Actual
Reality - top US bands on youth outreach CD-Rom
As if - UK Christian band
Britlinks - top site for all UK-based
Christian bands
Christian Music - good independent
US-based site
Coastal Dune - highly rated Durham band
Crossrhythms - UK's top Christian music
mag
Delirious? - facts, tour dates, news
and the latest on UK's top Christian band
Dramashare - web-based drama resource
Grapevine - Lincolnshire-based bible week
Greenbelt - longstanding UK arts/music festival
Hearthemusic - site for new Word
Focus label for young Brit worship bands
Hollywood Jesus - US site assessing films from a Christian
angle
Hornchurch Passion Play - seen by more
than 8,000 in 2000
icuk.com
- soundfiles and free sheet music for UK stuff
Imperial War Museum
Indigoecho - promising new Scottish-based
band
Influence - resources and support for
Christians in arts, media and entertainment
Lord of the Rings - Christian reflection
on the box office epic
Music group resources - freeware/shareware
to help you write and notate music
Nameless Music - Aldershot-based worship
ministry
Natural History Museum
New Wine - Anglican led bible weeks in Somerset
Re-versed Lyrics - pop songs where the
lyrics have been ... converted
Sabio - up and coming Sussex Christian
band
Star Wars: Attack of the Clones - Christian
analysis of the latest box office smash
Stoneleigh - New Church and largest UK bible
weeks
Riding Lights Theatre Company - UK's top
theatre group
Springs Dance Company - UK's leading
Christian dance group
ShineMK - Milton Keynes girl band reaching
schoolkids
The Miracle Maker - acclaimed animated
life of Jesus
The Tate Gallery
The
Wades
- top UK r&b gospel act
Townsend Gallery - superb wildlife art
from top artist and Christian Stephen Townsend
U2 sermons - US clergy seek your examples
of using U2 lyrics in sermons, for a new book
Winchester Cathedral - choral samples
and music to buy
- Music,
music, music ... two for the price of one, here. The Britlinks
site - which is a real database for British contemporary Christian
music - has had the web designers in for a fresh lick of paint
and some helpful new features. It's well worth a visit at www.britlinks.co.uk
And you may not have heard that Sussex Christian band Fruit
are now called Sabio, and have a whizzy new website with free
music on at www.sabio.fm
- Youth
outreach on CD-Rom with contemporary Christian music and a great
feel - if that's what you're after, check out Actual
Reality. And read the review in our Reviews
section.
- Christian
perspectives on the latest Star Wars epic Attack of the Clones
are now plentiful: Ted Baehr's "Movieguide" and Preview
Online like the epic storyline and battle scenes, but share
some reservations about the dialogue and acting, as well as
the movie's spiritual undertones. David Bruce of Hollywood Jesus
takes special note of the movie's observations on the subtlety
of evil. Christianity Today has a comprehensive overview of
Christian reviews of the movie.
Movieguide review (Assist NEWS Service):
http://www.assist-ministries.com/Stories/s02050023.htm
Preview Online: http://www.gospelcom.net/preview/freerev.php3?2074
Hollywood Jesus review: http://www.hollywoodjesus.com/star_wars_ep2.htm
Christianity Today: http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2002/118/41.0.html
- If
you're after the latest on Delirious? major support slot on
the Bon Jovi tour in June, news of their latest releases or
anything else on the band, head for www.delirious.co.uk
- Interested
in dance in worship, or contemporary dance from a Christian
perspective? Then visit the site for Springs Dance Company,
the leading practitioners over the past two decades: http://www.afterthefire.co.uk/friends/springs/index2.htm
-
Top rock band U2 have consistently received attention from Christians intrigued by messages of spirituality and belief in their lyrics. Now several Episcopalian priests are taking their interest further: they're compiling a collection of sermons based on U2's music! Submissions for the planned book, "Get Up Off Your Knees: Preaching the U2 Catalog," are being solicited via e-mail. If you've got an idea for a U2 sermon, visit the Web site below for writing and submission guidelines.
"Get Up Off Your Knees": http://home.attbi.com/~u2sermons/
- If
you or your children are involved in music in any way, there's
a great free utility that helps you write music and print out
scores via your PC - "Finale® NotePad™ 2002 is
your invitation to the world of music notation software! Find
out how fun and easy it is to transform your musical ideas into
beautiful printed music by downloading NotePad 2002 today!"
Try it out at http://www.codamusic.com/coda/np.asp.
And another to try, which is shareware, is Melody Assistant at
http://www.myriad-online.com/melody.htm
- If
you're into contemporary Christian music, check out the Word
Entertainment site at www.hearthemusic.co.uk
- you can get the latest on bands like Phatfish, Riverdeep,
Salvation Street and others, as well as listen to sound clips
from their new releases.
- If
you enjoy wildlife art, you'll marvel at the superb paintings
of Lancashire-born artist and Christian Stephen Townsend. Recently
named Artist of the Year, and acclaimed across the world, you'll
be convinced his astonishingly detailed pictures are photographs!
Enjoy his work at www.thetownsendgallery.co.uk
- The
first film in Peter Jackson's epic interpretation of the JRR
Tolkien classic Lord of the Rings - The Fellowship of the
Ring has brought praise from Christians and non-Christians
alike for the story's themes of courage, sacrifice and friendship.
