Boycott Starbucks?

For the record I've never been to a Starbucks. I don't like coffee, no matter what kind of artificial flavoring one adds to it. I just don't like coffee. But with all the fuss over Starbucks the last few days, I wanted to get my two cents in. The most likely scenario here, is that Starbucks created this whole situation which makes them geniuses, Anyways, here's my blog on the current "hot topic".

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OK my turn. Boycott Starbucks? Hmmm........well let's see.

Boycott Starbucks over a red cup? Nah, I love red cups, especially at parties when I can write my name on them and still lose them.

Boycott Starbucks because they are anti-christian? Nah, the worlds anti christian but we cant boycott living - that would be anti christian. Although if all folks that claimed to be "believers" did happen to boycott Starbucks they would most likely go bankrupt. Not to mention they did publicly state that if you don't like their political stance on same sex marriage that you should sell their stock, and buy your coffee elsewhere. So they don't care about you or your faith. But christians aren't going to boycott anything, they are too busy arguing about if it's right or not to boycott. I guess at the end of the day, the jokes on you Mr and Mrs Christian person. But this isn't about that, this is about boycotting Starbucks.

Boycott Starbucks because they dont have "Merry Christmas" wriiten on their cups? Nah, Christmas has nothing to do with God, Jesus, or love, and everything to do with greed, wealth, and the American way. It has it's origins in paganism; the same folks that give us Halloween. Jesus wasnt born in December, and what you are celebrating is the winter solstice, the time that the sun is at it's lowest for 3 days and then starts to raise again in the sky. Everything that America has turned the holiday into is absolutely contrary to what Jesus taught. Greed, buy, over buy, spend, material things, jeeesh, how did we get here? Again, not what this post is about...........

Boycott Starbucks because they are too expensive? Well this would make the most sense, but then that wouldn't be boycotting, that would only put you in the same category as me - BROKE and too CHEAP to spend 10 bucks on what I can get for 2 bucks somewhere else. (This kind of fits right in to my thoughts about Christmas.................you think about that for a minute).

Nah, if ya'll gonna boycott Starbucks, boycott them because they caused the extinction of the local coffee shop. You know the place where the community went and hung out, old men played checkers, old ladies gossip and read books, the place where young men and women were given their first job, the owner was your neighbor, and most importantly the place where a kid and his/her guitar could show up on a Friday night and play some music. Yep, that's why we should boycott Starbucks, they KILLED the local coffee houses, and that's where many rock n roll dreams were born. I missed the coffee houses of the 70's and early 80's, (I was too young) and that bumbs me out. Maybe if we boycott the big chains, the locally owned, locally served, coffee shops could make a comeback, and these kids could have another place to play their music, while I sit and play checkers..........

Head Coach

With football season approaching, I began to think about coaching, management, and pastoring.

As a manager of a team of people in my automotive days, I always told my crew that I thought of my self as their coach. I was not just the guy that made the schedule and gave the orders, but that I was there to help them any way that I could. If it was to work on a car with them I would do it, if it was to teach them I would do it, if it was to protect them from upper management or an angry customer that was my job too. Not sure if that made me a good manager or not, but it was my style, it was what I strived for.

I began to think about this same concept when it comes to pastoring. The definition of a pastor, is that of a shepherd. One who cares for the flock and feeds them. Often times in churches today the pastor is the one that preaches, teaches, makes decisions, and leads the music; basically he does most everything. In some churches it is set up this way, in other churches it just happens this way. Pray for those pastors, for their work load must be quite large.

Now, what if, we structured it a bit different?  What if the pastor was the shepherd? What if the pastor DIDN'T preach every Sunday? What if he didn't have to lead the music? What if he didn't make every decision? What if he didn't teach, counsel, visit, and do all the things that most pastors do? What if he was "just" oversaw those that did all those things? What if the pastor was like a football coach? What if he chose the starting quarterback - the guy making the decisions with his input. What if he chose the trainer - the guy counseling others? What if he chose the offensive line coach, the defensive coach, the quarterback coach - you know all the folks within a church that were doing all the "specialty" training? What if he made personnel decisions and then let the people do their jobs? This point is important because if we had this type of structure our churches might be a bit more effective. The head coach is part of the team, yet he's separate from the team. The head coach can lose a game with a bad decision, but he rarely ever wins a game, as that's what the team does.
I'm sure there are churches structured like this, I've obviously not been to every church. Maybe more than I even know of. However, in my experience this design has not been something that I've seen very much of. Perhaps it should be attempted.

