Month: September 2021

Wichita Falls Texas

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date September 16, 2021

#TravelThursday continues, and in this edition we visit one of my favorite cities in the great state of Texas – Wichita Falls. It’s one of my favorite cities for one main reason – I have 5 family members (and their pets) who live there. I visit them every year.

The 72-square-mile city of Wichita Falls includes just over 100,000 residents with little to no growth since 1960. The 3-county metro area of Wichita, Archer, and Clay Counties includes just over 150,000 residents. One of the weird aspects of this metro area is that they have nice modern wide highways and expressways with very little traffic on them. I think most of their expressways were built throughout the 1960s, and they were built to handle substantial growth. That growth never occurred, as they have the same number of residents today as they did in 1960. Their “rush hour” is fairly non-existent; although, some of the locals may contend that statement. I actually enjoy driving through the Wichita Falls metro area. It’s mostly peaceful on all days at all times.

I’ve driven there a few times – in my own car from South Florida – and also in a rental car from the #DFW airport about 2½ hours away. I’ve visited Wichita Falls every year since 2013. My Aunt, Uncle, and Cousins have showed me a lot of the city and the local area. As is tradition with each visit we all go on a road-trip of a few hours away from the metro area. We’ve gone southward, eastward, and northward, but not yet westward. They used to tell me where we were going on our road-trips, but now they intentionally keep it a secret from me so that I don’t do extensive research on the destination(s) and know more about it than them.

I’ve accumulated over 450 photos of my visits since 2013. I’ll share a few photos of my 2021 visit – next #TravelThursday.

They keep you safe on your way, and your feet will not stumble. You can go to bed without fear. You will lie down and sleep soundly. You need not be afraid of sudden disaster or the destruction that comes upon the wicked, for the LORD is your security. He will keep your foot from being caught in a trap. (Proverbs 3:23-26 NLT)

Tags Texas, Travel, Wichita Falls

Blogging Christian God Ministry Music Radio

My Top 10 Hits – Week 239

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date September 13, 2021

Every Monday I post my all-new Top 10 Christian hit music chart based on personal preference and influenced by radio airplay from the previous week. It’s the continuation of a weekly hobby that goes back 40+ years. Here’s this week’s chart:

COUNTUP MINISTRIES	FOR THE WEEK ENDING SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 12TH 2021	WEEK 239

TW	LW	WKS	SONG TITLE	ARTIST / SITE
1	1	9	Into The Wild [3RD week @ # 1]	Josh Baldwin
2	2	5	Thank You Lord	Chris Tomlin Ft. Thomas Rhett & Florida Georgia Line
3	5	9	What If	Matthew West
4	3	19	Yes He Can	Cain
5	4	7	House Of The Lord	Phil Wickham
6	6	7	Brand New	Coby James
7	7	23	Gospel Song	Rhett Walker
8	9	7	Sunday Morning Feeling	Apollo LTD Ft. Ryan Stevenson
9	10	3	Promises	Maverick City Music
10	–	1	Magnetic	Newsboys

# 1 This Week In:
2020 – “God So Loved” – We The Kingdom
2019 – “Nobody (But Jesus)” – Casting Crowns Ft. Matthew West
2018 – “Who You Say I Am” – Hillsong Worship
2017 – “Broken Things” – Matthew West

NEWSBOYS IN – They were chart busting last week, and now they’re in. “Magnetic” is their 3RD hit on my chart – following-up “The Cross Has The Final Word” (# 6 in 2017) and “Greatness Of Our God” (# 1 in 2019). Newsboys have been around for as long as this chart has existed – 36 years. But I never really knew much about them or their music until this current era began in February of 2017. I’ve seen them headline in concert 3 times (2017, 2018, 2019). Their concert experience is at another level. Here’s the official music video for “Magnetic”:

CHART BUSTING just outside of my Top 10 this week is the new one from Crowder. “In The House” is his follow-up to his # 1 smash “God God Almighty”. Crowder is my # 7 artist of the past 4½ years, and this would be his 7TH hit on my chart.

Next Monday I’ll present my Top 10 hits of the Summer Of 2021 – from Memorial Day Weekend to Labor Day Weekend here in the U.S.A.

This blog is # 34 worldwide on the Top 80 Christian Music Blogs and Websites in 2021 chart. Thank You for including us Feedspot !

This concludes another weekend of blog posts. I’ll do it again this upcoming weekend – with 4 new entries on Thursday, Friday, Sunday, and Monday. I don’t blog on Saturdays. That’s my day of rest.

Your likes, follows, and comments are always appreciated. Thank You for being part of my online ministry to share God’s Good News and win souls for Christ through His music. I’m also on Twitter and Flickr.

Be blessed my friends ! May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Tags Blog, Chart, Christian, KLOVE, Music, Radio

Bible Blogging Christian Church God Ministry Scripture

Sunday Scripture

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date September 12, 2021

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday September 12TH 2021, and this is the day that our LORD has made. Let us rejoice. Let us be glad in it. Let us celebrate this great day of believing, following, trusting, loving, and being more like our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ.

