Here's their video "You Decide" with Josh Brown from Day of Fire (also great band) :

Before I start, I am an atheist, but I'm not anti-Christian or anti-religious people.  I just believe in one less god than they do.  We should all coexist.  With that being said...

Why is this game needed?  Oh, so, as a Christian, you shouldn't set yourself up to be a hero?  You also shouldn't play an "evil rock" song on a fake guitar?  You should play sanctified "rock for the rock" on a fake guitar?

:sigh:

The troubling thing... looking at the setlist for the game, they don't even have the "good" Christian rock on there (outside of potentially the Crucified and dc Talk tracks).  They need some Tourniquet, Believer, Deliverance, Klank, Stavesacre, or, hell... even Stryper or P.O.D..  And the Jars of Clay song is... well, not even one of their dozen popular ones.

~Dan - np: Ellery - Promo EP

Artist: Michael Himes

Title: Forgetful Masterpiece

Release Date: 2007

Michael Himes is a man of God, but he is a musician as well. Forgetful Masterpiece is then an even more impressive accomplishment not just for Himes' unrestrained and open worship of our Lord but for his remarkable guitar playing. Himes' acoustic melodies evoke emotional landscapes; sometimes they build from quiet contemplation to a rousing applause for Jesus as on "How You Love Me" and "World Revolving." "Everlasting Light" is taken from Isaiah 60, and it is stunningly beautiful; Himes' voice, filled with hope and yearning, is pushed to the front of the mix as guitars and keyboards are locked together in a heavenly embrace.

Fans of Matt Redman and Jeremy Camp will immediately take a liking to Himes' ballads and pop/rock tunes. Himes does both the slow and fast cuts equally well. The rousing "Remind Me" is electrifying, something that would sound utterly exhilarating in a stadium setting. Probably the most moving song is "To You," which nearly melts in your mouth with guitars that are as brightly lit as the stars.

http://www.michaelhimes.com

For more info check out www.bywordonline.com

One of my favorite clients to work with is ByWord. Here are a few samples of work I've done for them.

2.      Acts 16:25, “But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.”

3.      Romans 15:9, “and that the Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy, as it is written: For this reason I will confess to You among the Gentiles, And sing to Your name.” (See Psalm 18:49)

4.      1 Corinthians 14:15, “I will sing with the spirit, and I will also sing with the understanding.”

5.      Ephesians 5:19, “speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord,”

6.      Colossians 3:16, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.”

7.      Hebrews 2:12, “saying: I will declare Your name to My brethren; In the midst of the assembly I will sing praise to You.” (See Psalms 22:22)

8.      Hebrews 13:15, “Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.”

9.      James 5:13, “Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms.”

10.  (Revelation 5:9; 14:3; 15:3 all refer to worship in heaven after this life is over. These passages are therefore not applicable to Christian worship in church assemblies.)

1)      James 5:13, “Is any cheerful? Let him sing praises” (RSV). sing psalms (KJV) (psalleto)

a)      If the instrument is to be used, the translation must read, “Is anyone, who can play an instrument, merry? Let him sing praises to musical accompaniment.”

b)      Moreover, such is possible only if their instrument is handy!

c)      Yet, Jerome said, “the plow man at his plow sings his joyful hallelujahs, the busy mower regales himself with his psalms, and the vine-dresser is singing one of the songs of David.” And Eusebius said that under persecutions at Thebais, “they continued to their latest breath to sing psalms and hymns and thanksgivings to the God of heaven” (Lyman Coleman, The Apostolic and Primitive Church. 2^nd ed. 1844, p. 373). Note: Such conditions would prohibit the use of mechanical instruments of music.

2)      Romans 15:9, “as it is written: ‘For this reason I will confess to You among the Gentiles, And sing (psallo) to Your name’”

a)      This quotation from Psalms 18:49 indicates that when David is read among the Gentiles, he sings, praising God to them.

b)      The passage has no reference to what we under the New Covenant should do in Christian worship.

