If left to my own efforts & memory, I know I won’t be consistent in my Bible reading. I realize that this was part of my problem in the past and the cause for all of my prior Bible reading efforts. What’s my plan now? Basically, I’m sticking with what works. I’m using the same tools that I used when trying to read the Bible in a year. I’m using Logos Bible software and their ability to create & manage reading plans; but, instead of an iPod Touch, I’m now using a tablet and smartphone.

What does my reading look like now? For starters, it’s nowhere near as ambitious as it was in times past. I’ve slowed down my reading pace so that I can soak in and apply what I’m reading, while also affording myself the opportunity to take notes & do deeper study as needed. So, instead of reading through the entire Bible in a year, I am now doing the following: 1) reading through the Old Testament chronologically in two years, and 2) reading through the NT chronologically once a year (although, I’m now reading through each gospel as its own unit, instead of as a harmony). I feel that this gives me a good balance of daily Bible reading that is both manageable and not overbearing, in the chance that my time becomes more constrained. Plus, I am still reading only Monday through Friday, leaving my weekends open. This also leaves me time enough to read through a daily devotion that provides a different look at Scripture, of which I’m currently reading John MacArthur’s Drawing Near.

Just recently, I also added a daily gospel reading to my daily Bible reading. So, not only am I reading the Old Testament & New Testament daily, but I’m also reading the gospels daily. This plan has me reading through each of the four gospels three times a year (basically one gospel a month). My first time through them, I read them individually, then as a harmony, and then individually again. Why did I add this? One of the devotions I read mentioned regularly reading through the gospels so that you can remain acquainted & continually learning about the ministry of Jesus; then, I also remembered my pastor saying that he reads a gospel every month. It sounded like a good idea & the readings were short enough that it made sense to add it as a part of my routine.

In all, my reading plans & devotion take about 30 minutes of my time each day. Out of a 24 hour day, I think giving a minimum of 30 minutes to my Lord is worthwhile. Not to mention, this does not include any in-depth studies that I might be doing, such as my current verse-by-verse study of 1 Thessalonians. One thing I also do as I’m reading is make notes. Think of it as digitally writing in the margins of my Bible. I have a file where I jot down questions that I may have as I encounter a passage and want to study it later or get help in answering it. I also write little commentary notes in another file, many of which provide inspiration for this site’s “Spare Change.” I even have a file for memory verses where I make small notes on why a verse is worth memorizing.

All in all, I am truly enjoying my time in the Scriptures and the more I read, the more I’m becoming acquainted with the Bible as a whole & able to make connections. For instance, I had read a passage in Deuteronomy a couple of weeks ago and immediately made a New Testament correlation, only to later find out that Paul had made reference to the passage in Romans. This is how you learn the Bible, and there’s really no other way to do it. You keep reading & studying it, and it will definitely come alive & make an impact in your life. If you don’t have a consistent Bible reading plan, I recommend finding one that works for you & do your best to stick with it. If you don’t know where to start, try checking out YouVersion.com, which I’ll talk about a bit more in part 3 of this series.

It wasn’t until a couple of years ago that I was finally able to accomplish my goal of reading the Bible from cover-to-cover. It took some determination, but I was able to do it. But, how did I do it? Well, I began by assessing the resources that I had available to me and laying out a plan that I felt was doable. In surveying my resources, I found that the greatest asset for accomplishing this task was my Logos Bible software, as it had several key components that I needed. Of particular interest were: 1) the ability to create a custom plan that suited my needs, and 2) a mobile app for keeping up with my plan on the go, since I had an iPod Touch at the time and was always near Wi-Fi. Since I always had my iPod with me, it meant that I was able to keep up with my plan wherever I was, even if I didn’t have my physical Bible with me.

