Grammy Awards Meaningless to Christian Music Fans

Periodically this blog emerges from its cocoon when something happens that would have been relevant to readers during the twelve years when we posted fresh content every day.

This year’s Grammy Awards nominees in the Gospel category noted the artists Christian music fans know and love, but none of that was reflected in the list of winners.

In the past we tracked the results with great interest. But downloading, streaming services, and today’s emphasis on the “single” instead of albums, means that over the past months you’ve watched the music departments at any remaining Christian bookstores (and many Christian-owned online sites) greatly contract in size. But there’s another good reason for not running the complete listings here.

Despite nominations in the five gospel categories by people such as Phil Wickham, King and Country, Chris Tomlin, Elevation Worship, Anne Wilson, Tobymac, Gaither Vocal Band and Keith and Kristyn Getty; the Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences presented FOUR of the awards to a collaboration project by Maverick City Music with Kirk Franklin. To add insult to injury, the other award went to the Tennessee State University Marching Band. (Yes, really!)

So really, the awards this year were completely meaningless. People in the Academy vote for names they recognize; not on the basis of the artists’ connections to the constituency for whom they record. Better to wait for the Dove Awards or the K•LOVE Fan Awards. The Gospel category Grammy awards are a complete waste of time.

On the Passing of Aretha Franklin

So much is available for you to read online. I only want to make three observations:

♪ The first is a bit tangential, I admit, but it was refreshing to see an inspirational remembrance of the Queen of Soul displace Washington politics from the top of the network news agenda, both in Canada and the United States. NBC Nightly News devoted the first ten minutes to Aretha Franklin and this can be considered a measurement of her impact on music listeners and musicians alike. The orange man dominates the news rundown on far too many nights.

♪ I didn’t realize that Aretha’s first gospel album was her all-time bestseller. I believe the one at right (or above if you’re reading this on your phone) is the one I saw pictured on screen in one of the reports. It’s a double album, which I believe is the same song selection as the ones listed on the later-released CD version, shown below. Another example of how gospel music (and we can infer also, the Gospel itself) carried African Americans through the Civil Rights years. (There have been many other gospel collections by her in the years since.)

♪ The story, part of the next day’s reporting at NBC News on Aretha filling in for Pavarotti at the 1998 Grammy Awards is so inspiring. The show director didn’t know the opera star would be a no-show until 10 minutes into the broadcast. Aretha had performed the song as a tribute two days before at a tribute for Luciano, but this was a different arrangement, in a different key, with a large choir. She listened to a cassette in her dressing room for a few minutes, then went onstage to do her own number with The Blues Brothers, then went back to relearn the arrangement, and walked onstage saying, “This is going to be fun.” You can read the director’s story here — a related video is missing but you can watch that on YouTube.

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Kick back with some Aretha gospel! This video begins a playlist of 16 songs.

 

Remembering Edwin Hawkins

If it was the musical Godspell that inspired me that contemporary music could be used to present a Christian narrative, then it was the Edwin Hawkins update of the classic hymn, “Oh Happy Day” which convinced me as a young kid that a Christian message in music could have a place on pop radio stations, especially with contemporary Christian radio being non-existent in 1968. With the chorus lyrics intact, this melody and arrangement was quite different than the version we sung at the Sunday evening services of my youth. From that point on, I felt the possibilities were endless.

Edwin Hawkins died yesterday at age 74.

The song was originally recorded as one of eight songs on an album by Hawkins’ group, The Northern California State Youth Choir. When local radio station KSAN in San Francisco started playing it, the song was picked up by Pavillion Records and distributed by pop music label Buddah — insert reference to the irony here — with the artist designation as “Edwin Hawkins Singers.” The lead vocal is by gospel singer Dorothy Combs Morrison. It’s a song of testimony and both the traditional and modern versions have been used in baptismal services, and for many it served as an introduction to the mass choir genre of gospel music.