Now I'm not saying one way is right, or one way is wrong, or that everyone should do these according to my suggestion. This has nothing to do with anything more than just thoughts on a page. But let's consider this shall we? Let's be willing team mates and help out our pastors. Pastors let's not be selfish or prideful and "allow" others to take on some tasks, trust me if you get enough folks doing things you'll be so busy "coaching" them that you wont have time to do those very things anymore.
There's no rule that says you have to preach on Sundays. There's no rule that says it's all on your shoulders. Statistics say that 40% of pastors suffer from burn out, perhaps this would ease that pain.

Again, just something to consider from all sides of the conversation. Why can't a church be a team? Why can't there be unity like a team on a mission? Consider such things..........and ask God how you can get involved to help out your team.

Do I Stand Corrected?

Do I stand corrected? I do!

A few hours after my blog and show this morning, Hillsong made a public announcement, on the issue of their stance on homosexuality.

In this world today, news is entertainment, and one must be careful when reading, reporting, or sharing the news. I did my homework, I looked up the references to the quotes, and felt that the information I was presenting was as true as I could find it to be. Perhaps it was true, and perhaps social media and the sharing of the "blog" about the worship leaders has forced the Hillsong church to finally choose a side. Is social media that powerful? It can be........... / However no matter if it was true, or is true, from the mouth of the involved party comes clarification.

This statement is found on the Hillsong website, which means it's not just news, it's from their very mouth, and I stand corrected, and for this I am grateful.

Here is the link: http://hillsong.com/media-releases/hillsong-church-statement-by-senior-pastor-brian-houston/

Their stance on "all are welcome" is exactly the point I was trying to make in my last blog. So this is awesome.

I stand corrected and I am grateful for that, it is truly our job to teach and disciple with love those that are seeking the truth. I have always believed that if you sincerely search for truth there is only one place that the road will take you, and that is to God.

I felt it was fair and honest to share this, (even though I only write like one blog every six months), as soon as I saw it. As I mentioned before, I'm pretty successful at sinning, and if my entire last blog was based on a lie, then SHAME ON ME! I'm not even waiting to "see how it plays out", this is their statement, I will take it, I will believe it, I will be thankful for it, I will pray for them, I will apologize for not doing ENOUGH homework on my last post, and I will sheepishly go hide in the corner of embarrassment for being duped by Internet "news".

I still pray for those two boys, I hope they receive some good biblical teaching in love and in private, I hope they learn that God's will is not a set of "rules" but a way of life that leads to life.

Lunch with a Pharisee Show RE:cap (8-4-15)

A "Hillsong church" worship leader has come out of the closet and is planning to marry his gay partner.  I say we pray for these brothers, we pray that someone will come along and love them enough to show them the truth. Obviously the Hillsong church is more concerned with being popular, than with taking an unpopular stance on a very popular subject.

I dislike it very much when "christians" point the finger at gay folks and condemn them to hell, to me telling a sinner that he is sinning is like telling a dead man that he is dead. Well then again, it is exactly the same. What we should be sharing with the sinners is NOTHING other than the way to life, through Jesus. Nothing more, nothing less. Who am I to point out their sins, as I myself am a pretty successful sinner. However, (you knew it was coming), the bible clearly states that we are to teach other believers what sin is, and the results of it. And if they don't listen? We are to expel them and leave them over to their sins. This is exactly what God does. When we deny him, he is the perfect gentleman and leaves us alone, which means we are free to sin about the country.

The problem with this scenario of the Hillsong brothers, is that their own church doesnt love them enough to tell them as believers that their choices are sinful, and that sin leads to death. Sometimes physical, sometimes spiritual, sometimes eternal, but always death. Somebody's gotta love these brothers enough to show them the statistics on the gay lifestyle, and that those numbers prove what God said, "the wages of sin is death". Somebody has to love them enough to tell them the truth even if it costs millions of dollars. Millions of dollars is of course what Hillsong stands to lose by making a stand. Millions of dollars is the price tag that has been put on these boys' life. What do you think their life is worth to God?