A few hours before going to bed last Saturday night I was asked by my Pastor’s wife if I could bring the Word the next morning. Of course I said that “YES – I can preach tomorrow.” There’s really no chance that I would say “NO” to a request like that. At this stage of my fantastic journey I accept all invitations to preach God’s Word.

I immediately reviewed several sermons that I had recently written. One even had a built-in Communion. I prayed about it. I asked God for guidance and direction. I selected my sermon for the next morning – all about “Salvation & Hope” – from First Peter. I updated it for about an hour, and it was ready to be delivered in the morning. (It was not the one with the built-in Communion. I had already written a new Communion unique for last Sunday, so I married it to my selected sermon.)

I sang 3 songs as part of our 4-person Praise & Worship team (we’re a band), I preached the sermon, and I led our monthly Communion. God gave me the energy and the wisdom needed to lead our church body last Sunday morning. My voice was hoarse afterwards.

It hasn’t happened yet in my 5 years of preaching, but eventually it will when I least expect it. I’ll walk in to our sanctuary on a Sunday morning, and my Pastor (or his wife if he’s not there) will ask me to preach. I won’t have anything practiced and prepared. But God’s Word says:

Preach the Word of God. Be prepared – whether the time is favorable or not. Patiently correct, rebuke, and encourage your people with good teaching. (2 Timothy 4:2 NLT)

I’ve often thought about what I would preach about if I were asked to do so at a moment’s notice. I really need to think about it more often. As I evolve as a Preacher and a Pastor I’ll be slowly moving away from prewritten sermons to spontaneous sermons. I need to figure out how to do that effectively. I can be dangerous without a script. I can see myself wandering around our stage while speaking in to the wireless mic and not making much sense at times and going way off-topic. I have to train myself on how to not be that way. I’m thinking about working with a loose outline of 5 or so relevant topics where I could speak on each one in sequence for about 7 or 8 minutes apiece to reach my target of a full 35 to 40 minute sermon. Timing is everything. Less than 30 minutes and you’re ill-prepared. More than 45 minutes and you’re rambling on.

I need to ensure that my sermons are based entirely on God’s Word and not on Pastor Chris’s opinions. I’ve seen preachers preach so far away from God’s Word (even while including verses of Scripture) that it resembled more of a stand-up comedy performance at the Improv or a motivational speech at the Arena rather than a Gospel at the House of the Lord. Need to keep the main thing the main thing.

Thank you for reading my blog for this day, and may:

The LORD bless you, and keep you.
The LORD make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you.
The LORD lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace.

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. AMEN.

Tags Bible, Blog, Christ, Christian, Church, Communion, God, Jesus, Minister, Ministry, Scripture, Sermon, Sunday

1990s Blogging Christian God Movies Music Radio

My Top 5 Hits RETRO – 1996

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date September 10, 2021

Every Friday I post the Top 5 of one of my classic hit music charts based on personal preference and influenced by radio airplay from either 15, 25, 30, or 35 years ago this weekend (rotating each week).

It’s the 2ND Friday of the month, so I go back 25 years ago. Here it is – for the week ending Sunday September 15TH 1996:

“Jellyhead” – Crush
“C’Mon N’ Ride It (The Train) – Quad City DJs
“Ooh Aah … Just A Little Bit” – Gina G
“This Is Your Night” – Amber
“Counting Blue Cars” – Dishwalla

All right let’s talk about the elephant in the room – Dishwalla’s “Counting Blue Cars”. First the facts. It spent 26 weeks in a row on my chart from July 1996 to January 1997. 18 of those 26 weeks were in my Top 10, 10 weeks were in my Top 5, 3 weeks were in my Top 3, and it peaked at # 2 for a single week. It was my # 6 hit of all of 1996 (out of 177 hits that charted). It spent over 11 months on the Billboard Hot 100. It was a long-running rock, alternative, pop, and hot adult contemporary smash, and it was even featured in a couple of movies – most notably “Empire Records” in 1995. (The story of “Empire Records” in itself is very interesting, and I could write a blog post just on that movie and its groundbreaking music.)

I’ll do that some day, but for now it’s the controversial “Counting Blue Cars”. It wasn’t controversial for me. I thought it was cool to hear a hard rock song on the radio that was about God. (This was a full decade before my salvation had started.) Apparently it was controversial for some Christians who objected to God being identified as a woman:

♫ Tell me all your thoughts on God
‘Cause I’d really like to meet her
And ask her why we’re who we are
Tell me all your thoughts on God
‘Cause I’m on my way to see her ♫

I can’t imagine ever getting upset about a song on the radio that refers to God as a her. The song was inspired by a young 10-year-old boy and his spiritual journey discovering and exploring God. Apparently Dishwalla and their lead singer even received death threats at the time from angry Christians. That’s not so Christ-like. Nowadays our God is mocked and ridiculed, and His followers are persecuted and discriminated against by the world. I don’t get angry about that. I pray about it. It’s in God’s hands. He’s in control.

Next Friday on RETRO I’ll go back 30 years ago to September 1991.

It’s halftime my friends. I’ll be back on Sunday and Monday with 2 more blog posts for this weekend. Enjoy your Saturday. Thanks for going RETRO with me !