3)      1 Corinthians 14:15, “I will sing (psallo) with the spirit, and I will also sing (psallo) with the understanding.”

a)      Can anyone play a mechanical instrument with his spirit or with his understanding?

b)      1 Samuel 16:23, David would take a harp and play it with his hand. The expressions “with his hand” in the Old Testament and “with the spirit” in the New Testament show the differences between their respective meanings and usages. (This is also indicated in Ephesians 5:19.)

4)      Ephesians 5:19, “speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord,”

a)      The Greek word for singing in this passage is odontes, not psallo.

b)      Making melody is from the present participle of psallo, and has the idea of playing a musical instrument. The instrument named here is your heart. The heart played or plucked furnishes the accompaniment, not a mechanical instrument.

c)      If a mechanical instrument of music is present in this verse, what then does “with your heart” modify? Are we to render it playing an instrument with your heart? That’s absurd!

5)      If a mechanical instrument of music is present in these verses, then each person who sings must also play an instrument, rather than one person play the instrument while others sing along with it.

1.      The New Testament teaches that we are to sing. The New Testament says nothing specifically about the use of instrumental music in Christian worship.

2.      The objectives of singing cannot be accomplished by the playing of mechanical instruments of music.

3.      Certain principles of the Christian faith – that we must live by faith, that we must worship in truth, that we must abide in the doctrine of Christ – are violated by the use of instruments of music in Christian worship.

4.      Aids to singing are allowable whenever such causes us neither to do more nor less than sing. In such matters human judgment is expected.

5.      Usage of musical instruments in the Old Testament was proper then for that was under another covenant. Christians live under the New Covenant that does not authorize mechanical instruments of music.

6.      The Greek words psallo and psalmos did not mean in New Testament times, indeed grammatically could not mean, the use of mechanical instruments in accompaniment of singing. If it did, then every singer must also be required to play on an instrument.

7.      Use of mechanical instruments of music is non-Apostolic in origin; a human innovation, stoutly resisted whenever initiated; and constitutes a departure from the spiritual to the gratification of the carnality’s of the flesh.

Several weeks ago the kids & I downloaded this band's cd and have been enjoying the music and one video that I have on my iPod - so we at least went into the night knowing most of their music.  Eric however, having heard only a couple of their songs prior to the concert was simply blown away after seeing them perform.  For over two solid hours these guys not only impressed us with with their music & stage performance, but also in their ability to speak the truth through lyrics that are so inspiring, enlightening, and uplifting.  

The front man Mike Donehey stopped several times throughout the show to share his take on many stories from the bible.  Complete with voice impersonations and sound effects this kid had us in stitches most of the night.  He is without a doubt as interesting & talented a speaker as he is a musician and I can only begin to imagine the number of people (particularly youth) that these guys have been able to reach with their talent and message.  It gives me goosebumps.

Check out this video I found of them on You Tube. 

After the show all 4 band members spent time in the lobby signing autographs for as many people as were willing to stick around.  Since Sydney is now officially obsessed with these guys, we patiently waited our turn too.  (By the way, she has a big fat crush on the lead singer......and okay, maybe if I were a gazillion years younger, I would too!)  

With Sydney nearing the age of 10 Eric & I knew this stage of 'boy band crushes' was coming.  We are not exactly crazy about this.  It confirms that the next stage, ADOLESCENCE, is upon us.  (oh, the horror)  But as we talked the evening over we decided if she is going to have a crush on anyone, we pray it is always on a band as grounded and wholesome as this group.  May they always portray such a stellar image and deliver such a beautiful message.  (Far better than the boy bands I followed....right Michelle?)

Check out a couple of photos we grabbed.  Syd was literally beaming with giddy excitement. 

This one is of her standing next to the drummer Jason Jamison after he signed her band photo. 

Thanks to Julie, after the concert Syd was one of the only kids to get a personal 'solo pic' with the band.  (Great to have an inside connection, eh?)  She is one Lucky little girl!!!  

(Thank you, thank you, thank you AGAIN Julie!) 

