Summary: Aaron Lunsford, drummer for the indie Christian rock band As Cities Burn, writes a memoir following the band's pursuit of success, bitter failures, and difficult relationships.

Review: I have enjoyed As Cities Burn for a number of years now. In particular, Come Now Sleep and Hell or High Water. The brutal honesty of this group's lyrics resound with me. They are transparent with their spiritual struggles with Christ, as well as their struggles with the Church. Their instruments are the perfect vehicle to communicate this struggle.

And then, in the midst of the difficult relationships, the lyrics and music explode the grace of God on the listener. We see a glimmer of the light of things hoped for.

For me, As Cities Burn gives a pretty honest and typical portrayal of the Christian walk:
Struggle. Struggle. Struggle. Beauty. Struggle. Beauty. Beauty. Beauty. Rest. Struggle.

So I snatched up this memoir as soon as it came out.

The book spends most of the time exploring the difficulties of touring, starting a band, and the interpersonal conflicts that arise as a result of it. Lunsford gives a chaotic glimpse into the lives of a bunch of (mostly) Christian guys trying to find an audience for their music. There is very little reference to their faith, or walk, but when Lunsford does go there he has a fair amount of criticism for Christians and himself.

One poignant passage explains these young guys' dilemma:

As Cities Burn's work has moved me incredibly at times. And I think it's because these guys are doing the very difficult task of living out their imperfect faith within a church-culture that has largely encouraged believers to pretend to be perfect in their walk with Christ. I certainly don't agree with Lunsford in all areas of orthopraxy (right actions), but I do appreciate his honesty.

Backstage is rather vulgar (not terribly profane, though). This doesn't bother my literary sensibilities too much, but it certainly isn't for everyone. And there were points where the vulgarity muddied the flow of text and detracted from his narration. (Oh! And he offers one band-hijinks image I would have been happy to have gone to my grave without ever visualizing).

Fans of the band will enjoy this fun and quick memoir. More than just a band book, though, voices like this are important in the Western Church these days. So much of our focus is on our actions as believers rather than the object of our belief, Jesus Christ. American Christians need to become much more honest disciples, who constantly point to their need for Jesus Christ.

Lunsford does a great job in the honesty department. The need for Jesus is only dimly implied.

Rating: 4/5 (I Really Liked It)

Find it here on Amazon.

Watch one of my favorite moments from As Cities Burn:

No Joke! A Fun and challenging memoir.

I came home tonight a little later than usual. I carried in pizza as my wife managed the kids. Last night's episode of The Voice was streaming on Hulu in the background.

I'm not much of a TV watcher. But I was tired, so I picked up my son, sat on the couch and started tickling him.

Then I saw the Kingdom of God break through on national television.

Craig Wayne Boyd took the stage and sang "The Old Rugged Cross." As I bounced my son on my knee, I found myself slowing down. Then just holding him. Then I clutched him.

I can't quite explain it. The performance was technically wonderful. The orchestra was spot-on. But there was more there. Even more than the passion in Boyd's voice.

Toward the end of the song, I could barely contain my tears. I tried not to talk. And then, after the performance coach Pharrell Williams asked Boyd, "Going through everything that you've gone through to get yourself here at this place, I have a question for you. What does it feel like to be at the top of your game, and to surrender it to God in front of the whole entire world?"

I don't know anything about Craig Wayne Boyd, but that's exactly what he did. He took all his own fame and glory - and he handed it back to God. Back to the Lord Jesus Christ.

This is what Christians do. This is how the Kingdom of God breaks through into the kingdom of the world.

This is shining the Light of Christ in the darkness.

As this was happening it was time to eat. So we sat down. My wife, daughter and I began to pray. I thanked God for the food, for our family, and then I tried to thank him for seeing the Kingdom of God shinning on The Voice. But I couldn't. My words caught in my throat. I tried to push through it and found I could not. I started weeping uncontrollably.

My wife finished the prayer with the thoughts of my heart - thanking God for letting this song bring him glory before the world.

I wept for several minutes.
My daughter laughed at me "Daddy crying." (She's 2. And simply could not understand what was happening to me.)

To be quite honest, I don't know what happened to me. I wasn't sad. I wasn't even happy. It was the glory of the Lord. I caught a glimpse of his glory. Of his fame. Of his Kingdom.

It was just a glimmer and it overwhelmed me.

We are in the Advent season, where believers celebrate the first coming of Christ while eagerly awaiting his Second Coming. At the first advent the Kingdom of God was inaugurated. At the second the Kingdom will be consummated. In between we see moments of the Kingdom of God here on the earth all the time. This was one such moment.

The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Messiah , and He will reign forever and ever! - Revelation 11:15

Summary: Dennis Jernigan has written some of the biggest Christian worship songs. The documentary Sing Over Me follows his life-long struggle with homosexuality and his journey to find his identity in Jesus Christ.

Review: Sing Over Me is a feature-length documentary. It is a bio-pic of sorts about the man behind popular worship songs like, “We Will Worship the Lamb of Glory”, “Thank You”, “Great is the Lord Almighty”, “I Belong to Jesus”, and “You Are My All in All” among many others.

In our current moral-shifting climate, this film thankfully doesn't spend time dipping into political controversy. Nor is it a polemic against anyone or anything. Instead, it is a refreshing testimony. It is the journey of a deeply gifted man, who was equally tormented about questions of his identity.

The film doesn't leave the viewer wondering how things will turn out. Right from the beginning we find that Dennis Jernigan has found his identity in Christ alone. He finds his meaning in Jesus. He finds his joy in the presence of the Holy Spirit.

