For some reason bumper stickers and personalized license plates have caught my attention for years.  I suppose a lot of it is due to the many annoying hours I’ve lost looking at the back of cars in front of me.  The concept of a bumper sticker alone is weird, but there’s something mind-boggling about what a lot of people choose to put on the back of their cars for thousands of strangers to see.  I can understand wanting to spice up an automobile or support a cause, but then there are just the completely inexplicable ones that make me really wonder about the fate of mankind.  (more…)

The issue of what aspects of culture a Christian should or shouldn’t participate in is a central preoccupation of the collective evangelical mind. On one hand we see the effects of evil and depravity embodied in the culture around us, but on the other hand, through God’s common grace, we’re able to see beauty and value in culture as well. Scripture tells us “Do not love the world or the things in the world” (1 John 2:15), but we also see in Acts 17 that Paul reaches out to the people of Athens by engaging them through their own culturally idolatrous presuppositions. Paul truly strove to be “all things to all people that by all means (he) might save some.” (1 Cor 9:22)

A couple years ago I had an experience that drove this dilemma home for me. My wife and I had recently moved from Washington, DC to Seattle. In DC, we were in an environment of knowing almost no Christians but when we moved to Seattle and started attending Mars Hill, we found ourselves in a new environment where just about everyone we knew were Christians. As a relatively new believer myself, I’d never been in such an encouraging environment and Mars Hill Church was, and continues to be, a wonderful place for me to grow in my faith. But sometimes I missed the many opportunities I had back in DC to share the gospel with people who didn’t believe.

Around that time some good old friends of mine from DC, a band called Darkest Hour, were making a record (subsequently called “Undoing Ruin”) up in Vancouver BC and invited me to come up and hang out for a day. It ended up being a great day all around. For those guys, and my good friend Mike in particular, I think it was a refreshing time after long days surrounded by the same people in a mostly dark studio recording heavy metal for weeks on end. I have known Mike since 1997 when our bands toured together, long before I was a Christian, and I pray for him regularly. I am always looking for a way to present the gospel in a new way to those guys, in a way that maybe they haven’t heard before, and I pray that God gives them the ears to hear it.

While we were hanging out in the studio listening to the playback from some of their new recordings I saw a copy of Slayer’s God Hates Us All (which was released interestingly enough on 9/11/01*) among various other CDs in the studio. For those unaware of who Slayer is or what they’re about, they are one of the quintessential metal bands of the last two decades, taking some of the style of the bands that preceded them, making it faster, heavier, and more brutal (especially with 1987’s Reign in Blood) and thus redefined the metal genre in general (while simultaneously pioneering thrash.) Needless to say with a title like God Hates Us All, Slayer are no friends of Christ or his followers. I find the image, art, and lyrical content of Slayer to be more comical than threatening, especially now that the members are in their 40’s and are pretty much doing exactly the same thing they were doing for the same angst-ridden demographic as they did twenty years ago. I also realize that for some this imagery can lead down dark paths. I have listened to Slayer records on occasion and personally have not felt conviction or evil thoughts, and usually it is no more than with passing curiosity that I would listen to them at all.

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Over the last ten years, Mars Hill Church has grown dramatically, not only in size but also in our use of technology. In that time we have always been quick to embrace new forms of advancement in the way we do sound, lights, and (now increasingly) video. With the ten year anniversary, the new “Vintage Jesus” series, and branching out to new campuses with video and streaming capabilities, we are witnessing new levels of technology on a weekly basis. But what goes on behind closed doors that make it all possible? (more…)

By Nathan Burke

With their 4th full-length album, Vheissu, Orange County’s Thrice have made a record with the kind of depth and attention to detail not commonly found in most contemporary rock releases.

There are some very aurally immediate elements on the record, such as the rock anthem “Image of the Invisible” and the cinematic “Red Sky.” The tunes range from the heavy “Hold Fast Hope” (reminiscent of Seattle’s now-defunct math metal band, Botch), to the elegant, longing, and achingly beautiful “Atlantic” (a song Coldplay wishes they could have written).

In short, Vheissu is a challenging listen in that it demands the active engagement of the listener. There is a wide range of styles, spatial tones, energy and dynamics that only comes together as a cohesive whole through repeated spins. The end result could best described as oceanic. (more…)

by Nate Burke
Vox Pop #19: 07.02.06. Tool will play at the Gorge this August. Tickets went on sale last weekend.

For those familiar with Tool, there is nothing particularly surprising about 10,000 Days. All told, however, this latest offering from the “progressive metal” pseudo-genre is a very creative, well-executed record. In short, it rocks: an aural rollercoaster featuring moments when I feel the need to pull out a friggin’ abacus just to figure out what the heck is going on with all the time changes. Tool is so far and above the usual “chugga chugga” metal that it bears almost no resemblance to it. (more…)