Something Silly Something Sad

This is my imitation of two cats fighting



On June 11th a tornado ripped through Chapman, KS. A few days later we drove through the city and shot this video.

The Best Albums of My Favorite Musicians

(in no particular order)

Films for Radio by Over the Rhine: I have followed this band for over 15 years; I am always attracted to artists who are open about their spiritual journey. Linford Detweiler, the creative force of Over the Rhine, says, “Spiritually, I’ve been a little bit all over the map. I’ve certainly abandoned my childhood faith, and then have struggled to come back to a place that makes sense to me. (Still) I personally can’t rule out the idea of a benevolent, supreme creator: an artist, a conflicted, creative force. Every time I see the night sky, flung full of stars, something awakens in me.” They have never had a top 40 hit but have a dedicated following, including Steve Beard of the website www.thunderstruck.org. Karin, Lindford’s wife, sings lead and her voice is as pure as Allison Krauss’, even though at times Karin’s voice slips into almost a yodel.

Best of the Rest by Over the Rhine: Till We All Have Faces, particularly the tracks, “Fly Dance” and “If I am Drowning.”

Blister Soul by the Vigilantes of Love: My sentimental favorite all time band. They are from my favorite city I have ever lived in: Athens, Georgia. When these guys were good, they were phenomenal! Blister Soul captures them at their zenith! In the early 90s they kept my faith in music alive with their raw sound and honest lyrics when contemporary Christian music was so melbatoast. Regrettably, when Bill Mallonnee decided to change bands, religions and his wife, I think the quality of his music tanked, in spite of Paste Music’s best efforts to promote him. I don’t even listen to his new stuff anymore.

Best of the Rest by Vigilantes of Love: Welcome to Struggleville

How to Dismantle an Atom Bomb: by U2. Bono’s influence on the world cannot be denied. When most mega rock stars use their fame selfishly, Bono at least attempts to use his fame toward the glory of God, reaching audiences that would not give most evangelicals even a hearing. Says Bono, “I'd be in big trouble if Karma was going to finally be my judge... I'm holding out that Jesus took my sins onto the Cross, and I hope I don't have to depend on my own religiosity.” With the exception of a few bad albums like Zooropa and Achtung Baby where they experimented with Euro Techno, {say it isn’t so, Bono!} Bono and “the boys play rock and roll” unlike few others ever have! Age only makes these guys better. And Atom Bomb is proof! Listen to the tracks “All Because of You” and “Love and Peace or Else” at full volume.

Best of the Rest by U2: All That You Can’t Leave Behind. The track “Elevation” is my favorite U2 song. However don’t overlook Boy (1980) and October (1981). They are still singing tracks from these early relatively unknown albums in their live concerts.

Beautiful Letdown by Switchfoot: Man, these guys have talent! Their lyrics are creative and genuine. They are young, still in their 20s. Therefore they should be making music for many more years; unless pride gets in the way, which has “dismantled” plenty of great bands, even so called “Christian” bands.

Best of the rest by Switchfoot: Nothing is Sound. Real close but not quite as good as Beautiful Letdown, even though Nothing’s title track is Switchfoot at its best.

Hotel California by the Eagles: I remember the day in 1976 on KY102 out of Kansas City when this title track was first played. I immediately asked my mom to drive me out to “Peaches” so I could buy the vinyl LP. Little did I know that 32 years later I would still be jamming to those guitar rifts. How can you measure a classic? Here is one way: My children have tracks from this album on their ipods!

Best of the rest by the Eagles: Lets try something similar. Since we are already back in the 70s, I recommend Bob Seger’s Night Moves. I’m still “waiting on the thunder” after 30 years!

Christmas by Mannheim Steamroller: For our family it isn’t Christmas until the Mannheim Steamroller starts rolling through our speakers. My children don’t know Christmas without this album; I believe it is the best Christmas music out there, period. Chip Davis, Mannheim’s creator, calls his music “18^th Century classical rock.” It is hard to believe this is from the same guy who gave us the 1975 Redneck anthem, “Convoy.”

Best of the Rest by Mannheim Steamroller: Fresh Aire Christmas, of course!

The Wind by Warren Zevon: When a man knows he is dying, you listen intently to what he has to say. Warren Zevon had inoperable lung cancer when he appeared on the David Letterman show. He was prompted by David to say something about life that his fight with cancer has revealed to him. Mr. Zevon answered, “Enjoy every sandwich.” Cute but totally missed the opportunity to give glory to his Creator. He did go out with a bang and his final album was fantastic. On one track, “Disorder in the House,” he receives some incredible guitar help from Bruce Springsteen.

Best of the Rest by Warren Zevon: Since I mentioned Springsteen, I’ll recommend his “Born to Run.” But I have vowed to never spend another dollar on Bruce because of how belittles my politics and worldview. But if you still have this album, I encourage you to blow off the dust and give it another spin.

A Liturgy, A Legacy & A Ragamuffin Band: Rich Mullins, who gave us such classics as “Awesome God” and “Step by Step” was a breath of fresh air back when contemporary Christian music was just terrible. I believe this was his best album ever and I wish he wore his seatbelt so we could probably still be enjoying more music from Rich.

Best of the Rest by Rich: This is the World As Best As I Can Remember It, Volume 1.

O Brother Where Art Thou (soundtrack): After I moved to Europe I started listening to Bluegrass, Country and Gospel because it reminded so much of what is great about America. Watching the movie helped expand my musical horizons. The movie was great, the sound track was better! As one critic said, “There is something missing in one’s childhood if he grows up not knowing the words to 'Big Rock Candy Mountain.’” Even if Allison Krauss isn’t a Christian I will continue to be a fan of hers, in spite of the unsolicited advice given me by an employee at an Atlanta Christian bookstore.

