From looking into it further it looks/sounds/reads like Jack Parker, Mark Waldrop, Jeremy “B-Wack” Bush and Mike Dodson are opening a studio, asterisksounds, and possibly recording some more music. As Jack Parker hilariously announces “What if I made music even better than the Beiber Christmas album?” at the end of the Rockumentary.  Most of this information comes from the guys’ twitter feed and photos they’ve been posting. What will David Crowder and Mike Hogan do isn’t quite clear, hopefully both of them will continue to create meaningful music or writings of which bring us a clearer view of God.

So the band leaves it at that. They have brought us, or me personally, along for the journey, from a college church band to one of the most well known “worship” bands we will probably ever know. And they leave me with hope. Hope that worship music will be more about authentically trying to connect with God through our words and voices. A hope that connecting our emotions to the words we sing can give us a better connection with a God who is beyond our ability to fully comprehend.

But it also gives me hope that worship music can still stir up within me a passion for worshiping a God in a fun and vibrant way, with electric game guitar controller awesomeness, turntables, Mario Bros. music, vintage church hymns, reflective lyrics, and rock anthem singalongs! What DC*B did for me and for worship music will have resounding affects on the worship of God for years to come. Thanks guys for a great run. God is, was, and will continue to be glorified by your music.

The concert night was great, with great music from both John Mark and Gungor. The night seemed to go by far too fast for my liking as DC*B played for roughly 45mins or so. It definitely left me wanting a bit more from a band which shaped much of my respect for today’s worship music. It. Was. Far. To. Short. I did come away from the night with a preorder of their final album and the first single “Let Me Feel You Shine”. And that isn’t to say the whole concert wasn’t good. The guys did play music from all of their releases and had a fantastic sing along with John Mark, Gungor and Chris August on the John Mark original “How He Loves” a hit from DC*B’s Church Music album. This was the highlight of the night for me.  In my head it was the passing of the torch, for the past years DC*B has lead the worship music landscape in my mind, and John Mark and Gungor are the ones who will continue to push the genre in a new and meaningful way. (More on this in another post)

In between they released a Christmas album, two of the songs on the album our youth band at church played for our congregational Christmas concert. The beauty of DC*B is their ability to take some traditional hymns and make them original and interesting again. Some of the songs like this blur the line between traditional and contemporary (what ever that term means these days). This is something I appreciate about DC*B, growing up in a traditional setting and being a part of a contemporary setting in college, there was a yearning within me to find a balance and appreciation for both, specifically with worship music. DC*B has done this, and I appreciate it.

It was with anticipation that I awaited the final album download. What was next for the band, where would this final album take us, what was going to be their exclamation point, and why stop now? All these questions were swirling in my head as the day approached.

Let me set the stage a bit more. I like music a lot. For much of my late teenager/college life, I listened to almost nothing but Christian music. Christian music at that time was much different than now. Most of the music from that time which came from the Christian music market, had to have some sort of positive message attached to it, or it wasn’t considered “Chrisitan”. I followed the emergence of the “worship” music we know today. How bands would come out with a “worship” album as an add on to their career of rock n’ roll. This was the lens of which I saw music, it had to have a positive message or I didn’t listen to it. (I’m glad I’ve added a lens to those glasses which has given me the ability to see what good music is. Wow that didn’t sound snooty now did it?)

I had gone to far too many music festivals where a guy with a guitar would come out on stage and play. He was talented and good looking, always smiling, reading heartfelt scriptures that impacted his life, which then led to him writing the next worship song. (Not to sound to critical of someone’s own experiences, I was moved by many of the songs and related scriptures.) My point is there was barely any variety of what they were singing about, or how they were singing. I became disengaged with the whole worship leader guy/guitar/back up band setting. I became a cynic of most any worship band out there and wanted them to stop. Their music all sounded the same. (Thanks Jon Acuff for this great tool.)

That is until DC*B. When they started their set eight years ago, sure I saw a guy with a guitar come out to the front of the stage, I thought to myself, here we go…But then I saw turntables. Yeah the ones often found at clubs, not churches, clubs. Turntables being scratched and worked seamlessly into the music being played, the worship music being played.

From that day on I purchased most everything the band put out, Illuminate being the first. All the EPs and remixes were a breath of fresh air for me when thinking about worship music in general.  These guys were talented! I remember when they were recording Remedy they set up 9 different web cameras of the studio live and anyone was able to watch the guys at work. I signed in to their “tiny chat” and was able to chat with “marktheshark”. I didn’t know of another band willing to do this and was excited to get to interact. Remedy has become one of my favorite albums, and the live version made me extremely disappointed that my wife and I did not make the trek down to Chicago to see it live.

