We are halfway through October and going strong with our focus on worship, creativity, and art! Don’t forget we are giving away bundles of books recommended in SOLA Book Recommendations for College Students (and Beyond), so follow us on Facebook and Instagram to find out how you can add a few of these to your collection.
Our upcoming SOLA Leaders’ Dialogue seeks to equip pastors and church leaders to thrive and aims to address various aspects of becoming healthy leaders. Tim St. John (Lighthouse Community Church) will speak on cultivating emotional health. Michael Lee (All Nations Community Church) will speak on cultivating organizational health. And Harold Kim (Christ Central Southern California) will speak on cultivating relational health. Mark your calendars for Thursday, October 24th from 9:30AM – 12:00PM at Living Hope Community Church in Brea, California. Register for free and RSVP on our Facebook event page.
Subscribe today to get our next installment of our monthly newsletter, which will be sent out next Friday. We will share our most popular articles and some behind-the-scenes details. If you have any links or recommendations to share, please tweet me @musicgoon or email me at aaron@musicgoon.com.
Link Roundup
1. Ed Stetzer: Why Minority Churches Matter in the Multiethnic Church Discussion
Writing for Chrisitanity Today, Ed Stetzer openly asks people like himself in majority culture to consider majority/minority dynamics, language churches, and minority culture.
2. Mike Ives and Lam Yik Fei: At Hong Kong Protests, Art That Imitates Life
“Instagram-ready works of art and graphic design — sometimes whimsical, mostly anonymous — are defining features of the city’s antigovernment demonstrations.”
3. Charlene Hao: 5 Prayers for My Best Friend
When different colleges separate high school best friends, FCBC Walnut member Charlene Hao points us to the power of prayer and showing long-distance love.
4. J. Ryan Lister: 5 Myths about Teaching Theology to Youth
As a high school Sunday School teacher, I encourage us all to not look down on our youth because they are young, but exhort them to set an example for all believers.
5. Jonathan Hayashi: How to Evaluate Your Worship Service
A look at how the participation of congregational singing should be a key factor in the success of a Sunday morning worship set.
6. Hannah Chao: God and Gravity
SOLA editor Hannah Chao writes in her newsletter about the glory of God.
Weekend Recommendations
1. The Gospel Coalition: Discipling Asian American Millennials
“Michael Lee, Steve Bang Lee, and Alex Choi talk about complexities of Asian-American ministry and how it shapes their explanation of Christian spirituality, practices of community, and approaches to discipleship.”
2. Albert Mohler: The Showdown Between the NBA and China: Why Are American Corporations Abandoning Conscience When It Comes to China?
“China is considered to be the coming thing economically and North America, the going thing. Central to the claims of the Chinese Communist Party is that it represents the wave of the future. All of those global companies that are now practicing the art of capitulation are actually helping the Chinese Communist Party to make that very point.” For further reading: LeBron James Missed His Shot When He Entered the Controversy Between the NBA and China: The Moral Perils of Economic Involvement.
3. Aaron Lee: Book Reviews
This week I reviewed The Joy Project by Tony Reinke.
From SOLA
1. Angela Hom: 5 Ways to Handle the Transition to College
“It’s been a few weeks since school has started. The exciting last days of summer have now faded into papers, midterms, and late-night studying binges. But despite having lived at your new home for a few weeks, you still feel out of place. You don’t have friends to sit with during lunch, but everyone else looks like they’re so comfortable. You ask yourself, ‘Is there something wrong with me?’”
2. Moses Y. Lee: What John Calvin Taught (Me) About Refugees
“This question set me on a journey to rediscovering John Calvin, an endeavor that’s produced a newfound appreciation for the great reformer and his pastoral heart for “the other.” As an immigrant myself, it’s difficult to describe the validation I experienced as I read Calvin, the most respected theologian of the Reformation, defend the newly arrived Protestant refugees and immigrants flooding into the city of Geneva against xenophobic, native Genevans and their elite. Consequently, what Calvin has to say about refugees and immigrants is more relevant than ever for Christians in America today.”
3. Aaron Lee: 6 Special Challenges for Asian American Worship Teams
“We know that God has given church leaders the authority and responsibility to shepherd our sheep. For those of us in Asian American contexts, we must think critically about how our cultural history and practices affect what we do and why we do them. For worship leaders in Asian American churches, that means being knowledgeable about the musicians on our teams and the congregation we lead in praise. Here are 6 challenges that I have observed leading music in an Asian American church, and I hope it will help you to lead your people well.”
4. Thank God It’s Friday: Weekend Roundup
In case you missed it, here are some headlines from last week: The 20 best Asian American films of the last 20 years, Screens Are Changing the Way We Read Scripture, The Missing Backdrop to the NBA and China, and Why Are There So Many Filipino Nurses in California?
5. SOLA: TGIF Subscription
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