Review of Passion's New CD "Everything Glorious"

Well, I've listened to it for awhile now, so I think I can make a pretty good review/analysis of this CD.

Song #1: Awesome Is The Lord Most High - 7/10

I think this song doesn't start off very well, and it's Tomlin, which means it's going to be too high for me to sing in the regular key - I always seem to have to change the key with Tomlin. But it's a solid song.

Song #2: Glorious - 7/10

Again, too high. But I really like the interraction between Tomlin and Christy Nockels on this song.

Song #3: Party - 0/10

This is now my least favorite Passion song. It's stupid. And this is an indicator of an annoying feature of this CD - worship leader starts the song, pauses for 30 seconds to work the crowd up, and then starts it up again (see later songs to see what I mean)

Song #4: Jesus Paid It All - 10/10

One thing I do love about Passion is that they do a great job of taking hymns and jazzing them up. This one was led by Kristian Stanfill, my favorite worship leader as of right now. I heard from a friend of mine that a couple of people from his church went to the Passion event, and when Kristian came up and started leading, they said to each other, "Who is this guy?" My response to that is "who the heck cares who it is? Was he not on your list of pre-approved worship leaders? Because his name isn't Chris, David, Charlie or Matt? Grrr."

Anyway, this is my favorite song on the CD.

Song #5: All We Need - 8/10

If you know me, you know my dislike for Charlie Hall's involvement with Passion. I just don't like his songs. His latest CD, Flying Into Daybreak, has left me pleasantly surprised, however, and I really like this song off of it. I took off two marks because of the annoying electronica that starts this song.

Song #6: Center - 7/10

Again - pleasantly surprised.

Song #7: We Are Yours - 5/10

Don't like the sound of this song.

Song #8: You Never Let Go - 7/10

Or as I like to call it, Blessed Be Your Name Part 2. But I like the idea. I think there should be more Lament type songs written, and Matt Redman has written two good ones.

Song #9: I Stand Amazed - 7/10

Another great reworking of a hymn. I like Tomlin's voice on this one. Again, too high.

Song #10: Everything Glorious - 5/10

I was disappointed in David Crowder most of all with this CD. I didn't like the ones off A Collision for the passion CD. He should have gone with Foreverandever, etc. and Wholly Yours in my opinion. This new one doesn't impress me at all.

Song #11: You Are My Joy - 5/10

Here we see the feature of starting the song, waiting 30 seconds, and starting it up again - again. What's the point? If it's to work the crowd into a frenzy, why don't you just drop live scorpions from the ceiling? It's a lot more effective, and you don't have to waste a song doing so.

Song #12: We Win - 3/10

Putting this song on a worship CD reminds me of the time when I took my student ministry to a conference. Actually, I think our worship band was the band for the conference. Anyway, the speaker closes out his message and says, "Let's pray. Dear Satan..." We were all a little perplexed at first, to say the least.

How does this relate? Because who is the song "We Win" directed to?

We've already won and you don't stand a chance...

It doesn't sound like a song directed to God, does it? David Crowder, what happened to you on this CD?

Song #13: Our God Reigns - 5/10

Disappointing ending, in my opinion. Let's sing the same thing for six and a half minutes! Yes! No.

Extra Song #1: Salvation Is Here - 9/10

This song was not included on the full-length CD but was offered on an early release EP from iTunes.

Again, Kristian Stanfill does a great job. This song is a Hillsongs United song, one of my favorites. I don't think it's as powerful as the original Hillsongs version, but it's still great. I don't know why this song didn't make the final cut, personally.

Extra Song #2: Made To Worship - 7/10

This was also offered on an early release EP from iTunes. I like it. Good song.

So Long Red Wings

Yes, I know that the Avs did not play the Wings in the playoffs this year, but this was the only appropriate picture I could find.

I'm not going to rub it in too much, Red Wings fans...

And I am sad to see Yzerman go.

But still - seeing that I had no expectations that my Avalanche were going to do anything this year, it's very weird that they're moving on and the Red Wings aren't.

Oh well, always next year. Cheers!

B Collision

I'm a huge David Crowder Band fan. I thoroughly enjoyed the latest CD called A Collision - although to be honest, I don't feel like a lot of the songs translate well in a congregational worship setting.

Which is why I was disappointed with the song selection of Crowder songs off the latest Passion CD. You Are My Joy is a good song - but I really didn't like the way it was done.

We Win seems like it's a song directed to the devil - "'cause we've already won and you don't have a chance" - yet it's on a worship CD.

