Doxas Universe

Learn to Play "What Can I Do" with Paul Baloche

2006-08-24T16:35:00.000-04:00

Paul Baloche teaches us how to play his Worship song "What Can I Do" on Guitar (video here)
Check out his sweet McPherson Guitar

Christian T-shirt Evangelism Does The Trick

2006-08-21T14:32:00.000-04:00

Nothing opens people's eyes to the love of Christ like good old fashioned judgement on a T-shirt, like this one:We'll actually, now that I think about it, it's probably the single worst way to 'love your neighbor as yourself '. That's probably why I love Worship music so much, it's a non-confrontational way of sharing his love. I firmly believe that the right Worship song inspired by the holy spirit can melt the hardest of hearts; I've seen it with my own eyes. Do the body of Christ a favor, Worship more and don't wear T-shirts like these (unless your wearing it sarcastically, in that case make sure you look really alternative and hip so people aren't threatened by your subtle but humorous declarations of moral absolutes and references to Judeo-Christian value systems.)

Doxas Dialos: Episode 009 - What Everyone Ought to Know about the Future of Contemporary Christian Music

2006-08-18T08:33:00.000-04:00

We're back from our summer break and were jumping right back into the topics that matter. This week we discuss the fate of CCM (Contemporary Christian Music) and the polarization of bands toward mainstream and worship genres. It's a lively discussion you don't want to miss.

Featured Group: Leeland

Family Force Five

Sufjan Stevens

Michael W. Smith

Third Day

Get the Podcast: iTunes | Feedburner

Who Else Wants To Worship With Third Day

2006-08-10T23:22:00.000-04:00

What more do I need to say: Third Day playing Agnus Dei live.
Enjoy

Why Bono and The Cure are My favorite Worship Leaders

2006-08-04T13:44:00.000-04:00

Bono participating in a worship service in New York City, August 2004

I'll never forget the first time I heard Bono sing '40' from the U2 album WAR. It was a techno remix of the 1983 release and I can remember literally feeling waves of goose bumps running up and down my body. Here was arguably the biggest rock n' roll star of my lifetime stripped down of all his image and position singing a Psalm written to God like David probably did thousands of years ago. Was this OK? He's not a Worship Leader, is he? Is this worship?
This experience made me curious about the potential for using other 'secular' songs for Worship. As I looked into it I discovered that this is not a new concept. Evidently many of our ancient hymns and spiritual songs found their melodic origins in secular sources. For example, John Wesley put some of his 6,000 hymns to classical music, a few opera tunes, and perhaps a folk song or two. I asked around to some of my Worship Leader friends and evidently borrowing from 'secular' sources didn't stop with Hymns.
Here are a couple of the 'secular' songs that people have used in Church recently:
(I really like the lyrics by The Cure)

Lyrics from "40" by U2
Lyrics from "You Raise Me Up" performed by Josh Groban
Lyrics for "Your Love Keeps Lifting Me Higher and Higher" by Jackie Wilson
Lyrics for "Lovesong" by The Cure
Lyrics for "I'm a Believer" performed by Neil Diamond, made famous by the Monkees

Doxas Dialos: Episode 008 - Interview With Michael Gungor

2006-06-14T13:24:00.000-04:00

After a couple weeks of summer vacation the Doxas Dialos podcast crew comes back with a one-on-one Interview with Michael Gungor of the Michael Gungor Band. Dave catches up with Michael backstage at the Teen Mania Battle Cry tour in Philadelphia right before he goes on stage to a sold out stadium of 20,000 and gets to ask him some serious questions on how to keep your focus on God when you perform/lead worship for that many people. Check it out.
Note: the Battle Cry tour with Michael Gungor is finished

Michael Gungor on MySpace

Download Episode 008 (.mp3)

Doxas Dialos: Episode 007 - Qualifications Of A Worship Leader

2006-05-23T20:23:00.000-04:00

We lead off week 007 of Doxas Dialos with a sample of "I Need You More" by Grace Center Worship, an amazing unsigned worship band from Franklin, Tennessee that you've probably never heard, but we're pretty sure you'll love. Then our top agents investigate the issues surrounding the question: who is qualified to lead worship?

