Guests on the show range from Steve Green, Sara Groves and Andrew Peterson to quite a few other biblical scholars.

I’ve been listening off and on for about two years myself and have really enjoyed it.

This last week has been a hectic one for my family.  Both my wife and my son were down with the flu.  I’ve been trying to pick up some extra design jobs while my

wife was off work to help with this month’s expenses.  This is why I was completely surprised to be standing in the parking lot of my apartment complex in jeans and a t-shirt with a Nigerian pastor in full African garb and a well-dressed gospel singer Saturday morning praying.  I’ve known these guys for awhile and I do random media & video editing work with them when they need it.

Sheldon Mencer is a part of the gospel music trio, “Mencer, White & Cheney”.  The Nigerian pastor is Peter Adigwe who runs an orphanage in Benin City, Nigeria.  He is the guy in the upper right of the photograph above (pictured with the kids from his orphanage there).   They are as far apart in the world as two people can get but they are bonded with a common vision for helping the people & children of Nigeria come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.  It isn’t a Compassion International run thing (though Compassion is a great organization).  It’s simply one group of people pulling out the stops and loving others unconditionally.

I love when people get together like this and partner up for something greater than themselves.  Music is great on it’s own, but without the mission it is worthless.  I think this is what defines a good musician from a great one.

Are they reaching beyond themselves?  Who is being impacted by the lives of these people?  How are they being impacted?

When I finish the video editing work that is pretty much bogging my system down right now, I’ll upload the video to youtube and post it here as a separate post.  It’s really an incredible work that I am privileged to be a part of myself.

My friend William Lehman, a.k.a. decloned, has agreed to share some thoughts with us when he can. He’s got quite a bit of history in the church and as you may have already read, over 25 years of experience with Christian music.

On top of being a great writer, William is also a very talented artist. Be sure and visit his decloned website to read more of his thoughts and see his artwork.

I’m totally excited to have William on-board and look forward to reading more of his posts.

Call for More Writers

If you love Christian music and would like to share you own thoughts about your favorite artists, concerts or other news in the contemporary Christian music industry, just send me an email and let me know.

I’ve always loved Derek’s music and his ability to use his lyrics as a sword that pierces the heart of your beliefs and pre-conceived ideas about the world around us. This album looks like it will be more of the same.

The "words" are fitting to the message he’s trying to convey. Nothing gratuitous in my opinion. Interested in hearing what you think.

Hat tip to Matthew Paul Turner over at Jesus Needs New PR for sharing the video on his blog.

I recently received this email update from Derek Webb about the release of his new album and challenges with his label.

friends-

this is turning into a bigger deal than we expected.  as a result, we’re having to temporarily _pull everything online down (can’t explain now).  and to be on the s_afe side, i’m going to pe_rsonally go offline while we sort this out.  i re_ally shouldn’t use my twitter account for now either so _don’t expect any updates there.

make no m_istake, our trouble with the label over content i_s very real, and not as simple as one word; we’re back_ed into a corner.  but we have applied all of our creative resources to th_is, working furiou_sly to create something that we believe not only subverts any leg_al issues but should also be a _pretty wild ride.

so this will be the l_ast email for a while.  we’ll t_ry to lea_k information via a new tw_itter account, @ssyndrome.  you’re o_n your own so start payin_g attention.  i’l_l see you _on the o_ther side-

derek

Not sure what the deal is with all the _’s in the message. But there you go.

UPDATE: Visit the Bloggable Music Network for more details on this issue. It’s all code and secret stuff. I feel like I’m living through an episode of LOST or something.

In finally trying to catch up on what’s going on around me I was digging around in my Bloglines account and found an article about Derek Webb’s new release running into an obstacle allegedly because of the language he uses in the song.

I’ve become a huge fan of Derek’s and absolutely love his razor sharp lyrics in his songs. He doesn’t pull any punches when it comes to addressing challenging issues or topics.

In his latest album he may have gone too far for his label, INO Records, to release to market his newest album.

Here’s a bit from the Patrol Mag website on what’s happening:

Well! Frustrating as it must be for Derek, this may be the best Christian music censorship story we’ve had in a long time. Judging by our inbox, this kind of thing happens on an almost weekly basis in the industry, but leave it to Derek Webb to make all the details public. Not exactly, as his email has next to zero details ("because of various legal/publishing issues"). Apparently most of the controversy surrounds one song, the most important on his most important record, he says. Given the name of his new charity/activism website (not active yet), it’s reasonable to guess that it might be the first Christian song ever to feature the s-word. (Update, May 14: We have confirmed, via someone who has heard the song, that it deals with Christian treatment of gay people, and, sure enough, includes the word "shit.")

As I said, I love Derek’s music, lyrics and his method. I’m still trying to decide if this recent method is over the edge though. Personally I’m not really bothered by it, but I know it might be a stumbling point for others that like his music.

What do you think?

INO Records finds new Derek Webb album, "Stockholm Syndrome," too scandalous for release. – The Scanner – Patrol Magazine

Kevin Max’s wife Amanda has given birth to their third child, Knightly Christobal Max, who came into the world at 9:23 p.m. on March 24, 2009, at Baptist Hospital in Nashville, Tennessee. Knightly, who joins big sister London and big brother Wilder, measured 20 inches long and weighed 8 lbs. 3 oz.

Mark Weber is also just started his Christian Music Daily Facebook group and is trying to get to 1,000 fans as quickly as possible. He’s always been a great resource for news and events in the CCM world.

This is encouraging to me that they’re trying to be relevant perhaps. But it’s sad on too many levels as well. Either way it’s funny to watch.

Jason Castro made it into the spotlight by making it to one of the final group of contestants for the 7th season of American Idol. He says he’s in 2nd place for all of life though. Do you know why?

There’s a campaign taking place in the Dallas area where a number of celebrities and well-known individuals are publicly stating their place in the grand scheme of things… behind God, who’s in 1st place in their lives.

Another musician that’s participating in the campaign is Brian Welch, from the group KORN.

Visit the I Am Second website for more people and hear their testimonies and videos.