Five Fave Fall Indie Albums

On Thanksgiving eve, your humble correspondent (wink) has decided to step away from regularly scheduled programming to bring you something a little different. That means no talk of young evangelicals, no current events, no creation care updates, no politics, nothing to incite hate mail. Instead, I thought I would give you something that warms my heart like a frothy cup of hot cocoa...Indie rock!

Nothing goes better with a crispy fall day than some Indie tunes. Ok, maybe football. Or turkey. Or pumpkin pie. Or maybe a good low-budget holiday flick on ABC Family. Anyway, you get my point. Indie rock goes well with Thanksgiving, I think. It is a natural precursor to the Burl Ives and Dean Martin Christmas tunes that we are all eager to whip out.

I have decided to give you my top five favorite Indie albums for the fall. (Not sure if all of them are Indie in that they are label-less; I am using "Indie" simply to describe the genre. AKA No "just so you know" posts from know-it-all emo bloggers, please.) Without further adieu, here they are in no particular order:

1. "Digital Ash in a Digital Urn" by Bright Eyes: Brilliantly eclectic and mellow. Favorite songs Arc of Time, Easy/Lucky/Free and Gold Mine Gutted.

2. "The Rhumb Line" by Ra Ra Riot: This is guaranteed to put you in a good mood. Favorite songs are Each Year, Winter 05, Dying is Fine and Can You Tell.

3. "Vampire Weekend" by Vampire Weekend: Language is sometimes a little rough for the easily offended, but music may be some of the best of 2008. Very Paul Simon. Favorite songs are A-Punk and The Kids Don't Stand a Chance.

4. "Re-arrange Us" by Mates of State: This boy-girl duo is unreal. Favorites songs are Now, Re-Arrange Us and My Only Offer.

5. "Oracular Spectacular" by MGMT: Great band with a great 70/80s flair. Favorite songs are Time to Pretend, Electric Feel and Kids.

If you have heard of any of these bands, let me know your thoughts. Do you love my list or hate it? If you think you have a better list, post it. I am always looking for new music. If you haven't heard of any of them, click on iTunes and start downloading.

Q Ideas: A Great Blog from Gabe Lyons & Co.

Gabe Lyons is the founder of the Fermi Project and co-author of the groundbreaking book, UnChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks about Christianity and Why it Matters. (Unfortunately, no wikipedia entry yet.) Gabe also heads up Q, a conference which gathers innovators, social entrepreneurs and cultural pioneers to have conversations that matter. Recently, Gabe's organization launched the Q Ideas blog, which has put together an uninterrupted line up of thought-provoking blog posts. Each post answers one of culture's most pressing questions.

I want to suggest a number of readworthy posts, beginning with one I posted:

1. What's the Shift in Young Evangelicals? by Jonathan Merritt, Me

2. Why Should We Be Listening to the Hip-Hop Language? by Jeff Johnson, Activist and BET Producer

3. Is Adoption Missional? by Johnny Carr, National Director of Church Partnerships for Bethany Christian Services

4. How Do We Serve Jesus Among the Poor? by Chris Heuertz, Director of Word Made Flesh and Author of Simple Spirituality

Check out a couple of the blog posts and let me know if anything strikes you as particularly inspiring.

A Conversation about Grace

I have been reading and researching the issue of grace lately. I am leading a community group that has been going through Brennan Manning's The Ragamuffin Gospel. In my personal time, I have been making my way through Cathleen Falsani's Sin Boldly: A Field Guide for Grace, and I just finished reading Patriotic Grace by Peggy Noonan. It was while researching the subject of grace that I ran across this video from sharedvoice.org, a common values organization centered around integrity, global community, energy, freedom, environment and opportunity. 

Because of the radical nature of this video and my conflicted feelings regarding it, I am neither endorsing nor bashing it. (In other words, save your freakin' emails.) I am merely throwing it out there to see what you think and to get some conversation going. Some of the points it makes need to be talked about. 

Check it out and let me know what you think. 

Does this video offend you?

Do you agree with the point it is making?

Does this really have to do with grace?