"It's not the performance that matters... excellence can be a form of worship, but excellence can also be a god."
-Jon

"Wanna go ride bikes?"
-Dave

Shout Outs

Booker from Georgetown, Kentucky
Rhema Worship & Praise from Toronto, Ontario
Trevor Davis from San Diego, California
Jars Of Clay from Nashville, Tennessee

Go Deeper: Links to subjects mentioned in the Podcast

Download Episode 007 (.mp3)

Doxas Dialos: Episode 006 - A Tribute To Keith Green

2006-05-15T23:21:00.000-04:00

The usual suspects (Dave, Jeff, and Jon) talk with Jarrod, a local hard core Keith Green fan, about Keith's contribution to modern Worship music and the lasting impact of his ministry.

"I repent of ever having recorded one single song, and ever having performed one concert, if my music and more importantly, my life has not provoked you into Godly jealousy or to sell out more completely to Jesus!"

-Keith Green

Shout Outs (special local edition)

Jason the Person from Bellefonte

Cha from West Chester

Jewels from Coatesville

Lindsay from Morgantown

Go Deeper: Links to subjects mentioned in the Podcast

Keith Bio on Wikipedia.org

Download Episode 006 (.mp3)

Michael Gungor Shows Some Brotherly Love

2006-05-13T00:27:00.000-04:00

I just got back from an amazing night of Worship in Philadelphia and I want to share with it with you. I went down to the Acquire The Fire Battle Cry Conference at the Spectrum where I got to interview Michael Gungor of The Maichael Gungor Band right before he went and lead worship for the packed out stadium (look for the interview on Doxas Dialos in a couple of weeks). Interview summary: great guy with heart of a worship leader who is well aware of the special role that has been given him and the serious responsibilities that come along with it. Between you and me, I'm really glad that I got to interview him before I saw him play, or else I would have known first hand what kind of talent I was talking to and gotten really nervous. On stage The MGB infused a punk rock energy into the lyrics of a Psalmist. My favorite song of the evening was the newest song from MGB called Ancient Skies, I don't have the lyrics but it was basically a worship song that juxtaposes God as a huge and powerful creator, the creator of Ancient Skies, and a close and personal friend. I really enjoyed myself and I'm going to do my best to make it out to their next concert on June 3rd in New Holland, Pa.

(*Note: when I first wrote this it was two in the morning after a really long day and I was Mistakenly refering to Michael Gungor as David Gungor. I profusely apologize to all the readers and the Band. Best Wishes.)

Listen to The Michael Gungor Band
More about Acquire the Fire

2006-05-10T00:20:00.000-04:00

To all our readers out there we just wanted to say you rock and that were so excited that there is a group of people in the world who believe in the value of Worship music for reaching the lost and bringing the world wide body of Christ closer together.

P.S.
You also Rule

Doxas Dialos: Episode 005 - Worship In The Emerging Church, Part 2

2006-05-08T11:59:00.000-04:00

This week Doxas Dialos opens up with a little David Crowder sample and then jumps right back into the stimulating conversation on emerging styles of worship with their special guest Vince. If you don’t think you really understand what the emerging church is or what its about, then don’t miss these episodes.

"There is someone else out there that understands the questions that I have that are not being answered... I really felt like I could Worship God and not have all the Answers."

