Archives for category: postmodern

Of Worship And In Rainbows

November 28, 2007 //

Radiohead released their new album, In Rainbows, on October 10, 2007 amidst massive hype — not only because they are “the best band in the world” or that In Rainbows is an incredible album, but because the band chose to bypass traditional music outlets — both brick & mortar and online (even the mighty iTunes) — and release the album themselves direct via their website. And, nearly causing heads to explode at the executive offices of major labels worldwide, Radiohead has allowed fans to choose their own price/adventure for downloading this album.

If you want to download the album for free, turn to this page.
If you want to do the equivalent of making a two-foot hoagie out of cash and eating it, then turn to this page.

While there has been plenty of hyperbole about the imminent destruction of the recording industry as we know it (and some grousing about the “poor” audio quality of the download — more on this later), I wonder if what Radiohead has done doesn’t have implications for the church as it relates to worship music.

Perhaps that last statement needs some unpacking. In my experience in ministry with youth and young adults, I find that very few people have questioned whether or not it is ethical to download pirated songs from peer to peer file sharing networks — it’s just the way things are so get over it already, old man. In fact, I have often encountered indignation when raising the possible ethical concerns of such practices, especially when it comes to praise & worship music. One particularly outraged student told me, “Why shouldn’t I get these songs for free? It’s all to praise God, isn’t it?”

Certainly, there are some glaring problems in the contemporary Christian music industry, not the least of which is the the $18.99 or more one can often expect to pay for a worship CD at the local Christian bookstore. However, I remain unconvinced that piracy is the solution. But perhaps this is where the In Rainbows pay-what-you-want model has something to say…

I am very sympathetic to the plight of musicians, having had many friends struggle to make it as indie artists. Even musicians with good buzz who have released a few albums often need to hold down “real” jobs in order to pay the bills. I am a big believer in supporting great music and the people who create and perform it, which is why the whole piracy thing rubs me the wrong way. I could see how it would be burdensome for indie artists to try this, but wouldn’t it be something if some of worship music’s heavy hitters — the Tomlins, Crowders and Deliriouses — “resourced” the church by releasing an album (or even just an EP or single) directly to individuals and allowed them to pay what they felt was right?

In the end, perhaps part of what I’m feeling is the importance of personal connection. That’s what I loved about the DIY culture of indie rock from back in the day — during my recent trip back to Michigan I discovered a handmade zine that I had picked up at a show during college. The cover is made of sandpaper, and it was handstamped with the zine’s title, “Mine.” Immediate, direct, passionate — something is lost when we follow the big box worship model mediated by huge corporations with little or no vested interest in our communities other than shaking us down for cash.

Jonah Matranga has been using a sliding-scale payment model for awhile on his webstore. In true DIY fashion, Jonah fulfills all of the orders himself (and, usually, includes fun freebies as well!). His reason for doing so, in his own words:

For a long time, I’ve made it a point to have a personally-run webstore that makes it as direct as possible between us. I maintain it and send out all the orders myself, with occasional help when I’m drowning. Now that we’re in download-land, the infrastructure is finally really there on every level for an artist that wants to do their own grunt work to get the music out there, in a way that works for the people that like the art and want to buy it… It’s sad for me to see different middle-men entities coming in and taking money (and therefore raising prices) for not doing much but being a musical equivalent to Starbucks or Wal-Mart or McDonald’s; global familiarity over individual culture. So I’m trying to keep up with tech and make it work in fun ways… the rewards of direct contact outweigh any potential downsides for me, and hopefully for you as well.

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For your cost-free viewing enjoyment: Radiohead covering The Smiths (!) and Jonah’s video for “Not About A Girl Or A Place” (who knew an incredible indie-pop song would go so well with zombies?):

Categories controversy, design, indie, ministry, music, postmodern, reviews, worship

Becoming Who We Are

November 8, 2007 //

Earlier this week, my wife and I went to a meeting hosted by James Choung, to help plan for an Asian American leadership gathering in April of 2008 down here in SD. I’m definitely looking forward to hearing from the main session speakers — Dave Gibbons, Peter Cha and Ken Fong — along with those who will be presenting seminars.

During the meeting, James shared something that really struck a chord with me — voicing some thoughts that I’ve been feeling, but unable to articulate. He mentioned that, often, when we gather as Asian Americans the general ethos tends toward the negative and focuses on the weakness of being Asian American — e.g., how to overcome struggles with your first-generation parents, shame and identity etc. While these are important issues that we must continue to address, with this gathering we are hoping to shift the focus toward embracing the people God has created and redeemed us to be — to understand how deeply we have been blessed that we might be a blessing to others.

