https://www.gospelengine.com/admin Mon, 27 Apr 2026 17:27:04 +0100 https://www.gospelengine.com/admin/blog/1630/have-a-blessed-fall-season https://www.gospelengine.com/admin/blog/1630

Have a Blessed Fall Season!!





]]> Sun, 05 Apr 2020 14:37:47 +0100 https://www.gospelengine.com/admin/blog/1629/do-not-abandon-your-faith-in-god https://www.gospelengine.com/admin/blog/1629
                                    Do Not Abandon Your Faith in God!
      by Richard A. Cox Jr, Author of the book I, We, Us:  A Journey of Personal Growth and Development
” The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.” I Timothy 4:1 (NIV)
 
     We are living in a time where your faith in God is tested on a daily basis. It is being tested in every area of your life.   The devil is very busy trying to discourage you to give up the good fight of faith.   As Christians we have an assurance in God’s Word that whatever comes our way that God has the power and ability to help us. God can conquer any situation or circumstance we might face.   Be encouraged because you have the Spirit of God within you to give you strength to overcome. In 1 John 4:4 (KJV) it declares, “you, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” If God is in your life you are on the winning side. In Romans 8:31(KJV) it says, “what shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?” If you have not accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of your life, choose Him today. Join the winning team.   We have the victory in Jesus Christ our Lord.  
 
     Your trials and tribulations in life are to make you stronger in your faith.   As your relationship grows with Jesus Christ you will learn that whatever situation you may encounter, He is with you. Remember when you were sick, God healed you, when you were in the courtroom, God was your lawyer and pleaded your case, when you loss your job, God provided an even better job that included a bonus and raise in salary. It is those testimonies of our faith that we need to recall and cling to in our times of trouble.  
 
     If you are at a point in your life where your faith is weary, and you feel like abandoning your faith in God. Stop! Think! Reflect upon what God has already done for you in your life.   Do you remember other challenging tests you have faced in life where you did not see your way? What happened? God stepped in right in the nick of time.
 
We have a promise in Hebrews 13:5 (KJV) where Jesus said “… I would not leave thee nor forsake thee.” Jesus tells us in John 10:10 (KJV) that “the thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”   It is God’s desire for us to succeed in life and live it to its fullest.
 
 
     Do not let some of these concerns listed below cause you to abandon you faith in God:
Fear - Many times fear eats away at our faith in different areas of our lives. For example, you may have thought about applying for a new position at work and because you were rejected for a similar job in the past fear has stopped you from applying for the position. We must increase our faith in God through daily prayer and reading the Word of God. This will begin to strengthen out trust in God.   In Psalm 91: 4-6 (NIV) it says “He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday. God has not given us a spirit of fear. In 2 Timothy 1:7 (NIV) it say, “for God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.”


 
 
Rejection - We try so many times to move forth in the things of God and sometime we get discouraged when we encounter rejection after rejection with our attempts to succeed. Some times we need to talk with a trusted friend to help us to analyze if there are changes we need to make to turn our rejections into acceptance. Rejection is sometimes a way for God to stop us from going into a direction that might jeopardize our personal relationship with Him.   We need to realize that God is with us to help us. In Hebrews 13:6 (NIV) it says, “so we say with confidence, the Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?"


 
Anxiety - Anxiety sometimes makes us lose our spiritual focus. We let our circumstance dominate and smother our faith. We must focus on God’s strength through us to conquer our circumstances. He will give us an inner peace in our time of anxiety. In John 14:27 (NIV) it Jesus declares, “peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. “   God wants us to cast our cares and concerns upon Him to handle. In 1 Peter 5:7(NIV) it says, “cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”


 
Depression - When things do not turn out the way we think it should it sometimes causes us to get depressed about our situation. We must understand that God is directing our lives and He has a purpose why things work out the way that they do. Do not sit around and have a pity party for yourself.   Get focus of God and keep working for Him. In Romans 8:28-29 (KJV) it says,” and we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.” God will use every experience in our lives to make us more like Him.
  
 
     Let us not forget that we left the world and we are now apart of the God’s army.   In Colossians 1:21-23 (NIV) it says, “once we were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now He has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in His sight, without blemish and free from accusation. If you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.”
 
I pray that your faith will be renewed in the Lord. Stir up the Spirit of God within your soul. In Exodus 14:13-14 (KJV) it declares, “do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Lord will fight for you, you need only to be still.” Do not abandon God because He has not abandoned you. Wait for your change to come.
]]> Tue, 17 Mar 2020 23:00:12 +0000 https://www.gospelengine.com/admin/blog/1627/happy-new-year-2020-renew-your-mind-in-2020 https://www.gospelengine.com/admin/blog/1627
                                                   Renew your Mind in 2020
                     by Richard A. Cox, Jr.  author of I, We, Us:  A Journey of Personal Growth and Development

“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live; but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20 - KJV)
     In 2020, God desires to take you and your ministry to the next level of excellence. However, you must evaluate and tie up any loose ends from 2019. Then you can prepare to renew your mind, motives and mission for ministry.
     Renew is a word which simply means to restore, or to renovate. Think of renew using the same computer hardware components such as the monitor, central processing unit, keyboard and mouse, but you are installing and upgrading only your computer software applications with new features that will improve your computer performance. Likewise, God utilizes our body. He only wants to renew our way of thinking to conform to His image.
     God’s basic plan for us to have spiritual success is to be different in our thinking from the world’s ways and to let the Holy Ghost renew our minds each day. If God can renew our minds, it will transform our minds and hearts to conform to His ways, which was a part of His original design for us. We were designed for worship - not anxiety.
     As Christians we naturally love God, which makes us a part of a different culture, with different values and goals from the world. Romans 12:2 (KJV) says, “and do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you many prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” In Ephesians 4:23(KJV), Paul describes the maturing and renewal of our faith as “to be made new in the spirit of your mind.”
Let us focus on renewing our:
Mind - We need to work on renewing our spiritual mind. Ephesians 2:10(KJV) says, “we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works.” The renewed mind is the creation of God, not man. God renews the spirit of our mind by applying the truth of His Word. The transformed mind sees the goodness and beauty of God’s ways and wants to be holy as He is holy. We must keep our minds in check. Second Corinthians 10:5-6(KJV) exhorts us to “take every thought captive” and be ready to deal with any thought that is not of faith. No matter how long we have been Christians, we all will have negative and ungodly thoughts until we see Jesus. That why it is important to daily renew our minds through God’s Word.

Motives - The motive for our endeavor to work in ministry is to experience the glory of God. Our greatest motive is a zeal for God’s glory to be revealed in our lives. God gave us the Bible to help us to understand how we are wired. It is through the Word of Truth that God convinces our minds; and then shapes our attitudes, directs our emotions, builds our character, motivates our life.

Mission - You will find that worship is bound with our mission for true worship, rendering to God the glory, which is due to His Holy Name. Worship focuses on the Glory of God. The phrase ‘living worship’ is the mission God has for our lives - this is our transformation. God doesn’t want a little of our time and money. He wants us. He wants us to offer our bodies as living sacrifices, which is our spiritual worship. We must understand the process. It’s inside-out, not trying to modify your behavior or manipulate your behavior or manipulate your emotions, as though you can transform who you are by putting on a happy face or shaping up a few bad habits. God transforms us from the inside out, by renewing our minds with His Word - which is both truth and power.
 
     It is important to realize that if there is no renewal in the mind, then there will never be any life change either. Without renewing our minds, our lives will remain the same as they always have been, no matter how often we go to church, no matter how often we pray. If we don’t renew our minds, our lives will still have the same problems, the same failures and the same defeats as always. Therefore, our efforts to change should not be focused on our wrong actions but on our wrong thinking.
     We need to know how to renew our minds on a daily basis. In other words, how do we turn over our hurts and fears to God without taking them back in 5 minutes? It is not enough to simply say to God, “Lord, give me your thoughts” and expect Him to somehow automatically do it. We must first put off our old self-centered thinking by confessing it, repenting of it and then giving it to God. When we learn how to do this on a daily basis, then we will be able to live the truth and genuinely show forth God’s Life and His Love.
     The Holy Spirit uses the Word of God to get our heads straight and convinces us of what is true. There are so many half-truths and demonic lies assaulting our minds, from the media and the misguided. So many rationalizations are given for evil, so much wrong thinking, that our minds can get warped. The Holy Spirit realigns our thinking with God’s truth, re-orients our value system, and reconstructs our worldview. God gets inside our head with His Word so we can see things the way He does. You see, what you believe, in turn, shapes your values - what you hold dear, what you know to be right or wrong, important or insignificant. Those values determine your attitude—the way you approach life and see people. Finally, your attitude drives your actions, what you do and say. This process is from the inside out, the renewing of your mind. The means is by the Word of God.
In 2020, you may have felt your spiritual life was out of whack, and your faith was malfunctioning. God invites you to be transformed in 2020 by renewing your mind.
You can take the following actions in 2020: Get into a Bible class.
Listen to music that has God’s message.
Set aside quality time to develop your devotional time.
Spend some heart-to-heart time with a Christian whose faith can be your model.
     Transformation occurs in your life when you feed your new self on God’s Word, while staving off the old self. Like a computer, it’s garbage in, garbage out or truth – entered, processed, integrated and retrieved. What you enter into your mind will either renew you or undo you. Let God inside your head. You can know if God has transformed you when you are able to test and approve what God’s will is—His good, pleasing and perfect will in your life.
]]> Tue, 31 Dec 2019 21:08:00 +0000 https://www.gospelengine.com/admin/blog/1625/are-you-gift-wrapped-for-jesus https://www.gospelengine.com/admin/blog/1625
                                       Are you gift wrapped for Jesus?      
By: Richard A. Cox, Jr author of I, We, Us: A Journey of Personal Growth and Development
My wife and I were walking through the mall looking for Christmas gifts as I observed the crowd of shoppers. Everyone was so busy and excited about purchasing gifts for family and friends. For a moment, it made me think, 'What is the gift I'm giving to Jesus?'
The greatest gift I can give to Jesus is my life. Jesus wants a totally surrendered life. In Romans 12:1 (AMP) it states, "I appeal to you therefore, brethren, and beg of you in view of [all] the mercies to make a decisive dedication of your bodies [presenting all your members and faculties] as a living sacrifice, holy (devoted, consecrated) and well pleasing to God, which is your reasonable (rational, intelligent) service and spiritual worship."
God wants His daily access to us to be used as His instruments on Earth to accomplish His work. When we give our lives to God, we allow Him total access, 24/7, to our minds, bodies and souls to be used as He sees fit.
The purpose of Jesus being born was to place us in right fellowship with God, gained after the fall of Adam. Jesus is the gift, not of something external to God, but the gift of God Himself, the divine truth told in a human life. In John 1:14 (KJV) we find, "… and the Word became flesh and dwelt upon us (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth."
God wrapped Himself in flesh and came to Earth. He became the ultimate living sacrifice as the Lamb of God - dying for the remission of our sins. He gave us His greatest gift of His only begotten son, (John 3:14(KJV) "for God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten Son that whosoever would believe on Him will not perish but have everlasting life.")
Are you gift wrapped for Jesus this year? Do you wear the garment of praise when you enter the House of the Lord? Do you wear the armor of God outside of the church to protect you against the wiles of the devil?
Here are some of the ways we can wrap ourselves as a gift for Jesus: 1. Truth - God has wrapped us in the truth of His Word. In 3 John 4 (KJV) it says, "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth."
2. Praise - God has wrapped us in the garment of praise to give Him Glory and Honor all the days of our lives. Isaiah 61:3 (KJV) tell us, "to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion…the Garment of Praise for the spirit of heaviness."
3. Protection - God has wrapped us with His armor of protection. Ephesians 6:11 (KJV) declare us to, "put on the whole armor of God so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil."
We can bring a Christian perspective of the true meaning of Christmas in our homes and not just at church. Here are some actions that can indicate how our hearts are wrapped as a gift at Christmas by: 1. Discussing the birth of Jesus and explaining why we celebrate Christmas.
2. Giving meaning to our actions for decorating our homes and giving gifts.
3. Picking religious Christmas cards that will minister to our family and friends
4. Looking for opportunities in the community to give our time to volunteer.
5. Making time to watch Christmas television programs with the family.
6. Playing Christmas CDs in our home to create an atmosphere of the holidays.
Jesus welcomes our little gifts and gestures because He recognizes them as signs that His joy has touched us. Jesus wants YOU! It is not something that is tangible but intangible. When we received Jesus in our hearts, we received God's greatest gift that keeps giving and giving and giving all year.
 
Stay gift wrapped for Jesus - available to be used anytime, anywhere - patiently waiting for Him to unwrap us for His service. Let Jesus unwrap your talent, creativity and vision for His Glory. Today decide, if you are not a Christian, to give yourself as a gift to Jesus this Christmas. If you are a Christian, keep yourself wrapped as gift for Jesus to use.
 
]]> Fri, 06 Dec 2019 22:12:46 +0000 https://www.gospelengine.com/admin/blog/1618/chinas-war-on-christians-intensifies https://www.gospelengine.com/admin/blog/1618
China’s War On Christians Intensifies

