tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-296814212011-08-25T07:13:46.841-05:00This blog is about crossing cultures, Christian ministry, music, Biblical studies, fatherhood, leading worship, books, movies, and stuff like that. It's generally NOT about electronic gadgets, politics, philosophy, sports, etc. Not that I necessarily have a problem with those things.Weshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05653590711715624329noreply@blogger.comBlogger411100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29681421.post-46082985176797164232008-12-09T21:29:00.002-06:002008-12-09T21:45:46.219-06:00

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

Weshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05653590711715624329noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29681421.post-46890763647619170382008-11-21T21:00:00.002-06:002008-11-21T21:17:10.857-06:00

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

Weshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05653590711715624329noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29681421.post-44625635567260636702008-04-08T16:43:00.002-05:002008-04-08T16:50:14.010-05:00

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

Weshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05653590711715624329noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29681421.post-42902664928131489362008-02-14T09:15:00.002-06:002008-02-14T09:19:43.768-06:00

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.

Weshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05653590711715624329noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29681421.post-33504434403915613082008-02-05T16:10:00.000-06:002008-02-05T16:19:51.170-06:00

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

Weshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05653590711715624329noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29681421.post-60252646675388940012007-11-19T16:09:00.000-06:002007-11-19T16:26:51.380-06:00

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 victoriaTu nombre levantaréAzotado y abatido (Stricken, Smitten, and Afflicted)Mi Jesús, mi amadocongregational reading: Romanos 8:31-39Salmo 27

Weshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05653590711715624329noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29681421.post-12421134438828421812007-11-19T16:03:00.000-06:002007-11-19T16:09:07.565-06:00

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

Weshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05653590711715624329noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29681421.post-53474295762383637082007-10-27T10:02:00.000-05:002007-10-27T10:03:49.019-05:00

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

Weshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05653590711715624329noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29681421.post-73728168300874755442007-10-23T13:16:00.000-05:002007-10-23T13:33:33.310-05:00

Check out this little hymn I found. I love his use of the word "precepts"--especially considering the way that word typically gets used in Bible church circles.(from A New Selection of Seven Hundred Evangelical Hymns: For Private, Family, and ... By John Dobell, Isaac Watts)

Weshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05653590711715624329noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29681421.post-18699397237212486942007-05-28T18:39:00.000-05:002007-05-28T18:48:43.937-05:00

Kevin Twit says they have started the next Indelible Grace project. Indelible Grace really opened my eyes to what substantial worship music looks like back when the second CD came out like eight years ago, and the projects have been pretty consistently good since. The sound has gotten better with each record.Speaking of Indelible Grace, I finally bought some tracks off of Matthew Smith's new

Weshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05653590711715624329noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29681421.post-74299731624666135652007-05-08T10:04:00.000-05:002007-05-08T10:07:50.360-05:00

So today I'm 30. Maggie was asking Melissa last night if she thought I would wake up with lots more gray hair.How did I spend my last night in my twenties? In our IBUC elders meeting with a bunch of dudes in their 60s. Pretty much awesome.

Weshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05653590711715624329noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29681421.post-72346721447538720532007-05-01T15:52:00.000-05:002007-05-01T16:09:08.677-05:00

My favorite band is continuing their tradition of letting fans stream their new record on their website for free before it comes out. Check it out here. Totally different from either of their last two records, but I'm loving it.If you listen to it, let me know what tracks you're digging the most.

Weshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05653590711715624329noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29681421.post-45957507920384708282007-05-01T10:00:00.000-05:002007-05-01T15:57:11.512-05:00

I know I have several times on this blog linked to Bob Kauflin's Worship Matters blog, but it has been a while. Yesterday he posted a draft of part of a chapter of the book he's working on, and it's absolutely brilliant. He's talking about viewing your song selection over a long period of time and essentially asking yourself if with the content of the songs you are faithfully shepherding your

Weshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05653590711715624329noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29681421.post-77676543494959300272007-04-26T10:48:00.000-05:002007-04-26T11:20:19.139-05:00

