Free Sufjan song

Asthmatic Kitty has a Christmas site up right now, and on it you can download a couple of free songs by Sufjan Stevens, one of which is the exquisite "Sister Winter." David Taylor mentioned that song alongside the work of Dostoyevsky and Michaelangelo in his essay for The Christian Vision Project (entitled "A Holy Longing") as an example of beauty. It is indeed a beautiful piece of music, and here Sufjan is giving to you for free.

Shai Linne - The Atonement

So I'm at this conference several weeks ago, and this worship band was awesome. It was gospel music with the message of the gospel front and center. So afterward I ask one of the singers where they find that kind of gospel-centered gospel music, and he says they're not finding it anywhere, that they're kind of making it up as they go. We talk for a minute or two, and then he reaches into his backpack and pulls out a CD and says, "Here man, take a copy of my CD." It turns out the dude was Shai Linne, and the record is unbelievable. I know lots of seminary grads who could be schooled by this. I can't stop listening to it. Best songs: Mission Accomplished and The Gospel.

Glad to see this happening

I saw this post on the Mars Hill music website, and I was glad to see this kind of wrestling going on. Yes, the song is fun to play and sing, and I'm sure it's even more so when you have a cool arrangement of it as he describes. But if the words are messed up theologically (as many songs from that era are), it's not appropriate to use in corporate worship. I hope folks can learn from this good example of critical thinking.

Yeah, I'm kind of a big deal

My buddy John Carroll asked me to write a guest post on his blog about Google Docs as part of a week-long series he's doing on how Google Apps can be helpful to people in ministry.

Prepare yourself before you read it. It's so good, it may move you to tears.

Check it out.

Good song from Buddy and Julie Miller

It's hard to find reviews of Buddy and Julie's music that don't contain the words "real" or "honest". I have all of Buddy's records, and I love them all. Not only that, but he and Julie show up on several of my other favorite records of the last several years, such as Emmylou Harris' and Patty Griffin's. This video is well done, and Buddy's electric guitar solo is sweet as always. Julie wrote the song.

Setlist 2007 11 18

• Maravilloso es el gran amor (translation of "And Can It Be that I Should Gain", using the melody from Indelible Grace 1 with a slightly different feel)
• Has ganado la victoria
• Tu nombre levantaré
• Azotado y abatido (Stricken, Smitten, and Afflicted)
• Mi Jesús, mi amado
• congregational reading: Romanos 8:31-39
• Salmo 27

Setlist posts coming

I know this may be a little bit bizarre for some, but I'm gonna start posting my setlists for our worship services at IBUC. I frequently talk to people about how to plan worship services (or at least the singing portion of them), and I think it might be helpful to point some folks to this blog to see what I'm actually doing from week to week. Of course, all the songs are in Spanish, which is why it will be bizarre to almost anyone who reads this blog. If you are subscribed to the feed and this is going to annoy you, you might want to unsubscribe yourself. Just thought I'd post a warning before doing this.

Celebrity preaching as one of the roots of Evangelical Christianity

Interesting blurb from largehearted boy:

"LiveDaily interviews singer-songwriter Josh Ritter.

What’s the last book you read?

I just read The Most Famous Man in America which is the biography of Henry Ward Beecher (a 19th century preacher). It just won the Pulitzer Prize and it’s about one of America’s great entertainment industries, which are preachers (laughs). And it's basically about the roots of Evangelical Christianity and the real, kind of, rock 'n' roll preachers from (Beecher) all the way down the line to Billy Graham and some of those new guys who are coming. It's kind of the melding of the Bible and the dollar. It's pretty interesting. He was a major force in the abolition of slavery. Really interesting guy."