B y: Stan Guthrie
June 6, 2019


A proverb from the Song Dynasty of a millennium ago states , “Thick mountains could not stop the river from flowing into the sea.” Thirty years after the slaughter of pro-democracy protesters at Tiananmen Square , China’s persecuted Christians certainly hope the saying proves true in their case.
Turning its back on a reform policy that by and large recognized Christians as good citizens, the bellicose Communist government , led by President Xi Jinping, lately has been doing everything it can to block the mighty river of Chinese Christianity.
According to China-watchers Nina Shea and Bob Fu , the country’s Christian presence has grown to possibly more than 100 million people (36 million in official, state-recognized churches), compared with a Communist Party membership of just 90 million. The church growth among China’s 1.4 billion people has come on the heels of disillusionment both with the Party and the spiritual vacuum created by the country’s economic and social disruptions.
Fenggang Yang of Purdue says that China might be home to as many as 247 million Christians by 2030. These kinds of numbers have shocked Communist Party officials. Fu’s organization, ChinaAid, recently downloaded some accidentally posted internal Chinese documents that revealed the government’s desire to “contain the overheated growth of Christianity.”
Old regulations concerning churches are now being enforced, including those that ban minors from going to church and Sunday schools and Bible camps from operating. In some churches, Christian symbols are being replaced with pictures of Xi. Hundreds of churches have had their crosses removed and been forced to fly the Chinese flag and sing patriotic songs. Online Bible purchases are now illegal. The Communist Party, which is officially atheistic, has assumed direct control of all churches.
“Some urban underground megachurches were shut down,” Shea and Fu report. “Thousands of congregants were arrested and several prominent Protestant pastors received lengthy prison sentences. Earlier [in May], the regime launched a nationwide campaign to eradicate unregistered churches.”
As is always the case in China, some areas are more problematic than others. “Last year in Henan province,” Shea and Fu say, “10,000 Protestant churches were ordered shut, even though most were registered with the state. During 2018, more than one million Christians were threatened or persecuted and 5,000 arrested.”
Last December, police rounded up Pastor Wang Yi and his wife, Jiang Rong, along with 100 members of his Early Rain congregation in Chengdu. Wang and his wife are charged with “inciting subversion,” which carries a penalty of up to 15 years in prison. The church is gone from the three floors it rented, replaced by a business association and a construction company. The Guardian reports that the 1,500-member Zion church in Beijing was shut down after its pastor refused to install closed-circuit television to monitor members.
Although the Vatican and Chinese officials reached an agreement allowing Xi to appoint some Catholic bishops, two Marian pilgrimage shrines were destroyed, several underground Catholic priests and a bishop were forced into Communist “re-education” sessions, and two dozen Catholic churches in Hebei are being torn down.
These measures and more prompted Open Doors to move China up from No. 43 to No. 27 on its annual World Watch List of countries where it’s most difficult to be a Christian. It’s a massive jump. “The Chinese government,” notes Christopher Summers, “… works hard to make sure nothing in the country is a threat to the absolute authority of the Party—and its chairman, Xi Jinping.”
“The Chinese Communist Party wants to be the God of China and the Chinese people,” says Huang Xiaoning , pastor of the Guangzhou Bible Reformed Church, which has been closed twice in the past year. “But according to the Bible only God is God. The government is scared of the churches.”
According to reporter Lily Kuo in Chengdu, authorities are concerned not only by the growth of Christianity, but by the boldness of some of its leaders to speak out on social issues and civil rights. Every year Early Rain’s Wang, a noted public intellectual, commemorates the Tiananmen Square massacre and serves as an advocate for parents and families harmed by everything from faulty vaccines to substandard construction.
“Early Rain church is one of the few who dare to face what is wrong in society,” one member told Kuo. “Most churches don’t dare talk about this, but we obey strictly obey [sic] the Bible, and we don’t avoid anything.”
Observers say that authorities don’t want to wipe out Christianity, as their predecessors attempted to do during the Cultural Revolution. According to Ying Fuk Tsang, director of the Christian Study Centre on Chinese Religion and Culture at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, “President Xi Jinping is trying to establish a new order on religion, suppressing its blistering development. [The government] aims to regulate the ‘religious market’ as a whole.”
Indeed. More than a million Uighur Muslims have been forced into concentration camps, along with some Christian converts as well. The New York Times reports that the Chinese government is employing artificial intelligence facial recognition technology to monitor and target the Uighurs. Tibetan Buddhists, meanwhile, are  prohibited from displaying photos  of the Dalai Lama. Falun Gong adherents by the hundreds have been arrested.
If misery truly loves company, then Christians ought to be thrilled, because they have plenty. Yet while there are many mountains of opposition blocking their way, Chinese believers in Jesus have good reason to believe that God will continue to allow the gospel to flow.
]]> Fri, 14 Jun 2019 15:42:21 +0100 https://www.gospelengine.com/admin/blog/1614/holy-hip-hop-chris-mack-makes-music-with-a-message https://www.gospelengine.com/admin/blog/1614
Holy Hip Hop: Chris Mack makes music with a message



Date: February 1, 2019 Author: keshiamcentire 0 Comments







By Keshia McEntire, originally published in the Indianapolis Recorder Newspaper
When a hip-hop artist hits the stage at a bar in a college town, the audience might be surprised to hear lyrics about faith, purpose and hope within catchy, danceable tunes. Muncie, Indiana based rapper Chris Mack is shattering stereotypes by bringing positive music to the masses.


“I love being able to perform places you wouldn’t expect me to be. I rap about my faith in Christ, and most people would expect me to be rapping at a church, but my goal is to reach people from all perspectives on life for the sake of understanding what they believe and getting to share what I believe through not only music, but conversation,” said Mack, a Ball State grad who says music has been in his blood from day one.
As a child, he would soak up the hip-hop and ’70s soul music that his father played on repeat. When his family purchased their first home on the south side of Indianapolis, he watched his father and grandfather convert its garage into a music studio so that his father could write and record his own tracks. As Mack got older, he took his father’s old beats and made original songs with them. Today, the emcee does shows everywhere, from community centers and churches to parties and bars.


“My sound has got an Atlanta feel to it, so it’s not typical trap or new wave hip-hop. I have a mantra, and it’s that I use music as a means of starting genuine conversations. I get to know people’s passions, values, struggles, fears and what they ultimately believe in,” said Mack. “Some labels I like are Humble Beast Records — they have artists like Propaganda, Jackie Hill-Perry and Beautiful Eulogy. They make great music that challenges people’s perspectives on life, specifically through speaking on social injustices and Christianity. I love Reach Records and Andy Mineo. I love how crafty Andre 3000 is, love the storytelling ability of J. Cole and Kendrick Lamar.”
As a student, Mack was involved in campus ministry through Cru, an interdenominational Christian organization for college and university students, and Impact, a similar organization targeted toward African-American students. In Muncie, he works with youth at the Boys and Girls Club and serves at a church that some of his friends planted in Muncie. By the end 2017, Mack hopes to be making music full time and performing outside of the Midwest. While living in Muncie, he wants to make sure that he continues to serve the local community and cultivate the connections he has made.
“I want people to enjoy the music and think about the meaning of life and what is it all about,” he said. “I want people to be driven to tears, to get excited and to think about who Christ is. I want people to see that I care about them more than I care about the music that I make. I really want to care for people. Music is a way to engage with people, but I’m a servant at heart.”
To listen to Chris Mack’s music, visit realchrismack.bandcamp.com or youtube.com/realchrismack .






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]]> Sun, 17 Mar 2019 19:46:13 +0000 https://www.gospelengine.com/admin/blog/1612/holy-hip-hop-california-lutheran-university https://www.gospelengine.com/admin/blog/1612
Holy Hip Hop: Religion Department Finds New Beat

The world of hip-hop with its melodic beats, profane language and sometimes violent imagery, seems far removed from the prayers, songs and practices that often accompany religion. The new honors course “Religion and Hip-Hop” aims to bridge the gap between these two worlds at California Lutheran University (www.CalLuteran.edu).

Designed and taught by Associate Professor of Religion Rahuldeep Gill, he said he is excited to update the class throughout the years to come.

“This class is a juxtaposition of two things that don’t really go together, but if you look closely, they go together in really interesting and informative ways,” Gill said. “Once I learn what students like throughout the semester, I will definitely be remixing this class for as long as they let me teach it.”

With 10 years of teaching experience at California Lutheran University, Gill said he is always looking to push his students to explore new areas of learning.

According to the Cal Lutheran course catalog, this course highlights the relationship between hip-hop and religion in three ways: “the religious streams within hip-hop culture, hip-hop culture as a meaning-making system that parallels the work of religions, and hip-hop culture as giving voice to global religious concerns beyond its original American urban contexts.”

Gill said hip-hop and religion are related through art, clothes and the way people talk- everyone associates with hip-hop. Gill said one of the main things hip-hop and religion have in common is how they both engage people’s bodies.

“Hip-hop is a culture and an experience, and in this course we will look at how hip-hop has been used by religion or religious people to spread the gospel and bring people together,” Gill said.

Gill said that the first hip-hop event was a party in a steamy, sweaty basement in the lower Bronx. The party grew and, eventually, people got more and more attached to it.

Gill has many goals for the students taking this course. He said, one, is for the students to see the course as a way to navigate their own reality.
Sophomore Maramawit Bereda said she took this class because she was curious about how religion and hip-hop could work together. Through the class, she said she has been able to understand hip-hop a little more like what exactly it is and why it has so much history.

“In this class, being able to see different races come together in a classroom to talk about rap is amazing. I’ve started to see that other people from different races relate to rap, and how it has affected everyone’s lives,” Bereda said.

As a practicing Christian, Bereda said she used to feel slightly guilty when she listened to rap music, but now she feels more courageous and happy to listen, because she has found a lot of things that resonate to her Christianity through the music.
Gill said that hip-hop today is so diverse and no one really knows how large it is.

“Hip- Hop illuminates the hypocrisies in society and illuminates the parts where life doesn’t seem to make sense, and it creates new meaning out of there,” Gill said.

Adina Nack, the new director of the University Honors Program, assisted Gill in starting this class.

“A course like Religion and Hip-hop exemplifies the goals of the University Honors Program, in that students are being challenged to engage across traditional academic disciplines in order to explore complex topics that resonate with contemporary spiritual, social and political issues,” Nack said.

She said her goal as the new director is to increase the variety of course offerings for honors electives so that students have unique opportunities to explore exciting academic questions and learn new skills.

“I foresee a course, such as Religion and Hip-Hop, inspiring students to think beyond their academic major and career goals as they focus on learning from professors who motivate them to examine new sources of knowledge, which can enrich their overall undergraduate experience,” Nack said.

Source: Luisa Virgen
]]> Sat, 23 Feb 2019 12:49:55 +0000 https://www.gospelengine.com/admin/blog/1611/support-gospelcitycom https://www.gospelengine.com/admin/blog/1611
Dear GospelCity.com Family:
For the past 20 years, GospelCity.com has served as beacon of light in the community, with its #1 Goal, to spread the Gospel worldwide.  The services that GospelCity.com has provided via its new platform enable Artists, Ministries, Labels and Members to reach the masses at $0.00 24/7. No other platform has done this, asking nothing for return for so long and to date: GospelCity.com has never received a donation or even an offer of donation from any of its members but nevertheless GospelCity.com has stayed consistently online for the community serving millions of visitors as the #1 and largest indie Gospel music portal on the planet with over 4000 members.
I am writing today to ask each of you to consider donating to GospelCity.com any amount that you feel like (donation $1.00 or more is fine), as any amount is better than $0.00. These funds will be used for operating expenses (which run in thousands of dollars), and any excess funds will go to marketing and promotions for 2019 and beyond. 
To donate, please click the following link on GospelCity.com homepage (Donate); or click/copy/paste the link below in your web-browser and again no donation is too small and all donations will be greatly appreciated.
Donate Paypal Link: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=Y22Q5N5N8TBX4&source=url
or go Gospelcity.com homepage and click Donate button on homepage.
All donors will gain 'Featured' Artists Status on the home-page of the site as well as e-blasts and be designated as 'Platinum' in a Press Release and Article posted on site (featuring Artist, Member, Label, Ministry) and your profile will continue to have unlimited access, ability to sell your music online, blogs, video, etc., etc. These same features on any other site would run anywhere from $50 to $100 per year, but presently on GospelCity.com, the fee is $0.00.
Thank you for your consideration. 
Best Wishes for a Merry Christmas,
Richard Cox, General Manager
GospelCity.com
]]> Sun, 02 Dec 2018 17:42:46 +0000 https://www.gospelengine.com/admin/blog/1610/are-you-gift-wrapped-for-jesus https://www.gospelengine.com/admin/blog/1610
Are You Gift Wrapped For Jesus?
by Richard A. Cox, Jr  Author of I, We, Us: A Journey of Personal Growth and Development
 
 My wife and I were walking through the mall looking for Christmas gifts as I observed the crowd of shoppers. Everyone was so busy and excited about purchasing gifts for family and friends. It made me think for a moment about what is the gift I’m giving to Jesus?  
 
I thought about the greatest gift I can give to Jesus is my life.   Jesus wants a totally surrendered life.  You will find in Romans 12:1 (AMP) where it states  “I appeal to you therefore, brethren, and beg of you in view of [all] the mercies to make a decisive dedication of your bodies [presenting all your members and faculties] as a living sacrifice, holy (devoted, consecrated) and well pleasing to God, which is your reasonable (rational, intelligent) service and spiritual worship.”   God wants daily access to us to be used as His instruments on earth to accomplish His work.  When we give our lives to God we are allowing Him total access 24/7 to our minds, bodies, and souls to be used as He sees fit.  
 
Jesus purpose in being born was to place us in right fellowship with God again after the fall of Adam. Jesus is the gift, not of something external to God, but the gift of God’s owns self, the divine truth told in a human life.  Looking at John 1:14 (KJV) we find , “… and the Word became flesh and dwelt upon us (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth.” God wrapped Himself in flesh to come to earth. He became the ultimate living sacrifice as the Lamb of God to die for the remission of our sins.  He gave us His greatest gift of His only begotten son. (John 3:14(KJV) “for God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten Son that whosoever would believe on Him will not perish but have everlasting life.”)  
 
I would like to ask if you are you gift wrapped for Jesus this year?   Do you wear the garment of praise when you enter the House of the Lord?   Do you wear the armor of God outside of the church to protect you against the wiles of the devil? Just mediate on your answers for a moment.
 
Here are some of the ways we can wrap ourselves as a gift for Jesus:
 
   1.    Truth - God has wrapped us in the truth of His Word.  In 3 John 4 (KJV) it says, “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.”   
  2.    Praise - God has wrapped us in the garment of praise to give Him Glory and Honor all the days of our lives.  Isaiah 61:3 (KJV) tell us, “to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion…the Garment of Praise for the spirit of heaviness.”
  3.    Protection – God has wrapped us with His armor of protection. Ephesians 6:11 (KJV) declare us to, “put on the whole armor of God so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.”
We can bring a Christian perspective of the true meaning of Christmas in our homes and not just at church.   Here are some actions that can indicate how our hearts are wrapped as a gift at Christmas by:
   1.    Discussing the birth of Jesus and explaining why we celebrate Christmas.  
   2.    Giving meaning to our actions for decorating our homes and giving gifts.
   3.    Picking religious Christmas cards or E-cards that will minister to our family and friends
   4.    Looking for opportunities in the community to give our time to volunteer.
   5.    Making time to watch Christmas television programs with the family.
   6.    Playing Christmas CDs in our home to create an atmosphere of the holidays.
 
Jesus welcomes our little gifts and gestures because he recognizes them as signs that His joy has touched us.  Jesus wants YOU! It is not something that is tangible but intangible. When we received Jesus in our hearts, we received God’s greatest gift that keeps giving and giving and giving all year. 
We should stay gift wrapped for Jesus to be used anytime and anywhere patiently waiting for Him to unwrap us for His service.  Let Jesus unwrap your talent, creativity, and vision for His Glory.  Today, decide if you are not a Christian to give yourself as a gift to Jesus this Christmas. If you are a Christian keep yourself wrapped as a gift for Jesus to use.
]]> Fri, 30 Nov 2018 01:01:39 +0000 https://www.gospelengine.com/admin/blog/1609/brotha-dre-releases-holy-hip-hop-gospel-anthem-chosen https://www.gospelengine.com/admin/blog/1609
Brotha Dre (feat. Kingdom Chelzz) Releases Holy Hip Hop/Street Gospel Anthem titled: Chosen
 
November 9, 2018 - Atlanta/Nashville -  Powerful Street Minister of The Gospel ("Brotha Dre"), powered by 3HMobile, Capitol Christian Music Group (CCMG), a division of Capitol Music Group and wholly-owned subsidiary of Universal Music Group, released today a hot new Holy Hip Hop/Street Gospel Anthem track titled: Chosen , with the catchy hook 'What It's Like To Be Chosen'.  This song is a must have for any music collection and can be related to by anyone who has experienced and truly felt the Power of GOD work in their life.
 
