Together for Adoption Conference | Early Bird

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148 Email from the T4A folks on how you can save by registering this week for the conference. I'll be there with my beautiful wife. Hope to see you there!

You can save $30 by registering for Together for Adoption's October 21-22 orphan care/adoption conference this week (read full-details here). You may now register for just $75 today, July 25th, through Saturday, July 30th. This limited-time discount is over $30 less than our current early bird special. Take advantage of this super early bird price and help us spread the word about it this week. This sale ends on Saturday, July 30th at 11:59pm. Check here for details and to register at this super early bird rate.

If you take advantage of this early bird special and would like to sign up for conference childcare or reserve a room at one of our partner hotels, you will need to do so at our regular online registration site. You may also register there for one of our two pre-conference events as well.

NOTE: If you are coming with a group from your church, this would be a perfect opportunity for your group's members to register.

We hope to see you in Phoenix this October 21-22nd.

$5 Indie Albums

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I don't know why some of these are $5 or how long the price will stay, but here are a bunch of great indie albums for $5 I just found. If you want more info on an album, or are looking for a sound similar to something you like, comment and I'll whittle down a few suggestions for you. There are so many good ones!

Cheap Kindle Books 7.20.11

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Amazon is having a big sale on Kindle books, 900 of them to be exact. Peruse them all. Here are a few worth checking out at $2.99 a piece...

Music Monday | Stretch Yourself

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Blind music I love to find new, unique, or renewed sounds in new music: Bon Iver's bearded outdoorsman falsetto, Beirut's use of traditional instruments and foreign sounds, Antony & The Johnsons's trembling vocals, Animal Collective's layers and layers of electronic music, and Andrew Bird's lyrical torsion. Sometimes there are new sounds that just don't work for me, and other times they draw me in and stretch me in a new direction. Even when they don't work, I think it's good for us to be stretched. It keeps us from mere consumption and towards understanding it as art.

Let's be honest, some of you just love everything from U2 but don't realize you are stuck in a moment and can't get out of it. Time for something new. Here are two places to stretch.

1. Daniel Knox. The haunting vocals will stay with you in "Ghostsong." If you like it, grab his free Daytrotter session and buy his album, Evryman for Himself.

2. tUnE-yArDs. I don't really know what to say about this, but the critics are crazy about it. The new album from tUnE-yArDs: W H O K I L L is only $5 right now. If listening to this doesn't stretch you a bit, you may have deeper issues.

Albums I'm Enjoying

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I've had a crazy-busy summer and haven't done enough talking about some of the great music I've been finding. Here are two albums I'm loving and don't want you to miss...

I'm very much enjoying the full-length debut album from Washed Out: Within and Without. It's chillwave 80's sounds. It's sleepy bedroom pop music, perfect for lazy, hot summer evenings. To me it's also great background music during work or reading.

I can't believe the 18 song album, Love & War & the Sea In Between, from Josh Garrels is FREE. Dude, it's FREE. And I'm listening to it a lot. Wowwy, it's really good. And did I say that it's FREE? It's not good because it's good for something that FREE. After hearing it I'd happily pay $10 for this album. You need to run, not walk, and download this gem. And check out Josh's other albums: Over Oceans | Jacaranda | Lost Animals.

Beirut: Gulag Orkestar is $5

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My first listen through Beirut's May 2006 album Gulag Orkestar was in June of 2006. Joe Thorn and I were driving our way toward Greensboro, North Carolina for the Southern Baptist Convention and I HAD to make a stop by ear X-tacy in Louisville, Kentucky for some CDs. I found Gulag and 7 others from my list. I think we listened to all of them on the way, but Beirut stuck out for both of us. It was such a different sound, international flavor, unexpected instrumentation. Both of us were blown away by it. We want to recommend it to you. So go get it for $5 and tell us what you think. When you love it, go pick up Lon Gisland EP, The Flying Club Cup, and March of the Zapotec. All are outstanding, and the flavors beautifully change a bit along the way. New album, The Rip Tide, due out August 30.

$5 Albums for July 2011

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Some outstanding albums for $5 for July. Go grab some!

Tim Keller | "Wisdom and Sabbath Rest"

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From Tim Keller's article, "Wisdom and Sabbath Rest," which is adapted from a 2007 leadership training session talk at Redeemer.

The purpose of Sabbath is not simply to rejuvenate yourself in order to do more production, nor is it the pursuit of pleasure. The purpose of Sabbath is to enjoy your God, life in general, what you have accomplished in the world through his help, and the freedom you have in the gospel—the freedom from slavery toany material object or human expectation. The Sabbath is a sign of the hope that we have in the world to come.