Whether you're a regular attender, a leader, or have yet to step foot in a church, you may have questions about church that aren't being answered. How can the church remain relevant while communicating the unchanging integrity of God's truth? Author Tim Stevens makes an inspiring case for leveraging pop culture to reach out to people in the language of their lives. He offers a new perspective that gives relevance and impact to the church by using pop culture, meeting people in the real world with words, sounds and images that speak to them. He encourages us to get out of our comfort zones and look people in the eyes, meeting them wherever they are, relating to their problems and society's challenges, even celebrating pop culture, where there are exciting signs of spiritual seeking. Pop Goes the Church will open your mind to church in a way that breaks down walls, engages the culture and speaks to a generation that needs to hear good news.

This three-volume collection demonstrates the depth and breadth of evangelical Christians' consumption, critique, and creation of popular culture, and how evangelical Christians are both influenced by—and influence—mainstream popular culture, covering comic books to movies to social media. Evangelical Christians and Popular Culture: Pop Goes the Gospel addresses the full spectrum of evangelical media and popular culture offerings, even delving into lesser-known forms of evangelical popular culture such as comic books, video games, and theme parks. The chapters in this 3-volume work are written by over 50 authors who specialize in fields as diverse as history, theology, music, psychology, journalism, film and television studies, advertising, and public relations. Volume 1 examines film, radio and television, and the Internet; Volume 2 covers literature, music, popular art, and merchandise; and Volume 3 discusses public figures, popular press, places, and events. The work is intended for a scholarly audience but presents material in a student-friendly, accessible manner. Evangelical insiders will receive a fresh look at the wide variety of evangelical popular culture offerings, many of which will be unknown, while non-evangelical readers will benefit from a comprehensive introduction to the subject matter.

The Resonate series recovers the ancient wisdom of Scripture and helps us understand how it resonates with our complex world. The stories and insights of each book of the Bible are brought into conversation with contemporary voices of hope and lament--the cultural messages we interact with on a daily basis. The Scriptures become a meeting ground where God speaks to the pressing concerns of our day, and we are confronted in turn with a fresh experience of God's truth. In this journey through the Gospel of John, Paul Louis Metzger wrestles with the question of what happens when God, who is love, comes to town and takes up residence among us. For some this new neighbor love is welcome; for others, unusual; for still others, suspect--even dangerous. We learn from John's Gospel what it means to be called friends and lovers of God, what it means to put love to death and what it means for love to rise again in our midst and in our lives.

(Drum Instruction). Welcome to your one-stop-shop for learning how tune your chops to pop, R&B, and gospel drumming! This unique book/video combo is the ultimate guide to developing grooves, improvisation, and technical mastery within modern music styles and settings. Chris Johnson has been one of the top in-demand drummers in the music industry for the last 20 years. His recording and touring credits range from pop icons such as Stevie Wonder, Madonna, Jennifer Lopez, Lady Gaga, and Rihanna to R&B singers Patti LaBelle, Mya, Lalah Hathaway, and Fantasia along with gospel artists Donnie McClurkin, Norman Hutchins, and Beverly Crawford. In this book, Chris gives advice for playing techniques and approaches, and sharing of experiences of playing in both live performances and studio sessions. In addition to Chris's insights and instruction, the accompanying videos showcase Chris playing to pop hits along with original music and arrangements played by his band. We've even included bonus material featuring interviews with iconic drummers and other industry professionals! The three-plus hours of video content is accessed online using the unique code in each book.