-Jeff on resonating with the Emerging Church

Go Deeper: Links to topics mentioned in the show

David Crowder Band

Taize

Ten Shekel Shirt

Devil's Playground

YWAM

The Mass Service

Church On The Other Side, by Brian McLaren

TheOoze.com

A Generous Orthodoxy, by Brian McLaren

Download Episode 005 (.mp3)

Refreshed Heart: Interview with Geoff Bullock

2006-05-05T12:06:00.000-04:00

In the early and mid 90's Geoff Bullock was the Worship Leader in Australia. He was the lead Worship Pastor at the thriving mega-church Hillsong, and the author of classic worship songs like By The Power Of Your Love and Refresh My Heart. Everything seemed perfect. He was glorifying God with his music and in return God was blessing his career beyond his wildest dreams. But in the midst of overwhelming success and apparent bliss, Geoff did the unthinkable . . . he walked away.

"Unbeknownst to me, my marriage was breaking up at the same time and obviously there were relationship problems but I was too busy and too self-possessed and too church possessed to notice. And I think there were other political issues going on at the time. Hillsong had just exploded, the church had the Midas touch, and I don’t really think that we were counting the cost of what it really took. I had an inability to say no and in the end, I just disintegrated. I just totally lost my confidence and I honestly thought that when I left, I would slip out the back door and nobody would really notice I was gone...(I)t broke their hearts and to this day there is still real unresolved sadness and a sense of betrayal. And I’m really sad for them but that’s how it was. I feel tremendously responsible that I led them along the garden path of being so incredibly enthusiastic and incredibly faithful that eventually I sentenced them to disappointment because I was trying to fulfil something that I could never achieve...” Geoff Bullock

After Geoff left he was replaced by a little known Australian singer by the name Darlene Zchech.

I like to call this whole scenario the David Complex (no its not named after myself). Here's how it usually works: God touches someones life, they use their abilities to glorify him, people are drawn and inspired by their gift, they rise up out of obscurity into the limelight, they are overwhelmed with success and make poor decisions, they fall, they hit bottom, they repent, God redeems them and sends them back out to do his will (only this time wiser and more fully dependent on him). How many times has this happened across the world and throughout history? How many times has this happened to someone you know? Worship Leaders are especially susceptible to this trap and its no wonder considering the highly visible and valued nature of their position. Its always a struggle to keep your heart right before God, and sometimes it means doing the unthinkable like Geoff . . . walking away.

Read the entire Interview with Geoff on Sitemagazine.com
Read more about Darlene Zchech

Doxas Dialos: Episode 004 - Worship In The Emerging Church

2006-05-01T15:43:00.000-04:00

This week Jeff, Jon, and Dave have their friend Vince come on the show to explain a new Worship style/ Church style called the Emerging Church. Shout outs go to Michael W. Smith (the one and only), the amazingly talented Tim Hughes, Pastor Chris from North Carolina, the increasingly popular Mute Math, and local friends Selah Vie. This weeks featured artist is a young guy from San Diego, Phil Wickham.

"The whole Reformation that happened (through) Martin Luther only went half way. Because he talked about reforming Theology but not about the Practice of the Church." Vince Donachie

Phil Wickham, a Worship artist (click here)
Background info on the Emerging Church (click here)
the Emerging Church by Dan Kimball (click here)

Download Episode 004 (.mp3)

Worship Music around the Globe

2006-04-28T13:46:00.000-04:00

For us who live in the US its very easy to form the misconception that the center of the Worship music world is right here in America. The reality is that some of the most talented Worship bands on the rise are from all over the world.

Check out Hillsong (Australia) and Delirious?(UK)

And then there is Tree63 (South Africa)

For Worship Leaders and Worship enthusiasts its important to stay on top of these bands and other emerging talent that have so much to offer the Worship music community.

More about Hillsong (click here)
More about Delirious? (click here)
More about Tree63 (click here)

Doxas Dialos: Episode 003 - Is Modern Worship Musical Mush?

2006-04-24T13:19:00.000-04:00

Once again Dave, Jeff, and Jon come together to discuss relevant issues in the world of Worship Music and have some fun along the way. Shout outs go to Liz, Executive Man Brand, Steve Garrett, Pastor Dave, and Something like Silas. They also take some time to sample some of the hottest Gospel Music coming out of South Africa with the Soweto Gospel Choir. Finally, they tackle Chuck Colson’s indictment against modern Worship music that he claims is nothing more then musical mush. It gets pretty heated but all sides come together in the end to agree on some fundamental truths about Worship music.