An obituary at National Public Radio (NPR) notes, “Throughout his career, Edwin Hawkins won a total of four Grammys, and he was voted into the Christian Music Hall of Fame in 2007.”

He taught me how
To watch and pray
And live rejoicing
Every day…
…Oh happy day…

 

Wednesday Link List

From DailyEncouragement.net — “…It is a camp for displaced Christian refugees in Iraq (Click to enlarge). Note the English writing on the center tent proclaiming in a very dark place, ‘Jesus Is The Light Of The World’.”

This week we celebrate the ellipsis, its utility as connective device, and its overuse. In other words, many of this week’s links were related.

• In the wake of Robin Williams’ death, enumerating various suicide-related issues that clergy will face.
• From either a conservative or orthodox perspective, Gungor keeps digging the hole deeper.
• Essay of the Week: Honestly, I wondered when someone would do a comparison between Mars Hill Grand Rapids and Mars Hill Seattle…
• …Another I’d like to read would be a comparison of two men who were upfront about their faith while selling fried chicken, KFC’s Colonel Harland Sanders and Truett Cathy. The latter, founder of Chick-fil-A passed away on Monday at age 93.
• Persecution: It took a New York Times columnist to say this.
• Perspective: Your weekend worship environment may not be a physical building in Ethiopia; it might involve having a service under a tree…
• …But perhaps many of us put too much emphasis on having a church building.
• I’m surprised we don’t hear more about this August story about 1,400 children being raped and trafficked.
• Just as I have to pick and choose what gets in this list, a popular Christian news site defends their story choices.
• Preaching: “There has been a natural disaster of extraordinary proportions in a nation whose sinfulness is well known. Do you stand up Sunday morning and declare that God has divinely judged that nation?”
• Youth Ministry: Five ways to make sure they hear your message…
• … which was written by a recently displaced Mars Hill pastor whose work visa is now voided, which means leaving the country…
• …while at GoFundMe, people are donating to three other displaced MH staffers.
• Time Travel (1): A 1,500 year-old document that was holed up in a university library references the Last Supper and manna from heaven…
• Time Travel (2): Imagine attending a Puritan worship service. “…the shuffling of the congregation as they settle down to listen comfortably to a lengthy sermon, while the minister adjusted the hour-glass.”
• Sabbath on Steroids: Every seven weeks this Prince Edward Island church basically shuts down all programming…
• …Meanwhile, on Canada’s opposite coast, a church’s annual report includes a page at the end for you to write your own story. (Opens a 40-page .pdf file)
• Two high-profile U.S. missionaries survived Ebola, but the disease has taken four national pastors in the Assemblies of God denomination alone.
• Ann Voskamp tells the kids why they should wait: “Your naked body deserves the honor of being shared only with someone who is covenanted to never stop loving your naked soul.” …
• …On the other hand, when the wedding date is set, should a Christian sign a prenup? Sample: “…a prenup is a bad indicator that not everything is being relinquished for the sake of this marriage.” …
• …Or a girl’s father could just start early on in the relationship asking the guy these twelve questions.
• Tomorrow (9/11) night, Trinity Broadcasting Network unveils its new Chicago studio with an open house…
• …Also in the windy city, a local church’s use of social media has caught some mainstream media attention.
• Last week’s Happy Rant Podcast got our family talking about chewing tobacco to the glory of God.
• A Lutheran mobile ministry is half church, half food truck.
• Sadly, there’s no such thing as “a good divorce.”
• A second Essay of the Week: Save those church bulletins. They might end up in a museum somewhere as artifacts of 20th Century church culture.
• Worship Leaders’ Corner: Five tips for those times you’re working without the band.
• Victoria Osteen stands by her words. Well, sort of. Sample: “Every Lakewood member knows what I was talking about…”  Membership has its privileges…
• …to which the Rev. Dr. Albert Mohler, Jr. replies, “America deserves the Osteens…”
• …Meanwhile, hubby Joel announces Joel Osteen Radio, broadcasting 24/7 on SiriusXM.
• Gladys Knight (sans Pips) released a gospel album yesterday. (Be sure to click through to hear the song.)
• Jamie the Very Worst Email Responder recently deleted her inbox, and thinks you should, too.
• A well known Jewish charity is nominating Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper for a Nobel Peace Prize for his support of Israel.
• A video link for the tweens and teens at your house.
• Finally, across the pond, a man who volunteers his services to umpire an interdenominational cricket match is disqualified because he is not “theologically neutral.“

