Music

In the past few months I have been on a search for new "Christian" music. For many years the Christian music scene has been dominated by the likes of Michael W. Smith, Amy Grant, and a few others. (Not that they are bad mind you, just not for me in 2005) There were many why tried the market but it seemed that there was a lack of quality. There were plenty of schmatlzy, over produced, slicked up, "bands" out there but they all seemed to lack the edge of innovation. I found myself listening to alot of U2 and reading the spirituality that they put into their songs. A few months ago I finised a book titled "Walk On- The Spiritual Journey of U2" It was a great read and directed me on this search for meaning in the music that I was listening to. I learned that the memebers of U2 (minus baseist Adam Clayton) were all active Christians and their songs contained praises to the Lord as well as calls for social activisim. I started spening a lot of time in places like Lighthouse Christian Store, and Sonshine Christian Store and on the internet. I have run accross some great Christian music in the past few months and I would like to share them with you. Some of the artists that I regularly listen to include: Jeremy Camp, Chris Tomlin, Kutless, Switchfoot, Reliant K, Casting Crowns, Bethany Dillon, Hawk Nelson, Overflow, Tree 63, Building 429, Mercy Me, David Crowder Band. I encourage you to check out some of these artists who have dedicated themselves to making music that is pleasing to God.

How to...

I have received a couple of comments asking some "how to" questions. This blog is set up to receive comments only from those who have a registered user name with blogger. You do not have to set up your own blog or URL to post comments on this blog. (You may start your own blog if you like.) You can always find some answers to common questions by going to the help page of blogger.com. Thanks for the comments. Keep them coming.

Easter A.D. 2005

He Is Risen!!!

The One Year Bible

As part of my seminary education, all of the students in my program are reading through The One Year Bible. If you are not familiar with this type of Bible it divides the entire text into 365 daily readings. One reading from the Old Testament, one from the New Testament, one from the Psalms and one from Proverbs. The readings take about 15min. and at the end of the year you have read the entire Bible. By the end of my seminary training, I will have read through the Bible 4 times. We also have a weekly discussion on-line about the readings and talk about how to apply the readings to our ministries. It is a great tool to help all Christians read, mark and inwardly digest God's word on a daily basis. As Paul writes in 2 Timothy, "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." (2 Tim. 3:16-17) I would encourage you to find time each day to be in the Word. If you are interest in checking out The One Year Bible you can find it on Amazon.com. The ISBN number for the NIV version that I have is 0-8423-2451-8. Good luck and let me know how it is going for you. In the future I would like to start our own on-line discussion using The One Year Bible. What do you think?

Are You Ready to Blog?

Greetings to all!! Bethany Lutheran Long Beach has now entered the world of blogging. Come back soon for thoughtful discussion from Pastor Kevin and Vicar Seth!! If you want to leave comments, you will need to register with blogger.com. It is FREE so don't worry! Happy blogging!!