I Steal, I Don't Kill

I stole this from my friend brad hauge's blog. At around 12:30 a.m. on December 17, 2005, I peed my pants a little when I saw this.

Churches. Can't We All Just Get Along?!?

why is it that there is a separations amongst churches? THere is a guy who would like to play at my church, but he goes to another church. His heart is to build a community and friendship amongst churches, but I was told that I couldn't let him play because he plays at another church. There is a term that I like to use which is "church gigging". THis is a term for people who play at multiple churches so that they can get more play time. This guy who plays at another church wants to play with me to support our outreach into the neighborhood and support a community that he has a desire and longing for. So is it wierd that I want him to come to my church to play?

I guess you have to choose a church eventually, but when you are using your gifts to bless a community is this a bad thing? It seems that there are these walls built up and sometimes need to be broken down. I spoke to this guy, and told him to speak to his pastor about this to let him know that we are not stealing him at all, but instead are sharing his gifts, and also that this is his choice and not my influence. I will also speak to his pastor after he does, but this is just wierd to me. I knkow that this is the mature thing to do, but I think that this is the shitty part of being a "pastor". My heart still lies in the thought of building a network of musicians who have a passion for playing for God. If churches can hire musicians out of a studio, is there a difference in this?

I had to battle with my bosses for this, and it is cool because they trust me with this and my decision, but then I am also scared, because what if I screw it up and they never let me do this ever again. crap.

ron

I'd Hate to Jump On Board...

but I went to see Narnia today, and it was probably the most amazing story I've ever seen/heard. Knowing that it was a movie, and not a book, I am inspired to read the series. I didn't really jump on board with the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but this one I may became a fairweather friend.
I think what intrigued me was the theological ties running rampant throughout the movie. If the movie was somewhat true to the book, I like a lot of CS Lewis' theology. THough he is selfproclaimed "not a theologian", Lewis' story is so rich with the stuff it was impossible as a christian not to be moved by this movie. One question though: what the heck was Santa doing there?
I was also moved by this movie, because I've been going through this "dry period" in my spirituality. Not so much a doubting of God, but a doubting of the church. This movie, and the story of Christ and his mission, helped me realize that people matter so much more than my feelings of what the church should be like.

thoughts?
ron

oh those asians...they so crazay!

Stole this from my friend knox. It's very interesting and funny.

gotta go, saved by the bell college years is on.

ron

Matisyahu

I'd talked about listening to this guy earlier, but the more I listen to him, the more I like him. The thing about him is that he is Jewish who does dancehall reggae music. As I listen to him, I keep hearing all of these stories and lyrics that sound familiar, and I realize he's singing right out of Old Testament Theology and Israelite history. It is very interesting to hear, but there is one song in which he cries over and over wanting longing for the messiah. It is such a strange disconnect that I have when I hear this. I like to think of the Jewish faith as our distant cousins, almost like that cousin that nobody talks good about, but most of the family knows that you are related. The family just doesn't talk about this cousin because of his wierd beliefs. But what if we are the wierd cousins that everybody is talking about. ***side note: I am at TWU and I just saw this couple make out in the "student center" as I am writing this - get a dorm room, seriously.***

anyshoe, I'm finishing up a paper on Merton.

peace in the middle east
rizz

Heading Into the Home Stretch

Just a few more finals and then I will drop dead...well, not really but I will be glad it is all over. My plans? I will probably read, write some new songs, work out old songs, and record some songs with some friends of mine. I am also planning out what I want to do for my next record even though I haven't one ready to listen to now. I think for my new album I will do a "concept" album telling the stories of people that I minister to and fellowship with. It will be their stories, only they won't really know it - very bruce springsteen or lionel richie in theory, you decide which one. This is just a thought ponging around in my head right now.

what am I reading? Study notes...boo.
what am I listening too? A mix of songs that I made that I named, "Music to Make Love To: Volume III".

ron

Another One Bites the Dust!

Knocked out another paper. This one was on the interpretation of Isaiah 7:14, and the thought of Isaiah talking to Ahaz and Israel or predicting the coming of the Messiah.

So far I've written:
*A 10 page paper on "Jesus made in the Image of Man"
*A 10 Page paper on "The Social Gospel and its Impact on American Religion and Society"
*A 6 Page exegetical paper on "Isaiah 7:14"

In the next week I will write:
A 10 Page paper on Benedictine Monks
A 10 page reflection on Writings of Thomas Merton
An 8 Page paper about architecture used in christian worship.

All this while studying for finals.

Shoot me now.

Random Snow Day Thoughts

I sit here watching "Saved by the Bell: The College Years" and laughing as I watch outside with anticipation for the next dumping of snow. It probably won't snow again, but "anything can happen on a snow day" ("Snowday" one of the best snow movies ever). I'm debating whether I should work on papers or see how Zach's crazy shenanigans end up. Is it me, or did A.C. rock the same mullet through high school and college?
I was thinking the other day about family traditions. Cynthia and I go to get a Christmas tree the day after thanksgiving every year with our friends the Westons. What are some of your traditions? Really, I'd like to know.
What are your churches doing for Christmas? ANything different? For the next four weeks leading into christmas, we will be doing some different liturgies (prayers, calls and response, and candles. WE are so Post modern) and celebrating the season of expectation. I didn't grow up in a church, so this will be fun and different for me. I've had some people come and tell me that they thought that advent was just a word in front of a calendar that they could buy at Costco.

enough of that. Saved by the Bell is finishing and I have papers to write. Enjoy your day.

ron

A Step in the Right Direction for the Church

This is what we should have been doing since the eighties.

My time this weekend

I've been writing lots of papers as you may or may not know, and that is how I spent this last weekend. I did however get to attend Christ the King Bellingham so that I could work on a paper for my worship studies class. This paper will tell whether CTK is a pedagogical church or revivalist church, or does it deal with the mind or the heart.
I loved going to this church, because my friend/mentor/hero leads there, and seeing the way that he leads the congregation is a beautiful thing. He is able to capture and direct the attention of the congregation deeper than the singing of the songs, but more so draw unconciously attention to the meaning of the songs. He also started the service with a very simple greeting saying that we are worshipping our God with song which is just one of many ways to worship this God that is so worthy of praise. I'll be honest, I'm going to steal that because I truly believe that people need to hear and know this when they are worshipping through song. It was very refreshing to be led in worship rather than lead. Thank you sam

ron

listening to: Buckethead "Colma". A guitar prodigy who toured with Axl (they were NOT Guns and Roses) on his last tour. He plays with a white mask on (like the guy from the Halloween movies)and a KFC bucket on his head - need I say more?

And Challenging for Nerd of the Year is...

Nerd of the Year Contender

Negative Christians

At Trinity Western University, I am a Christianity and Culture major, which looks at Christianity and its history and theology. I've said it before and I'll say it again, the more I learn, the more I question about my place in the church and though I question, I've met people who are more extreme than I am. My fellow C & C majors wonder the same as me, but they threaten to leave the protestant church and instead move to the orthodox church. This used to be attractive to me, until I came to this thought: the church is the bride of Christ, and the we are basically calling the bride all of the names and thoughts that we have of it (i.e. a whore). When we call the church these names, the groom is going to find out and punch us in the face. Martin Luther quote from Monkey's blog: the church is a whore, but I love her. Did Luther get punched in the face?

If we are so negative and so quick to leave the church, how will it ever find out what Jesus intended for it to be in the first place.

ron

listening to: Christmas mix - Christina Aguilera, Neil Diamond, Greg Otterholt, Adam Sandler, Tracy CHapman, and many others.

Worship Conference

This past weekend, I was given the opportunity to attend a Worship leaders conference down in Kirkland with other worhship leaders from our church. Here are my likes and dislikes:

Likes:
I was able to get to know people that I serve with a little better. I was able to learn different and new approaches to the guitar. I saw music done in different styles and with different approaches. I got out of town for the weekend. I saw favorite artists such as Lincoln Brewster, Chris Tomlin, and Matt Redman. The classes I took were very informative, and well taught by professional musicians and teachers.

Dislikes:
Wherein lies the difference between the Worship set and Christian Concert? I found myself waiting to hear my favorite leaders to play their hits. I watched more than "worshipped". Though I got to see them play, I left in the middle of their...set? I don't think that I was the only one who thought this - I hope not - because it was aggravating to hear people say, "I love this song". I'm not self righteous and I'm not THE worship leader either. In fact, throughout this conference, I fell into the trap of wishing I could show some of my chops to people. When you stick a bunch of musicians in a room together, there is no breathing room because our heads swell up and fill teh room itself. It is a sad thing really, because as leaders our humility should be prevalant, but even during the musical worship sets you hear it. When the leader is singing, all that you can hear throughout the congregation are the harmonies of the song and no melody.

oh well, my stank still stinks like everybody else.

ron
Listening to: the new David Crowder Band CD. I love his music because he sounds like David Crowder and not compared to any other people (Secular or Not). Favorite track is the remake of Hank Williams/Johnny Cash's "I Saw the Light" and "Oh God, Where are You Now? (In Pickerel Lake? Pidgeon? Marquette? Mackinaw?)"

Is This a Joke?

Really quick add to the last-
cruising around and found this job description for an "Extreme Worship Pastor" in a Pomo/GenX church. Read on and be baffled or amazed or just plain filled with laughter.


Job Description:
Main Event Church is seeking an exceptional leader to be our Pastor of Extreme Worship Arts. We believe the right person will be a unique fit for for such a time as this.

