Back in December I went to see the Aaron Pelsue Band (often a worship band) play at the Vogue (a local bar and music venue) along with several other hard rock bands. It would probably be difficult for me to describe the atmosphere there. The first band on the bill was a bit rougher in
Category: Ecclesiology / Church
A Brief History of Christianity in America
(Note: this is an abbreviated and therefore very simplified version of the history of the western church as I understand it. While I believe my general understanding to be correct, I am not an expert and may have inaccuracy in certain details.) To begin our understanding of Christianity in America, we must go all the
Questions: Worship
How important are worship services? Is it important to have the best music possible? Is it important and/or effective to have a lot of people attend just because they like the music? What’s the difference between worship music and a concert? Is there always a difference? Is it a problem to have mediocre music? What
Being the Church
Keith Giles recently hosted a roundtable discussion on his podcast. His guests included John Zens, Neil Cole, Herb Montgomery, and Kent Williamson. This discussion was so good that I’ve listened to it a handful of times already. I highly recommend you take time to listen to it as well. Here are some of the key
I’m With Don – Thoughts on Worship Services Part 5
I spent some time talking about how worship services don’t equal church and about worship/praise music in previous posts (see part 4). I will now take a brief look at sermons/preaching and wrap this series up. Sermons There tend to be a couple of different types of sermons. The primary types I’ve observed I’d categorize
I’m With Don – Thoughts on Worship Services Part 4
Music in Worship Services: Divisiveness of Worship Music? In part 3, as I was considering the genres of music used in worship services, I an idea occurred to me. This may be a bit tangential to our discussion, but it’s certainly related. It’s been said that Sunday morning (when people go to church) is the
I’m With Don – Thoughts on Worship Services Part 3
Music in Worship Services: What Genre? The last point I made in part 2 brings me to the next. If God wants us to worship him in a way that we enjoy, then when we use music to worship it makes sense for us to use music which we like. But… not everyone listens to
I’m With Don – Thoughts on Worship Services Part 2
(Note: this is part 2 of a post I started here.) Now that I’ve talked about church, I want to begin looking at the worship service. There are typically two main parts to evangelical worship services: singing and a sermon. I’ll talk a bit about each. Music in Worship Services: Worship or Concert? Mention the
I’m With Don – Thoughts on Worship Services Part 1
Okay. I know this happened a few weeks ago, which at the pace things seem to go on the internet, is apparently a really long time. But I trust it’s not too late to join the conversation. I actually heard about Donald Miller’s blog post before I had caught up to it (his is one
The Cross and Christian Community
Frank Viola recently shared an article and an audio message on the same subject. I believe the material is excellent and needed, so I wanted to highlight it here. Viola talks about the key role the cross plays in the development of Christian community. I’d recommend checking out both resources (linked above), though if I