Somehow I missed this, but on July 6th Delirious? announced that for the foreseeable future they will not be touring or recording any new albums as a band. Not only is this an end of an era for Delirious?, but also the end of an era for many of us who have grown old(er) with them.
I remember back in the early 90’s as a student driving down the coast from Brighton to Littlehampton in my red VW Polo packed with friends to see Delirious? (then The Cutting Edge Band) play in a school hall to a couple of hundred teenagers.
Back then life was simple—no responsibilities, plenty of free time on my hands, and whole lot of love for Jesus.
Today things are very different. I am married, a daddy to 3 girls, and an elder in a church on the east coast of America. Life has changed a great deal—a lot more responsibility, but still a whole lot of love for Jesus.
I will miss Delirious? a great deal. I will never forget when I first heard songs like “Thank You For Saving Me”, the deeply prophetic “Did You Hear The Mountains Tremble?”, and the heart swelling “My Glorious”. I have bought all their albums, and their music has lifted me to worship God. But like me, they have changed from young adults with few responsibilities (and whole lot of love for Jesus) into grown men with families—and I am sure life is very different for them too. I totally understand how time changes things.
Here’s the wonderful thing though—Jesus never changes. Many things will come and go, but he will remain forever.
Earlier this week I caught wind of the fact that Mars Hill Church were poised to open up their homegrown social community networking application “The City” as a hosted service for other churches.
Today this news became official with the launch of OnTheCity.org.
Watching the preview video I am astounded by the quality of work the development team at Mars Hill have achieved—again doing something no church has ever done before. At the moment there is no indication how much the service will cost, although given Mars Hill’s often stated vision not to profit from what they do, I can only imagine it will be affordable.
Good job Mars Hill—and thank you!
UPDATE: Adam Wygle, one of the Mars Hill technogeeks, has informed me that this is not a social networking service, but rather a community networking service. The differential here is that the goal of the service is to help churches build real communities who love Jesus, and not a virtual ones.
I am very excited about Mark Driscoll and Gerry Breshears’ next book called “Death by Love” which is due to be published at the end of September. It promises to ground Jesus’ death on the cross, and the freedom that he won for us in the realities of sin-filled life.
As someone who loves Jesus and the Bible, I am excited by any work that shows how his violent death and victorious resurrection are not irrelevant, but a wonderful means of freedom for ordinary people.
Take a moment to watch the video above, and visit the official website to read the first chapter of the book for free.
UPDATE: There is an official Facebook page for the book which can be found here.
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