Rediscovering Petra

I just checked out a CD from our church's library that contains the Petra song "Beyond Belief". For those who don't know, Petra was one of the first true Christian rock bands and their heyday was roughly from 1982 to 1997 (though they are still around). I discovered Petra's music back around 1990, which was the year "Beyond Belief" came out. I highly recommend Petra's music. Some of their classic song titles include:

Beyond Belief.

Why Should The Father Bother.

More Power To Ya.

He Came, He Saw, He Conquered.

Clean.

This Means War.

Hollow Eyes.

I Am Avaiable.

Seen and Not Heard.

God Gave Rock and Roll To You.

Stand Up.

Killing My Old Man.

Love.

Prayer.

Sincerely Yours.

and I loved their covers of the Praise & Worship Songs: "Lord, I Lift Your Name on High" and "The Battle Belongs To The Lord"

If you do not know their music, I suggest you start with two compilation CD's: Petra Means Rock and Petraphonics. In my opinion, Beyond Belief ,This Means War, and Petra Praise: The Rocks Cry Out were their best regular CD's.

Highly Recommended!!!!!!!!!!!

Bad Sermon Titles

Here's my list of bad sermon titles for preachers. Please do not use any of these.

10) You Stink.

9) Let's Talk About Me.

8) Why I like (insert controversial practice the people you are speaking to hate).

7) Existentialism & Nihilism: In Depth.

6) Why Other Denominations Are Stupid.

5) Jesus is Most Definitely Returning on (insert date) Without Any Doubt - Sell Everything You Own Now.

4) For the Post-Modern: Sinners In The Hands of An Angry god of Your Choice.

3) Your Doomed.

2) I'm About to Confess Your Sins That I Know About.

1) Everything I Learned In Seminary. Really.

Greedy Geezers???

Throughout this last week of sifting through various election data in print, on radio, and so forth, my attention was captured by a conversation Rush Limbaugh was having with a man from Connecticut on his show yesterday. They were discussing the results and the subject of the views of senior citizens and their voting came up. Particularly they discussed what happened to Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania.

This caught my attention because, quite frankly, I cannot understand why the voters of Pennsylvania would throw Senator Santorum out of office. Santorum is a visionary man who holds Biblical values on most issues (his absolutely stunning speech opposing the brutal practice of partial-birth abortion several years ago is still memorable in my mind). Senator Santorum is deemed by most observers to be a fundamentally decent man and if he were my Senator I would be proud to have him. Top this off with the fact that his opponent, Bob Casey, Jr., has been described in various ways as not as qualified for this post (Casey is a mixed bag on issues; he is pro-life on abortion - though this does not automatically mean he will support pro-life Supreme Court nominees ala Harry Reid - but apparantly supports gay marriage via his opposition to the Constitutional ammendment banning gay marriage). Ultimately, this result makes no sense at all!

However, Rush pointed out that Pennsylvania has the second highest percentage of senior citizens as residents and the vast majority of them get their main news coverage from "mainstream media" sources such as ABC, CBS, NBC, and CNN (I will add they are the largest readers of newspapers as well). These sources are all left-wing and pro-Democratic party to the point of practically working for the Democratic National Committee (yet they masquerade as objective, non-biased reporters). Thus, the senior citizens of Pennsylvania were largely getting the picture that Santorum was this evil person who didn't care about them and their concerns (i.e. the next Social Security check and other government payouts to them personally). Rush added that his experience was that many of these senior citizens cared only about their immediate world and don't have much interest in making the world a better place for their children and grandchildren (thus Santorum's visionary views held no appeal to them).

Which brings me to the point of this essay. If we assume that this is somewhat true (which to me is a logical conclusion though who knows the exact percentages of the Senior population we are talking about) then we have to ask ourselves why do so many Senior Citizens only care about themselves and not their children and grandchildren. It has been my personal experience with Senior Citizens that they fall into two opposite camps: 1) many have been wonderful people who cared deeply about the world they would leave to their descendents and some of them have been heros to me; 2) the other group were very selfish people who cared only about themselves and made life miserable for those around them.

What it boils down too is this: Senior Citizens are just like everyone else in the world! They are either greedy self-centered people or they are Christ-like in their view of the world and those around them. I am sure some of those who voted for Mr. Casey in Pennsylvania were not the greedy group but honestly thought they were doing the right thing for those around them and that some of the greedy, selfish ones voted for Mr. Santorum, so my point here is not to stereotype people.

But I do want to ask you what you are like. Do you vote on the basis of "what's in it for me?" or do you vote on the basis of "how would Jesus vote in this election if he were in the voting booth with me?"? I honestly don't know who Jesus would have voted for in Pennsylvania for he would be privy to information that I don't have (the total and complete character of each candidate as well as foreknowledge of the ultimate result of the election - for years on end). But I wonder how many voters on election day across the country considered him in their choices. I myself messed up by not requesting an absentee ballot from my home state before the election deadline so I missed my citizenship responsibility this time so I am not perfect either. But why would you throw someone out of office who definitely did not deserve it - that is a commentary on the type of person you are and not on the person you voted for or against.

More Book Recommendations: Church Life

I previously posted a list of books I recommend. These are largely Christian volumes aimed at a more general audience. As a Seminary student, I would to recommend some books I have read both at Seminary and apart from my Seminary studies (as well as some I have in progress but believe I've read enough to recommend them. These are primarily about practical church work and not about theology or Biblical Studies. My theology and Biblical studies lists will come later.

The Purpose-Driven Church by Rick Warren has become something of a classic now. The Purpose-Driven phenomena is frequently abused, misinterpreted, or otherwise misunderstood by both critics and fans. I recommend reading it yourself (cover-to-cover) before judging the book.

Confessions of A Reformission Rev. by Mark Driscoll will also clarify what an Emerging church is and what it is not (there is frequent confusion on all sides about this movement). It details Driscoll's story in planting Mars Hill Church in Seattle, Washington. Driscoll is Scriptural in his theology but is definitely not a traditional Southern Evangelical loaded with traditions and legalism. The book is very challenging.

Visioneering by Andy Stanley. Though not specifically about church work it is definitely a must read and should be read by all pastors and staff in light of church mistry.

The Next Generation Leader by Andy Stanley. Also not specifically about church work but a must read along the same lines as Andy Stanley's other work.

Spiritual Leadership by Henry and Richard Blackaby. The Blackaby's have a unique take on leadership that sets their work apart from all other works on leadership. Much practical insight here.

Spiritual Leadership by J. Oswald Sanders. This is a true classic that has impacted many over the years.

Planting Missional Churches by Ed Stetzer. For those going into church planting, this book which I have in progress has already been worth every penny spent on it.

Boundaries of Light by Elmer Towns and Ed Stetzer. Guidance to those in the Emerging church movement on how to remain Biblicallly faithful while ministering to post-moderns.

Power in the Pulpit by Jerry Vines and Jim Shaddix. A thorough and exhaustive guide to expository preaching that is valuable.

Communicating For A Change by Andy Stanley. Stanley's unique take on preaching has much practical wisdom.

Letters To Timothy by John Bisagno. Worth every penny you spend on it for the pastor. A treasure of practical wisdom on practical ministry.

Back To The Heart of Youth Work by Dewey Bertolini. This book written almost twenty years ago has much valuable wisdom on relating to people in general in ministry even if you are not specifically in youth work. Absolutely priceless for the youth/student minister.

Teaching To Change Lives by Howard Hendricks. Another classic - this one is about teaching.

There are probably more I could list but that is what I have thought of for now.