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Spurgeon on music in worship
An apt remark by P. Andrew Sandlin: Church leaders: if your praise band plays songs 90% of your congregation can't sing easily or enthusiastically, you don't have a church music program; you have a musical performance program. Let me urge you to start a church music program. prompted Noah Goedker...
SB962 to move school board elections to the fall
SB962, which would move school board general elections to November, has cleared the Oklahoma House of Representatives Rules Committee and is awaiting action by the whole house. The bill does not alter terms of office and does not make the elections partisan. The bill does not change the date for...
Thanksgiving and the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower's arrival
A happy Thanksgiving 2020 to all and sundry. Ours was immediate family only, with one away at school; our nearest extended family were elsewhere today, and many more of our extended family are of advanced age. So four of us did all the cooking, eating, and cleaning. We intended to...
Independence Day 2020: Are flags in churches idolatry?
If you're on Twitter you might have concluded that July 4th was Hipster-Pastors-Complaining-About-Flags-in-Churches Day.
V-E Day 75th anniversary
The German war is therefore at an end. After years of intense preparation, Germany hurled herself on Poland at the beginning of September, 1939; and, in pursuance of our guarantee to Poland and in agreement with the French Republic, Great Britain, the British Empire and Commonwealth of Nations, declared war...
Coronavirus cluster at Arkansas church shows asymptomatic spread
A large cluster of Chinese Communist Party Bat Virus cases has emerged in rural Arkansas, apparently the result of asymptomatic spread at a March 6-8 church event, may trace back to the headquarters of Assemblies of God World Missions, based in Springfield, Missouri.
New hymnal: <em>Hymns to the Living God</em>
Religious Affections Ministries has published a new hymnal, and it's available for free download. Hymns to the Living God is notable for its slim size and the scarcity of copyright notices. Only 294 hymns were selected for inclusion, and nearly all of them are in the public domain. Scott Aniol,...
A vision of Middle Earth: New Zealand's Blue Spring at Te Waihou
A friend recently asked for advice on places to visit in Australia and New Zealand. Our family had the blessing of visiting both countries a couple of years ago, and I returned briefly the following year. I had plenty of happy memories to share. I don't write about our travels...
Armistice 100: We Will Remember Them
Today is the 100th anniversary of the armistice that ended the fighting of what they knew as the Great War, what we know as the First World War. In memory of the millions who died in the conflict and the millions more who were maimed in body and mind, here...
Paul Gray, RIP
Paul Gray, president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1980 to 1990 and the man who handed me my college diploma, died today at the age of 85. Gray was the last true MIT nerd to hold the post, possibly the last who ever will. In his years in...
Calling conservatives: Last day of Oklahoma school board 2015 filing period
It sneaks up on us every year -- the filing period for next spring's school board elections across Oklahoma. It's the first Monday in December and the two days following, at the start of the Christmas season as popularly defined. This year the timing of the filing period is the...
President Washington's Thanksgiving proclamation
Yesterday was the 225th anniversary of the America's first national day of Thanksgiving, as proclaimed by President Washington at the behest of Congress. The heart of this particular observance was thankfulness to God for "an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness." Washington...
See the Niña and the Pinta in Muskogee
Just four more days until the Niña and the Pinta, historical recreations of Christopher Columbus's two caravels, sail out of Muskogee's Three Forks Harbor and down the Arkansas River to their next destination. The ships serve as touring maritime museums, traveling around North America to teach about Columbus, seafaring, and...
<em>Dancing under the Red Star</em>: An American survivor of the Soviet gulag
During the all-too-brief Thanksgiving weekend, I actually did unwind a bit. We had Thanksgiving dinner at my parents' house, along with my sister and her family, and we celebrated my birthday (belated) and my dad's (early). I took the 14-year-old to the Friday night late showing of Harry Potter and...
Sudden death
Time is now fleeting, the moments are passing Passing from you and from me Shadows are gathering, death beds are coming Coming for you and for me. An uncle of mine died this week. He was 70. He and my aunt were in the process of moving into a...
A Thanksgiving reader
The Wall Street Journal's Thanksgiving tradition, since 1961: The Desolate Wilderness: The New World in the words of the Pilgrims' historian And the Fair Land: A modern reflection on America's prosperity and challenges. Plus this story on Franklin Roosevelt's short-lived attempt (1939-1941) to move the date of Thanksgiving one week...
Santa Claus, <em>Stinky Cheese Man</em> illustrator at Philbrook today
Santa Claus returns to Tulsa's Philbrook Art Museum for the 25th anniversary of the Festival of Trees. Today (November 21, 2009) is the members' opening of the Festival; the Festival opens to the public on Sunday. Santa will be at Philbrook each weekend of the festival (including the Friday after...
Three-year council terms a bad idea
It's rare that I say this, but I agree with the Tulsa Whirled editorial board. In a Wednesday editorial, they urged the defeat of a proposed charter amendment to have the City Council elected to staggered three-year terms, so that only a third of the council is up for re-election...
Paul Harvey: Other tributes, glimpses of his Christian faith
A reminiscence from Pastor Ray Pritchard: Legendary radio broadcaster Paul Harvey died today at the age of 90. Besides virtually creating his own medium that combined reporting with news commentary, he also knew how to tell a story. He gave the tease, paused, told a bit more, paused, let the...
Film of Oklahoma's 1920s black communities available through Global ImageWorks
UPDATE: The films discovered by Currie Ballard, filmed by Rev. Dr. Solomon Sir Jones, are now available for viewing and download on the website of Yale University's Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. More about the Rev. Dr. Solomon Sir Jones and his films here. A couple of years ago,...
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