I’m trying to work out the core image for our theme, “Called Out, Called Forth.” For this draft, I’m definitely trying to create a postmodern vibe and to emphasize the high calling God has placed on us — so the theme is pushing skyward. The city represents the campuses and workplaces in which the conference participants live, study and work. And the birds represent the desire to take flight, to break free from our fear of failure. Here is the design concept (there is no actual website yet, and the location is yet to be determined but the core concept is there). Any thoughts?

Categories asian american, church, college, community, design, faith, ministry, postmodern

There’s Something To Be Said About Missionaries

October 30, 2007 //

Although I know it has been a major buzzword (with all of the misuse and/or overuse that entails) in some circles, I have come to believe more & more in the missional church. To be missional, in my understanding, is more than simply “doing” mission work in faraway places as a program or department of a church; rather, it is the priesthood of all believers living and embodying the message of Christ anywhere and everywhere we go, participating in the missio dei with our whole lives. For some great insight into the missional discussion, check out Friend of Missional.

It saddens me when our pastor greets me with a big smile and a handful of glossy brochures of mega-church x’s summer mission program and urges me to set up our own ten day summer “mission” trips so that we can strengthen the faith of our young people and, of course, make our own glossy brochures. I’m not knocking these quick mission adventure trips. They really can be life-changing; but, in my experience, there is a strange paradox of people receiving the most when they go with the intention of giving the most. So, to make the primary objective of these mission trips the personal enrichment of those who participate is to miss the point. I even enjoy designing brochures, but I remain unconvinced that we should do it simply because the big guys do it. With so much working against short-term mission trips, and even perhaps the very concept of missionaries (the tragedy of the Korean missionaries in Afghanistan this past summer highlighted this tension), it is tempting to dismiss completely the traditional paradigm of church and mission.

However, there is definitely something to be said about the people who go to the hard places in order to share the love of God and the message of Christ. I was reminded of that today, as our family drove up to Los Angeles to see my mother-in-law. She has been on furlough from her mission work in Nepal for about a month, and is going back next week. She is over sixty years old and spends most of the year in one of the most remote places on earth, teaching orphans and bringing the kingdom. She gave me the bracelet above, which reminds me to pray for her, after returning from Nepal the first time a couple of years ago.

Certainly, missional living and traditional mission work are not mutually exclusive. In fact, I would imagine that missional people would want to live out and share the love of God in both their local community and around the world. And, by the same token, it makes no sense whatsoever for someone to go on a “mission trip” if they have no greater sense of the mission dei, that God is the one sending them.

May we become and build communities completely captured and sent by the love of God in Christ, everywhere.

Tags first generation

Categories asian american, church, design, emerging church, evangelism, faith, outreach, postmodern

NYWC 4: The Electronic Gospel

October 22, 2007 //

Being in town meant that I would not be missing our Sunday at church. While there is a definite downside to not getting away for the weekend, I could sense how God was using the words spoken through Francis Chan and Doug Fields to enlarge my heart further for my students. Maybe it was nothing revolutionary for them — I’m sure I still managed to lull them to sleep during the sermon today — but I’m praying that, by the grace of God, my love and prayers for them would ever increase.

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After a full day at church, I hustled over to the Town & Country and caught the Q+A part of Shane Hipps’ first seminar. I chatted briefly with him and wandered with him over to his next seminar (which turned out to be a good thing, because I never would have found the seminar room on my own. I’m really bad with maps and have managed to get lost several times this weekend) which expanded on several of the ideas in his book The Hidden Power of Electronic Culture, which I highly recommend.

One of the most important things Shane discussed was the oft-referenced idea, “The methods change but the Message stays the same.” This speaks to our efforts to adapt new ways of bringing the timeless, eternal Truth of the Gospel to different peoples and cultures. Unfortunately, though the sentiment is sincere and well-intentioned, it is also false.

As Marshall McLuhan said, “The medium is the message.” Shane did a fantastic presentation of McLuhan’s life, thoughts on media and the future and how this impacts us as followers of Christ. We must be clear-eyed about the ways in which the media we use — and not only Media Shout or MySpace — fundamentally alters the message we are trying to convey. I saw this illustrated at every general session — although I was often sitting only several yards from the speaker, I found myself (and saw most of those around me) watching the giant screens rather than the actual person in front of us. Shane gave a great quote about this: The screen always wins — it’s almost a creepy, bizarro take on “Love Wins” but it’s so true.

Although this seminar was very much about our current media culture, Shane was really addressing worldviews. And, even to take a step back further from that, Shane was addressing the forces at work that shape our worldview. Another McLuhan quote is helpful here: “We become what we behold.”