Brian Moss is a worship leader and recording artist in Seattle. He has written some new tunes for old hymns and has a cool project out setting some of the Psalms to music (with presumably more to come). You can listen to some of that here, but today I'd like to call your attention to a post on his blog in which he raises some concerns about people approaching corporate worship with consumerist

Weshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05653590711715624329noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29681421.post-23709232939653344752007-04-16T17:19:00.000-05:002007-04-16T23:55:25.006-05:00

Here is a rant post. Remember like 15 years ago, when a big deal in worship music was people complaining about songs that were so vague they could either be about God or your girlfriend? There were people running around saying that a song had to specifically mention a Member of the Trinity or it wasn't pleasing to God. Even as a kid I thought that was a pretty ridiculous thing to say, even

Weshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05653590711715624329noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29681421.post-44787012953401265262007-03-11T18:00:00.000-06:002007-03-11T19:53:58.843-06:00

Several weeks back we were driving through Austin, and Stew and his family graciously allowed my family of six to invade their two bedroom apartment for the night. We stayed up wicked late talking, and Stew has no idea how much the conversation we had that night has changed my perspective on several issues.One comment in particular that Stew made in passing has been ringing in my ears ever since

Weshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05653590711715624329noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29681421.post-1166396619080032122006-12-17T16:42:00.000-06:002006-12-17T17:03:39.093-06:00

Since I'm already writing about hymns, I thought I'd post a couple of other hymn-related items.First, check out this hymn :Hast Thou Heard Him, Seen Him? anonymous early 20th century hymn (alt. Kevin Twit) 1. Hast thou heard Him, seen Him, known Him?Is not thine a captured heart?Chief among ten thousand own Him;Joyful choose the better part Chorus: Captivated by His beauty Worthy tribute

Weshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05653590711715624329noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29681421.post-1166392948051727032006-12-17T15:02:00.000-06:002006-12-18T11:37:44.437-06:00

I lead worship at our Sunday church services. Other people participate with me, and my goal is to work toward pushing others toward that leadership role, but for now I lead each week. When I say that I lead worship, I mean that in the service I take a leadership role and try to direct the congregation's thoughts and affections Godward, setting the truth before them, with the goal that we would

Weshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05653590711715624329noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29681421.post-1165002547052175472006-12-01T12:52:00.000-06:002006-12-01T13:49:07.100-06:00

Something I don't think I have shared about yet is the interesting experiences I have had playing music in Mexico. The ability to play guitar and sing has often saved me from those inevitable situations in which you visit a church somewhere and they ask you 30 minutes before the service to preach--a lot of times they ask me to sing a song instead, which is obviously much easier.The fun thing

Weshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05653590711715624329noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29681421.post-1163722225224079862006-11-16T18:09:00.000-06:002006-11-16T18:10:25.233-06:00

 

Weshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05653590711715624329noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29681421.post-1163622453087147242006-11-15T14:21:00.000-06:002006-11-15T14:28:04.970-06:00

[in no particular order]Lenny KravitzU2MetallicaRolling StonesAir SupplyPoisonBryan AdamsKenny GComing soon:JourneyPet Shop BoysINXSMorrisseyMeatloaf

Weshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05653590711715624329noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29681421.post-1161902375779940942006-10-26T16:20:00.000-05:002006-11-19T19:19:15.073-06:00

Whew. It has been awhile since the last post. Sorry to those of you who feel betrayed or neglected (all, like, one and a half of you).I've been meaning to write about my experiences of culture shock in Mexico for awhile. Though Mexican culture and American culture are much more similar than, say, Afghani culture and American culture, there are many important differences. Today I will write

Weshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05653590711715624329noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29681421.post-1159039833110436672006-09-23T13:52:00.000-05:002006-09-25T15:51:41.433-05:00

Ross King is a worship pastor/recording artist/sonwriter in the Bryan/College Station area. He has been releasing singer-sonwriter type records for years, but in the past few years he has come out with a couple of outstanding records of music written for use in corporate worship. Specifically, I'm talking about To Make God Famous, vol. 1, To Make God Famous, vol. 2 and Soulspeak. On each of

Weshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05653590711715624329noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29681421.post-1158855688934251842006-09-21T10:03:00.000-05:002006-11-16T17:36:25.830-06:00

In 1999, the first year Melissa and I were married, we lived in an apartment on Stella Street in Denton, which is in an area that everyone used to call "Cement City". That was the apartment we brought Anna home to when she was born. I was driving a delivery truck for Suburban Propane and serving with the music team of DBC's college ministry, College Life. As part of that, I had a Bible study

Weshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05653590711715624329noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29681421.post-1158525443212537032006-09-17T15:26:00.000-05:002006-09-17T16:32:09.303-05:00

Carlos let me borrow a travel coffee mug last week when we left from his house to go check out a place for the baptism service. Later I noticed that it was no ordinary travel coffee mug--this one has an RCA jack. Obviously it's mono, and I don't know whether it's RCA in or out, but one thing's for sure: this is the most rockin' cup of coffee I've had in a long time.

Weshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05653590711715624329noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29681421.post-1157672618624181472006-09-07T18:17:00.000-05:002006-09-07T18:43:39.040-05:00

Bob Kauflin is on vacation, but his blog doesn't cease to be brilliant while he's away. Yesterday he posted this quote from Harold Best's book, Music Through the Eyes of Faith:The Scriptures include or allude to just about every approach to worship there is: organized, spontaneous, public, private, simple, complex, ornate, or plain. Yet there is no comment anywhere about any one way being

Weshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05653590711715624329noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29681421.post-1157415608034478932006-09-04T19:19:00.000-05:002006-09-04T19:20:08.050-05:00

...in the latest issue of Lark News.

Weshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05653590711715624329noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29681421.post-1157057554002050542006-08-31T15:40:00.000-05:002006-08-31T15:52:34.020-05:00

People are always asking me what kind of guitar they should buy. Of course, the general answer is that you get what you pay for, although ocassionally a cheaper guitar might sound better than it's price might indicate (and vice versa). But I have been in some stores and played a few of these Epiphone Masterbuilt acoustics, and they sound better than their price range. Musician's Friend is

Weshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05653590711715624329noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29681421.post-1157056437501037102006-08-31T15:26:00.000-05:002006-08-31T15:35:39.006-05:00

Dean is now making a Flying V acoustic guitar. I mean, seriously, do you know how humiliating it has been all these years being up there trying to shred all my worship licks on a dreadnought-shaped axe?

Weshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05653590711715624329noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29681421.post-1155431068180348692006-08-12T19:49:00.000-05:002006-08-17T12:03:53.356-05:00

In preparing a sermon in Spanish this week on corporate worship, it has been interesting trying to figure out what word to use for "worship". There simply is no word in Spanish that communicates exactly what that English word means. The words people generally use are "adoración" (adoration), "alabanza" (praise), maybe even "culto" (which would refer more to the liturgy), but none of those have

Weshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05653590711715624329noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29681421.post-1155352419060332212006-08-11T21:47:00.000-05:002006-08-11T22:21:36.660-05:00

Quentin Schultze has written an interesting, if rather brief, article on the use of technology in worship (HT: Justin Taylor). I like his criteria of "fittingness". This last part needed to be said, and I'm glad it was said by someone who's not young:Young people tell me that a lot of the high-tech worship is "cheesy." Yet adults think that such worship is what "kids" want. Ironically, older

Weshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05653590711715624329noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29681421.post-1155152273624240982006-08-09T14:25:00.000-05:002006-08-09T14:37:53.636-05:00

My granddad went into the hospital last Friday. They thought he'd had a stroke, because he was having a hard time moving his left leg. It turned out not to be so bad--some blood had clotted between his brain and skull, so they were able to take care of it fairly simply. So he'll be going home any day now, with half his head shaved. I wish I could have been there to visit him in the hospital.

Weshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05653590711715624329noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29681421.post-1152410866849409142006-07-08T20:49:00.000-05:002006-07-08T21:07:46.856-05:00

Good post by Josh Otte over at Eucatastrophe with some tips for scripture reading in corporate worship. (Thanks for the recommendation, JD.)Though he does address it in point 4 when he talks about preparation, I would emphasize that your reading of the text (meaning out-loud) will depend heavily on your understanding of the author's argument. The way your voice inflects will change depending on

Weshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05653590711715624329noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29681421.post-1152401907760431842006-07-08T18:02:00.000-05:002006-07-08T20:24:32.273-05:00

I'm fixing to get with the guitar players in my worship band and have a little heart-to-heart about playing less. The deal is that, in every song, from beat one until the end, both the electric player and the acoustic player play full chords in a steady strumming pattern. They're never not playing, and what they play is pretty much always full volume. (We also have a keyboard player who does

Weshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05653590711715624329noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29681421.post-1151776184631094172006-07-01T11:44:00.000-05:002006-07-01T12:49:44.643-05:00

Here's where I share with you some music that moves me. For a musician, or for that matter anyone who loves music, it's always painful trying to get someone to appreciate some musical moment on a favorite record, only to have them ask some unrelated question right in the middle of the part that sticks out to you as being so awesome. So I figure if I do it on this blog, at least I can't hear you

Weshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05653590711715624329noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29681421.post-1150920278215355212006-06-21T13:22:00.000-05:002006-06-21T15:06:45.086-05:00

God is glorious. He is worthy of praise, and for very good reasons. Here's a quote from John Piper's Desiring God:The death of Christ is the wisdom of God by which the love of God saves sinners from the wrath of God, and all the while upholds and demonstrates the righteousness of God.God's glory has facets as diverse as holy wrath and saving love, and yet he does things that reveal that he in

Weshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05653590711715624329noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29681421.post-1150513122793695662006-06-16T21:38:00.000-05:002006-06-16T21:58:42.806-05:00

I'm gonna play to my strengths on this blog and do some music recommendations, since people are always asking me for them. I have bought an absolutely ridiculous amount of music on iTunes since I moved to Mexico--more than I care to admit, actually. I also buy alot of CDs of independent artists that can't be found on iTunes.I'll start with a CD I recently received in the mail: Throwing Punches

Weshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05653590711715624329noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29681421.post-1150474038217066382006-06-16T10:47:00.000-05:002006-06-16T11:07:18.226-05:00

I just saw this post on Justin Taylor's blog about the recent resolution passed at the Southern Baptist Convention. I wholeheartedly agree with Justin's thoughts, but what stood out to me more was part of a John Piper sermon that he quoted. Speaking of an amendment to his church's constitution in which he seeks to abolish the requirement that all members be teetotalers, Piper (a teetotaler

Weshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05653590711715624329noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29681421.post-1150266431728335212006-06-14T01:06:00.000-05:002006-06-14T01:27:11.736-05:00

I am, among other things, a worship leader. That means I get the opportunity of leading the gathered Church in the worship of her Creator and Redeemer. And in my church circles, that almost always means through music, though many would (rightly) lament the fact that "worship" has come to be synonimous with "singing"--more on that in a future post.Though that's an unspeakably wonderful privilege

Weshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05653590711715624329noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29681421.post-1150256221892384082006-06-13T22:30:00.000-05:002006-06-13T23:27:19.243-05:00

Oh, I forgot to tell you what this blog is gonna be about. That's probably a good thing, since that last post was getting so long (and booooring).Anyway, you can tell from the blog description what I'm into. Those things are what I'll post about. So you can see it won't be a very focused blog. Hopefully it will be thought provoking, and hopefully it will generate some interesting

Weshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05653590711715624329noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29681421.post-1150255688240061152006-06-13T22:00:00.000-05:002006-06-14T01:00:35.856-05:00

Welcome. Wow, that really makes it sound like you're on my turf, which seems a little presumptuous considering the only thing I did to earn this blog was choose a url that was available. It took me several tries, actually.Speaking of being on someone else's turf, that's what the name of this blog means: extranjero. I'm an American living in Mexico, though I don't typically refer to myself as

Weshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05653590711715624329noreply@blogger.com