However I did not make that mistake when their next tour came around, the 7 Tour was going to be in Minneapolis and I was going to get tickets. I ordered tickets to the October show at First Ave in Minneapolis on April, 26th the first day they were available. This also happens to be my anniversary, what a great anniversary gift for my wife (oh and me too)!

More on that tomorrow or the next day, but for now here is a question:

Do you/did you have the same feeling of worship music? If so what are your thoughts?

Because we play many of their worship songs with our youth band I had the mindset that the band would be writing for this purpose, to bring songs for the church to sing. As I listened to the album the first time I was waiting to hear an anthem or song I could bring to our youth band and play for worship in the future. DC*B had brought me hope and most of the songs we were singing for worship came from the band, so as I listened I tried to listen for songs which we could use. I obviously missed something when listening to the album the first couple of times. There are some songs which we could sing together in corporate worship, but not as many as I was expecting. So to say I found what I was looking for would be accurate. But I was missing something, something big that would make this album all the more worth it in the end.

The album seemed to be a little to simple for the guys who have taken us on so many different journeys over the years. There had to be something more to this album. So I looked deeper into the meaning of the album’s title Give Us Rest or (a requiem mass in c [the happiest of all keys]) and I found the real beauty of the album. I did a search on Google for the meaning of requiem mass. What I found was a method beyond me, found in the chaos of the album and it was absolutely beautiful. It wasn’t until this time that I could fully appreciate the work the guys put into this album format and the songs made to pull it all together. It is a piece of art within a historical frame. Requim Mass is also known as Mass for the Dead. This title is another example of how thoughtful the guys are when making music and putting it out there. Mass for the Dead in the happiest of all keys, is an oxymoron, but one I didn’t pick up on until really thinking about it. We are saying good bye to a great band, but it isn’t supposed to be a sad occasion, we are to celebrate the life of the band and the impact they have had on us.

As I continued to look at the explanation of Requiem Mass and saw the parallels in the setup of the two disc album, the entrance, plea, sequences, etc I became more aware of these connections to my won grieving process. I know it feels weird to talk about a band ending and my own grieving, and I know there are far more things around me that need more attention, but at the same time this is a band that has had an impact on how I worship God is some really deep ways, so I do believe the band ending is something for me to grieve as a great loss.

Now I listen to the album with a different focus. From looking for the next worship song to sing, I’m now listening to a masterpiece telling a story from beginning to end. Although the story is the end of a great band, I can appreciate their need to close this chapter of their lives and continue to seek God through their gifts.

Overall I think this book has had more impact on my thoughts than it would have when I first started in youth ministry almost 7 years ago.  It speaks to some of the struggles I have with youth ministry in my own context and ministries I do.  If I had read this book when I first started, I’m not sure it would have served the same purpose it has these past few weeks.

I found the chapter “The How of Discipleship” to be interesting.  Tony delves into what it may have been like for the first Christians to be initiated into the church with a fictional story of Lucius.  Through this story we see a way of discipleship that is not a means to an end, but a means to a beginning of life in the early church as part of the community of believers.  Tony states:

“As youth workers, we must take the process of initiation into the Christian community far more seriously.”

“Confirmation.  The very word provokes a litany of reactions: boring, irrelevant, outdated.  Indeed recent surveys by the Episcopalian and Presbyterian churches have shown that only 43 to 50 percent of their Confirmands are still going to church (six times a year) by the time they’re 40 years old.

But the problem may be with how confirmation has been done over the last half century rather than with confirmation itself.”

I have often struggled with Confirmation since I myself was confirmed in high school.  I struggled with having to memorize the Small Catechism and having to attend class.  I have had conversations in seminary where Confirmation is the first thing to be bashed as being outdated and irrelevant.  In some case I have led the charge against how we do confirmation.  I think Tony is onto something here when he mentions that maybe it is the way we go about doing Confirmation that is the problem rather than confirmation itself.

In the majority of churches, in my opinion, Confirmation is the “graduation” from church.  In many cases youth are getting Confirmed because grandparents expect them to, or because their parents are forcing them to because they want grandma and grandpa to get off their back.  Confirmation is less about affirming faith and more about making people happy or continuing a tradition, “I was confirmed, your grandparents were confirmed, and you’ll be confirmed.”

In my opinion the Church is not doing much to help!  The way our program is set up is a list of requirements and hoops to jump through to get to the end.  It is a means to an end.  Youth come to church, do sermon notes, come to class, do a faith paper and service hours because they are “required” to, in order to complete the program.  (Disclaimer: I do think there is a balance of having “requirements” to keep the integrity of a program.)  Again, the problem isn’t the process; it’s the set-up of the process.

