A Little Lunch Music

I’ve Got a Fever, and the Only Prescription is More Updates!

Dan Dickerson — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 07:27:51 +0000

Its been the better part of a month since I last posted an update of substance. That being said, here is an update:

School:

Hebrew: We’re getting into the grammar and parts-of-speech right now. I have also been expanding my vocabulary. I’m up to 60 words. WooHoo!
Old Testament: We are finishing up the Pentateuch tomorrow.
Preaching: We have been writing sermon outlines the past couple of weeks. This week I am writing an inductive sermon using Lowry’s “The Homiletical Plot” specifically.

Church:

Worship: I’ve been asked to go back to a blended style of worship, which I don’t particularly like. And a few people on the worship team are going through some craziness in their personal lives. I’m just trying to love on them as much as possible right now.
Small Group Bible Study: Still nothing doing.
Office: Pastor Leann has been sick for the past two weeks, but she made it back in for staff meeting today. I really missed having her around. We’ve been super busy getting ready for the coat distribution that is happening at the church tomorrow. I’m praying that it will be an awesome of love and community for the volunteers who are handing out the coats as well as for the families receiving them.

Personal:

I have been keeping up on The Office, but just barely.
I did 5 push-ups today.
I’m still drinking too much coffee and getting too little sleep.

Fun Fact.

Dan Dickerson — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 23:03:34 +0000

I own 2 pairs of perfectly good running shoes and I haven’t used either of them in the past 2 months.

Keep ‘em Updated.

Dan Dickerson — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 19:00:21 +0000

School:

Hebrew: I’ve got the vowels and consonants committed to memory. Working on some vocab and forming entire words.
Old Testament: Just finished an in-depth study of the book of Amos. Working through the Torah next.
Preaching: Read Barbara Brown Taylor’s “Speaking on Sin” and Robert Lowry’s “The Homiletical Plot”. Preparing a 12-month sermon outline.

Church:

Worship: I’ve got a great group of musicians participating in the Sunday morning worship time right now. I still don’t have a sound guy, but I’m praying that God will use a few leads that I am currently pursuing.
Small Group Bible Study: Nothing going right now, but I’d really like to make the time to either get a group started or join an existing group. Whichever route I go, I am recognizing the need to supplement my personal study with group study.
Office: I’ve been giving as much time as I can at the church on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. The church is a great place for personal Bible study and worship during the week.

Personal:

I recently got season 5 of The Office and season 2 of Flight of the Conchords on DVD. Currently, these are the extent of my television viewing.
I can remember back to the beginning of September when I went running 5 times a week. I haven’t gone running even once since school started.
Let me just some this all up: Too much coffee, too little sleep.

New David Crowder: Church Music.

Dan Dickerson — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 07:18:40 +0000

I just got the new David Crowder album on Friday. I really didn’t know what to expect, besides the cover of John Mark McMillan’s “How He Loves.” Well, after having listened to the entirety of the album four times, I’ve got a few speculations as to why Crowder called the album Church Music. Before my first listen I had assumed that the album must contain songs Crowder wrote for use in churches. However, I put that thought completely out of my mind halfway through my first listen, telling myself, “These songs would need a total overhaul before I could even think of adapting them for a Sunday morning service at Hope!” This is not to say that the album doesn’t contain some great songs for congregational worship, but few of them are presented in such a way that they could be replicated by the typical church music team, especially in a live setting.

Essentially, this is an album of praise and worship songs set to dance and house music. To give you an idea of what to expect from Crowder in Church Music, just imagine taking the most “electronic” songs from Remedy (Can You Feel It?, …neverending…, Rain Down, and We Won’t Be Quiet) and spreading that sound out over 17 tracks. The sound that Crowder and the Band get here is incredible! It will literally make you dance in praise of the Lord!

This brings me to what I really want to say about the name of the album: the name Church Music is not intended to describe the kind of music within the album. Instead, I believe that Crowder is using a simple play on words that reinforces the true intentions of the music: this is dance music for the glory of God. He is using dance and house music as a form of praise and worship. There aren’t many worship albums out there like this one, bridging the gap between the God worthy of all praise and the irresistible electronica of dance and house music. I’m glad that the David Crowder Band has made this one.

And so, let me end with a word of fair warning: if you’re not into uptempo, play-it-loud music with a strong beat, go get the latest Chris Tomlin album because this just isn’t for you. Everyone else should go get this album and NOW!!!

By the way… I’m going to go see David Crowder at Rollings Hill Community Church on October 16th! WooHoo!!

Sabbath.

Dan Dickerson — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 06:56:06 +0000

I had such a great day off today! No home work. No church work. No work work. Just me and Kaylee hopping in my Accord and heading west on US Route 26 to Cannon Beach. It was a gorgeous drive; blue skies the whole way. The Lord blessed us with safe travels all day, for which I am eternally thankful.

The beach wasn’t terribly busy, even for a Friday. That may be a consequence of the school year having already begun. Whatever the reason, the circumstances were lining up to a wonderfully relaxing day. And that is precisely what we had: a wonderfully relaxing day!

Haystack Rock at Cannon Beach, OR

After lunch, we strolled down to the beach with our hands tightly clasped. We walked along the water’s edge and found a clear spot on the sand where we took an hour-long nap. Its an incredible feeling waking up on the beach. The first thing you notice is the roar of the ocean. Then you realize where you are and that your nose is full of sand. I couldn’t have been any more satisfied than in that moment when I realized I’d just taken a nap on the sandy beach. I think that that is what the Sabbath rest is all about: resting in the midst of creation.

