What MTV and Churches Have in Common

For those of us who grew up in the 1980's, MTV became our lodestar giving us the latest music, telling us what is cool, and connecting our generation.  The VJ's were like big brothers and sisters that you felt you knew well.  And of course, the music was awesome.  It started in 1981 and very few people had the cable system to get it.  It was always a special treat to go to someone's house who actually had cable (and MTV).  In 1985, I begged my mother for MTV.  She was against it and said "no."  But in the end, she caved and gave in in 1985---and I'm glad she did.  The music of the 1980's has been one of the great joys of my life. I loved my bands: the Police, The Cure, U2, Michael Jackson, Madonna, Prince, and more obscure groups like Kids in the Kitchen or Big Country.  It was a short-run though.  By 1989 MTV completely changed its programming.  Gone were the constant videos and video shows, and all of a sudden there were game shows, lifestyle shows, and a new thing called Reality TV exemplified by the ground-breaking series "the Real World" whose editing style is still imitated on every reality show today--down to the exact kind of camera shots.  MTV became a regular channel--not a music channel.

I can't tell you how disillusioning this was for me.  No longer could I see my regular bands on a regular basis.  The videos weren't very good either.  And soul and rock were getting completely replaced by gangster rap and its monotonous tones and uninspired lyrics.  I was vexed!

But it got even worse.  The bands I loved where breaking up!  The Police broke up in 1985, Duran Duran lost 2 of its members and never made a great album again.  One of my favorite bands only made 2 albums and called it quits.  And other bands that I liked started to make really bad music.  What happened?

I was not prepared at all for the fact that things change.  I thought music and my bands would stay exactly the same forever.  But that's not true.  The average life-cycle of a band is 7 years.  That's how long the Beatles lasted with their famous line-up.  Furthermore, it's hard to keep producing great music year after year, and people's tastes and interest change.

For MTV, they reached a point in 1989 where they realized the younger generation behind me, was not interested in watching videos 24 hours a day.  The novelty had worn off.  They would rather watch real people even if that meant less music.  And they did not want old fogies like Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan on their channel.  So those guys were sent packing to VH-1, which eventually abandoned videos as well.

The same thing happens to us in churches.  We are absolutely convinced we will sing songs the same way.  We will hear sermons the same way.  And how people understand and hear the Gospel will stay the same way.  But it doesn't and it never has in the history of Christianity.  Throughout Christian history the church has had to change and embrace diversity to survive.  This is certainly the case as it's been transported to cultures far beyond the Near East.  Yet for many of us, it's an absolute shock when our favorite pastor moves on, or new musicians lead the church, or a new generation doesn't find our favorite programs interesting or challenging.

One of the things we remind people of in our 3W Seminars is the wise words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer:  "The church you were born in, is not the one you will die in."  How true.  My own home church has changed so much demographically and in other ways.  Never did I think it would change, and truth be told, I didn't want it to change.  But it did and it will.

One of the most important things for churches to internalize is that change is a natural part of life and we need to embrace it.  It doesn't need to mean that our core message and core identity needs to change, but it does mean that how it all looks and is presented may have to be up for discussion.  And this is normal and healthy.

The following video from the show Portlandia captures so very well how 80's kids like me feel about MTV.  If we could, we would stage a revolution and kick these young people out of our MTV and bring back the good old days (really I wish we could).  But it's not right.  Life moves on, yet the Gospel message stays unchanged.  We need not live in fear.

Twenty Years Ago Today...(Reposted)

A post from 2010 in honor of my Mother Jene Nachtigall (1937-1991): It's been 20 years ago today that I lost my Mom, Jene, to cancer.  The 24th of January is always a day that I remember, mourn, celebrate, and reflect on her life and her impact on mine.

In most ways, it seems like it happened only yesterday.  In our 20 years together she so permeated every part of me that there is little of me that doesn't have a whole lot of her in it.  She was my friend, my hero, my mentor, and everything I aspired to be.  Sometimes people are idealized in death, but she really was a one-in-a-million person.  All who knew her felt that way.

She was born in Parksville, Kentucky in 1937 and grew up on a farm.  At a young age, her mother walked out on the family and as the oldest daughter, she became the elder of the family.  A mother to her sisters, a companion to her heart-broken father, and the one responsible to make sure things got done.  She had to mature early.