And these last couple of photos were just too cute not to share.  Both kids sang & danced thier little hearts out during the concert and passed out hard during the drive home.  How cute is it that Syd has her prized photo clutched tight in her little hand? 

Oh my goodness how I love this little girl. 

How bitter sweet it is to watch her growing up.......

I always feel like helping out Christians when they need help the most, and believe you me, most Christians--particularly those poor souls who believe George W. Bush can hear God, and Jesus would wear a Rolex on his television show--need help a lot. So I thought I'd help them in their quest to convert people like my pagan lesbian friend Dessabrina the Transformers Slash Fanfiction Author, and my cousin Josh's girlfriend, who currently lives in Alaska with wolves and at least one species of polar bear. Hey, it can't hurt. Unless, of course, they're right, which we can be certain they are not.

For you Christians: Wicca is a devil-worshiping religion that is evil, like Mormonism only even more evil, and possibly involving even more polygamy. It is centered around a horny god and a Big Mama who is simultaneously a sexy babe, a MILF, and an old bitch, much like Britney Spears. Wiccans work hard in fields, hoping to see Pan, the God of the Fields, so they can have sex with him. Thus, most Wiccans are "Pansexuals". They will also have sex with anything on two feet, but this has more to do with their wearing air and smelling of patchouli than their actually being Pansexuals.

Being gay is accepted in Wicca, even if its creator, a nudist British civil servant, believed that the Bitch Goddess would curse you if you had icky mansex. They form small groups of women and men clad in air, who pretend to be ridiculous things like witches and High Priestesses. They are also animistic, which means they believe that animals have a soul.

In other words, Wiccans are just furries, a term used to describe people who wish to have sex in animal costumes. Many of these people believe that they are in fact animal souls trapped inside human bodies. They should be treated as such.

The eight virtues of a Wiccan:

1. Mirth: Something Wikipedia describes as "an Admirable-class minesweeper built for the U.S. Navy during World War II. She was built to clear minefields in offshore waters, and served the Navy in the Atlantic Ocean and then was transferred to the Pacific Ocean in order to lend the vessel to the Soviet Union under terms of the Lend Lease Act." Clearly, Wiccans plan to use this virtue to destroy our nation and our way of life.
2. Reverence: If you are a Wiccan, you should always revere your horny god and sexy babiMilfilibitchilicious goddess.
3. Honour: Your father and your mother, by taking off all your clothes and having sex with anything that moves.
4. Humility: What you should have in case anybody sees you with your honour showing.
5. Strength: Performing those magic spells takes quite a bit of effort. Replenish your magical powers using Maruchan® Instant Lunch, available three for a dollar at your local supermarket.
6. Beauty: People like David Hasselhoff Michael Phelps and Pamela Anderson Beyonce Knowles are butt-ugly. Your guide to finding real physical beauty should be Wiccans themselves, who can most succinctly be described as "Rosie O'Donnell, skyclad."
7. Power: Believe in the teachings of a religion invented in 1958 by a lonely British civil worker and people will never laugh at you again.
8. Compassion: Love your fellow human beings and animals by having sex with them.

How to Make Your Own Wiccan religious ritual:

Christians: The easiest way to convert Wicca is by pretending to become them. That is, you must perform your own Wiccan ceremonies, to lull the Wiccans into a false sense of security and make them think you're on their side, and them BAM! Whap the Jesus Hammer right onto their devil-worshipping heads. Don't worry; I've done the groundwork for you. It'll be expensive, but trust me, it'll work.

1. First, you need costumes. When they're not butt-naked, Wiccans like to dress as ghosts and priestesses and animals and shit. Here's how your ceremonial dress code should look.