Can we get back to the way Confirmation was done in the early church, as discipleship?  Are we willing to admit that maybe we don’t have the process right and haven’t had it right for awhile?  Are we willing to challenge our family’s motives for having their child confirmed at the risk of offending some?  Are we willing to recapture the importance of affirming the faith at the risk of losing families because our “requirements” are too involved for busy families?  Or are we going to continue to duck our heads in the sand and pretend that everything is okay because youth are still getting confirmed and writing great faith papers?

I know I’m not the first one to write about Confirmation and the struggles within it, and I also know I fall right back into doing things the easy way, because…. well it’s easier.  At the same time we need to think about the health of our church and more importantly the health of our youth’s faith life when they leave our church after confirmation (I wanted to say graduation but couldn’t).  The Church needs to reclaim confirmation as an important part of our faith journey, not just for youth, but for congregational members as well (this is another post to come, but click here for a book worth checking out in regards to confirmation being an ongoing process.)  We need to say yes, hockey, basketball and other extra-curriculars are important BUT so is your child’s faith and the baptismal promise you made, because faith needs to be important in our lives.

I’m off my soapbox now.

On my “to read book” list I have had Youth Ministry 3.0 by Mark Oestereicher for longer than I want to admit.  For those of you in Youth Ministry, I know I’m way late on this as the book was published in 2008.  For those of you who have no idea what book I’m talking about check it out here as well as some good reflections here from a seminary classmate Matt Cleaver.

Overall Marko does a great job of showing where the shifts in Youth Ministry have happened and the one that is currently happening now.

“The way we’re doing things is already not working.  We’re failing at our calling.  And deep down, most of us know it.  This is why we need a epochal shift in our assumptions, approaches, models, and methods.”

Harsh words for those who give their lives to building up youth and helping them see God in the world around them and finding ways to see Jesus.  I wish I could disagree with the above quote, but I have to say I’m guilty and agree with the quote.  The way I have done youth ministry in the past 6 years has been a great blessing to myself and my congregation.  We have had families join Bethel because of the “youth program”.  We have a fantastic “Youth Hall” with a projector, surround sound, all the youth band stuff, pool tables, foosball tables, air hockey tables, and all the comfortable seating you could need!  The place screams welcome to your space, and it also screams “be entertained!”

“The sense was– and remains, as I contend– that if we build the right program with the coolest youth room and hip adult leaders and lots of great stuff to attract kids, then we’ll experience success.”

Overall this is not a “bad” thing.  What is bad is if this is all the ministry is based on, get youth here and keep them entertained and out of trouble.  Many times I have had conversations with congregational members that have said something to the affect of “Well it’s great for them to have a place to come and keep them out of trouble.”  Yes, but.

We are shifting some of our priorities here at Bethel.  We are starting small, asking the questions of why are we doing what we are doing?  Is it all that important to have a Valley Fair trip every summer, along with a weekly softball team, a week long confirmation camp, and a week long mission trip?  We have taken a step toward one of the things Marko talks about in his book “Do Less”.

“Admittedly, this is counterintuitive.  Doing less feels like shying away from needs, turning away from change.”

Yes it does and that’s okay.

“Strip down your programming so you have space to spend time with teenagers, spend time with God, and consider rebuilding something new and fresh.”

I tried this with some of our weekly gatherings last year.  Instead of programming the entire night with worship, teaching, studying, small groups, games and the sort, I left space open.  We talked candidly about life, with no motivation to tie it all together with faith, but for me to listen and hear where the youth were coming from.  We also did something called “Practicing Sabbath”, although it was a bit programmed, the program is left open for youth to engage in where they see God at work in their lives, on their own with different stations set-up to help them reconnect with God through writing, drawing, or silence.

Sure there was pushback on what we were doing, “It’s too long”, “It’s boring”, “I’m not getting anything out of it”, “We need more freetime”, were all things I had heard from the youth who attended.  Change takes time and energy.  I could have went back to the old way of doing things just to keep the youth happy.  But I felt like this was the right thing to do.  Toward the end of the year I had some conversations with youth about the experience of “Practing Sabbath” and their attitudes had changed a bit.  Some of them still didn’t like it, but admitted it was nice to take a break for a bit and refocus.  This is one way of creating space and not just another “youth event”.

The end part of the book describes somethings to keep in mind.  There are some great suggestions for ways to think about youth ministry differently, from doing less, to getting smaller, and being more missional, Marko introduces some concepts and tells you to think about how these are done within your own context, not the context of the church down the street, or the mega churches around the nation.

“Youth Ministry 3.0 in your context should look different than Youth Ministry 3.0 in the church down the street and certainly different different than either the church across the country or the denominational norms or the big ol’ Youth Ministry 2.0 mega-group that everyone believes you should clone.”