They moved to Cincinnati and it must have been in that multi-cultural environment that she became the urbane woman she was.  She was great at crossing cultures, she was well-educated, and she became a very intellectually curious person.  I remember being four or five and looking through her books on Karl Marx, Mao Zedong, and other Communist figures.  She hated communism, but wasn't a reactionary spewing talking points and sound-bites.  She did her homework.  She read thousand page books.  She debated real Marxists.  Most of all, she was not intimidated by foreign ideas or different ways of doing things. I still have her big books on my bookshelf:  "Marx", "the Haj," Shogun" and many more.  "You're a big reader" she always said to me...long before I was.  I became what she said I was.

She married my Dad in 1959 and they moved to Africa.  There was a lot of suffering and sickness that she endured in those years.  Bouts of malaria, painful accidents, miscarriages, and many other trials.  But through it all she remained strong and was widely known for her very funny and irreverent sense of humor.  In Africa, she delivered over 200 babies.

They had a daughter that they took to Africa, Marcel, and later, while serving as missionaries in Costa Rica, they picked me up---a malnourished, abandoned infant dying in an orphanage.  Jene, who had once been abandoned herself, now raised another abandoned one.  And our life in Costa Rica was a happy life.

Both Mom and I were news junkies.  Each morning would start out with the news instead of devotions.  And we both loved Time magazine.  When Ronald Reagan was elected, she let me stay home from school to watch the inauguration.  It wasn't a Reagan thing---she thought these things were important.  I took it very seriously and parked myself in front of the television for the all-morning and afternoon coverage of the event.   And that was the day that my love of politics began.

We used to fight sometimes.  We were both highly opinionated about trivial things.  One of our most famous knock-down, drag-down debates was regarding whether the TV Show MASH was funnier in the McLean Stevenson years or in the "Colonel Potter" years.  There was a clear break we both recognized.  I argued that MASH's early years were far more funny because the show had a slapstick vibe.  She argued that the more serious, politically-pointed MASH years were just as funny if not better.  We never resolved that one.

She also hated the Bee Gees "and their fake teeth and falsettos."  She couldn't stand Rod Stewart's "Do you think I'm sexy?", but she had an inexplicable soft-spot for that slime ball Tom Jones.  We both loved media.  We both loved Terence Trent D'arby.

She loved nature, and would force me to go out with her at times to visit animals on a farm or take a long drive.  I usually had something else I wanted to do, but when the goat nipped at my leg, or we petted a cow--I would finally get why she made us do those trips.  There was a beautiful world out there--one we can easily isolate ourselves from.

Practical Jokes were big with her.  Throwing water on people from our balcony, making fun of my acne in front of my friends (don't worry, I'd get her back), and putting a Playboy magazine in the luggage of an Evangelist (which he opened on the plane with his wife)! She loved life.  Unlike a lot of Christians, she didn't take herself that seriously.  Uber-piety didn't impress her.  That rubbed off.

But she was a serious woman.  Constantly doing charity work out of people's eyesight.  Always looking for someone's life to invest in, and always championing some cause whether it was protecting the forests long before that was fashionable, or fighting for someone's right to have health insurance in a church.  She started a seniors home in Oakland, California that was named after her, and she was a nurse in the violent ward of the state institution.  Sometimes I would pick her up late from work....after her late night shift.  Totally oblivious to how tired a person might be at the end of a shift like that.  Not knowing or getting the toll it took on her.

Regrets...I have many.  None more than the fact that I was a college drop-out when she died--convinced by a Pentecostal sect that college would only damage the mind.  Idiotic, but I fell for it.  "One day, you'll grow out of it," she said.  And she was right.  I did eventually go back to college and flourished, but she never got to see that.  Some say she knew that I would end up okay.  But I was not okay when she died and that has always stuck with me.  She valued education more than anything and I broke her heart when I walked away from it.

I told her I loved her often. I told her she was my hero.  I told her she was my trusted friend.  Thankfully, I told her a lot.  But there is much I never got to say:  that I saw the sacrifice, that I saw how she had overcome her circumstances, that I saw how she engaged the world, and I knew I had to follow.

