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It is with great excitement that I announce that Dan Kimball, pastor of Vintage Faith Church in Santa Cruz, CA, conference speaker, and author of The Emerging Church, Emerging Worship, and , They Like Jesus, But Not the Church and co-author of Listening to the Beliefs of the Emerging Church, has agreed to be our keynote speaker for the Abandoned: Worship As Life Seminar on Saturday, September 27, 2008!

Dan will speak in four sessions on various issues such as the emerging church, emerging worship, the future of worship in the church, etc.

I must say that Kimball’s book, The Emerging Church, absolutely changed my life. It set me on a course of deconstruction and reconstruction in my ecclesiology and Emerging Worship did the same for my worship philosophy. It is an unbelievable honor to have him come.

If you remember, last year Sally Morgenthaler and Shaun Groves were with us. It was a time of great challenge and encouragement.

My vision for Abandoned remains focused on the emerging worship conversation and educating, encouraging, and spurring on MBU Worship Arts students, as well as the local church worship community. The mission for the event is:

1) Simply put, Romans 12:1. We are ‘abandoned to worship as life’ because we have been commanded to offer our bodies of living sacrifices. Living – as in all of the time. That means our spiritual act of worship, or our spiritual lifestyle, never ceases. It’s not a something we clock in to do when we go to church and then clock out. Because of the cross the ‘temple’ of worship is now our own hearts. We don’t go to church, we are the church. And that means worship can and should happen everywhere, including the church.

2) ‘Worship as life’ eludes to the idea that as we offer our bodies as living sacrifices, it impacts the people around us. This is the missional aspect of worship. In other words, as we personally worship God, we have a conversation, a connection, an intimate exchange of love between Father and child. After we’ve experienced this love in a time of worship, how could we not share the love we have been so freely given with others? Why wouldn’t we want those around us to experience what we have? If not, our worship has terminated on ourselves. We have to remember our salvation doesn’t end at the point we receive God’s free gift of grace. We have been saved to continue to redeem the world. So our worship should propel us outside the four walls of the church.

Soon, I will have an announcement regarding the artist[s] that will be here to close the day out on that Saturday evening. Be looking for more information regarding the seminar in the months ahead!


my favorite songs 9

I’ve been on reprieve from this series – along with some others like the communion and worship wars series – due mainly to switching jobs and my wife and I expecting our fourth child any moment. I know excuses, excuses…

Today’s installment brings us #7 on my short list of the current great American bands. In my original list, I included Arcade Fire at #7. Doh! The AF are from Montreal. That would be Canada my friends. Fire my research staff…

So know I am going to bump up my #8 to #7. This band is made up of three Jewish students who met and formed during their time at Tufts University in Boston, Mass. Does “Fa fa fa fa fa fa fa/never be the same again” ring a bell?

#7 on my list: Guster

What has defined Guster over their time together as a band is their rabid college fan base, their vocal harmonies – with both Ryan Miller and Adam Gardner singing lead vocals on different song – and unique instrumentation.

As for their strong fan following, the band regularly updates studio and road journals on their website, guster.com, and regularly sign autographs after their shows. Guster maintains a Rep (representative) program, through which fans receive albums to sell and promotional materials for upcoming concerts. As a side note, the band managed to sell more than 10,000 copies of Parachute and Goldfly through little more than word-of-mouth.[citation needed] Guster is a constantly touring band, often playing up to 250 shows a year.

I.E.: A few years ago, I watched their live DVD, Guster on Ice: Live from Portland, ME and yes it was a live concert being taped, but I was astounded at the fact that the audience knew every word of every song. That’s fandom….

As for their choice of instruments, up until recently, it was somewhat atypical: two members playing acoustic guitars and one member – Brian Rosenworcel, a.k.a. The Thundergod – playing a combination of bongos, cymbals, and other drums using only his bare hands – and alot of tape as to stave off the blisters I’m sure. Adam Gardner sometimes plays a downtuned guitar as a bass instrument.

In the spirit of the Grateful Dead, throughout their career, Guster has been known for always maintaining a liberal taping policy and has a very dedicated and active taping community.

Their most recent album, Ganging Up on the Sun, made my top 10 albums of 2006. Check out the entire list here.

Below is one of my favorites from Guster entitled, “Happier.” The video isn’t that great of quality, but it captures the live energy that Guster exudes. And listen to the crowd sing along. Wow!


my favorite songs 8

Today brings us to #6 on my short list of the most important American rock bands today…Matt Pond PA.

