Bono on Worship Music

My fellow blogger and pastor Bob Franquiz has this great quote from U2's Bono.

“All music is worship. It could be worship of self, of women, of God, but it’s all worship."

Easter Sunday Music

Here is a link to the MP3's of this past Sunday's special music. I said it Sunday and I will say it again. Our Music is awesome. You can download them by right-clicking on the link and "save target as."

The Life of a Christ-Follower on American Idol

Chris Sligh has a new comment about being a Christ-Follower on American Idol. One of the interesting things to me about his comment is the part about the local church. God has given us the local church for support and encouragement. This Sunday Chris will be back at his local gathering and is pumped. If you are a Christian and not connected to a local church, I hope Chris' comments will make you jealous and this Easter, you will get plugged into a local church! You can read his comments here.

Chris Sligh Opens Up

American Idol contestant Chris Sligh speaks about wanting to leave the show, Bob Jones University and his own future with the Greenville News.
Story HERE.

Sanjaya Malakar

If you don't Sanjaya, I understand. Master Malakar is the unfortunate contestant on American Idol, who in spite of his consistent, humiliating, performances, which shows that he is not divine or even angelic, but awful. However, every week he gets up in front of 30 million people to do his best when he knows he is the worst. How many of us, at 17 would repeatedly subjugate ourselves to public scrutiny, let alone mockery. I have moved past frustration and into respect for him as he is now the poster child for the anti-idol movement "vote for the worst." If you were wondering how he stays on, it is because there is a committed group of viewers who have begun a movement, to vote for the worst performer. I tried to pull up their website and it is down at this moment, but you may find it here. Is Sanjaya the worst? Absolutely. Will I vote for him? Not likely, but I will cheer for him to do well, and I will respect his character as he stands before the world and sings his best knowing that he is a pawn in a conspiracy that mocks the show, but unfortunately makes him the butt of the joke. As I see it, Sanjaya has three options, 1. Quit 2. keep doing things the same and continue the embarrasment, or 3. Embrace the VFTW crowd and play to them, making the best of a bad situation. After last night's hair doo it is obvious that he has chosen the latter. Choosing a song with the line "I'm diving into my own destruction." Good game Sanjaya, let's see if it works, if it does you take back control of your image. Whatever that may be.

4 Christian Idols

American Idol touts four professing believers. I have to say that this is a surprise to me, but it really should not have been. This season has offered some great contestants. According to the Christian Post, Jordin Sparks, Melinda Doolittle, Chris Sligh, and Phil Stacey, are all Christians. As it turns out, Phil Stacey attended Liberty University, in Lynchburg VA, where our own Gabe Dunlap graduated. Now I will not know how to cast my vote, I guess I will have to base my vote on secondary issues such as the music. You can find the story here.

American Idol

American Idol, is without question the hottest show on TV, they are bullying their way to take up the prime time slot 2 to 3 times a week. My vote, if I took time to call, is for Chris Sligh. He grew up as a missionary kid, maybe in Germany. He then attended the Bob Jones University, a very conservative school in Greenville SC, before starting a Christian band and leading worship at Seacoast church also in Greenville. Chris is just a normal guy, who seems to be having fun on the show. I spent some time doing some research on him, and was impressed to see that he has a deeper side. MSNBC did an article on him here. You can also read from Chris' blog here. But he has taken most of it down, for some reason during Idol. However he has another blog here, which discusses his thoughts on life and God. In his last few entries he struggles with the balance between the conservative upbringing and real life issuse of today. Growing up, my dad went to Seminary at BJ, the chuch I attended in high school was big on BJ, I went to Clearwater aka BJ on the Bay, and my wife's parents members of a BJ style church. That being aside, I know right where Chris is coming from, I know his struggles. For all that, he has come away with his faith intact, and has found a balance between real life and real faith. I hope that he goes far in the competition and that God will enlarge his influence so that God can get all the glory even in this search for an idol. Maybe Chris, will be like Paul on Mars Hill, you have here merely an idol, let me introduce you to Jesus Christ.

Anadara

Wow! This past Sunday we were able to have the brand new recording artist Anadara with us for a concert of praise. Her music is deeply spiritual as well as inspiring. She happened to have the same booking agent as Gabe, so he called and told us that she would be in town and was available. I for one am so glad that we were able to have her come, before she goes to the Crystal Cathedral on April 29th. We had her first! I believe that she will blow up on the Christian music scene with her great songwriting, and awesome acoustic sound. Her spirit was equally deep and it came across to our church in a big way. The crowd was lined up to buy her CD after the service, with some even making an ATM run between services! Thanks Anadara and Rocky for your ministry! You can buy her music from iTunes, or by going to her website http://www.anadara.com/ .