The Worship Artist

I read an article from the newest “Christian Research Journal” yesterday titled “Why I Am a Calvinist” by Kevin DeYoung. It’s one of those articles that if you were to highlight it, you’d end up highlighting the whole page. Here’s a specific excerpt that resonated with me:

I’d like to think that we are Calvinists because of what we see in the Bible. We see a God who is holy, independent, and unlike us. We glory in God’s goodness, that He should save miserable offenders, bent toward evil in all our faculties, objects of His just wrath. We rejoice in God’s electing love, which He purposed for us before the ages began. We are grateful for God’s power by which He caused us, without our cooperation, to be born again and enabled us to believe His promises. We take comfort in God’s all-encompassing providence, whereby nothing happens according to chance, but all things–prosperity or poverty, health or sickness, giving or taking away–are sent to us by our loving heavenly Father.

Giving It All To You | audio | chord chart | lead sheet
Come Thou Fount | audio | chord chart | lead sheet
Be Thou My Vision | audio | chord chart | lead sheet
You Amaze Me | audio | chord chart | lead sheet
Holy Is The Lord | audio | chord chart | lead sheet

Cue Sheet

I Will Boast | audio | chord chart | lead sheet
God Moves In A Mysterious Way | audio | chord chart | lead sheet
Not All The Blood of Beasts | audio | chord chart | lead sheet

Cue Sheet

If you cannot worship the Lord in the midst of your responsibilities on Monday, it is not very likely that you were worshiping in Sunday!

A. W. Tozer

Stay tuned. Life is crazy. I’m finishing up my senior year at MBU. Exciting time, but (obviously) I have needed to decrease my attention on this blog. Thanks for sticking with me.

Who would have thought a forward in a book would stand out to me so much. Here’s Sally Morgenthaler in the forward to Dan Kimball’s book, “Emerging Worship:”

When it comes to irony, worship in late twentieth century evangelicalism takes the prize. Just as the world was reenchanting the universe (think Deepak Chopra, The X-Files, candle-and-teddy-bear grief vigils, Final Fantasy video games, and Lord of the Rings), user-friendly Christianity was practicing religious reductionism: shrinking the divine to the size of a three-point outline and four songs in the key of perpetual happy.

Time magazine lists their top 10 Ideas that are changing the world right now. Coming in at number 3 is “New Calvinism.” Check out Pastor Mark Driscoll, he has some great thoughts on Time Magazine’s article on New Calvinism:

1. Time Magazine Names New Calvinism 3rd Most Powerful Idea
2. More Thoughts on Time Magazine and New Calvinism

“One of the dilemmas I find among spiritual leaders is a propensity to downplay positive feedback and focus on negative feedback. This is a recipe for continued mediocrity because it pegs your productivity to problems and demoralizes you to boot. Remember, it is okay for you not to be good at everything. That qualifies you for being human. Being human is what qualifies you for spiritual leadership, not being perfect. The need to be good at everything is idolatrous. Besides, not getting all the talent is one more way God builds into us our need for community. We need other people’s talent to fully experience what God has in mind for our lives.”
-Practicing Greatness: 7 disciplines of extraordinary spiritual leaders by Reggie McNeal

How do you take compliments? Can you take them? I honestly really struggle with this.

I Will Boast [D]
[Church Life]
[Offering]
Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone) [E]
Jesus Messiah [E]
[Message]