Paul said to "expel" the wicked person, and yes he was talking about believers. Non believers? never expel them, eat lunch with them like Jesus did. In this case the wicked is the Hillsong church, NOT the two men. Don't twist the two, or confuse the two,they are being "coddled" by their church that what they are doing is OK. I personally believe it's time for all the God loving, God fearing churches in the world to expel Hillsong from their communities. No music, no messages, no attention, and most of all no money. This is probably more important than boycotting a President that says "gay marriage is OK". Well in the eyes of man it is OK, and our President is a man, but in the eyes of God it's not OK, and Hillsong is supposed to represent the eyes of God.

Here's the link to the story: http://standupforthetruth.com/2015/08/hillsong-worship-leader-announces-his-upcoming-homosexual-marriage/

It's not personal Hillsong, but then again it is, while your making crappy self centered worship music, collecting a ton of money, and looking super "hip" on TV, the world is dying........

(this is the subject matter that we discussed on the "Lunch With A Pharisee" show this morning, your input, comments, and thoughts are welcome now as they are during the actual show. You can catch the "Pharisee" show Tuesday mornings at 11am eastern time on 3R-Radio.com )

Blog More

I have ideas for blogs quite often, typically I intend to write these thoughts down in the blog, or at minimum make notes so that I can write a new blog entry at a later time. Almost always however, none of this gets done, which makes for a very boring blog site.

I need to blog more. Like really I do. So I am going to make an effort to do just that.

Music, thoughts, politics, religion, radio, cars, travels, events, heck there's enough stuff to write about, why not write about it.

If you have topics or questions you'd like me to cover, by all means reach out and let me know.

I plan to start a radio show that I am calling "lunch with a Pharisee". Crazy title? Yep, I guess it's better than the one I wanted to use - "Things that make you want to be an athiest". Ha, that one would get me in trouble. Let's face it, religious folks say and do some pretty crazy things sometimes, and they usually hashtag their "god" when doing so. Well I think it's time to shed some light on some of this stuff, and at minimum question it. Now when you ask questions, sometimes you get answers, and sometimes you don't like those answers. In the spirit of trying to NOT be a Pharisee, I would welcome discussion and answers to my questions no matter the stance that the person answering is taking. So if you can, I invite you to join me Tuesday mornings for the new show, "Lunch With A Pharisee". Let's see how much fun we can have, and how much trouble we can get into.

The show will air Tuesday mornings at 11am. Facebook chat, website chat, twitter messages, and even emails will be welcome during the show. Hopefully soon we can add a phone line for call ins and such. Stay tuned for that.

And stay tuned for more blogs, this particular show should give me plenty of material to blog about, or rather the blog if I actually wrote it, would be the ideas for the show.

Radio Station Info

This radio thing has grown a bit, and I'm having a blast.

I thought perhaps a quick blog to let you all know what's going would be a good idea, so here it goes.

I am currently "working" 4 stations in the following fashion.


Clarus Radio - I do alot of the programming on this channell. Clarus radio is an all genres rock station. Classic rock, oldies that rock, hair band rock, 90's rock, grunge rock, indie rock, christian rock, current rock, metal rock, and so forth. Even a country tune that rocks every now and then.
This station mixes up new, classic, christian,and indie rock and just keeps it going.
Some specialty shows are as follows:
Mon - 60's at 6
Tue - 70's at 7
Wed - 80's at 8
Thur 90's at 9

Mon at 8pm they play a Covenant Metal Radio show from the archives.
Wed at 5pm is the show Shake Some Action. If you want to hear some rare music, be sure to check this one out.
Sat at noon Clarus radio syndicates the 3R Radio top 25 countdown show.
Fridays at noon AND midnight they air Ralphy's Music Of The World. The host is Ralphie and he's the crazy guy from the land down under.
Tue at 2pm they syndicate my Upon This Rock show that I do for Rock Rage Radio.
Sundays at 9am it's the "Biscuits" show. 3 hours of "soft" rock.

