by Jason Joyner | Sep 17, 2007 | Blog, ministry, missions, Noel Richards, worship
I’ve been a little behind my preferred amount of blogging because I’ve been working on a special event my church, Harvest Foursquare Church, is hosting next weekend.
Our church is bringing in Noel Richards, a well-known worship leader from the United Kingdom. He has been to Pocatello before and is well aware of the challenges we face in this area.
Noel has been involved in leading worship since he was 15 years old. He’s worked with many other well-known worship leaders such as Matt Redman, Graham Kendrick, Reuben Morgan, and Delirious. He’s written numerous worship songs for the modern church, perhaps the best known of them being “All Heaven Declares”.
Noel has been involved the last 10 years in organizing worship events in large stadiums across Europe – believing that if people can pack these arenas for sports, why can’t we see them filled with people giving glory to the King of kings? He’s led events at Wembley Stadium in London and at Olympic Stadium in Berlin.
We are having Noel Richards come on Saturday, September 22. He will be giving a worship seminar from 1-4 pm at our church (see map here) for $10 per person. Noel will be presenting 3 separate sessions dealing with issues of leading worship and a lifestyle of worship.
Then at 7 pm we will be having a regional night of praise and worship, led by Noel and his wife Tricia. We’re anticipating a great night of worship and coming together in unity for southeast Idaho. This event is free, with an offering taken for the Richards that night.
On Sunday, September 23 Noel and Tricia will be speaking at Harvest. The morning service starts at 10:30 am and usually goes to around 12:30 pm. All are welcome to come and worship with us that day.
Noel will also be speaking in Idaho Falls on Sunday night, sponsored by another fellowship. When I have more details I will update this post.
If you live in southeast Idaho, I highly encourage you to come to one of these events. It is not often we have someone of Noel Richard’s caliber coming to our area. I would love to have as many people as possible partake in this. If you have any questions, leave a comment here with your email address (written as yourname [at] yahoo [dot] com to prevent getting picked up by a spammer) and I will be sure to contact you.
Let’s praise the name of Jesus together!
by Jason Joyner | Sep 12, 2007 | arts, Blog, music, reviews, worship
Perhaps there’s a little hyperbole in the title, but not a lot.
Southeast Idaho is an interesting place to live. It is a very beautiful place to live, but the climate is dry, both physically and spiritually. We live in the shadow of Salt Lake City, and it makes for a daily battle.
For years I had heard glowing things about Lystra’s Silence, a band from Idaho Falls. They played concerts around our area and beyond. I always meant to go see them, but life, school, work, family, etc. would get in the way. “One of these days I’ll get to hear them,” I’d think.
To my chagrin, I almost didn’t.
After several years of plying their craft and constantly improving, the band has decided that this season is over for them. This was shocking, as I was talking to a friend just this summer who was enthusiastically describing their upcoming album, saying that they were due to break out in a big way. So when I saw a farewell concert advertised for August 31, I told my wife that we were going.
Man! I sure missed out all this time. Idaho isn’t Nashville, Austin, or Seattle – we don’t have a burgeoning music scene, especially not when it comes to quality Christian bands. This foursome was confident in their music and presentation. Not flashy, but the quality of the lyrics and musicianship was impressive.
They have just released a final album, Tremble Here. It starts off with a wonderful piano-driven track called “Change”, which has been constantly on my iPod this month. It continues with several other insighful, worshipful songs without being in the vein of the current popular worship music. The songs aren’t nice little chorus ditties maximized for CCM radio airplay. They are deep, investigating the darker side of our lives at times while always pointing to the light and grace from our glorious Lord.
Lystra’s Silence’s lead singer is Sherry Muchira, who reminds me at times of Michelle Tumes in her voice. This is a piano heavy band, and they don’t rock out a lot. I lean more toward Switchfoot and Relient K in my usual musical preferences, but I can definitely appreciate a more meditative listening experience.
I’m posting hoping that you will check them out and see if their music is something you would like to add to your collection. They ended their run with some debt, and so if you enjoy their music, I encourage you to buy an album or two and support these great artists. You may not be able to see them, but you can partake in the fruit they’ve offered over the last few years.
You can hear samples from their current album on their MySpace page, and from their prior album at their band website. You can order music from either location, I believe.
by Jason Joyner | Sep 12, 2007 | arts, Blog, music, reviews, worship
Perhaps there’s a little hyperbole in the title, but not a lot.
Southeast Idaho is an interesting place to live. It is a very beautiful place to live, but the climate is dry, both physically and spiritually. We live in the shadow of Salt Lake City, and it makes for a daily battle.
For years I had heard glowing things about Lystra’s Silence, a band from Idaho Falls. They played concerts around our area and beyond. I always meant to go see them, but life, school, work, family, etc. would get in the way. “One of these days I’ll get to hear them,” I’d think.
To my chagrin, I almost didn’t.