Each week we scour the web for stories of interest to Leadership Journal readers, however several of our “usual suspects” have put up pay-walls or added pop-ups that can only be described as obnoxious. The goal is to deliver news and opinion pieces with a minimum of interruption and solicitation. Suggestions are always welcomed, you can contact me on Twitter, or at Thinking Out Loud before 6 PM EST Mondays.

Paul Wilkinson is considered Canada’s foremost authority on writing a Wednesday Link List, and he doesn’t just say that because he writes his own footer for this weekly piece.

From theologygrams.wordpress.com, a site I suspect we’ll be visiting many times in the future

Wednesday Link List

gbi

It’s summertime and you don’t need an Angler’s License to fish for Christian news and opinion pieces on the net. 

• That woman who walked up the aisle with a baby strapped to the train of her wedding dress prompted various responses, but some criticized her for her grammar.
• Video of the Week (1): Tullian Tchividjian was on a roll in this ten minute from clip the Liberate conference.
• Essay of the Week (1): A Charismatic group heads off to Gay Pride Day to do spiritual warfare, but ends up marching in the parade.
• Chapters of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship (IVCF) are being targeted for “derecognition” on various college campuses.  John Turner blogs that the message here is clear, Evangelicals are no longer welcome.
• Essay of the Week (2) Eugene Cho responds to the spate of gun violence in elementary and high schools and colleges and universities.
• There are ten kids in the Harding family. Seven went to college by age 12. Sample: “Heath, 18, calls himself ‘the slacker’ of the Harding family. He earned an undergraduate degree in English at 15 and a master’s degree in computer science two years later.”
• A 24-year-old Salvation Army employee with only two days training finds herself in the middle of a “rape dungeon” at the Manus Island detention facility in Papua, New Guinea (PNG).
• Pope Francis makes a point that Evangelicals should remember: Leadership involves following the Holy Spirit, not following majority opinion or consensus.
• Essay of the Week (3): There are many parallels — and some striking differences — between your local church and World Cup soccer.
• A Pew Survey shows that while they may not mind atheists, many don’t want their daughter to marry one.
• Here are four predictions on where conservative Protestant fundamentalism is heading by someone who knows the subject well. (Be sure to read the comments this blog attracts on every post.)
• Not every country has the USA’s First Amendment, so when an Irish Assistant Pastor quit over his Senior Pastor’s anti-Islam message, it attracted public attention and the sermon is being investigated as hate speech.
• As many couples plan for summer weddings it’s easy to overlook that a lot of wedding planning isn’t really marriage planning. (You never know the advice you’re not getting.)
• Quotation of the Week: Brian Zahnd’s Farewell to Mars.
• For reasons you might not guess, atheists have their favorite Bible verses. (That Bible Gateway post is based on this article.)
• Salvation Semantics: You can know that you’re saved, but can you be certain that you’re saved?
• Video of the Week (2): When Christian Retailing magazine ranked this album #1 in the May/June print issue, we decided to check out Deitrick Haddon and LXW (League of Extraordinary Worshipers.)
• An American tourist in North Korea is being detained, allegedly for the crime of leaving a Bible in a hotel room.
• Apologist J. Warner Wallace, in the middle of a series on angels and demons, takes a thorough look at the concept of guardian angels. So, do you have one?
• Ouch! A Canadian North Point affiliate pastor offers seven reasons you should suggest some people should leave your church.
• Behind the scenes: Nate Phelps’ upcoming documentary offers a one-of-a-kind perspective into his father’s Westboro Baptist Church. (The movie is currently seeking funding on Kickstarter.)
• Chart of the Week: Neo-Puritanism contrasted with Neo-Calvinism (opens in your computer as a .pdf)
• Church Growth: “Is your church struggling to break through the 200 barrier?” Link to a New Small Church Podcast.
• After six years in the shadows, Mosaic Church founder and author Erwin McManus has returned to public life. (If you have 38 minutes, in the video, McManus teaches about Christ as artisan.)
• “Today we’re gonna teach you a new song!” Do you internally groan when the worship leader says this? Here are nine things about new songs.
• Work in Progress: Author David Croteau discusses his forthcoming title, Urban Legends of The New Testament. (What, they didn’t have snopes.com back then?)
• Christians have been going to the movies a lot lately, but while wanting to be entertained, 79% say Biblical accuracy is important.
• Ed Stetzer (a CT blogger) offers seven reasons why it’s established, existing churches that should be planting churches.
• After reducing the number of categories from seven to five in 2012, new categories were announced for the 2015 Grammy Awards for Gospel and Contemporary Christian genres.
• In a piece written before Father’s Day, Pete Wilson learns a valuable parenting lesson from his middle son.
• Veteran CCM artist Bob Bennett requests prayer this week, as does Andraé Crouch.
• African pastor on the Charismatic movement: “…there is something intrinsic in the Charismatic milk, which, once sucked for a number of years, tends to lend itself towards these heretical views” John MacArthur’s long lost cousin?
• The opposite of the megachurch: The micro-church.
• Jamie Arpin-Ricci does an all-too-short interview with the author of Inventing Hell.
• After going digital-only, an Anabaptist quarterly magazine returns to print.
• Before sending the kids off to a place you don’t know, make sure the camp is a member of the Christian Camp & Conference Association, or Christian Camping International. (Or is otherwise accredited by a church denomination you know.)