Download Episode 003 (.mp3)

Worship for the Nations

2006-04-21T15:51:00.000-04:00

Christ for the Nations Institute has a rich and extensive history in the realm of Musical Worship. Even though they are first and foremost a Bible College, they have many Alumni that have gone on to minister through Worship music.

"Alumni include Marty Nystrom, a major figure in contemporary Christian music who wrote his much-loved Christian song 'As the Deer'... Sondra Corbett Wood, whose compositions include the widely performed 'I Worship You Almighty God,'...So did Nicole C. Mullen, who has sung in Billy Graham's crusades and done her own recordings. Yet another alum, Ana Paula Valadao Bessa, is one the most popular singers in Brazil – Christian or secular. The Jonas Brothers, a teen trio, are the sons of Kevin Jonas, a former worship leader at Christ for the Nations." Dallas Morning News

With new schools focused on Worship and the performance of Worship music popping up all over the World, it's important to recognize an institute that's been doing it for awhile. Its exciting to witness the new levels of creativity and excellence that have followed these schools of Worship who are not only focused on execution but who have emphasized the true attitude and heart of leading God's children in Worship.

More about Christ for The Nations (click here)
One of the 'New Schools' of Worship (click here)

If you needed any more Proof...

2006-04-19T18:38:00.000-04:00

For those of you who don't believe that Worship music is in the midst of a popularity surge, just check out this article:

"sixstepsrecords' ninth Passion project, Passion: Everything Glorious, released April 4 to wide critical acclaim and became an immediate best seller. Recording the highest street week sales ever for a Passion recording, the album claimed the No. 1 position on the SoundScan Christian Retail sales chart. The album also landed at No. 69 on the Billboard Top 200 Chart and became the second highest full album debut in the history of EMI CMG digital releases."top40-charts.com

Get the rest of the scoop (click here)

Doxas Dialos: Episode 002 - Sins of a Worship Leader

2006-04-17T11:24:00.000-04:00

Welcome to another week of Doxas Dialos. This week we give a shout out to our MySpace friends Gia Lucid, Relevant, Chris Tomlin, Tom Curren, Lauren James, and Phil Wickham, we sample the amazing Worship music of ‘The Bridge Band’, and we spend some time discussing the unique spiritual and moral challenges that Worship Leaders/Musicians face in their very public positions.

Download Episode 002 (.mp3)

Youth Find Their Form of Worship in the Cayman Islands

2006-04-13T17:09:00.000-04:00

Recently the Christian Youth of the Cayman Islands gathered together to Worship the Lord in the best way they knew how. There was definitely Worship music present, but the music was playing support act for the vibrant and Worshipful dancing on center stage.

"The first group to perform was a worship dance group from the New Testament Church of God, called ‘Expressions of Praise’. Using dance, they interpreted the gospel song, ‘Always.’ Seventeen-year old group leader, Kimone Fraser, explained why she felt it was a good idea to form a dance group for worship: 'In church everyone is trying to find a role to play.'

'Not everyone can sing; I realized that my form of worship is dance,' she said. 'We chose the song ‘Always,’ to dance to because it is like you are making a promise to God. ‘Always’ means that no matter what we are going through or what He is bringing us through He is our everything, and we’ll spend our ‘always’ with Him,' she said.

Next came the worship dance group from Elmslie Memorial United Church, who danced using brightly coloured scarves as streamers as they interpreted the song, ‘I can only imagine.’ Dance group leader, Lyn Ramoon, said: 'We use the scarves as a way of being led by the Holy Spirit in interpreting the words and music of the song. The different colours express the beauty of God shining in and through us.' Explaining why dance was such an important aspect of worship, she added: 'Psalm 150 is the main scripture that tells us to praise God through dance. I believe that dance was created by and for God. We want to be able to thank God for all He has done for us." The Cayman Net News

Its refreshing to see people so abandoned in thier Worship, using thier whole being to glorify the Lord who obviously means so much to them. Its interesting to juxtapose this vibrant Worship service with those found in most Church's across the U.S. How many concerts/services have you been to where people were so into what they were singing that they couldn't sit still? It defenitely happens but I would stick my neck out and say its not common. Why not? Why have we become so rigid in Worship?"