Brotha Dre Music Releases Powered by CCMG and 3HMobile (to access, on your favorite listening device, please click/copy/paste music links listed below):
  1.  Chosen By Brotha Dre (feat. Kingdom Chelzz) (Available Digital Stores Now Worldwide at):
https://amen-gospel.lnk.to/iGm4JWE  
2.  Black Sheep by Brotha Dre (Available Digital Stores Now Worldwide at):
https://amen-gospel.lnk.to/GPvgaWE
 
About 3HMobile : 3HMobile specializes in inspirational social media, music and entertainment, leveraging a proprietary digital member subscriber network of aficionados of street ministry, radio and internet platforms, growing virally (via word-of-mouth) at a rapid rate  For more information on rising independent Ministers of the Gospel visit:  http://www.3HMobile.com
 
About Capitol Christian Music Group  Capitol Christian Music Group (CCMG) is the world's leading Christian Music company and market leader in recorded music and music publishing. Capitol Christian Music Group operates several divisions, including CCMG Label Group (Sparrow Records, ForeFront Records, sixstepsrecords, Hillsong, Jesus Culture), Motown Gospel and CCMG Publishing (including Brentwood-Benson Music Publications). CCMG owned labels are home to artists Chris Tomlin, Amy Grant, TobyMac, Tasha Cobbs, Jeremy Camp, Hillsong United, Matt Redman, Mandisa, Tye Tribbett, Crowder, Passion Band, Karl Jobe and many others. Capitol CMG Publishing, in addition to publishing most of the CCMG labels' premier artist/writers, represents many of the leading writers in Christian/Gospel including Ben Glover, David Garcia, Kirk Franklin, Mark Hall, Brenton Brown and many more. Key Distribution partners include The Gaither Music Group, Centricity Records, Marantha Music, InPop Records, Worthy Book Publishing and Cinedigm Entertainment. Led by Chairman & CEO Peter York and a strong executive team of long-time Christian and Gospel music veterans, Capitol Christian Music Group is characterized by a passionate commitment to their artists, songwriters, customers, business partners, and one another, as well as a strong spirit of community service.  CCMG is a division of Capitol Music Group (CMG), led by Chairman and CEO Steve Barnett, which is a wholly owned division within Universal Music Group (UMG), the global music leader with strong market positions in recorded music, music publishing, and merchandising.
]]> Sun, 11 Nov 2018 13:33:59 +0000 https://www.gospelengine.com/admin/blog/1608/brotha-dre-hot-new-music-powered-by-ccmg-and-3hmobile https://www.gospelengine.com/admin/blog/1608
October 24, 2018 - Atlanta/Nashville - Powerful Street Minister of The Gospel ("Brotha Dre"), powered by 3HMobile, Capitol Christian Music Group (CCMG), a division of Capitol Music Group and wholly-owned subsidiary of Universal Music Group, continues to gain momentum in 2018 with a pipeline of Hit Music Releases, with more on the way.
Brotha Dre Music Releases Powered by CCMG and 3HMobile (to access, on your favorite listening device, please click/copy/paste music links listed below):
1. Losing My Mind (Available Digital Stores Worldwide at):
https://amen-gospel.lnk.to/NgDOGWE
2. God vs Man (Available Digital Stores Worldwide at):
https://amen-gospel.lnk.to/GWulgWE
3. L4DK (Available Digital Stores Worldwide at) :
https://amen-gospel.lnk.to/qh8X6WE
4. Pray (Available Digital Stores Worldwide at):
https://amen-gospel.lnk.to/3MheSWE
5. Worthy (Available Digital Stores Worldwide at):
https://amen-gospel.lnk.to/VZ-BNWE
6. Whippin (Available Digital Stores Worldwide at):
https://amen-gospel.lnk.to/NaFFeWE
Upcoming Music Releases by Brotha Dre:
1. Chosen – Scheduled for 11/9
2. Black Sheep – Scheduled for 11/9

About 3HMobile: 3HMobile specializes in inspirational social media, music and entertainment, leveraging a proprietary digital member subscriber network of aficionados of street ministry, radio and internet platforms, growing virally (via word-of-mouth) at a rapid rate For more information on rising independent Ministers of the Gospel visit: http://www.3HMobile.com

About Capitol Christian Music Group Capitol Christian Music Group (CCMG) is the world's leading Christian Music company and market leader in recorded music and music publishing. Capitol Christian Music Group operates several divisions, including CCMG Label Group (Sparrow Records, ForeFront Records, sixstepsrecords, Hillsong, Jesus Culture), Motown Gospel and CCMG Publishing (including Brentwood-Benson Music Publications). CCMG owned labels are home to artists Chris Tomlin, Amy Grant, TobyMac, Tasha Cobbs, Jeremy Camp, Hillsong United, Matt Redman, Mandisa, Tye Tribbett, Crowder, Passion Band, Karl Jobe and many others. Capitol CMG Publishing, in addition to publishing most of the CCMG labels' premier artist/writers, represents many of the leading writers in Christian/Gospel including Ben Glover, David Garcia, Kirk Franklin, Mark Hall, Brenton Brown and many more. Key Distribution partners include The Gaither Music Group, Centricity Records, Marantha Music, InPop Records, Worthy Book Publishing and Cinedigm Entertainment. Led by Chairman & CEO Peter York and a strong executive team of long-time Christian and Gospel music veterans, Capitol Christian Music Group is characterized by a passionate commitment to their artists, songwriters, customers, business partners, and one another, as well as a strong spirit of community service. CCMG is a division of Capitol Music Group (CMG), led by Chairman and CEO Steve Barnett, which is a wholly owned division within Universal Music Group (UMG), the global music leader with strong market positions in recorded music, music publishing, and merchandising.
]]> Thu, 25 Oct 2018 01:22:02 +0100 https://www.gospelengine.com/admin/blog/1607/apple-ceo-tim-cook-warns-your-data-is-being-weaponized-against-you https://www.gospelengine.com/admin/blog/1607
Apple CEO Tim Cook warns your data is 'being weaponized' against you



By Brittany De Lea  Published October 24, 2018 Technology FOXBusiness








Apple CEO Tim Cook is calling for the U.S. and countries around the world to enhance their privacy protections for consumers, warning that failing to do so could prove destructive.
“Today [the private information] trade has exploded into a data industrial complex. Our own information, from the everyday to the deeply personal, is being weaponized against us with military efficiency,” Cook said at a conference in Brussels on data privacy Wednesday.
While lauding countries such as those in the European Union for implementing stricter privacy regulation throughout recent years – including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) – Cook specifically called out the U.S. for not doing enough. He said Apple supports the implementation of comprehensive federal privacy laws across the globe that minimize data collection, let users know what data is being collected, allow users to access that data and keep all of their information secure.
Cook went on to say that opposing privacy regulation “isn’t just wrong, it is destructive.”
As companies collect more and more data, he warns, businesses may have a fuller profile of an individual than the individual even has of herself.
“We shouldn’t sugarcoat the consequences. This is surveillance,” he said. “This should make us very uncomfortable. It should unsettle us.”
This year, technology companies have come under scrutiny for failing to safeguard users. Earlier this year, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey were called to testify on Capitol Hill regarding ways they planned to secure their platforms against rogue actors attempting to unduly influence users – particularly ahead of the midterm elections. It was revealed that a collection of Russian hackers gained access to Facebook’s platforms in an attempt to interfere in the U.S. presidential election.
Further, more than 80 million Facebook users were notified earlier this year that their data was wrongly accessed by Cambridge Analytica.
While Cook did not mention any of his Silicon Valley rivals by name, he noted many in the tech world would say stricter privacy regulation would prevent businesses from reaching their true potential.
In California, lawmakers are looking to advance data regulations similar to the GDPR in the European Union by 2020. The  GDPR Opens a New Window.  is an effort to transfer more control over personal data, like addresses and phone numbers, from large companies back to individuals, affecting how companies obtain, use, store and secure data.
Executives from Google and Facebook were set to address the same conference in Brussels later on Wednesday. When contacted by FOX Business, Google pointed to a blog post on privacy published last month.
Facebook Chief Privacy Officer Erin Egan said at the conference she would also support legislation similar to the GDPR, as reported by The FInancial Times. A spokesperson for the company reiterated Egan's sentiments that she supports "strong and effective privacy legislation."




]]> Wed, 24 Oct 2018 20:15:36 +0100 https://www.gospelengine.com/admin/blog/1606/a-friend-in-aretha-the-spiritual-power-of-the-queen-of-souls-amazing-grace https://www.gospelengine.com/admin/blog/1606
Aretha Franklin’s gospel classic—and the still-unreleased documentary about it—are a skeleton key to our connection to her

By Rembert Browne Aug 16, 2018 The Ringer 







“She can sing anything. ‘Three Blind Mice.’ Anything.”


The King of Gospel Music, Reverend James Cleveland, was riffing, the way only a preacher can, prepping the congregation for the Queen of Soul, Ms. Aretha Franklin. This was January 13, 1972, in the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles. And while everyone in the room was familiar with Aretha Franklin, Reverend Cleveland knew that not everyone had heard her sing gospel or witnessed her sing in a church. “You’re in tonight for a great thrill,” Cleveland said to the first-timers.


The house was packed because Aretha was not only recording the album that would become Amazing Grace , the highest-selling album of her career and the highest-selling live gospel album of all time, but it was also being filmed by director Sydney Pollack, for what is a still-unreleased concert documentary.
Mick Jagger was there. Gospel legend Clara Ward was there. So was Reverend Cleveland’s choir, the Southern California Community Choir. And after Cleveland sang one number with his choir, Aretha, in her flowy gown and perfect revolutionary afro, entered the chapel.
On that night, and the night that followed, Aretha Franklin gave what may be the greatest sustained vocal performance, ever .
At this point in her career, Aretha was already a legend. A year before Amazing Grace , she’d released a greatest-hits album and won her fourth of eight consecutive Grammys for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance. One could argue that while she had a great deal more to achieve, she didn’t have much more to prove. And maybe to an average superstar this would be true, but we’re talking Aretha Franklin, lest we forget. And on those two days, she reminded everyone that while she may have had contemporaries, she had no peers. Sure, Aretha was not the first to grow up in the church and take a booming voice to the mainstream, gaining worldwide fame from secular music. But on these two days, she came back to the black church. And it wasn’t just a sweet reminder that she hadn’t lost a step. She was here for her playground respect, ready to send a warning shot to any that had doubted her—she had gotten stronger.
Amazing Grace is Aretha, at her most raw and stripped down, resulting in Aretha at her most powerful.
“I never left the church; the church goes with me,” Aretha said, in one of the few public clips from the unreleased documentary. She said that, after two minutes of footage of Aretha, singing “Amazing Grace.”
The full version of the song on the 1972 album recording is more than 10 minutes long. And for more than 10 minutes, she takes you through a roller-coaster of human emotion. She makes you cry, she makes you smile, she makes you want to jump up and holler at her, as she hollers at God. In moments when it sounds as though the spirit has fully taken over, she’s somehow vocally more in control of every note than she typically is. She’s not just hitting runs, she’s picking notes out of thin air and attacking them with the precision of a sniper. The room’s call-and-response is at the album’s height during this song, emotional and spiritual kindling to the fire that is her instrument.
Plenty of great songs and timeless performers give you chills. This, however, is something else. It’s more than in your bones; it’s cellular.
And this is just one song. Regardless of each musical number’s original meaning, for these two days Aretha made every word, note, and breath sound sanctified. The first two songs she sang on the first day were “Wholy Holy,” a Marvin Gaye song from What’s Going On and “You’ll Never Walk Alone,” originally a Rodgers and Hammerstein show tune from Carousel. Later, with the help of the choir, she started singing the gospel standard “Precious Lord, Take My Hand” and then blended it into “You’ve Got a Friend.”
Carole King wasn’t talking about Jesus. But Aretha was. And just like that, “You’ve Got a Friend” was a gospel song. Throughout Amazing Grace she vacillated between hymns, mid-tempo numbers like “Climbing Higher Mountains,” a quasi-sermon on “Mary, Don’t You Weep,” and up-tempo numbers like “Old Landmark” and “How I Got Over” that caused dancing to spill out from the pews and into the aisles.
Technically, Amazing Grace is art at its highest form, the work of a bona fide musical genius at her peak. And for me, somehow, that’s not even its most impressive (or important) attribute. For as long as I can remember hearing these songs—the album, a lifelong soundtrack to growing up around the black Baptist church—there’s been a moment, on each song, that Aretha does something that makes me believe in God.
More than any sermon, any text, or any life moment, it’s Aretha that keeps me a believer, in something. On Amazing Grace , the belief that Aretha exudes about her God is all the convincing I need that she’s right. And it’s not any specific word or phrase she says; it’s that she feels so much—it makes you want to go through it with her, and feel that, too.
Over the years, it was her voice on this album that provided a light. That assurance you need in your life, that things will eventually be OK. When people in my life passed away, the first thing I would do is turn on Amazing Grace . When dark moments of depression would take over, the light feeling extinguished, the first thing I’d do is turn on Amazing Grace . And when I’d come out on the other side, I’d go back to Aretha and turn it back on. Aretha and I, we were a team.
I never considered what I’d listen to should Aretha die. But even today, amidst all the sadness of her passing, it’s Aretha who is still there for me, reminding me that this, too, shall pass, that I’ll never walk alone, and that I’ll always have a friend.




]]> Tue, 21 Aug 2018 02:32:30 +0100 https://www.gospelengine.com/admin/blog/1605/billboard-magazine-top-gospel-albums https://www.gospelengine.com/admin/blog/1605
TOP GOSPEL ALBUMS



The week of





























2

WEEKS AT NO. 1





49

WEEKS ON CHART





Heart. Passion. Pursuit

Tasha Cobbs Leonard





Gains in performance











































2















Unstoppable

Koryn Hawthorne



















2

LAST WEEK





1

PEAK POSITION





3

WEEKS ON CHART













3















Everlasting

Shana Wilson Williams

















Gains in performance













4















Sentiments Of My Heart

Maurice Yancey & One Accord



















23

LAST WEEK





4

PEAK POSITION





2

WEEKS ON CHART







Awards



[1] Greatest gainer this week



Gains in performance













5















WOW Gospel 2018

Various Artists



















4

LAST WEEK





1

PEAK POSITION





27

WEEKS ON CHART







Gains in performance













6















The Hill

Travis Greene



















6

LAST WEEK





1

PEAK POSITION





144

WEEKS ON CHART







Gains in performance













7















Playlist: The Very Best Of Marvin Sapp

Marvin Sapp



















5

LAST WEEK





3

PEAK POSITION





159

WEEKS ON CHART







Gains in performance













8















Make Room

Jonathan McReynolds



















3

LAST WEEK





1

PEAK POSITION





21

WEEKS ON CHART













9















Best Of Fred Hammond

Fred Hammond



















8

LAST WEEK





8

PEAK POSITION





7

WEEKS ON CHART







Gains in performance













10















Grace (EP)