 

Typically, my youngest son includes his youth pastor as a reference on job applications; but for this summer job there is the terse admonition, “You may omit names of ministers of religion.”

Wednesday Link List

Not new, but too good just to link; you have to watch this…

• Edith Shaeffer, wife of the late Christian philosopher Francis Shaeffer, has died at age 98. 
• A member of The Church on the Way in Valencia,CA — and grandson of Jack Hayford, the church’s founder — is now back home uninjured after being kidnapped last week in Mexico.
• Singer Carrie Underwood and NHL hockey player Mike Fisher discuss their shared faith in Jesus.
• Know the song “‘Tis a Gift To Be Simple”?  Terry Mattingly says that definitely applies to the new Pope.
• Yes the Easter story really happened in a real place, and if you want, you can even get the GPS coordinates.
• And did they play that “It’s Friday, but Sunday’s a-Coming” video at your church this week? Here’s the text for all you aspiring preachers to give it your best shot.
• And don’t miss this story about church pyrotechnics gone awry. This could have ended very badly.
  
• Also at Parchment Pen: Did the author of the Gospel of Mark sleep in the nude?  The public wants to know.
• Sandy Patti is headlining at Carnegie Hall with the Manhattan Pops Orchestra and the pianist formerly (and still) known simply as Dino.
• For 32 years, Rick Warren said ‘no’ to the idea of doing a radio show. But then a year ago…
• A friend of ours, Rick Webster, pastor of The Third Space church in Peterborough has written Introducing Jesus — but he doesn’t use the word pastor, preferring Spiritual Wilderness Guide and Community Architect. We don’t normally do this here, but you can order the book online. 
• From the artist who brought us the Reimagine song, a cover of Larry Norman’s UFO song.
  
• Canadian author and blogger Sheila Wray-Gregoire says that if you are concerned for someone, you need to ask yourself three questions before you say anything.
• Another Elevation Church high-tech year end summary. Does your church’s annual report look like this?
  
