Friday, August 29, 2008

This world is turning upside down


Have you ever set back and just looked at everything that is going on around you.  I have and sometimes it is pretty scary.  The problem today is that as Christians we are not allowed to express are true feelings if those feelings may upset someone.  I guess that is why I love to write on this blog because no matter if you read this or not, at least I am expressing what I feel and if this hurts me then I guess I will just have to live with it.

This world is turning upside down.  Twenty years ago, it was really easy to know exactly how to act and what to do or not do in the ministry but today everything has changed.  Churches are so divided in so many ways and honestly, I do not know how Pastors are able to handle it.  Just take the future election that are coming up.  We have a Democratic candidate that is extremely popular but he is extremely liberal.  He believes in gay marriage and abortions.  Just those two issues should make any true christian stray away from him but that is not the case.  

Just this week we had a man come down on one of the mission trips to Honduras who was very very pro Obama.  Of course no one knew this and when my mother mentioned something to him about the elections, he made it very plain to everyone that he was a strong Obama supporter.  What should a person do in a situation like that?  Should we keep quite to keep from offending him or do we have the right to express our opinion?

Politics is not just a problem today.  As we visit churches in the states, we enter every venue not really knowing what to expect.  Years ago, every church was pretty much the same when it came to many aspects but today you never know what to expect.  Their is not much middle ground anymore.  You are either liberal or a legalist in  your beliefs.  I used to think that legalistic meant you followed the law of God but I have found out by experience that most legalistic minded people make up new rules as time passes.  Liberals on the other hand seem to have no rules.  Many have no respect for the house of God anymore and it is overwhelming to see a song leader leading worship in flip flops and in bermuda shorts.  

As a group, we truly try to overlook what we see and focus on our purpose of being there.  Unfortunately, we run into situations that effect us.  One example is that their is now a movement in churches in the U.S. that believe that singing with sound tracks is a sin.  Please dont ask me to quote a scripture for this because I would have to read the Bible from cover to cover and I dont think that their was soundtracks back in the days of Moses.  

At one of our concerts in North Carolina, I actually had a man come to me all excited because he had found the problem for rebellion in the youth today.  SPORTS!  Yes, I am not lying.  He said sports.  I was not planning on hearing to much more of this but he went ahead and explained why SPORTS was the demon that was destroying our youth today.  He said that SPORTS came from the country of Greece and since the Greeks worshiped other gods then anyone who participated in sports was actually bringing honor to other gods not the true God Jehovah.  Here we are in a church, invited to sing, what I am supposed to do.  I just looked at him and said REALLY, and walked away.  

I envy people who are able to find a good church to go to and that is the only church they assist. Unfortunately for missionaries, evangelist, singing groups like ours, we visit all kinds and it is not easy find one you fit in but when we do, it is such a wonderful experience.  

I am not liberal and I am not a legalistic.  I am in the middle and the Holy Spirit guides me in my daily decisions.  I have been thru it in my life because of some stupid decisions that I made when I was much younger but it has done something good for, it has shown me who really love me and does not.  If you want to know who your true friends really are, mess up once and see who sticks around.  Ninety percent of my friends vanished but I thank God for the friends that stuck around.  Guess what, these friends are not legalistic and they are not liberal.  I guess you would just call them christians.  They dont judge, they just love.  Sounds like Jesus to me!!!

Philip

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Singing English Christian Songs in Spanish

When we started the Samaritan Revival Group, one of the questions that we were faced with was "What kind of music are we going to sing?"  There is such a variety of Christian music today that it is hard to pick the right style.  Some people will only listen to old hymns and there is nothing wrong with that but others like the more contemporary style of music.  I talked to the guys and with their talent, the can sing just about anything but I wanted something for this group that would not only touch other people but it would minister to us also.  

For the last few years, I had heard of a group called Mercyme.  I knew that they had really hit it big with a song called, "I can only imagine" but that was all I knew about them.  I decided to go to Itunes and purchase their music.  I purchased every album they had ever recorded.  I spent the next few weeks listening to their music and really embedding their words in my heart.  Some nights, I would lay in bed listening to "Homesick" which is a song that everyone should hear at least once in their life.  All I could think about was my Dad who is now in heaven but when I heard the song "You Reign", all I could think about was how great the Glory of God was.  
A few weeks later, a friend of mine from Carrollton, Ga called me and said, have you ever heard the group Casting Crowns.  To be honest, I had no idea who they were.  He said that I really needed to listen to their music.  Once again, I went to Itunes and downloaded every song they had and uploaded it to my ipod.  I will never forget the first day or let me say, the first minute I heard "Who am I".  Then I heard Set me Free and The Word is Alive and I will never forget East to West.  In that moment, I knew that I had found the music that we were going to sing.  I never dreamed that one day we would actually have the permission to record any of these songs in spanish but we did and the power of the Lord is felt in spanish as it is in english.


WHO AM I - QUIEN SOY YO - SAMARITAN REVIVAL

I can only Imagine Spanish - Samaritan Revival

I have added two videos to this blog.  One is us singing 'Who am I" from Casting Crowns in Spanish which is called "Quien Soy Yo" and "I can only Imagine" from Mercyme in Spanish which is called "Puedo Imaginarme".  Let me just say that please don't think that we are comparing ourselves to these unbelievable groups but what I am saying is that even in spanish, these songs are touching many spanish speaking people all over the world.  I have come to realize that it is not the singer or the group but if a song is inspired by the Lord, no matter who sings it, there will be people who will feel the Holy Spirit touch their life.