Tasha Cobbs



















12

LAST WEEK





1

PEAK POSITION





229

WEEKS ON CHART







Gains in performance



















11















One Place: Live

Tasha Cobbs



















13

LAST WEEK





1

PEAK POSITION





153

WEEKS ON CHART







Gains in performance













12















Your Great Name

Todd Dulaney



















14

LAST WEEK





1

PEAK POSITION





28

WEEKS ON CHART







Gains in performance













13















Snoop Dogg Presents: Bible Of Love

Snoop Dogg & Various Artists



















11

LAST WEEK





1

PEAK POSITION





20

WEEKS ON CHART













14















Best Days

Tamela Mann



















24

LAST WEEK





1

PEAK POSITION





230

WEEKS ON CHART







Gains in performance













15















A Long Way From Sunday

Anthony Brown & group therAPy



















22

LAST WEEK





1

PEAK POSITION





53

WEEKS ON CHART







Gains in performance













16















One Way

Tamela Mann



















19

LAST WEEK





1

PEAK POSITION





99

WEEKS ON CHART







Gains in performance













17















The Essential Kirk Franklin

Kirk Franklin



















9

LAST WEEK





3

PEAK POSITION





137

WEEKS ON CHART













18















neXtlevel

Gerald Scott

















Gains in performance













19















Open Heaven: The Maranda Experience

Maranda Curtis



















7

LAST WEEK





1

PEAK POSITION





14

WEEKS ON CHART













20















Hello Fear

Kirk Franklin



















20

LAST WEEK





1

PEAK POSITION





111

WEEKS ON CHART













21















Close

Marvin Sapp



















21

LAST WEEK





1

PEAK POSITION





44

WEEKS ON CHART























22















Crossover: Live From Music City

Travis Greene



















18

LAST WEEK





1

PEAK POSITION





50

WEEKS ON CHART













23















Hear To Worship: Live

Alicia Oatman



















16

LAST WEEK





9

PEAK POSITION





3

WEEKS ON CHART













24















Losing My Religion

Kirk Franklin



















25

LAST WEEK





1

PEAK POSITION





141

WEEKS ON CHART













25















The Nu Nation Project

Kirk Franklin















]]> Sun, 12 Aug 2018 04:30:13 +0100 https://www.gospelengine.com/admin/blog/1604/can-gospel-music-survive-the-rise-of-hip-hop https://www.gospelengine.com/admin/blog/1604
Tradition is losing out as different expressions of praise and worship overtake traditional gospel music and choirs
By Andre Kimo Stone Guess
 
Right now, the 51st Annual Convention of the Gospel Music Workshop of America is being held in Atlanta. The hot topic? The state of gospel music. A cross section of people from the gospel community — including pastors, ministers of music, artists and church musicians — will try to get a sense of the impact of gospel music on today’s culture from three perspectives: the music, the message and the musicians.
Looking at the balance of tradition versus innovation in the styles of recorded gospel music and music performed in church has led them to ask whether the underlying message of gospel has changed, and what is the impact of that on the culture.
Tradition vs. innovation
There has been a historic tension in the black church between the music and the musicians who it birthed. At different points in time, musicians were ostracized from the church for playing new styles of music that were deemed inappropriate. Often, these musicians picked themselves up from the proverbial curb of the church from which they were just kicked and took those new styles into the secular world.
Over time, these innovations were eventually accepted and invited back into the church, creating a pathway between the church and the secular music world and popular culture.
Steven Ford, a Grammy, Dove and Stellar award-winning musician, composer, arranger and producer, has worked with a who’s who list of gospel artists and has contributed to nearly 100 recording projects. During his tenure in the gospel industry, he has seen constant change.
“Gospel music is ever-changing. It’s always evolving. What I heard 10 years ago is different in the church now, but it’s still called gospel music. You can’t put it in a box,” he said.
In the continuum of gospel music that starts with the Negro spiritual and goes through a lineage that includes Thomas Dorsey, Roberta Martin, James Cleveland, Andrae Crouch, Edwin Hawkins and Kirk Franklin, is there a tradition of sound that needs to be codified and preserved for future generations or should the innovation just be allowed to move forward without any regard for a tradition?
Grammy and Stellar award-winning producer and artist Donald Lawrence sees himself as a part of a proud tradition of an unbroken line of gospel musicians who came before him while also finding inspiration from outside of gospel.
“From traditional to contemporary, you still could hear elements [of a tradition]. From contemporary to urban, you still could hear elements of where it came from,” he said. “I was inspired by [Andrae] Crouch and [Edwin] Hawkins. Crouch was inspired by [James] Cleveland and Hawkins was inspired by The Caravans, and they were inspired by people before them. And also, Hawkins was inspired by pop writers, and the same with me. I was inspired my musical theater writers and [also] by Luther [Vandross]. But when you start going a little more like rock-driven, it kind of erases that.”
The rock-driven aspect of gospel music that Lawrence is referring to is not rock ’n’ roll per se. What he is speaking of is the underlying chord structure that is contained in much of today’s gospel, particularly music from the praise and worship movement. The harmonies come out of chords that are rock-based, as opposed to the traditional blues-infused gospel tradition.
Praise and worship movement
Judith McAllister is often referred to as “The First Lady of Praise and Worship.” She has served for more than 17 years as worship leader at the West Angeles Church of God in Christ in Los Angeles under the leadership of Bishop Charles E. Blake Sr. She is the church’s executive director of the music and worship department and in 2009 was appointed to the office of minister of music/president of the international music department.
Under the leadership of Blake, McAllister, along with Patrick Peterson, began the praise and worship movement at West Angeles in the late 1980s.
“At that time, we as African-Americans were not singing that type of music in our churches,” she said. “We were singing more of the spiritual and devotional songs and we needed to be ‘zapped’ by the spirit to dance, to lift our hands or to rejoice. But this [movement] was now more of an at-will or I will, as the Scripture says, kind of worship.”
The praise and worship movement has spread like wildfire throughout the black church over the past 30 years. One of the unintended consequences of the movement was a decline in traditional choirs in some churches in favor of smaller praise and worship teams.
Decline in choirs
Grammy, Dove and Stellar Award-winning composer, arranger and artist Richard Smallwood laments the decline of the traditional gospel choir in today’s gospel music. Smallwood sees the increase of smaller praise and worship teams as a more efficient and less cumbersome music ministry option for many churches.
“It’s easier to work with the smaller praise team configurations than it is to work with a choir, and much of the music that those type of ensembles are singing are a lot easier to teach and learn for the singers,” he said. “Working with a choir and teaching them the intricacies of the music is harder, but it is also more rewarding.”
Alyn E. Waller, senior pastor of the Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church in Philadelphia, is a trained musician who aspired to become a professional musician before heeding the call to ministry. The Stellar Award nominee regularly ministers through song with the Enon Tabernacle Mass Choir and as a soloist. He contrasts the music of a traditional gospel choir to that of smaller contemporary gospel groups of today.
“We’ve become almost monolithic in our expression musically,” Waller said. “Sometimes when you hear a traditional gospel choir from a black university come and do a concert where the first half is spirituals and the second half is contemporary gospel, you can hear how dumbed down the music has become, from four- or five-part harmonies to three or even a single line. The imagery that’s painted with the words is not as beautiful as it was, and the ties to Scripture [are not as strong]. There are some very famous songs now that are theologically horrendous.”
Innovation leads to imitation
Looking back over the past 30 years since the beginning of the praise and worship movement, McAllister senses another change coming in gospel music. “As it was then [in the late ’80s], so it is now. I think we have reached an impasse because everyone is doing the same thing,” she said. “I think there is coming a new sound, a new technique that everyone will now gravitate to. Everything is really starting to sound the same.”
Like McAllister and Waller, Lawrence also senses a similar stagnation in the music.
“To me, gospel music today has become a little monolithic; a lot of it is the same. This is the first time I have really seen this,” he said. “Gospel has always been about a diversity of brands or sounds. It’s never been one message, one sound. It was always one message with multiple sounds. Commerce has pushed a lot of the newer artists to be one message, one sound.”
This phenomenon isn’t unique to gospel music. James Poyser, a member of the hip-hop band The Roots, sees a similar trend in music in general. Poyser, a pastor’s kid, got his start playing in church and took that experience and branched out. He is now a fixture on the hip-hop and rhythm and blues scene. “Everything is becoming homogenized,” he said. “Everything is starting to sound the same. Everybody has the same [computer music] programs and are using the same sounds. They all communicate with each other, and because of the internet, everything is readily available. Gospel music is just following the trend of popular music.”
Diversity of music worship
While recorded gospel music may be facing a challenge of diversity of sound, some pastors are embracing the entire continuum of the black music tradition to reach their congregations.
Todd Townsend has been pastoring at the Resurrection Center in Wilmington, Delaware, for nearly 20 years. The church will celebrate its 126th anniversary this year. Townsend has a doctorate in family therapy and doctorate of education in educational leadership, and a few years ago he added a gospel rap album to his résumé.
“I always loved music, all forms of music. Poetry has always been important to me, but I never really thought to put the two together,” he said.
One day his minister of music asked him to sing a song. Because he doesn’t really sing, he reluctantly agreed, if the minister of music would agree to coach him. He actually never sang that song, but it led him to do some writing and put some poetry to beats. His musicians liked what he came up with and invited him into the studio, and seven months later he had his first album and a whole new set of passions.
This passion has opened up new doors and has made his church relevant to a whole new generation of worshippers.
“We keep all variables available because every generation is relevant. From our oldest elder who wants the hymns like Precious Lord, we have that. We have cafes where we will have a jazz vibe. And then for the young people who have an appetite for hip-hop, we also have that,” he said. “Our responsibility as an institution is our loyalty to the gospel message. We create those options for people. It’s a lot of fun and innovative, but it’s also risky. I received some critical feedback from rapping. After the first album came out, I had people tell me, ‘You got 20 years of experience and faithful service. You’re a solid preacher. Why do you want to throw all that away?’
“I processed that and decided to weather the storm. As I continued on the road and grew as an artist and my material got better, they saw that I am still the same guy that I always was. The critics began to turn, and now they say don’t stop. As a matter of fact, they say, why don’t you come to my church.”
One message, many sounds
While the styles of gospel music have evolved over the years, the thing that truly distinguishes it from other genres is the message.
Regardless of the style of music, most everyone agrees that in order for it to truly be considered gospel music, the message has to be clear, consistent and Christ-centered.
As a musician and a pastor, Waller understands the power of the message in gospel music.
“Gospel music has always helped us to be prophetic, meaning to critique the present ideology, speak truth to power and, where power has no clue, offer a more imaginable social future — which is hope,” he said. “Whether it has beats to it or no beats, the essence of gospel music is the hope of the gospel of Jesus Christ.”
In some instances, commercial forces have conspired to compromise the message of gospel music. In an effort to gain a wider audience, some artists have decided not only to go for a more homogenized sound but also to water down the message, making it unclear whether the song is truly about God.
Ford has seen this phenomenon at work firsthand.
“The gospel music industry has changed in order to promote sales. Will the artist be willing to make changes for sales?” he asked. “In other words, I’m going to change you from your style and your message to the current thing that is selling. If you do that, then to me, you’re selling out. You’re changing for the consumer. If you’re going to be true to gospel music and what is being sung in church on Sunday morning, then that message can’t change. That’s why we have people today saying, ‘I’m a little confused. Is that gospel or is that something else?’ ”
Even with the right words, the true impact of the music may be lost if there is a disconnect between the words of the song and the life being lived by the artist.
“Many have departed from the true tenets of what gospel music is. Gospel is the good news. To live what the good news says has been something that in my estimation has become increasingly scarce,” said McAllister. “If those who are playing, singing and ministering the music don’t have the power that makes the music come alive, then you will have wonderful ear candy but no impact on a generation.”
Musicians: the salt and the light
Jazz and R&B saxophonist Kirk Whalum has spent most of his career playing secular music. He’s played and toured with the likes of Whitney Houston and Vandross, but like many black musicians in popular music, he grew up playing in the church. His son plays bass for Kelly Clarkson, and his nephew plays saxophone with many R&B and pop artists, including D’Angelo and Beyoncé.
Whalum estimates that up to 90 percent of the black musicians playing secular music today came out of the church, and for the younger generations of church musicians like his son and nephew, he offers some sage advice.
“I challenge some of these kids who come out of the church to serve God out in the mainstream industry, but kind of be stealth [about it],” he said. “You don’t have to come straight out and say that I’m a Christian. All you are really called to do is to live a life for Christ that draws people to the cross and at the very least to cause people to be curious about you and wonder what it is about you that makes you tick.”
McAllister has a cadre of supremely talented musicians in her employ at West Angeles who perform with the latest sensations of pop, R&B and hip-hop. She has set a high bar of expectation for her musicians and church musicians in general.
“Church musicians have an obligation when they go out into the world to be salt and light,” she said. “Salt does not become effective until it gets into an area of decay, and light does not become effective unless it goes into darkness. I have no problem with collaborations [with secular artists] as long as you can go in and change the environment and not allow the environment to change you.”
Rev. John Ray Jr., minister of worship and arts at Light of the World Christian Church in Indianapolis, sees a troubling trend with gospel music and musicians.
“Some black church music and musicians have forgotten that Christians are called to walk a tightrope,” he said. “We are walking the thin line between being in this world and not of it. God’s standards are not those of this world, but we are called to make it so. When we engage the world, we are to represent Christ and his way, not the other way around. This is true for music as well.”
Ray believes that this capitulation to the world by gospel music and musicians is exemplified in Snoop Dogg’s recent release, Bible of Love. “ It is emblematic of where we are when a secular rapper who firmly espouses the values of the world [both before and after the release of the record] can decide to record a gospel album and it becomes No. 1 on the gospel charts.”
Christian hip-hop or gospel rap?
Christian hip-hop or gospel rap has been around commercially since the early 1980s. As a subgenre, it has not received anywhere near the traction, acclaim or influence of traditional urban gospel music. One of the reasons is that hip-hop was not born of the church but owes its roots to the streets of the black inner city and as such is often associated with the negative aspects of those streets and neighborhoods.
Jamel “Jkeyz” Richardson, a songwriter and producer who is also a member of the music ministry at the Resurrection Center, says Christian hip-hop faces an uphill battle because of the inability of some churches and Christians to have an open mind.
“Because hip-hop has produced music and lyrics about death, drugs and destruction, it’s hard for some people to accept and hear good news coming from someone using the same music,” he said.
Richardson has worked with and produced many Christian hip-hop artists, including John Cook, Canton Jones, Iz-Real and S. Todd (Bishop Townsend). He believes that artists like these as well as artists like Lecrae, Andy Mineo and KB may be able to reach a generation for Christ more effectively than traditional gospel artists would.
Homecoming
  The Second Baptist Church of Washington, a historically black church that’s 160 years old, celebrates on the first Sunday after Barack Obama’s presidential election victory on Nov. 9, 2008. Choir members (from left) Mary Terrell, Grace Davis, Vernelle C. Hamit, Lena Bradley and Sharon Bradley belt out a tune during service.
The black church has had an extraordinary impact on American culture. So much of the music that the world has enjoyed over the past 75-plus years is a direct result of music and musicians who have come out of the church.
According to Ford, the world is reaping the benefits of the gifts of the black church.
“The church world doesn’t really realize how powerful they really are in terms of the arts [and culture],” he said. “When you talk about Bruno Mars, Jay-Z and so many others, I know their musical directors. They all come from the church. So whether we want to celebrate it or not, they are products of the church. And so the church has actually made the world successful because you have trusted what has come out of the church regardless of whether you agree with their philosophy or religion.”
Economic, social and technological factors have affected the way music is developed, marketed and consumed. Gospel music is not immune to those pressures, particularly in the gospel music industry. However, the black church as an institution has the power and the ability to profoundly affect the culture with the continuum of music and musicians that has given birth to going out into the world as “salt and light.”
Ford wants to make sure the music and musicians who go out into the world from the church find a way back home.
“Musicians and artists who start out in the church, they get their foundation. They get their chance to stand out, to perform, and then they go out and become ‘famous’ and financially secure,” he said. “For them to be able to complete the full circle, they need to be able to come back to the community and help the community. I feel in the church that should be the goal of what church musicians or church artists are doing. Whether or not everyone does it, that’s something different.”
A homecoming of sorts will help ensure that the pathway created between the church and the secular world continues to be a two-way street with most of the impact and change coming from the church.
What’s 🔥 Right Now
Waller recognizes the power of black music to do good and evil along that two-way street.
“There’s power in music. There’s power in the good news of Jesus Christ. There’s power in our type of music, meaning the tonalities that come out of the crash of African and European musicalities that is something that is very American, very special, very powerful, very appealing, and because of that we need to nurture it, use it to inspire.
“We need to recognize how powerful lyric is on top of that. When we get the right [or wrong] lyric on top of good music, it can inspire people to do good or do evil. [Much of the music of the world has a] lyric [that] lacks depth, insight and the prophetic, and so what we want to do is tie the two, because the right lyric with the right music will last forever.”
Andre Kimo Stone Guess is a writer and cultural critic from the Smoketown neighborhood in Louisville, Kentucky. He was VP and Producer for Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York and CEO of the August Wilson Center for African American Culture in Pittsburgh. He now runs GuessWorks, Inc. with his wife Cheryl.
By Andre Kimo Stone Guess
 