• Maybe some cartoonists can illustrate complex issues, but Dave Walker finds himself somewhat lost for ideas in Uganda. 
• Okay, Doug Wilson, curiosity was killing me when you wrote Good Friday and the Death of Same Sex Envy. (And then he also discusses pattern recognition, too.)
  
• Shauna Niequist is the wife of a Christian musician and daughter of a world famous pastor. And a published author.  But she still deals with jealousy.
• Money Where Your Mouth Is Department: Michael Kelley offers us two things we can learn from the Veronica Mars movie campaign on Kickstarter.
  
• How about another 30-or-so links, all on the subject of apologetics? And don’t miss the first comment. 
• Blog flashback — one year ago: James MacDonald’s holiness test.
  
• The latest addition to our “lost song” collection at YouTube is this original version of God and Man at Table by Craig Smith. 
• And I didn’t realize until today how much this song and this song sound alike. Guess some classic gospel music or CCM just flies under the copyright radar.
  

Wednesday Link List

Regular readers will know this already, but I’ve never quite come out and said it: I find it somewhat snobbish when bloggers publish link lists where anything older than 2-3 days is considered obsolete. A true link sleuth will unearth some great material and won’t be concerned if the post is dated 30 days ago. If it was true then…

• Essay of the week: Church Planting in Montreal. A somewhat typical couple has been living together for ten years but has never gotten close to having any kind of spiritual discussion. And that’s just one challenge. The Quebecois version of Hybels’ “unchurched Harry” is quite different from “Harry” in the rest of North America. 
• Runner up: Remember that feeling when you were young and you came home from school only to find nobody home and you immediately thought everybody had been raptured?  Well, it happens to not-so-young college students, too.
  
• Okay, so that video about how to write a worship song wasn’t the first time Jordan at BlimeyCow waded into Christian music criticism. Or church camp. And different types of churches. 
• While everyone else on Sunday night was watching The Bible miniseries on History, one blogger was putting the final period on his review even as the credits rolled. I guess that way you get to say, “First!”  (The cable channel show beat all the big networks in the ratings.)
  
• If you know people whose Christian faith is characterized by what they are against, may I suggest you copy and paste this article and email it to them.
  
• For people who don’t know how to use a “table of contents” in a book, The Alpha Bible presents the Bible books in… well you know.
• Given the success of The Book of Mormon, a Broadway production by The Foursquare Church denomination on the life of Aimee Semple McPherson probably seemed like a good idea at the time. 
• The idea of gospel tracts probably seems somewhat archaic to most readers here, but the concision of these short presentations actual suits present attention spans. Now 31 Good News tracts are available on audio.  
• Matt Hafer comes out of church leadership hibernation with five ways for pastors to tell if people are truly on board.
• I know I often link you over to Christianity 201, but I really want you all, if nothing else, to catch this video.
  
• In some ways connected to a link we had here last week, a Christianity Today women’s blog suggests a little bit of Christianese is OK.
  
• As someone whose entire wardrobe was purchased at Goodwill and Salvation Army stores, this is scary: Pat Robertson allows the possibility that those shirts and sweaters could have demonic spirits attached. (That’s why Pat buys professionally tailored suits, I guess.)
• Once we know the name of the new Pope, the new Pope has to choose a name. Past Pope picks included these. (You remember Pope Urban, right?) 
• How is it possible that this great song by the Wheaton College Gospel Choir has had less than 2,500 views in two years?  If this don’t bring a smile to your face, your mouth is broken. Watch, copy the link and share.
• Jon Acuff finds himself in a prayer meeting with someone who gives a whole new meaning to the phrase too much information. 
• If you missed it January, Shaun Groves shares songwriting secrets for worship composers. But ultimately, “I think worship writers have parted with standard songwriting practices because they’re creating with the live experience in mind. So their priorities are much different from those of a traditional songwriter.”
  
