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The In-Between: When Clarity Puts You On Hold

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Good Friday: Loving our neighbor is not enough

Rich Kirkpatrick0446 views

Holy Week is the time we retrace the steps of Christ on his last week on earth We examine through Lent our adherence to the Great Commandment–to love God above all. However, this is through the lens that Jesus gave when he combined forever the Second Commandment with the First. “Love your neighbor as yourself.” This Second Command forever connects with loving God making our public life of justice an outflow of an inward love for God. It is not a private thing to be a Christian, in other words. Our social acts are connected to our inward piety. In fact, Jesus raises the ante when he gives a new command: “Love each other as I have loved you.” Not only does our personal devotion find proof in our love of neighbor our true obedience is to love each other like Christ loves—sacrificial, serving, condescending, empowering, forgiving, love. This is…

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In Our Own Skin: Create FOR the church, AT the church or AS the church

Rich Kirkpatrick0616 views

Art as a commodity The first thing artists are accepted as in the church setting is as artisans who make things for the purposes of the church. This can be songs, music, architecture, graphics–or anything where the crafts of these servants are utilized. Film clips are used as sermon illustrations and graphics to help promote church events. Songs support a theme. We sing prayers. What we see creation at this level is not wrong. But, created content lives in this space as a commodity. There are exceptional people who sell clips, graphics, and other content. There is a place where we need creative content to help our purposes as a church. Art as a commodity, however, leaves us stuck. Artists are often asked to donate their time or assumed that if given opportunities to create for the church that the “exposure” is what they really need. Exposure does not pay…

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Fight Evil With Poetry: A conversation with Micah Bournes

Rich Kirkpatrick21.7K views

“Fight Evil With Poetry” is not just a clever catchphrase. This anthology is rooted in the conviction that creative expressions of love are merely high road, but the most effective form of resistance against injustice.”   Micah Bourne, Editor of “Fight Evil With Poetry” I sat down to talk with recording artist and poet Micah Bournes in downtown Long Beach at one of those cool hipster coffee shops. This was not the first time I met him. Several years ago he performed at a conference of creatives in the Nashville area. His story then was as compelling as his spoken-word performances. This young, African-American man from Long Beach, California attended a very conservative all-white Bible school. Micah is an activist, but artist and poets don’t fight by the same rules of the general population. Power often is wielded to silence foes. Artists give everyone a voice in the vacuum to power…

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A Timeless Word – Lincoln’s Thanksgiving Address

Rich Kirkpatrick01.8K views

It is the duty of nations as well as of men to owe their dependence upon the overruling power of God; to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon; and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations are blessed whose God is the Lord. We know that by his divine law, nations, like individuals, are subject to punishments and chastisements in this world May we not justly fear that the awful calamity of civil war which now desolates the land may be a punishment inflicted upon us for our presumptuous sins; to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole people? We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity;…

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The Best Church Music is: UNCLUTTERED – Matters of context and clarity.

Rich Kirkpatrick01.9K views

To value clarity in congregational music we often fight an uphill battle. Besides music styles and the history of our own local church, the ever-changing goals of what church music should be and “do” creates a moving target. Do we gather a congregation to be sent or do we attract to turn a crowd into a congregation? There is value, of course, in these two ideas about what a worship service should aim to do. They do not have to be mutually exclusive, but one will win out when it comes to church music. Do you have a cluttered desk of values? Does your church music make the points and support the goals that everyone openly understands? Or, do we keep things vague because the questions are too hard and it is politically expedient to muddle an issue that is often expressed emotionally? In other words, do we dumb down…

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The Six Hats of the Worship Leader – A book author’s invitation!