Right now, the 51st Annual Convention of the Gospel Music Workshop of America is being held in Atlanta. The hot topic? The state of gospel music. A cross section of people from the gospel community — including pastors, ministers of music, artists and church musicians — will try to get a sense of the impact of gospel music on today’s culture from three perspectives: the music, the message and the musicians.
Looking at the balance of tradition versus innovation in the styles of recorded gospel music and music performed in church has led them to ask whether the underlying message of gospel has changed, and what is the impact of that on the culture.
Tradition vs. innovation
There has been a historic tension in the black church between the music and the musicians who it birthed. At different points in time, musicians were ostracized from the church for playing new styles of music that were deemed inappropriate. Often, these musicians picked themselves up from the proverbial curb of the church from which they were just kicked and took those new styles into the secular world.
Over time, these innovations were eventually accepted and invited back into the church, creating a pathway between the church and the secular music world and popular culture.
Steven Ford, a Grammy, Dove and Stellar award-winning musician, composer, arranger and producer, has worked with a who’s who list of gospel artists and has contributed to nearly 100 recording projects. During his tenure in the gospel industry, he has seen constant change.
“Gospel music is ever-changing. It’s always evolving. What I heard 10 years ago is different in the church now, but it’s still called gospel music. You can’t put it in a box,” he said.
In the continuum of gospel music that starts with the Negro spiritual and goes through a lineage that includes Thomas Dorsey, Roberta Martin, James Cleveland, Andrae Crouch, Edwin Hawkins and Kirk Franklin, is there a tradition of sound that needs to be codified and preserved for future generations or should the innovation just be allowed to move forward without any regard for a tradition?
Grammy and Stellar award-winning producer and artist Donald Lawrence sees himself as a part of a proud tradition of an unbroken line of gospel musicians who came before him while also finding inspiration from outside of gospel.
“From traditional to contemporary, you still could hear elements [of a tradition]. From contemporary to urban, you still could hear elements of where it came from,” he said. “I was inspired by [Andrae] Crouch and [Edwin] Hawkins. Crouch was inspired by [James] Cleveland and Hawkins was inspired by The Caravans, and they were inspired by people before them. And also, Hawkins was inspired by pop writers, and the same with me. I was inspired my musical theater writers and [also] by Luther [Vandross]. But when you start going a little more like rock-driven, it kind of erases that.”
The rock-driven aspect of gospel music that Lawrence is referring to is not rock ’n’ roll per se. What he is speaking of is the underlying chord structure that is contained in much of today’s gospel, particularly music from the praise and worship movement. The harmonies come out of chords that are rock-based, as opposed to the traditional blues-infused gospel tradition.
Praise and worship movement
Judith McAllister is often referred to as “The First Lady of Praise and Worship.” She has served for more than 17 years as worship leader at the West Angeles Church of God in Christ in Los Angeles under the leadership of Bishop Charles E. Blake Sr. She is the church’s executive director of the music and worship department and in 2009 was appointed to the office of minister of music/president of the international music department.
Under the leadership of Blake, McAllister, along with Patrick Peterson, began the praise and worship movement at West Angeles in the late 1980s.
“At that time, we as African-Americans were not singing that type of music in our churches,” she said. “We were singing more of the spiritual and devotional songs and we needed to be ‘zapped’ by the spirit to dance, to lift our hands or to rejoice. But this [movement] was now more of an at-will or I will, as the Scripture says, kind of worship.”
The praise and worship movement has spread like wildfire throughout the black church over the past 30 years. One of the unintended consequences of the movement was a decline in traditional choirs in some churches in favor of smaller praise and worship teams.
Decline in choirs
Grammy, Dove and Stellar Award-winning composer, arranger and artist Richard Smallwood laments the decline of the traditional gospel choir in today’s gospel music. Smallwood sees the increase of smaller praise and worship teams as a more efficient and less cumbersome music ministry option for many churches.
“It’s easier to work with the smaller praise team configurations than it is to work with a choir, and much of the music that those type of ensembles are singing are a lot easier to teach and learn for the singers,” he said. “Working with a choir and teaching them the intricacies of the music is harder, but it is also more rewarding.”
Alyn E. Waller, senior pastor of the Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church in Philadelphia, is a trained musician who aspired to become a professional musician before heeding the call to ministry. The Stellar Award nominee regularly ministers through song with the Enon Tabernacle Mass Choir and as a soloist. He contrasts the music of a traditional gospel choir to that of smaller contemporary gospel groups of today.
“We’ve become almost monolithic in our expression musically,” Waller said. “Sometimes when you hear a traditional gospel choir from a black university come and do a concert where the first half is spirituals and the second half is contemporary gospel, you can hear how dumbed down the music has become, from four- or five-part harmonies to three or even a single line. The imagery that’s painted with the words is not as beautiful as it was, and the ties to Scripture [are not as strong]. There are some very famous songs now that are theologically horrendous.”
Innovation leads to imitation
Looking back over the past 30 years since the beginning of the praise and worship movement, McAllister senses another change coming in gospel music. “As it was then [in the late ’80s], so it is now. I think we have reached an impasse because everyone is doing the same thing,” she said. “I think there is coming a new sound, a new technique that everyone will now gravitate to. Everything is really starting to sound the same.”
Like McAllister and Waller, Lawrence also senses a similar stagnation in the music.
“To me, gospel music today has become a little monolithic; a lot of it is the same. This is the first time I have really seen this,” he said. “Gospel has always been about a diversity of brands or sounds. It’s never been one message, one sound. It was always one message with multiple sounds. Commerce has pushed a lot of the newer artists to be one message, one sound.”
This phenomenon isn’t unique to gospel music. James Poyser, a member of the hip-hop band The Roots, sees a similar trend in music in general. Poyser, a pastor’s kid, got his start playing in church and took that experience and branched out. He is now a fixture on the hip-hop and rhythm and blues scene. “Everything is becoming homogenized,” he said. “Everything is starting to sound the same. Everybody has the same [computer music] programs and are using the same sounds. They all communicate with each other, and because of the internet, everything is readily available. Gospel music is just following the trend of popular music.”
Diversity of music worship
While recorded gospel music may be facing a challenge of diversity of sound, some pastors are embracing the entire continuum of the black music tradition to reach their congregations.
Todd Townsend has been pastoring at the Resurrection Center in Wilmington, Delaware, for nearly 20 years. The church will celebrate its 126th anniversary this year. Townsend has a doctorate in family therapy and doctorate of education in educational leadership, and a few years ago he added a gospel rap album to his résumé.
“I always loved music, all forms of music. Poetry has always been important to me, but I never really thought to put the two together,” he said.
One day his minister of music asked him to sing a song. Because he doesn’t really sing, he reluctantly agreed, if the minister of music would agree to coach him. He actually never sang that song, but it led him to do some writing and put some poetry to beats. His musicians liked what he came up with and invited him into the studio, and seven months later he had his first album and a whole new set of passions.
This passion has opened up new doors and has made his church relevant to a whole new generation of worshippers.
“We keep all variables available because every generation is relevant. From our oldest elder who wants the hymns like Precious Lord, we have that. We have cafes where we will have a jazz vibe. And then for the young people who have an appetite for hip-hop, we also have that,” he said. “Our responsibility as an institution is our loyalty to the gospel message. We create those options for people. It’s a lot of fun and innovative, but it’s also risky. I received some critical feedback from rapping. After the first album came out, I had people tell me, ‘You got 20 years of experience and faithful service. You’re a solid preacher. Why do you want to throw all that away?’
“I processed that and decided to weather the storm. As I continued on the road and grew as an artist and my material got better, they saw that I am still the same guy that I always was. The critics began to turn, and now they say don’t stop. As a matter of fact, they say, why don’t you come to my church.”
One message, many sounds
While the styles of gospel music have evolved over the years, the thing that truly distinguishes it from other genres is the message.
Regardless of the style of music, most everyone agrees that in order for it to truly be considered gospel music, the message has to be clear, consistent and Christ-centered.
As a musician and a pastor, Waller understands the power of the message in gospel music.
“Gospel music has always helped us to be prophetic, meaning to critique the present ideology, speak truth to power and, where power has no clue, offer a more imaginable social future — which is hope,” he said. “Whether it has beats to it or no beats, the essence of gospel music is the hope of the gospel of Jesus Christ.”
In some instances, commercial forces have conspired to compromise the message of gospel music. In an effort to gain a wider audience, some artists have decided not only to go for a more homogenized sound but also to water down the message, making it unclear whether the song is truly about God.
Ford has seen this phenomenon at work firsthand.
“The gospel music industry has changed in order to promote sales. Will the artist be willing to make changes for sales?” he asked. “In other words, I’m going to change you from your style and your message to the current thing that is selling. If you do that, then to me, you’re selling out. You’re changing for the consumer. If you’re going to be true to gospel music and what is being sung in church on Sunday morning, then that message can’t change. That’s why we have people today saying, ‘I’m a little confused. Is that gospel or is that something else?’ ”
Even with the right words, the true impact of the music may be lost if there is a disconnect between the words of the song and the life being lived by the artist.
“Many have departed from the true tenets of what gospel music is. Gospel is the good news. To live what the good news says has been something that in my estimation has become increasingly scarce,” said McAllister. “If those who are playing, singing and ministering the music don’t have the power that makes the music come alive, then you will have wonderful ear candy but no impact on a generation.”
Musicians: the salt and the light
Jazz and R&B saxophonist Kirk Whalum has spent most of his career playing secular music. He’s played and toured with the likes of Whitney Houston and Vandross, but like many black musicians in popular music, he grew up playing in the church. His son plays bass for Kelly Clarkson, and his nephew plays saxophone with many R&B and pop artists, including D’Angelo and Beyoncé.
Whalum estimates that up to 90 percent of the black musicians playing secular music today came out of the church, and for the younger generations of church musicians like his son and nephew, he offers some sage advice.
“I challenge some of these kids who come out of the church to serve God out in the mainstream industry, but kind of be stealth [about it],” he said. “You don’t have to come straight out and say that I’m a Christian. All you are really called to do is to live a life for Christ that draws people to the cross and at the very least to cause people to be curious about you and wonder what it is about you that makes you tick.”
McAllister has a cadre of supremely talented musicians in her employ at West Angeles who perform with the latest sensations of pop, R&B and hip-hop. She has set a high bar of expectation for her musicians and church musicians in general.
“Church musicians have an obligation when they go out into the world to be salt and light,” she said. “Salt does not become effective until it gets into an area of decay, and light does not become effective unless it goes into darkness. I have no problem with collaborations [with secular artists] as long as you can go in and change the environment and not allow the environment to change you.”
Rev. John Ray Jr., minister of worship and arts at Light of the World Christian Church in Indianapolis, sees a troubling trend with gospel music and musicians.
“Some black church music and musicians have forgotten that Christians are called to walk a tightrope,” he said. “We are walking the thin line between being in this world and not of it. God’s standards are not those of this world, but we are called to make it so. When we engage the world, we are to represent Christ and his way, not the other way around. This is true for music as well.”
Ray believes that this capitulation to the world by gospel music and musicians is exemplified in Snoop Dogg’s recent release, Bible of Love. “ It is emblematic of where we are when a secular rapper who firmly espouses the values of the world [both before and after the release of the record] can decide to record a gospel album and it becomes No. 1 on the gospel charts.”
Christian hip-hop or gospel rap?
Christian hip-hop or gospel rap has been around commercially since the early 1980s. As a subgenre, it has not received anywhere near the traction, acclaim or influence of traditional urban gospel music. One of the reasons is that hip-hop was not born of the church but owes its roots to the streets of the black inner city and as such is often associated with the negative aspects of those streets and neighborhoods.
Jamel “Jkeyz” Richardson, a songwriter and producer who is also a member of the music ministry at the Resurrection Center, says Christian hip-hop faces an uphill battle because of the inability of some churches and Christians to have an open mind.
“Because hip-hop has produced music and lyrics about death, drugs and destruction, it’s hard for some people to accept and hear good news coming from someone using the same music,” he said.
Richardson has worked with and produced many Christian hip-hop artists, including John Cook, Canton Jones, Iz-Real and S. Todd (Bishop Townsend). He believes that artists like these as well as artists like Lecrae, Andy Mineo and KB may be able to reach a generation for Christ more effectively than traditional gospel artists would.
Homecoming
 
The Second Baptist Church of Washington, a historically black church that’s 160 years old, celebrates on the first Sunday after Barack Obama’s presidential election victory on Nov. 9, 2008. Choir members (from left) Mary Terrell, Grace Davis, Vernelle C. Hamit, Lena Bradley and Sharon Bradley belt out a tune during service.
The black church has had an extraordinary impact on American culture. So much of the music that the world has enjoyed over the past 75-plus years is a direct result of music and musicians who have come out of the church.
According to Ford, the world is reaping the benefits of the gifts of the black church.
“The church world doesn’t really realize how powerful they really are in terms of the arts [and culture],” he said. “When you talk about Bruno Mars, Jay-Z and so many others, I know their musical directors. They all come from the church. So whether we want to celebrate it or not, they are products of the church. And so the church has actually made the world successful because you have trusted what has come out of the church regardless of whether you agree with their philosophy or religion.”
Economic, social and technological factors have affected the way music is developed, marketed and consumed. Gospel music is not immune to those pressures, particularly in the gospel music industry. However, the black church as an institution has the power and the ability to profoundly affect the culture with the continuum of music and musicians that has given birth to going out into the world as “salt and light.”
Ford wants to make sure the music and musicians who go out into the world from the church find a way back home.
“Musicians and artists who start out in the church, they get their foundation. They get their chance to stand out, to perform, and then they go out and become ‘famous’ and financially secure,” he said. “For them to be able to complete the full circle, they need to be able to come back to the community and help the community. I feel in the church that should be the goal of what church musicians or church artists are doing. Whether or not everyone does it, that’s something different.”
A homecoming of sorts will help ensure that the pathway created between the church and the secular world continues to be a two-way street with most of the impact and change coming from the church.
What’s 🔥 Right Now
Waller recognizes the power of black music to do good and evil along that two-way street.
“There’s power in music. There’s power in the good news of Jesus Christ. There’s power in our type of music, meaning the tonalities that come out of the crash of African and European musicalities that is something that is very American, very special, very powerful, very appealing, and because of that we need to nurture it, use it to inspire.
“We need to recognize how powerful lyric is on top of that. When we get the right [or wrong] lyric on top of good music, it can inspire people to do good or do evil. [Much of the music of the world has a] lyric [that] lacks depth, insight and the prophetic, and so what we want to do is tie the two, because the right lyric with the right music will last forever.”
Andre Kimo Stone Guess is a writer and cultural critic from the Smoketown neighborhood in Louisville, Kentucky. He was VP and Producer for Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York and CEO of the August Wilson Center for African American Culture in Pittsburgh. He now runs GuessWorks, Inc. with his wife Cheryl.