• The people at Thomas Nelson flatly refused us a review copy of this, but I’ll be nice and tell you about it anyway. Jesus: A Theography is a new book by Leonard Sweet and Frank Viola combining theology and biography with –[free review time expired]
• …Mind you, that was already better than this guy’s review. “After a while, I finally put the book down and said enough.” (When you accept a free book you do agree to finish reading it.)
  
• Remember Anne Jackson? Well she’s still kicking around, still writing, and apparently this Friday is a special day. 
• Nadia Bolz-Weber, the Lutheran with attitude, shares her struggle preparing to preach on The Parable of the Vineyard. (Open the audio link in a new tab, then click back to follow the text; the whole sermon is about ten minutes.) Actual quote: “…you’d think that I’d totally remember a parable where poop is mentioned.”
• Meanwhile Steve McCoy’s kids, age 12 and 14, are taking sermon notes while he preaches.
  
• On our fifth birthday, we introduced you to Derek the Cleric. We had a tough time that day choosing between two cartoons and thought we’d stretch the written permission we received to do just one more.
  

Wednesday Link List

Christmas production at First Baptist Church in Curitiba, Brazil as seen at Church Stage Design Ideas Blog. That’s one huge choir.

It all begins with a design template that looks like this.

Lloyd the Llink Llist Llama crashes the party exactly one year after his first visit here

For the last couple of weeks there has been a weekend link list here. Some of the most interesting articles this month have been listed in those two editions.  So be sure to check them out.

• I never know for sure when I check out new blogs if the writer is on our side or not, especially when the first post I see looks like this one at Loon Watchman.
• Deans at other schools are fighting the possibility of accreditation for what would be Canada’s first Christian law school at Trinity Western. 
• Why swear an oath on one Bible when you can swear an oath on two?  A writer at Think Christian notes: “What I like about these [Bible] selections is the way they point to public and private figures who influence or inspire President Obama, and whose faith probably all shape the way he approaches his faith and his work.”
• You’ve heard of the dog who shows up for daily for a church service its late owner regularly attended. If not Fr. Z blogs the story, but notes that the dog’s appearance at the altar risks affecting the church’s ‘sacral character.’ 
• Sometimes it’s hard to become a Christian knowing that, if you do, someone is going to starve to death. Here’s a dilemma for missiologists.
• Don’t miss this one: J. R. Briggs gets an inspiring lesson on grace when he has to ask his 6-year-old son for forgiveness.
• Tyler Braun notes that summing up the gospel as “Jesus Loves Me” is too me-centered, unless we include spreading that love as part of the gospel mandate. 
• Zac Hicks has an interesting article about the role of Worship Pastor as Emotional Shepherd and the dangers of manipulating the congregation.
  
• A central Pennsylvania Wesleyan church officially opens a $4M expansion including a fitness center, jungle gym, café restaurant and Christian bookstore.
  
• So what exactly does it mean when you find a dead bird on the steps leading to your workplace?  Especially when you’re looking for more than, ““A dead bird on the step means either a cat loves you and has brought you an offering of food, or it means a bird flew into the window/door and killed itself…” 
• By now you’ve probably had occasion to look up a favorite TV show, movie or actor at IBDb, but did you now there’s now a Christian Film Data Base (CFDb)? The site also has a blog that’s updated daily with reviews and interviews.
• I’m writing this listening to an at least five year old song by Starfield – Reign In Us. Just clicked replay for the fourth time. 
• And news last week that Jason Dunn from Hawk Nelson has a solo album releasing in May.
• Meanwhile at American Idol auditions in Chicago Curtis Finch, Jr. impresses the judges with a brief gospel performance.
  
• For church leaders and pastors, Dave Kraft’s website, Leadership from the Heart is must reading. Here’s a piece outlining three temptations that can undo you and your leadership. 
• And here’s more good leadership advice from 9Marks on counseling people who haven’t crossed the line of faith.
  