Best of the Rest of the Soundtracks: Cold Mountain. Enjoy the music but skip the movie.

A Hundred Highways by Johnny Cash: Johnny Cash’s life is a testimony to the grace of God. His recent biographical movie, Walk the Line, made me a big fan of his music. Unlike Warren Zevon, before Johnny died he got right with God and sang about the glories of his Creator and Redeemer. As one critic put it, “The Man in Black” wrote music that revolved around the themes of prison, trains, death and faith. Another critic beautifully noted that while entire bands revolve around music about death, Johnny Cash sang about grief. If the track “On the Evening Train” on this album doesn’t make you cry, you ain’t alive.

Best of the Rest by Johnny Cash: The Man Comes Around. But watch Walk the Line before you download this album.

Highway Companion by Tom Petty: His face has deep lines and he can’t hit the high notes he once did on songs like Woman in Love and Refugee. But the man from Gainesville is still crankin’ it out. He inadvertently wrote some spiritually insightful lyrics into the track “Saving Grace” that I use whenever I give my testimony of how I came to faith in Christ.

Best of the rest by Tom Petty: I haven’t heard it yet but I need to purchase and download Tom’s latest with Mudcrutch.

Stadium Arcadium by Red Hot Chili Peppers. Look, I know these guys’ lifestyle is inconsistent with most of what I believe. And honestly, I keep ‘em at arms length because of it. But there is a creativity, a sense of humor and an energy that draws me to this album. A great combination of the funk that made RHCP famous with some great guitar rifts and classic rock sound.

Best of the rest by Red Hot Chili Peppers: I am waiting to see if their next album is a continuation of the cleaner act they displayed with Stadium Arcadium.

Live Wire by Third Day: A lot of their fans were disappointed in this album, so I am told. However, Live Wire made me a fan of Third Day. Has anyone else been able to bring the Southern Rock genre to Christian music? If they have, they haven’t done it like these guys have. There is also a Biblical depth to these guys’ music that I appreciate. Keep going Mac! I’m listening!

Best of the rest by Third Day: Their accompanying concert DVD of Live Wire is the best live concert footage I have seen; I think it is even better than U2’s Vertigo Tour.

Eastern European Celebration Dinner May 20th in Atlanta.

Sergey & Ellina Lesnik of our campus ministry in Kiev, Ukraine, tell a story of a life changed for Jesus Christ while Gabi and Madarasz of Hungary are seated next to them waiting for their turn.

Even though storms in the area kept some from making the event, the ballroom was thunderous and electric.

The ballroom at the downtown Atlanta church on May 20th was packed. Expectation was high and conversation hummed as a concert pianist filled the air with a backdrop of praise music. After a greasy dinner of fried chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans and sweet tea, my co-emcee Brent Harrison proclaimed, “Welcome to the Eastern European Celebration Dinner! From the country of Albania, lets welcome…” Then the name of each Albanian staff present was announced (and probably butchered by the Southern USA accent) as the Albanians came striding into the ballroom and onto the stage, proudly waving their flag and waving to the audience as if they were athletes entering the Olympic stadium.

Then the Hungarians were announced and they paraded in with their flag. Then the Poles, Romanians, Ukrainians and Czechs until the stage was full with 35 national European missionaries and their flags. The audience was on its feet welcoming the Eastern Europeans to Atlanta! Thus the evening was launched for May 20^th’s Eastern European Celebration Dinner in Atlanta!

Severe storms and bad traffic in the area kept the attendance to around 370 even though RSVPs for the night approached 500. The “ask” that night generated $27,000 in gifts and pledges, designated mostly for the Eastern European staff attending the dinner.

But that was just the beginning. That number has since climbed to $72,000 as post-event responses come in. However, the PRIMARY PURPOSE of the Celebration Dinner is to serve as a CATALYST for our national staff in their support raising efforts. Our Eastern European missionaries are fanning out across Atlanta into Sunday schools, Bible studies and other small groups. These next several weeks as our beloved national staff walk through those open doors will really determine the success of the evening. Please be in prayer for their support efforts.

EB’s warm smile greeted many that evening.

Also, the evening proved to be a great “commercial” for our ministry’s work across Eastern Europe. It was a call to Christians to become more involved in the work of the gospel through their praying, giving and even going. A wonderful group of volunteers, from Moscow, Budapest, Atlanta and even Kansas City, both Campus Crusade staff and non-Campus Crusade staff, caught the vision, embraced the need and invested a lot of effort and prayer on behalf of our national staff. Those volunteers are the real heroes of this effort.

Martin (left) and “Magic” (Maciek) of Poland enjoy the Braves game the evening after the Celebration Dinner. Many of our Eastern Europeans joined us at Turner Field and for most of them it was their first exposure to the game of baseball. They were more entertained by the between inning activities than by the game itself!

The church of Europe was once the cradle for our faith. Now she is somewhere between very sick and dying. Yet in spite of the low value of the US dollar and the American recession, the resources and tools exist within the American church to make a profound difference in Europe, as well as in other parts of the world. Likewise, we cannot reach Eastern Europe alone; we need the help of Christians everywhere. Our Celebration Dinner on May 20^th was such a call for help. Many in Atlanta responded to that call. Praise God!

Exalting in the hope of the glory of God (Romans 5:2),

Matt