Mental Musings

I read a great blog post by David Lee King about customer service in the Library system. He started by comparing how small town music stores handle customers compared to the music giant Guitar Center. The question posed was "Why is Guitar Center so large and popular?" You can just look at their business practices to see that they focus on costumers more than on their own property. Read David's post and then come back here for my thoughts below. David's post brought to mind the many rules, regulations, policies, etc. that I have seen throughout my nearly 30 years in the ministry. Building usage rules, equipment usage rules, procedural rules, teaching rules, wedding rules, meal rules, chair placement rules, business meeting rules, parking rules, and the list can go on and on. Often these rules do not make sense to anyone, but 30 years ago the church felt a need to make the rule for some reason. While in Seminary my Practice of Church Music professor made this recommend

There is a storm on the horizon and many are not even aware of the danger that this storm could pose to one of the best-run organizations in our country. There is a movement among Southern Baptists to de-emphasize the foundational Cooperative Program in favor of the Great Commission Giving model. The danger stems from the lack of information that the average Southern Baptist has about either of these financial designs for tithing. And to be honest, most Christians in general would rather not even think about tithing, much less hear another sermon or lesson about tithing. But tithing is a basic requirement by God to test our faith in His ability to take care of us. Everything we have belongs to God. He could easily give or take away anything at anytime, but as part of our free will God has instructed us to set aside the first 10% of everything we make so that we can offer it up to Him (Leviticus 27:30-32). Malachi 3:10 even teaches us that we are to bring all of our tithe to the storeh

Next weekend is the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards. Each year they have various actors and entertainers who perform for an audience of mostly preteens. Typically the performances and activity of the show are geared for their younger audience. However, they often have entertainers who are known for material that is very inappropriate for children. That is the case with this year's planned performance by Rihanna whose latest album is titled "Rated R" which includes several songs which have been rated explicit due to the lyrics. I really don't understand why Hollywood would promote entertainers like this to preteen children.

I don't plan to vote for anyone who votes for this health care bill. Just saying. I personally contacted my senate and congress reps to let them know that and got back these long-winded explanations about why they support the health care bill. None of them said that they are supporting it because their constituents want it. After two days of absolutely jammed phone lines on Capitol Hill, you would think that all of the democrats know that the vast majority of their constituents do not support this bill. SO, tomorrow may be V-Day for the socialist agenda...but November is coming. It is not too late to let them know what you think about all of this.

As a music pastor, I get calls all of the time from Christian Artists looking for a church to host them for leading worship or concerts or events. I have had some good, some bad and some really ugly experiences working with Christian Artists. These individuals make their living from traveling all over the country singing and playing music. Most Christian Artists are genuine Christians with a desire to share the gospel message through music. A small group seem to have gotten caught up in the whole artist scene and come off as spoiled rotten prima donnas with a laundry list of ridiculous demands. I thought I would jot down my thoughts concerning the various Christian artists that I have had the privilege to work with during the past few years (at my church or through other venues). Maybe this will help others in the music ministry as they are searching for someone to book for an upcoming event. Point of Grace - very gracious in every way. We had them for a Christmas special sponsored by