The Uncertain Future of Evangelical Voters

Beginning in the spring of this year, I began noticing a changing wind among my young evangelical peers with regard to points of interest and how that translates into actual votes. I have written on this several times both on this blog and in several publications. Today, I published an article for Newsweek / Washington Post On Faith entitled, "The Uncertain Future of Evangelical Voters."

This piece is different in that it explores the young evangelical trend in the context of our current political transition.  I write that both parties have an opportunity to capture tomorrow's evangelicals if they can articulate specific values in a meaningful way. Will that ever happen? I don't know. For now, all eyes rest upon the President-elect to see if he will make good on the centrist promises he made to younger evangelicals while campaigning or simply govern the way his past record indicates--far to the left of most evangelical Christians.

Thoughts?

Reason #47 that the Southern Baptist Convention Is Shrinking

Earlier this year, I was somewhat dismayed by the decision of LifeWay Christian Resources to pull Gospel Today from the shelves of their stores nationwide because its cover story featured five women pastors. Today, the AJC ran a story entitled "Georgia Baptists take aim at women-led churches" that had a similar theme but a much more ridiculous storyline. 

Apparently, the Georgia Baptist Convention (GBC)--the state convention of the SBC in Georgia--approved a policy this week, which gives them the ability to refuse funds from Georgia Baptist churches who have women for pastors. While the policy is broadly written, it is clearly aimed at the one and only church which falls under its guidelines--First Baptist Decatur, a church that has given the GBC millions of dollars since 1862. 

"I kept waiting for someone from the Georgia Baptist Convention to call us or come visit with me and other leaders of our church to inform us that these matter were being discussed," said FBD's pastor, Julie Pennington-Russell, who was not present when the policy was been discussed. "I assumed that a 146-year relationship was worth, at very least, a personal conversation."

I haven't totally made up my mind on women in ministry, and I know many sound theologians on both sides of the issue. But regardless of whether women should be pastors or not, this is disturbing. When the Southern Baptist Convention was formed in 1845, the founders issued the following statement: "We have constructed for our basis no new creed; acting in this manner upon a Baptist aversion for all creeds, but the Bible." In other words, what historically binds Southern Baptists is not specifically-outlined doctrines, but rather a commitment to the word of God. 

Presbyterians, Methodists, Anglicans, Catholics--they are all, to varying degrees, bound by theological doctrine. But Baptists have never been. That is what makes being a Baptist so great, in my opinion. Unfortunately, the bureaucratic echelons in our denomination seem to swell daily and the list of requirements to actively participate seems to get longer and longer. The message we send is, "either step in line or get out!" When Southern Baptists make non-essentials a prerequisite for participation, we promote unnecessary division and actually cease to be Baptist. 

If anyone is taking a count, chalk this one up as reason #47 that the SBC is shrinking: Making non-essentials a prerequisite for denominational participation.

Dare I ask ... Anyone disagree with me on this?

Polls Confirms Young Evangelical Shift

A new exit poll reveals that support for Barack Obama among younger evangelicals doubled when compared to John Kerry in 2004. Among the findings was this staggering fact: only 49% of young evangelicals now identify as "conservative" and over half favor either same sex marriage (24%) or civil unions (28%).

After reading the Faith in Public Life press release containing this information, I immediately thought back to an article I published in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution back in April of this year titled "WWJD? Vote for Obama, More and More Young Evangelicals Say." I remember the emails I got telling me that I was crazy. People couldn't believe it, and more than one commented that even though young evangelicals said they would vote for Obama, many would change their minds when they actually stepped up to cast their ballots.

Undoubtedly, this should translate into a wake-up call for Republicans and blood in the water for Democrats. If the President-elect delivers on his promises "such as seeking real solutions on abortions, abolishing nuclear weapons, ending torture, caring for the poor, and stewardship of creation then the myth that Christians are a reliable partisan base will vanish in our generation," commented Tyler Wigg-Stevenson of the Two Futures Project in today's press release.

Perhaps Wigg-Stevenson is right. Perhaps Obama will deliver on his promises. Perhaps the young evangelical shift will continue. Either way, we can all agree on this: things are about to get interesting.

Developing...

I commented on this new data in Chris Quinn's article, "Obama Shifted Some Church Voters," in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Check out the article and let me know your thoughts. 

Do you feel there is some general relief even among solid Republicans that we can put the Bush era behind us?