Portland Cohort

Emerging Worshiper

1. Discovering The God Imagination
   Jonathan Brink has a new book out. Check out the promo videos below:
   
   
   

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2. The Woman Caught in Adultery
   Here is my latest message, from John 8, the story of the woman caught in adultery.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

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3. One Sonic Society - One EP
   
   Just downloaded this album tonight. What a surprising offering. One Sonic Society is the new project of Stu G and John Thatcher, formerly of Delirious? The EP contains five tracks, as listed below:
   
   1. Our God Will Come
   2. Forever Reign
   3. The Greatness of Our God
   4. Burn
   5. Meet With Me
   
   I highly recommend this EP. This is the kind of stuff that translates SO well into a community environment. This is not an album of three minute pop songs. These are clearly and unapologetically worship songs. The production is a little safe, the songwriting perhaps a bit formulaic. But just a little; just a bit. In fact, this balance might be what makes the EP so great.
   
   Let me say this: I spend hours listening through album after album of "christian music" and "live worship" looking for good songs, and I'm lucky to find one or two per album (if ANY!) that work for me. Call me picky, but lyrics and melody are important.
   
   On this EP, I immediately hear four of the five songs working in public worship. Maybe even five out of five. Thematically, the lyrics are all the way there for me. Easy to sing, as if they were my own words. And from there, I can hear what I would do to make the music heavier and more powerful, what I would do to stretch the songs out and fill them in. There is a framework here that I can jump off from. Add a little here; take away a little there. This is what I do as a worshiper, and as a facilitator. Start with a foundation, seek my own voice of worship through it, and help others to find theirs.
   
   One Sonic Society has succeeded in creating a collection of songs that are unobtrusive and unassuming. The songs are not overly written. The songs are not focused on themselves. They are purely worship focused, and are thereby a platform for worshipers. I found this refreshing and unexpected. Here are some lyrics from "Meet With Me" that bear this sentiment:
   
   
   I'm not here to pretend, I'm not here just to sing
   But I'm asking You please, meet with me.
   I have felt You before, and I'm certain there's more
   So I'm asking You please, meet with me...
   
   Strip it away, strip it all away, 'til I am left with You
   Break it away, break it all away, all I want is You
   
   
   Here's a video from the band, about the band:
   

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4. 1962 Blonde Fender Bassman
   OK, here's a few pics for those of you who are interested. Again, cosmetically she's not the prettiest, but the tone is all I could ask for.
   
   Here's a close up of the head. Obviously a "brownface". Notice the Presence knob to the far right and the Pre-CBS company name "Fender Elect. Inst. Co."
   
   
   And here's the tube chart. The "LA" stamp in the upper right corner means the amp was manufactured in January of 1962.
   

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5. Jesus Manifesto
   Just came in the mail this week. Finished two chapters so far...
   
   If you are not already familiar with the book, it is by Len Sweet and Frank Viola. It just came out this month, but was actually preceded by a wordpress blog post entitled "A Jesus Manifesto." In its original form it was much shorter, and the old post has now been replaced by a short page of information about the new and now larger "Jesus Manifesto" book.
   
   I wrote a response to the original manifesto almost a year ago, which you can read "here." In it, I criticized the authors for failing to give practical examples of how we as Christians are to give Christ the ultimate supremacy in our lives (although I very much appreciate them both and their work on a variety of topics). I am looking forward to finishing the new book and seeing if it improves on the original version.
   
   And again, I am very much on board with the idea here. In my opinion, Len and Frank are absolutely right about our need to bring Jesus back to the forefront of our faith. I just hope that this time they will not shy away from telling us how we can do it.

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