With the technology in place, I now had to create a reading plan that would give me the best possible chance of getting through the Bible. In times past, my plan had been to start in Genesis & start reading until I reached Revelation. That didn’t work before, so I knew I needed something different this time around. After looking through several plans, I finally settled on a chronological Bible reading plan that knit the different pieces of the Bible together in a cohesive narrative. The particular plan I used had Job coming before the Abraham narrative in Genesis, the Psalms & prophets placed at their point in the narrative so that what was being spoken by the prophet was in the context of the happenings of the children of Israel. For the New Testament, I put together a harmony of the gospels so that all four gospels were read simultaneously as the events occurred, and the epistles read in their given timeline in Acts.

Knowing that the Old Testament can get difficult to read in parts, I made the decision to split my reading so that I was reading both the Old Testament & the New Testament each day. Since I was strong in my New Testament chronology, I felt comfortable that I would still be able to get the whole story if I read them together. Plus, I knew that it would give me the push I needed to read the Old Testament each day, if I had something lighter/easier to read after making it through the day’s OT reading.

Now, with my reading in place, I had to decide how long & on what days I was going to read. I was feeling quite motivated, so I felt that I could accomplish this in a year, so I set my calendar for a year. But, I knew reading every single day would be difficult and I wanted a buffer to catch up if needed, so I chose to read Monday through Friday, leaving my weekends open for rest and/or catching up if I missed a day.

With my plan created in Logos and syncing on both my desktop & iPod via the cloud, I was ready to begin. I started my plan in November 2009 and I was quite successful in keeping up with my reading. Using my iPod, I found it very easy to read large chunks of Scripture, so I started to get ahead in my plan, sometimes reading two or three day’s worth of reading at once. Surprising myself, I actually ended up finishing my plan in a little over six months (finishing in early May 2010).

It was a great feeling to say that I have actually read through the entirety of the Bible. What’s more, I’m glad I used a chronological reading plan because it allowed for the Bible to come to life in ways that it never had before. Not only was I able to grasp the big picture of the Bible, but I also walked away with a much greater understanding of the Old Testament, particularly in how it relates to the New Testament. While I had read the Bible before in chunks, I truly feel that this was the event that allowed me to make the Bible a meaningful part of my everyday life, instead of just a verse or two that I might read from day to day.

considering buying a new print Bible… yes, a print Bible… thinking it’ll likely be a new thinline ESV w/2011 text updates

As the day went on, with the thought still on my mind, I wondered if the local Lifeway store had any 2011 ESV Bibles in stock. Then, as I thought about it some more, I was thinking, “Oh, I need a nice ‘preaching’ Bible too, to go with the thinline as my everyday ‘handy’ Bible!” After a while, I finally paused and asked myself a question. If I do all of my studying of the Bible digitally, why should I have a Bible that I only use for teaching? Shouldn’t the same Bible I study with be the same Bible I teach from? The answer was: why not?!

As I thought through this some more, I wondered what this would look like for me. Preaching from a tablet is nothing new and has become more popular in the last couple of years, so it’s not like I’d be breaking new ground or anything; yet, there could be something that better suits how I do things. In my thought process, I quickly realized that the way I teach requires lots of “page flipping” because I typically cross reference a lot of Scriptures. How could I leverage a tablet to my advantage? Right now Logos is my primary tool for study, but their mobile app doesn’t support a split screen of Bible & notes; so, that wouldn’t work. Then, I remembered that I have Olive Tree, which does & can also sync with Evernote. Having Evernote means that I can simply copy/paste or dump my passages or notes into an Evernote note and sync it with Olive Tree quite easily. Then, I can have my notes split with my Bible, and tap to open a reference. Now that could work! That would completely eliminate the need for a print Bible & printed notes.

So, let’s take this further because now I’m thinking about completely getting rid of my laptop from the pulpit. This proves tricky because that’s how I run my PowerPoint slideshow for the congregation to follow along. If you’re asking, yes, I usually run my own PowerPoint. Then I started thinking that this is somewhere that Logos could come back into play. They recently released Proclaim Church Presentation Software and it is built for this kind of thing. So, I just get a computer, any computer, connected to the overhead projector (whether it be my own or the one in the sound booth) and load it up; then, I can use my phone (or the tablet) as a remote to progress the slides as needed. Now that would be cool!