The film has inspired many Christian scholars and critics to
delve even more deeply into Tolkien's epic work, exploring the
ways in which the story points to and reflects the Christian
faith of its author. Hollywood Jesus, Terry Mattingly and Preview
Family Movie & TV Review each offer insightful glimpses
into the messages of faith and hope that underlie The Lord
of the Rings. http://www.gospelcom.net/features/lotr/
- Plagued
with guilt for singing along with your favourite pop song with
dubious lyrics? Your salvation has come. Re-Versed Lyrics lists
alternative Christianized lyrics for pop, rock, folk, country,
and even TV theme songs and showtunes. Often hilarious, occasionally
disturbing, and at times inspiring. You won't believe 'em until
you've read 'em at http://www.ultranet.com/~mari/
- Provided
you've got UK site Britlinks
bookmarked for band profiles, gigs, music and much more, take
a look at US site Christian
Music, which is packed with interesting links for independent
bands, artists, and music with Mp3s to download, and much more.
- Christian
arts ministry Artisan Initiatives has set up Influence
"to create awareness, encourage support and champion prayer
across the Church for influencers in the arts, media and entertainment
industries, and provide a backbone for the thousands of Christians
involved". And the more passionate believers we have in
music, TV, film, media and the more, the better, we reckon.
- Making
waves with their new album Strange Blue Thing are popular
Christian band As If ...,
who have regularly played Raves in the Nave at some of the UK's
West Country cathedrals. Check out our review on the Members
Zone.
- Taking
their inspiration from the great work being done by the World
Wide Message Tribe in Manchester, girl band ShineMK
have a similar vision for the schools of Milton Keynes. Check
out their perky pop and sold-out to Christ attitude on their
bright and funky website
- There's
a hive of worship music activity at The King's Church in Aldershot,
and it seems to have spawned several bands and a feature packed
website neatly lassooed and brought together as Nameless
Music. You can listen to songs, check out lyrics, and find
out about concerts. There is also a good links page with major
youth worship/church sites.
- More
than 8,000 people flocked to see the Passion Play staged at
Hornchurch in Essex, recently. Staged for the first time in
five years, it involved some 30 churches and an estimated 250
people from the Havering area. You can see photos from the event
and comments on the play at www.hornchurchpassion2000.co.uk
- It
may be US-based, but the DramaShare
Organizational Manual Volume 3.0 looks well worth investigating
with sections on Theatre Warm-Up Games, Characterization, Skills
Training for all ages including child actors, forms of Drama
Ministry (including mime, puppetry, human video, storytelling,
clowning and others), plus 15 royalty-free scripts. Listed are
more than 150 sources for drama materials and support, and the
web-based ministry is also including their "Surfin' Drama"
diskette with over 400 websites for drama resources, while stocks
last. Plenty of resources are also available at reasonable cost
via their site.
-
Heading off to one of the Christian festivals next month? Or just leaving it to your teenagers?! Whatever, star attractions at Greenbelt include Joan Armatrading, London Community Gospel Choir and Rick Wakeman, while Junction [1] - also around August Bank Holiday weekend - includes World Wide Message Tribe, All Star United and Jessy Dixon.
More sites worth checking include Stoneleigh, Grapevine and New Wine.
- Everyone's
been very excited about the top notch latest animated film on
the life of Jesus - The Miracle Maker. With the screenplay
by Riding Lights Theatre company co-founder Murray Watts, major
backing from the Bible Society and the voices of Ralph Fiennes,
Julie Christie, William Hurt, Ian Holm and Richard E Grant to
name but a few, it has proved to be a real treat. Check out
www.themiraclemaker.com
-
Making waves in a big way in Scotland
at the moment, and looking likely to reach your ears soon wherever
you live are the intriguingly named Christian band IndigoEcho
- highly rated in music industry circles, their album One
is previewed on their neatly put together site. So watch
this space.
- If
you haven't yet visited Hollywood
Jesus, you may not know that Dave Bruce looks at film releases
from the point of view of embedded Christian analogies. Here's
an extract from his recent email newsletter on the new film
Chicken Run, co-produced by UK's very own Nick Park,
a Christian.
"Well, we had fun ... the whole family went together to see Chicken Run. Afterwards, we went out and bought some chicken pot pies (!) and went home to enjoy them while we watched the original Mighty Joe Young (both films are stop frame animation). It was a great day.
"The discussion about Chicken Run centered on issues of freedom, and of course, we noted the parallels to Billy Wilder's Stalag 17, Steve McQueen's Great Escape, and the famous rolling stone scene from Indiana Jones. Mrs Tweedy is very Nazi-like and there are many preferences to WW2. "The goal in the film, believe it or not, is paradise! And, I think it is the first film ever to have a chicken pray to God for direction." Sign up for the newsletter, read the review and post your comments here
- So
it's a rainy day, and you'd love to go to one of London's top
museums or art galleries. You can - and stay in the warm.
Just clickety-click along to ...
The Natural History Museum
The Imperial War Museum
The Tate Gallery
- One
of the UK's longest standing Christian sites is at www.icuk.com
which is now in its fourth year of operation. Surf along to
find more than 3,000 sound files from the latest Christian music
albums, hear interviews with top artists and even download free
sheet music.
- Top
British male gospel act The Wades have a new album out –
A Family Thing – and it's shot through with their
commitment to family life, as well as some great songs. Check
out their site at www.thewades.co.uk
- If
choral music is your thing, you could do worse than head for
the e-commerce section on Winchester Cathedral's site.
Yes, it may seem a bit unsettling to discover online shopping
invading the hallowed precincts of our Anglican cathedrals,
but it had to come, one supposes. You can browse a collection
of 20 of the choir's recordings, and there are .wav samples
so you can hear before you buy.
-
Crossrhythms
magazine have updated their site with lots of new features,
so pay them a visit - and Riding
Lights Theatre Company are on the web with tour details
and more. Student types and lovers of fine contemporary Christian
music might like to check out Coastal
Dune, tipped as the next big thing - at least to come out
of Durham University ...
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