Music Mondays

So much of the Christian life is about desperation, dependance, and recognizing our own weakness. We can make it about so many other things: rules, traditions, organizations, etc. But when all that stuff is stripped away, we are left with a great God and a needy heart.

The classic hymn "I Need Thee Every Hour" captures this well. The back-story described here, offers insight into how this song came about. Recently, it served as the inspiration for a new song written for the Passion worship conference. As we continue the series on new versions of old hymns, I thought I'd highlight this particular song.

Below is an interview and performance with the authors of "Lord I Need You", Kristian Stanfill and Matt Maher. The video isn't only the song, they describe the song-writing process at first and don't play it until 3:40. Afterwards they go through a basic overview of the chords and how to play the song.
While it doesn't totally copy the lyrics of the original hymn, I think you can easily see the similar concepts between the two.

Sermon Snippets

Sometimes it's clear throughout the sermon preparation process that some points of an expositional and exegetical message are more powerful than others. When a pastor knows what is going on in the context of his congregation, he will often see relevant points of application within the words of Scripture that will hit home to anyone with a pulse sitting in the pews of his congregation.

Sometimes it is not clear until the actual sermon is presented that these points become clear. A pastor may or may not realize it, but often the congregation will let him know how much they appreciated x,y, or z point that he made because it related to what they are going through.

This week, I think it happened during the in-between. By 'in-between', I mean during the time when I practiced my sermon this morning. The best I can express it is that I felt the Holy Spirit impress upon me the weight and power of the principles I was expounding on from Scripture.

I'm not going to share specifically what it was, as I don't want to spoil Sunday. Though I always enjoy the week-to-week study of God's Word and consistently feel awe and wonder at the truth of God's Word, I don't always get 'blown away' by it. I don't know if that feels as strange to read as it does to write - shouldn't a pastor always be super-passionate and super-awed about proclaiming a message from God's Word because he's fully digested it and wrestled with it deeply? - but quite honestly, this pastor isn't always super-convicted and completely humbled by the message each week. I seek that level of interaction with the passage, but some weeks it resonates better than others.

This should probably teach me something about how those sitting in the pews will respond and react to my sermons.

I wasn't intending to go in this direction for this week's 'Sermon Snippets', yet here we are. If I haven't lost you yet, permit me to take one final rabbit trail regarding sermon preparation.

While we weren't required to do one specific style in seminary, we were encouraged to both write out our sermons and practice them. From there we would encouraged to find whatever method worked for us. So normally on Fridays, I will cue up my PowerPoint in the sanctuary and preach my sermon to an empty room.

Since then, I've continued to write out my sermons and also practice them. I know some pastors who only sketch out their outlines and preach from there. I know others who use Saturday to finish their messages. After 10 years of teaching regularly and now preaching consistently, I've found I work best when I progressively prepare for my lesson/sermon so that it is complete by Friday.  I usually start prep on Wednesday, and I've found this pace helpful because it allows the sermon text and ideas to rattle around in my head for three days.

And once I have the sermon in a completed form, it continues to marinate in my heart and head one more day. I usually review it on Saturday, sometimes re-practicing it, if I've made major changes.

I find that practicing my messages is helpful for a couple of reasons.

First, it gives me a sense of time.  While my church is not too particular, I do want to be sensitive to not going too long. Some preachers, like John MacArthur and Dale Harris, are talented enough communicators to make a 50 minute sermon feel like 20. I don't think I'm that good. My goal is 30 minutes, I don't feel bad if I'm five minutes under or over.

Second, it allows me to personalize the message and inhabit it after I've typed it out in my head. Sometimes talking my way through it shows me that what sounded good in my head doesn't sound smooth when actually spoken. Practicing the sermon allows me to capture an effective pace and work on generating momentum into key points and principles drawn from the text.

I can admit that there have been times I think I've practiced too much. Usually twice before Sunday is the limit for me. After that, I feel like I lose some of the natural emotional force of necessary for good public speaking.

I don't know if that all makes sense, but hopefully it's an interesting peek behind the curtain of sermon preparation.

Music Mondays

"Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" is my favorite hymn of all-time. It's a humble song, it's a thirsty song, it's an honest song.

David Crowder may be my favorite song-writer of all time, which is probably clear from the fact that he's already shown up twice on this particular list. He is theologically profound and musically gifted, unique both in his appearance and in his approach to writing music.

So when the David Crowder sings "Come Thou Fount...", it is a special occasion. Based off of the amount of video's on YouTube of him singing this song, it seems like one of his favorite songs too. Below is a video recording a live performance of him singing a medley of "Come Thou Fount..." and "Amazing Grace".  Enjoy his one-of-a-kind take on two classics:

Sermon Snippets - Daniel 3

In previewing this week's sermon, I'm going to do less of a preview and more of a sidebar.

In Daniel chapter 3 and the account of the Fiery Furnace, there are two interpretive issues that often distract from the main lessons of the story:

1. Where is Daniel during this episode?

2. Who is the fourth man walking around with Shadrach, Meschach, and Abednego in the furnace?

I'm only going to give them cursory mention in tomorrow's sermon for that very reason, but I thought I'd address them here.

First, where is Daniel during this event?  Twice in the first three verses, every single category of government official is listed among the required attendees to this pagan worship service. As the first two chapters have shown, Daniel's been rapidly promoted up the ranks of the king's advisor's (1:18-20, 2:48-49) and one would expect he'd be included in this exhaustive list. Yet there is no mention of Daniel at all in the entire story; only Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego are mentioned as faithfully refusing to bow to the king's idol. No one seriously has asserted that Daniel was present and bowed to the image. But commentators have been creative in speculating about his whereabouts.