Over the years, the pain of missing the daily engagement with her decreased as it does with time.  But new pains arose.  That she never got to know Jamie.  She would have absolutely adored my wife.  They would have been best friends.  Or that she never got to see my son---a far healthier, more obedient version of me and her.  These are pains that don't diminish over time.  There is a vacuum and a hole that does not get filled in this life.

Her final years of suffering were mercifully short.  She was diagnosed with breast cancer in August 1988 and she passed away in January of 1991.  We thought we had it beat for a while, but I think I always knew how it would end.

Others have lost in this world.  Death is a part of life, as the cliche says.  But I hold to the belief that death is not natural.  That we long to live.  We long for that kiss to last forever, that our child will stay in our arms forever, and that we will be with the people we love forever.  Eternity is written into our hearts.  Death is inevitable, but it is a violation of something divine within us.  Something that was made for eternal communion.

I don't think the mourning will stop in this life.  Each day there is loss.  But each day there is also gratefulness.  Grateful that what was once given to me, I can now give back to my son.  Grateful that we can marinate in people until the beauty of their souls impacts ours and changes us for the better.  Grateful that much about this person, can never be taken away from me.  We mourn, because this fallen world tries to convince us that love is not eternal.  But it is.  It really is.

Announcing: "The Budapest Lectures"

 

This month we are launching "The Budapest Lectures," part of an in-house seminary hosted by the Hungary Church of God.  Every season:  Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall, we will have in-depth courses taught at our two churches in Budapest.  The speakers will be leaders from the Church of God and come from North America and Europe.  For four days, they will lead the classes into an examination of whatever subject covers their area of expertise.

The Budapest Lectures launch this month with Germany's Rainer Klinner from Fritzlar Bible teaching first.  In the Spring session, Greg Wiens--the State Director of Florida and of Healthy Growing Churches Network will speak.  In the Summer, 3W's Ken Oldham (Cairo) will be the featured teacher.  Also in line are Gary Kendall, Tom Planck and myself heading all the way into 2014.  And this is just the beginning.

Furthermore, The Church of God in Hungary and 3W are inviting leaders from the Europe/Middle East to join in these in-depth training sessions.  Budapest is very centrally located for our region (in Central Europe) and it is an inexpensive city compared to most in our region.  Three Worlds plans to offer scholarships from time to time, for regional leaders (especially young leaders) to attend these special courses.  All of this is part of the 3W Prism.  Our third top priority is to create healthy connectivity within the Church of God in Europe, the Middle East and beyond.  By starting this event in Budapest, it gives our region a regular place to meet up for training and fellowship. Many of the lectures will be aimed at helping churches and leaders navigate the challenges of Post-Christendom environments.

We are very excited to be partnering with the Church of God in Hungary which has shown a tremendous desire to learn, to be connected, and to give back to the whole region.  Keep an eye on the Budapest Lectures!

2 Talks in Oregon: January 31st and February 2nd.

 

Hello friends in the Pacific Northwest.  Next week I will be flying to the USA to visit Oregon and Wyoming before heading over to Russia to check on the newly completed church building.  While in Portland, I will be giving 2 talks that are open to the public.

THURSDAY JANUARY 31st

"Europe's Past...America's Future?:  Secularism & Christianity in the 21st Century"

We will look at the rise of secularization and the decline of religious belief in Europe.  We will ask the question whether the United States is following down the same path as Europe, or whether there are factors at play that can lead to religious re-vitalization in the coming decades.  Is there hope for Europe and what are we to make of the growth of Islam ?

At 7PM Mt. Scott CHOG 10603 Henderson, Portland OR 9226

Free and Open to the Public.

SATURDAY FEBRUARY 2nd

"The Challenge Facing 21st Century Missions"

From 10:30AM - to 2:30PM  (Lunch Included---Please RSVP)

Hoodview CHOG 1530 Mount Hood Avenue, Woodburn, OR 97071

The Christian landscape around the world has changed and it calls for a re-calibration by North American mission-efforts.  What is entailed in this re-calibration and how does Three Worlds offer a response to the challenges of the 21st Century.  This talk is divided into two parts:  The Challenge and the Solution.

Zach and Audrey Langford (3W-Liverpool) will be joining me at  both events.   We hope to see you there!

