DISQUS

If I did old enough workouts, I would weep. I used to run like the wind. I found a workout log the other day on a bookshelf that had stupid stuff like 12x400 meters at <65 sec with equal recovery. One of those would make me go see Jesus today! So, go back a few months, never go back 10 years...yikes!

Sure but for the rental fee, my emotional pain and duress charge for my separation from it and shipping you could buy one for yourself...hahah.
Seriously, it is so worth it.

A question for the readers. I find a bit of vitriolic attitude toward Christmas music by many modern worship leaders. That concerns me as the Incarnation is the apex of God’s revelation of Himself to us. And since worship both glorifies God and shapes our thinking on Him, shouldn’t we want to declare with passion lines like…

No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as, the curse is found.

or

O holy night! The stars are brightly shining,
It is the night of the dear Saviour’s birth.
Long lay the world in sin and error pining.
Till He appeared and the Spirit felt its worth.
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.
Fall on your knees! Oh, hear the angel voices!
O night divine, the night when Christ was born;
O night, O holy night, O night divine!
O night, O holy night, O night divine!

As far as them being story songs, is not our faith, as compared to almost every other, a historical faith thus it contains a story that should be preached AND sung. In this day of doing so many “how-to” sermons, should we at least not do “story” one time per year in our musical worship? Otherwise, people do not gain the redemptive history narrative of God’s activity through Christ. At the least, it diminishes their understanding that the activity of God in Christ is central to our faith. Jesus was not just a guru with some great help tips (save your marriage, be successful, get a blessed bank account). For crying out loud folks, it is the INCARNATION. Let’s sing of it and not relegate Carols to Christmas Eve only.

This is a cool feature. Soon you shall have my header entry.

A question for the readers. I find a bit of vitriolic attitude toward Christmas music by many modern worship leaders. That concerns me as the Incarnation is the apex of God's revelation of Himself to us. And since worship both glorifies God and shapes our thinking on Him, shouldn't we want to declare with passion lines like...


No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as, the curse is found.

As far as them being "story songs," is not our faith, as compared to almost every other, a historical faith thus it contains a story that should be preached AND sung. In this day of doing so many "how to" sermons, should we at least not do "story" one time per year in our musical worship?

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Yeah, I am a bit with James on this one. What if we celebrated the Source rather than the PVC pipe he delivered it through? If I ever got nominated for a Dove or Grammy (fat chance), I would pull a Woody Allen and decline. I know some writers in Asia writing some burning praise and they'll never even make the awards radar screen but they will get a huge crown in heaven for enduring persecution..

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As a dad of three (two girls and one mischevious boy who will probably and hopefully get lectured by his date's dads strongly), have you considered starting your own Protestant Convent?

I disagree a bit with the separation of the movements into distinct parts which founds the basis for the metaphor to function. Those were not subsequent plans but simultaneous plans that were not communicated until their time was come.

You honestly believe that we first intended to go in and remove WMD but let Sadaam stay in power and not use to opportunity to try to gain a ME friend? That is a bit far fetched.

Was it prudent...I am not so sure. Were they farsighted in the post-invasion environment? Definitely.

This is an oversimplification based upon the observers perception and not the agent's intentionality. Michael Jordan from day one intended to "play to 100" whether Michael Jordan/USA stated it or not.

This is hilarious....now you just need to go watch the Flight of the Conchords robots video.

As a guy who shifted from hard core dispensationalist, to after a NT eschatology emphasis in my Masters, an amillenialist I would agree. But no theology is irrelevant. In fact when Corinth is in a mess, Paul doesn't give them how-to's but theology.

As to the bottleneck issue, just pray and God will allow you to get the flu like me and then you can go back and comment on everyone's blog you haven't had time to in a while...ala me.

in re: to-
1. should be using a PC and see how easy your week would have gone. hahaha. i am the last pc holdout in the worship comm office i think.
4. did you use the leadership star for conflict talks....???? I slave and slave away giving you free tools to be used and yet I hear of a possible bad conversation. hahaha

I always laugh when my traveling WL friends arereally idealistic and say, "well, if i worked at a church I would do X or Y." I would think--because I had done their role for years--"Dude, you unload, play you setlist of 8 songs, sell cd's and roll onto the next place, you ain't gotta fat clue about a soloist calling you morning of saying, 'My kid is puking so I won't be there to lead the mass choir special.'" or even more pressing pastoral issues (addictions, divorces, etc). But man I wouldn't trade it, I love the trenches of the local church.Stay strong, bro, I know you will.

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Genuis IDEA!

1. Gonna Take It John Butler Trio (funny my fave band comes up first)
2. Aliens Ripped My Face Off Karizma (Vinnie Vinnie Coualita, drummer of all drummers' group)
3. Bela Celso Fonseca (Brasilian singer-smooth great date music!)
4. Knuckle Down Ani Difranco (the lil aggressive folk singer is golden)
5. The Firebird Suite: VIII. Stravinsky (who cannot like heavy Russian composers)
6. Pretend that You are Alone Keane (new album a little different but grows on you)
7. Puncha Puncha Avishai Cohen Trio (burningest jazzers out there)

(Yes I do have worship on the pod, just nothing came up in the first 7).

We have done a corporate poetic reading of entire service using worship songs sans melody. It was powerful. However I would not dissuade the vitality of music as a gift of God towards our worship. To paraphrase J. Edwards in a modernizing sense:

We sing in worship to engage and express our affections. There is no other reason to sing. If we aren’t dealing with our affections in worship, we might as well just read the lines of the songs dryly together in paragraph form without any music. We worship with music to because God has created music with a certain nature where it tends to move our affections deeply.

Their are also inherent problems with each style....