Clarus Radio is currently accpeting applications for radio show hosts/dj's.
To submit music email Clarus Radio at claruspromo@gmail.com

Clarus Radio can be found at www.clarusradio.com


Country Rage Radio - country music with an edge. Indie, current, classic, and outlaw country, plus some great southern rock music as well.

I currently host a show every Tue/Wed/Thu/Fri from 10am to noon. Typically I host the show "live", but on occasion it is pre-recorded.

To submit music email at countryrageradio@gmail.com
Country Rage Radio can be found at www.countryrageradio.com


Rock Rage Radio - I host a two hour show on Rock Rage Radio every Saturday afternoon at 5pm. I play hard, and whatever else I think I can get away with.  This is a very secular and uncensored station that lets me play what I want and have a blast with it.  My show keeps the language and the lyrics quite "safe" but we still have a blast.  The name of the show is Upon This Rock with the shokjok and can be heard every Saturday at www.rockrageradio.com


Righteous Rock Radio / 3R-Radio.  My first and favorite love. All christian rock, from all era's and all styles. We play classics, indie, acoustic, and current rock. We have specialty shows for all genres of music from bluegrass to metal.  The only thing we don't play is most of the massed produced worship music that you can hear EVERYWHERE else.  Having been "born" in Feb of 2013 it's hard to believe that over 2 years later were still here RAWKIN4theROCK!  Righteous Rock Radio can be found at www.3r-radio.com OR www.righteousrockradio.net


So that's it in a nut shell. If you have music to share feel free to send it on over, I can probably find a way to play it unless it's "pop" or "worship pop".

Thanks for tuning in, please share the stations with your friends and acquaintances.  Be sure to support indie music, go to a show, buy a cd, and tell a friend................

Top 100 Song Ranking Explanation

This blog has been written to better explain the online polls and the Top 100 weekly countdown on Righteous Rock Radio.

The 100 countdown:

The purpose of the countdown is to allow our listeners, and followers to know what we are playing in the heaviest of rotation. We have over 2000 songs in rotation at any given time (from a library of 20k+), these 100 songs are the ones that we play the most. The number one song of the week will most likely play about 20 to 25 times in a week.  The number 100 song of the week will play anywhere from 8 to 10 times in a week. So not a very big difference, but enough to know that you will hear some songs more often than others.  A "non" charted song in rotation, should play about 1 to 2 times per week. (not including special programming).

We also use the chart to let bands know (especially "indie" bands) that we are indeed playing their music. Our focus is not to be the most popular, or the biggest station on the internet, but rather to support artists that are making music for the love of making music, and to give them an avenue to have their music heard...........by somebody.........somewhere.

The chart has nothing to do with "sales", national popularity, trends, or any other cool factor. We typically do not play what Billboard, Klove, Air1, or most other "christian" charts say are popular. If it fits our format, or is just an amazingly great song, we may play it........but most of the corporate manufactured music of today will not be found on 3R. This is not because it's good, bad, or indifferent, it is because they have their outlets...........we want/hope to be different, and be an outlet for the rest of the music.  They do what they do, we do what we do................

HOW DO WE DETERMINE THE TOP 100 SONGS OF EACH WEEK:

The quick answer is...........it's very random.  However we do put some thought into it, so let me attempt to explain.

1. The online polls - if people vote for a song, that means that someone likes it. Whether it's your drummer, your Mom, or your friends.......somebody likes "your" song and they vote. This means that we should play it..............hopefully your friends are listening......as well as the friends of the other 99 bands/artists.............the music gets heard and discovered by others. It's not meant to be a competition, but rather a network, or to be cheesy: a family. This is why some weeks you can vote once, or a thousand times...........we mix it up and try to have fun with it.

2. Twitter - we tweet what we play every 10 minutes. This is a random thing. We cannot determine what is playing when the station tweets while it is in automation mode. However when a song tweets that it is being played, and someone favorites that tweet,or re-tweets it, then not only do our followers know the song is being played...........but so do all the followers of the people that have "favorited" or "retweeted"........this captures more of an audience. It is the BEST way to grab "new" listeners......so we take this into consideration when ranking the songs. The more a song is tweeted the more people that know about the song..........therefore we feel we should be playing it a bit more often in case someone hears it and likes it and wants to hear it again.

