New Song Watch – You Alone Can Rescue

This isn’t is a crazy new song, but it takes a while for music to trickle down the grapevine.

In this song from Matt Redman comes a pretty cool experience. Very easy to catch onto in corporate worship. I first heard the song during the worship sessions last October at the catalyst pre-labs. It was covered by Christy Nockles and Eddie Kirkland. Can’t wait to hear Redman do this live at Passion 2010!

The song absolutely soars in the bridge.

“We lift up our eyes – lift up our eyes: You’re the giver of life”

New Song Watch – Winter Snow

Chris Tomlin has recently released a Christmas Album. (I’m still waiting for Crowders… Crowder did “Feliz Navidad” last year)

This album features Audrey Assad in a song called “Winter Snow” with Tomlin.

Very interesting Christmas song. I’m working on reviewing the album now. Hopefully Tomlin has released a modern worship album for Christmas.

A Note from TH…

ECU Athletics Director Terry Holland regarding the Virginia Tech game:

Think back to September 6, 2008 and the Pirates vs. No. 8 West Virginia.

That was the most electrifying game atmosphere I have personally witnessed in my 50 years in intercollegiate athletics. The Pirate Nation in the stands and the players on the field were in total sync the whole game. It was a truly magical environment that gave us all goosebumps. Every cheer was part and parcel to what was happening on the field at that point of the game. At no time did the crowd retreat to self-entertainment like “the wave”, which is fine at halftime, but when the ball is in play, the Pirate Nation’s focused support makes the difference for our team.

There are some similarities for the Thursday night game against Virginia Tech, although for different reasons. The parking lots will not be available until shortly before game time, so the focus will be on getting parked and getting into the stadium, and Pirate fans will be anticipating that something special will happen and will be ready to be a part of making it happen!

Pirate fans have come up with two initiatives for this game and the athletics department does its best to support fan initiatives out of respect for what the Pirate Nation means to our success. Therefore, athletics supports the fan initiative to have an official black shirt for this game as well as encouraging all Pirate fans to consider dressing as a Pirate for this game.

It is always proper and important to show our PURPLE and GOLD. Therefore, we encourage everyone on the South Side (behind the ECU bench) of the stadium to bring something GOLD and all on the North side (behind the VT bench) to bring something Purple to wave as the Pirate Nation welcomes a national television audience with a PURPLE/GOLD cheer that will rattle windows in the Triangle. Hats, towels, T-shirts, whatever you have to show the colors.

ECU Football is at its best when the Pirate Nation is focused on what is happening on the field because that is the one thing that is important to all of us. So dress like a Pirate, wear PURPLE, BLACK, GOLD or POLKA DOTS if it helps you get focused on the game … but don’t be distracted by what other good Pirates decide to wear.

And remember to treat our guests from Blacksburg as well as they treated us in Blacksburg in 2007. This has been a respectful rivalry that could develop into something special as evidenced by the game played in Charlotte last season and the camaraderie of both fan bases as they tailgated together.

As always, the best thing we can do as Pirate fans at any game is to treat visitors, visiting teams and other ECU fans with respect, while loudly and passionately cheering in support of our Pirates.

GO PIRATES!

TH

————————–

Thank you TH for finally coming out against the wave!

Me, Kyle Holliday, and the serious members of the student pirate club thank you!

I don’t know about people wearing all sorts of colors to the game… but we will see.

Argh…

Church Politics are Deadly – Christian Horror Films

I have never been one for Christian movies… the acting is always horrible and they are pitifully produced.

However… Cloud Ten Pictures has peaked my interest with their latest adventure “Dangerous Calling”

Its a Christian Horror/Suspense Movie!

I really don’t know what to think, but I guess it could really reach out to a whole new group of people. They are having a discussion over on Cloud Ten’s blog.

However – I DO LOVE the idea behind this movie. The concept is a little too real to me and IS truely scarey.

Watch the trailer to see if you get what I mean.

Bring back memories for anyone? SCARY!

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The Shack

This morning I read this tweet from @ecucru

“@pastormark on Why the book ‘The Shack’ is heretical and dangerous: http://tinyurl.com/6lnxxu”

Having heard William Paul Young at Catalyst 08 discuss the controversies surrounding his book – I wanted to watch and see what Driscoll had to say.


Driscoll makes a hard argument that the Shack is about the trinity. However, never reading the book I do not know. If my memory serves me correct – I believe William Paul Young disagreed and pointed out what the book was really about.

Overall – I do know that the book is FICTION and I think we need to have that lens on when evaluating it.

So – What are your thoughts on the book? Do you agree with Driscoll? Were you there for the William Paul Young interview at Catalyst 2008? What IS the Shack really about?

Comment away…

A brief thought from Catalyst 09…

This was my third year going to Catalyst. It is amazing when I look back over the past three years…

My first year at Catalyst is almost a blur. I was just beginning to understand the gospel. Everything was just sensory overload. I had just been going to Discovery for about 3 months, and next thing I knew I was in a van with an old guy (Claude), a hairy singing pastor (Jason), and a worship leader who had to pee a lot (Davey).

I had touched the creative church world a little bit in the years past, but my recent connection to the gospel had started to put a new lens on “the church.”

I do remember hearing Andy Stanley for the first time. I only knew him as the co-author to “Can We Do That?” with Ed Young Jr. I also had no clue who Steve Fee or Kristian Stanfill were. I also had no clue that people read books on leadership either. In my church background Pastors weren’t leaders. They were puppets that were being manipulated by business meetings and deacon boards.

Over the past three years – I have fallen more in love with Christ and my passion for his bride has grown. I praise God for what he has done in my life within these past few years. He can truly change a person’s heart and turn a life around.

Praise God for the Catalyst Group. Even through the Christian Capitalism there is an amazing heart behind everything. Heres to another 10 years.

An open letter to my blog…

Dear blog,

I am sorry for my neglect. I do care about you, and I appreciate you representing my online presence! Represent the REAL Brad Christian and not that “street magician” at http://bradchristian.com

I have been only able to keep up Discovery’s vimeo channel. At vimeo.com/discoverytv – However – it links to over a years worth of awesome messages from Discovery.

You have got to understand that August and September have been the epitome of craziness. If things settle down… I hope to one day return to writing on you. Sharing thoughts and such… I am reading a great book on volunteers by Tim Stevens and Tony Morgan…

They are inspiring me and hopefully I will pass on my take…

Once again. I sorry for the neglect and lack of controversial blog titles.

Your friend,
Brad

There is no historical proof of Jesus…

I was recently sent this video… I had trouble listening to it simply because of the low production quality.

However, if you look beyond those problems. What is your response. My response is similar to Lee Strobel… but I’m not interesting in what I think. What do you think.