• Ghosts: Covered in a white sheet with special symbols on them. Swastikas, sun crosses, and Celtic crosses are all good.
• Priestesses: A white mask with only peepholes, and a pointy hat are both good for this. They should also wear what the ghosts wear; the white sheet represents purity.
• Animal spirits and other random shit: Fursuits of various kinds should work. Here are a few examples of what you should go for:
• 
• Symbols: Wiccans, like all cultists, thrive upon symbolism and ritual. You need something stark and powerful. A good example of a powerful symbol is a cross with a Winnie the Pooh doll nailed to it. You should somewhere in your ceremony light this cross on fire*. Don't feel constrained by these ceremonial pieces; you could also use a Tigger, or in extreme circumstances, a Piglet doll. Do not use Eeyore, however, as he is not representative of the message we're trying to convey here.

*Note: Winnie the Pooh doll cannot be used as a child's toy after being burned at the stake.

• Conducting the ceremony: Go out into a big field in the middle of the forest. This is very important. It is your Point of Contemplation, where you go to meditate and show your respects to the Horny God before you go on with your ceremony.

1. Get on your furry costumes/priestess uniforms and nail the Pooh doll to the cross. Load the cross onto a Radio Flyer or equivalent child's wagon, or, if necessary, a wheelbarrow. Your cross shouldn't be too big or else it will crush the wagon; besides that, you're out to show your respects to your Horny God, not make him look like some kind of psycho that uses huge crosses for tiny dolls. The cross should fit the doll, is what I'm saying.
2. Light the cross on fire and begin marching through the forest. You should begin to embrace the beauty of the forest, and the power of the Tree Spirits that inhabit it. Begin chanting about Woozles, Hefelumps, and Honey Pots; your aim is to rid the forest of these evil spirits. Except for the honey pots, which you should collect and partake of, if any are available. Offer a few to the Big Daddy God and Big Mama Goddess.
3. March down main street of your town and begin stripping off all of your clothes.
4. Begin a group chant. This chant can be about anything, including Barack Obama, income taxes, gays, Barbara Streisand, or even your church's upcoming charity auction. Go nuts. The important thing is that it has to sound vaguely Celtic-sounding. It should convince people around you that you're speaking in tongues and performing magical spells on them.
5. End your ceremony in a large orgy. Everyone, whether they are young, old, women, men, or family pets, should participate. By the end there should be a distinctly disgusting smell emanating from your entire town. If you don't feel ashamed, you didn't perform the ceremony correctly. Do it again, and this time do it right. Make sure you didn't use an Eeyore doll in the mock crucifixion like an idiot.

This should help you when it's time to conduct your Wiccan indoctrination ceremonies. Just remember, all Wiccans are perverted, disgusting scoundrels. If you don't help to cleanse them of their demonic possession, you are one of them.

More “Relevant” Church Services & “Crunk” Youth Ministry Events

Published August 20, 2008 A Different Gospel 7 Comments
Tags: crunk, relevant church, seeker sensitive gimmicks

My recent foray into learning about “crunk” youth ministry services (and “more crunk” youth ministry madness) has taken me on a journey into YouTube. It seems as though the old “seeker sensitive” model has become…well…stale, and “relevant churches” are looking at ways to really attract worshippers club goers…and their kids.

Journey with me into the valley of the absurd:

“Does Your Youth Pastor Get Crunk? Ours Does!” 

“Youth Pastors Gone Wild - Youth Pastor Dance Off”

“Pastor (Sermon Illustration) Gone Wild”

**at least this idiot pastor had the sense to wear a helmet

1 Corinthians 1:18-20 (New American Standard Bible)

18 For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

19 For it is written,
       ” WILL DESTROY THE WISDOM OF THE WISE,
         AND THE CLEVERNESS OF THE CLEVER I WILL SET ASIDE.” 

20 Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?

Paul was right - the simple message of the Cross of Christ is foolishness to those who don’t know Him, yet we are compelled to share that simple message clearly and concisely so that regeneration can take place.

When the Cross is “lifted up” - the message alone will draw men to Christ (John 12:31-33), NOT a clever marketing gimmick that appeals to our momentary attention span. 