This person serve under the Senior Pastor, and will oversee all areas of worship. Candidates must embrace the Senior Pastor’s vision of aligning all people of all denominations under the same vision. The person must also meet these requirements:

Ability to infuse the TULIP doctrine in all worship sets

Postmodern, Visionary, Missional leader capable of creating an ethos and apostolitic movement

Willing to find some songs written from a premillenial dispensationalist theological tradition

Desires to develop an emerging handbell choir

Some snake handling may be appropriate (for our believers service only)

Agree that the Lord is to be worshiped through magnificent attire and appropriate versions of the Bible

Demonstrate proof of a second blessing... Tongue speaking in various accents is a major plus as we are a multicultural church.

Exegetically establish a movement of fluidity in the Extreme Worship Ministry

We realize that many of these requirements are personal preferences and not biblical mandates. Therefore, each candidate must be aligned with roughly 3/4 of all our requirements.

God Bless America and Nobody Else!

I'm reading, "the american Jesus" by Steven Prothero. A recommended read to any american who believes that we are the chosen nation...we are aren't we? This book gives a history of how we came to worship Jesus instead of God the father like the New World Puritans who "founded" america. It is such an interesting thought how our belief in Jesus is so different than that of the founding fathers of the good ol' US of A. According to Prothero, we began distorting the face of Jesus and his agenda when Jefferson took a razor and glue to the gospels to build the "Jefferson Bible" and give us what he feels are teh essentials of the Gospels. Only in America....Only in America.

ron

Listening to: Matisyahu-Shake off the Dust...Arise. This is a Hassidic Jew who mixes his chants and beliefs with Dancehall Reggae music. Definitely worth a shake of the tuchas.

Busy, Busy, Busy

This past weekend I was up in Beautiful Vancouver, British Columbia on saturday night and sunday morning. It was really quick, but painful. I was up to participate in a liturgical service where I helped lead some of teh embodied prayer or praying with the whole self. Really what I'm doing is churching up the phrase "interpretive dance". Yes, that's right, I was doing a little bit of interpretive dancing this weekend. Here's a question for you: What has two thumbs and hates interpretive dance? Answer: this guy right here.
It was an interesting night and really cool in some parts. The worship music was done by a Jazz Combo and all that we did that night, Cynthia and I experienced when we went to an Anglican Church service at St. Johns (shaugnessy). It was a really neat experience in a beautiful church. If you are ever in the area, really you should check it out because it was just an over all different experience. See, I come from an adrenaline driven church experience, so tradition is something taht I don't have a lot of experience in. I really enjoyed it, and took communion from a Community Cup- that was different. It was real wine too. I'm not of a fan of wine, so it made me think a little differently of actually ingesting the blood of Christ as a bitter experience and the way that Jesus died.
This next weekend I get to go to the Christian Music Summit and learn about worship leading, guitar playing, etc.. Sometimes I am very saddened by these things, because they offer classes like, "How to have a Cool Choir" - no joke, this is an actual class - and it makes me embarrassed. Some of the peole who are at this thing are some of the bigger names in Christian music such as Matt Redman and Chris Tomlin...it makes me wonder what they think of classes like this.

ron

Listening to: Right now I love this guy named Monte Montgomery, an acoustic player from Austin Texas. Also I listen to Pantera while running.

...Somebody Kill Me Please!!!

In the next month I will be writing paper after paper after paper...after paper. I didn't realize I would have to waste this many trees. Here is my schedule of Papers:

A paper on Jonah-Looking at the Fish as a symbol of Hell, but it is a Hell that God gave to Jonah out of his grace. 6 Pages Due November 2

A paper on Jesus in the image of man. 10 pages Due November 17

A paper on the Jefferson Bible and his deist agenda. 10 pages due November 29

A paper on the Desert Fathers in the early church. 10 pages due December 6

A paper on the Architecture of the medieval church in worship 10 pages Due December 5

A paper due on an Old testament Theme that I haven't even begin to think about. 6 Pages due on December 7.

Also, a couple of 1-3 pagers detailing services at different churches that I will visit.

God help me please.

ron

Lived To Tell The Story...

Well, my weekend is over and now I have officially spoken for the first time. It was actually really fun. It was a stretch for me, but in teh end it all came together. I realized that God works in wierd ways (realized yet again) when I was driving home thinking about how I don't think any kids got anything out of what I gave them this weekend, but I think that this weekend was just a way for God to tell me that I can do it. I often wondered if I could, but was never given the chance. That's my friend Monkey for ya! Always looking out for the little man and giving me a chance. I think my biggest fear this weekend was that I didn't let him down and that people would see me as a serious talk giver guy. Sometimes during the talk time, I would see kids staring off into space and I'd think that it was normal, but there was also a leader who sat in the front and would frown the whole time-not very encouraging to say the least. Oh well, God pushed me through it and I lived to tell you about it. THat's all that really matters.

ron

listening to: I got an MP3 player this weekend. So cool. Decided against the iPod for financial reasons, but also because it is very discouraging that you can only use their stuff. Boo. Soory <---canadian for sorry--- to my friend Paul, because I know that he works with Macstuff.

I'm an Uncle!!! This is my nephew Kale Evan Pai. He was even born on my birthday! (October 14th...its not too late to send a present) 

Ron the Speaker?

This weekend I get the priviledge and opportunity to speak to high schoolers about worship. As much as I would love to discuss different aspects and styles of worship, I decided to tell these kids about some of the personalities of the triune God that we as christians worship. In my head I thought that it would be better instead of learning about "embodied prayer" or different postures of worship that it may benefit them better to learn about the different parts of the trinity and hopefully make them think about why we worship them.

please pray for this talk as it comes to fruition...I'm still not finished with it.

ron

listening to: Travis Tritt: Greatest Hits. I don't know why, but I like his voice. The thing that I love the most is his guitar playing.

Thoughts?

...modern Christianity has become willy-nilly the religion of the state and the economic status quo. Because it has been so exclusively dedicated to incanting anemic souls into heaven, it has, by a kind of ignorance, been made the tool of much earthly villainy. It has for the most part, stood silently by, while the predatory ecomony has ravaged the world, destroyed its natural beauty and health, divided and plundered its human communities and households. It has flown the flag and chanted the slogans of empire. It has assumed with the economists that "economic forces" automatically work for good, and has assumed with the industrialists and miltarists that technology determines history. It has assumed with everybody that "progress" is good, that it is good to be modern and up with the times.

-Wendell Berry

Berry went on to say that Christians admired Caeser even during his depradations and defaults. But in this alliance, they fail to take action against the Murder of Gods Creation and his willingness to destroy the world. For in these days, Ceasar is no longer a mere destroyer of armies, cities, and nations. He is the contradictor of the fundamental miracle of life.

A part of the normal practice of his power is his willingness to destoy the world. He prays, he says, and churches everywhere compliantly pray with him. But he is praying to a God whose works he is prepared at any moment to destroy. What could be more wicked than that, or more mad?

Thoughts on Don Miller

CYnthia and I went to see Don Miller speak at the firs conference center last night. It was a very insightful talk telling us that everybody is mroe important than we think we are. I thought htat the most important thing that he said was that the top two people that people are most scared of are:

2) Serial Killers
1) Evangelical Christians

It's funny that people are scared of Christains more than somebody who would eat somebodies brains without even thinking twice about it. One of the reasons of this is that we begin to think that we are seeing how many people we can convert before we find out who the person is. We put Jesus into the thought of a product before he is an actual relationship. We try to sell the product to a person before we can actually have some kind of credibility to speak in their lives.

Another thing he talked about was when he was asked to defend Christianity, and he said that he couldn't defend something that wasn't what it was supposed to be in the first place. He couldn't defend something with a name that was given to it so that Rome could have a voting platform. He wouldn't defend something that has been westernized and is used to assimilate other people to western thinking. All that we can defend is that God love us, but he loves everybody as much as us. We cannot go on writing people off because they don't believe God died for them and the world's sins. These are the people that God told us to love more than ourselves. These are the people that we need ot talk to.

As much as we would not like to think it, the church has become a club that has become inpenetrable by people on the outside. Some churches call themselves "seeker sensitive", but what are tehy being sensitive too? This is the question that makes me think that I want to play in bars again. I think I talked about how I hate hanging out with christians before, but sometimes I really mean it. Sometimes we as xtians are the fakest people. One time I played at a College ministry "talent" show and I said, "it's funny when you play in front of christians, because they won't let you know if you suck or not, because they clap at anything you do". "Oh that was great", they say. it jsut makes me laugh. It will be hard to play in bars again, because they will tell you if you suck, but at least they are real.

ron

CD- Sgt Peppers and Commons "Be"

Quick Thought for You-

In the beginning of the bible we are told about God dwelling among us within the garden with the tree of life and the impending curse that is set down upon us because of the mistake of Adam and Eve. But in Revelations 22 we are told about a time when God will dwell among us again and we will be face to face with him and a tree of life that will heal the nations and there will no longer be a curse. If we go right into the middle, we find Jesus as God dwelling among us and dying for us on the cross (the tree of life) that will forgive us our sins (lift the curse). Just something that ran through my mind as I was thinking during one of my classes.

Is it me, or does this look like one of those emails that you have to forward to ten of your friends if you believe in Jesus otherwise you don't?

ron

CD-Listening to the White Stripes in concert on NPR
Reading-a narrative of surprising conversions by John Edwards. zzzzzz...what? oh I'm sorry I fell asleep.