• Looking for a career in ministry? Check out ChurchJobs.tv
  
• I suspect that Christian bands like Sidewalk Prophets love it when bloggers take one of their songs and use it as springboard for a devotional piece; like the writer at Journey of a God-Follower does with their song, He Loves Us Anyway.
• Not So 31 is the name of a blog based on a reference to “the Proverbs 31 woman.” She does a lot of book reviews and book excerpts in particular, including some recent ones by Steven Furtick and Chris and Kerry Shook.
• We linked to this picture — one of my favorite images of 2012 — late last year but never included it. Until today.  It was taken by Andreas Solaro for the Getty wire service and is captioned: Pope Benedict XVI caresses a lion cub as thousands of participants in the “Pilgrimage to Rome” festival – circus professionals, carnival people, street artists, pavement artists, bands and folk groups – gather at the Vatican on Dec. 1, 2012.  We think the Pope should have a few kittycats running around the Vatican the way the Queen has her Corgis at Buckingham.

Wednesday Link List

These are some of the pages my browser history tells me I visited…

• Married? So what about other opposite sex friendships? Here’s an answer you may or may not like. Check out the fifth video in this collection at Parchment and Pen. And the other videos, too.
• An update from Heaven is for Real co-author and dad Todd Burpo on how life has changed, how it’s the same, and the movie version of the book.  
• A longtime Baptist minister was beaten to death inside his church in suburban Fort Worth, Texas.
  
• Rachel Held Evans responds — at length — to Kathy Keller in particular and others in general on accurate Biblical interpretation as it affects her controversial new book. 
• Martyr’s Prayer is a CD that is also available as a live concert featuring the music of Michael Glen Bell and Duane W. H. Arnold with guests, Phil Keaggy, Glenn Kaiser, Jennifer Knapp, Randy Stonehill, Kemper Crabb, Margaret Becker and others. Learn more here.
• The picture at right represents my wife’s contribution to this week’s links. Click the image for source.
  
• The link you’ll be forwarding to your friends: Someone takes a hidden camera inside Mormon Temple rituals.
• Go deep: How the belief in annhiliationism diminishes the gospel message.
• Bookmark this for later: Tyler Braun offers ten things to say to people who are mourning.
• Another new video from Worship House Media: Check out every Christian cliché you’ve ever heard at Stuff Christians Say..
• Tony Jones considers Shane Hipps a friend, so his brief review of Selling Water By The River is somewhat telling.
• Tobymac opener Jamie Grace may be the world’s only musician with Tourette syndrome, ADHD, obsessive-compulsive disorder, echolalia, anxiety disorder — and a Grammy nomination. Read the interview.
• Christianity Today is re-launching the Today’s Christian Woman brand.
• Congratulations to Canada’s oldest gospel choir, The Toronto Mass Choir, on 25 years of making a joyful noise.
• A year ago we visited The Likeable Bible — all your favorite verses to be sure — and a year later it’s still online.
• Retro link to September: John Ortberg looks at the unparalleled life of Jesus in an excerpt from Who Is This Man?
  

If you’re a Wednesday-only visitor here, be sure to check out the Weekend Link List from Saturday.