3. Current charts and releases. We do take into consideration what national "rock" charts are playing. We also take into consideration what is current and new. We pay licensing fees for the sole purpose of being able to play "commercial" music that will attract listeners that like what is "popular". Typically within 1 to 2 songs after a "hit" has played, an indie song or a long forgotten classic will play. This again brings more exposure to the "indie" artist.  Again, we don't try to be popular, but rather relevant.

4. Requests - with 3R basically a one person team............it is very difficult to play requests at the time they are requested, so we use the requests we get,  to know what songs to play more often, this is taken into consideration when "ranking" the songs on the top 100 countdown list.

5. Connections or disconnections.  Our servers will tell us what songs are being connected to the most. They will also tell us how long a person stays around once they connect. And unfortunately for some, they tell what songs people "disconnect" away from as well. This is a major factor when determining how to rank songs from week to week. After all if folks arent listening, what is the point.?...........  We average 40 minutes per listening session.........this is UNHEARD of in the internet radio world............we hope this means folks like the variety that we play, and stick around to hear more. However if folks are "disconnecting" from certain songs or even programmed shows, we tend to play them less. Once you lose a listener in the internet world........you may not get them back for days, weeks, or ever. Now we understand that no one can listen 24/7 but when we see "trends" for certain songs being turned away from.........we consider it when ranking our songs.

6. Sales - our charts have absolutely NOTHING to do with sales. We don't follow sales, we dont ask for sales, and we probably don't help anyone get any sales. We arent Billboard, nor are we trying to be.

7. FUN - mostly the charts are for fun. It gives us something to allow our listeners to interact with. It gives us a 2 hour show, where certain bands/artists during the weeks their songs are on the chart to know a time frame that their song will be played. (internet radio laws prevent us from publicly announcing when a song will play.............but if you know your song is on the chart then you know it's gonna play between 11 and 1 on Monday, or between noon and 2 on Sunday). It's fun to watch our listeners and the bands fans get excited over their songs/music being played and heard. It's why we do what we do, so the music gets heard. It's fun............and hopefully while were having fun, somebody hears something that creates a thought that they may have never considered before. If we can seed, we have done our job...........


We report what we play to BMI, SESAC, ASCAP, etc. It is highly doubtful that our 20 spins are going to get anyone recognition in the commercial world...........but we have seen instances where other stations pick up certain songs or bands that we play, so maybe one day a group of us stations can come together and be an actual influence in the christian music world..........doubtful.......as most "ministries" do their own thing, their own way...........but hey............

Speaking of ministry, we do not consider ourselves a ministry. Ministry is to serve, and we aint serving nobody, merely playing music and pushing buttons.  However we hope that God uses the music and the message as he sees fit. His will be done, never ours.  We are not a 501c3 cuz the IRS has no business in our business. We don't operate at a profit, we are self funded with the occasional donation, or t-shirt purchase. God has provided for 2+ years, as long as it continues, we continue. For this we are humbled and greatful.

I write this in response to some recent comments, emails, and questions about the online polls. It's not a competition, it's for fun. It's not "official", it's for interaction, and promotion of your music. Please don't allow it to be a competition in your camp. Encourage each other's music, let a fellow artist from another part of the world know that you appreciate what they do. Vote for somebody esle's band some time. Make music for the love of God and music. If it starts to be a competition, or to cause division we will cease. There is so much division in today's world.............the last thing, the very last thing anyone should ever worry about or even give a thought about is where their song ranks on an internet radio station that 99.9% of the worlds population has never heard of. We will not be a source of division, it's the very thing we fight against. We try to play other stations shows, and support other stations............we are here because I love music, I love God, and buttons are my instrument........I have no other musical talent..........so I give my talents to you, the folks that have real talent and make music. Enjoy the music, vote for your favorite song,  and let God be the reason.

Random Question

So this thought came to me today, and I wonder what the honest answer is for most folks.


Is your hope IN Jesus, or in Jesus' return?


Ponder............



Comments welcome.