WorshipIdeas editor Don Chapman was interviewed last week on the nationally syndicated radio show “Speak Without Fear” by speaking coach Deb Sofield. In the interview (starting around 26:20) Don shares tips for artists on marketing their music, the decline of CCM and newsletter/blogging tips. Listen to the podcast at iTunes – episode 10.
Saddleback Church Gathers to Share Grief Over Death of Rick Warren’s Son
Members of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., came together this weekend to pray and worship, and “to be real” in facing the death of the 27-year-old son of their pastor, Rick Warren, after a lifelong struggle with mental illness.
The service at the church began with Tom Holladay, teaching pastor at Saddleback, praying for Pastor Rick Warren and his wife, Kay, on Saturday, the day the internationally known Christian leader announced that his youngest son, Matthew, took his own life after struggling with mental illness, deep depression and suicidal thoughts throughout his life.
After praise and worship, Holladay told the congregation that Pastor Warren had called him earlier during the week to request him to preach to the church during the weekend. When Holladay asked what he should preach about, and what was on Warren’s mind, Warren said he wanted the teaching pastor to preach about what to do on the worst day of your life – not knowing that later that week he would face Matthew’s death.
Holladay’s sermon was based on 1 Samuel 30, which is about David coming back from the battle and finding out that the entire town of Ziklag had been wiped out. The response of David and his people is a model for us to deal with a situation where hope seems distant, he said.
Choir Musings by a Soundman
David Stagl on trying to mic the choir:
I think I’ve turned a corner in my career. Earlier this year our music department approached me about trying a choir at one of our PM services. Historically I haven’t been a fan of choirs, but I was actually into the idea of us trying it out. I believe the term “mini-choir” was actually used in pitching this, but since then we’ve actually had a few choirs in varying sizes on stage this year.
So why would someone like me with mostly disdain for the church choir actually be interested in having one?
Well, for one thing I knew it would be something different and a new challenge. In my entire time on staff at North Point, I’ve only dealt with a choir maybe twice and I don’t think those counted. In some ways, the choir is one of the true audio challenges in a modern church setting. It is true combat audio: un-amplified voices against the roar of a rock band.
Secondly, I knew it wouldn’t be the stereotypical church choir. If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the years about our music department, it’s that I can trust them to put the best people available on stage. I figured it was a safe assumption that these folks would actually sing out unlike some “choirs”….
But my real reason for getting behind this is I had a different vision for what a choir could be for us within the context of the mix and the room and the overall experience.
One of the bigger challenges for me is the feel of our East Auditorium. We have a lot of absorptive acoustic treatment up throughout the room. On the one hand it’s a blessing because as a mixer I don’t find myself fighting against the room much, and I have a lot of control of things. On the other hand, it can be a challenge because the dry-ness of the room can feel unnatural to me at times; the room doesn’t naturally help with feel like some venues. When we do events where everyone shows up ready to sing such as conferences and nights of worship, the room generally feels pretty good. But Sundays can be interesting because we always have a lot of first time guests and folks just checking things out.
So I started wondering, what if the choir wasn’t just a choir? What if the choir was also what the room could sound like?
In a large church, I think it can be challenge to get people connected, but it’s not really a church if that’s not happening. That’s why we are so big on moving people out of rows and into circles.
Something I want to do with the sonic experience on a Sunday is engage in that vision by making first-time guests feel like they are part of something in that row because maybe if they feel like they’re already part of something that next step of moving beyond a row will be a lot easier.
Is Concern Over the Rise of the ‘Nones’ Overblown?
A recent Gallup report suggests that the number of religiously unaffiliated Americans, or “nones,” may not be growing as quickly as widely thought. The “nones,” who today represent almost 18 percent of U.S. adults, grew by only 0.3 percent in 2012—the smallest increase Gallup has seen since 2008 (when they numbered 14.6 percent).
Marcus Mumford: “I Wouldn’t Call Myself A Christian”
Labels can be helpful when, for instance, applied to cans of soup or barrels of toxic waste. But they are less so when affixed to human beings — particularly when labels are meant to summarize, indelibly, one’s spiritual identity.