Pain In The Neck

I threw my neck out. It hurts so bad that I am using an old prescription of Vicadin to help ease the pain. I led music at our monthly worship service last night at church. I was high on Vics. Is this a sin?
One thing that I'd like to pass on to you is this thought: THe importance of space. When I was leading worship last night, there were these moments where you could feel the presence of GOd in the room. You could feel that he was doing something incredible, but suddenly out of the blue there would come this extremely violating moment where an electric guitar would make a big "ka-chunk" sound, and this was not an accident. The guitar player was either checking his guitar or "adding" sound. Something that we guitar players are cursed with is that we love to play, and if we are not playing we think that we should be. Here is where the concept of space comes through.
When worshipping in any shape or form, we need to be considerate toward the Holy Spirit and be ready to move with it where ever it may lead. The thing is, if we are continually running our mouths/instruments/whatever it is that you worship with, how will you ever be able to be sensitive to what the Spirit is trying to say?
A friend of mine once showed me an illustration of this by balancing a broomstick on the end of my hand. THe point of this illustration was the fact that we cannot balance the broom without looking up to the heavy part of teh broom. This is what is true in worship: we cannot worship without keeping our eyes on the Holy Spirit, otherwise you are going to try to manipulate it to no avail.

ron
CD-THe Gorillaz*demon days. Beautiful cd.

Excited for-The movie Walk the Line. the Johnny Cash story. It will be amazing.

Words Cannot Explain...

I recieved the strangest phone call last night. I have a friend in california who I've known for some time now and he called me to tell me, "as a friend and as a pastor", that he has cancer. He finds out tomorrow if it is aggressive or not and an estimate on his life. He called me to tell me that he wants me to play at his funeral. It's a beautifully morbid honor that he is giving me, but it's these times that God just doesn't make sense. He's not old, and he's not young, he doesn't smoke, he's fairly healthy...he just has a sunspot that is growing on his head. This is where teh reality of "pastor" kicks in (and by pastor I don't mean that I have the title in front of my name). It's not jsut playing songs anymore, it's peoples lives in my hands and assuring that God is remembered in all of this shit. It is really numbing right now. Surreal...is that the word I'm looking for?

ron

cd-A mix of Hawaiian/island music to help soothe me: Israel Kamakawiwo'ole, Bob Marley, 311, ub40, Jack Johnson, Ho'aikane, and others that you may or may not have heard of. I sent a copy down to my friend to help soothe him also.

I hate smart people

I have this wierd torture device called New Testament Theology. I go every Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 10:00-10:50. I am so lost most of the time, because it is so above my head. I don't want to look like an idiot, but I think I might bring a dictionary with me to class. People are throwing around words like dichotemy, dispensationalism. or Kerygma. I know what these words mean now, sort of, but it just seems like these people are learning new words and trying to impress the teacher with their little nuggets of jizz. I just want to look at them and say, "Your mental masturbation impresses nobody but the people in your head, and what you are doing is just pointless and annoying-please stop". I guess it's not the smart people I hate, but instead the chronic masturbators as mentioned above. I think that once people gain a little academic understanding there is this need to show it off. This is why I choose to not make sarcastic remarks towards the church anymore. I think some of it may come from my newly attained knowledge.

I hate academics.

ron

CD listening to: Still listening to Talib Kweli, son! Also listening to Dave Matthews "Everyday" CD. Never listened to it before. It sounds a lot like other Dave Matthews CD's. Don't you hate when people call him "Dave"? Hippies.

movie time

saw the "rockumentary" Rock School last night. It was very impressive, but also very upsetting. This guy is teaching kids to be rock stars, and also giving them really complicated pieces to play in hopes that they will "make it" and then the trail will lead back to them starting at Rock School in Philidelphia. Though it was really impressive to see these kids ranging from 9-17 playing Frank Zappa tunes, it was equally annoying how this guy was yelling at these kids and embarassing them. But the kids loved him. they said that it made them practice harder. What?!? I would have kicked him in the junk and told him, "suck it trabek, I'm out". Oh well, that's why they are really talented at the ages of 9-17 and I'm not quite there yet...and I'm going to be 29.

crap

turning over a new leaf...

isn't that the wierdest saying? If you turned over the old one, wouldn't it be just as effective? Anyways, that's what I am doing-I am turning over an old leaf. I was driving home from school and I realized how negative I have been toward the church as of late. Really I feel that it may stem from my eyes being opened to what used to exist, but now I see what the church has been turned into. I don't want to think like that anymore, so what I am going to do is start being positive. I won't let my sarcasm come out as thick as it used to. Though I am naturally sarcastic, I think that it would be best for everybody if I thought before I spoke. THis is out loud though, not to you who read this blog. I will still let it out here once in a while, but I will watch my mouth in the out loud world.

today it starts.

ron

Currently reading: The European impact on Indian Culture. An article that I can't give my immediate thoughts on, because the leaf has been officially turned.

CD: Common's album "Be". It was produced by the latest media whore Kanye West. It is very good. Also listening to an album by Talib Kweli. I'm going straight street suckas.

I Don't Know What To Think...

I had an idea as I drove into school today...

I want to start a church inside of a bar. Not one central place, but more of a travelling church: different locations, different times. What I will do is not preach to the people about how bad they are or give them 3-5 points to a better life, but I just want to let them know that this is where Jesus would be. Though he wouldn't be throwing down totally with them, he would be getting to know them and at times sharing the promises that God has for them.

I've told 4-5 people about this idea and they all say the same thing, "There are already Christians playing in bars". THe thing to remember is, how many of them are closing the place down? Most of them leave as soon as their set is over. My point is to have a merch booth that will sell random ron pai paraphenelia, but also give out information on places they can go for help or causes that they can help me support or even web sites that they can visit after they visit mine that can help them with addictions of anysorts (ie: xxxchurch.com).

I was also thinking that this could be a community of musicians and so that they can go to random bars and play (different styles of music playing for the same cause).

Here's a thought for you: What if we found 4-6 bars that would open up their bar on Sunday nights and allowed us to do an actual service there. Sundays are usually the dead night anyways. People show up for church who know about it, but people who don't know about it will just be there. The thing is, we would only know where the church service would be if you looked on the website. So again, it's a traveling service. All we would have to do is show up, plug in, and go. This is a very different thought, not quite radical, but different.

I don't know what to think

ron

CD listening to: I got the Killers cd "Hot Fuss". I love it. It reminds me of the Cure. I love the cure and so should you.

What I am lerning

Yes I realize that i misspelled learning. It's a joke because I have started up at TWU again. I'm reading "Retrieving the Tradition and Renewing Evangelicalism" right now. I just started the book, but something that he said that kind of rang true was that the church of today is beginning to forget about it's history and replacing it with life applications. In other words, we are replacing Theology with Ideology.
Last night I watched a broadcast of Hillsong Church in Australia and I heard the pastor say phrases like, "God says..." a lot, but there was no scriptural backing for those statements. It was odd, but I guess that's the point of a seeker church.

The thing that really kind of makes me question the church and it's motives today is if they want us to know how Jesus is, what about people who don't know where the whole thing started from. I guess what I am saying is that we hear on any given sunday scriptures quoted from various books in the bible, but the average joe who just came off the streets may not know what the significance is, because there is no teaching of what's what in the bible. Maybe some kind of Bible 101 would be a nice addition to the church. People like me who didn't go to church all their lives may not know a lot about the bible, or may have questions about the bible.

Some churches may say that it's not their job and that the person has to own their faith and discover for themselves through personal study and enrichment (i.e. small/cell/home groups)....what?!? Though we have to come off of the teet of the church, they should give us some direction...right?

ron

ps-learnign about Christopher Columbus right now. It's funny that the banks shut their doors for such an ugly cause.

Sick today

i'm at home right now being sick. I am watching TV, because we just got cable. Everything is Hurricane. I almost think that I liked life better not knowing anything. No joke, my wife and I didn't know about the Tsunami until two weeks after it happened. I watch TV and I wonder, "is there anything that isn't sex?", but then I found sportscenter. ah, sweet relief.

It Just Hit Me...

Next month I am turning the ripe age of 29. I'd like a pipe to smoke for my birthday so I can look dignified and smart like the theologians do, but without the beard. I look back on my life and wonder, "how much money would I have if I didn't drink and smoke it all away in my youth?". Not that it matters at all, but it's always amazing and funny to look back and see where God has brought all of us. I heard a worship leader ask the congregation, "How many of you can remember where you were when you were saved by the blood of of the lamb?" and I laughed, because I can remember going to church with some of my friends as sombody who didn't believe in the whole God thing and then going to the bar to get drunk, smoke, play pool, and discuss what we'd heard. I still think that these conversations were some of the most real and intimate conversations that I've had about the gospel and what it means to me. Unfortunately, I am the only one who of those friends who stuck with the whole "Jesus" thing and is trying to live the semi righteous life, but I love to see these friends and talk to them about those times.
I always get sad or upset when I hear people who are Christians say that they can't hang out with, or don't like to hang out with non christians. What's the point of their faith then? Really, if Jesus came to earth right now, do you think that he would be chilling inside of the church looking good, or do you think he would be out and about amongst everybody? I know that this talk is so passe`, but it's really a sad occurance that still happens even today (cell/small/home groups anybody?). Where are you serving outside of your church ministry? What about outside of your church? How many of your friends are unchurched? I don't have as many as I'd like. I wish that I still got invited to the parties that I used to, but now I'm viewed as "stuffy" or just plain "christian". I like to tell them that I am not a christian, but I do follow the teachings of Jesus Christ. It breaks my heart that some of my old friends may never know Jesus, because I am viewed by them this way and so they don't think to invite me.

Hey here's a new site I got from Sojourners for you to enjoy.
www.Turn-Left.com

hello,
ron

What I am listening to right now: UB40 Labour of Love. What a great album. If you don't think that, them you should go here and download the movie to see what will happen to you.