Matt Pond PA is an indie band formed in 1998 by singer/songwriter Matt Pond, along with guitarist/bassist Josh Kramer, violinist Rosie McNamara-Jones, cellist Jim Hostetter, and drummer Sean Byrne (previously of Lenola and The Twin Atlas). They have a new full-length album, Last Light, coming out in September 07.

This Philadelphia, PA band is one those bands who walk the fine line of indie, chamber pop leanings, refined production, and accessible music – lilty, sighing, subtly lush – and lyrics – confessional, urban, somber. In my opinion, their albums are the rare ones where you can actually listen to them from start to finish. They invite you into the doleful and you want to linger. And Matt’s voice is understated, worn, and authentic…

My current fave from Matt and his PA’s is “Brooklyn Stars” from the recent album, Several Arrows Later. The video below is a live gig they played at The Magic Stick in Detroit. It’s not that great of quality, but the band sounds great:


my favorite songs 7

I have to admit, I used to not like #5 on my short list of the most important American rock bands at the moment. At all. Even when I heard their first single from their new album, Wincing the Night Away, it did nothing to change my mind.

But much in the same way the recent Stills album, Without Feathers, won me over after not initially liking it, so has this band with their recent album.

The band? The Portland, Oregon quartet The Shins.

There is a melancholy in the Shins music that brings real sadness to the surface for me. Don’t get me wrong, I love melancholy. I think I just didn’t want to let their melancholy do that to me. It was too real. But I’ve given in. IMHO, The Shins are walking that fine line between left-of-center lyrical content and music that is multi-genre with atypical song structures and production that is slick without losing its indie cred, while at the same time, remaining accessible to the music fan.

They are definitely one of the most important American rock bands of the moment. And really, most of these bands in my short list I believe have staying power. Important is different than popular. Important transcends, popularity fleets.

And that first single from The Shins new album? Well, it just so happens that I love it now. Here is my favorite Shins song “Phantom Limb”:


my favorite songs 6

In at #4 in my attempt to name the top 10 most important American rock bands and my favorite songs in one fell swoop is the indie rock/post-punk, lush, multi-layered, psychedelic, spacey, and bizarre, The Flaming Lips. Wayne Coyne, Michael Ivins, and Steven Drozd are acclaimed for their elaborate live shows featuring fursuits, balloons, puppets, video projections, complex stage light configurations, giant hands and large amounts of confetti. In 2002, Q magazine named The Flaming Lips one of the “50 Bands to See Before You Die”.

All of this could seem like a shtick. It is. Who dresses up like bunnies to perform their music? Well, The Flaming Lips. But the truth is that the music lives up to the shtick and then goes on to supersede it. Big time.

From their best album, the ‘02 “Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots,” comes “Fight Song,” my favorite Lips song:


my favorite songs 5

#3 on my short list of the most important American rock bands and one of the best names ever for a rock band: Death Cab For Cutie. One of the best lead singers for a rock band: Ben Gibbard. One of the best nu-pop albums from start to finish and to listen to when going to sleep: Plans. My favorite song from that album, the 80’s-tinged, “When Soul Meets Body”:


my favorite songs 4

Continuing the theme of the most important American rock bands at the moment, my #2 – Spoon. Here is my favorite Spoon song – “The Two Sides of Monsieur Valentine.” The quality isn’t that great, but you’ll still catch the ‘genius’ that is Spoon:


my favorite songs 3

I read somewhere recently that Wilco is probably the most important American rock band at the moment. I couldn’t agree more…

I think I remember this article saying that Calexico was a close second – I don’t know about that. I think my short list, in order of importance, would go: Wilco, Spoon, Death Cab For Cutie, Flaming Lips, The Shins, Matt Pond PA, Arcade Fire, Guster, Margot & the Nuclear So & So’s, and Interpol. I may post my favorites from these bands over the next few weeks…

Well, enough of that. Here is my favorite tune by Wilco, “Hummingbird”:


my favorite songs 2

I was going to let a few days pass before I did my next installment of My Favorite Songs but Holly and I just watched a rerun of Without Trace and the show ended with a modern classic.

Here is “High and Low” by Greg Laswell:


my favorite songs 1

I thought it would be cool to begin a series on my favorite songs via music videos. More than anything, I want my children to see what music their dad has liked throughout his life. They are 5, 3, and 1, so they have a lifetime to catch up on dad’s repertoire.

So here is installment #1 from probably my favorite band of the last few years, The Stills, with “Helicopters”:


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