]]> Sat, 21 Jul 2018 00:32:37 +0100 https://www.gospelengine.com/admin/blog/1603/god-is-our-present-help https://www.gospelengine.com/admin/blog/1603
God is our Present Help
  by Richard A. Cox, Jr , Author of "I, We, Us:  A Journey of Personal Growth and Development"

“God is our Refuge and Strength (mighty and impenetrable to temptation) a very present and well-proved help in trouble.”
(Psalm 46:1 Amp)
All of us have experienced a situation that made us feel boxed in. In those situations, we have prayed to God for help when time was running out for a resolution. At that moment when you cried out for God to divinely intervene, He stepped into your situation - in the nick of time - to rescue you. This increased your faith and trust in God because He cared enough to show up for you.
When we experience and witness God’s concern about our troubles, it strengthens our relationship with Him. God establishes a parent-child relationship with us; the parent is protective and concerned about the welfare of the child’s growth and development.
It is important for us to study the Bible and know the spiritual rights and promises God has made available to us as believers. Sometimes God creates storms or tests in our lives to focus our attention on Him. God can bless you so much that you slowly start to “slack up” spending quality time with Him in prayer and devotion.
When troubles arise, it makes you realize you cannot resolve these issues on your own. You need God to be your present help to provide: Comfort – “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7 KJV) Let God’s loving arms wrap around you in your time of distress.
Healing – “For I am the Lord who heals you.” (Exodus 15:26 KJV). That is a promise God has made - if the request is in accordance with His Will.
Deliverance – “And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorify me.” (Psalm 50:15 KJV) We should call upon the Lord and expect Him to act on our behalf.
Shelter – “He shall cover thee with feathers and under his wings shalt be thy shield and buckler.” (Psalm 91:4 KJV). With God on our side, we are protected and safe because no one can match His Power.
Victory – “This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.” (1 John 5:4 KJV) Our faith in God alerts Him to come to our rescue to give us the victory in our situation.
God hears our prayer and is immediately available to help us. We need to understand that God’s timing is not on our time schedule. After we request God’s help, He is going to use His timing and solution to resolve our issues as He see fit.
 
It is wonderful to know that God’s presence is an eternal presence. In Matthew 28:20 (KJV) it says, “teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” Also, in Isaiah 41:10 (KJV) it says “fear thou not, for I am with thee: but be not dismayed; for I am thy God; I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.”
God’s presence inspires assurance that we are never out of His sight for a moment. This is why God comes instantly to help and deliver us in times of distress. God also gives us an inner peace independent of our circumstances. It is the presence of the Holy Ghost, which makes it possible for us to choose not to be troubled or fearful.
We have concerns about our jobs or lack of a job, our health, our family, our money, or the future of this country. In Psalm 121:1-2 (KJV) it says, “I will lift my eyes unto the hills from whence cometh my help, my help cometh from the Lord who has made heaven and earth.” We must acknowledge God as our ultimate source for all our needs.
In this life we will have problems but the difference, as a Christian is that we are not alone dealing with the problem. As in John 16:33 it says, “in this world you will have trouble. But take heart. I have overcome the world.”
In times of trouble: Seek the Lord
Keep your lines of communication open between you and God.
Know that God is with you
In 2 Corinthians 4:8-9 (KJV) it says, “we are troubled on every side yet not distressed, we are perplexed but not in despair. Persecuted but not forsaken, cast down but not destroyed.” God does not bring evil on us but sometimes He places you in challenging situations for the cause of Christ. In other situations, it may be a matter of time before the Lord changes your circumstances.
God promised to make a way of “escape” in the midst of distress, enabling us to bear certain temptations or trials. In 1 Corinthians 10:13 (KJV) it says “there hath no temptation taken you but such as common to man, but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.” That way of escape is the presence and peace of God, which abides in us to give us victory in the midst of conflict – peace in the midst of turmoil. The presence of God in our lives enables us to bear certain hardships and difficulties. God will not allow you to endure an ordeal beyond your ability.
I want you to remember that God is with you always. He will provide the resources you need to lead your life. He will provide strength for you to face tomorrow; no matter what tomorrow brings.
 
]]> Mon, 02 Jul 2018 01:13:54 +0100 https://www.gospelengine.com/admin/blog/1602/celebrate-fathers https://www.gospelengine.com/admin/blog/1602
                                    Celebrate Fathers
   by Richard A. Cox, Jr.  the author "I, We, Us:  A Journey of Personal Growth and Development"

“A good father is one of the most unsung, unpraised, unnoticed, and yet one of the more valuable assets in our society.”  Billy Graham
      These days the concept of the family is under attack and the role of the father is made light of.  Show your support for fatherhood by loving, celebrating and honoring our fathers.  Father’s day for some is filled with mixed emotions. Some of you grew up with a father and others your father was absent from your household. I want you to focus this year on celebrating the goodness of fatherhood by not only honor fathers but all men who are fathers, father figures, stepfathers, uncles, grandfathers, and adult male friends.  However, remember the greatest father of them all is God the Father. 
      Did you know how Father’s day originated?  A woman name Sonora Smart Dodd from Spokane, Washington, thought of the idea for Father’s Day while listening to a Mother’s Day sermon in 1909.  Her father, Henry Jackson Smart, had raised Sonora after her mother died and she wanted him to know how special he was to her.  Her father was born in June, so she chose that month to celebrate fathers.  The first Father’s day was observed on June 19, 1910.  In 1924 President Calvin Coolidge supported the idea of a national Father’s Day.  Finally in 1966 President Lyndon Johnson signed a presidential proclamation declaring the 3rd Sunday of June as Father’s Day.
      Father’s day was established to celebrate the many contributions and sacrifices fathers make daily for the family.    For a Christian father it matters to him how he educates, and guides his children to Jesus Christ. He wants to be a faithful Christian role model for his family.   In Ephesians 6:4(AMP) it says, “Fathers, do not irritate and provoke your children to anger [do not exasperate them to resentment], but rear them [tenderly] in the training and discipline and the counsel and admonition of the Lord.” Christian fathers strive to raise their children in the training and admonition of the Lord.  God desires children to be nurtured by fathers who love Him.  That’s why we should celebrate Fathers for being a good provider for his family.   Remember this Father’s day, it’s not all about giving a gift to your father he might simply enjoy hearing you say, “I love you Daddy!” 
       In Ephesians 6:1-3(NIV) it says “Children obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.  Honor your Father and Mother (which is the first commandment with a promise), so that it may be well with you, and that you may livelong on the earth.”  This honor involves you showing love, respect and appreciation to God for the parents He has given to you.  Father’s Day is your opportunity to celebrate your father and father figures for their love, support, encouragement, guidance and protection.    
         Father’s day is where you stop and reflect on the fond memories of your father.  As a young child you might have said, “Daddy can do anything!””As a teenager you might have said, “Oh, that man! He’s hopelessly out of date.”  As a young adult you might remember saying “Why don’t we get Dad’s opinion before we do anything.”  Your father might have passed and you might have said, “I’d give anything if Dad were here so I could talk this over with him. “  Our cherished memories about our Fathers are the reason we take the time each year to celebrate him. 
                  Remember Christian fathers are those beacons of light faithfully serving in your homes, communities and churches. In Matthew 5:16 (KJV), it declares, “Let your light so shine before men , that they may see your good works and glorify your Father  which is in heaven.”  Christian fathers take every opportunity to encourage, to warn, to teach, to counsel, and to model the Christian life for you. Celebrate and thank God for blessing your father and special men who have a fathering spirit in your lives. Enjoy the quality time you get to spend with your father this year on his special day.
 
                                                                   What Makes A Dad
                                     God took the strength of a mountain, The majesty of a tree,
                                     The warmth of a summer sun, The calm of a quiet sea,
                                     The generous soul of nature, The comforting arm of night,
                                     The wisdom of the ages, The power of the eagle’s flight,
                                     The joy of a morning in spring, The faith of a mustard seed,
                                     The patience of eternity, The depth of a family need,
                           Then God combined these qualities, When there was nothing more to
                            add,      He knew His masterpiece was complete,
                                                  And so, He called it…Dad
                                                                     Author Unknown
 
]]> Sat, 09 Jun 2018 02:22:42 +0100 https://www.gospelengine.com/admin/blog/1601/global-war-on-christianity-intensifies https://www.gospelengine.com/admin/blog/1601
How long will I be allowed to remain a Christian?

By Douglas MacKinnon 







“How long will I be allowed to remain a Christian?”
That was the deeply dismaying question posed to me by a friend with four young children as we discussed the plight of the Christian faith in America and around the world.
With each passing month, that shocking question becomes more relevant and even more disturbing.
To say that Christians and Christianity are under a withering and brutal attack in certain areas of the world would be an understatement.
In various parts of the Middle East, there is a genocidal cleansing of Christians being carried out. Women, men, and their young children are being slaughtered because of their faith and world leaders and most of the media turn their backs in bored indifference.
Here in the United States, Christians and Christianity are mocked, belittled, smeared and attacked by some on a daily basis. This is a bigoted practice that is not only increasing exponentially, but is being encouraged and sanctioned by a number on the left.
Too many of those who worship at the altar of political correctness have deemed that Christianity should no longer be respected. Rather, they assail it on a regular basis in a coordinated campaign to weaken the faith and its base.
The prevailing view in much of the media is that Christianity is aligned with Republicans, conservatives, or the views of President Trump – and therefore must be diminished and made suspect.
The New Yorker just described the opening of a few Chick-fil-A restaurants in New York City as “Pervasive Christian traditionalism,” and a “Creepy infiltration of New York City.”
Christianity is an “infiltration” to some on the left.
In college, they now teach about the evils of “Christian Privilege.” On Broadway and in theaters around the world, mocking Christians has become a massively profitable money-making venture.
In name, on the crucifix, and in art, Jesus Christ is desecrated in the most twisted and obscene of ways. In movies, on television and online, Christians are portrayed in the most dishonest, prejudiced and insulting of ways.
Across the country, Christian colleges are under constant assault from “social justice warriors” seeking to strip their accreditation and put them out of business.
Christian groups on campus are at times being persecuted, their offices and handouts vandalized, with members even being physically assaulted.
In a nation that is still majority Christian, those who follow the faith have been litigated or brow-beaten into being fearful to utter the words “Merry Christmas,” or to display a Nativity scene celebrating the one and only reason there is a Christmas Day.
Want to stay true to your Christian faith in the most innocuous and giving of ways?
To do so is becoming more perilous by the minute, when you stop to ponder just a sampling of the negative consequences. For example:
A high school football coach is fired for taking a knee in prayer. A teacher is fired for giving a Bible to a student who requested it. A Marine is cursed at and then court-martialed for not removing a Bible verse from her computer. Another Bible verse posted by sailors in a military hospital is labeled “extremism.”
For me personally, I continue to be ridiculed for writing and speaking about a vision I had regarding the 40 days after the resurrection.
If you are a practicing Christian in the United States and open about it, you, your congregation and your organization will become a target of some sort. It is only a matter of time.
Ironically, in some very real and ominous ways, it’s as if we are being transported back to ancient Rome.
Will we soon have to meet with fellow Christians in secret? Will we have to whisper our beliefs from the shadows? Will those Christians with “traditional” beliefs lose their jobs and livelihoods if discovered?
As more and more of the mainstream media, entertainment, academia and the hi-tech world continue to purge or discriminate against Christians, what future job fields will be open to young Christians?
Will those Christian children eventually be forced to renounce or deny their faith in order to get a job and provide for their families?
As a Christian, I truly do have the deepest respect for every faith. The vast majority of people of every faith are beyond good and do seek to follow the golden rule: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
Why do so many on the left, in the media, entertainment and academia not practice that most simple, loving and humane of rules when it comes to the Christian faith?


Douglas MacKinnon is a former White House and Pentagon official








]]> Sat, 21 Apr 2018 12:47:13 +0100 https://www.gospelengine.com/admin/blog/1600/china-bans-bible-sales-removes-crosses-from-churches https://www.gospelengine.com/admin/blog/1600
Communist China Bans Online Bible Sales -- Crosses Removed From Churches









By Michael W. Chapman | April 6, 2018 | 4:49 PM EDT



































Chinese Christians kiss the

new Bibles they received

from a foreign distributor.

(YouTube)



The Communist Chinese government banned the sale of Bibles online this week and released a new document dictating its "Policies and Practices on Protecting Freedom of Religious Belief ." 
By Thursday, April 5, "internet searches for the Bible came up empty on leading online Chinese retailers, such as JD.com, Taobao, and Amazon," reported the New York Times . 
Christianity is the only religion in China, according to The Times , in which its primary holy book, the Bible, is banned online. Books from other religions such as Buddhism, Taoism, and Islam are available. The Quran is not banned online.
People can buy the Bible at bookstores in China. According to the government's new document on religious freedom, "China has printed over 160 million copies of the Bible in more than 100 different languages for over 100 countries and regions...."


Chinese Christian reading his first Bible, provided by a private distributor in China. (YouTube)



The restriction of online sales "clearly shows that they [Chinese government] worry or are concerned about Catholics as well as Protestants," Prof. Yang Fenggang, head of the Center on Religion and Chinese Society at Purdue University, told The Times . 
The newspaper further reported that the Communist government in China continues to remove crosses from Christian churches and that in 2014-16, "more than 1,500 crosses were removed from churches in one Chinese province with close ties" to President Xi Jinping.
In addition, Christians in some parts of China are ordered to replace pictures of Jesus with those of President Xi, if they want to receive government assistance. 
In its document on "Protecting Freedom of Religious Belief," the Chinese government states that it “manages religious affairs in accordance with the law” and “actively guides religions to adapt to the socialist society….”


Communist China's president, Xi

Jinping, is often compared to

dictator Mao Zedong. (YouTube)



"The state treats all religions fairly and equally, and does not exercise administrative power to encourage or ban any religion," claims the document. "No religion is given preferential treatment above other religions to enjoy special legal privileges."
China is ranked among the Top 50 countries in the world for persecution of Christians , according to the World Watch List. 
According to Freedom House, " controls over religion in China have increased since 2012, seeping into new areas of daily life and triggering growing resistance from believers."
“As the larger of the two main Christian denominations in China, Protestants have been particularly affected by cross-removal and church-demolition campaigns, punishment of state-sanctioned leaders, and the arrest of human rights lawyers who take up Christians’ cases," said Freedom House in its report, The Battle for China's Spirit: Religious Revival, Repression, and Resistance under Xi Jinping .
Since the Communists seized power in China in 1949, at least 65 million people have been killed for political/class and even religious reasons. Most of the perpetrators of those crimes -- government officials implementing government policies -- have not been held accountable for their atrocities. 














]]> Tue, 10 Apr 2018 02:47:47 +0100 https://www.gospelengine.com/admin/blog/1598/we-are-blessed https://www.gospelengine.com/admin/blog/1598
                     We Are Blessed        
   by Richard A. Cox, author of the book I, We, Us: A Journey of Personal Growth and Development

“A faithful man will abound with blessings.” Proverbs 28:20(KJV)       
 
It is so reassuring to know as a Christian that despite the condition of the economy, the war going on in Iraq or violence in the streets, we are still blessed.   We are blessed because we recognize God’s favor in our lives.   We are children of the Kings of kings and Lord of lords, the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, and what was and what will be the everlasting God.  Our birthright by being adopted into the body of Christ gives us the legal right and authority to inherit good health, wealth and a purposeful destiny. 
 