What a Wierd Day

I hung out with some people from a church acrossed town called hillcrest, and we talked for a while. I went to their house to get a 2pac CD and ended up walking away with that and a Public Enemy CD. ONe of them was cleaning out his wallet and he found a card on how to convert people to christian thought through 5 easy steps. It was actually quite funny, because it gives the normal questions of "are you going to heaven?", "who is jesus to you?", "if you were wrong would you want to know why?"
I also went to Circuit City and picked bought two new CD's Israel Houghton's newer CD that my ministry will pay for and also the new Kanye West CD. It was kind of strange to go from 2pac rapping about the streets to Israel Houghton worship music.
Finally I came to church and sat in a couple of meetings with people about our next communion service. We have this idea to serve communion simply with slides and no sound. We will give the scripture and then the schpeal about "if you are not a christian blahbity blah". I think it will be cool and a little different from what they are used to at our church.
I think that beavis and butthead may reappear on Mtv. This would be cool, because my wife and I just ordered cable after four years of battling it out...and just in time for Husky football. Yes!

What a wierd day indeed,
ron-holio

...

Reading Ray Bakke's book, "The Urban Christian".
~The Gospel is news, not advice~

Listening to Kanye West-The College Dropout (new album out yesterday)
~She got a light skinned friend look like Michael Jackson, Got a dark skinned friend look like Michael Jackson~

Cynthia and I got a room mate yesterday. He didn't come home the first night, so we grounded him.

I am going to teach kids about worshipping the Lord in more ways than music...any suggestions? I've got interpretive dance covered.

ronzilla 2005

What Would Jesus Do?

Check this out...WWJD

Also another walmart site.

Peas Beaches,
ron

My Time at The Lynden Fair

I went to the County fair this last week and saw Jars of Clay...more like Jars of Lame. Here are some of my thoughts while the concert was going on:

-Is this the same song?

-When are they going to play "Flood"?

-What will they play after "Flood"?

-I hate when Christian bands do encores. I hate encores all together, but it's pretty lame when a Christian band does a set where people are worshipping and then after they are done, they go backstage and come out after people have been chanting, "one more, one more, one more" for the past five minutes.

-Jars of Clay does have a cool ministry that they are pushing: www.bloodwatermission.org You should check it out.

-Jars spoke about how their ministry asks for only $1 and it will give a person in africa clean water for a year. It cost $18 dollars to see them...imagine what it would look like if instead of going to see an acoustic set of a band whose songs I know only include "Flood", and a few of the hymns off of their new CD, the money was donated to blood: water missions. Imagine if the people of the fair donated $2 from every ticket sold, that would be about $4000-$8000, enough for 1-2 new wells in afica.

-I hate money sometimes.

-I know more about Christian music than I really would like to.

-I don't know as much about secular music as I used too...this has to change.

And then the show ended. YEAH!!!

ron

A Rant For You To Read

I really should think before I write this, but that's what blogs are for right? There has been a lot of talk about where my church is headed and the things that we will be doing in order to get there, and I think that it sucks. We are headed into more of a "small group" thought in order to reach out to our county for the good of Gods kingdom. The only thing is, there is a church right across town who is doing the same thing. In order to reach this place of Small groups, we have to cut a lot of programs including some of our outreach programs...so who exactly are we reaching out to now, the white middle class families?
Our new pastor spoke this week and gave an amazing point that we sometimes forget: "There are no second class citizens. It's not that I hate the church, in fact I support them in there attempt to reach more people for Jesus, but it seems that they are almost forgetting the widows and orphans part of the bible and focussing more within the walls of teh church. It's almost as if the church as a whole is trying to become so friendly to the "world", that we are starting to adapt to some of it's traits. What I mean is that maybe we are starting to adapt traits such as self centeredness and this is why we are only looking at what's going on inside and not outside of the church.
I sang a hymn this last week at the Leadership Summit called "I love your church, O God", but I don't know if I really mean it. While I do love the church that Christ died for, I don't always love all of it's people. I think that the worst part about it is that I don't feel bad for saying that.

ron

Forgive me for I have sinned (Guilty Pleasure): I watched THe Chappelle Show Season 2, and I laughed my butt off. Probably one of the funniest things that I have seen in a while, and at the same time, the crudest, rudest, and most vulgar. God, why did you give me a sick sense of humor?

Willow Creek Summit

I, much like my friend Matt at Incarnational Ortho, went to the Willowship conference this past week. Though I've only been to one in my life, I was really skeptical going into this conference (with a name like Rick Warren on the bill how can you not be skeptical). I am glad to say that I was really surprised. From what I've seen for myself and heard from Summit veterans, the press was always on leadership and corporations-BOO. This year there was a huge emphasis on social causes and issues-Yeah!!! Even Rick Warren chimed in with a "shame on the church for not recognizing the AIDS epidemic in Africa". Although one of the many skits that Willow is known for did say (tongue in cheek), "AIDS in Africa, let Bono worry about it".
I really appreciated a lot of what was said at this conference. It was very refreshing to finally hear the church saying that we need to be involved in the world outside of it's walls. Very encouraging.
The only bad thing was I felt like Hybels was giving some "pointers" for pastors to strive and survive whent they are hurting...but all of his pointers were more aimed at mega church pastors rather than the small church guy.

Just what I observed. I heard a lot of things that the church has needed to hear for years now, and I heard other things that I didn't agree with...oh yeah, and I slept through the guy from South Africa. His speech pattern was so rhythmic.

see you soon,
ron

My Summer Job

I have the priviledge to work with underprivilidged youth at a program called "ray of hope". Basically what we do is hang out with kids and allow them to actually be a kid, whereas at home they are having to grow up too fast. I get to meet the most awesome people and also see some of these kids meet God for the first time and also find out who Jesus is and give them a small glimmer of the love he has for them.

One of my "favorites" is a kid who has Cerebral Palsy named Dana. Dana and I talk about stuff he likes to do, dreams he has, and also things that he wishes that he could do. One of these things is Skateboarding. Yesterday he looked at me after he saw two kids skate by and said:

"that's something I'll never get to do".

"What are you talking about?", I asked, "You've got a skateboard strapped to your butt right now".

"Yeah, but I'll never get to stand on a skateboard".

"So???" I said, "You can still do tricks, you can still go into skate bowls, you can still roll with them"

and at that moment he smiled at me and started doing wheelies, 360's, and all of these other tricks and laughing again. I learn so much from these kids who "don't have a chance". I believe that these kids are an integral part of the future, and if they don't know that somebody is taking the time to care for them or to even show and tell them that Jesus loves them, then what are we even doing on this earth?

I love my summer job.

peas beaches
ron

Monk- You're going to have to email me, because I don't know your email address.

giftings

I don't know how much I agree with the whole "where do your giftings lie" that ministries continually pound into us as christians. I think that people do have giftings, but at the same time I think that they settle for so much less than they are able to do. For example: I'm a good listener, so I should probably lead a small group that will meet once a week or maybe every other week. I think that this listener could find so much more to do than just a small group, what about leading non believers to know Christ without the small group? What if the listener was also good at speaking in public? We will never know, because they are only leading a small group.

I'm not a "gifts died in acts" kind of guy. I actually believe that they are alive and serving the church today, but I also believe that people tend to sell themselves short with gifts and serving. I think that people get pigeon holed and then believe that this is the only way that they can serve.

does any of this make sense?

ron

ps: I believe that my gift is getting people to go against the grain and try to question who they are and what they believe.

The Fourth of July

I appreciate my freedom of speech, I really do. I think that this year was the first time I've ever really reflected on the Fourth of July and what it truly means to me. The fact that I can talk about my faith openly, or talk about my government openly, protest and ditest what it does or seems to stand for, or even that I get to type on this blog without the fear that someone is tracking my where abouts at this very second is a blessing.

As I watched fireworks exploding in the sky, by peoples ears, or in peoples hands this past holiday, I thought to myself how lucky we truly are that we are free of oppression and tyranny. The symbolism of the "rockets red glare" and "Bombs bursting in air" made me realize that people went through a lot to obtain and sustain this freedom that I have. Though I don't agree with political views and wars that go on, I do know that we are lucky be where we are.

So enough of patriotism, here is the statement that we as christians need to question: "God Bless America". Why is it during these patriotic times, we have this come up over and over again. Is this the true ringing tone of freedom? Who was the brain giant who wrote this song? I'll bet he was white, rich, and a slave owner. The worst part about this scenario is that people are still writing these songs glorifying our country, but now these songs include something whitty like "these colors don't run" or "if you mess with us we'll kick your ass".

But it doesn't stop at the song. Sure we don't own slaves, but why is it when we pull into a Family Bookstore, somebody has taken their sticker of a yellow ribbon with this phrase printed on it and cleverly turned it sideways like a "jesus fish". I think if they are going to release all of the "God Bless America" propaganda, they should at least make it truly mean what they are selling and add to it "and no one else". They may as well start making "God Bless Whitey" or "God Bless Me" stickers.

And this is where the whole freedom thing rings in (pun intended). We look at our lives and the opportunities we have and we say, "I'm so glad to live in America and be able to worship my God freely", and yet we never look at others when we say this. It's almost like the Pharisee and the tax collector: God, thank you for blessing me as an american and that you didn't make me like the people in somalia who are fearful of being taken out by Mogadishu warlords. And they are there saying, "God, thank you for allowing me to be alive". Our priorities seem to get messed up in freedom...maybe that's what I've been trying to say this whole time. If that makes sense to you then that's what I was saying - priorities, it's what's for dinner.

peas
ron

cd- If you would like more "America Rules and you suck" music, listen to Toby Keith.

Movie Time!!!

