us with the foundation to maintain radical joy in the face of remarkable loss as we increasingly realize that in Christ, everything we really need, we already possess. This is what we tackle in the book.”
The first book is slated for release in Fall 2012, with two books to follow.
A graduate of Columbia International University with a degree in Philosophy and Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando, Tchividjian is the author of Do I Know God? Finding Certainty in Life’s Most Important Relationship, Unfashionable: Making a Difference in the World by Being Different, and Surprised by Grace: God’s Relentless Pursuit of Rebels. His next book Jesus + Nothing = Everything will be released in October 2011. Tchividjian is also a contributing editor to Leadership Journal. He speaks at conferences throughout the U.S. and his sermons are broadcast daily on the radio program Liberate.
The Lord is the Spirit
Where the Spirit of the Lord is, now
There is liberty
And the Spirit lives inside of me
Where the Spirit of the Lord is, now
There is liberty, there is liberty,
There is liberty
For freedom You set me free
And yes, I am free indeed
You rewrote my name
And shackled my shame
You opened my eyes to see
I am free
When the spirit of the world
Comes to kill me and enslave me I will say
There is liberty
For the chains of sin that once entangled me
Have been broken, now I’m singing ’cause I’m free
There is liberty, there is liberty,
There is liberty
For freedom You set me free
And yes, I am free indeed
You rewrote my name
And shackled my shame
You opened my eyes to see
I am free
The storm rolled in
It was dark in the land
As the Son of Man
Was crucified
You don’t take his life
He laid it down
He paid the price
And shed His blood
It is done!
The veil is torn
He has won
And I am free
And I am free
And I am free
I am free
For freedom You set me free
And yes, I am free indeed
You rewrote my name
And shackled my shame
You opened my eyes to see
For freedom You set me free
And yes, I am free indeed
You rewrote my name
And shackled my shame
You opened my eyes to see
I am free
MIRROR BALL
By MATT REDMAN
ISBN 978-0-78140578-2
Published by David C. Cook
Matt Redman, Grammy nominated songwriter, acclaimed worship leader and successful author, shares his insight and invites readers to dream of a brighter, bolder life of faith in his new book, ‘Mirror Ball’.
Having taken readers on valuable journeys towards a more authentic, passionate practice of worship with the books ‘The Unquenchable Worshipper’ and ‘Facedown’, Matt quickly unpacks his central metaphor in this new release from David C Cook. Everyone, he reminds us, has the unique potential to radiate the goodness, glory and power of God through our own lives. And, like the diminutive mirror ball above a disco floor, we might not look particularly impressive on our own, but once we allow the light of God to shine upon us, there’s no end to the beauty that will shine.
Throughout ‘Mirror Ball’ Matt weaves personal anecdote with spiritual insight, biblical analysis and inspirational wisdom from great thinkers. Throughout the book Matt covers themes that range from the importance of us enlarging our view of God to the place of suffering and the importance of seeing worship as more than the singing of songs, producing some memorable lines along the way: ”Singing is easy,” he writes in chapter 1: “The proof is always in the living. Or even the dying.” In chapter 3 (‘Big God, Big Life’) he writes: “When the majesty and mercy of God really take hold inside us, worship explodes out in every possible direction.” The chapter concludes: “God’s power + my weakness = anything is possible. You do the math.” Just as Matt songs reveal so much of the character of God the Father and the sacrifice of Jesus the Son, ‘Mirror Ball’ has plenty to say about the nature of God: ”God is at work. He is not distant, dormant or docile. He never sleeps and never grows tired or weary.
“He is the powerful, promise-keeping, and change-breathing God. The doors He opens no one can close, and the doors He closes cannot be opened. His words never return to Him empty. He is always at work in you and all around you.” (Chapter 8). Concluding with an eight-part study guide that draws on the book’s content, as well as new songs from Matt’s forthcoming album ‘10,000 Reasons’, ‘Mirror Ball’ will leave readers inspired and equipped to shine on.
What does marriage have to do with leadership? If you are married, everything. Nothing will undermine your effectiveness as a leader faster than a bad marriage. Your marriage is a living example of what it is like to be in a close relationship with you. This is why it is so important that leaders get this right if they want to influence others.
Unfortunately, we live in a culture that is very me-centered. Gail and I often talk to people who are frustrated with their spouses. Most of this stems from the fact that they are not getting what they think they need or what they think they should be getting.
I am not saying that it is wrong to give voice to your needs. I am saying that it is often an ineffective way to get them met, unless you first sow the seeds of giving and servanthood. (This is also good practice for being a leader in any sphere of life.)
Gail and I have been married for 33 years next month. We can both honestly say that we are one another’s best friends. We talk constantly, go on long walks together, and eat almost every meal together. We just love being in each other’s company.
But what if you don’t have this kind of relationship with your spouse? We work with enough couples to know that this kind of intimacy and friendship is rare.
