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Posts tagged: church

CNN Article On Francis Chan

December 23, 2010, by Zack No comments yet

You’ve seen me write a handful of posts (like this one) about Francis Chan over the past couple of years.

His podcasts and books – Crazy Love in particular – have been a huge blessing to me.

You may or may not know that a few months ago he walked away from his church. No scandal, no controversy or drama – he just abruptly announced that he would be moving on with no specific plans about where.

Now that the dust has settled a bit, he has transplanted his whole family to an ‘undisclosed’ city in Asia, where nobody cares that Crazy Love just hit the NY Times best-seller list, and CNN wrote a pretty interesting article about the whole thing.

The clencher for me:

Before selling his house and packing up his wife and three children, Chan was becoming “Christian famous” in Evangelical circles.

“Even in my own church I heard the words, ‘Francis Chan’ more than I heard the words, ‘Holy Spirit’,” he said.

That was a big part of the reason he walked away at the peak of his professional career.

“I think there has been too much emphasis on me. I want to be used by God, but I think we have this desire to make heroes out of people rather than following God and the Holy Spirit.”

He quotes the apostle Paul, who told his followers “I didn’t die for you.”

Wow.

He may or may not have gone a little overboard, but either way: I think he’s on to something.

Check it out.

This Too Shall Be Made Right

October 1, 2009, by Zack 2 comments

Derek Webb is one of the best musicians that you’ve probably never heard of.

He has a niche of followers who love his music and wrestle with his message, but I’ll bet that if you’re over 25 and reading this, then the name is new to you.

If that’s the case, do yourself a favor and go get one of his albums. Any one will do.

You don’t even have to risk spending your money on something that you may not like! Derek is actually the founder of NoiseTrade, where you can download an album for any price you’re willing pay, or for free if you’re willing to recommend it to five friends!

I’ve been enjoying Derek’s music since he came and performed at NC State several years ago. I remember sitting at Derr track and watching him — nothing but a mic, a guitar, an amp, and some pedals — introduce me to “Where The Streets Have No Name” by U2…

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Tell Me About Your Church

July 24, 2009, by Zack 2 comments

Most of my recent experience as a follower of Jesus has been learning about the Church: what it is, is not, should be, and eventually will be.
I have worked to get a church started, worked to get a church established, worked with pay and without pay…
And this is still a topic that Steph and I spend a lot of time discussing and praying about.

And with all that in mind, I’m curious about your thoughts and experiences.

Whether you go to church or not, whether you’re a christian or not, I’d love to have your thoughts!

(I’m playing with Google forms, so I’ll see what kind of cool ways it gives me to share the results w/ everyone!)

If the embedded form doesn’t appear below (after the break), then please use this link

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“The Bride”

July 22, 2009, by Zack 4 comments

lecrae

You’ve seen Lecrae pop up on this blog a few times now (like here).

He’s been around for a while, but for years, I used to walk right past his albums at the christian bookstore. I can’t really explain why…  I just looked at the album covers and assumed the music would be cheesy, like most almost all ‘christian’ rap.

But it’s not.

At all.

His newest album, Rebel, is the bast rap album in the history of the world I’ve ever owned.

Seriously.

I play it when I run. I play it when I drive. I play it while I work.

And I have been for like 6 months now.

One of the catchiest songs on the album is all about the Church, and called “The Bride“, (in reference to how the Bible says that the Church is the Bride of Christ).

The theology on this track is astounding, and the message is desperately needed in the Church at large today.

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Sermon Recommendation: “Humble Pastors”

May 8, 2009, by Zack No comments yet

picture-21I listened to this sermon by pastor Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church this morning.

I highly commend it to anyone who considers themself — or desires to be — a ‘leader’ of any kind of ministry.

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