Cayman Net News Article: Worship Music brings the Caymans together

Chuck no Likie Kelly

2006-04-10T17:09:00.000-04:00

Back in February the prolific theologian Chuck Colson wrote a critical article on modern Worship music entitled 'Musical Mush'. Admitting that he is partial to hymns, Chuck takes specific issue with the Worship song 'Draw Me Close to You' by Kelly Carpenter, pointing out what he calls a total lack of Theological value. He then goes on to make the argument that Worship written for the church today has become more entertainment then Worship. He's worried that this emotional Worship music is replacing all intellect in the church, while he quickly notes that one of his radio shows was dropped by a radio station in order to make room for more Worship music.

Read his original article (here).
Hear the radio reading of the article (here).

Evidently there was a lot of backlash from the radio stations that distribute some of his audio teachings. It seems they didn't appreciate the fact that he was degrading their most popular music format, Worship music. In a small step to appease these distributors Chuck 'clarifies' the situation with an apology letter.

Read his apology letter (here)

Now I respect Chuck Colson and his opinion, but I totally disagree with his conclusions on modern Worship music and his attitude toward Worship styles outside his traditional experience. Obviously this is a debate that has been going on for some years and is a primary reason that this entire Blog is devoted to the defense and promotion of all styles of true Worship music. While Chuck apologizes to the Christian Broadcasters for offending them, in a not to discreet move to prevent his programing from being pulled any further, he never apologizes for his indictment of modern Worship music and his accusations against the sincere Christians who perform and write it. In the end Chuck is entitled to have his opinion and even preferences in the style of Worship music he practices, but he must also acknowledge that his preferences and opinions are based on his personal taste, aesthetic inclination, and not on established theological or biblical truth.

More about Chuck (here)

Doxas Dialos: Episode 001 - Protholics and Catestants

2006-04-07T11:37:00.000-04:00

Jeff, Jon, and I give shout outs to some of our Myspace friends (maybe you), sample the up and coming Worship artist David Childs, and really dissect the influence that different worship styles and denominations have on each other. If you love Worship music and care about where its going, you need to listen (dont miss the bonus song at the end).

Download Episode 001 (.mp3)

Shut up! Shut up! Just shut up!

2006-04-05T17:34:00.000-04:00

By Jon Carlson of Club Worship

"Shut up! Shut up! Just shut up!"
What would you do if someone stormed in during your church's worship service, shouting that at the top of his lungs? Would you try to silence him? Would the worship team just crank it up a notch, trying to drown him out? Would you let him take the pulpit? What if he said something like this: "Thus Saith the Lord! 'I hate, I despise your religious feasts; I cannot stand your assemblies. Even though you bring me offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring choice offerings I will have no regard for them. Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your guitars. Is this the kind of worship I have chosen, only a day for a man to humble himself? Is it only for bowing one's head like a reed and for lying on sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a church service, a day acceptable to the LORD?'"
Maybe now you'd start to sit up and take notice. What if this walking interruption continued, proclaiming something like this: "Is not this the kind of worship I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter — when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? You hate the one who reproves in court and despise him who tells the truth. You trample on the poor and force him to give you grain (or make your sneakers.) But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!"
What would your response be? In case you're wondering, those quotes are taken almost directly from Amos 5 and Isaiah 58.
I don't think I would get much opposition if I made a statement to the effect of this: God's highest purpose for your life is that you would worship him. God created humans solely to receive their worship. We were created for God's pleasure. We would all agree with that, right?
So how intense, how zealous, must God be for the marginalized people he rebukes His children for ignoring and mistreating? How much must God care about the hungry, the poor wanderer, those who cannot find justice in the courts, that he would tell His people to cease their religious ritual (to cease their worship, if you will) until they have dealt with these things?
So next time you're worshipping, listening to the worship team jam out to the latest popular song, ask yourself if you've trampled the poor lately. Ask yourself, when was the last time you worked to maintain justice in the courts? When was the last time you shared your food with the hungry, or provided the poor wanderer with shelter? I think we better start paying more attention to this, before God starts sending radical prophets our way again, telling us to shut up.