I could really see myself teaching in that fashion, and it’s right up my alley. I’m a digital guy, so working in this fashion keeps all of my notes accessible to me from multiple devices and I’m not in a jam if I ever forget or lose my print Bible. Plus, there’s always the freedom of being able to switch translations on the fly, which is nice. I also feel that technology is at a point now that it is fairly reliable, especially in terms of battery life, where no real red flags are raised for me anymore. I truly think that this is the route that I’m going to go in the future, however the Lord sees fit for that to happen.

Getting back to the video, I remember when the details came down that both the Ambassador & Da’ T.R.U.T.H. were being dropped from Cross Movement Records due to personal sins that had been exposed. While the true story never came out at the time, I was in enough circles to hear the whispering of details as to why they had been released. To say that I was appalled would be an understatement and thought to myself, “That would never happen to me.” By the grace of God, these two men of God have been restored in their marriage and to public ministry where they can now use their story to continue to affect change for the glory of Jesus Christ. You can see & hear the Ambassador’s story in the video interview with CBN.

You know how they say pride goes before the fall? Well, that was me. Hearing the details of Amba’s adultery, I gotta say that I was in the same boat. For me, it wasn’t someone from church (I was a deacon & training to be a pastor); but, it was a lifelong friend. There was no denying that I had feelings for her, as I always did, but we knew I was married & kept things from happening. Plus, there was always hundreds of miles of distance between us, so all we could ever do was talk. Talking is definitely what we did. When things in my marriage would get rough & I needed someone to lean on I always knew that she’d be there to lend an ear and encourage me to keep standing tall. Like Ambassador, it was almost to the point that Robin & I were living separate lives. For her it was the house & the kids; for me, it was work, church & my studies. When tensions rose, my friend was the one telling me the things that I needed to hear as a man & wasn’t hearing from my wife, all with her just trying to be a friend. Not once did she ever push me to leave Robin; on the contrary, she was one person that was pushing me to stay married.

Fast forward and things finally came to a head. Robin & I divorced, and I moved back to North Carolina where I knew I had friends & family after being shunned by the church as a result of the way things went down. Without going into details, things were to a point where I didn’t think Robin & I would ever see eye-to-eye again, let alone be on speaking terms on anything other than those things that concerned our children. Well, as circumstances would have it, I finally reached a point where I felt the need to completely let go of my lifelong friend and put an end to our friendship. With the Lord working on me in these months, the Holy Spirit showed me that this was the best move for me if I was going to ever be able to move forward with my life. Even with that, I still had no intention of reconciling with Robin, and thought I’d find love elsewhere. In the days & weeks that followed, the Lord continued to soften my heart toward Robin in a multitude of ways (through my kids, sermons, my own Scripture reading, television, prayers of family & friends, etc.).

To sum up the story & bring this to a close, the Lord has brought about reconciliation between Robin & I. Once my lease is up and I participate in my brother’s wedding, I will be returning to Texas to remarry Robin, reunite our family, and complete the journey of reconciliation that the Lord has orchestrated. What’s more, we’re doing this right, making sure that Christ is the head, which is his rightful place. Every night, she & I have been digging into the Scriptures and studying with one another over Skype, redeeming the technology that the Lord has allowed us to have. I’m looking forward to getting back, putting an end to what was a miserable funeral & living again. While restoration to public ministry won’t be immediate, my family will be, which is my first ministry anyway, and one that I’ll be focusing my attention on.

That being said, there was always one group that I was always in love with from the jump, and that was the Cross Movement. I loved their Wu-Tang like flow and hearty east coast raps that were littered with biblical doctrine. Plus, I loved their slogan: Advocates of the Theocratic Rule. I had no clue what it meant until I looked it up, but it was deep, LOL. For me, they were the epitome of what Christian hip-hop should look like if it was going to gain any kind of acceptance in the church, especially with the kind of churches that I was attending at the time.