But even though the audience knows the end of the story, the journey is still riveting. I was personally moved and convicted while watching his story. Moved to have a deeper compassion for all peoples in all situations. And I was convicted that, time and again, I need to find my greatest joys not in anything less than the Lord Jesus Christ.

Sing Over Me is currently in the screening process, but I hope it finds wide distribution in the near future. The cinematography is top notch. The storytelling method is rather unique and exceeds many methods coming out of Hollywood today.

My only criticism is that two scenes slowed down the pace of the film and took me out of the movie. But this is a relatively minor criticism.

I'm looking forward to supporting this film as it finds wider distribution.

We need more Christian filmmakers telling stories like this. Sing Over Me is humbling, powerful, convicting, riveting, heartbreaking and Christ-honoring.

Head over to their website and subscribe to their social media to stay on top of this wonderful film.

Rating: 5/5 (I Loved It)

As a follow-up to the computer-generated Beowulf film, I listened to the Soundtrack composed by  Alan Silvestri. With a plethora of film credits to his name (including the Back to the Future Trilogy, Forrest Gump and The Avengers) Silvestri’s music is top-notched.

What surprised me is the wide variety in the music. The soundtrack explodes with Beowulf’s rock-inspired theme. Heavy choral themes move into foreboding songs, and are followed up by soft melodies. 

The only song that didn’t work for me was the closing credit song, which was a pop revision of “A Hero Comes Home.” The lyrics almost make Beowulf seem like a Christ character who will return again one day. Neither the poem, nor the film portray the hero in this light, so it really doesn’t make sense.

Other than this one misstep, the entire album is wonderful. Fans of soundtracks should certainly pick this one up. I think it is the best product of the 2007 film.

Rating: 5/5 (I Loved It)

Find it here on Amazon.

At once bombastic . . .

. . . then beautiful.

I'm pretty sure I will never be playing heavy metal before or after a church service at the Orchard Church . . . or probably any church for that matter.

This past weekend the sermon text was Psalm 20. It was a prayer before battle. It was a prayer for victory from the hand of Yahweh. It was a heavy-metal prayer.

Now, I like nearly every genre of music you can think of: opera, classical, folk, alternative, bluegrass, jazz, electronic, techno, hip-hop, rock, pop, gospel, blues, and on and on and on. They each have their place.

But this past week's sermon where King David prophesies that the people of God will "Rise and stand firm" in the name of Yahweh . . . that was just a heavy metal sort of song to me.

So, in the interest of full disclosure, all last week I had the soundtrack of The Dark Knight Rises (get it?), music from the Christian heavy metal groups Becoming the Archetype and The Showdown running through my stereo! (Pray for the church secretary.)

This song in particular would not leave my thoughts:

(It of course relies heavily on metaphor! Get the album here.)

Some well-meaning folks would say that I should have played this song at some point around the sermon . . . because, after all, it moves and inspires me. But I wouldn't. No way. No how.

There's nothing wrong with the song. There's nothing inherently wrong with heavy metal. But I was called to pastor the church . . . not try and conform it to my tastes and preferences. I was called to disciple the church which means, in whatever context, I need to adapt my leadership to effectively lead the congregation to a deeper walk with the Lord Jesus Christ. And that has nothing to do with my own tastes.

I'm not interested in having a church filled with sci-fi geeks, book lovers, Shakespeare reading, blog-obsessed, heavy metal listening people.

I'm interested in making disciples of Jesus Christ.

So, whether anyone knew it or not*, this past Sunday's message was a heavy metal sermon.

You can hear it (sans-screaming) here.


*My wife knew. And you can pray for her too!

Among my favorite artists is Josh Garrels. He is a true artist. And a true Christian.

For the next two weeks, five of his amazing albums are free from NoiseTrade. 100% of the tips will go directly to World Relief to support their humanitarian work in the DR Congo.

Go get a bunch of high quality and free music. And look into the work World Relief is doing and send some financial support their way.

Josh Garrels' NoiseTrade page.

I love music and I love supporting artists that I love. Last year my favorite band/artist, Joy Electric launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise support for a new album entitled Dwarf Mountain Alphabet. I went in, and I went in hard.

I knew the level of support I offered Joy Electric would hurt my music budget (and thus prevent me from buying music from other artists) but I went ahead anyway.

Joy Electric has set my imagination on fire over the past twenty years and twenty-seven releases! (That's right, Twenty-Seven!)

The brilliance of Kickstarter projects is that it gives me the opportunity to support the artists who inspire, move and engage me.

In a very real way, I helped make Dwarf Mountain Alphabet possible.

And in addition to the great album I received, I was also rewarded with a limited press 7" album and handwritten lyrics from Mr. Joy Electric himself, Ronnie Martin.

I knew the lyrics were coming . . . but I didn't realize he would write out lyrics to every song on the album.

Awesome!

So, I share my joy with you:

My good friend, Sarah Pfeffer (wife of the amazing Max) has just posted a wonderful little music video of her song "Walking With You"!

It features Sarah, her father-in-law "Flamingo Jeff", two ukuleles and 100% awesomeness. You can watch it here and if you like what you hear (and I know you will because it is amazing) be sure to leave some great comments on the youtube page here.

While classic Christmas music and songs are fabulous, so are some of the lesser known songs and versions.


Here's some of my favorites:

So these are some of my favorite "oddities" when it comes to Christmas songs.

What are some of yours?