Photographer Christoph Morlinghaus takes us on a grand tour of the very best Modernist religious architecture in Form/Faith. From Eliel and Eero Saarinen’s Midwest churches to Marcel Breuer’s austere concrete to the far-out experiments of Pietro Belluschi, the series is a beautiful study of how religion has long spawned many of the world’s most beautiful buildings.

“I was always in awe of how light and a few building materials like concrete, glass and wood can evoke a spiritual feeling,” says Morlinghaus, who was drawn to the beauty of churches after experiencing the “very cathedral-like feel” of Eero Saarinen’s Terminal 5 at JFK.

The structures he documented are full of vaulted ceilings, soaring cantilevers and manipulated light, all of which are meant to enrapture believers. But Morlinghaus, who describes himself as agnostic, says he’s not trying to sell anyone on the merits of religion. He simply wants to provide reverent and referential descriptions of the buildings.

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See pictures. (Click pictures to see more)

In wake of the unbelief propagated by worship leaders and CCM artists like Michael Gungor, Vicky Beeching and Jars of Clay’s Dan Haseltine, it’s interesting to note that for the past several weeks, two top songs on PraiseCharts.com, often #1 and #2, are Hillsong’s This I Believe (The Creed) and We Believe by the Newsboys.

PraiseCharts.com, by far the most popular worship music website on the Internet, is an excellent window to what the typical contemporary church is singing.

Leadership Network and Vanderbloemen are releasing what they claim to be “by far the biggest-scale, cross-denominational response anyone has ever collected about church finances.” Specifically, they interviewed 727 megachurches about how they spend their finances, and the report has some interesting findings, all of which are free to download here. Among the findings: A little under half of a church’s annual income typically goes to staff, with senior pastors making at least 30 percent more than the next highest paid staffer. The biggest determiner of pastor salaries, by far, is the size of the church—race, theology and even age of the pastor had no appreciable bearing on on their income.

One interesting, perhaps unexpected finding: one of the biggest determiners of a church’s growth is, increasingly, a children’s pastor. Treat your children’s pastors accordingly …

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Phil Cooke says forget the concert and start inviting people to worship.

The truth is, the vast majority of church “worship leaders” aren’t worship leaders at all. They’re simply musicians playing what are called “worship songs” from popular artists who write that sort of thing. The music is fine, and I have no argument with that, but a real worship service should be a lot more than simply a concert. Watch for yourself: If your church still has both a “traditional” service and a “contemporary” service, I encourage you to attend each and watch the audience. You may not care for traditional hymns, but guess what – the congregation in a traditional service sings along. They know the words and are participating. But in most contemporary services, it’s simply a concert. The audience isn’t really participating and is just watching a performer on the stage.

Worse yet – the supposed worship leader isn’t “leading” anything. He or she isn’t encouraging, and hardly says anything to the congregation between songs.

So what do artists like Katy Perry and Taylor Swift know that your worship leader doesn’t?

They know how to engage the audience. They encourage the audience to join in, and they have a constant conversation with the people. In between songs, they’re talking and setting up the next song. They’re creating a mood that allows the audience to participate and enjoy, whether they know how to sing or not.

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Good tips from Simon Roberts to promote powerful Scripture reading.

So you thought your job was simply to read the Bible passage? That’s easy—you check you have the right passage, you look over it a couple of times and then you get up and read. Surely that’s all there is to it. But I’d like to suggest that there’s a whole lot more to reading the Bible than simply standing up front and saying the words. Just as we are no better off if we haven’t understood the Scriptures we have read, we’ve wasted our time reading the Bible aloud if no one has understood what we have said.

Here are three big ideas for people who read the Bible aloud:

• your job is to communicate, not just read;
• you can’t communicate what you don’t understand;
• meaning is not conveyed through words alone.