But, honestly, we are not special. I don’t want to be naive, but I don’t think it is that difficult—if you are willing to make the investment.
If you are, then I would recommend three steps:
Prospective candidates will:
This is really nothing more than the application of the Golden Rule to marriage: “Do to others what you would want them to do to you” (Luke 6:31).
If couples would invest in one another like I am suggesting, the divorce rate would plummet. Romance is important. Sex is too. But a solid friendship is the foundation of everything else.
| It is a sacred and beautiful moment, as we merge our lives into one. We’ve created this website to share glimpses and updates on the adventure. We are delighted to have such an incredible cloud of witnesses walking alongside us. We wish we could invite the whole world to the wedding, and we hope this website is a step towards that, allowing all of you near and far to celebrate with us.
love. –shane and katie jo |
Author Rachel Held Evans took to her blog this week to criticize what she called Mark Driscoll’s “bully behavior.” Apparently what set her off was a facebook status update Driscoll posted which read:
“So, what story do you have about the most effeminate anatomically male worship leader you’ve ever personally witnessed?”
Evans responded in full fury posting:
“Mark Driscoll is wrong.
Godly men stick up for people, not make fun of them.
Godly men honor women, not belittle them.
Godly men pursue peace, not dismiss it.
Godly men rise above violence, not glorify it.
Godly men build up the Church, not embarrass it.
Godly men imitate Christ—who praised the gentle and the peacemakers, who stood up for the exploited and abused, who showed compassion for the downtrodden, who valued women, and who loved his enemies to the point of death.
If this Facebook status were Pastor Mark Driscoll’s first offense, it might not warrant a strong response.But Mark has developed a pattern of immaturity and unkindness that has remained largely unchecked by his church.”
I don’t know much about Mrs Evans but it seems her post is more of a liberal view point, which I don’t share but it was interesting to see her take Driscoll head on like this. So far her post has gotten 300 comments. So I guess its working for her.
Rob Bell released “LOVE WINS” on March 15, 2011 and set the evangelical world ablaze with what many considered heretical views on hell and judgement. Two months later Francis Chan releases a video response to the controversy of Bell’s book and announces that he’s working on a book to rebutt some of the views Bell defends in “LOVE WINS.” Another two months later and Chan releases “ERASING HELL: What God Said About Eternity, And The Things We Made Up.” The two seem to be at opposites—diametrically opposed to the other’s view. Conservatives and fundamentalists are watching the back-and-forth with bated breath. What will happen with these two? Who knows? Then the unthinkable happens . . . Francis Chan runs into Rob Bell at an airport. Oh Lord, how could this have happened? They spot each other. Time stops. Their eyes lock. Chan clenches his fists, Bell bites down on his teeth. It’s a stand-off. You can hear a pin drop. People all around are stopped in their tracks watching them. Flights are halted. Oh lord. A fist fight breaks out! Chan swings with the right, his deadly hook aimed at Bell’s jaw. Bell ducks.
“Hey man, what you doing?” Bell yells back flustered.
“You betrayed me man!” Chan shouts back, readying his stance for a black belt round house kick.
Well at least that’s how imagined it would’ve gone down. But apparently not. After running into each other, the two chatted for a while and posed for this picture. (It was taken by someone traveling with Bell).
Have to say though, I’m so happy to see them friendly with each other no matter what their differences may be. ”IN ESSENTIALS UNITY, IN NON-ESSENTIALS LIBERTY, IN ALL THINGS CHARITY.” Well, maybe that’s not the best quote because some of you may think hell and judgement are “essentials.” But you get the picture.
WATCH FRANCIS CHAN TALK ABOUT HIS NEW BOOK:
I’ve shared here about my immense sadness at the breaking up of the David Crowder Band. But I was so glad to get my tickets for their final tour in the mail last week. I’m going to the show in November at The Tabernacle in Atlanta. It’s gonna be a rager.
You were broken, abandoned
And crying all alone
We were waiting and praying
And longing to bring you home
And then we saw your face
In a moment you were wrapped up in our hearts
We took a step of faith
And now here we are
Will you let me hold you in my arms tonight
I have come so far to find you
So far to find you
Will you take my love and give up the fight
I have come so far to find you
So far to find you
From a world away, I journeyed
Just to hold your hand
You will never be alone again
I’ve come so far to find you
So far to find you
You were fighting and fearful
You were hiding your heart away
But I was trying so hard to show you
‘Cause there were no words that I could say
If you could see my heart
You would know that all I want to do
Is care for you
Here in your eyes I see
Reflections of myself
How I’m the child that’s really running
But I can hear a voice that’s whispering my name
Saying come to me, don’t run from me
I’m all you need and I am calling
From Heaven’s throne
Down to a rugged cross I came
It was My love for you that brought Me all the way
So far to find you
So far to find you
You were broken, abandoned
And crying all alone
