Here’s my latest article for Summit Ministries. I wlas asked to tackle the wave of protests sparked by student demonstrations at Missouri and Yale. So, considering my audience carefully, I decided to center the piece around Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, but I used it to undercut how the black students in these schools are behaving. It was a challenge to report honestly on something so depressing while still fulfilling Summit’s request that I leave off on... Read more
As you all may have noticed, this semester has whacked me for a loop as far as time to blog and write, though I’ve tried to put something up weekly for you guys. Fortunately, an exciting opportunity has recently opened up for my faith and culture writing. This summer, I got to meet Dr. Jeff Myers of Summit Ministries. When he discovered my blog, he invited me to do some freelance work for Summit’s newsletter and website. For those of you who may... Read more
Well, hello there! To the both of you who are still checking this humble corner of the web with any regularity, thanks for your patience. I’m pleased to bring you a somewhat delayed review of a thoroughly enjoyable concert I attended last month with Buddy Greene and special guest Ron Block (banjoist of Alison Krauss and Union Station). (more…) Read more
I’ve been rotating Blessed Assurance: The New Hymns of Fanny Crosby in the car for a few days, hopefully preparing for a review (one of these days!) But, in case it takes me a little while to get around to that review, here’s the crown jewel of the project: Ricky Skaggs’s haunting folk waltz treatment of a lyric called “All is Well.” Note the subtle metaphor in verse one to Crosby’s blindness: “Though the clouds may veil the sky, my... Read more
It’s a classic trope of any story targeted to a Christian audience: the conversion scene. Most commonly, the film saves it for the climax, when the hardened atheist or the back-slidden Christian relents and turns his life over to Christ. Recently, the movie God’s Not Dead took this trope one further and made it a deathbed conversion scene. When the atheist villain is hit by a car, a conveniently on-hand pastor prays with him to accept Christ. In my review of the film, this scene was one... Read more
I mentioned the other month that various artists were setting some of Fanny Crosby’s unpublished hymns to music and releasing them in a compilation project. Ernie Haase & Signature Sound contributed one of the tracks, and the entire album is available from their site. Not only that, but even if you’re not sure you want to buy the album, you can still go here and read all the lyrics for free, which is the most interesting part for me. It... Read more
Rachel McCutcheon is quickly becoming one of my favorite current songwriters. Discovered by writer/producer Wayne Haun, she has been contributing a plethora of well-penned fresh tunes to new releases by some of southern gospel’s best artists. Recently, she graciously agreed to answer some interview questions from me. I hope you enjoy this conversation! (more…) Read more
It has come out in the wake of the mass shooting at Oregon’s Umpqua Community College that the murderer specifically targeted Christians in his rampage. According to several different eyewitnesses, he began lining people up and asking them what their religion was. Avowed Christians were shot in the head, while non-Christians or people who didn’t answer were shot in the legs. (Of course, had he done the same thing for Muslims or homosexuals, there would be a national outrage even as... Read more
In case you saw the Buzzfeed video where a bunch of latte-sipping millennials in skinny jeans informed us that we’re doing Christianity wrong, here’s a brilliant parody of it by the Lutheran Satire guys. (It’s even funnier if you watch the original video first.) “Actually, a lot of creationists are really well-educated, intelligent people…” “Uhhhh, not according to Bill Nye, MORON. And he should know, because he has a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, and he used to pretend to... Read more
Presidential candidate Ted Cruz made a somewhat uncomfortable appearance on the Stephen Colbert show this past week. I say “uncomfortable” not because Cruz was caught off guard or unsure of himself, but because the studio audience was pretty loudly, audibly hostile to him. In fairness, Colbert asked them to stop actually saying “Boo” at one point, but his own sympathies are in fact pretty liberal, so he tried to get in his share of cutesy zingers during questioning (some of... Read more
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