Went to see War of the Worlds last night. I'm not going to spoil it for you, but I will tell you that it an interesting theory and was pretty intense at times. It was guys night out for my small group guys. We went to the Colossus where I was able to eat a Whopper, enjoy the movie, and if I wanted to, go upstairs and enjoy a cold beer before teh movie...I love Canada.
I also saw a preview for the Chronicles of Narnia and King Kong. Those are two movies that I'm pretty excited for. I hope that it's not one of those movies that are filled with special effects and no plot. When I went to see "the day after tomorrow", I left thinking, "great special effects, but why did it seem like I just saw 'Left Behind' for the environment? and why do the hippies continue to hound my use of Aqua Net aerosol hair spray cans???"
I sometimes hate when this happens in movies. Sum41 said it best on their first album title, 'All Killer and no filler'. Where's the beef? Where is teh part beyond all of the cool special effects? Where is the part of the movie that will leave me scratching my head or looking over my shoulder making sure that the aliens aren't going to abduct me and anal probe me? I love and miss those movies.

ron

cd-a mix of stevie wonder, john legend, 311, john mayer, ben harper, etc, etc. It's all good.

Why is it...

Why is it when things go wrong, people automatically assume that "the enemy" is trying to get in on the action? Why can't we think that maybe God is trying to teach us to rely on Him or something uber-spiritual like that?

This past weekend our powerpoint/DVD/everything important to a video venue wasn't working at the Club (the video venue that I lead music at for Cornwall Church). We had to do the unthinkable and worship God through song but without words, we had spontaneous prayers and also a message that was put together 10 minutes before our Pastor went on. I mean for this to be dripping with sarcasm because this weekend was probably one of the most God centered and focused moments in my life as a leader. Maybe God was trying to teach us that we didn't need technology 2000 years ago to share His message and we don't need it now (but I still love technology). Maybe this was God trying to introduce our new Pastor in a better way then him giving announcements and instead God used him to teach and tell about how God moved back in the day and continues to move today.

So why is it that we continue to blame Satan for things happening when in the end it all focuses back on God; the reason we are there in the first place. Maybe we give Satan too much credit, or maybe it's just easier to think that when something goes differently than we expect that it's more evil than good. I think that our culture is so quick to look at the negatives of the situation that we forget all of the possibilities of what can happen when we put God as the focus and let the Holy Spirit control the service.

comments?
ron

CD-still jamming on Jack Johnson.

Here I Go Again On My Own...

Really, who doesn't love Whitesnake?

Well, It's been a while. I've been in an intensive class on Western Religions where we learned about Islam, Zoroastrianism, Mormonism, Judaism, and Eastern Orthodox. Why was Eastern Orthodox in a Western Rels class? The world may never know.
Here's what I really want to tell you: This past week I was leading worship for fathers day. We showed a video of a father who pushes his son in a wheelchair (the son has Cerebral Palsy) and they do Marathons together. Very moving and touching. After the video, I played the song "Your Love is Extravagant" by...Darrell Evans??? Anyway, that doesn't matter. What matters happened afterwards when I noticed a guy bawling his eyes out. "What Happened?", I thought, "Was it the video? Maybe the song?". I went and asked if I could pray with him and asked what was going on. I couldn't really understand what happened, but what I got out of it was that he felt bad for the life he and his girlfriend were living. It was at that moment that I realized that it wasn't an "element" of the service or a song or anything. It was the Holy Spirit.
Paul at Fool for Jesus is a recovering Pentacostal, and one of the things that he and I discussed is how the church relies so much on program and elements to move a service that we forget to let the Holy Spirit into the service to do the real work. It's not us who is going to move people to live for Jesus or even meet Him, but the Holy Spirit. We are just the mere mortals that the Spirit is going to use.
As I said in an earlier post, I don't want to convert anybody, I just want them to know the love of Christ through my actions and words. Essentially, It's the Holy Spirit that is going to move somebody to the point of decision of what/who the are going to love and believe, not the brown kid.

peace beaches,
ron

CD: I stole the new Jack Johnson from my brother. i love it. It sounds a lot like the other Jack Johnson stuff, but it's good. My favorite track is "Banana Pancakes".

Another Quiz...

Paul gave us this one. I guess I'm Neo like Keanu. Karl Barth did say, "the best way to share the Gospel is with the Bible in One hand and a beer in the other"...or was it a newspaper?

You scored as Neo orthodox.

You are neo-orthodox. You reject the human-centredness and scepticism of liberal theology, but neither do you go to the other extreme and make the Bible the central issue for faith. You believe that Christ is God's most important revelation to humanity, and the Trinity is hugely important in your theology. The Bible is also important because it points us to the revelation of Christ. You are influenced by Karl Barth and P T Forsyth.

Neo orthodox 75%
Emergent/Postmodern 71%
Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan 68%
Classical Liberal 57%
Reformed Evangelical 39%
Modern Liberal 39%
Roman Catholic 39%
Charismatic/Pentecostal 36%
Fundamentalist 32%

ron

Another CD I am excited for is the new Foo Fighters. Dave Grohl continually shows people that he can right catchy songs that you will bounce too in the car and that he is more than a drummer.

Drop Your Crap and Join the Revolt.

Slow down everyone
You're moving too fast
Frames can't catch you when
You're moving like that

These are some of musician Jack Johnsons words that have been bouncing around my head as of late. I've really noticed that people, including myself, are always on the run. We as a society have filled our day with crap that we don't really need. Monkey over at Incarnational Orthodoxy talked about how pastors can do this as to not look "lazy" to the congregation. But with all filler and no killer in our lives, where is the time for God?

What can we do to slow down? I think I mentioned about meditation being a lost part of our Christian faith, and I still stand by it. We in western society fill our days with so many different meetings and appointments that we forget to add an appointment with God. Eugene Peterson talks about this in his book, "the contemplative pastor" saying that he often just looks at his schedule and if God is pencilled in, then nobody is getting that time. I like this thought. It's good to take time out to walk and think, or even meditate.

I've been experimenting with meditation and slowing down my pace in life. Those who know me know that I am pretty laid back (It's the Hawaiian in me), but I get caught up in meetings and everything just like everybody else so I've just decided that life is too short to worry about meetings. I show up to them, but I leave earlier from my place and I take my time getting there. My blood pressure is too precious to yell at the guy who cut me off (but sometimes I wish I didn't work at a big church in a small town so I could yell at them or flip them off). I've been meditating and praying a lot more, doing tai chi and slowing my life down, dropping acid and hanging out with spider monkeys down in Saint Bart's changed my whole perspective on shit (okay, that last one was from Zoolander, but you get the point). I'm going against the grain and telling people, "F-You, I won't conform to your standards of making me look busy". If you want to join the revolution against society's standards, please send money to:

Ron's New Guitar Fund
Belli-town, WA 98225

CD's that I am excited about: Two CD's really:
The Gorillaz New Album "Demon Days". Dude, De La Soul appears on this album. Does it get any better?
The White Stripes. "Get Behind Me Satan". I like Jack White and what he does. It reminds me of a kid playing in his garage with his buddy who just started playing drums, but they can't find a bass player. If you are a hendrix/blues fan, you might dig a lot of what the White Stripes do.

Traditions vs. traditions

A little girl is watching her mother as she is preparing a roast for dinner. She notices that her mother cuts off both ends of the roast and asks her mother, "why did you do that?" The mother looks at her daughter and says, "I don't know, I guess because your grandmother did it". At this, the mother calls up her mother and asks her why she cut off the ends of the roast when preparing it, and the grandmother replies, "I don't know, I always did it because your grandmother did it". The grandmother calls up the great-grandmother and asks her why she always cut off the ends of the roast, to which the great-grandmother replied, "I did it because the oven was too small to hold the entire roast".

We in the christian church hold a lot of traditions that we don't really know why we do them and then some that we do. This is where the distinction of Big "T" tradition vs. Small "T" tradition comes into play. Tradition (big T) is something that we do knowing why we do it without a routine involved, but tradition (small t) is something that we do just because we've always done it and it's was done before us.

1. Why do we read our bibles? Do we only do this to be good christians? Do we read it for the history lesson? Do we read it so that we can soak up the "inspired word of God"?

2. Why is it we only have one or two people who preach? Aren't there other people who have this gifting of public speaking?

3. Why do we sing three songs and then have a meet and greet and prayer and scripture comes later in the service.

THese are all Small T traditions, but what do we hold as a Big T tradition? I think of Communion as a Big T, but some do this every week...could this turn it into a small T? and if it does turn it into a small t, is this because people do it without the conviction and rememberance every week? Any other Big T's that churches do?

thoughts?
rizzo

cd I am listening to: Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band...phenomenal.

New Link

Our friend Paul has started the blog, "Fool for Jesus". I really enjoy it and appreciate his honesty and his hilarious sarcasm. Please check it out unless you are easily offended by pictures of dog's having sex or taking a dump...I'm Kidding!!! There is no doggie porn there. Seriously check it out.

"And here's to you, Mrs. Robinson,
Jesus loves you more than you will know. (Wo wo wo).
God bless you please, Mrs. Robinson,
Heaven holds a place for those who pray"


ronaldo

Another South Beach Update

I lost 9 pounds in two weeks. this is without me really trying. I stuck to the diet somewhat, but there were times that I ate stuff that wasn't on the diet. (One night I had a blizzard). other than that, this diet helped me get started as I try to lose weight and become sexy for the sexy church, and also help me get to a healthy weight before it gets too late.

Getting Kind of Scared

As I continue to learn more and more about religion and my faith while attending Trinity Western University, I become more and more scared. Being out in the religious world and not being pointed in any certain direction is a mighty scare for anyone who feels called into the pastorate field. I think that this scare is both an excitement and a fearful feeling.

