This from “Life And Times In The Fast Lane” made me think…
“When looking at our noise situation and our current church model, it can seem strange, even preposterous, like an out of body experience, or when you hear your own voice on the answering machine. It’s a model we have become so accustomed to and adept at, that it can be very hard to take an outside look at things. Our current model seems to be set up on the idea of the lecture. A group of people gather together, every week, to hear someone talk to them, hopefully to give them information that they didn’t already have, or if in the case that they did have it, that the new information would inform and lead them beyond their current level of information. While I haven’t done a lot of in depth study on this subject, I imagine this is direct root of part of our less noble Catholic heritage in which the gospel was handed down from Latin texts which the common layperson had no ability to read. This is a very simplistic explanation, of course, but this is my blog. Somewhere along the way, oh, about the time of Wesley and his cohorts, this lecture style, while not changing, became somewhat entertaining, with interesting personalities and former actors (Whitefield) occupying the pulpits. Religion as entertainment, as we have seen in the 20th century, really took off, especially with the baby boom generation which now occupies the seats of our mega churches every Sunday morning.”
Click here to read the rest.
You’re invited to IKON, a bible study at The People’s Church in Franklin, TN. We meet every Tuesday night around 8PM. Check out ikoncommunity.com for directions. (New IKON site coming soon, btw.)
We’re walking through Genesis verse by verse. Join us.
FINDSHELTER.ORG is working to match churches with resources to families affected by the hurricane in need of help. Things were slow going at first since many families believed they would be able to move back to the ravaged areas of Louisiana and Mississippi. But now, according to CNN, 40% of displaced families are planning never to return and are needing help relocating and starting over again. This has increased the interest in FINDSHELTER.ORG and our efforts to meet EVERY need of these families, spiritual and physical, and to do so by working through churches and other Christian groups (eg. Sunday School classes, Fraternities, Bible Study groups etc).
Our work is being highlighted in the media more and more and while FINDSHELTER.ORG is not always mentioned, the motivations and beliefs of those sponsoring families through us are. And that story, the tale of human beings showing mercy to those in need, really is the most important story to tell anyway. Check out this piece by Good Morning America about families FINDSHELTER .ORG helped by pairing them up with First Baptist Church in Leesburg, Florida.
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Lee University is a Church of God school in the hometown of the denomination: Cleveland, Tn. The folks at Lee took great care of us on this our first stop of the White Flag Tour. Jason Morant opened for Kendall Payne who opened for me. This was Jason’s only date on this tour with us - he’s from New Orleans and so his life’s logistics are a little up in the air right now along with his schedule. I’d never heard Jason live before and I was struck by how different his live show is from his album. Live he sounds much more like Chris Martin and Rufus Wainwright than I’d realized listening to his disc. He bleeds these wonderfully melancholy aching mid tempos and ballads. Long phrases sung in the lowest parts of his range and occasionally swooping up into falsetto. Very reflective of European music at the moment, and of course completely out of step with the bulk of American CCM. Needless to say, I loved his set.
Then it was Kendall’s turn. There’s nothing subtle about Mrs. Payne. She bursts onto the stage the way she busts into a room of strangers - there needs to be a word beyond “extrovert” to describe her. I envied her last night. I miss playing the twenty minute set before the artist everyone paid to see (supposedly). It’s hard to mess up a twenty minute set, so easy to sprint for such a short time without having to think about what you’ll transition to when running gets old for you and the audience. And an opener without a band has the ability to interact with a crowd in ways a headliner just doesn’t. Kendall used all of this to her advantage, being interactive and self-deprecating in the best way and her songs sounded remarkably complete played only on an acoustic. I might just become a groupie and quit this whole SHLOG thing - travel around making bootlegs of one of the best alt chick singer-songwriters there is. She deserves a tour with Ani Difranco or Lucinda Williams and not me. Check her out if you ever get the chance.
The show itself was packed out. Students at the University are forced to go to a certain number of “Chapel” services and this concert counted as one such credit. The only problem of this otherwise stellar night was the surprise revelation from faculty that Chapel services are only an hour long. Somehow in all the advance calls made setting up the details of this show this detail was not communicated. So, being unable to fit three artists into one hour, we knew that some, maybe all, of the crowd would leave when the hour mark was reached, getting their credit for time spent and heading back to the dorms to complete homework shoved aside by Saturday’s fun and Sunday’s nap. ABout a fourth of the crowd did just that, getting up in twos and threes over about a twenty minute span of time until finally those who felt sorry for me or had nothing better to do sat attentively. Honestly, I would have bailed too. I always had cramming or writing to do before Monday morning classes. I completely understand.
For the first night of a tour, with new openers, new logistics and a new set list to work with, the night was great. Even for not being the first night of a tour I enjoyed myself. I got to be a fan of my openers and be inspired to perform at their level. I’m not there yet but it was fun trying.
See you in Texas on the next stops of the White Flag Tour with Kendall Payne.
Heading to Cleveland, TN today with my band. We’ll be playing mainly for students but the show is also open to the public. I’m using a new second guitar player for the first time ever. We’ve never met and never rehearsed. So that should be interesting. (Pray for Josh, my usual second. He is with his father who is having health problems.)
You can go to shaungroves.com any time to see where we’re heading next and how to get tickets.
Hope to see you at Lee. Pics and more when I return.
-SG
This from “Life And Times In The Fast Lane” made me think…