Overall this book is a great read for those thinking youth ministry needs to change.  If you are looking for quick fixes to why our youth leave the church after confirmation, this book won’t help you.  If you are looking for some challenging words about youth ministry and where it needs to go, then this book is a great tool for starting the conversation within your own context and I encourage you to start this conversation!

Although the later part of the book wasn’t as intriguing to me as I had first hoped, the first section of the book speaks to how we can be in community with others through and in Christ.

Here is a quote from Life Together that sticks out to me.

“Without Christ there is discord between God and man and between man and man. Christ became the Mediator and made peace with God and among men. Without Christ we should not know God, we could not call upon Him, nor come to Him. But without Christ we also would not know our brother, nor could we come to him. The way is blocked by our own ego. Christ opened up the way to God and to our brother.”

Every conversation, relationship, interaction we have is opened because of Christ. “The way is blocked by our own ego.” This statement made me think more about how I interact with others, the relationships I have with others. To me the most authentic conversations or relationships I have had or have now are with people where my ego is left to the side. It’s not about me, but more about them, or more about just being. Not trying to fix, or help them fix anything. It’s not about how I can insert my own thoughts and ideas into the conversation. It’s about hearing and listening to others, to truly know our “brothers”.

Now of course this is not always an easy task as my ego is often times bigger than I know. But I trust and I’m hopeful that Christ is working within me to help me change the focus from myself to Him, so that I may see others as God sees me through Christ.

I’m not sure I fully understand or recognize the full extent that Christ is in the relationships with my wife and children, my co-workers and the youth that I work with, but it is certainly exciting to think of what Christ is doing with us and through us when we are in relationship with others.

Questions to ponder:

What does it mean to you that “without Christ we also would not know our brother, nor could we come to him”?

Where do you see Christ in your relationships with others?

As the service progressed the pastor gave his message about the hope we have in Jesus Christ.  I certainly think this is a message many people need to hear, but there was something that did not sit all that well with me that morning as the pastor continued to speak.  He said something along the lines, “now although you are sad and filled with sorrow, remember that Melissa is happy and in heaven with her Father.”  Again, I do believe this is something every family needs to hear when you lose someone so special.  It gives us hope and encouragement.  My concern about this is that it puts God in another place, instead of our place of suffering and frustration.  It puts God outside of our reach until we experience death ourselves.

To me this is not reality.  It is helpful to realize there is hope and life after death, I do not debate this.  The family and friends sitting in those pews needed to hear that God is in control and God has Melissa in his arms, it brought me comfort when my grandfather passed away while I was  in college, but we also need to hear that he understands our sorrow, emptiness and frustration.  He understands our suffering.  We are in God’s hands as well, because of Christ.

The first Christians insisted that when Jesus died on the cross, this wasn’t just another execution by the Roman Empire.  They believed this was the divine, in flesh and blood, hanging there on the cross, bloody, thirsty, and suffering.  A god who is not somewhere else- remote, detached, distant- but among us, feeling what we feel, aching how we ache, suffering like us.  Is the cross God’s way of saying, “I know how you feel”?

As the family walked out of their pews after the service, I could not help but be moved by the scene as it was unfolding and remembering my own two kids and wife.  I asked myself where was God in the suffering of the family, of the kids who lost their mom, of the parents who lost their daughter.  I was answered in a way I will always remember and in a way that touched me very deeply.   While they were walking out, Daylyn, Melissa’s 8 year-old daughter, jumped into her father’s arms and cried.  To me this was a picture of God walking with Daylyn in her suffering, sorrow and frustration.  Not answering her cries with words like “everything will be okay”, but with tears as he suffered with Daylyn.  I cried tears with Daylyn, both of joy for the life Melissa lived as a mother, sister and daughter, but also tears of suffering for the loss of a beautiful person.

Within the despair of suffering, I am reminded of Jesus’ words in Matthew:

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” 

Jesus says we are blessed when we mourn, he didn’t say blessed are those who only see my glory.

In Philippians we hear of Paul’s description of Christ and the suffering he endured:

“And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross.”

Jesus didn’t look past the cross, to the glory of the resurrection he knew was coming.  He was fully in the suffering, sorrow, emptiness and frustration of the moment.  Did he know he would conquer death and be raised to new life with God, sure, but that did not stop him from experiencing life at the depths of the pain of truly being human.

During this season of Lent, may we all be able to look at the sufferings of our lives and live into them, to remember that God does make all things new, but may we also remember that it is okay to feel frustrated and empty, knowing that Jesus is walking with us, suffering along with us, all the while in God’s hands.  That is the beauty of the incarnation.