Learning about other religions is something that becomes more and more real to me everyday. I want to learn why people believe in 330,000,000 different gods, or why walking around naked is part of their religion, or why people decide to sacrifice their own personal happiness for their religion. These are things that I wonder about, but there are also things outside of my christian faith that make sense to me. A buddhist walking alone in meditation makes complete sense to me. I think that meditation or "quiet time with God" is a lost art form in western culture. We are so busy trying to fit as much as we can into our lives that we tend to start filling our lives with crap we don't need. THen we are focused on trying to work as much as we can to pay off this crap that we went into debt for in the first place. These understandings of other religions is what is so scary to me-the fact that they are so appealing to me and yet I feel dirty if I practice them because I wasn't taught about it in my "core classes" at my church.

I do have some ideas on how to teach the christian culture about different religions though: I want to start a board game and sell it in the family book store and call it "Bible Verse or Heathens Words" (I think that the name alone would get it in the doors, though I don't think that they are heathens, but hey, I gotta make a living too). This is a game where we take cards and put the verses from the bible we read or scriptures from somebody else's holy book and then the christian has to determine if it is in the bible or not. Sounds easy? I was reading the Bhagavad Gita, some of the Hindu scriptures, and found that a lot of what they say sounds like it could be in the Bible. Even in the Q'uran there are some things that sound like they just missed the cut for the bible.

I have a couple of other ideas: "Proverb or Fortune Cookie" where you determine exactly that, and also one that my friend Kurt and I were talking about to sell up front: a candy that would give scriptures or they would tell of the miracles in the bible. We will call them "Testicles"...am I going to hell for that one? You're going to then, because I know you laughed.

Seriously, back to the issue. i think that if one isn't really grounded in their faith, they could seriously leave and decide to be a Buddhist. Is that such a bad thing though? Eventually they will come back to what they were raised with. Statistics show this right? Right?!??

ron

CD I am listening to: My own. I recorded a 6 song scratch track cd and my friend tony and I are looking to re record it this summer. We are both listening to it to think of ideas to track behind it all.

A Cool Thought

When asked about an Hindu idol that was found on the ground, the interviewer asked if this was a bad thing. This is how the Hindu replied:

"An image is like a finger: it points into a direction with a much deeper meaning than we see immediately. Unfortunately some people get stuck at the finger and can't see beyond the image itself."

Now replace the word "image" with the word Cross, WWJD bracelet, or any other Christian paraphenalia and tell me what you think...not that the cross is a Christian paraphenalia, but you get the idea.

I hope.

My Conversion Plans

I don't know if I really want to convert people to Christianity sometimes. Not just because of the way we act as christians, but because of things I saw this past weekend. This past weekend I went to a Sikh Gurdwara Temple and saw one of the purest and real forms of hospitality that anyone could ever imagine. It was funny how much these people have in common with christian ideals and yet they out do christians by a land slide when it comes to loving our neighbors. They have more reverance in their worship of God, but they also emphasize worship of the Garanth, or their holy scriptures (still sounds like Christianity a little). Don't get me wrong, I want everybody to know the love and message of salvation through Christ, but at the same time I don't know if I want to try to take away their happiness.
This weekend I also got to go to a party and it made me wish I had more friends who were not christian. I hung out with old friends of mine at a bachelor party, and talking to them was more real than talking to a lot of people in my christian bubble. We played some extreme Croquet, told stories about the "old days" and wondered how we were still alive, drank beer, and some of them started to tell me about their struggles in life (divorce, money, etc), their zany adventures since we last talked, and their love for NASCAR; yes this is a clear description of Blaine, but this was way beyond the "i'm fine" mentality that we get as christians which is absolute bullshit. I liked just hanging out with these guys. These are guys I grew up with, and people that I want to come to know Christ, but also people who I want to meet Christ through my actions rather than through a few key verses that have the answers to all of their questions. Scripture isn't going to convert these guys(again worship of the scriptures), the Holy Spirit is and I have a full trust in God that He will provide a way for these guys to meet Him.

ron

cd I am listening to: A burned CD for our communion service this wednesday. Sometimes I think we forget that "worship songs" are meant to encourage us and remind us of scripture, but with so many words like "I, me, my, mine" it can become very self focused. not a new thought, but a reminder for me and you.

Memorial Day Weekend

My doctor told me that I had strep throat on friday and take it easy this past weekend. I listened to him/her and cancelled all of my plans, but I didn't stay inside. Are you kidding me? It was 80 degrees out and the nicest weekend of the year. But instead of going where the crowds were at the parade and everything else, Cynthia and I went to Birch Bay and hung out on the beach.
I was watching all of the different families there, it was wierd for me to go somewhere in Blaine/Birch Bay and not recognize one person, and I noticed all of the kids. Here were these kids who didn't want to get any kind of protection from the sun (sun tan lotion, hats, shirts, etc.) put on them. All they cared about was getting out onto the sand bars and into the water. I watched these kids sprinting out across the barnacles and out into the water. I leaned over to Cynthia and asked when did we get so grown up that we stopped sprinting out ahead of our parents without any protection from our environment, without any cares about barnacles or glass, without any care in the world.
I wonder this about our spiritual lives also. When did we lose that fire that made us stand up during a song without being told to? When did we start being cautious about who we talk about the miraculous love of Jesus? When did we start relying on the church as a protection from thoughts and ideas outside of teh church that some would deem "too secular" or "sinful". When did it become okay to settle for where we are when God has plans so much bigger than we could imagine. And when was it exactly that we started to look at people through the eyes of a christian and not through the eyes of a Christ follower?
Christianity becomes a struggle of submission, that a lot of the time we aren't willing to lose. Our childlike faith becomes less and less when we don't slow down to think about it and the reasons that we God put us on this polluted planet. We are called to be a loving community toward our God first and our neighbor (believer or non believer, gay or straight, homeowner or homeless, it doesn't matter)second.

any thoughts?
ron

South Beach Update: I lost seven pounds in four days and gained it all back in one night when I went to the Mariner Game with my small group and sat in the luxury box with the all you can eat buffet going on and cushy seats. This day could have been the greatest day of my life. I will never go to another mariner game because I don't want to ruin my experience of the first time...unless it's in the box seats again.

The INN

I had the honor and priviledge to play at the INN last night. The INN is a college ministry here in Bellingham that I used to play at a couple of years ago. I played only one song, "Give Us Clean Hands" by charlie hall, as an illustration for my friend Willow's talk. She is an amazing friend and speaker, plus some of the jokes she uses are mine, so that's an extra bonus.
Sometimes I really miss playing at the INN, because of the intimacy of the worshippers. The vibe of worship that occurs in that place and the feeling and knowledge of God's presence is outstanding; something that at times is indescribable.
As Lance Fisher led worship last night, I closed my eyes and just listened to the voices of students who were genuinely hungry for God. I have to close my eyes or else I will focus only on guitars and mistakes-and there were alot of them last night. It's funny though, because though the music wasn't great, the thought that God can still use it is very humbling to me.
I'm not a perfectionist when it comes to leading worship, but I do have expectations. This is why I get humbled sometimes, because sometimes I wonder if God uses the words of the song to speak to people and not the rhythms or vice versa. But for me, when I was first contemplating becoming a Christian, I remember the first time I was drawn into worship by a songs chord progression and then the words. So really where is the middle ground here? Do we strive for the polished perfection of the mega church's worship style or the honest imperfections of the smaller church. I know that I prefer both. Sometimes I feel more comfortable worshipping with just my guitar then I do with a band, but there are other times when I would love to just have my friends on stage with me in community and helping to lead them and a congregation into worshipping God.

Thoughts?
r to the izzo

South Beach Diet

So Cynthia and I started the south beach diet yesterday. I bid you farewell Deli Chicken from Haggen you were always there for me. Goodbye McDonalds, I will miss our roadtrips where I ate and drove. And Asian Buffet, I will miss you most of all, but I must bid you adieu.
This whole thing isn't a fad thing. My doctor recommended that I go on it as I am 30 pounds overweight of my Body Mass Index blabitty blah blah blah. I wanted a second opinion, but the computer never lies I guess. You're supposed to lose up to 15 pounds in the first two weeks. I'd post pictures of me holding newspapers in my boxers, but I don't have the technology.
Now the problem is trying to get my eating habits into check. See, the neat thing about this "diet" is that it isn't about the good or bad carbs, but eating the right carbs. (<--That's their slogan) All it really entails is cutting your portions down and eating some good stuff. I still get 5 meals a day, so it's not like I'm starving. It's funny though, because I think about how "hungry" I am and then I think about how most people aren't even eating today, or I'm complaining about how I hate that I don't get to eat as much as I'd like to as I'm watching a commercial from world vision, telling us that we can feed a village for "the price of a latte"...I'm a real dick. Yeah I said it.

ron

Listening to the relaxing sounds of the fan on the PC and the air conditioner.

I Love You?