Clearly God is using the foolish wisdom of the world displayed in the videos above to demonstrate that you can’t emulate the world while seeking Him. Unfortunately, it is our undying love for the things of this world that continue to manifest in the garbage you see above:

1 John 2:15-16 (New American Standard Bible)

15 Do not love the world nor the things in the world If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.

Lord have mercy…

Now as to why I am liberal about such things ... imposing one's personal cultural worldview on how people must conduct services and worship God hinders the spread of the gospel. That was Paul's primary concern in opposing Jewish Christians that were trying to impose circumcision, the holidays, dietary laws, etc. on Gentile converts. Also, we must admit that the way that we have traditionally worshiped in the west IS NOT the way that the early church worshiped, a fact whose implications are lost on many fundamentalist, conservative, and liturgical Christians. So if Paul did not insist on conducting worship in a manner that didn't bar the door to the hearts of people that were not raised in Jewish religion and culture, we should not be "modern Judaizers" to people who are alien to our preferred religious traditions.

With that being said, 1 Corinthians 14 still applies. Worship service should center on Jesus Christ. Worship service should honor and glorify Jesus Christ. Worship service should not demean or degrade the gospel message, the worshipers, or the gathering place of the faithful. There is a real difference between appropriating certain musical styles created by the secular world - i.e. rap, rock, bluegrass, country, or traditional Asian/African/Celtic music - into Christian worship and actually emulating the confusion of the world. How can you tell if you have crossed the line? Simple: by asking the question "now why am I doing this?" If you honestly think that the meaning of "At The Cross" or "Amazing Grace" can be more effectively communicated to people in India using the Bhavageete form or to modern American kids using dancehall/ska, then great. But if you are doing it merely to entertain people or simply to appear fashionable, then you would be better off replacing your praise and worship service with a period of quiet prayer and reflection at the altar.

Do not misunderstand me, I do not advocate eliminating praise and worship ... no one who takes the Old Testament seriously would do such a thing. I am only stating that praise and worship should be done in a God - honoring Biblical fashion or not at all. Best illustration: it should be possible to do a Christian or gospel performance according to the rap, hip - hop, R&B, rock, etc. style while wearing a three piece suit or choir robe just one would if you were in a concert choir singing Handel's Messiah i.e. the video below. (Yes, I know that the video below is not how the early church worshiped, this is merely to illustrate a point.)  But if you have to take the street thug posturing (or streetwalker prostitute vamping) attire and do the base profane screaming, crotch grabbing, gang signing, head banging nonsense from MTV (or even VH-1) and bring it into the church in order to do your "performance", then it would be far better for you to remain silent and allow those that are willing and capable of conducting praise and worship in a decent orderly God honoring fashion take your place.

In honor of the Chicago Cubs commericials with Relient K I decided to make a video of my own. The video was taken at Miller Park in Milwaukee and the Cubs won the game 7-2. I also posted it on Vimeo.com, but that site doesn't get as much traffic as YouTube.

Debuting #4 on Billboard's Top Gospel Chart and #1 on CMTA's R&B/Hip Hop Charts, OUR WORLD REDEEMED, released on March 4, 2008. After much success of the album and great raves and reviews from critics and even a push from FLAME's supporters about the perfectly placed outro of the song on the album, FLAME teamed up with Tripp Crosby ('Jesus Muzik' and 'Who Am I?') to produce FLAME's second music video.

Thank you so much to everyone who has posted the music video on their websites or placed the music video in rotation. Special thanks to Gospel Music Channel and StreamingFaith.com/Gospel.

If you are a media outlet wanting to post the video or air the video on your network, please contact us at allstarcommunications@gmail.com Should you wish to interview FLAME or if you have any questions, please submit your inquiry and requests to info@FLAME314.com - ENJOY!

