Advent is usually a season of waiting for Christmas and not waiting for websites to work, but many of you have been patiently waiting and hoping that our websites would be back to normal. Thankfully, I’m happy to say that the sites are back up to speed (mostly).
With that in mind, this might be a good time to look back at what happened over the past month with our sites as well as take a look at all of 2011, and give you a glimpse of what the future holds for Life Teen’s websites.
Friend of Life Teen and Christian Recording Artist Matt Maher took some time to talk with us about his new record “The Love In Between” and his upcoming tour with artists One Sonic Society and All Sons and Daughters. We had originally recorded video via web cam while Matt was in Nashville practicing for the new tour, but due to technical difficulties we ended up with audio. Take a listen while Matt shares some of the inspiration behind new songs off his record, including “The Spirit and the Bride,” “Woke Up in America,” and “Every Little Prison,” as well as sharing what it’s like to have a new child and what’s it like to live and love in community.
It was only one year ago that most of the world was introduced to the lovely and talented Audrey Assad. Her debut album “The House Your Building” received immediate critical attention as a refreshing and dynamic Christian album in an industry well known for keeping the status quo than striving for uniqueness. While radio play may have been weak and overall record sales don’t eclipse those of other major Christian artists, Audrey has carved out a niche of her own that will undoubtedly grow as her songs begin to be shared by Christians and non-believers alike.
Given how little attention she has received, it’s a wonder that Apple picked her out amongst a crowded Christian music scene. Apple has promoted her so much so that Audrey is iTunes’ first Christian artist to record a “Live from SoHo” session, normally reserved the big artists like as Adele, Taylor Swift, and John Legend & The Roots.
The Ike Ndolo Band stopped by the LifeTeen.com office today to talk about their upcoming tour with Audrey Assad and Ennie Hickman from Adore Ministries, as well as fun stories from the road and their favorite musical influences. Guest appearances by Derek Natzke and Fr. Dan Beeman. Ike also plays a live acoustic version of “Awake, O Sleeper”.
I vividly remember the first time I encountered John Paul II. I was at my first World Youth Day in 2002 in Toronto, Canada. I was 17 years old, about to be a senior in high school, and I was ready to explore the world. I wanted to visit Europe, travel the big cities of the world, have an adventure of a lifetime. I couldn’t wait to get out of town and go do something different.
Being a leader does not happen over night. There is a big difference between being elected or recognized as a leader, and actually being one. Leadership means doing the hard work of relationship and acting virtuously. You are called to be a leader by virtue of your baptism, but are you willing to step up and actually be one?
Why are you here, you young people of the nineties and of the twentieth century? Do you feel perchance within yourselves “the spirit of this world”? Have you not perhaps come here — I ask you again — to convince yourselves once and for all that to be great means to serve? This service is certainly not mere humanitarian sentimentality. Nor is the community of the disciples of Christ a volunteer agency or social help group. Such a concept of service would imply stooping to the level of the “spirit of this world”. No! Here we are dealing with something [...]
A stranger is no longer a stranger for the person who must become a neighbor to someone in need, to the point of accepting responsibility for his life, as the parable of the Good Samaritan shows so clearly (Lk 10:25-37). Even an enemy ceases to be an enemy for the person who is obliged to love him (Mt 5:38-48; Lk 6:27-35), to “do good” to him (Lk 6:27, 33, 35) and to respond to his immediate needs promptly and with no expectation of repayment (Lk 6:34-35). The height of this love is to pray for one’s enemy. By so doing [...]
Like the very first disciples, we come to Christ eager to learn how to pray (Luke 11:1). By teaching us the “Our Father” Christ establishes the pattern for all prayer. He explains our relationship with God and with one another: God is our Creator. He is our Redeemer. With him as our common Father we are brothers and sisters to one another. When Jesus prays he uses the Aramaic word “Abba” (Mark 14:36), which is what small children would have called their fathers. Only Christ, the Eternal Son who is one in being with the Father, has the right to [...]
During the month of April, we wanted to help you dive a little deeper into Lent as well as highlight some of Pope John Paul II writings in preparation for his beatification on May 1. Make sure to share them with your friends.
It’s that time of year again: when you either love or hate listening to the radio. That’s right, it’s Christmas song season, when all those secular and religious songs come blaring at you the day after Thanksgiving and end immediately after Christmas dinner.
I love all sorts of Christmas songs. Christian hymns, modern pop songs, choral hits. I don’t mind if a song wants to tell me about Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer, or about angelic hosts heard on high; they both have their place among our enjoyment of the Advent and Christmas season. (During Mass, however, song selection is a totally different story.)
While most of us have heard of Christmas songs by Mariah Carey and Nat King Cole, I wanted to highlight a few songs by Christian artists that I think are excellent and worthy of your attention. Now sit back, grab a candy cane and some hot chocolate, and take a listen to some of my Christmas favorites.
My mom likes to text me. I don’t know if you have the same relationship with your mother, but my mother has found that texting is the easiest and quickest way to get my attention. And while she loves to ask me random questions during my week, she does a very good job of keeping me informed about my extended family: you know, those aunts, uncles, cousins… the ones you rarely see, but you know are somehow related to you (as evidenced by that large tree map someone put together years ago).
It’s often already hard to build good relationships with the people we live with, but even more difficult with family whom we rarely see. How are we supposed to be “in relationship” with people we barely know and who live so far away?
Our friends the David Crowder Band have an amazing new music video for their song “SMS [Shine].” If you are a child of the 80′s, you’ll probably recognize the “LITE-BRITE” toy used to create this awesome video.
This Sunday is the end of Lost, ABC’s hit TV show about 48 people who end up stranded on a mysterious island in the South Pacific Ocean after their plane crashes. The passengers of Oceanic Flight 815 soon find out that the island holds mysterious powers. Over the past six seasons, viewers have patiently waited for the answers to questions: what is the island and why are these people stuck there? I’ve only started watching Lost since February, but as you might have guessed I’ve become a big fan. Through mini-Lost marathons, I’ve finally caught up with the millions of [...]
