The Friday Five

1. Music: 40 Acres by Caedmon's Call. If you were around the Christian music scene in the mid to late 90s, you know this is a watershed album. I was recently going through my iTunes library, & I realized that I have as much or more material from Caedmon's Call as any other artist. The depth of song writing shames some of the sappy, superficial lyrics you'll often hear from a lot of Christian music. They write about real, messy, & difficult issues. They write about sin. They write about redemption. And their harmonies are insane. If you've never heard 40 Acres you've been deprived of some of their best work. Do yourself a favor & get your hands on it.
2. Quote: "In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing." Theodore Roosevelt
3. Article/Post: 7 Ways Church Members Should Prepare For A Sermon by Thom Rainer. Dr. Rainer had a great blog post this week about how church attenders can do some simple things to prepare themselves for worship & for receiving the sermon. As a pastor, I see people come in & out of worship services each week, & sometimes I can't help but wonder if a single thought was given to preparing for that service during the week. We get so caught up in our week's routine & the interruptions to that routine that a church service can too easily become a mindless part of that routine. Taking a few minutes during the week to do something as simple as to pray can make a world of difference come Sunday.
4. Follow: Aussiedave On Instagram. Dave Adamson is the social media guru at North Point Community Church in the Atlanta area. Dave's Instagram page is a great combination of art & scripture. Dave creates great images to share God's word in a creative way.
   
5. Nerd Corner: Collider Jedi Council. Ok, this is serious Star Wars nerd territory, so prepare yourself, you've been warned. Jedi Council is a weekly hour to hour & a half audio podcast available on iTunes or on video at Collider's YouTube Channel. Each week the panel discusses movie news & speculation, other Star Wars content that ties into "canon" (which is a rabbit hole that may terrify those of you who aren't really into the galaxy far, far away), & they take on Twitter questions from viewers. I'm really opening up a whole world of Star Wars nerdness here, but if you're into Star Wars but don't have time to keep up with everything in the Star Wars galaxy, Jedi Council is a great place to stay up to date on everything going on.