SharperIron Posting

Part One of a new article I wrote concerning Christian Aesthetics in Music was posted this morning over at SharperIron.  I hope you get a chance to read it and give me your feedback.

The article can be found here: http://www.sharperiron.org/2006/07/28/beauty-and-the-best-part-1-of-2

The discussion thread can be found here: http://www.sharperiron.org/showthread.php?t=2840

I Have a Dream…

The following is my vision statement for the music ministry of Red Rocks Baptist Church.  These are the many individual parts of my dream for the future of this ministry.  As I work to implement each of these areas in my church, I would be really interested in any insights from those who may have already achieved one or more of these goals or who are similarly working toward them.

World War III?

Normally, I would dismiss such rhetoric in light of the fact that Isaac and Ishmael have been going at it for millennia.  However, when someone I respect as highly as Newt Gingrinch puts out the theory, we all need to sit up straight and listen.

Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

I had the very interesting experience of visiting Body Worlds 2 yesterday at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.  Body World 2 is an exhibition of human bodies and organs that have been plastinated.  Plastination is an invention of Dr. Gunther von Hagens which stops the decomposition process and preserves human bodies.

Growing Adults on Sunday Morning

Book Summary:
     One of the most common dilemmas facing pastors is finding the means to have, at the same time, good organization across all the ministries of the church and cohesiveness between those various ministries, ensuring that all work together for the common purpose of the church.  Many times, pastors end up with multi mini-churches that become isolated from and territorially defensive against other ministries within the body.  Adult Bible Fellowships (ABF) were created to be a resolution to some of these challenges.  These units are for adults: that is, they are focused upon age groupings.  The Bible is the content of all learning that takes place.  Also, these groups are dedicated to provide an arena in which adults can fulfill the “one anothers” of Scripture.  They promote fellowship.

Associational GARBage

I have been doing some thinking recently about the topic of association.  It seems to me that the most contentious issues being discussed in my lifetime in the fundamentalist movement are sourced in associations.  Here are a number of examples:

1. I should not associate with Mark Dever because he is in the Southern Baptist Convention.

2. I should not associate with John Piper because he wants to accept members into his church regardless of mode of baptism.

3. I should not associate with Cedarville University because of their fellowship with Southern Baptists.

4. I should not associate with John MacArthur because of his fellowship with Al Mohler and the “Billy Graham connection.”

5. I should not use any music associated with Contemporary Christian Music.

Dressage and Discipleship

I recently won four tickets from our local CBS affiliate to attend the “World Famous Lipizzaner Stallions” in a venue in downtown Denver.  I, of course, was glad to have won but a little suspect of what the show was all about.  My senior pastor and his wife accompanied Deborah and I to the event last night.

My suspicions grew as we pulled into the parking lot and noticed only a small number of cars in the parking lot.  Since we were not incredibly early for the event, I wondered if the show was any good at all.  Well, I consoled myself, I’m here with friends.  The conversation would, at least, be enjoyable!

At the appointed hour, the lights dimmed, the music swelled, and all one thousand of us in this twenty thousand seat venue cheered with approval.  Six white stallions trotted out from backstage onto a red carpet.  The show would go on!