The term, "mind-blowing experience" is often bandied about, used to describe any old thing that is great. For example, bands that sound very good and put on a very good show can sometimes be called "mind-blowing" by a well-meaning but perhaps overenthusiastic fan. This was not the case with Kings of Leon. Nor was it the case that Kings of Leon were even good -- they were comfortably in the mediocre-to-somewhat-dismal range, with your standard rock-style songs that tried hard but fell short of being catchy. However, their mediocrity matters less than the fact of their triumph over that most insurmountable of barriers, a triumph so baffling as to be impressive. For you see, Kings of Leon, the band wedged in between Animal Collective and Radiohead, is a CHRISTIAN ROCK BAND. And not just a rock band where the members are Christian. No, a band that plays music in the genre known as Christian Rock. Like, for Jesus.

By the way, I didn't know any of this when they took the stage. I had heard their name thrown around a lot in relation to other bands, bands that, for lack of a better term, were brands I felt I could trust (an embarrassing and telling sentiment). Taken as That Type of Band, I then heard half of a song and found it completely intriguing. The song sounded so literal, so much like it was trying to create an exact replica of a type of rock music that had only recently become old, without any nods to anything current or slightly new. Far from being turned off by it, I was incredibly excited (and a little nervous) that what I was witnessing must be the future of music -- bands that were self-consciously trying to make themselves into museum pieces of a highly specific kind, with no nods or winks to show how ironic they undoubtedly were being. Kings of Leon, I firmly believed, had fully immersed themselves into the roles they were playing, as if they were living in their own mockumentary. You know, like Spinal Tap, but without any of the tell-tale jokes that would give it away to those not already in the know. The fact that the music they were trying to recreate was not to my taste only reinforced my admiration of their highly developed senses of humor. In short, I thought they must be geniuses.

So when the band came on, I was prepared for a certain type of an experience. They played the first song. Ok, I thought. Sure. I get the joke. They played the second song. Hmm, I thought. That's interesting....what? The third song began. I began to get freaked out. My brain began racing as I started to panic. I don't understand, I thought. I don't get what's happening. The world tilted sideways; everything got surreal. What was going on? Was this band even more brilliant than I had previously suspected, creating a perfect simulacrum of an increasingly specific type of band with breathtaking attention to detail, attitudes, dress, mannerisms, and musical composition? Or was I watching something else, something I didn't quite understand? Then, towards the end of the third or fourth song, and after I had been staring blankly at the lead singer's gold cross necklace for a full fifteen minutes (yeah, not too quick), in a blinding flash the Truth revealed itself to me in all Its Glory. Which must mean I have been Saved.

Anyway, once I had my revelation (further confirmed by Fiance Ryan whispering to me a minute later, "they're a Christian rock band!"), the relief I had from my mental anguish was soon replaced with more questions: how did they get here? What is their deal? Who were these people singing along to the songs? Were they all Christian, or just oblivious, or knew but just liked it anyway? Does liking Christian rock mean you are Christian? (To this last, I'm going to say yes.). Also, the relief was replaced by the excruciating knowledge that we were going to have to stand there another hour and listen to this.

Of course, the most troubling question I had to ask myself was, really, how did I dupe myself? Am I really that credulous, that willing and eager to believe that shit is gold just because I believed it had credibility by association? That when faced with the band itself, I thought it more plausible that they had constructed an elaborate meta-reality of knowing fake-shittiness, rather than admit what in the normal world is the only explanation that passes the Occam's Razor test -- that Kings of Leon is just a regular, shitty, Christian rock band? Clearly, some soul-searching is in order.

As a final note, the lead singer did the sign of the cross over the crowd about 45 minutes into the set. Ryan told me he found this offensive, and I agreed.

Billed as “An Illuminating Weekend of Christian Rock,” Rock the Universe features some of the hottest names in the Christian music scene for an unforgettable weekend of fun and fellowship at Universal Studios. Rock the Universe 2008 boasts a powerful lineup of music ranging from contemporary Christian and hip-hop to punk. Scheduled entertainers include Switchfoot, Relient K, Newsboys, Skillet, Grits, Group 1 Crew, New Method, Third Day, Jeremy Camp, Jars of Clay, Stellar Kart, Leeland, This Beautiful Republic and Special D.

Thanks. Peace and God bless,

Boojitsu21