Sleepy Monk, Cannon Beach, OR

After our nap, we headed to Sleepy Monk Coffee Shop, roasters of the finest organic coffee that I’ve ever tasted. If you get the chance to visit Cannon Beach, which everyone should at some point, go get a cup of the Monastery Blend at Sleepy Monk. It is incredible.

Sleepy Monk Organic Coffee Roasters

The rest of the day was spent perusing the local shops. I bought a nice, hand-dyed cotton shirt in town for the reasonable price of $12. Then I spent $15 on a Lewis Carroll book that I probably could have found on Amazon.com for a buck. Oh well. I’m supporting small town, independently-owned businesses. ( Update: I just searched for a copy of “Alice’s Adventures Under Ground” on Amazon.com and found a new paperback copy for $3.50. Atleast mine is a hardcover copy! )

I just want to conclude this post with a word of thanks and praise to the Father and Creator of all things. Surely we were meant to take the seventh day, the Sabbath day, as a time for reflecting on the beauty of the work His hands were creating during the other six days. I marvel at your creation, Father!

Seminary is work!

Dan Dickerson — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 06:49:12 +0000

My original intent in creating this weblog was to update my progress 2 to 3 times a week as I worked through my seminary education. As it turns out seminary is quite time-consuming. And when I do update this journal I rarely talk about school. Funny how this isn’t going as planned…but this is my life: a failure to stick to the plan. I won’t extrapolate anymore on that for now.

So, in an attempt to rediscover the “plan,” let me just give an update on how seminary is going. First of all, I am LOVING IT! The people and the classes are incredible! Its hard to nail down a steady demographic, besides the fact that all my classmates adore Jesus Christ. There are a full range of personality types, theological assumptions, and general worldviews represented within the student body, and I am excited to be able to say that I’m not the most conservative or the most liberal person among my classmates. That may not sound like much to you, but for a guy who went to Portland State University, where he was labeled “conservative,” and goes to an evangelical church every Sunday, where he is more “liberal” than many of the members, it feels good to study in an environment where I fall somewhere between the two extremes of my classmates.

Next, I want to emphasize that seminary is A TON of reading. That may come across as a complaint, but it really isn’t. This is just the nature of the beast. I have been doing about 250 pages of reading a week, with other assignments mingled in to separate my nose from the books. And here’s the cool part about going to seminary: I LOVE THE BOOKS I’M READING! Before this semester I rarely enjoyed any book I had to read for school, but the books I’ve been reading the past couple weeks are encouraging, challenging, and insightful. Its really cool.

Let me wrap up this post with a few words about the class which is quickly becoming my favorite. I knew going into this whole seminary thing that I was excited about getting to study and learn Hebrew and Greek. What I didn’t know was how challenging it was going to be to learn these languages. I am going through the Introductory Hebrew class this semester and I couldn’t be more thrilled. It is stretching my mind and stirring up my soul all at once! What a great and majestic God that would create in us the ability to learn and grow mentally as well as physically!! Praise Him!!!

By the way… Kaylee has been helping me study the Hebrew alphabet.

Kaylee can write Hebrew letters.

I was born on a day much like today…

Dan Dickerson — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 23:48:44 +0000

Its my birthday today! Perfect timing, too, because I was really starting to feel young. Its a shame that I took this long to get to 25… There’s so much life I haven’t even begun to tap into!! For instance, I have cheaper car insurance payments and lots of car rental payments to look forward to. How much to rent that sweet Ford Taurus??

Just a word…

Dan Dickerson — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 08:29:27 +0000

Just a word about the name of this blog.

A few years ago, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart wrote a beautiful piece of music commonly known as “Eine Kleine Nachtmusik,” or “A Little Night Music.” The name of this blog is remarkably similar to that: “A Little Lunch Music.” The only real difference is that I’ve reset the time of day when the music is featured. Simple as that. But why? Because I enjoy listening to music while I eat lunch. Listening aids digestion.

What am I doing here?

Dan Dickerson — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 19:50:38 +0000

My name is Dan Dickerson. I am a student at George Fox Evangelical Seminary. In an effort to track my progress along the way to completing a Masters of Divinity degree, I thought I’d keep this activity log going. For all of you out there that aren’t me, thanks for stopping in!

Digging in.

Dan Dickerson — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 21:07:49 +0000

I’ve only had two days of school and I’m already feeling overwhelmed! Last Thursday I went to Old Testament I, which wasn’t too jarring an experience. Pretty straight forward class. Yesterday, Monday, I woke up extra early to get to Essetials in Preaching by 8:45. Once again, the purpose and design of the class is fairly straight forward: compose and deliver a sermon for the class. I’m okay with that. So far so good, right?? I thought so too… until I went to Intro to Biblical Hebrew that afternoon. My mind is still spinning! I haven’t taken any foreign language classes since high school, and that was hardly intended as preparation for graduate Hebrew studies. Anyways… I made some Hebrew alphabet flash cards today and Kaylee helped me run through them several times, but I will need to repeat that exercise many more times over the next couple days.

Aside from school starting up, I’ve been reading some great books and going on some long runs. I finished up Francis Chan’s “Crazy Love” in two sittings. Couldn’t set it down. And now I’m about halfway through Shane Claiborne’s “Jesus for President.” Both books have challenged me to find new and imaginitive ways of following after Christ.