ThreeWorldsTV on YouTube

In an effort to continue growing and giving people a better insight into Three Worlds, we have started a channel on YouTube called:  ThreeWorldsTV.  We will be posting videos on ThreeWorldsTV.  Sometimes they may be interviews, sometimes they may be informative, sometimes they may be answers to questions submitted by churches or readers (We'll happily take your questions anytime).  And sometimes, we will put up videos that are just videos of the beautiful scenery that you can find in Europe and the Middle East.  Occasionally, there may be some pretty silly stuff we put up there too because this job gets too serious sometimes. Now, a certain occasional reader to the Three Worlds Diary sent us a funny video on facebook castigating people who film things vertically on their i-phones because they don't realize you can film horizontally.  Okay...yes, I plead guilty.  That is me.  But as all you diary readers know after 11 years of having this diary, I am world famous for my lousy photography skills.  I've since corrected the vertical issue. However, this first video was filmed in November before I got reamed out by our diary reader.  So, point taken.  :)

Overall, we'll have to see if my skills can improve in time.  Lord knows my photography sure hasn't.  But I will try to do my best to make them better.  In time, we are hoping that our 3W Teammates will be adding stuff as well.  Ken Oldham will be helping out and appearing and narrating some videos.  It's a shame I didn't do this 2 years ago since we have seen so many beautiful things and had so many great things to report on.  But better late than never.  Finding the time to do video has been the main obstacle.  We're already busy enough with the work and travel, but then when you add the diary, facebook, and twitter--it really adds up.  Now video!  But this is the world we live in and it does give people an insight into the mission-field that never would have been possible in our parents' and grandparents' day.  That is very cool.

Lastly, I really don't like being in pictures or video, but there's no way around this if we're going to bring stuff to you on video.  So, I'll just have to deal with it.

I'll be posting some of our already made videos over the coming months, and adding some stuff from upcoming winter/spring trips to the USA, Russia, Italy, Hungary, London, and Ireland.  I may even include shots of airplanes since I know you love those and always want more.

This first video is from a few weeks ago:  a response to a question submitted to us by Fairfax Community Church.

Time to Laugh

I love everything Ben Stiller does.  My favorite scene from Meet the Parents.  

Mourning the Demise of African-American Music

For quite a few years, I've been promising diary readers an essay on the decline of African-American Music.  It's something that genuinely bothers me, as I grew up listening to 70's/80's soul, R & B, and funk.  That music was rooted in solid musicianship, beautiful voices, and genuine soul.  Whether it was Marvin Gaye singing meaningful and soulful songs like "What's Going On?," Funkadelic's hardcore funk of "One Nation Under a Groove," or Michael Jackson's contagious dance-pop masterpiece "Billie Jean," you could be sure that behind African-American music, there were people who were genuinely talented musicians, arrangers, and creative geniuses. From the borrowed sounds of Elvis Presley, to the global mania of Michael Jackson, to the expansion of local, indigenous non-English rap in places as unlikely as Algeria, Japan, and Australia---the world has always loved the American Jazz/Blues/Soul tradition.

But something happened. On today's radio, kids aren't going to hear the talented bass lines of someone like Bootsy Collins (Parliament-Funkadelic) or Bernard Edwards (Chic).  There's no great, innovative soul guitarists like Nile Rodgers (Chic), or great live bands like Earth, Wind, and Fire or Kool & the Gang.  (White) KC & the Sunshine Band has ten times as much soul as anything on the radio today.  Neither do we see artists like Prince that can play over 30 instruments and who has the greatest male vocal range of any singer in rock n' roll (his lowest notes are deeply resonant and full and his high notes are Mariah Carey level).  Prince always ran a tight live band with high demands as does Sting---much more so than any R & B/Hip-Hop artists out there in the last 20 years.  And the beauty of the male African-American voice as exemplified by the harmonies of the Temptations, The Spinners, the Four Tops and others is just completely gone.  Even Roger Korman and Zapp ("Computer Love") surrounded themselves with beautiful male African-American voices and solid musicians and that was in the early 80's.

What happened?  Computers happened and Rap happened.  Computers enabled producers to become the primary drivers in music.  No longer did one need to hire talented session musicians, now the studio could produce the bass, the drums, and even make tone deaf people sound like they can sing--See Britney Spears and a whole host of others.  It saves money and you can rely on one guy.  The problem is that you can hear it!  The drums don't have the same pop as if Tony Thompson were behind the drums.  The male voices are not as resonant anymore.  The guitars are a virtual non-factor.

