Doxas Universe: August 2006

Learn to Play "What Can I Do" with Paul Baloche

Paul Baloche teaches us how to play his Worship song "What Can I Do" on Guitar (video here)
Check out his sweet McPherson Guitar

Christian T-shirt Evangelism Does The Trick

Nothing opens people's eyes to the love of Christ like good old fashioned judgement on a T-shirt, like this one:

We'll actually, now that I think about it, it's probably the single worst way to 'love your neighbor as yourself '. That's probably why I love Worship music so much, it's a non-confrontational way of sharing his love. I firmly believe that the right Worship song inspired by the holy spirit can melt the hardest of hearts; I've seen it with my own eyes. Do the body of Christ a favor, Worship more and don't wear T-shirts like these (unless your wearing it sarcastically, in that case make sure you look really alternative and hip so people aren't threatened by your subtle but humorous declarations of moral absolutes and references to Judeo-Christian value systems.)

Doxas Dialos: Episode 009 - What Everyone Ought to Know about the Future of Contemporary Christian Music

We're back from our summer break and were jumping right back into the topics that matter. This week we discuss the fate of CCM (Contemporary Christian Music) and the polarization of bands toward mainstream and worship genres. It's a lively discussion you don't want to miss.

Featured Group: Leeland

Family Force Five

Sufjan Stevens

Michael W. Smith

Third Day

Get the Podcast: iTunes | Feedburner

Who Else Wants To Worship With Third Day

What more do I need to say: Third Day playing Agnus Dei live.
Enjoy

Why Bono and The Cure are My favorite Worship Leaders

Bono participating in a worship service in New York City, August 2004

I'll never forget the first time I heard Bono sing '40' from the U2 album WAR. It was a techno remix of the 1983 release and I can remember literally feeling waves of goose bumps running up and down my body. Here was arguably the biggest rock n' roll star of my lifetime stripped down of all his image and position singing a Psalm written to God like David probably did thousands of years ago. Was this OK? He's not a Worship Leader, is he? Is this worship?
This experience made me curious about the potential for using other 'secular' songs for Worship. As I looked into it I discovered that this is not a new concept. Evidently many of our ancient hymns and spiritual songs found their melodic origins in secular sources. For example, John Wesley put some of his 6,000 hymns to classical music, a few opera tunes, and perhaps a folk song or two. I asked around to some of my Worship Leader friends and evidently borrowing from 'secular' sources didn't stop with Hymns.
Here are a couple of the 'secular' songs that people have used in Church recently:
(I really like the lyrics by The Cure)

Lyrics from "40" by U2
Lyrics from "You Raise Me Up" performed by Josh Groban
Lyrics for "Your Love Keeps Lifting Me Higher and Higher" by Jackie Wilson
Lyrics for "Lovesong" by The Cure
Lyrics for "I'm a Believer" performed by Neil Diamond, made famous by the Monkees