The newest song by DCB, called Everything Glorious just hasn't hit me right yet.

So when I heard that they were going to release another CD called B Collision, I was rather unexcited. I figured it would be another "mash-ups" type CD like Sunsets and Sushi.

But then I found out it was going to be acoustic renditions of songs off of A Collision. Now I'm excited again.

Have Mercy On Me A Sinner

"That stuff Jesus warned us to beware of, the yeast of the Pharisees, is so infectious today in the camps of both liberals and conservatives. Conservatives stand up and thank God that they are not like the homosexuals, the Muslims, the liberals. Liberals stand up and thank God that they are not like the war makers, the yuppies, the conservatives. It is a similar self-righteousness, just with different definitions of evildoing. It can paralyze us in judgment and guilt and rob us of life. Rather than separating ourselves from everyone we consider impure, maybe we are better off just beating our chests and praying that God would be merciful enough to save us from this present ugliness and to make our lives so beautiful that people cannot resist that mercy."

- Shane Claiborne, "The Irresistible Revolution"

Now THIS Would Be An Interesting Thing To See (Not Necessarily Experience Though)...

The Grace Whisperers

A few months ago I was reading two similar books at the same time: The Present Future by Reggie McNeal (I need to get back to going through this in my posts, I know) and The Shaping of Things To Come. I became so excited about what I was reading in The Present Future that I completely forgot that I had not finished the other book until recently. So I went and got an oil change and started reading through it again.

I found myself rereading a chapter that starts with the story of the man that inspired the movie The Horse Whisperer. This man grew up in Montana on a ranch and several times over experienced the traditional way of breaking wild horses. After seeing how this traditional way was a pain to ranchers and obviously not fun for the horses, he wondered if there could be a different way to tame wild stallions. He noticed during his observances that wehnever a horse was separated from the herd and left to wander alone in the mountains it often became sick, even to the point of near-death. This left him wondering that if these animals had such a powerful, innate instinct for connection, that this instinct could be used to tame them.

This is how he developed the idea of horse whispering. He would get into the corral with the untamed mustang and would stay as far away as possible without leaving. He refused any eye contact between him and the horse. He would then move slowly away from the horse with his head down. Even though the horse would snort and pound the earth and circle the corral, he would still not even acknowledge its presence. However, within an hour, he would have the wild mustang saddled and carrying a rider quite happily. The secret is this: these wild horses need contact with others so much, they would rather befriend their enemy than be left alone. The sad thing is that even though this man showed the Montana ranchers a better way to tame these horses, most ranchers still do it the traditional way.

The writers of The Shaping Of Things To Come compare this to the church. Even though the Horse Whisperer had discovered a better way of taming horses - by listening to them - the old Montana horsemen won't budge. "They've been braking horses their way for generations. Why should they change now?" In the same way, traditional methods of evangelizing non-Christians have usually included "bludgeoning them into a recognition of how broken they are. To crush their spirit. To tear them down and bring them to their knees." The authors then give an analogy about Charley and Sara (from a man named Gene Greitenbach), which is great. Charley and Sara hang out together, but Charley sees too many of Sara's faults to be romantically interested in her. One day it dawns on him:

The way to help Sara is to date her. If we were to go out, my strengths would rub off on her, and she would be far better off for it. It will require sacrifice on my part, but it's the least I can do. Charley marches up to Sara's door with a book entitled 100 Things Sara Needs to Change in Order to Become a Real Person. He rings the doorbell. When she answers, he shoves the book in her face and states, "I've decided it would be best for you if we date. When you finish reading this, I'll be waiting in my truck!"

Traditional ways of doing evangelism don't work anymore. It isn't enough to just shove a tract in someone's face or go door-to-door and make evangelism cold calls. Here are some mistakes that churches make when it comes to evangelism:

1. Telling people to make friendships with non-Christians specifically to "win them to Christ". As Rob Bell says, if love has an agenda, is it really love? We should be making friendships with people who don't know Jesus because we are honestly interested in their lives and want to have them as a friend - not to get them to come to church.

2. Believing that conversion is a one-time sudden event. People don't come to Jesus very often in a dramatic instant conversion, a la Paul in Damascus, anymore. As Brian McLaren says, we need to "count conversations, not conversions." A 1992 study in England found that over 70 percent of those who became Christians during that time did so gradually, not suddenly. In fact the report said that the average time for someone to convert to Christianity was four years. Four years! I can't think of any model of evangelism right now that includes a four-year window for evangelism.

