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Where We Are Leaning

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Categories: current issues, faith

All you have to do to feel a healthy dose of fear these days is listen to the news. All this stuff about the economy, the desperate need for a bailout, the Congress defeating it, the stock market plummeting…I don’t even play the market, and don’t have investments there, and it’s enough to make me queasy. So I can imagine what people are going through whose retirement accounts and/or jobs are on the line right now.

This is a preview of Where We Are Leaning. Read the full post (1056 words, 1 image, estimated 4:13 mins reading time)

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The Blog Roll Is Back!–and Other Bloggy Stuff

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Categories: fun, random stuff

Hey, everyone…

If you check the left column of the page, you’ll see that my Blog Roll has returned, with a few updates. I’m trying Blogger’s new version of the Blog Roll (I was using an external program before). I’ve updated the Blog Roll from some of the blogs in my reader, and there are some new ones on the list; yours might even be there! If you were on the Blog Roll before and somehow I missed you, let me know so I can update the list. (If for some reason you don’t want your blog to be listed, let me know that, too.)

This is a preview of The Blog Roll Is Back!–and Other Bloggy Stuff. Read the full post (432 words, 2 images, estimated 1:44 mins reading time)

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Re-Thinking Worship (Part 5–These Songs We Sing)

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Categories: changing mindsets, food for thought, worship

Okay, continuing the thread on worship (read parts one, two, three, and four here)…

I’ve been pondering on this blog about why, as a worship leader, I have become bored with corporate worship as we currently practice it. It’s caused me to start deepening my understanding of worship beyond just the singing of songs, to focus more on the weightier matters of the heart, to consider that worship can involve all of life, and even to reimagine what other sorts of things we can do that could be called “worship.”

This is a preview of Re-Thinking Worship (Part 5–These Songs We Sing). Read the full post (981 words, 2 images, estimated 3:55 mins reading time)

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Post, Post, Post, Post–a Posting about Posts

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Categories: changing mindsets, food for thought

The title alone of Brother Maynard’s latest post made me chuckle…

The Post-Modern Post-Emergent Post-Evangelical Post-Charismatic Post-Fundamentalist Post-Label

…and his first sentence made me think.

“It’s gone so far now that we’re blogging about how we’re tired of talking about the topic we’re blogging about. Again.”

This is a preview of Post, Post, Post, Post–a Posting about Posts. Read the full post (450 words, 2 images, estimated 1:48 mins reading time)

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The Thing About Boys and Girls, and the Weird, Sort of Twisted Way I Am Able to Tie It In with the Church

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Categories: food for thought, My Story

(For those tracking on my series of posts about “Re-Thinking Worship”, fear not; we’ll return to that thread soon. Today, I want to share an excerpt from a book I’m working on. Please don’t copy this without my permission.)

I know there’s a season in the childhood of young boys when they are not supposed to like girls. For me, I can’t remember such a time. Oh, when I was four or five, I bought into the girls-have-cooties thing for awhile, but that was mostly because other boys were saying so. I suppose at that time I could have taken girls or left them, but I never remember a time when I disliked them.

This is a preview of The Thing About Boys and Girls, and the Weird, Sort of Twisted Way I Am Able to Tie It In with the Church. Read the full post (1565 words, 2 images, estimated 6:16 mins reading time)

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Re-Thinking Worship (Part 4: Expansion, not Replacement)

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Categories: food for thought, Meanderings (look it up), worship

I’ve mentioned in the previous posts in this series that I’m in the process of re-shaping my whole paradigm of worship. J.R. Miller left a comment that highlights an important point here, and one that deserves clarifying. Here’s a quote from his comment:

“The emphasis I get then is, not that you are seeking tear down what others are doing or what many enjoy, but seeking to “worship” through music in new and diverse ways.”

This is a preview of Re-Thinking Worship (Part 4: Expansion, not Replacement). Read the full post (513 words, 1 image, estimated 2:03 mins reading time)

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Re-Thinking Worship (Part 3: Our Response)

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Categories: changing mindsets, worship

So in pondering the things I’ve shared in the previous posts on this subject…our house church has launched a sort of experiment.

In coming to realize that there must be much more to worship than the corporate worship leader directing the congregation–that this is a method rather than a principle, and is therefore subject to change; and in realizing that this method is growing stale on us; and in realizing that worship is supposed to come from an overflow response to what God has done and is doing in our lives…we began to ask the question:

This is a preview of Re-Thinking Worship (Part 3: Our Response). Read the full post (456 words, 1 image, estimated 1:49 mins reading time)

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Re-Thinking Worship (Part 2: The Overflow)

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Categories: changing mindsets, food for thought, worship

Have you ever considered how true worship happens?

One of the most significant differences I see between Christ-following and other religions and belief systems of the world is in the area of worship. There’s a picture in Revelation 5 that illustrates this point.

This is a preview of Re-Thinking Worship (Part 2: The Overflow). Read the full post (871 words, 1 image, estimated 3:29 mins reading time)

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Re-Thinking Worship (Part One of Many: "Weightier Things")

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Categories: changing mindsets, food for thought, worship

A few months ago, I mentioned the irony that I am a worship leader but bored with worship music as I know it. I’m just in the beginning stages of re-thinking this…but I think I’m beginning to understand why.

Worship has always been at the foundation of our ministry, and part of our life-calling. We’ve led worship and taught the principles of worship to many people in many places. And I have experienced God’s presence in remarkable ways in the atmosphere of worship. But now I’m getting little glimpses of understanding that tell me that all this stuff I thought I was expert in has just been barely scratching the surface. And I think the reason this is dawning on me is the very fact that I am bored with all this. My heart for God hasn’t gone away, but it’s like all this just isn’t enough anymore.

This is a preview of Re-Thinking Worship (Part One of Many: "Weightier Things"). Read the full post (980 words, 2 images, estimated 3:55 mins reading time)

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I’ve Tried for a Long Time to Write This Post, But I Just Can’t

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Categories: Meanderings (look it up), random stuff

I don’t know why, but it seems like I just can’t write this post.

I’ve sat several times in front of this computer, trying to figure out what to say, or what’s on my mind. I have a few thoughts swirling around, but nothing right now that I can really verbalize. I have a few drafts sitting here and there, but nothing I feel is ready to publish.

This is a preview of I’ve Tried for a Long Time to Write This Post, But I Just Can’t. Read the full post (247 words, 1 image, estimated 59 secs reading time)
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