Article: "Ageism, Sexism and Commodification of Religion"; Book Review, Music Reviews & Free Song.

Welcome to Digital Worship News, Edition 26. This issue includes four excellent worship resources for you. .

1. First,an article on ageism, sexism and commodification of worship, and a insightful video interview on the topic with author, speaker Ian Morgan Cron.
2. Second, a review of the book "Chasing Francis: A Pilgrim's Tale".
3. Third - a FREE Song- MP3 full length studio recording with Andy Park, of the song Holy Holy Is the Lord Almighty. Plus free chord chart, inteview video with Andy and free live acoustic version video
4. Reviews! Follow our link to our Facebook and twitter page, where we will release over 50 reviews of worship albums from the last 15 years. An online anthology of a decade and a half of reviews from classic to modern worship.

In His love,
Kim Gentes

Has the Church has Sold out to Ageism, Sexism and Cultural Models To Fill Seats and Meet Budgets?

Several months ago I met a friend for tea and conversation. This friend is a well known, world-traveled, award-winning artist, songwriter and worship leader. This person is in their 40’s, very much in demand around the world and recording albums. My friend is seen as a mentor to many other creative, artists, songwriters, and worship leaders. We were catching up, when my friend said something in passing that jolted me a bit.

My friend said, "It's sad to see people who are not ready, replacing people who are mature in their gifting".

"What do you mean?", I asked.

"Kim, you don’t understand what is happening out there. I go to churches everywhere. Big churches, ‘happening churches’, ‘in churches’, and there is a sad trend going on. The big thing in ‘growing churches’ is that you don’t keep or hire a worship leader unless they are under 30", my friend exclaimed...

Woah. Really, I thought... read on here.

What would happen if a successful, self-assured young pastor of a metro-mega church faced up to the crushing reality of pain and doubt that plagues so many of his congregants? Even more, what would happen if he began to experience his own self-awareness, and started to verbalize it to his congregation? Would he lead his church through a time of learning and growing through the process? Or, would they reject him and move on to someone who would resound with surety and triumphalism, assuaging the congregants that "all is well" in the spiritual headquarters of their local church?

Ian Morgan Cron is the brilliant writer/pastor who tackles the above questions with credulity, weight and panache. In his book "Chasing Francis", Cron creates reality in fiction that smacks you with a clear "names and locations of the characters of this story have been changed to protect those involved". And though the book is officially fiction, it's themes, circumstances and characters remind us of our own lives, churches and ministries: broken, hurting and isolated.

Read on here for a complete review by Kim Gentes.

This month we are featuring the song "Holy Holy Is The Lord Almighty" in three different ways (all FREE). We hope you listen to this song and that it brings some encouragement to you, that our Holy God is on the throne of heaven and calls to reign in our hearts. Click here to get the free MP3, Chord Chart and demonstration video!

We started on the Internet in 1993 and by 1994 we were connecting with other worshipers and leaders online. A lot has changed in the last 15 years of worship. We review 15 years of modern worship albums in the next 50 days. One album review per day.

Chime in and tell us what you think of the album each day, as we walk forward to the present, starting back with 1998.

It starts today. You can follow the reviews on twitter or on Facebook. We'll release a new album review each day, so stay tuned!

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