grace•ology

Back In Black Playlist

(Guest Blog by Hilary Wyatt)

The four weeks of the “Making Love Last” series flew by!  Mike taught some great messages on love and marriage.  And now, as we head into the “Back in Black” financial series, it’s already time for a brand new pre-service playlist.  I am really enjoying this series’ playlist.  It includes music from a Canadian based band (Lights), Owl City, a one-member band that is running his way up the charts and one of my all-time favorite artists, Mute Math. 

The Dead Weather – 3 Birds
Caitlin Crosby – Today
Civil Twilight – Letters from the Sky
Lights – Drive My Soul
Mute Math – Armistice
Brandon Heath – Give Me Your Eyes
Explosions in the Sky – Catastrophe and the Cure
Deas Vail – Last Place
Owl City – Meteor Shower
Evoka – Regret
Anya Marina – Vertigo

Baptism and Picnic this Sunday!

We hope you're all looking forward to this Sunday's baptism at Dinky Dock Park on Lake Virginia!  It's going to be great--the weather is going to turn cooler, we're grilling out, and dozens of people will be once and for all publicly declaring that they belong to Jesus!  It's an exciting and important time in the lives of these people, plus it's lots of fun.  Bring the picnic blankets and chairs, and remember to park legally.  :-)  see you at 1pm!  Maps will be available at the church that morning. 

AC/DC in church?

Our Back in Black series starts this Sunday, a scriptural look at God's thoughts about money. It couldn't be more timely, as the economy, unemployment, and real estate markets have caused a lot of trouble for a lot of people in Central Florida over the past year. I can't wait to share what God is placing on my heart about this topic for those who are struggling.

We used the intro to the old AC/DC song as the title of the series — a play on the words "black" and "red" as they pertain to your finances. Here's a look at the series trailer we showed in our announcements this weekend:

I got an email this morning asking why we'd use a song from AC/DC in our services at all. We're trying to give God glory, and they're obviously not a Christian band — in fact, most people would see them as a very anti-Christian band. It's a great question that you might have sometime, too, whether about this or about another element in a service at Grace, so I thought I'd post my response to them here on the blog for everyone to think about. 

About the AC/DC song, I can totally see where you are coming from. They certainly are not a band that honors God with their music. 

The number one reason we used the song was just the play on words about getting your finances in the black. But there is always more:  Jesus' entire ministry was taking bad things and people and redeeming them for His glory. He used blindness, lameness, dirt, waste, tax collectors, prostitutes. We want to continue His work here on earth.

This is nothing new in the church — Paul drew attention to an idol to teach people about Jesus. John Wesley took off-color songs that people sang in bars and re-wrote them with God-honoring lyrics so that people would know how to sing them loud in church. We become all things to all men so that we might save some (1 Corinthians 9:19-23). We try be a part of God taking what someone meant for evil and using it for good (Genesis 50:20). We want to take what culture meant for bad and use it to point people to God's way. 

As I know you know, we see the church not as our safe haven from the world, but as a place to help people understand and interpret the world and follow God in it. I haven't had any other emails (good or bad) about the AC/DC song, but I have had other emails in the past thanking us for using secular music when they brought a friend who was far from God. It made a bridge for them, and if anything helps those friends find Him, it brings Him glory the most.

We have had about 40 men, women, students and children make decisions for Christ in the last few weeks at Grace. His Spirit is moving. Pray that God uses this series on a huge need in lives right now — money — to draw people closer to Him.  If you know someone who is struggling with finances but has never wanted to come to church with you before — now is the perfect time to invite them. 

See you on Sunday!