Your job is to communicate, not just read

It’s possible to read every word from a passage perfectly and clearly, but in such a way that no-one understands what the passage actually means. Worse, it’s also possible to read a passage in a way that gives people a wrong understanding of the Scriptures. Take 1 Corinthians 14:26: “What then shall we say, brothers? When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church” (NIV). I once heard this verse read with the emphasis as, “All of these must be done …”. The speaker was trying to convince me that Scripture commanded us to speak in tongues and that, if we didn’t do so, the church would not be strengthened! Thankfully, every other time I’ve heard this verse read, the emphasis has been where it should be—on the words, “for the strengthening of the church”. Reading the same words differently completely changes their meaning. Your job as a Bible reader is not to ‘just read the words’ but to communicate what those words mean.

You can’t communicate what you don’t understand

If you’re going to communicate the meaning of a passage, it stands to reason that you have to understand the passage yourself. Before you even think about getting up to read the Bible in church, you need to have a sound understanding of your allotted passage. You will need to have answered questions such as, “What type of writing is this—narrative, law, prophecy, poetry, letter? Are there any words that seem particularly important? Are there any significant connecting words? What is the main point of the passage? How does the writer make that point—with logical argument, humour, metaphor or irony?” Comparing a couple of good translations will help stop you making major mistakes in interpretation. Once you know what a passage means—what it’s getting at and where it is going—then you can start to think about how to read it aloud.

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Logan Walter says his road ministry is an extension of his home ministry.

My dad traveled in a worship band called Gabriel from the mid-70s to the early 90s. Actually, “traveled” is an understatement. Before I was born, my dad was on the road as many as 250 days per year. He knew how difficult it was to be a traveling worship leader, so he encouraged me to major in Business and get a stable job. God had other plans.

For the past 12 years, I have been following in my dad’s footsteps, traveling and leading worship wherever the Lord leads. Itinerant ministry is a joy and an honor, but it is also full of challenges and temptations, so I always keep these five Biblical concepts in mind:

1. ONE THING IS NECESSARY

In Luke 10, there is a story of two sisters named Martha and Mary. Martha is hosting Jesus at her house, and like many hosts, she busies herself with serving. To Martha’s dismay, her sister Mary does not help with the chores. Instead, Mary chooses to sit at the feet of Jesus and listen to his teaching. When Martha confronts Jesus about Mary’s laziness, Jesus says “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”

When we travel, there are many chores to be done. There are itineraries, set ups, sound checks, leadership meetings, set lists, pro presenter problems, breakout sessions, tear downs, blown tires, etc. In the midst of the chaos, we can’t forget that “one thing is necessary,” and that’s to spend time, sitting at the feet of Jesus.* We must be reading the bible and praying daily. For me, that means a bible reading plan through YouVersion and a prayer list that is organized in Evernote. The road is unstructured, so I have to be creative about how I plan and structure my life.

For example, when I arrive at an event, I think through a time for my band to sit at the feet of Jesus together. Sometimes it’s before evening worship; sometimes it’s in the morning. Sometimes it’s in the green room; sometimes it’s at the hotel. When I am intentional about finding a good time and place to study the Word, my band gets into good rhythms. When I let things happen naturally, the chores overtake our schedule.

*I am indebted to Aaron Ivey for pointing me to Luke 10 and giving me a black v-neck shirt that says “one thing is necessary” across the chest. Black v-necks are my love language. Thank you, Aaron.

2. FAMILY TAKES PRIORITY OVER MINISTRY

1 Timothy 3:5 says “If someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church?” In other words, your ministry to your spouse and kids takes precedence over all other ministries. When I was a kid, my dad worked his travel schedule around my baseball season, so he could be at my games. Even better, he was my head coach!

Now, I have my own household to lead. In January, I got married to a beautiful, smart, godly Spanish teacher. She traveled with me to six church camps this summer, and for the first couple of weeks, I must confess that I did not make her a priority. I busied myself with chores and did not do a good job of finding time to sit at the feet of Jesus OR be with my wife. When she expressed her concern, I said, “I love you and I can’t wait to talk with you about this…after rehearsal.” But as I was heading out the door, I felt the conviction of 1 Timothy 3:5. I had prioritized the Church over my own household.

I texted my band, letting them know that I would be late to rehearsal. I stayed and talked with my wife about her concerns, we made compromises, and I committed to being a more present husband. This was a defining moment in our ministry this summer. Now, even when my wife can’t join me on the road, she knows that my ministry to her takes priority over all other ministries.

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