Interview

Here is a four part interview I did with Gary Zandstra from "Making Church Happen" & Parkway Electric. Enjoy!

Musical styles and the journey


Multi-Generational Worship


The Church and the surrounding community


The Future of Worship

Danger Zone

Here is a video we created using only our iPod and iPhone as instruments. Even the vocals were sung through an app. Enjoy!

Is the Multi-Generational Church Possible in America, Again? Part 1

Here is a thought that has been going through my mind lately about the "American Church": Is the multi-generational church possible in America again? Not only is it possible, but also can it thrive and grow in a church culture that is primarily narcissistic. Let me explain that thought a little bit.

Background 
Lets start in the 1950’s. American churches in the 50’s were primarily neighborhood and culturally based. The churches pews on Sunday morning were filled with people from that neighborhood, and basically everyone knew each other. If your family was Baptist, you went to the Baptist Church. If you were Polish Catholic you went to Mass at the neighborhood Catholic Church. Whatever the denomination you were a part of, the older and younger generations worshiped together in one service, and a sense of Multi-Generational community was evident. Now lets move forward a decade or so. In the late 60’s and early 70’s a group of people disenchanted with the “Hippie Movement” started a group that was later to be known as the “Jesus People”. Like the “Hippie Movement”, the Jesus People valued ideals like simplicity, community, and love. The Jesus People saw these ideals reflected in the early Christian Church, and sought to restore them to their Christian expression. The Jesus People grew rapidly thanks to Christian and Secular Media, and soon they were influencing American Christian culture. Their biggest influence in Christian culture was the music genre they were unknowingly pioneering. Instead of using an organ and piano, and singing hymns from a hymnal. They were playing their guitars, keyboards, and drums, and writing new hymns and spiritual songs that expressed their faith. I believe that this is the starting point of the movement away from the Multi-Generational church. Here’s why. When those who identified themselves with the Jesus People wanted to play some of their new hymns and spiritual songs in church with guitar accompaniment they were met with resistance. This resistance eventually forced the identifiers to leave their home church and start a new church. With a new (insert denomination here)church in the neighborhood, people now had a choice of where to attend, and church starts to become more about my personal preferences and less about the community. Lets jump forward to the 80’s...in Part 2.  Coming soon!

Over Commiting to God in Worship

We have all sung worship songs that claim outrageous acts of what we will do for God.  (Does anyone remember "Undignified" or "Dance in the River"???)  Here is a great article from "Stuff Christians Like" that calls us out on the outrageous claims, and asks for more honesty in worship.
Enjoy!!
http://stuffchristianslike.net/2010/07/overcommitting-to-god-in-worship/?utm_source=feedburner

One Sonic Society - One

In April of this year I had the opportunity to be led in worship by Jason Ingram at the Song Discovery Songwriters Conference in Nashville Tennessee.  I loved his worship authenticity as he led and the songs he taught us were great!  When I got home from the conference I looked up the songs he taught  so that I could teach them to my church.  As I was looking them up I discovered that they were part of the recording project One Sonic Society.  One Sonic Society is made up of Jason Ingram, Stu G(of Delirious), Paul Mabury, and Jonathan Thatcher(also of Delirious).  They have been writing songs together specifically for the churches to use in worship.  Their songs are vulnerable and full of the hope of God.  My favorites are "The Greatness of Our God", "Our God Will Come", and "Forever Reign".  "Forever Reign" starts with the lyrics "You are good, You are good, when there's nothing good in me, You are love, You are love, on display for all to see,..." and then moves to a chorus of "oh, i'm running to your arms, i'm running to arms, the riches of your love, will always be enough, nothing compares to Your embrace, Light of the world forever reign." These songs are a great addition to the church worship hymnody, and I would encourage you to use/suggest them in your home church.  One Sonic Society's first EP "One" was released on June 13th, 2010 and is available for download here or on iTunes.  Check it out!

A quote by St. Julian of Norwich

 I love this quote on prayer! 

"Prayer is asking ("beseeching"), with submission and acquiescence; or beholding, with the self forgotten, yet offered-up; it is a thanking and a praising in the heart that sometimes breaks forth into voice; or a silent joy in the sight of God as all-sufficient.  And in all these ways "Prayer oneth the soul to God."

Dwelling in the Shadow

            A couple of weeks ago I headed down to Nashville Tennessee to attend a one-day songwriting conference put on by Song Discovery.  In the first session of the conference Steve Berger spoke about a guy in the bible who was unfamiliar to me.  He spoke from Exodus 31: 1-11 about a guy named Bezalel who was commissioned and gifted by God to build the artistic elements of the temple.  He designed and fashioned everything from the priestly robes and offering utensils, to the famous Ark of the Covenant.  What struck me most about Bezalel was not his artistic abilities, or his amazing works of art.  It was his name that inspired me the most, and his name means “Lives in the shadow of God”.   What an amazing aspiration for an artist who wants to honor and glorify God with their art.  

I am a visual person so I imagine it like this:  You are on a dark stage in a theater.  The seats are full of people and there is one spotlight shining down on stage a few feet in front of you.  Imagine now that the spotlight shining down is Gods glory in its entire splendor, and you are still invisible in the dark.  You hold in your hands art that you have created, it is an expression of who you are, where you have been, and it is extremely revealing.  It is also a story of Gods great love, grace, and beauty poured out into your life at your darkest moment.  You feel very vulnerable, you think of running off stage and not sharing your art, but you can’t move.  You start to remember God’s unchanging faithfulness and love in your life and it gives you courage to step forward.  You lift up your art with two hands like a shield before you and it hits the light.  Your art is illuminated by God’s glory and you find yourself dwelling in the shadow.

          As an artist and as a songwriter, this is where I want to live.  To be filled with God’s spirit and inspired to create works of art for His honor and glory, and when the light hits them to have the humility to dwell in the shadow.