Category Archives: Uncategorized
I Reek of My Father
This fourth devotional I wrote a few years back focused on humanity’s bearing what theologians refer to as the Imago Dei, or the image of God. It’s a powerful concept, one that should give those of us in leadership pause now … Continue reading
How’s Your Soul Today?
Any time I can bring my formal training in English to bear on anything related to worship and/or the Christian walk, I enjoy doing so–all truth being God’s truth. I wasn’t a huge fan of the essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson when … Continue reading
A Word for the Anxious
Today I offer the second of seven devotionals written several years ago for Judson students about to embark on a missions trip to India. The “80 wooded acres” is a phrase often used in the early days of Judson College to … Continue reading
On Spiritual Mirrors
May is often the season in which college students serve on teams doing various ministry work both domestically and internationally. At roughly this time last year, I was in Jamaica with the Judson University Choir, a life-changing experience for many of us. We had such … Continue reading
Brennan Manning on Resting in God
For those of us who follow academic calendars, summer comes to us–at least partially, at least potentially, at least initially–as a period of rest. The fact that I follow an academic calendar and see that I haven’t written a blog … Continue reading
Good Reminders for Worship Leaders from a Night at the Cabaret
One of my nieces, an accomplished singer who has sung in Cincinnati’s renowned May Festival Chorus, this past weekend coordinated a night of small-group Cabaret singing as a fundraising event for the world-premiere production of Morning Star by the Cincinnati Opera this … Continue reading
A Prayer for Moving from Brokenness to Healing
A few weeks ago, Judson University featured one of my all-time favorite chapel speakers, Rev. Ian Simkins, in a Spiritual Enrichment Week series of messages titled Beauty in the Common, with the word common taking on connotations related both to the … Continue reading
Help for Harmonically Challenged Contemporary Worship Music Songwriters
In this space two weeks ago, I lamented the ubiquity of the I-IV-vi-V chord progression (and its same-difference variations) in contemporary worship music (cwm). Over the weekend I listened to the new release from a worship leader whom I truly … Continue reading
When Contemporary Worship Music Is Boring: A Worship Educator Wrestles with the End Justifying the Means
I am neither a music snob nor a music purist. As I wrote in my last blog, I am the son of a music educator who revolutionized the world of music appreciation (for all who encountered his philosophies, anyway) by suggesting that Van Halen … Continue reading
Why I Hope That Sweet Chariot Swings Low for My Dad in 2015 (and What I Need to Remember If It Doesn’t)
My father, Dr. Simon Anderson, shown here with my mother, Nancy, was a professor of music for over 40 years at the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music, one of the best music schools in the country. Though he started … Continue reading
Emmaus Road Worshipers 