David Crowder Band: Remedy

This last Tuesday, the new David Crowder Band album, Remedy, released. I am a HUGE fan of the DCB. I find their music to be innovative and their lyrics tend to cut to my heart like no other band. I have literally listened to nothing else but the Remedy album all week this week. It's truly incredible!

Most worhip albums you buy contain a few songs that you listen to and think, "Wow, that was a nice song. We need to add that to the line-up at church." Remedy has 10 songs that are all great, but the thing that has struck me the most this week is this thought that I am listening to the future of worship music. Crowder masterfully blends rock, pop, electronica, and worship in a way that no one else has before or can. I have heard some electronica or techno offerings in the past and they came off at most like an interesting novelty (including Crowder's own remix albums), but when you listen to even the most innovative stuff on Remedy, you can hear them being done in a church worship setting. In fact, I have felt myself hungering to hear this stuff in church! Churches everywhere are going to start looking for musicians who have talent in DJing, MIDI, keyboard programming, etc... Everyone these days has the typical guitar-bass-drum-keyboard band. The DCB has raised the bar (thank God, it's about time!) and will send us all scrambling to do the same. GREAT, GREAT, GREAT CD!

My Favorite Sound

My favorite sound in the world is the sound of my kids laughing. And, yes, I will totally humiliate myself to hear that sound. Here's a quick shot of my new favorite laugh.

Re: How Many Paths?

There is a great post on Scot McKnight's blog called "Conversion" on this topic. Check it out.

How Many Paths?

Here's a little something to roll around in your head. We know that the Bible teaches in John 14 that no one can come to the Father except through Jesus. Other passages in the Bible emphasize this as well. No debate here - the only path to God is Jesus Christ.

Here's the bit I want you to consider. How many paths are there to Jesus Christ? Does everyone get to Him by saying the sinner's prayer (or the 4 Spiritual Laws), or are there other options? Is salvation a moment or a process? Do you have to be able to point to a moment in time when you got saved, or is it possible to begin a process of discovering Jesus Christ, and then reach a point when you realize you are a totally committed disciple but can't point to a specific moment when the transformation took place? Obviously, we must be drawn by the Holy Spirit, but does that mean there's a formula that must be followed?

I'm not going to give my answers or ideas yet, but I am interested in yours. Let me know what you think.

You Gotta Love the Royals

No explaination needed for these photos. Got this off of Marko's blog.

Baseball (Japan-Style)

The Littlest Lebanon Yellowjacket Fan

Here's a pic of Isla at her first football game. Thanks to Joe Wilson for snapping the shot.

Ramsay's Kitchen (Church?) Nightmares

My current favorite TV show is actually a cooking show, of sorts, called Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares. It airs on BBC America and it's fantastic. The star is Chef Gordon Ramsay of the UK (he also stars on Fox's Hell's Kitchen). He is a huge star in the UK and fairly popular here, too. In the show, he shows up at failing restaurants all over Great Britain and stays for one week, showing the owners and staff how to turn their flops into successes. The thing that makes this show so entertaining is Ramsay's method of completely demoralizing them, screaming at them, and cursing at them for a solid week. It's really hilarious. Ramsay is truly an artist of two mediums. He is an artist in the kitchen, but his other art would definitely be profanity. Those of you who have been exposed to people in your life that can masterfully string together curse words in a rant in a way that is both awe-inspiring and funny will know what I'm talking about. (I, myself, dabbled a bit in this art in high school, but became truly proficient in it during my 3-year stint in the Army.) But he is almost always successful at turning the restaurant into a true successful business.

The good news is that Fox is bringing this show to the US, but will have Chef Ramsay working his magic in US restaurants. It starts in a few weeks and is called simply Kitchen Nightmares.

However, I have a much better idea I would like to pitch. If there are any network execs out there reading this or if any of you could forward this to a network exec, it would be appreciated. Here's the show: Church Nightmares. I would go into a truly failing church (you know, rejects outsiders, a little racist, refusing to change to meet the needs of a modern culture) and just rip 'em a new one for a week. I believe this could end up being the most popular show on TV. The general public would enjoy seeing the stereotypical church folk getting told off. Open-minded church folk would get a kick out of seeing someone say the things to this church that they were always too "Christian" to say. And I think God would enjoy seeing a true modern-day prophet come into these churches and putting the fear of Him in them. And how awesome would it be if the viewing public could actually see some of these churches change (or shut down). It's a great idea! Let's get it made. Maybe we could start a letter-writing campaign. Send one to Fox because they'll air anything and one to ABC because I think they hate Christians a little more than the others.

Alive Day Memories

I just watched another incredible documentary. It was HBO's "Alive Day Memories". It was produced by James Gandolfini (the actor who plays Tony Soprano in The Sopranos). The hour-long doc features him interviewing wounded US soldiers from the war in Iraq. It is very powerful, eye-opening, and moving. If you get HBO and have the opportunity to watch this, it's well worth it. Otherwise, it's worth renting or buying when the time comes. Below is a story about the doc that Brian Williams did on NBC's Nightly News this last week.

Hold Me, Jesus

I am in a very odd place in my life. I am both stressed and at ease. I am both angry and happy. I literally feel contentment and anxiety at the same time. The funny thing is all of my friends that I've talked to recently are feeling similar emotions. There is no other song or songwriter that can express this better than "Hold Me, Jesus" by Rich Mullins.

To all of my fellow psychotic friends - I hope these words both bless and sustain you!

WHAT THE...?