Christianity and the Creative Age

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CreativeIt will cost you a few bucks, but if you want to understand art and "cultural creatives" you should get Tim Keller's message "Christianity and the Creative Age."  This is a lecture given for the Redeemer InterArts Fellowship in September 2006.  The Redeemer InterArts Fellowship is "for anyone working in (or interested in) the fine or performing arts, design, media, or entertainment." 

This lecture is helpful on consumerism, art & artists, the city, creativity and relationships.  It's particularly helpful for pastors desiring to encourage a biblical view of the arts and, obviously, artists.

Music Monday 12.11.06

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Blind_musicI've mentioned some of these before, but here are the ways I discover new music.  I'll try to put them in order of importance for me.

1. Metacritic.  This site compiles reviews for movies, DVD's, TV shows, books, and yes, music.  I only use it for music.  Click "Music" at the top, and then on the left sidebar you will notice a few "Best of..." links.  Below that is an "Upcoming and Current Releases" list in alphabetical order.  Click "Sort Them By Score" and see the list in order of best to worst according to combined reviews.

Now you can click artist by artist and see which CD is reviewed and then read blurbs from each reviewer.  A number of the reviews contain a link to the full, external review.

This site isn't perfect.  When reviews don't contain a number score, Metacritic will assign it a number on a 100 point scale so it can be put in the tally.  Some review sites and mags end up giving a slew of 100 ratings, and that just doesn't work.  So you may find inflated scores here and there. 

Another problem is that there are artists and CD's I would love to see reviewed that aren't given any attention.  That can be frustrating.

Nonetheless, this is still my favorite site for discovering which CD's I want to look up on iTunes to see if it might be worth buying.  I also have this site as a favorite on my Treo cell phone so I can use it when at the music store.

2. Peruse good music magazines.  You may want subscribe to a good magazine like Paste (my personal favorite) or Under the Radar.  They will have a number of reviews in each issue.  I can't afford to subscribe to much, so I spend a few minutes shuffling through the pages in the bookstore to see what stands out.  And I'll pick up an issue here or there to read about artists I'm interested in.

A downfall of depending on one magazine is that they might not like something you think it great.  Or maybe it will be the other way around.  I rarely read one review before picking up a CD. 

3. Read music websites. A number of magazines put their reviews online.  Good to check those out.  But there are sites that focus only on the web.  Some of the ones I like are Pitchfork, Dusted, and Coke Machine Glow.

4. Podcasts.  Many of the music magazines and websites have their own podcast highlighting artists and CD's.  I've tried out many and find them all helpful in different ways.  Currently I subscribe to KEXP's Live Performances and NPR's All Songs Considered.

5. Internet radio.  Sites like Pandora (easily my favorite) and Last.fm can be very helpful in finding music that fits in the style range of music you already like.  So you tell them what you like (each site has a unique way of doing this) and they play similar music. 

This doesn't always work like you want it.  Sometimes I think, This isn't anything like the music I enjoy.  But you can skip songs and move along.  I still find these sites worthwhile.

Smaller Churches

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It's budget time at our church and Tim Keller's words are painfully evident.  Ugh.

The smaller church by its nature gives immature, outspoken,opinionated, and broken members far more power over the whole body. Since everyone knows everyone else, when a  family or small group of members express strong opposition to the direction set by the pastor and leaders, that small group’s misery can hold the whole congregation hostage. If they threaten to leave, the majority of people will urge the leaders to desist in their project. It is extremely difficult to get complete consensus from a group of 50-150 people about program and direction, especially in today’s diverse, fragmented society.  Yet in smaller churches there is an unwritten rule that most everyone must be happy with any new initiative in order for it to be implement. Leaders of small churches must be brave enough to lead and to confront immature members in spite of its unpleasantness.

Tim Keller, "Leadership and Church Size Dynamics"

Suburban Poverty

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Trying to understand the urban and suburban neighborhoods we live and work in is an ongoing task.  Interesting to learn that suburban poverty is growing...