You can read in Matthews 5:3-11 to see where Jesus preached on the mountain about blessed people.  Jesus made statements about taking an inventory of the characteristics of blessed people.  He described blessed people as the poor in spirit, they that mourn, the meek, they which do hunger and thirst after righteous, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, and they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake. These statements of blessings underline the difference between our human values and God’s values. 
 
Jesus continued his sermon in Matthews 5:13-16(KJV) as “ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savor, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thence good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.  Ye are the light of the world.  A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”   Jesus spoke these verses to encourage believers of their importance on earth to be as salt and light that must savor and illuminate His ways.  These are true blessings of Christian dedication and promises that Jesus makes to us. 
 
We must understand and realize that God’s blessings are working in full power and strength even at those times when life is extremely painful.  God wants our faith to mature to understand that He uses everything that happens in our lives to move us toward fulfilling our destiny.  In Romans 8:28(KJV) it says, “ all things work together for good to them that love God, to them that are called according to His purpose.”
 
There are so many circumstances especially in third world nations where they do not have their basics needs met. We are blessed to have food in the refrigerator, clothes on our back, a roof over our head and a place to sleep.  Just think if you have money in the bank, in you wallets or purse and spare change you are blessed.  If your parents are still alive and still married you are blessed.  If you woke up this morning with good health you are blessed because someone did not wake up to see another day.
 
It is important for us to take the time to reflect daily upon the blessings of God in our lives.   Reflecting on our blessings will help us to learn to be content as Paul says in Philippians 4:11(AMP).  It says “not that I am implying that I was in any personal want, for I have learned how to be content (satisfied to the point where I am not disturbed or disquieted) in whatever state I am.”   We have earthly blessings with food, clothing and shelter, but we also have spiritual blessings.  In Ephesians 1:3 (AMP) it says, “may blessing (praise, laudation, and eulogy) be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah) who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual (given by the Holy Spirit) blessing in the heavenly realm.”  We are blessed with so many spiritual blessings.  Here is a list of a few:
 
Protection. We can rely upon God’s protection in our daily lives. In Isaiah 54:17(KJV) it declares” no weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD.”


 
 
Patience. As we mature spiritually we learn to develop patience and strength while waiting for God to answer. You will find in Isaiah 40:31(KJV) the words,
” but they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”
 
Favor. The favor of God rests upon each believer.  In 2 Corinthians 9:8 (KJV) you find the statement, “and God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work.” 


 
Power. As a believer God has given us The Comforter, The Holy Ghost to be a tool to administer God’s power on earth.  In Ephesians 3:20(KJV) it says,” now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.”


 
 
Peace. God has given believers an inner peace to remain calm in the midst of the storms of life.  In Philippians 4:7 (KJV) it declares, “and the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”


 
Provision. God continuously makes ways our no ways on behalf of the believers. In Philippians 4:19(KJV) it states, “but my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”


 
It is just a blessing to realize we are a blessed people.  God is on our side. As God’s children we are assured of blessings and His protection. We do not have time to compare blessings or ourselves with people.  God has a designer blessing just for you.  The blessing only fits you.  
 
God has raised us up as he saw fit, equipped us as he saw fit.  Then He put us in a place and time to accomplish his purpose in our generation.   We need to do what we can for the body of Christ using our blessings of talents, treasures and time to accomplish a work for the Lord. 
]]> Mon, 05 Mar 2018 01:46:39 +0000 https://www.gospelengine.com/admin/blog/1597/67-people-shot-to-death-in-chicago-and-climbing https://www.gospelengine.com/admin/blog/1597
In Chicago, 67 people have been shot and killed from January 1 through February 20, 2018 and climbing.

Source: Shooting victims are tracked by the Chicago Tribune Breaking News desk
@chitribgraphics
This is nearly 1 person every day in Chicago is gun-downed.
Here is what the NRA Spokeswoman (Dana Loesch) recently had to say about this national tragedy on February 22, 2018:
"Many in legacy media love mass shootings – you guys love it," Loesch said Thursday after taking the stage for the annual conservative conference. "Now, I'm not saying that you love the tragedy. But I am saying that you love the ratings. Crying white mothers are ratings gold to you and many in the legacy media in the back (of the room)."
"And notice I said 'crying white mothers' because there are thousands of grieving black mothers in Chicago every weekend, and you don't see town halls for them, do you?" Loesch continued. 

Why are there no mass protests, marches, lie-ins, town-halls being held in Chicago? Where are the pastors? Where is the Church? How could 67 people be shot down in an American city, and this is not on the news each and every day and solutions being sought to end the blood-shed.  NRA raises an interesting point that every person in America, who has a conscience, should consider. Where is the outrage? Why is no one talking about Chicago?]]> Sun, 25 Feb 2018 04:26:30 +0000 https://www.gospelengine.com/admin/blog/1595/just-as-i-am-was-billy-grahams-signature-hymn https://www.gospelengine.com/admin/blog/1595

For evangelist Billy Graham, it all came down to the “invitation,” the climactic point at the end of his crusades when he invited people to leave their seats and “make a decision for Christ.”
And it wouldn’t be a Billy Graham invitation without “Just As I Am,” the slow-moving, soul-moving hymn that accompanied millions down the aisle and became Graham’s signature anthem and title of his 1997 autobiography.
“Just as I am, without one plea, but that thy blood was shed for me,”  the hymn’s familiar first verse goes.  “And that thou bidd’st me come to thee, O Lamb of God, I come, I come.”
But “Just As I Am” was more than a favorite Graham hymn. It became — almost more than any other hymn — a sort of national anthem for evangelical Christians, a musical creed that laid out in simple terms the life-changing spiritual transaction between the sinner and the Redeemer.
“We always began with ‘Just As I Am’ because Billy felt it was the most effective invitation hymn, inviting people to make a commitment to Christ,” Cliff Barrows, Graham’s longtime musical director, said in a 2005 interview.
The hymn was written in 1835 by a British woman, Charlotte Elliott (1789-1871), who had convinced herself that her physical disabilities left her nothing to offer God at midlife.
As one version of the story goes, Elliott was struck by the words of a minister who asked whether she had truly given her heart to Christ. The question at first bothered Elliot, and after some days she told the minister that she wanted to serve God but didn’t know how. He replied, “Just come to him as you are.”
K
Kevin Eckstrom | Religion News Service

]]> Fri, 23 Feb 2018 12:30:35 +0000 https://www.gospelengine.com/admin/blog/1591/1-radio-advertising https://www.gospelengine.com/admin/blog/1591 Wed, 14 Feb 2018 16:01:26 +0000 https://www.gospelengine.com/admin/blog/1590/steve-hilton-silicon-valleys-surveillance-capitalism-has-resulted-in-big-tech-killing-off-human-privacy https://www.gospelengine.com/admin/blog/1590
Steve Hilton: Silicon Valley’s surveillance capitalism has resulted in Big Tech killing off human privacy
By Steve Hilton | Fox News
The case against Big Tech seems to be building by the week. And interestingly, some of the most powerful evidence is being provided by those who really know what they’re talking about: tech insiders.
Full disclosure: I am a tech insider myself. I run a tech company in Silicon Valley. My wife is a senior executive at Facebook and many of our closest friends have senior roles in companies like Google.
If you suspect Bitcoin is going to crash, I just want you to know, you're right. Here is the truth about Bitcoin that no one else will tell you.
Chamath Palihapitiya, a former Facebook executive responsible for growing the social network’s user base, recently argued that Silicon Valley had “created tools that are ripping apart the social fabric of how society works.”
Palihapitiya lamented Big Tech’s role in our democratic debates: “No civil discourse, no cooperation; misinformation, mistruth. And it’s not an American problem – this is not about Russian ads. This is a global problem.”
He cited the role of mobile messaging service WhatsApp (owned by Facebook) in the killings of seven innocent men in India after hoax messages about strangers abducting children were shared.
“That’s what we’re dealing with,” Palihapitiya said. “And imagine taking that to the extreme, where bad actors can now manipulate large swathes of people to do anything you want. It’s just a really, really bad state of affairs.” He said he tries to use Facebook as little as possible, and that his children “aren’t allowed to use that s---.”
His comments are in line with another huge figure in tech, early Facebook investor Sean Parker, who blasted the addictive properties of Silicon Valley’s technology: “God only knows what it’s doing to our children’s brains.”
Parker argued that Facebook “literally changes your relationship with society” and “probably interferes with productivity in weird ways.”
Parker said that because the whole point of Facebook is to keep people using it. He said “the thought process … was all about: ‘How do we consume as much of your time and conscious attention as possible?’” That’s why the inventors of tech services like Facebook give their users “a little dopamine hit every once in a while,” for example through ‘likes’ and comments: “It’s a social-validation feedback loop ... exactly the kind of thing that a hacker like myself would come up with, because you’re exploiting a vulnerability in human psychology.”
Parker went on to say that the men who designed and built these social media platforms, like Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and Instagram’s Kevin Systrom, “understood consciously” what they were doing. “And we did it anyway.”
Many commentators have made the comparison between these insider admission and the moment when the tobacco companies finally admitted that their products kill people. No one has suggested that technology actually kills people by design. But in other ways, the case against Big Tech is even more damning than the case against Big Tobacco, simply because Big Tech is so much more powerful and plays so much greater a role in our modern world.
The tech companies love the fact that they have risen to the apex of the business pile. Facebook, Google, Amazon, Apple and Microsoft top the list of the world’s most valuable corporations.
The companies love to boast in high-minded terms about how their mission is not something as mundane as making money. No, they are all about “changing the world,” as Apple CEO Tim Cook recently claimed. Well, with all that wealth and power comes influence. And increasingly, despite our Silicon Valley overlords’ self-regarding and cloyingly sanctimonious smugness, it’s not for the good.
Let’s look at the charge sheet. It goes well beyond the “addiction admissions” of whistleblowing insiders like Sean Parker and Chamath Palihapitiya.
Because the business model of many of these tech firms relies on selling ads, their relentless focus is on gathering data on their users – that would be you – to enable advertisers to better target their messages.
With a phone in everyone’s pocket, these companies can now literally track your every move. And the creepiness seems to get worse by the day. Only this week we heard that clothing company L.L. Bean said it is planning to install sensors into some of its boots and coats to track how they’re used.
This intense data-gathering of your most intimate decisions – where you go, who you talk to, what you like or don’t like – is only going to get worse. With new “home assistants” like Amazon’s Alexa and Google Home, Big Tech is now right at the heart of family life.
Children are growing up talking to Alexa as if “she” is a member of the family. Silicon Valley is actively exploring computer chips that would be inserted into people’s brains, so that artificial intelligence software can be “merged” with human thought.
Who owns all this data and what will happen to it? Quite apart from the sheer creepiness of tech companies wanting to invade your brain, we know from recent experience that literally everything can be hacked – whether by criminals or foreign governments like China that hacked our own government and stole millions of Americans’ most personal data.
Silicon Valley’s surveillance capitalism has killed off human privacy. Did anyone ask them to do that? They say people want the convenience of data-enabled services – but for most people, there’s no alternative. If everyone else is on Facebook you have to be there too, and you can only do that if you tick the box that signs away your privacy forever.
Artificial intelligence, of course, is not just about invading your privacy: it’s assaulting our economy too. Studies predict that huge swaths of jobs will be destroyed by Big Tech as it advances into new areas of economic activity and automates jobs from truck driving to accounting.
Silicon Valley’s only response to the economic devastation it’s about to unleash on American workers is to push forward the idea of a “Universal Basic Income” – a government wage regardless of whether you work.
Translation: “We, your tech overlords will be doing all the interesting work. Sadly, there won’t be any jobs left for you serfs – but don’t worry, we’ll makes sure the government gives you some money so you can sit around all day and make the most of your newfound leisure time. Enjoy, little people!”
Big Tech’s baleful economic impact extends to another disastrous feature of our modern economy: a stifling of competition. This has contributed to the lowest level of start-ups in decades, and the wage stagnation that has hurt American workers so badly.
When sector after sector in our economy ends up being dominated by a handful of giant corporations, workers lose their bargaining power. This trend is made worse by the growing dominance of the tech companies that are not only dominating their own markets – whether that’s in media, through ad sales, or book retailing – but in fundamental aspects of business life. Just try starting a business these days without using Google, Facebook or Amazon products.
The one marketplace that Silicon Valley has not yet managed to dominate, however, is China. But it’s not for want of trying. Companies like Apple and Google are desperately sucking up to the brutal authoritarian communist regime in China in order to gain access to the vast market.
But in the process, our own leading companies are aiding and abetting China’s plan for world domination by handing over technology – like artificial intelligence – that China will use against us.
And finally let’s not forget the role of Silicon Valley in shaping our culture and the way we think. Sometimes you see it in pernicious side effects of automated systems for getting users to consume content.
We saw this this week with the Wall Street Journal’s expose of YouTube’s role in pushing its users towards extreme videos and conspiracy theories. But frankly, we can also see this in the manifestation of the liberal bias that pervades Silicon Valley and the tech industry.
We will reveal shocking new evidence of Big Tech’s anti-conservative and even anti-religious bias on “The Next Revolution” this Sunday as we put Big Tech on Trial. Hope you can join us at 9 p.m. EST on Fox News Channel!
Source: (c) FoxNews.com -- http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2018/02/10/steve-hilton-silicon-valley-s-surveillance-capitalism-has-resulted-in-big-tech-killing-off-human-privacy.html
]]> Mon, 12 Feb 2018 02:08:37 +0000 https://www.gospelengine.com/admin/blog/1588/in-china-church-state-war-on-christianity-of-biblical-proportions https://www.gospelengine.com/admin/blog/1588


In China, a church-state showdown of biblical proportions







Christianity is booming in China, propelling it toward becoming the world's largest Christian nation. But as religion grows, it spurs a government crackdown. 




By Robert Marquand , Staff writer  











Didi Tang/AP




















HANGZHOU, CHINA — There’s nothing secret about Chongyi Church, one of the largest in China . Its lighted steeple and giant cross penetrate the night sky of Hangzhou , the capital of coastal Zhejiang Province . Nearly everything at the church is conspicuously open: the front gate, the front door, the sanctuary, the people, the clergy. Chinese or not, you are welcome seven days a week. No layers of security guards or police exist. Walk right in. Join up. People are nice; they give you water, chat. Do you have spiritual needs? Visit their offices, 9 to 5.
For China, it is a stunning feeling. Most of the society exists behind closed doors and is tough, driven, material, hierarchical. The country values wealth, power, and secrecy – not to mention that both government and schools officially, at least, promote atheism.
Yet Chongyi looks and feels like any evangelical megachurch in Seattle or San Jose. There are big screens, speakers blaring upbeat music, coffee bars. The choir is a huge swaying wash of white and red robes. Chongyi seats 5,000 people and holds multiple services on Sunday. 
“Some Sundays we are full,” says Zhou Lianmei, the pastor’s wife. “We also have 1,600 volunteers.”














While Christianity is waning in many parts of the world, in China it is growing rapidly – despite state strictures. The rise in evangelical Protestantism in particular, driven both by people’s spiritual yearnings and individual human needs in a collective society, is taking place in nearly every part of the nation.







