Spring is the time of year when God’s blessings are shown in magnificent splendor. Spring is when God’s mercy brings an end to the bleakness of winter and offers, instead, new life and new beginnings. Spring is when God’s love for us shines its brightest. There are as many kinds of love as there are…

Chris Titko is a musician par excellence whether he is accompanying, directing, or editing the latest choral releases for the world’s largest music distributor. This classically trained church musician brings an impressive skill set to his daily enterprise that uniquely qualifies him for service to the modern church. An industry insider, he knows how to…

Even before school let out for winter, I knew it was Christmastime by the familiar signs that filled my childhood home with cheer: the scrumptious smell of Mom’s homemade Chex mix filling the kitchen, Dad pulling boxes of ornaments out from the garage, and classic Christmas melodies playing over the stereo. Next came the decorations….

Every Sunday, the church is called to worship, and the choir serves a vital role in that sacred call. The new choir year offers directors an opportunity to remind our singers of the value of treating practice as sacred time. Beyond crunching notes and marking scores, there are many things about the time of preparation…

At the close of winter and the dawning of spring, new hope is born that love will triumph and peace will cover the earth as wildflowers blanket the land. Spring has a welcome way of announcing its arrival. Like the tap at the door when a loved one visits, spring greets us with familiarity and…

Before the establishment of our modern religious practices, there existed among ancient cultures a simpler understanding of the mysteries of the spirit. During these early times, humans related to their existence in a basic creationism founded on four essential elements that comprise our world: earth, fire, water, and air. While these simple symbols may seem…

Buying the perfect Christmas gift for my pianist/composer Dad, Joseph Martin, is never easy. First of all he is very picky! Second of all he already has everything! Thirdly, he is very picky! This year I’m thinking about a lot of interesting musical options. I have been doing my research, and I am narrowing it down…

Music has touched my spirit deeply, yet differently, during the various seasons of my life. I grew up as most… first listening to the music my parents would enjoy. As I aged, my tastes expanded and I developed my own soundtrack for my life. Recently I have grown to appreciate the full magnitude of how…

  This month, my sister and I began renting an apartment together in Fort Collins, Colorado. Beyond the practical aspects and challenges of moving, we both have learned a great deal from this operation in domestic transition. How can two people have accumulated this much stuff in just a few short years? Where did all…

No man learned anything original from looking in a mirror. With technology connecting our world more than ever before, we can access and connect with the diversity of the human experience with almost miraculous ease. How can it be that with all of this technology available to us, distinctions in perspective seem more disparate than…

In these days of generational segregation, the church offers us a rare opportunity for building community between the young and people of age. It is natural for children and older people to have their own times of gathering to cultivate their individual sacred cultures. Yet, there is much to be gained by allowing each of…

THE SOUNDTRACK OF CHRISTMAS In my last BLOG, I highlighted a selection of hymns that have been featured in major films. I have decided to extend this to the Christmas season, which is without a doubt the number one holiday in the United States, to truly intersect the religious and secular sectors of our population….