After several years of plying their craft and constantly improving, the band has decided that this season is over for them. This was shocking, as I was talking to a friend just this summer who was enthusiastically describing their upcoming album, saying that they were due to break out in a big way. So when I saw a farewell concert advertised for August 31, I told my wife that we were going.
Man! I sure missed out all this time. Idaho isn’t Nashville, Austin, or Seattle – we don’t have a burgeoning music scene, especially not when it comes to quality Christian bands. This foursome was confident in their music and presentation. Not flashy, but the quality of the lyrics and musicianship was impressive.
They have just released a final album, Tremble Here. It starts off with a wonderful piano-driven track called “Change”, which has been constantly on my iPod this month. It continues with several other insighful, worshipful songs without being in the vein of the current popular worship music. The songs aren’t nice little chorus ditties maximized for CCM radio airplay. They are deep, investigating the darker side of our lives at times while always pointing to the light and grace from our glorious Lord.
Lystra’s Silence’s lead singer is Sherry Muchira, who reminds me at times of Michelle Tumes in her voice. This is a piano heavy band, and they don’t rock out a lot. I lean more toward Switchfoot and Relient K in my usual musical preferences, but I can definitely appreciate a more meditative listening experience.
I’m posting hoping that you will check them out and see if their music is something you would like to add to your collection. They ended their run with some debt, and so if you enjoy their music, I encourage you to buy an album or two and support these great artists. You may not be able to see them, but you can partake in the fruit they’ve offered over the last few years.
You can hear samples from their current album on their MySpace page, and from their prior album at their band website. You can order music from either location, I believe.
by Jason Joyner | Sep 10, 2007 | Biblical worldview, Blog, Islam, ministry, missions, prayer
This week marks the beginning of Ramadan, the month of fasting for Islam. It is one of their holiest times of the year. As such, they fast from sun-up to sunset, spending time seeking Allah during the day and breaking fast at dusk with feasting.
The last 15 years has seen a coordinated effort by Christians to pray strategically for Muslims around the world during this time. This is the 16th edition of the effort, which has a worldwide reach.
We know that the conflict between the world of Islam and the West is a huge issue with lots of complexity and challenges. I encourage everyone to look into this material and participate with the prayers of thousands of Christians during this time. It has always been an insightful time of learning and blessing for my wife and I as we treat the prayer booklet as a nightly devotion.
You can get involved in a couple of ways. World Christian Books publishes a handy prayer booklet that gives you information on Islam and daily topics to pray through. You can still get one in time to start if you order right away! They even have a kids version of the booklet to do as a family. I’ve ordered this for the first time to do with my boys.
If you don’t want a booklet or have time to order, then there is an online reference you can use as well. It looks to have deeper information than what was put in the booklet.
Finally, in the materials I received with our booklets (our church participates in it), it had an advertisement for The Crescent Project, a ministry that strives to educate the North American church about Islam and equips us to reach our Muslim neighbors. There is a $35 online seminar that can be done through this group. I haven’t done this yet, but I think I will. I will report back on this if I do. This looks like a good resource for anyone with a heart regarding this matter.
As the church, we all have an opportunity to do something for the gospel to shine in such dark times and regions. We may not be called to go (although be honest, when was the last time we asked?) but we can intercede for Jesus’ light to be revealed and freedom proclaimed to the captives. Please take a look at this material further over the next month.
by Jason Joyner | Sep 10, 2007 | Biblical worldview, Blog, Islam, ministry, missions, prayer
This week marks the beginning of Ramadan, the month of fasting for Islam. It is one of their holiest times of the year. As such, they fast from sun-up to sunset, spending time seeking Allah during the day and breaking fast at dusk with feasting.
The last 15 years has seen a coordinated effort by Christians to pray strategically for Muslims around the world during this time. This is the 16th edition of the effort, which has a worldwide reach.
We know that the conflict between the world of Islam and the West is a huge issue with lots of complexity and challenges. I encourage everyone to look into this material and participate with the prayers of thousands of Christians during this time. It has always been an insightful time of learning and blessing for my wife and I as we treat the prayer booklet as a nightly devotion.
You can get involved in a couple of ways. World Christian Books publishes a handy prayer booklet that gives you information on Islam and daily topics to pray through. You can still get one in time to start if you order right away! They even have a kids version of the booklet to do as a family. I’ve ordered this for the first time to do with my boys.
If you don’t want a booklet or have time to order, then there is an online reference you can use as well. It looks to have deeper information than what was put in the booklet.
Finally, in the materials I received with our booklets (our church participates in it), it had an advertisement for The Crescent Project, a ministry that strives to educate the North American church about Islam and equips us to reach our Muslim neighbors. There is a $35 online seminar that can be done through this group. I haven’t done this yet, but I think I will. I will report back on this if I do. This looks like a good resource for anyone with a heart regarding this matter.
As the church, we all have an opportunity to do something for the gospel to shine in such dark times and regions. We may not be called to go (although be honest, when was the last time we asked?) but we can intercede for Jesus’ light to be revealed and freedom proclaimed to the captives. Please take a look at this material further over the next month.