As Americans flee the cities for the suburbs, many are failing to leave poverty behind.

Thesuburban poor outnumbered their inner-city counterparts for the first time last year, with more than 12 million suburban residents living in poverty, according to a study of the nation’s 100 largest metropolitan areas released Thursday.

“Economies are regional now,” said Alan Berube, who co-wrote the report for the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank. “Where you see increases in city poverty, in almost every metropolitan area, you also see increases in suburban poverty.”

Contributing factors...

—Suburbs are adding people much faster than cities, making it inevitable that the number of poor people living in suburbs would eventually surpass those living in cities.

—The poverty rate in large cities (18.8 percent) is still higher than it is in the suburbs (9.4 percent). But the overall number of people living in poverty is higher in the suburbs in part because of population growth.

—America’s suburbs are becoming more diverse, racially and economically. “There’s poverty really everywhere in metropolitan areas because there are low-wage jobs everywhere,” Berube said.

—Recent immigrants are increasingly bypassing cities and moving directly to suburbs, especially in the South and West. Those immigrants, on average, have lower incomes than people born in the United States.

Read more.

Keller: Leadership & Church Size

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New article by Tim Keller in the new issue of The Movement (Redeemer's church planting newsletter): "Leadership and Church Size Dynamics."  This is Part 1 of 2.  Read the rest of the issue here. 

Also encourage you to read the interview with J.R. Vassar, "Calling and Seduction of the City."  He is the planter of Apostles Church in Manhattan, NYC.  I met him in my first year of ministry in Colorado when he spoke at a college retreat I organized.  Good guy.

In other Redeemer resource news, I noticed a few days ago that Redeemer has a Coaching Urban Church Planters book out from J. Allen Thompson.  Should be helpful.

Tim Keller Speaks

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Tim Keller is speaking at Christian Life Conference January 19-21. The conference is in Memphis, TN and free for all to attend. From the website...

Cruciformity will be the twelfth annual Christian Life Conference (CLC) hosted by Second Presbyterian Church. Think of the CLC as “continuing ed” for your spiritual life. Whether you’re a brand-new or a life-long Christian, there’s always more to learn about how to put faith into practice.

The CLC is also a great way for anyone to learn more about how Christ can impact your life. The conference is free and open to the public.

Check out the conference schedule, bring a friend and take advantage of this opportunity to find out what a life shaped by the cross is like.

UPDATE: The conference audio will be up soon afterwards.  Old conference audio is there now from  Walt Kaiser and D.A. Carson,

Missionary Work in Suburbia

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Hamo (Andrew Hamilton) over at Backyard Missionary has some good thoughts (not earth shattering, but good) in his three part series, "Some Thoughts on Missionary Work in Suburbia."  He discusses six building blocks.

Post 1...
    1. Proximity - being near people
    2. Regularity - spending significant time together
Post 2...
    3. Depth - going beyond the fluff in relationships
    4. Conflict - being prepared to disagree and realise that’s ok and necessary
Post 3...
    5. The Message - we need to speak about who we are, and why
    6. The Supernatural - ultimately it still comes down to a work of God
Post 4...
    Going a little deeper with the above six points

Music Monday 12.4.06

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It's time to talk Christmas music.  Granted, I'm not the foremost expert on Christmas music.  Nor do I want to be or ever intend to be.  I'd rather get a CD I can listen to after the holidays are over and all year round.  But there are times to drop a few bucks on Christmas music.

Sufjan One of those times is when Sufjan Stevens puts out a Christmas album.  I don't own it yet, but I have many of the songs from a free download last year.  They are fantastic, and his boxed set, Songs for Christmas, is surely worth the $20 price tag. Grab it.  Or head to Sufjan's website to stream all the music! (Thanks macht)

If a Sufjan fix won't do it for you, then check out my post from last Christmas detailing the five most played Christmas CD's in my home.  All good stuff.