Rich Kirkpatrick0858 views

How about a book about reproducing worship leadership in others? I am simply inviting you to take a fresh look at my book, The Six Hats of the Worship Leader. If you haven’t read it yet or haven’t read it in a while, I’d love to hear from you and have you check out the book. I am always game to follow up with my readers and some have even become good friends! This book has helped many over the last few years. When a lot of training has been on simply skills or technology my book takes a different angle. People are who we need to lead since gear can only take you so far. What if there were very practical ways to take the role of worship leading and grow it? One of my favorite things about being a book author is in interacting with readers. I assume I am not…

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The Best Church Music is UNCOOL: Finding the right mix of old & new

Rich Kirkpatrick21.4K views

There arrives with raising a family that one day where your child discovers a profound truth. My teenage son in passing mentioned how he loved Frank Sinatra. “What!” Then I queried with barely contained excitement. “How did you find out about one of the greatest singers in history?” My son then, with a typical teenage eye roll, “Youtube, of course.” In a moment my world was shattered, my mind was blown, and expectations destroyed. You see, how does a 21st Century teen discover amongst the noise of the web such greatness? How does one filter clips of kittens, video game memes, and feats of stupidity to find the gem of Frank Sinatra’s music? As my pastor reminds us, faith is caught–not taught. More precisely, you cannot tell your son who the greatest singer in the history of the planet is, he must find his way there. Truth rises to the top. Even when…

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2018 WINTER NAMM REPORT: Notable Gear for Worship Leaders

Rich Kirkpatrick02.8K views

I attended the 2018 Winter NAMM show, skipping a year after a long run–which is like being thrown into a time machine ahead four years. As a worship leader, I am always looking for things that will help me and my tribe improve our craft and delivery of music ministry. This is the largest trade show in Southern California so one could spend a lifetime reporting on new and improved gear. I met innovators who are passionate about improving the life of music creators like us. Without these artisans, perhaps we would become stale and not grow our skill or match the zealousness of these incredible business people. I am going present just a small snapshot of some interesting and useful gear for today’s church musicians and worship leaders. My focus lands more on the keyboard/synth world as I know there are too many out there with their pedals and…

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Immigration and racism: People win as we apply “survival of the weakest”, not “fittest”

Rich Kirkpatrick61.5K views

The church season of Epiphany contrasts our darker nature reflected in the recent words from our president about immigration. As a Christian, true religion is more about the “least of these” than the great, powerful, and rich. There is nothing profane about having privilege. What is offensive to the Gospel is the dehumanization of the vulnerable people in the world–be they from Haiti, El Salvador, or Africa, or even Norway. Our president at this moment appeals to the darkest parts of our human nature. This nature blames the blameless. It shames the shameless. The darkness of this type of power shreds the bonds that even Christians should have for one another. The survival of the fittest is not a biblically solvent idea but is indeed a potentially genocidal policy. People win when we apply a “survival of the weakest.” This is what Jesus Christ modeled for us. [bctt tweet=”What is…

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Humans or Machines – How Much Tech is Too Much Tech?

Rich Kirkpatrick01K views

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 2 Corinthians 4:7   A person is always a better investment than a technology. [bctt tweet=”A person is always a better investment than a technology.” username=”rkweblog”] My first huge ministry job when I was green as moss on the shady side of a redwood tree, placed me in a megachurch with a brand-new, state-of-the-art worship center. I was the guy who got to break in this beautiful room. The 150-plus light fixtures on the five catwalks at this point had no gels in them and were opened as wide as possible, washing the front church platform in blinding light. The joy of developing a team to aim the lights and design looks for our services, was one of the first tech accomplishments. The other was realizing that the back…

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A Conversation with Brandon Bee – Songs from the Sky

Rich Kirkpatrick0793 views

Brandon Bee is a hard man to pin down. As a world traveler and dad of several kids, I caught him while he was in the car en route to renew his 16-year-old son’s passport for a trip to Italy. Raised by parents who were in a band, Brandon knew life on the road, and it seems his kids will grow up in what was normal to him. There is nothing ordinary about a guy who has 300 albums to his producer credits. More than a prolific musician and dad, he is also a minister of the gospel, serving in a local church in Eastern Washington state and leading a worship music movement in Italy. On top of all of the accomplishments in ministry and music, Brandon is a singer-songwriter, creating music from his unique perspective of Pacific Northwestern folksy blend. If you have heard his past solo projects or…

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