David Crowder Band – All This For A King: The Essential Collection

May 21, 2013 by Leave a Comment

David-Crowder-BandI think it was his hair that I first liked. Either that, or his beard…one of the two.

I went to my share of National Youth Worker’s Conventions and Emergent Conventions, where I got a chance to see, hear and meet David Crowder a couple different times. I’ve played some of his songs in worship before, and compared to some of the cheesy, worship/praise music that’s out there, the David Crowder Band stuff has always been stuff that I’ve enjoyed.

Today they have released a new album, All This For a King: The Essential Collection. If you’re a long-time David Crowder fan, then you’ll probably want this to add to your collection.

If you’ve never heard of David Crowder or his music, this would be a good intro to some of his most well-known songs. And if you use this link to Amazon, you can get the album for only $8.89 (which is a pretty good deal, I’d say).

The album has some of my favorite songs: O Praise Him (All This For a King), You Alone, and No One Like You. The full track listing is below:

  1. O Praise Him (All This For A King)
  2. Our Love is Loud
  3. Open Skies
  4. Here Is Our King
  5. Wholly Yours
  6. How He Loves (Radio Version)
  7. You Alone (Live)
  8. Everything Glorious
  9. The Glory of It All
  10. SMS {Shine} (Radio Version)
  11. Shadows (Family Force 5 PHENOMENON Remix)
  12. After All (Holy) (Capital Kings Remix)
  13. No One Like You (The Digital Age Remix)
  14. This I Know (New Track)

While the band has called it quits, Crowder will continue to release music and tour the country. Crowder will be headlining a 20-city club tour in the Spring of 2013 and will continue to work on new music as he launches his solo career. An all new record from Crowder is coming in the Fall of 2013.

Giveaway

I have 5 signed physical copies of the CD to giveaway. It’s going to be on the honor system. If you’ve NEVER PURCHASED A CROWDER ALBUM BEFORE, and would like this “greatest hits” album, send me an email through this site (via the Contact Page). The first five to do so will be the winners. Thanks!

Filed Under: Tunes Tagged With: , , ,

Rethinking Preaching: Starting Fresh with a Blank Slate

May 14, 2013 by 2 Comments

Blank-Slate

So I’ve spent a few posts reflecting on preaching recently, must of it a critique of what we’ve done before, and trying to rethink preaching.

But what if nothing had been around before? What if preaching and the field of homiletics didn’t exist? What if no one had ever heard a sermon before? Something went awry during the Reformation, we never inherited the teaching-style of proclamation, never thought about someone standing up and proclaiming the word of God in the fashion that we have all become accustomed to. Work with me here…I know it’s a stretch.

So you and a group of people get together. There are some parishioners and some pastors. Some professors, teachers, grocery-store baggers and stay at home moms and dads. There are some youth, preschoolers and a few elderly folks. And your goal is to come up with a way in which you engage and interact with scripture and people’s lives.

Essentially, you’re given a blank slate. A chance to brainstorm and come up with a new way.

What does that look like? What tools would you use? How might proclamation of the word of God look in 2013, if you were starting from scratch today? Would you essentially end up with something similar to what you do now? Or would you feel more freedom to go in a different direction?

Filed Under: Ministry, PC(USA) Tagged With: , , ,

Aleksander Gamme Experiences Perfect Bliss

May 10, 2013 by Leave a Comment

You may have already seen this video before, but I first heard it on a Radiolab podcast a few months ago (I was a few months behind, it originally aired December 2012). The theme for that podcast was “Bliss” and it began with the audio of Aleksander Gamme’s video above. This is from Radiolab’s podcast description:

First: a perfect moment. On day 86 of a 3-month trek to and from the South Pole, adventurer Aleksander Gamme discovered something he’d stashed under the ice at the start of his trip. He wasn’t expecting such a rush of happiness in that cold, hungry instant, but he hit the bliss jackpot.

At first,  you might think it’s kind of funny that he’s that excited about finding some food. Or that he’s just hamming it up for the camera. But can you imagine experiencing that intensity of hunger and cold and the trek that he’d been on…and then to find something that he’d forgotten about?

Bliss.

When was the last time you experienced bliss?

Filed Under: General Tagged With: ,