A reflection on Ash Wednesday and the season of Lent, using the writing of Kate Bowler, Chris Green, Esau McCaulley, David Taylor, and Tish Harrison Warren, as well as the music of The Brilliance. Continue reading Death and Denial: An Ash Wednesday Reflection
We’re coming up on a full year of COVID services at my church. As we begin to think about the possibility of reopening in the coming weeks and months, I have a question I think needs to be pondered. Continue reading Before We Reopen: A Question for the Church
One would think that a global pandemic would be conducive to lots of reading. This was not the case for me this year, as I often found myself behind on my reading goals. I still managed to read a number of quality books. As I wrote here, each year I try to read a number … Continue reading 2020 Annotated Reading
It has taken me years of reading Eugene Peterson’s books to finally feel like I am starting to understand them. The first book I read took two attempts. I first picked up Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places somewhere between the end of high school and my first year of college. I did not finish … Continue reading Feeling The Worship
Reading is one of my top goals every year. I try to read through different categories, which you can learn about here. My reading this year was largely determined by unread books I already owned as well as prepping for a course I taught on Israel’s Wisdom. Here are the books I read under each … Continue reading 2019 Reading List
When Kirstyn and I got married, we needed to install curtain rods and curtains in our new apartment. Having never hung curtain rods before, but also having too much pride to ask someone for help, where did I turn? Youtube. I watched a few different videos showing me how to use drywall plugs to hang … Continue reading What Youtube Doesn’t Teach About Leading Worship
Can I confess something to you? There have been many occasions as a worship leader where I have said something to the effect of “worship leaders have the privilege and responsibility of leading people into Gods presence.” That might not seem like something that warrants a confession. I am certainly not the only Pastor or … Continue reading Worship Leaders And The Presence of God
The end of the year is a time of lists. Top news stories of the year, top movies, top books. Each year I keep track of the books I read. (I have previously written about my system of reading here: Reading Two Five). Here is my list of the books I read in 2018. I did a … Continue reading 2018 Reading List
Church music can be controversial. So much so that disagreements over church music have been referred to as “worship wars.” But the internet is built for controversy. So here are 10 reasons to oppose new music in church. Continue reading 10 Reasons to Oppose New Church Music
There may not be many people quite like me. I’m a Worship Pastor. Okay, plenty of people are worship pastors. I spend a lot of time organizing music and musicians and helping lead a church in worship. I did my undergrad in music ministry, combining music and theology. But I also have a Master Of … Continue reading Music Study
James M. MacKnight 