Jeff, John, and Yours Truly talk about DJ Led Worship

2006-04-04T19:15:00.000-04:00

I was recently a guest on the Podcast of our friends at Club Worship where we talked a lot about growth of DJ Led Worship and the good old days when I was on staff at Club Worship. Check It Out

Club Worship Pod Cast

Protholic? Catestant? How Worship is blurring the lines between Catholicism and Protestantism and unifying the body of Christ.

2006-03-31T11:26:00.000-05:00

I have had the priviledge of growing up in a denominationally diverse household, where my father came from a Plymouth Bretheren background (not to different then Quaker) and my mother from a Roman Catholic one, while they raised me in a Charismatic Church. Even though I was raised in a Charismatic Church, I was able to hear and see for myself the spiritual heritage of my parents. As I grew older, and experienced more, I quickly realized that outside my house there was a giant chasm between Catholics and Protestants. It was hard for me to understand why two groups who claimed to follow the one true God and his son Jesus the Christ could see each other as complete aliens. I truly believe that diversity is essential to the universal appeal of the body of Christ, but I also believe that isolation and ignorance between members in that body only hurts God.

Its been my assertion on this blog, and anywhere I talk about Worship, that Worship music is a unifying force in the world wide body of Christ. Worship music breaks down walls and focuses our attention on the fact that God is worthy of our Praise and off the incidentals of Church tradition. The best example of this is in the current Worship trends in the Catholic Church and the Emerging Church of Protestantism.

While there will alway be fundamental style differences in Church services, we are beginning to see the influences of these 'brides of Christ' on each other in Worship. Some Catholic Churches have been using Modern Worship songs, complete with Guitars and amplifiers, in thier services while some Emerging Church services are focusing on Liturgical worship. At the forefront of these blurring lines is the Taize movement in the countryside of France, where Christian (both Protestant and Catholic) young people from around the world are coming together to Worship and seek God.

While we have a long way to go, and some of the older generations might no be able to make the transition, we are moving in a direction of unity between Catholics and Protestants, and when all is said and done Worship music will have had no small part.

New Catholic trends in Worship look very similar to Protestant styles

New Protestant trends in Worship look very similar to Catholic styles

More about Taize

Worship with Swicki (its not a band)

2006-03-30T16:36:00.000-05:00

At Doxas my job is to help develop on-line tools for Worshipers and Worship Leaders from all walks of life and from every culture. We work hard to understand Worship Leaders and Worship Musicians needs and then create some sort of solution for them on-line. Sometimes we build applications from scratch, and other times we adapt existing technology for the worship community. Recently we stumbled across a really unique application,called a Swicki, that allows any community to 'train' its customizable search engine to find the most relevant resources for that community. We realized that this would be great for searching through the diverse and ecclectic Worship resources scattered across the Internet (think Google for Worship Music)

(if technical mumbo jumbo bores you then you can just click here).

"Sometimes, looking for specific information has that needle in a haystack feeling. Not only can you get millions of results from a simple query, the most relevant data for you can be buried way down the list. Swickis let you slice and dice and customize your search engine query for other users so that you can specify the most relevant sources. The swicki further refines the results once like-minded users start engaging with it. Every click refines the swicki's search strings, creating a responsive, dynamic result that's both customized and highly relevant." eurekster.com

Check Out the Worship Music Swicki