This weekend I spent some time just reading through Ephesians. I thought that it was really interesting to read through it and find what Paul is trying to say. I think that throughout the Bible you find that the Basis of Christianity isn't based upon not smoking or not doing drugs, it's not based on what ministries you serve in, and it's not based on how long you pray or if you can rattle off scriptures to answer peoples problems. Throughout the Bible we see that our faith is based on love. We are called to love each other and people beyond our circles of friends. Though sometimes Paul's letters seem to be "preachy" at times, we can see that what he is really trying to say is do everything out of love. We also see this theme throughout the Bible with scriptures such as "Love the Lord with all your heart - Love your neighbor as yourself", "For God so loved the world..." "Do this to the least of these...", the scriptures seem to be endless. So why do we miss out on this love? Why don't we give it out? Is it too hard to do - almost impossible? Sometimes this concept seems to be very hippie-esque, but really we need to think about this.
It's probably easier for people to give money to charity than actually invite their neighbor over for dinner, bake a cake, or even say hello. How many of your neighbors do you know and actually communicate with when you see them (this means beyond, "hey how ya' doin? Fine. Good! Welp, see ya later!)? I've got a neighbor that plays guitar, loves his xbox, and has a big screen tv. Why am I not hanging out with him more? I smell guerilla mission work coming on.

ron

CD I'm listening to-Wyclef Jean "Two sides to da book" and "The preachers son". Wyclef is pretty cheesy at times when he is rapping, but the guy is an outstanding producer.

Who's With Me?!?

Here is my plan and thoughts for the new church that is on the horizon:

-I think church should only have sexy people in it. We have churches that are available to so many different cultures, what about the sexy culture (Mega-Supermodel-Church)? They should be modestly dressed as not to make a brother or sister stumble though.

-I think that we should have reclining chairs in the "sanctuary" with Bladder buster sized cup holders.

-I think we should pay a toll when leaving the church or have a direct withdrawal system set up, then the tithe is taken care of.

-What if we teamed with True Love Waits ministries and Trojan Condoms, combined forces and produced Condoms for Christians with Verses from Song of Songs printed on the side of the condom? This is how we can pay for our reclining chairs!

-Why do we have announcements? Can you imagine Jesus giving announcements before he starts talking to people - "Just a quick reminder, after I talk to you about something you won't get until later, we will have a potluck over by where Simon Peter is standing in the back; also, later we will be taking an offering and if you are new, please, you are my guest, just let the basket go by".

-Is it me, or is interpretive dance just plain wierd?

-If there was a mega supermodel church, I think it should only be modestly dressed women who are sexy, because I wouldn't want my wife looking at sexy modestly dressed men.

-What if the worship music consisted of only a D.J., a percussionist, a bass player, and an acoustic guitar player/vocalist?

-What if the worship music consisted of only an accordian, tuba, and an acoustic guitar/vocalist?

-I think that for Christmas service, anyone wearing Santa Claus hats should be pointed out and ridiculed. Same goes for people who wear bunny ears in Easter Services. Seeker or not, that person who was ridiculed will come back anyways, because it's a sexy church.

Do you have anything to add?

brownie

Some Random Thoughts and Advice:

I've been having wierd dreams about my grandpa lately...he died a little over a year ago, but lately he's been showing up. No conversations of any kind, it's as if he never left.

BEWARE: I was clicking the "next blog" button and all of a sudden a bunch of nudies come up on screen. Watch out for the porno blogs. Sometimes I hate the first amendment.

If it's in the fridge and it still smells good and looks the same...it's probably alright to eat it

I had the wierdest dream about my job at cornwall the other day. They told me that they had no room for me to work there anymore and I had to prepare to look at moving in hopes of finding another job as a music director/pastor somewhere else.

I saw a story about Alanis Morissette (sp?). It was very well done and interesting. I'm going to put my guitar aside for two weeks and just journal. Then I'll come back to my guitar and journal and write songs out of it. I got this idea from Alanis. She is a very interesting person once the media shows her in a non hippie/man hater light.

I was walking around walmart while I waited for my oil change and I read the South Beach Diet. It's a pretty easy thought: Eat healthy, don't starve yourself or deprive yourself of certain foods. Simply take things out and eventually reintroduce them into your diet in different and more healthy forms. If you deprive yourself and only eat meat or some other fad diet, then when you go away from that diet you will eventually gain all of your weight back. There has got to be some kind of spiritual parallel there.

I love lamp.

Vonzell should win American Idol, but Carrie Underwood or Bo Bice probably will. Carrie has an excellent singing voice, but the personality of a tree. Bo Bice is good at both singing and working the crowd, but Vonzel has incredible stage presence and singing capabilities which she has continued to improve these last few weeks. I don't know any of them personally, so that opinion on Carries personality is out of line...sorry if you're a fan.

O'Doyle Rules

Thinking of recording a CD and calling it ron pie

rahn

CD I am listen to as of today: Los Fancy Ladz. My friends hip hop act. Very funny stuff talking about all the things that matter in life: Revenge, mountain dew, circuses, and aliens.

There Is No Such Thing As Original Thought

I recently lent my Season 4 of the Simpsons to my Pastor to see one of my favorite episodes where Homer stops going to church and starts his own religion because God came to him in a dream and told him that it was okay. My wife was surprised that I lent it out to him because the Simpsons are so liberal at times, but I stood by my thought that they are the most culturally and theologically relevant television show on t.v.. Even more so than Touched by an Angel and Seventh Heaven! <-- that's a joke.
She asked if I ever tell people that I got this thought from professors and instructors, and to this I reply no. Unfortuntaely there is no such thing as original thought, or at least it's getting harder and harder to be original. I find that most people I talk to on campus are just barfing up random facts that they learned in class and it reminds me a lot of that scene in Good Will Hunting when he calls the guy out in the bar with the facts that he's spitting out. I've even read books where a theologian said the same thing another theologian said, almost to the word, and never cited the other.
Maybe it's getting to the point where we wait and see who is going to say something that is going to blow people out of the water so much that we declare him the Anti Christ and then later on in history people will look at him as a true theologian; somebody like Martin Luther, John Calvin, Thomas Aquinas, Karl Barth or Paul Tillich. I wonder if we'll even recognize somebody as a theologian if they shake the tree of Christianity too much. It will be interesting to see.

out goes the brown kid

CD: Jimi Hendrix "Blues". I watched a DVD of Eric Claptons Blues Fest in Texas, and I was wondering what it would have been like if Jimi Hendrix would have been there. Would he be the super star that he is today, or would he come out as a guy like Joe Walsh where people only really remember his two "big" songs, but is an amazing guitarist at the same time.

Lemonade-That Cool Refreshing Drink

One of my all time favorite TV shows was and is News Radio. Unfortunately, once Phil Hartman was killed, it went down hill. A quote I got from the show which I love is this:

Dave: Bill, have you ever heard, "if life gives you lemons make lemonade"?
Bill: Well let me ask you this Dave- Have you ever heard, "if life gives you lemons throw them back in the face of the guy who gave you the lemons, because you asked for oranges in the first place"?

I give guitar lessons to a guy in my church who reminded me to make lemonade. He is an amazing testimony of God's healing and working in and through people and showing others the Power that God holds. This guy has a past that many people cringe upon hearing: just the trials that he has gone through and continues to go through and where he is today is so powerful to me. Sometimes I feel guilty taking this guys money for lessons, because I feel like I get more out of it than he does. He's there to learn basic chord progressions and shapes, but while he feels that he is learning, he's the one who is actually teaching.
I learn things from him about life and coping with what God gives you in it. This is a guy who has made a lot of lemonade, and continues to make lemonade. It's funny how ministry changes from teaching and shepherding to listening and learning in a matter of seconds.

ron

In my CD player: Michael Jackson's Thriller. Though it's not looking too good for him in the courts, you can always count on some of the best production on any of MJ's albums.

I Am The Smartest Man Alive!

I got my grades back from Trinity and I got an A- in my Old Testament class. This was a tough one, but I am excited for it. I wish I still got money for A's. Did that deal ever come onto the table for you? I used to get $5.00 for every A from my parents, but I never saw a single cent because I wasn't one to get A's in school...except in music class - wait, I never got my money! I'm going to call my mom right now because I've got at least $20 coming my way.

ron

Save the Kittens

There is a church, the XXX church, that is so funny and yet it is almost uncomfortable. It is a church that helps men and women who deal with pornography addictions amongst other things. I love this idea. I think that this church is very cool, in the sense that they are willing to say, "Hey, this is a problem in our world and our church and we need accountability to fix it". Some of their shirts and stuff are pretty funny: "Everytime you masturbate, God kills a kitten" (Not totally sure, but I don't think this is theologically correct) or "Jesus Loves Porn Stars". I wonder what would happen if we showed up at church with these shirts on?
You'll probably hear more about this church within the next few months, because they are starting a program called Porn Sunday. This is a service that will address the pornography issue and is being supported by some pretty big churches like Willow Creek in Chicago. It would be interesting to go to that service and read the "comment cards" afterwards.

seacrest out

Currently in CD Player: The Elements known as Earth, Wind, and Fire.

Do You Even Know Me???

Here is a Quiz to find out if you even know me...are you my friend?

This One May Offend Some of You

Next to The Simpsons, Desperate Housewives is probably one of the more culturally relevant television shows today. Most would disagree, and the funny thing about it is that they've never seen what the show is truly about. Most have only seen the Monday Night Football commercial with Terrel Owens and Nicholette Sheridan, and instantly thought of how scandalous this show must really be.
What makes this show relevant are the characters and their background stories that they carry with them: one is a stay at home mom who takes her kids ridalyn to cope with everyday problems. Another is a woman who portrays to be the perfect "Martha Stewart" on the outside, but inside her home a disfunctional family dwells where her husband is going ot prostitutes for sexual fullfillment and their son just "came out". Another character is a woman who's husband left her and now must begin dealing with life as it comes to her and her teenage daughter. Do any of these characters sound familiar to you? I could probably think of a few people off hand who come to mind with similar problems as these housewives who struggle to find themselves as the world they know either begins or continues to crumble around them.
I read an interview with Moby where he talks about people finding things on TV today offensive. Like Janet Jackson's infamous "wardrobe malfunction", the Desperate Housewives commercial stirred up so much controversy by people who were extremely offended by it. Moby said in his interview that people who were offended, should be more offended by the fact that "men get paid $15 million in one night for beating the s--t out of each other while inner city teachers only get paid $24,000 a year". Tony Campolo gave a sermon in the mid-late 90's about poverty throughout the world, where he actually swears to which people gasp in disbelief. His reply? "I am offended that you are more offended by a word than by the fact that millions are dying in this world today". Brendan Manning wrote a book called, The Ragamuffin Gospel. In it is a joke where a guy has a headache and can't figure out why:

"Do you go out alot?" asked the doctor.
"No" the Gentleman replied, "i don't smoke, drink, I'm in bed by 9:00, etc."
"I know what it is", the doctor replied, "Your halo is on too tight".