Philip
www.samaritanrevival.com

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Christian Music and the Internet


It has only been one year since we started Samaritan Revival and WOW have we learned alot.  First of all, we have learned that we are not the only Christian Group trying to be noticed on the internet.  There are literally thousands of Christian groups who are subscribing to about every music community like Myspace, Facebook, Hi5 and others just trying to reach a new fan base.

When we first started out, we were so excited that we really did not care about exposure, we just wanted to sing to people and we prayed that our music would touch hearts and souls.  Unfortunately, you can compare music to a favorite food.  You find out that you love fried mushrooms but after you eat the mushrooms for a while, you are ready for a new taste.  You may say that it is not this way if your purpose is to minister but it definitely is.  What if you went to church and you heard your Pastor preach the same message over and over again.  After a while, you would get tired of hearing the same thing.

I know of groups that upload their music to many sites like reverbnation and hundreds of others but after months or years, they never update their sites with new songs or as we see now, with photos, blogs, or even videos.  One good example of a group who really has it together is Mercyme.  They not only promote their music but they use sites like youtube and Godtube to show their personal side and their day to day activities.  With so many reality shows on TV, people today want to see more than just what they see at a concert.

The internet is so powerful because you can go into peoples homes and expose your life to them.  Let me just warn you though, people are not dumb and they know if you are just putting on a show or if you are being honest about what you are showing them.  When someone gets to know you as a person, then your music becomes part of them.  They relate to you in such a different way and they even worry about your progress in the Music Industry.

Today, many artist are staying away from Record companies.  I do not know if that is good or if it is bad but what I do know is that the tools are out there on the internet to help you promote your music.  Itunes has got to be one of the greatest portals that has ever opened up to the indie artist, but you cant just have your music on itunes an expect everyone to buy it.  You have to work and I mean work extremely hard to meet people, make fans, and sometimes even give your music away for awhile until you build up a following.

Samaritan Revival uses several tools to promote and sell their music.  One great site is www.blastmymusic.com/avivamiento - Here you can listen to 30 seconds of each song and then purchase it for .99 cents.  We also created a youtube page called www.youtube.com/samaritanrevival which is really great because you can upload any video you want.  You can just video yourself talking to your fans or your newest music video.  Don't expect millions of visitors overnight.  We have been on youtube for about 6 months and our videos have been watched about 10,000 times.  Compared to others, that is not alot but it is alot more than we had six months ago when no one could watch our videos. 

If you are a Christian Artist, it is really important to let people know what your purpose is.  Is it just to sing and gain popularity or is it a ministry for you.  These are very important points that you need to bring out to your fans.  

Our biggest promotion tool has been our site at www.myspace.com/bandaavivamientosamaritano - our songs have been played almost two million times and we have met many wonderful people including Christian artist who have given us advice spiritually and advice on many areas that has to do with the industry.  I know that there are pages on myspace that are not suitable for a Christian but here is a simple solution.  Don't visit these pages.  If you walk into a book store, there is always a magazine stand with great magazines but their are always adult magazines.  Just like myspace and some other sites, you just stay away from them.

I do not know if we will ever get signed by a record company but what I do know is that when we do, we will already have a large fan base.  Just remember this, even though we love to sell Cd's, that is not our purpose and God is not blind to the desires of our heart.  He will bless you as long as you work hard and your purpose is placed on him.

Philip Tyson
www.samaritanrevival.com

Monday, August 4, 2008

Hate Sin but not the Sinner

Have you ever heard the saying "Hate sin but not the Sinner."  It is harder to say it than to actually do it.  I can talk about this because I have experienced it in my life.  

Back in 1997, my life was as good as it gets.  I was working for the Lord and I was building my sixth radio christian  station in Honduras.  What people did not know is that my home life was a wreck.  To make a long story short, I ended up in divorce and for seven years, I was out of the ministry and miserable.  I had so much guilt inside and I truly believed that God could not forgive me.  It wasn't until 2003 that I fell to my knees and asked God to forgive me.  I felt a peace that I had never felt before.  I was ready to tell the whole world about what God had done for me and I was ready to start serving Him again.

I never imagined what was going to happen next.  You expect that people who do not know Jesus is going to try to hurt you but Christians, NO WAY.  Well, YES WAY.  Even though God has forgiven me, all my Christian friends did not want to have anything to do with me.  I had never done them no harm but I guess all they could see was a big "D" on my forehead.  I made phone calls and I wrote letters asking everyone to forgive me for not living up to the standards that they expected of me but I received no response.

As the years passed, some people started approaching me and we started building relationships once again but many did not.  Even today, after so many years, there are people who I love with all my heart will not talk to me.  I ask myself, "WHY"  There are so many verses in the Bible about redemption and forgiveness but why can't we really forgive like God does?  I wonder what God thinks about the attitudes that we show towards others.  

As Christians, we should hate sin with all our strength but we have to love the sinner.  When a sinner has asked forgiveness from the Lord, this is when we should love them even more because this is the time that they need us to be close to them.  Life is not easy for me and I only blame myself because if I would of not falling in sin, this would of never happened but it has shown me a tremendous lesson.  I am going to show compassion to people who are hurting.  I am not going to judge anyone because I am not a judge, only God is.  Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman at the well when the disciples would not but she ended being the link to Jesus preaching to the whole city.  

I don't have all the answers but what I can tell you is that Christians can hurt you more than the lost people of the world.  The reason for this is because we expect the lost to act the way they do but we do not expect Christians to act like the lost.

Philip Tyson

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