3. Viewing conversion as the final product in someone's life. Conversion is a beginning, not an ending - yet we in the church tend to work really hard at trying to get people to come to Christ, but when they do become a Christian, we move on to the next "project". We need to develop ways to help those who have just become God-followers grow in their relationship with Him. This includes mentoring, accountability, and more.

Does the church have the guts to stop "taming wild horses" the traditional way and begin to whisper grace into people's lives, or will we continue to break people's spirits to get them to convert because that's the way we've always done it?

I'm All For Modest Swimwear...

but this is rather ridiculous.

I Had An Article Published!

Well, it was published on a website. And it was something I submitted more than a year ago. But I was kind of excited when I found this on The Ooze website. I used to go there all the time and read the articles. I have not been there in probably six months, because you only have so much time to spend each week, you know? And I had to eliminate something. Well, I'm preaching this weekend, and I'm trying to finish it up - and I thought perhaps The Ooze website would help me wrap everything up. I looked at the latest articles, and saw my name. Now, my rating right now is only three stars out of five - so if you like the article, rate me higher okay? I will feel better about myself and perhaps it will inspire me to write another one so that it will get published in another year. Yes!

Bored of Christian Music?

It's very hard these days to wade through the muck of Christian music and find decent bands/artists that aren't cookie cutter musicians/lyricists. Thankfully, the Bored Again Christian website is here to help. I'm listening to the Bored Again Christian podcast, which is basically a radio show that gives you an opportunity to hear new Christian music, undiscovered Christian music, and more. Today I listened to Over The Rhine (a great band - from Ohio, no less), Half-Handed Cloud (they tour with Sufjan Stevens), The Myriad, Pushstart Wagon, and more.

If you are tired of trying to listen to Christian radio to find anything good (I stopped years ago), check out Bored Again Christian.

MegaChurch: The Game

If this game isn't in development now, I'm pretty sure that it will be soon. At least in the minds of ministers all over the country.

I Can't Wait For Ocean's Seventeen...

This is a pretty good indication that Hollywood is running out of ideas. The first one was pretty good, I'll admit it. The second one, not so good. But it made a lot of money, which means we now have a third installment.

Creative. Very creative. Original. Very original.

What We All Want To See On A Church Sign

Sell-Outs

For two years, New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof has courageously traveled where few other reporters have gone to describe the brutal genocide in Darfur.

Through Kristof's reporting - and that of others at the Times - we have read of the tremendous suffering that has befallen the innocent people of Darfur - at the hands of their very own government.

Yet last Sunday, the New York Times accepted nearly one million dollars from the Sudanese government to run a special eight-page advertising section! The insert, placed in New York-area papers, consisted of pretty words about Sudan's "peaceful, prosperous and democratic future." This propaganda was written on behalf of a government the Times reports has sponsored a mass effort to kill, rape, and force people from their homes.

- From the Save Darfur Coalition


The proverbial question "What would you do for a million dollars" seems to have found another answer.

Great Quote

"People who wear Christ on their sleeves and vote against helping are the biggest hypocrites."

- Charlie Melancon, Democratic Congressman from Louisiana, after the house approved $4.2 billion in aid to states affected by Katrina but rejected an amendment he sponsored to boost funding for repairs to New Orleans' levees

Yes! Finally A State That Has The Guts To Do What We Christians All Want! (roll eyes here)

Missouri has just been put on my list of places never to live. Not that I really wanted to live there anyway, but the fact that they are trying to make Christianity the official state religion sealed the deal for me.

If Anthony grew out his hair and didn't wash it for a few days...

this is what he would look like, methinks. :^)

To Own A Dragon

Wow, it's been more than a week since the last blog entry. I guess I just haven't really had anything to say, which happens sometimes I guess.

Anyway, I would like to get back to The Present Future soon, but I also started reading another book. It's entitled To Own A Dragon, and it's by Donald Miller, the same guy who wrote Blue Like Jazz, Searching For God Knows What and Through Painted Deserts. All three of those books are included in my favorites, they all mean something to me in different ways, and I honestly believe that I read each one of them at the exact time in my life and journey that I needed to read them. And To Own A Dragon is no different.

Sometimes I wonder if Miller and I were Siamese twins at birth, and our mother sent him off to Texas to live with someone and kept me. There are times as I'm reading his books where I wonder if I wrote the same sentence I just read from Miller's book before he did, and somehow he found a way to plagiarize me. It's eerie sometimes.