These two resources provide some brief discussions of the options, which I can try to summarize:

1. Daniel was out of the city on official business, possibly intentionally sent away by the King who knew he would object.
2. Daniel was exempt from bowing to show his loyalty, since he'd certainly proved it previously.
3. Daniel was sick and unable to attend.
4. Daniel's reputation was beyond reproach and it would have been useless for these enemies of the Jews to accuse him.

In the end, I must agree with Wallace, who says: "we must refrain from speculation because it is useless!" Daniel was absent from this event, that much we can be sure. It actually adds the historicity of this story that the main hero is not around.

On to the second issue - who is the fourth man who was seen by the king walking around in the furnace?

Preachers and commentators have long taken to identifying this man as Jesus Christ, in pre-incarnate form. They are clearly taking their cues from Nebuchadnezzar's description that the fourth man looked like "a son of the gods". This is a possibility, but it is just as likely that this was an angel of God. Greidanus's work previously cited does a good job of breaking down how the language of text does not favor the Christiological view.  It is speculation to claim with any certainty that this is an appearance of Christ. Sometimes we just need to let the story tell itself and not go further than it clearly allows us to go.

Studying Scripture often leads us on a fascinating journey. However we need to embrace balance before we get too caught up in the scenery and miss our destination. Daniel 3 presents us with a great example of this. The chapter offers an incredible account of God's sovereign deliverance of his faithful people. We allow the Spirit to illuminate the Word with maximum effectiveness when we keep the minor points minor and the major points major and central to how we communicate it.

Music Mondays

As I am compiling this list of re-mixed hymns, I have realized that there are multiple good versions of the same hymn.

That is certainly the case with this week's selection. "How Great Thou Art" may be the most popular hymn of all time, next to "Amazing Grace". In fact, it was rated as such by Christianity Today in 2001. Numerous versions have been song by many different artists from George Beverly Shea to Elvis Presley.

One recent modern interpretation was performed by country superstar Carrie Underwood who was accompanied by fellow country music legend Vince Gill. This was part of a CBS show featuring various female stars of country music. Far from a church service or evangelistic crusade, it's powerful to observe the responses of the audience by the end.

I hope you enjoy this great mix of excellent, heartfelt vocal performance and a powerful God-glorifying anthem:

Music Mondays

I grew up in a church that sang traditional hymns almost exclusively. Those great songs hold a special place in my heart, even though as I've clearly demonstrated by this blog, my musical preferences are much more on the contemporary, 'rock-n-roll' side of the scale.

Yesterday we say this song during our worship service, a popular new version of the classic hymn "Amazing Grace". It gave me an idea for Music Mondays - to highlight some classic hymns that have been remixed in a contemporary style.

To kick things off, I thought I'd start with the song that ended up as the most played song on my own iPod (until the battery ran out and it was reset). I love the arrangement and added chorus that Crowder includes in this song. It's hard to sing the original without wanting to try to sing this version.

If you have your own favorites, feel free to leave a comment or message me on facebook.

Music Mondays - Best Christian Music Videos of All-Time

Two weeks ago, I compiled a list of "The Worst Christian Music Videos of All-Time". If you really want to subject yourself to that unintentional comedy, click on that link and check out the videos. But don't say I didn't warn you.

Well, last week I decided to compile a list of "The Best Christian Music Videos of All-Time", but it turned out to be a larger project than I anticipated so I had to postpone the release of my list until today. It turns out there were more quality options than I anticipated.

But similar to"The Worst..." list, I graded these videos according to four categories:

Fashion & Design (F & D) - Will this video age well or has it aged well? What is the 'look' they are going for and is it attention-getting?

Song Quality (SQ) - Instead of how 'annoying' the song is, I've rated how catchy and listen-able the song is. This is a subjective rating, but it's my list.

Video Concept (VC) - Similar but distinct from F & D, this category rates the video on the story that's being told visually (and musically). Does it draw you in and execute an interesting presentation of the song?

Artist Relevance (Art. Rel.) - This is the only category not ranked on a scale of 1-10, but rather 1-5. If an artist is relevant (or still relevant) they get bonus points for using their platform to produce a quality video. I'm not convinced this is a great category to have, since a little-known artist could still make a good video. But I'd rather watch a great movie with great, well-known actors than a great movie with great, but little-known actors. That's just me I guess.

So let's get started on our countdown with an honorable mention from waaayyyy back:

Honorable Mention - DeGarmo & Key - 666

This video was the first Christian video to be played on MTV, and also the first to be pulled from regular airplay due to its content. According to their Wikipedia page, it was pulled originally because it was mistakenly believed to be anti-Christian. Also, having a man catch fire was deemed objectionable and D&K had to re-edit the video before it was put back on.

10. Flyleaf - All Around Me

This is a worship song. It's a worship song unlike any most churches sing on Sundays, but it's still a worship song. The video itself is pretty straightforward but the visuals of paint streaming down the walls along with the cut-backs to the all-white room is eye-catching. And the video also catches the energy of the song perfectly, putting you in a front row seat at one of their concerts.

Total Score = 25.25 (F&D - 6, SQ - 9, VC - 6.25, Art. Rel. - 4)

9. dc Talk - Between You and Me

This song was dc Talk's only single to make it on the Billboard Hot 100 charts and the video likewise made it into regular rotation on MTV and VH1.  The chase scenes pull you in to the video and by the end, you really want to know what's in that box. Entertaining video and entertaining song.

Total Score = 25.5 (F&D - 6, SQ - 7, VC - 7.5, Art. Rel. - 5)