What Is Directing Our Worship?
When asked to serve as the Music Minister at his church, Steven gladly accepted. He led the congregation in the great hymns from the church’s history—such as “All Creatures of Our God and King,” “A Mighty Fortress is Our God,” “Praise Ye the Lord, the Almighty,” and “Near the Cross.” An elderly gentleman, strictly accustomed to southern gospel music, approached Steven one morning: “These new songs are nice and all, but I really prefer...
Intentional Sanctification
What makes the difference between the person who simply fills their spot in the pew on Sunday morning and the person who takes the next step? Let’s answer this question by asking another: Is sanctification inevitable or intentional? In short it’s both: we receive it at conversion, and we progress in it. While most agree that we receive sanctification at conversion, many disagree as to how precisely we progress in it. Because we focus...
Art Actually
I sometimes ask myself how in the world I ended up with a degree in music performance. But really the answer is quite simple: I love music. I always have. However, what sold me was a music appreciation class during my freshmen year at the local state university. The entire class was deeply fascinating. What was most curious about this course was that it actually began inside the church. The first two or three weeks were given wholly...
When I Consider the Heavens, the Works of Your Fingers
In my freshman year of college at the local state university, I took two semesters of astronomy for my science core requirement. They were my favorite courses during my time there. I found the sheer enormity and variety of the universe fascinating and exhilarating. However, although I knew why I found it so incredible, I never understood why my classmates and professors did, since they viewed astronomy through the lens of Big-Bang...
Musical Thought in the Early Church
On a youth group outing recently, several of our teenagers and I began discussing one of our favorite topics—music. I told them that my musical preferences had changed over the past year in favor of hymns, folk songs, and classical music. When one young man asked why I was making such changes I explained that it was due to some of my recent reading. A New Song for an Old World: Musical Thought in the Early Church has been particularly...
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