Anyway, this book is basically about Miller growing up without a father. In this way, we are somewhat different. Miller's father left when he was young. I had three dads. My real father left our family when I was five and my brother was one. Then, my mother remarried, had another son and divorced a few years later when I was nine, my one brother was five and my little brother was one. Then she remarried again to someone who already had two kids, so we were a house of seven for awhile, until both my stepsister and stepbrother ran away to go live with their mom in California. Then my mother died of cancer and my second stepdad remarried and basically kicked all of us out of his life. Having three fathers created some strange situations for me and my brothers - at my grandfather's funeral, I remember at one point all three fathers were talking to me at the same time, and I remember thinking that that moment was perhaps the strangest moment I've ever been in.

I don't have a relationship with any of my fathers. I'm very close to my grandmother on my real dad's side, but I've only really talked to him a handful of times since I was five. My first stepdad lives in Colorado and my youngest brother has a relationship with him, but that's about it. And my second stepdad - I have no idea where he's at. The last time I had any communication from him, I sent him an e-mail telling him I had a daughter, as well as a couple of other things involving my brothers, and he wrote back and yelled at me for bringing up those other things when it wasn't my business. I did write an e-mail to him a few months ago telling him I forgave him for the things that happened, but never heard back.

As I was reading through Miller's book (I'm almost done with it now), I found myself agreeing with a lot of what he said. His main point, I believe, was that not having a father meant that he had to learn what it meant to be a man on his own. And that has affected everything that has happened in his life - his actions, his thought processes, his world-view, his view of God, his view of women, his view of sex - everything. I realize now that I had to learn everything on my own as well. My stepdad, when I was a teenager, never talked to me about how a girl should be treated. My parents were marginal churchgoers, so everything I grew up knowing about God, I learned on my own. Rather than having someone there to let me know how to step around the land mines of life, I instead had to step on those land mines and find ways to put my pieces back together and avoid the same kind of land mine.

Today, in our worship services, we had a pretty neat time where we wrote our hurts on broken pieces of pottery and gave them up to God. I wonder how many of those pieces of pottery had a hurt on them that was directly related to fathers. I was doing a special music at the time, so I did not put one in, but I know what I would have written down on my piece of broken pottery. I would have written about the time when I finally realized that my second stepdad was pushing me and my brothers away from him so that he could have a new life with his new wife. I realized this when I discovered I had a brain tumor (I was 23 years old). At the time, the doctors didn't know what it was, if it was benign or malignant, if it could be removed by surgery or if I needed radiationi or chemotherapy. All they told me was that I was going in for surgery in three days. I had three days to tell people I needed to tell, and basically get my life in order because there was a good chance that I would die. I called my stepdad up to tell him, and I asked him if there was any way for him to come out, because I needed him to be there. He told me no, he told me good luck, and that he would be thinking good thoughts about me (he turned his back on God by this time completely). I was crushed. I was rejected.

I can see how that situation along with all the other situations with my fathers have made me who I am. I can see how my personality and how I see things in life are directly related to this reality. I want more than anything else in this world and in this life to be the father that I never had to my daughter. I want her to grow up knowing her daddy loves her and would do anything for her. I want her to know that I will always be there for her.

Thank You, God, for bringing me through all of the pain in my life - I have held on to you like a drowning person would hold onto a life preserver. Although there have been times when I haven't trusted You, I know that You are the only reason I can continue to live this life with some hope and peace. May you reveal in me the parts of my life that have been affected in a negative way by growing up fatherless, may you heal those parts of me, and cause me to overcome them by Your strength. Amen.

What Price Is An Atheist's Soul Worth?

I thought that this was a very interesting article. An atheist bid his soul on eBay. An ex-minister won. He asked this man to help him write a book about his experiences. Interesting article, indeed.

A Band That Certainly Doesn't Suck

Cool Widget #1

I hadn't used a Mac since 8th grade in computer class.

So when Jeff convinced me to go with a Mac, I was a little apprehensive.

The widgets helped.

Widgets are small programs that you install onto your "dashboard" which you can activate by pressing F12. These little programs range from games to quotes of the day to whatever.

Well, I haven't really thought of widgets in a long time. I had a bunch I liked, and I never really used them. Today I decided to look at the Widgets you can download, and I found one I really, really like. This widget helps you find the cheapest gas at the gas stations in your area. I found out that a gas station pretty close to me was 6 cents less than others in the area. Since gasoline prices have skyrocketed, this is a good, good widget.