In a recent Rolling Stone interview, Marcus Mumford, the 26-year-old lead singer of the wildly successful British band Mumford & Sons, raised the hackles of religious folks (in some quarters) when he declined to claim the “Christian” label as his own.
You see, Marcus is the son of John and Eleanor Mumford, who are the national leaders of the Vineyard Church in the U.K. and Ireland, an arm of the international evangelical Christian Vineyard Movement. Last year, he married actress Carey Mulligan, whom he’d met years earlier at a Christian youth camp.
And the music of Mumford & Sons, for which Mumford is the main lyricist, is laden with the themes and imagery of faith — often drawing specifically upon the Christian tradition. They explore relationships with God and others; fears and doubts; sin, redemption, and most of all, grace.
During an interview last month, the Rolling Stone reporter, Brian Hiatt, asked Mumford whether he “still consider(s) himself a Christian.”
Mumford gave the following answer:
“I don’t really like that word. It comes with so much baggage. So, no, I wouldn’t call myself a Christian. I think the word just conjures up all these religious images that I don’t really like. I have my personal views about the person of Jesus and who he was. … I’ve kind of separated myself from the culture of Christianity.”
His spiritual journey is a “work in progress,” Mumford said, adding that he’s never doubted the existence of God and that his parents are unbothered by his ambivalence toward the Christian label.
Joel Osteen Target of Elaborate Internet Hoax
It’s a news flash with an asterisk: Lakewood Church Pastor Joel Osteen has resigned from the mega church that he has led since 1999, a move prompted by his decision to leave the Christian faith due to his “lack of faith.”
The asterisk is needed, mind you, because the story is false, as in Internet hoax.
Whoever devised the elaborate hoax didn’t just stop at a fake church website – https://www.joelostenministries.com/ – which is almost identical to the genuine Joel Osteen Ministries website – https://www.joelosteen.com/.
The hoaxer also has put up bogus news sites trumpeting the fictitious news, replicating news outlets that include CNN, Yahoo.com and the Christian News Network. They’ve also posted a fake YouTube video – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxVo9wV5CtA& – and bogus Twitter page – https://twitter.com/PastorJoelOsten.
A fake CNN site trumpets the headline, “Pastor of mega church resigns, rejects Christ,” with a subhead, “Cites lack of faith, pledges ‘new church.’ ”
Likewise, the pseudo Lakewood Church website includes “A special message from Pastor Joel,” where a would-be Osteen elaborates on his decision to leave the church:
In the message, the Osteen poser states that he has “been accused of altering the ‘message’ to fit my own doctrine and dogma. Others have accused me of preaching ‘feel good Christianity’. I have also been accused of profiting greatly from my ministry, with my books and television deals.
“Many of their criticisms are legitimate,” the bogus message states. “What they don’t know is that deep down in my heart, for a number of years now, I have been questioning the faith, Christianity and whether Jesus Christ is really my, or anyone’s, ‘savior.’ I believe now that the Bible is a fallible, flawed, highly inconsistent history book that has been altered hundreds of times. There is zero evidence the Bible is the holy word of God. In fact, there is zero evidence ‘God’ even exists.”
Lakewood Church officials are aware of the hoax and “false rumor,” church representative Andrea Davis said.
Dinosaur Churches
Most towns have a church that was THE church in the area years ago, but today it’s only a skeleton of what it once was. What happened? (more…)
What Do Americans Really Think About the Bible?
One of March’s media stories has been the success of the History Channel miniseries, The Bible. The first episode, which premiered on March 3, had 13.1 million viewers, according to Nielsen, making it the highest entertainment (read: non-sports) broadcast of 2013.
The interest in a cable series makes it clear the American public is certainly interested in the Bible. But what do Americans actually think about the Bible? Do they believe it to be sacred, authoritative or merely nonsense? Do they try to follow its exhortations, or do they regard the Bible as antiquated literature? Does the Bible still matter—besides television ratings—to Americans?
A recent survey from the Barna Group, commissioned by the American Bible Society, provides some insight into these questions. From the results, it’s easy to see why the Bible remains a cultural force in the United States. Yet, its future role looks very different than its past.
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