Worship Week continues here on Bill inthe Blank at Patheos with a guest post by Barbara Buzzard claiming I am a whistleblower in the church. You can find out more about her family’s ministry mission here. Today’s guest post is a response to Why I’ve Stopped Singing in Your Church: I am very grateful to the writer for his honesty. He has a kindred spirit here. I once heard a pastor say that he wanted us to get “mellow” via the music before his... Read more
Worship Week continues on Bill in the Blank at Patheos with a post by Keith Guilford. You can connect with him on Twitter or leave a comment below. This guest post is in response to Why I’ve Stopped Singing in Your Church: The current American Evangelical culture seems to have become quite different than the secular American culture, but really the similarities are striking. While one culture might read books by famous pastors or TV evangelists and the other about... Read more
Worship Week continues here at Bill in the Blank with a guest post by Dustin Germain. His blog is The Paperthin Hymn. The following is a response to the post Why I’ve Stopped Singing in Your Church: I remember going off to youth events such as YC, Richter, Revolution, Re;vive, and worshiping for hours to what I had considered back then phenomenal worship music. It was loud, it was catchy, it was about my love for Jesus, and some songs would... Read more
Worship Week begins here at Bill in the Blank with our first guest post by John Lehmberg. He is the owner of Make It Loud, Inc. specializing in web design, SEO, printing, & branding. He is also a worship music leader in his church. He can be reached via e-mail at [email protected]. The following is a response to the post Why I’ve Stopped Singing in Your Church: The article Why I’ve Stopped Singing in Your Church completely misses the point. I... Read more
“May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.” (Psalm 19:14) Such is the cry of my heart as we launch this opening ceremony to what I am calling Worship Week here at Bill in the Blank at Patheos. No, Mr. Bean will not be making a cameo — although I’ve been told I inadvertently resemble him at times by my loving sister-in-law. One commentator called my recent... Read more
I’ve published a few posts of late pointing out problems with the evangelical church here and here. But today I’ll spotlight something going very right — a fresh voice and reason for hope in church planting. I had the privilege of teaching and mentoring Dan Nichols through his years as a high school student where he led the school’s worship efforts. It’s been a delight to watch him grow, first as Student Body President at Baptist Bible College and now... Read more
Evil exists. It reappeared in a violent and horrific way last week in a Colorado movie theater. I’ve tried to stay out of the ensuing debate placing blame in all directions. As the father of six, including one son on the verge of his sixth birthday, the tragedy just hit too close to home. It’s a horrible thing that’s been done, rightly prompting much prayer and sympathy in our own household and, I hope, in yours. Be sure to read this... Read more
“But where have all the children gone?” The classic film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang portrays the rather bizarre kingdom of Vulgaria in which children have been outlawed, banished to hide underground, separated from the world of the adults. The zany plot describes how sweet treats get offered to entice stray children into captivity. It’s weird. It’s a bit disturbing. It also describes the worship services of many evangelical churches. Of course, I add the usual caveat, not all of your churches do... Read more
Imagine devoting your life to trying to do something that could never be accomplished. Suppose your mission in life were to stop the sun from coming up each day. We can safely predict how that would work out for you. Every day. Leave you feeling pretty frustrated, I suspect. What if instead of becoming frustrated with your lack of progress at the impossible, you simply quit trying? One reason you may be feeling frustrated is that you’re trying to do... Read more
Stephen Covey changed my life. I never met him. Yet I know he changed a lot more lives than mine before his unexpected death this week. But I suspect he would be the first to agree — it wasn’t really Stephen Covey who changed anything. It was wisdom. The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom, and whatever you get, get insight. (Prov. 4:7 ESV) Where does wisdom come from? I trust most readers in this evangelical Christian audience would agree with Scripture... Read more
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