The printing press ushered in an age of linear, sequential, uniform, repeatable thinking as normative. And, in the modern world, we find this repeated in unexpected places — from the assembly line of cars and cookies, to the orderly, linear pews in our churches, to reducing the entirety of the Gospel into a sequential formula (e.g., Repentance of sins + Acceptance of Christ = Salvation to heaven).

However, the world in which we live changed long before the advent of the internet. Shane argues that the invention of the telegraph, photograph and radio began a dramatic shift in how we see the world. The telegraph, or “Victorian Internet,” broke the relationship between transportation and communication. The photograph recalls the stained glass of the Middle Ages — consider the difference between seeing the printed words, “The boy is sad” versus this photograph of a sad boy. The words are rational, linear and left-brained; the photo is intuitive, non-linear, right-brained — qualities that describe the shift toward postmodernism.

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I will interact more in the future with some of these thoughts. Shane’s seminar today triggered quite a few thoughts that I’d like to work through — especially regarding the built-in fluidity and ability of Asian Americans to navigate between and through different cultures. He was extremely gracious in fielding all manner of questions, and taking time out to chat with me a bit before leaving to catch his flight. It was interesting to listen to the line of questions that people raised afterward — questions about doctrine, defending our faith and jumping straight to the “take-home” revealed their linear, sequential, rationalistic mindset.

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I’m getting packed up just in case we need to clear out of here because of the wildfires raging around here. Please keep us in prayer.

Categories advertising, asian american, church, community, design, emerging church, faith, ministry, postmodern, prayer, preaching, race, reconciliation, tech, youth ministry

NYWC 3: Mysterious Ways

October 21, 2007 //

I am worn out after day three of NYWC but, finally, in a good way. I always have difficulty articulating my inner life but I have been in a particular state of disorder in the weeks leading up to NYWC. In the midst of busyness and weariness, I have not been listening well for God’s voice. Today, at the convention, the fog began to lift in myriad ways. This was a full day of getting to sit under some great teaching, and Mike shared about building a holy rhythm to our lives.

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I have been looking forward to hearing Francis Chan since I saw that he would be a main session speaker. He is a dynamic and gifted communicator — and, as an Asian American, it is so encouraging to see a face to whom I can relate up on the main stage. I am sure, though, that his words spoke to everyone there this morning. I won’t attempt to recap everything Francis said (although I’m sure I will wear out the CD of his talk that I picked up), but God was definitely speaking to me through his words this morning. Several times, I found myself in tears as I listened.

When Francis began to share his heart, as a parent, about what he wanted from his daughter’s youth pastor, I was completely convicted. More than programs and messages and the big show, he is looking for a youth pastor who will love and pray passionately for his daughter. I know I would wish the same thing for my daughter — and, if that’s what I’m looking for, then I cannot offer any less.

Francis’ words about actually believing the Bible and living it out — not mediated or filtered through someone else’s lens, but engaging, living and breathing the Word of God in real life. The consequences in the life of Francis and his church have been nothing short of revolutionary.

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In the afternoon, I went to a brilliant seminar by Mike King. His words gave voice to so much of that with which I have been wrestling over the last couple of years. He exhorted us to find out what makes us feel fully alive, and to incorporate those things into our everyday lives. I am looking forward to reading his book Presence-Centered Youth Ministry. He gave several practical, creative, engaging ways to incorporate a rule of life into our daily living.

In particular, his words about community spoke powerfully to me. Not just community as a concept, but the physical, proximate community of people with whom we actually live our lives. The commuter church has not been kind to our family in terms of building and maintaining these kinds of meaningful friendships — I feel my heart gravitating more & more towards this friendship and proximity.

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Tonight’s main session was brutal in all the right ways. Doug Fields spoke about his deepening concern for the heart of youth workers and he identified ministry envy as a primary killer of our hearts. While we might be good at masking the obvious envy we have of others, it comes out in the way we talk about and criticize others. Sure, we might try to disguise the envy by claiming that we’re just pointing out our differences, but it looms large in many of our lives.

In a powerful exegesis of the Genesis account of Joseph and his brothers, Doug showed us the crippling effects of envy — and ways in which we can combat it. By celebrating others and their accomplishments we are protecting our own hearts. Celebration counters our tendency to turn those who should be colleagues and friends into rivals.

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Doug’s words caused me to reflect more deeply about what I recently wrote about the American worship music industry. My words might have come across as an unfair attack against Matt Maher, in particular. I sincerely regret speaking quickly and foolishly. There is plenty of room for legitimate criticism when it comes to the worship industry, but I want to be much more careful with my critical words — not to speak out of envy, bitterness or cynicism. I want to spend more time celebrating those things I genuinely love and appreciate than in criticism (legitimate or not).

Categories asian american, church, communication, community, controversy, faith, family, hope, ministry, postmodern, prayer, preaching, youth ministry