The relational leader can struggle to lead beyond the relationships he/she can maintain.

The visionary leader has the least trouble as long as he/she can communicate the vision clearly. I have seen them struggle here being a Van Gogh or Picasso in a Rembrandt world.

The administrative leader may get so entrenched in systems and processes that they lose the larger question of "What do we do next and how many resources do we apply to it?"

I don't know if I would separate out innovative leaders as a true style. Mintzberg (in Drucker's Leading for Innovation) deems "innovation" by its very definition does not mean doing an old thing a new way. That is merely "adaption." (Example: a wenkal engine is still a gas powered engine, not innovative, just adaptive.)

Most people we would deem great adaptive leaders are also managerial/systems types with merely a different methodology. Most innovators are really visionaries. In that sense, I don't see it innovative as a separate "style." (Plus, our egos also always want to deem ourselves innovative,when most of us are just good adapters.)

Dude, that looks very brown recluse -ish. Careful. I was bitten by one in Cross Country meet in High School and had ramifications for weeks (fever, wound rot, etc.).

Run the Star Wars theme into the restroom usage...Lincoln Brewster told me he did that.

One was called C3PeeHole
I just had an idea, the other one you could call Poobaca.

Hahaha.

jordan fowlers last blog post..Jonathan Edwards Quote on Music

Thanks man. When I first read the title, for a second I was having flashbacks to 6th grade kickball lined up on the Gym wall as the captain's picked teams.

Still trying to simply be the "lifehacker" for worship leaders offering tips, tools and best practices for those in the worship trenches.

When reading some of the comments, I started wondering what if some of this is tied to the (not always bad) subjectivity of our worship songs. A lot of this songs power/favor/anointing (or whatever word you want to use) was tied to the story behind it. I wonder if some of the more objective hymnody of the past would have taken such a hit? Would O Sacred Head Now Wounded, A Mighty Fortress, Fairest Lord Jesus and others taken the beating this song is taking if their composer's had such a public failure? Thoughts anyone.

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Fred, I wasn't relating this back to all charismatics. My whole in-law family comes from a charismatic background and many of them have a great filter. I came out of a childhood charismatic church. It might be presumptive but in our church with tons of charismatics and tons not, it seems to my humble observation like I sometimes can't get the non-charismatics to believe much in regards that God does anything actively today, the contra- of our NorthWood charismatics to whom I often want to say, "Make sure you check that out..." when I hear a wilder (in my own mind) story of God's activity. The assessment is not meant to be pejorative and is only a reflection of how people tend to react in our half-n-half congregation, which I wouldn't trade for anything. There are several charismatics who tend to look back at God's historic activity more than His present and non-charismatics who do the opposite. I am not trying to put anyone in a box. I think it is okay at times to recognize patterns and trends I see within our particular body.

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Sad news but again a reminder to us. Experience is not foundational. God's movement in the present nor its accompanying buzz is either. Only the historical salvific activity of Christ crucified, buried and risen is Gospel in its truest sense. I would pray this would allow the charismatic movement to regain some lost filters (not all but the buzz/bentley chasers) but still retain their freshness they bring to the Body. Not every story is "of God" nor even true. Yet, as a non-charismatic in the classic sense, I would say to you charismatics, don't lose your freshness, just filter it. The body needs all of us.

jordans last blog post..Healer Song Story Possibly a Fraud? Michael Guglielmucci Lied About Cancer?

copied over from my post:

There are days I am grateful that God designed me a little more “head-wired” than “heart-wired.” I don’t mean that faith is all mental with no heart, but I tend to live more out of a “biblical rationality” (ala the Puritans and Westminster Confession) than the buzz of current experience, though I do have experiences with God. Sometimes I hear of other’s ever present mountaintop or mystical experiences and get a bit jealous God didn’t wire me differently. Then day’s like this, I don’t. Steady, obedient and even keel, even if it is a bit less glamorous…

As to the song itself, one thing is always true. We ALL get healed in the Resurrection….PERIOD!!!

jordan fowlers last blog post..Healer Song Story Possibly a Fraud? Michael Guglielmucci Lied About Cancer?

I HATE cell phones. When I want to be alone and think I want to be alone and think (even if you turn it off and people know you have one they think you are rude). I finally managed to answer mine so poorly that work and wife said, "we aren't wasting our money to pay for your cell phone." YES YES YES. (that was about 6 years ago).

Then this year my wife got a special "deal" where she got two phones and I got one as a "present." CRUD CRUD CRUD....

but now you guys gave me some great ways to get rid of it forever. thanks.

My fav part is when they are playing the lyric I Can't Drive 55 and do the very subtle shot of the speedometer at barely breaking 40.

Oh yeah, and who sings the beer run song, gotta get me some of that on itunes....very texan of me.

jordans last blog post..A Great Below the Radar Worship Project From Sovereign Grace

It makes me think that I am like that stale, 2 day old blueberry muffin that is all crumbly and stuff without God's provision of grace to moisten me back up. Okay, kidding about that first metaphor.

Solid doctrine that says something beyond " I want to praise you, I want to worship you ..." and declares why.

How Deep the Father's Love is still one of the pinnacle songs in this regard. The more Cross and Resurrection the better for me.

jordans last blog post..A Great Below the Radar Worship Project From Sovereign Grace

Here are a few more...

1. actually believe there are some objective answers to some questions.
2. affirm the substitutionary atonement

Bryan is a cool hang. I've eaten at a Vegan restaurant with him and Andrew Jones in St. Louis at a conference we both spoke/lead worship at. I just really have disagreement with some of his conclusions. Try reading, Why We are Not Emergent By Two Guys Who Should Be as a nice (and really funny) counter read.

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