Sadly, Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones started us down this road.  Jackson, petrified of not being able to top "Thriller" made "Bad" an overproduced, space age sounding album that had far less soul and funk than Thriller which relied more heavily on real musicians.  Compare how you feel when listening to "Off the Wall" or the Jackson's brilliant "Triumph" album with how you feel listening to a song like "Speed Demon" on Bad.  You can feel the computers winning the battle for the soul of African-American Music.  "Bad" sold very well, but not as well as "Thriller."  His next album "Dangerous" took the musicianship to new lows.  A song like "Keep it in the Closet" (See below) could just not get anymore soulless or hollow if it tried.

It was around this time that Rap really broke open.  Rap of course had been around in the late 70's with the Sugarhill Gang's "Rappers Delight," Grandmaster Flash, and Kurtis Blow.  But even this early rap was based on samples of music by bands like Chic or James Brown.  The rappers used the unbelievably catchy guitar hooks of songs like "Sex Machine" or the bass lines of "Good Times."  The soul throbbed and the rappers rapped over that soul.  Rap played upon the value of oral tradition/storytelling, which is part of the African and African-American experience, and gave it a fresh outlet.  There is value in that by itself.  But rap would be dependent on the samples of other people's great musicianship.

When rap went mainstream with Run DMC's "Walk This Way" and the Beastie Boys "Fight For your Right (to Party)," rap began to really take off.  By the early 90's, Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, L.L. Cool J. and Snoop Doggy Dogg ushered in the so-called "Golden Age of Rap."  But all of this meant more sampling, more studio production, and less live musicians.  But even the Beastie Boys (white Jews from Manhattan) valued classic soul as evidenced by their brilliant 2nd album "Paul's Boutique" and they even learned to play instruments.  Their songs on "Ill Communication" are more funky and pay more tribute to 70's African-American music than any other African American artist out there was doing at the time or since!

Hip-Hop (New Jack Swing) really took off with Bobby Brown's "Don't Be Cruel" album which was produced by BabyFace (a guy with a great voice himself) really seemed to open pandoras box as far the over-produced soul album was concerned.  Paula Abdul's smash album continued it, as did Janet Jackson's music (although she worked closely with the wonderful live bands formed by producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis of  The Time).  After that, it gets increasingly hard to find good soul music.  Terence Trent D'Arby (my favorite soul artist) released his masterpiece "Symphony or Damn" in 1993 to little fanfare.  Yet D'Arby has more musical talent and soul in his little finger than the entire R & B top 10 artists today.  D'Arby was snuffed out by the new studio produced African-American music, the sample-reliant Rap format, and by the threatened artist Michael Jackson who always felt D'Arby was the one who could truly knock the King of Pop off his throne.  Jackson's insistence that he be called "the King of Pop" (emphasis on the word "Pop") shows how carelessly he treated his soul R & B heritage:  And this from a guy who grew up in the Motown family!

It was over by 1989.  By the early 90's, Rap was the biggest form of music selling in the world.  It is only now being displaced by the over-produced artificial dance music that is all over the airwaves.  The runaway smash hit "Gangham Style" is a perfect example of the new soulless soul.  The Seoul crooner is a dance sensation.  You know it's gotten bad when the world is dancing to Korean music--the most studio produced music ever.

There must be a ton of unemployed, great, African-American musicians.  I hear Wynton Marsalis often plays to a handful of people.  Terence Trent D'Arby is lucky to get a few club gigs in Italy, France, or Switzerland and he may be the most soulful artist left.  It's no wonder that Whitney Houston's funeral was so inspiring.  The talent is in black church choirs and African-American churches.  Occasionally we see it on display on shows like American Idol.  We miss it, but we don't even realize we miss people with a voice like Luther Vandross, James Ingram, The Stylistics, and the incomparable Whitney Houston in her prime--who herself was a Clive Davis production--but what a majestic voice!  The loss of this level of musicianship is something to be mourned.  There are bands like Roots (who still had to take a job as Jimmy Fallon's back-up band), and more recently Bruno Mars that are bringing back some of the soul, but it's not the same.  We were once inundated with talent.