Wednesday Link List

• Okay, so the guy who sold you the insurance coverage that looks after your pet dog or cat after the rapture wasn’t actually planning on doing anything after you vacated the planet.  Bart Centre, who lives in New Hampshire, came clean after the state Insurance Department delivered a subpoena because he appeared to be engaged in “unauthorized business of insurance” through his Eternal Earth-Bound Pets business. Just don’t tell Fido and Fluffy.
• Equally ridiculous is the story where a Pentecostal church staged a fake raid on its youth group — to illustrate the conditions faced by persecuted church people  in the third world — and now face felony charges.  Be sure to catch the video where the pastor states he would do it again.
• Jamie Wright may call herself “the very worst missionary;” but when it comes to the liabilities of short term mission projects, she really gets it. The “Hugs for Jesus” people who showed up in her part of the world had no clue what to do if anyone wanted follow-up. In baseball, a connection of bat and ball without follow-through is called a ‘bunt.’ Short term missionaries are bunting where they could be hitting home runs.
• Not a Christian website, but does it count if a Christian told me about it?  Just kidding; anyway, enjoy Ten Lessons Parents Could Learn from the Pilgrims at NetNanny.
• Got 36 minutes to hear a great sermon? I’ve dropped by Joe Boyd’s blog before but never heard him preach; but the idea of Jesus being blind got me curious. When was Jesus ever blind; literally or figuratively? This was videoed while he guested at another church, and his style is somewhat laid back but the content is excellent.
  
• Your Sunday morning service was a communion service.  And after that there was a fellowship lunch.  Which one was closer to being the real sacrament?  Before you get nervous about that question, read what Deacon Hall has to say.
  
• At age 103, Rev. Grover C. Simpson, pastor of St. John Missionary Baptist Church in Marked Tree, Arkansas is thinking it might be time to consider retirement. Well, closer to 103½ actually.
  
• Brandon Hatmaker on serving the poor: “I’d consider it more a success if I spent an hour with a homeless guy and he never mentioned church, what he does wrong, or what he doesn’t do right. I know, sounds weird. But, I’d rather him talk about his story, his family, what happened that landed him on the streets. That would be an indicator to me that he’s not performing for me. And that maybe, just maybe, I really cared about his story. And that just possibly, my God might care as well.” Read more.
  
• The post at Rightly Dividing is really short, but the comments add a lot of value to the question: Does anyone die “prematurely?” Does anyone die “before their time?”
  
• Occam’s razor is not the latest personal care product for men. Maybe this will help. Anyway, at Glenn Peoples blog, loved this line: “…that this was one of those instances where a scientist had gone crashing headlong through a philosophical issue and made a bit of a hash of it.”
• Two of the cathedrals destroyed in New Zealand’s earthquake may not have survived structurally, but according to one writer, “Increasingly, they had morphed into tourist temples…They were increasingly irrelevant to ordinary Cantabrians as vital centres of worship.”
  
• As if we didn’t exhaust this topic yesterday, there’s always the website devoted to the forthcoming movie, Jesus Don’t Let Me Die Before I’ve Had Sex. The movie which just raise $32K in its Kickstarter campaign, will be “a feature-length documentary examining the teachings of the evangelical church on sex and exploring the undercurrent of idealism that leaves many lay members feeling frustrated and confused.”
  
• Speaking of edgy movies, some people have seen the Blue Like Jazz movie already and have posted reviews; a lengthy review by Mike Cosper and a shorter one by Tiffany Owens at World Magazine.
  
• And speaking of sex, Joy Eggerichs is the daughter of Dr. Emmerson Eggerichs who wrote the huge marriage book, Love and Respect. She blogs at Love And Respect Now, and offers this explanation as to why a rapidly growing number of women are watching porn.
  
• No specific link, but if you head over to Timmy Brister’s blog, you should be able to catch the letter “Z” as he concludes his “Gospel Alphabet” series.
  
• In Tennessee, when they say “community hymn sing,” it involves Michael W. Smith, Randy Travis, Committed, Marcia Ware, a 150-voice choir and full symphony orchestra. But you get to sing along with the projected lyrics.
  
• If you go to Andy Stanley’s church, North Point Community, you know the worship time resembles a rock concert; hence a warning in your church bulletin: “This service contains flashing lights which may cause problems for people with photosensitive epilepsy.”  (Warning from me: .pdf file takes awhile to load.)
  
• Can’t get enough links? There’s always Brian D.’s blog.
  
• Today’s closing cartoon-type-thing is from Naked Pastor. David’s blog may seem irreverent at times, but tell me this is any different from what’s going on in many of the Psalms.