Western visitors used to seeing empty sanctuaries in the United States or Europe can be dumbfounded by the Sunday gatherings held in convention center-size buildings where people line up for blocks to get in – one service after another. In Wenzhou, not far from Hangzhou, an estimated 1.2 million Protestants now exist in a city of 9 million people alone. (It is called “China’s Jerusalem.”) By one estimate, China will become the world’s largest Christian nation, at its current rate of growth, by 2030.
Indeed, an acute problem facing urban churches in China is a lack of space. Chongyi Church is building a million-dollar underground parking lot to replace one that worshipers under age 30 have taken over as a meeting place.
“I come because I found a love here that isn’t dependent on a person,” says Du Wang, a young businesswoman in Hangzhou. “It is like a river that doesn’t go away.”
Yet there is also trouble brewing for China’s faithful. As evangelical Christianity grows sharply, officials fear it could undermine their authority. Already, Christians may outnumber members of the Communist Party. That has far-reaching implications both for Chinese society and for a party that frowns on unofficial gatherings and other viewpoints. In China, party members cannot be Christian.
More than half of China’s Protestants attend illegal “house churches” that meet privately. The rest go to one of China’s official, registered Protestant churches, such as Chongyi. The official or legal churches, known since 1949 as the “Three-Self Patriotic Church,” operate under an arrangement that says in effect: We are patriotic, good citizens. We love China. We aren’t dissidents. We go to official theology schools. So the party will let us worship freely. 
And – until recently – it has.
Yet in the past year authorities have attacked and even destroyed official Protestant churches, as well as unofficial ones. Many Evangelicals feel they are now on the front lines of an invisible battle over faith in the world’s most populous nation, and facing a campaign by the party-state to delegitimize them. Underneath it all is a question: Will China become a new fount of Christianity in the world, or the site of a growing clash between the party and the pulpit?
“There’s an enormous struggle across China brought by the rise of worshipers that seem to really believe,” says Terence Halliday, a director of the Center for Law and Globalization in Chicago who has worked in China. “Christianity now makes up the largest single civil society grouping in China. The party sees that.”
•     •     • 
When China opened and rejoined the world in 1979, US President Jimmy Carter asked China’s Deng Xiaoping for three “favors.” Mr. Carter asked that churches shut during the brutal Cultural Revolution be reopened. He asked that the printing of Bibles resume. And he asked that missionaries be allowed back into China. Mr. Deng accepted the first two requests, for open churches and Bibles. But he rejected the one for missionaries.
Thus began a slow restoration process harking back more than a century. The first Protestant church in China was built in 1848 in Xiamen, known then as the Port of Amoy. By the 20th century, American and British missionaries saw China as a rich field. Every city of importance had a church. Missionaries founded China’s first 16 colleges, and they spurred the first reforms for female emancipation.
But after Mao Zedong’s victory in 1949, authorities chased out the missionaries. During the Cultural Revolution from 1966 to 1972, officials closed and trashed churches as China turned violently inward. Mao partly justified the violence as necessary to bring China into the 20th century. But much of it was used to kill off his enemies, real or imagined, including the faithful.
The era produced “the most thorough destruction” of religion possibly in “human history,” write scholars David Palmer and Vincent Goossaert. Authorities threw Christians in prison. They burned Bibles and executed believers to make an example.
Philip Wickeri, a leading Anglican in Hong Kong, shows visitors two Bibles that illustrate how far things went in the 1960s, and how much they have changed since. One is a small plain New Testament made of mimeographed sheets embossed with hand-written Chinese characters. It is a Cultural Revolution-era “samizdat” Bible, painstakingly produced. Different church cells memorized parts of the Gospels, copied them, and then combined them to form a single New Testament. The shadowy venture lasted several years, during which 150 Bibles were made.
Mr. Wickeri’s second Bible is gilt-edged and nestled in a rich box of bamboo. It is dated 2012 and was produced by the Amity Printing Company in Nanjing. It was part of a run that included the 100 millionth Bible published in China since the opening in the early 1980s.
•     •     • 
For decades, Christianity here was considered something for older female peasants. But the demographics of religion are changing dramatically. China’s new faithful are younger, more educated, more urban, and more affluent.
One surprising change is that a majority of believers no longer view Christianity as something foreign. They increasingly view faith as transcending its Western missionary-derived system. Many Chinese no longer accept the idea that being Christian means forfeiting a Chinese identity.
Last summer, China’s religious affairs chief said that 500,000 Christians are baptized each year in the country. A joint study between Baylor University in Waco, Texas, and Peking University in Beijing estimated that there are now 70 million Christians over age 16 in China. Communist Party membership is about 83 million.
Even so, no precise numbers exist for the total number of worshipers. Chinese government statistics put the rise in Protestants in the official churches at 800,000 in 1979, 3 million in 1982, 10 million in 1995, and 15 million in 1999. There the accounting stops.
Carsten Vala, an expert on religion in China at Loyola University Maryland in Baltimore, says 40 million to 60 million is “the low end of a conservative” estimate of the number of Evangelicals. Fenggang Yang, director of the Center on Religion and Chinese Society at Purdue University in Indiana, says he thinks there are more than 80 million Christians and that China will have 245 million by 2030 if growth is steady – making it the world’s most populous Protestant nation.
In some ways this surge seems counterintuitive. Being a Christian in a country that sees worship as odd or superstitious does nothing to boost one’s status. “There is absolutely no social advantage to being a Christian in China,” says Bob Fu, a pastor who escaped a Chinese police crackdown in the 1990s and now runs Texas-based ChinaAid, which monitors Christian rights in the country. “There are no cookies, no status, no outward rewards, no privileges in choosing Christianity.”
Yet as Chinese achieve material wealth and success, many feel lost. The success of economic reforms under Chinese leader Deng, launched in the early 1990s, has not helped rebuild China’s spiritual infrastructure, decimated during war and the Cultural Revolution. China’s rise has come with a cost: a loss of traditional values and the rise of cheating, corruption, and fierce competition. As Orville Schell, the Arthur Ross Director of the Center on US-China Relations at the Asia Society in New York, points out, there are 150 billionaires in China but little certainty.
“Everyone is groping and grasping,” he says. “People are turning to Buddhism, Christianity, self-help, and Taoism. CEOs and billionaires run around with their spiritual masters and visit meditation rooms.”
In dozens of interviews with believers in official and house churches, the word they use most for why they turn to church is “love.” “Chinese have a yearning heart, that is really the reason,” says one woman who goes to the Zion house church in Beijing, which has more than 10,000 attendees and whose pastor is Korean. “We need love, and in some ways it is that simple.”
One Chinese intellectual and former newspaper editor agrees that China has become sated and corrupt. But he doesn’t agree there is a significant turn toward spiritual matters.
“We are too comfortable and willing ... to say ‘yes’ to anything,” says Li Datong. “I wish there was more spiritual hunger.” 
Yet Chinese parents complain of a society that teaches math and science in schools but does little to address conduct or character. The case of Little Yueyue is a symbol of the moral void. The 2-year-old girl was hit by a van in Guangdong a few years ago. The driver didn’t stop. The girl was thrown to the side of the road, and 17 people walked past before an itinerant migrant stopped to help. The event was captured on a video that went viral and spurred some national soul-searching.
Experts say the Chinese have a practical nature, and if they adopt the evangelical message, especially after years of required wrestling with Marxist thinking, they usually don’t take it lightly. Many work hard at it.
“Chinese Christians know the Bible better than some Southern Baptists,” says Wickeri in Hong Kong. “That’s not a small thing.”
Typical is the pastor Han Yufang at Chongwenmen Church in Beijing. Ms. Han is one of many women now being ordained in official churches. But for years her father forbade her to look into Christianity. She did anyway, studying it for seven years, the final two praying for most of each night. One evening she was on her knees by the bed and prayed to God, “Father, not my will but thine be done.” She says she felt a clear urge to study at a divinity school.
Another woman, a mother in her 40s, first went to church with friends. She says she felt nothing but kept going to be part of the group. She dabbled. She tried Buddhism, but, “for all the quiet, I never really found peace.” During one service the concept of “forgiveness came from nowhere and washed and melted me in a way I can’t describe,” she says. At the time she was “always fighting” with her husband. After the experience, the tension stopped. He also started attending church services with her, as did their son, who finds Bible stories “compelling.” 
For the most part, Protestants try to keep the altruistic activities they do in society quiet and low-key. China officially recognizes five faiths – Islam, Catholicism, Protestantism, Buddhism, and Taoism. But only Buddhism and Protestantism are experiencing lively growth. Evangelicals do not want to draw attention to themselves and perform most of their good works without publicity. 
Yet in cases such as the Sichuan earthquake in 2008, which killed 70,000 people, churches sent groups to help on the ground. By some estimates, as many as half the volunteers were evangelical.
Some Christians are trying to improve business practices and fight corruption as well. One business group asks members to pledge a “Ten Commandments” of good behavior that includes no bribing, no taking mistresses, no avoiding taxes, and no mistreating employees. Zhao Xiao, a researcher at the University of Science and Technology in Beijing, tells of a Christian in Harbin who lost $8 million his first year applying the principles but is now a leader in his industry. 
•     •     •
One January morning last year in Hangzhou, Chinese officials showed up unexpectedly at the Gulou Church. It is a massive gray-stone edifice across the famed West Lake from the Chongyi Church. The Gulou clergy was informed that the cross on their edifice was scheduled to come down.
Church leaders were stunned. It was the first they’d heard of any plan to remove the cross. Then for much of the spring, they and other Christians in China heard of little else, as both official and unofficial churches were raided, destroyed, or dismantled in a campaign that has lasted more than a year. 
Gulou itself was established by Presbyterian missionaries in the 1880s. The cross atop the steeple was enormous, a fixture next to a well-known highway overpass. It is dear to members as a symbol of their faith, says a pastor who declined to be named. For months, Gulou’s leaders delayed the removal of the cross. Meanwhile, authorities attacked churches and, as of this writing, have stripped or desecrated more than 426 of them, including knocking one down while President Obama was visiting Beijing last fall. In many cases, tearful worshipers surrounded the churches and scuffled with police. Zhejiang itself has become ground zero in China’s growing clash between church and state.
On Aug. 7 at 5 p.m., authorities returned to Gulou. They summoned the head pastor and said that at 10 p.m. the cross would be removed by crane. Word got out (the pastor only told one person since he could otherwise be jailed for calling an unofficial gathering). The church was surrounded by worshipers praying and chanting “cross, cross, cross.”
“We felt helpless,” a junior pastor says. “We told them how important this cross is, but they didn’t listen.”
“They can take the cross from our church,” he adds, “but they can’t take it from our hearts.”
Crackdowns on Christians are nothing new in China. What is different is how broad and systematic the suppression has been and how the state, for the first time, is attacking official churches. To be sure, it was clear by summer that Chinese President Xi Jinping was conducting a harsh roll-up of civil society in general – artists, lawyers, scholars, as well as Christians – as part of a new emphasis on orthodox party thinking and rules. 
“The party isn’t satisfied with just keeping people behind a great firewall,” says one lawyer. “They actually want to indoctrinate.”
So far, the cross on Chongyi Church remains intact. But Evangelicals here who thought they were adhering to the proper political decorum are not happy. “People are angry and feeling betrayed,” says a local volunteer who did not want to be named for fear of retribution. “If I were the government I would not do this.” 
Why authorities would alienate believers who think of themselves as loyal Chinese is unclear. Many local Christians first thought it was a mistake or something engineered by local authorities in Zhejiang Province. Officials said large crosses near highways were a driving hazard.
But as more churches lost their crosses, many far from highways, and other official churches were bulldozed, feelings changed. One church quietly offered to pay a series of fines, thinking the attacks were about money. “We were fooled at first,” says one local pastor. “Then we discovered they didn’t care about fines. They went after our crosses and gave the impression they enjoyed it.” The aim was to humiliate and shame, he says. 
In recent years, Evangelicals in east China were “doing well,” the pastor continues. “But that is now changing. We are going backwards now. Everything is changing with the new leadership in Beijing. We know what is happening. We are not visitors here.”
Zan Aizong, a local journalist who became an Evangelical, says the government is trying to clamp down on churches and faith without causing a global outcry. Officials “use the legal system,” he says. “They go after crosses and building codes because it will not cause an uproar abroad. They want to turn Christianity into Chinese Christianity, controlled by the party.”
In August, amid the suppression in Zhejiang, the party issued a statement that it would soon unveil an official Christian theology. Wang Zuoan, head of China’s religious affairs ministry, told the state-run Xinhua news agency that Christianity was spreading so rapidly that a new theology was needed to avoid problems. “The construction of Chinese Christian theology should adapt to China’s national condition and integrate with Chinese culture,” he said.
As the attacks continue, church leaders are debating how to respond – whether to publicly challenge the crackdown or try to ride it out, the argument being that authorities could do much worse things if provoked.
“Many Christians are scared of the government,” says Ling Cangzhou, a Christian blogger in Beijing. “In China you rely on the government for jobs, position, for money. Families and relatives are affected. Dissidents don’t get promotion or advancement.”
•     •     • 
One effect of the new religious persecution in China is that it is bringing the official and unofficial wings of the Protestant Church closer. For years, the two sides have often been clashing siblings: In essence, private house churchgoers saw the Three-Self churches as compromised by the party. Official churches often saw house churches as misbehaving cults. 
Yet now, as they share a common threat and as more young people take up Christianity who have little knowledge of the historical divide, the two wings are starting to converge, reinforcing a grass-roots movement that has already been under way for some time. 
Worshipers are being introduced to Christianity in official churches and then moving to house churches for a deeper experience of Bible study and preaching. In turn, house churches are becoming less secretive and are reaching out to influence the official churches. “There is a growing but quiet cooperation among Three-Self pastors who aren’t as invested in the institution – who care more about church and the basic evangelical mission,” Mr. Vala says.  
To be sure, real differences remain between the two sides. Three-Self pastors are trained at theology schools watched by the party. Mr. Zan, for example, attended one and says that former President Hu Jintao’s concept of a “harmonious society” was taught as something to emphasize in preaching, which Zan calls “propaganda.” “Official churches are not allowed to touch subjects like the Apocalypse or eschatology,” he says. “A lot of the preaching is about how to be good and loving and ethical, which is fine. But they are often antiseptic and less radical.”
Many house meetings last all day, whereas official churches have 60- to 90-minute services. “The [Three-Selfs] are too big,” says a musician from Anhui who started at an official church but moved on. “You can get lost in them. Smaller is more like home, more like the love you feel at home.”
In Beijing, the official Chongwenmen Church is near the train station, found by walking through a rabbit warren of streets and noodle shops. It is old and slightly creaky. Services are packed and believers are devout. Across town, the official Haidian Church is a huge white modernist structure in a high-tech zone. Outside there is a band and chorus and kids with “I [heart] Jesus” caps. People wait in line for services by the hundreds.
One private Calvary church feels much different. Set in a seminar room in an office tower, it seems far less institutional but more intimate. The pastor is from Taiwan and won’t talk with reporters. Yet in all three churches the focus is on Christianity as a life practice and not a philosophy, and of the Bible as a revelation whose meaning brings change and redemption. 
During services at these churches in August, as the cross removal campaign intensified, pastors spoke openly of the “meaning of the cross.” Hymns sung included “ ‘Onward, Christian Soldiers’ ... with the cross of Jesus, going on before.” 

Source: CSMonitor


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