How did we go from the Commodores to Gangham Style in 30 short years?  I know the answer, but I can't believe it.

********

For some examples, Check these videos out:

One of my all-time favorites:  Ray Goodman and Brown lip-syncing on a TV show in 1980.  There are live versions out there.

Bootsy Collins breaking down funky bass playing.  It makes me weep that we don't hear this stuff anymore.

Bootsy absolutely tearing it up on the bass. Notice it's at the Jazz Open in Stuttgart.  You're more likely to see appreciation of this at a European Jazz Festival than in the USA.  And yes, there's a guy wearing a diaper.  All the more cool!

Back when a band really mattered and you had to have a horn section. James Brown slamming it.  If you're not moving to this you are dead.

Sugarhill Gang's "Rapper's Delight" back in 1979/80 started to get rap exposure beyond New York City.  It is completely dependent on the bass line of Bernard Edwards and the Guitar part of Nile Rodgers.  Rap would play upon the oral/storytelling tradition of African American experience, but it would be reliant on samples of other people's musicanship.  I'm not sure Rap ever surpassed this.  The Chic song "Good Times" has been sampled over and over since.

The hollow sounds and super boring melody lines of the over-produced Michael Jackson on "Keep it in the Closet."

The completely atrocious, soulless, computer sounds of Usher---very emblematic of todays African American R & B music.

The funeral dirge of Gangham Style dance, hip-hop, soul.

Last but certainly not least, Terence Trent D'Arby combining vocals, songwriting, and musicianship.  Beautiful voice...and give him until 1:37 for him to get kicking.  My man, TTD.

Photos of the Austrian Alps

We just got back from a relaxing trip to Hallstatt, Austria in the Alps.  This is a place that has become a bit of a winter refuge for us at Christmas time.  The town only has about 800 people and pretty much shuts down around Christmas.  Internet is usually spotty to non-existant, and it forces us to really unplug from the world.  It's a great time to just enjoy being a family together.  We play lots of games, listen to music, and read books.  Then we take walks and enjoy the beautiful scenery.  It's very quiet and tranquil---except when the lovely Christmas/New Years band goes around from house to house playing holiday carols.  The focused family time is especially important.  And since we work at home, drawing the line between work and home is never easy.  In Hallstatt, all work things can really stop in a way they don't any other time of the year.  And nothing compares with the Alps anywhere in the world.  These beautifully preserved, pristine towns in Switzlerand and Austria and Italy amidst the sharp peaks and valleys are something you don't see in the Andes or Himalayas or Rockies.  It is just mind-blowingly idyllic.

A little bit about Hallstatt.  Hallstatt is a small town that hugs the cliffside of a a large lake.  It is surrounded by mountains on all side which gives it a cauldron-like feel.  There are only about 800 inhabitants in the town which is about 1 hour away from Salzburg ("The Sound of Music" area), and 2 hours from Munich.  There were no roads to Hallstatt until about 1890, so the village was quite cut off from the world.  High up above the town in a mining car track that goes into the Salt Mine that made Hallstatt an important and wealthy town.  The town is at least 800 years old, although there is evidence of settlement dating back to 5500 B.C.  Today Hallstatt is mainly a tourism town and there are numerous skiing resorts in the area.

They speak German in Hallstatt, but it's different than the German spoken in Germany (which itself can vary from region to region).  The Alps region of Europe is actually far more diverse than people realize.  All of these towns and valley cut off by these towering mountains often picked up a great variety of dialects.  You can hear some Italian in the German of the Hallstatt people.  Some areas of the Alps have dialects derived from German tribal langauges, and others have French dialects, Romansh--an ancient Rheato-Romanic language, and even Celtic langauge surfaces in the Alps region.  Overall, Europe is the most culturally diverse region on Planet Earth---a statistic that surprises people who might think India or Africa is more diverse.

We're back feeling rested and re-energized for a great 2013 at Three Worlds.  Lots of good things are coming this year and there's still so much we haven't shared as we continue to carefully line things up for the next few years.  So thanks for sticking with us and we're looking forward to a great 2013.  Marco's 10th birthday is coming up very soon.  I will be devastated as my little baby turns 10, but I'll also be very proud.  Get out the kleenex relatively soon.  I'll need it.

Great photos of a previous trip to Hallstatt in wintertime  here.