Sometimes I think our halo is too tight, and it may keep us from seeing what is going on around us in todays culture. Please don't think that I am an advocate for affairs and other "morally wrong" things, but at the same time we need to acknowledge the struggles in life instead of bottling them up as these characters do on this show.

Cool Site

http://www.thisdayinmusic.com/

The Cosmic Dividing Line...

Which do you choose - The Beatles or Elvis?

Stuck in a Christian Bubble

My friend, Monkey, talked on his blog about Brian McLaren's new book, "The Last Word and The Word After That" and what he got out of it: that we should share our faith and do so by not threatening people with the dangers of hell but by teaching them how to live life to the fullest. Hear me out, I want with every inch of my heart to have everybody come to know the love of Jesus, but at the same time, I think we get so stuck in our Christian bubbles that we start to focus on people saying "the prayer" instead being with them and seeing what their life is like after the prayer. Sometimes we get so caught up in trying to save the world for Jesus that we can almost lose sight of saving souls for Jesus.
What do you think people who don't know Christ are going to remember more: A prayer of repentance or the person who came to walk along side of them and helped guide them after that prayer?

Beer- Further Proof That God Loves His Children

Click and read this article! Take that South Beach Diet!

Postmodern is the New Grunge

I was thinking this as I walked through the Family book store and was looking through the books, CD's, etc. In the early nineties the music industry stumbled upon bands in Seattle with a deep and heavy guitar sound that they could not describe except with the word "grunge". This word described the not only the dark grungy sound of the music but also the grungy look of those playing the music. I must admit, I like thousands of teenagers across the U.S. had only flannel and cut off jean shorts and doc Martin boots to go along with them. Really though, the whole grunge thing started getting out of control once the corporate world saw a product that they could sell. Instead of being a beautiful way to express themselves, this new look had become sold in stores such as the Bon Marche and Nordstrom; it was no longer about the music and the rebelious nature that came along with it, but it was now about money.
In the same way, I see today's christian society using and exploiting postmodern thought as we did the grunge scene. I see something that started with people moving in a different direction - a different view on worshipping God - and now seems to have taken a turn for the worse. How many books and articles are we going to read regarding how to put on a postmodern service? How many candles are going to be lit and pictures from renaissant art are going to be put into power point slides before people realize that this does not make you postmodern?
But what makes us postmodern? I believe that the term has lost it's meaning and identity and is now just a label for an alternative contemporary service. Trying to do things in a different way to appeal to those who don't appeal to the bright lights and showy services of the mega church and instead are turned on by the thought of a smaller more intimate worship service. Services have become so programmed with the fast food mentality of "we do it like you do it" that I think today's culture is starting to burn out on it. I think that these people are looking for authenticity over any kind of excellence. Lauryn Hill had a song on her CD "the miseducation of Lauryn Hill", that said: "Hip Hop used to come from the heart, now everybody's trying to chart"...same goes for the postmodern movement in the church today; postmodern thought has become something that everybody wants a piece of before knowing the beauty of the thought that goes on behind it.

seacrest out.

What's in my CD Player: John Lee Hooker. Listening to this, I can totally hear a huge influence on Jimi Hendrix. Beautiful.

My Favorite Place

I like to think of myself as a sociologists of sorts. In fact, my major - Christianity and Culture - is exactly that. So in order to see what is going on in the world and to do some major "people watching", you have to go to that special place where the interesting people are. Most would say the mall, and at one time I would have agreed, but I have found two places where you can see and meet some cool people.

1. Public Transportation- There is a Drama Professor at Western Washington University who said that he doesn't own a car just so that he can meet people on the bus. I agree. Though I love my car, there was a time that I wanted to "do my part" and keep the world from the dangers of pollution and so I took the bus. I wish I would have met the people on the bus, but listening to conversations and watching the "regulars" they all eventually gained nicknames and jobs or interests from me. My best friend on teh bus, though he didn't know it, was "little Joe", who was a "little person" who in my mind was a photographer/artist that would take pictures of his dog in funny clothes and try to sell them to Hallmark with sayings around them like "I'm howling mad when I'm not with you".

2. The Public Library- I only discovered this little gem recently. I started going here, because I wanted to see if I could get movies for free (which you can!). What is it that brings this vast array of people here? My theory is that there is such a variety of subjects within the library that you are only bound to attract a wide variety of people. I had a copy of the "lost books of Rastafaria" from the library, but checked out a different book instead because I thought that a hippie may be able to use it more than I could.
I like to watch the behaviors of people too. In the library all of the stereotypes that we've come to know are true. People really do shush you if you are talking too loud and also there is always that man or woman who has something caught in their throat and can't get it out and the library is filled with coughing and the sound of AAAHHHHEMMMMHEM...MMMMM...cough, cough......MMMHHMMMM...MMM. If you've ever seen "Along Came Polly" there is a scene where the funny friend is giving a presentation and does this for two minutes: typical library protocol.

So anyways, forget the mall, public places is the place to be when it comes to people watching!

In My CD Player right now: I am listening to an Erwin McManus set of sermons right now. He talks a lot about how "The safest place to be is in the center of God's Will", and how it's a bunch of Crap. I like it.

What To Listen For In Music

I was given this book a while ago by a good friend of mine, and it is one of the things that changed a lot of my perspectives in music. I come from a life of Rockin', and by rockin' I mean listening and playing songs by groups such as: Metallica, Pantera, AC/DC, Lynrd Skynrd - all of your necessities for rockin and camaro cruisin'. I mainly relied on distorted guitars and gut busting bass parts and double kick riffs on the drums that would drive you to an early heart attack. (The nice thing is that these would all cover up bad vocals coming from me)
After reading the book, "What to listen for in Music", my perspective changed. I've always had a heart and knowledge for dynamics within music, but through this book I learned to look at creating music in a different way.
I like to look at a music piece as an empty canvas waiting to be painted on. The rhythm section is supposed to lay down the foundation of colors for the painting, while the main instruments should be the ones who will show the main picture of what the artist is trying to portray. These main instruments (i.e. guitar and vocals) will be accented by the harmonies and will in effect help push the main instruments even more to the forefront. Though all of these instruments are important, my favorite is the "color instruments" (i.e. accordian, violin, trumpet, etc.) who give the long brush strokes. I usually like to use the example of Miles Davis and how though he played really busy parts during his solos, there were times that he would get so much out of holding one note, stretching it, and only strengthening what was going on in front of him. David Gilmore from Pink Floyd was also a master at adding just the right amount of one note or feedback to compliment the rest of what was going on around him.
Yeah I'm a nerd, but this concept does help us right brainers understand the concept of dynamics and placement of instrumentation just a little bit more.

Music I dig right now: Still digging Musicology - the song musicology is a shout out to the songs that brought funk music to where it is today: "Let's Groove, September/ Earth Wind and Fire/ Hot Pants by James/ Sly's gonna take you higher

It's All Relevant...isn't it?

Today I've been thinking alot about the concept of Contextualization. This is basically making something understandable for other cultures to understand. It's kind of like when an music artist does a cover of a song, it shows the song in a whole new text to a different group of people. The thought of contextualization is very prominent within the Christian Culture where we must be able to share the Gospel of Jesus with others by meeting them where they are. My friend Monkey told me a quote from Karl Barth saying, "the best way to share the Gospel is with a Bible in one hand and a newspaper in the other". We need to know our audience and where they are coming from. Though some argue this thought saying that it waters down the Bible, contextualization is found in the Gospels themselves as they were written for different people from different cultures. For example, Matthew was written with Pious Jews in mind or Luke was with poor and oppressed people in mind.
I work at a video venue church serving in one of the poorest areas here in Whatcom County, Washington. I also live in this neighborhood, where I get to meet and see the people whom I serve. One day as I drove down the road, I saw children and their parents waiting for the bus to take them to school. Most of the parents were aged 20-30 and were either Latino or African American. This is where I found myself beginning to think about contextualization within my church community.
Music is one of the biggest draws at our Venue church right now as it is one of the few live factors that come with a Video Venue. If we are going to reach these people and share who Jesus with them we need to meet them where they are. My neighborhood does not listen to adult contemporary music (i.e. Josh Groban, Celine Dion, Maroon 5), they listen to urban/hip hop music (usher, g-unit, mariah carey). Slowly but surely we are moving into this direction with music at the Video Venue.
I explained my thoughts to my boss and he agrees that people in this neighborhood will relate more to a song by Israel Houghton that has a latin/gospel feel than a song by Paul Baloche with a straight ahead adult contemporary feel. At the same time, a major thing to realize is that we have to balance with the adult contemporary as people who are from this kind of music can begin to get used to hearing a song that sounds like Santana's "Oye Como Va" instead of "In the Secret".
I'll try to keep you posted on how this pans out.

Music I dig right now: Prince's "Musicology"- Since he became a Jehovah's Witness, Prince has cleaned up his act, and brought back the nastiness of his funk.