Just thought it might be kind of nice to start off your week with a couple of worship-related freebies…
Brian Doerksen (featured worship leader on Vineyard Music’s Light the Fire Again, about which I was recently reminiscing) has released a thoughtful acoustic version of Remember Mercy on his website. Doerksen has a new album coming out titled, It’s Time. I didn’t see any music previews, but these lyrics from the first track, It’s Time for the Reign of God, are powerful:
Somewhere between Puff Daddy and Soulja Boy, I lost track of hip hop. I still prefer older school conscious rap, like the Native Tongues collective (A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, etc.) and Public Enemy.
That’s why I was so pleased to rediscover these all-star hip hop confabs from back in the day (thanks, Stereogum!). I mean, where else would you see members of NWA playing nice with Young MC and Ice-T other than in the West Coast Rap All-Stars jam, “We’re all in the same gang”? Or, to quote Stereogum:
This is the first time I’ve listened to MC Hammer, Tone Loc and the Digital Underground in one sitting since my Bar Mitzvah
But, then again, so does the big picture.
I was talking today with my friend Sam Kwon, Vice-President of Justice Ventures International, about how the current troubles of our economy will definitely hurt non-profit organizations. For example, recently failed Lehman Brothers gave $39 million to various charities last year. However, non-profits not only face losses from large corporate contributions, but also from average people who feel their financial belts tightening. Here in San Diego, some of the largest churches have laid off staff and slashed their budgets in reponse to sharp declines in giving.
With all this thinking about non-profits — and how to encourage followers of Christ to be generous in good times and bad (and not just giving money to churches) — I wanted to highlight a couple of thought-provoking posts I came across recently.
Praise & worship music, for better and worse, has become quite an industry. The range of music today far outstrips what was available back in the day (which, for me, was basically the late 80s/early 90s). I mean, I can remember singing motion songs during our college and young adult worship gatherings. Not ironically, not as a fun throwback, but as heartfelt worship.
If you can remember when Light the Fire Again was released, and it felt like a revolution, then I know we’re on the same page. The driving rhythm of the title track, the almost unhinged intimacy of Eternity, the boundary-breaking lyricism of Creation Calls, the heartfelt cry of Pour out my Heart… that album became the soundtrack of many of our lives.
headsparks* 