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Best Christian Music of 2008?

Christianity Today posted this article on the best Christian music of 2008!  Only a few of these titles are readily  available in the UK! The number one pick by Brooke Fraser is not available in the UK yet. If this was some small time magazine who published an obscure list of music then i would pass it by BUT this album has featured on so many “best of” lists online in the last few months! It should be in the UK, and not just on amazon who so obviously have imported it! Ok, i know we get some great music here in the UK BUT really, this is a bit strange. To find an album being so applauded in the industry and across the internet and nobody has thought to get it on our shelves yet? any answers?

Current difficulties at STL….

At the end of October STL had a change of computer system which has continued to effect the trade over the last couple of months. For those reading who have no idea what STL is, they are the “largest” supplier of Christian product in UK & Europe. The Christian retail trade depends on them for an awful lot of what the customers in our shops purchase. The two times i mention them above are linked to their new blog, which is keeping many up to date with the progress of their new system etc. We have, like all retailers, been affected by the changes and at times it has been very difficult to explain what is actually happening out there. I am not directly affected as i sit at my desk and think about html etc etc but i know of the difficulties that some of our shops & more importantly our Distribution Center, have experienced. This is not primarily the point of my post! I would like to know how we deal with these problems? Not just as retailers dealing with suppliers but also as customers dealing with retailers? How do we deal with frustrations and delays with orders? I ask this because of the following;

“It’s sad really, especially when you consider that the majority of people who I work with aren’t Christians. So now the wonderful witness that they’re experiencing is Christian after Christian shouting, swearing and generally acting like the world has come to end because their books are two days later arriving than normal. To be fair, not everyone is that bad, and some people are really nice and understanding, but sadly it’s the horrible customers who my colleagues remember.
Message for all STL customers – be nicer.”

This excerpt comes from a blog by someone who works at STL, you can visit her blog here. So, Christian retailers are being nasty to STL, perhaps and almost certainly, Christian customers are being nasty to Christian retailers and in case you have not noticed, the common thread here is the word Christian. Being Christian in name is simply not good enough and as the excerpt above relays a message of “be nicer” i would add to it that we should BE CHRISTIAN!

ESV Study Bible

The ESV is a dream come true for me! the scope and theological faithfulness of the ESV Study Bible notes is breathtaking.” — John Piper, Pastor for Preaching and Vision, Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis. “The ESV Study Bible is the most important resource that has been given to the emerging generation of Bible students and teachers. The ESV Study Bible is the best. Perior.” — Mark Driscoll, Preaching Pastor, Mars Hill Church, Seattle. “The definitive clarity and beauty of the ESV Study Bible is extraordinary! For everyone who wants to understand God’s word in a deeper way, the ESV Study Bible is an outstanding resource” — Joni Eareckson Tada, Founda of the JAF International Disability Center. “The ESV Study Bible is the finest study tool I have seen in fifty years of Bible teaching. The notes, articles, maps and illustrations are all of the highest quality. It is a great achievement!” — Jerry Bridgets, speaker and bestselling author of The Pursuit of Holiness. Understand the Bible in a deeper way. The ESV Study Bible was created to help people understand the Bible in a deeper way. To accomplish this, it combines the best and most recent evangelical Christian scholarship with the highly regarded ESV Bible text. The result is the most comprehensive study Bible ever created, which raises the bar in terms of quality and quantity to a level that will not be matched for decades.

Now available in your local Faith Mission Bookshop

Brenton Brown

Brenton Brown is one of those artists who you might not know BUT you will most definitely know some of his songs. His songs, Lord Reign in me, All who are thirsty, Humble King, Hallelujah [Your love is amazing] and Holy were recorded on the hugely popular Vineyard UK projects of a few years ago and are now sang in Churches all over the world. In 2006 Brown released his first solo album, Everlasting God. The title track from Everlasting God  has gained a lot of popularity within the world of worship music and has already apeared on numerous other recordings. Brenton will be in Uk & Europe in Feb09, see the poster below for details of how to book him for your Church

 

This BLOG & others

Please read for a better understanding of what a Blog actually is & more importantly what this FM Blog is about & who its for..

The number of blogs on the internet is doubling every five months, according to blog-tracking site Technorati. The total is now around 20 million, with around 1.3 million posts made each day. Most are no more interesting than overhearing another person’s telephone call, but there are exceptions that can have a remarkable impact. But, lets define the term first; “A blog (a contraction of the term “Web log“) is a Web site, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order. “Blog” can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog” (from wikepedia).
So, a Blog by Faith Mission Bookshops? Why? The initial idea to have a place that site visitors would land on while we prepare the web-site was part of the plan but also the blog will continue once we launch. “Christian Blogs” are everywhere on the internet and i feel strongly that we have an advantage in our favour. Faith Mission sells Christian books, music, card & Gift product, in other words we cater for the “Church” with our product. Now, thats a lot of people! In light of this having a wide range of “Christian” topics on our blog is part of what it takes to build it into something. Providing links to other “Christian” blogs, where appropriate is also a huge part of creating an online community of readers. We need your help & feedback to do all of this though. We will highlight books & music, we will mention “Christian” events/concerts and we will blog about “Church life.” In a nutshell if its “Christian” we might just blog about it.
Got any ideas for us? Thoughts on blogging, or questions? Leave a comment! We know that we are getting traffic regularly on the blog & some of you are actually staying long enough to suggest that you are reading it! So, do say hello & stick around, we would love to “meet” you

Belfast Church Plant

When i read those words my first instinct was “Does Belfast need another Church?” I am quite sure that is a common response & would be the same in most Northern Irelands towns or Cities. With over 1/4Million population Belfast is an ever changing city, the effects of peace in our land and huge investment in the city are visible for all to see. So often we hear of declining figures in Church attendance but i am not sure iv ever seen a proper statistic on this, or at least one that i can trust. This Church Plant is part of the New Frontiers network of Churches who i knew little about until i read of this, i did know of Terry Virgo though. In relation to the plant here are some questions they have asked ;

Are you from Northern Ireland and has God given you a heart to see churches, on mission, planted across the region?

Do you know anyone from Northern Ireland who might be interested in a church plant in Belfast?

Do you have a heart for church planting in an urban or rural context?

Pretty much all you need to know is at their official Belfast Church Plant Website