Sometimes all it takes to properly contextualize a verse of Scripture is to read the next one. This is John 12:32 (NIV):   “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” I grew up hearing preachers and worship leaders quote John 12:32, and the application was, “we…

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<![CDATA[With her latest record, recording artist and worship leader Nikki Lerner is aiming to get some things off her chest. Not in the I’m-angry-and-I-just-need-to-vent sense, but in the these-are-the-things-I-think-about-all-the-time-but-now-I’m-actually-going-to-say-them-out-loud sense … hence the album’s title, The Things We Never Say. And my sense, after both listening to the record and talking to her directly (FULL DISCLOSURE: she…

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<![CDATA[So for the past sixteen months or so, I've been serving as the interim worship director for a church plant just west of Portland, called Kaleo Covenant Church. How I ended up there is sort of a long story for another time, but it will suffice to say that it’s more than just a gig…

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<![CDATA[If you've ever wondered why it is that Christian music sucks, I have a hypothesis. But first, I just have to say —  "The Sentient Song Fallacy" — doesn't that sound like an episode of The Big Bang Theory? Get at me, Chuck Lorre! I’m a budding screenwriter, I do some stand-up, and I can…

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<![CDATA[So I decided my site needs a regular feature besides the longer-form stuff that I do either for UrbanFaith or for sermon adaptations. Once upon a time, I fancied myself a blogger extraordinaire when I started my last blog, Mixing It Up. But I never quite figured out how to do shorter posts. Even when…

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<![CDATA[Group 1 CrewOrdinary DreamersFervent Records2008 So here’s the thing. Astute readers of this blog know that I don’t do many reviews, and there are many reasons for that — lack of time, lack of interest, and reviewing other people’s junk takes away from time I could be investing in creating my own. But every once…

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<![CDATA[It’s not like I need anymore reasons. The truth is, I’ve been wanting to return to Japan for about 18 years, which is how long it’s been since I went as a high school exchange student in the summer of ’94. (Thank you, Jim Scott and Catlin Gabel.) That trip was very enlightening, full of…

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<![CDATA[Is God in the house, or not? As my friend Cole would say, it’s foolish to assume that God is present just because you experience a certain emotional reaction. It could be God, or it could be the skill with which the saxophonist is playing. There are times when God has been present and those…

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<![CDATA[Umm. Yeah… wow. So there are times when I feel like I’m starting to progress in my artistic and leadership development, times when I’m starting to get a handle on what it means to be an independent businessman and a worship artist at the same time. It’s for times like these, and for people like…

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<![CDATA[Just wanted to send a quick shout-out to all the folks who came to listen to my lunchtime concert at George Fox University today. I’m fairly certain that the music that I was able to present is not indicative of normal sit-down fare at a Christian school, even one known to have progressive thinkers. If…

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