To Begin Sitting and watching half of my peers in the student body respond to a call to “cross-cultural ministry” near the end of Missions Conference 2012, made me uneasy. A few hundred, from what I could guess, got up from their seats, walked to the front, and stood behind the speaker as he hailed of what a great thing was taking place in that moment. My unease came from, “that moment”, as I thought to ...
Hip Hop, is known by some as the small genre that encouraged black and brown teens from the Bronx to speak out against injustice. To others the industries new cash cow, or if you’re a black history major you might say it’s the new Black face American for woman and African American entertainers. Yet, some have found it to have extremely significant meaning past beats and witty word play, these people are calling Gospel ...
Apparently, somewhere over the mountains and the sea, God has a river flowing with love. And, when they are truly in a state of worship, a person can actually feel a God-song rising up in them. While it would be nice to know the location of such a river or the sensation of a “God-song,” the problem is that neither of these claims are true, despite the fact that they are lyrics found in two ...
My Point of View My biblical perspective on radio is something that I, personally, am still working through. Recently it has been a struggle to decide what radio looks like for the Christian, what it ought to look like, and whether that is true for every Christian in radio and how that differentiates from person to person. Are Christians called to be just in Christian radio in the traditional sense of the term? Or are ...
With the lights out, it’s less dangerous, here we are now, entertain us I feel stupid and contagious here we are now, entertain us- Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana These lyrics resonate with cultural trends expressing a desire to be entertained. This hunger for being entertained is directly paralleled to our consumerist culture. As western Christians, who are an expert concert-going generation seeking entertainment, we have developed misconceptions, leading to a consumerist style of worship music ...
Guided to be a Woman in the Church By: Cara Coleman Being raised in a culture that told me that, as a woman, I was strong, assertive, organized, and intelligent I believed I could do anything. In fact I was certain of it. In high school you could have said I was a feminist. I was affirmed that I would be a force to reckon with someday in the corporate world. In ministry I assumed that I ...
My footsteps fall with a crunch, as I tramp through the nearly silent, predawn forest. The only sounds that float on the air are those of my gingerly obnoxious footfalls and the call of a single songbird as it preemptively declares the dawning of a new day. My pant legs already hang wet from the morning’s dew as I quicken my footsteps through the undergrowth on my way to witness one ...
A Change in Choosing and a Change of Heart Although my navigation skills are slightly below average, there are several places I can drive without confusion. One of these places is the library in Lowell, Michigan. During my middle school years, the shelves in this library were familiar territory. I repeatedly returned to these shelves and perused–sometimes for hours–accumulating a small stack of books to read. Historical fiction and mystery were my favorite genres, and I ...
We live in a highly technological society, in which Christian organizations and churches partake in creating visual media design to communicate information to their audiences, however at times the design works against the intended message by overemphasizing the visual element and lacking in biblical truths or the authenticity of the message presented, where others emphasize conveying the message across clearly, while missing organization or the creative design. Whether you like it or not, but the fact ...
Why do people “fall in love,” quite literally, with a story? The same reason why movies and music are also consumed: they provide an escape from reality. Most people reading a good book, singing along to their favorite song on the radio, or having a movie night with their girl friends will probably not consciously be thinking that they do these things because they think reality is awful. But sometimes it is and these sorts ...
Beginnings: Art, along with the artists producing art, should be at home within the community of the Church. More than that, the community that the faith of Christians calls them to should provide valuable collaborative community so strong, sure, and beneficial that the Arts Community will turn to it for salvation from the harmful production principles of our culture and society. It is more than possible for this to be true of churches, The Church, and ...
THEATRE AS AN ART FORM Having grown up auditioning for shows and taking classes in acting, singing, and dancing, I am no stranger to the stage. The dichotomy of my life is seen in two different venues: theatre and the church. I grew up in a Christian home, and always had a love for the arts– yet the two never seemed to be able to come together in my mind. It was not until the beginning ...
Increasingly more often in the news, reports pop up about music programs slashed, or art classes cut. With the current financial climate, budgets are tight, and when push comes to shove, funding for the arts is the first to be “reallocated”. It is not that the research proves that art programs are detrimental to a child’s development, in reality it is soundly proven otherwise. Rather, it is more often that the drive to have students ...
In my closet hangs a woven Nepali scarf, a single garment made of many thin threads. Varying shades of yellow, brown, white, and red are striped through the predominant color, green. Each thin thread and each color influences the scarf’s shape and beauty. Some threads are indistinct in the pattern. But if these were removed, the scarf would have holes and may become unraveled or distorted. So it is with history. God has woven a ...