Music Monday 8.29.11

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Check out some music this week. 

On My Radar

The War on Drugs: Slave Ambient | getting great reviews

Cheap & Noteworthy

$5 Albums for August - Ends Wednesday!

Streaming FREE

EMA: Past Life Martyred Saints

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The new album from EMA: Past Life Martyred Saints is $2.99 today. I've never heard of EMA or the artist behind it, Erika M. Anderson. But seeing the daily deal on Amazon I looked up more on the album. It has remarkable reviews from Pitchfork, PopMatters, Drowned in Sound, Dusted, and MusicOMH. So I picked it up and want to encourage you to dive in. Let me know what you think.

Ema

Open-Air Preaching in Portland

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I was connected through a common friend with Josh White, pastor of Door of Hope church in Portland, Oregon. My friend knew of my posts on open-air preaching and he knew that Josh White is doing it. After a couple of emails the last few weeks and then a phone call today, I'm very excited to share some of what Josh and Door of Hope are doing. (By the way, Josh is lead singer of the Christian band Telecast. I saw them open for Crowder in Lexington, KY years ago and had to pick up their CD, Eternity is Now. Still gets play time. Had no idea until the end of our phone conversation that he leads Telecast. Door of Hope also has connection with Blitzen Trapper and other solid indie bands in Portland. See more of their music family, friends, and favorites.)

After a great, descriptive email from Josh of what their open-air work looks like, I asked if I could turn what he wrote into a post. He said yes, but then he tweaked it so it could be on the church's website. Even better. So here is what Josh wrote about Church in the Park. What if more churches did this!?

Why do Church in the Park?

How do we bring the gospel to our neighborhood? How are we to be supernaturally natural in an urban environment that is less than 1% Christian? How do we encourage our Church community to stop treating their faith like a secret society? We do not see the early church primarily praying for the lost but praying for boldness. We are convinced that if our love for Christ surpasses our fear of people, we will begin to see revival occur in Portland. Church in the Park is our opportunity as a church family to declare together the good news of Jesus. However, the only exposure most of us have had to open air preaching is the zealous guy who stands alone and shouts at people, which never seems very effective. Or we see large irregular church events done with permits and sound systems, which is equally unnatural.

When do you meet?

Thursdays at 7pm.

Where do you meet?

Colonel Summer's Park
Between 19th and 20th Avenue on SE Taylor Street.

What is Church in the Park?

BRING THE CHURCH GATHERING TO THE PARK. Jesus said “they shall know you are my disciples by your love for one another.” When the body is together in a public space it gives authority and validity to the preaching of the gospel. It also allows for a lot of conversations to occur that would not in the confines of a building for the park is a place where the world and the church can truly intersect.

TOTALLY UNPLUGGED. No amplification allows us to meet with out permits and allows people to listen of their own accord with out us being a giant bear in their picnic. Every week people have walked over to the fringe of our gathering and listened - and sometimes heckled.

DIRECT THE MESSAGE TO THE CHURCH. This allows outsiders to witness a body of faith taking in the word while trusting the Holy Spirit will draw many to Himself if Jesus is lifted up.

MUSIC. We are blessed at Door of Hope to be in Portland and to have so many talented musicians. We are a singing church, and it is powerful witness to have a church body singing worship together in a public space.

CONSISTENCY. We do church in the park regularly. Cynicism dissipates as the people see that we are part of this neighborhood too, and that we aren't going anywhere. As long as it is not raining we will do it every week.

Is childcare provided?

Unfortunately, we do not currently offer childcare at Church in the Park.

Summary

All of this is having a tremendous effect on our church. It gives us greater confidence in the Spirit's ability to use us for Kingdom work, exposing many to the gospel for first time. Church in the park is definitely creating a stir, given that gospel proclamation is not popular in our beloved city. But we believe it will make an impact for “faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God”.

Keller | Lloyd-Jones on Preaching & the Gospel

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Tim Keller's newest blog post on Martyn Lloyd-Jones & preaching: "Lloyd-Jones on Preaching the Gospel, Part 2"...

Do we preach the gospel so clearly even when we are seeking to edify that there are always at least a trickle of people within our church who come to see that they never really believed? The purpose of every sermon, according to Dr Lloyd-Jones, is not to give information and general instruction but to preach the gospel and make it real to the heart.

$5 Albums for August

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Another month, another list of recommendations from Amazon -- only $5 each. Enjoy!

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.