It was definitely a blessing, and likely no coincidence, that half of my first Christian hip-hop purchase was the entire CMR catalog at the time. As a high school senior who was about to head off to college, it was encouraging to see fairly young brothers in the faith who were like me, dressed urban, yet were deeply proficient in their knowledge of the Bible. At that time, I knew the Holy Spirit had gifted me as a pastor-teacher, so it was encouraging to see that I could be me, know the Bible and share the gospel. I didn’t have to fit into the mold of speaking Christianese & always wearing suits just to preach the gospel. Of particular interest to me was the Ambassador. A rapper & a preacher?! And he went to Bible college?! What?! That was mind blowing to me! That totally changed my thinking as I headed off to college.

Another thing that stood out about the Cross Movement was that making music wasn’t their only objective. They really wanted to see lives changed & affected by the Good News of Jesus Christ. Yes, they had Cross Movement Records, but they also had Cross Movement Ministries, which was their non-profit ministry arm that was effecting change in the Philadelphia community. While I never had firsthand experience with CMM, it was my first exposure to effective urban contextualized ministry that was being done by “insiders,” instead of “outsiders” trying to pull people out of their culture. Again, mind blowing for someone who was trying to figure out his place in the Church & ministry.

One thing that was interesting about CM was their stance on working with other artists. They didn’t work with just anybody. They had to have built a relationship with you outside of the music and your doctrine had to be on point. At a time where the talk was unity & how Christians should work together regardless of doctrine, CM took a stance & stood their ground hard. I respected that about them, whether for good or bad. At the very least, it allowed them to keep their name from being soiled by the faults of others. For me, this meant that I could be confident in purchasing music from anybody they worked with because it wasn’t going to be junk; I knew that I was going to be edified by it. With their unofficial seal of approval, I knew it was okay to listen to artists like KJ-52, Mark J, and Urban D. and I’d be getting quality.

Their stance on personal holiness was also admirable. I remember when they had to remove Cruz Cordero & Enock from the crew and the backlash that they received because of it. While I was sad to see them sat down, it showed me that they were serious about what they were doing and didn’t want their or Christ’s named tarnished in any way. While we can’t be perfect, it was a reminder that we shouldn’t be doing anything that will knowingly discredit the name of Christ & the name Christian that we bear.

What’s more, the legacy they have left is something worth noting. If it weren’t for the Cross Movement and their pioneering efforts, what’s the likelihood that we would have a label like Lamp Mode Recordings, a purveyor of lyrical theology? While they might have still come about, it was CM that allowed for their brand of music to be marketable; plus, with Shai Linne & Timothy Brindle featuring on CMR albums helped their credibility. What about a label like Reach Records & an artist like Lecrae? At their genesis, they were basically a Southern/Midwest clone of what Cross Movement Records had been doing for years. There are countless others that have been influenced by this crew & label.

With that, I tip my hat to the Cross Movement. They earned by respect and I will forever be grateful for their contribution to the Body of Christ. Sure, they had their missteps, but who hasn’t? Their body of work shines brightly and the fruit of their labor still remains & continues to bear fruit. I know I personally wouldn’t be as involved in the scene as I am today if it weren’t for the Cross Movement. Thanks guys!

That was only my second exposure to Christian hip-hop, and from that moment I was hooked. The videos were quality, and the songs were solid. This sounded like the kind of music that I could get with. After the show went off, I went right to my computer and started my search to find out more about these artists. Not having a job or my own funds, I had to wait to actually get any CDs; plus, the only Christian bookstore in town didn’t carry anything worth purchasing. I remember it like yesterday when I got my first Christian hip-hop CDs in hand. For Christmas that year, I convinced my parents to let me use their credit card to buy 6 CDs from the now defunct musicforce.com, taking advantage of their “buy 2, get 1 free” offer. My first CDs were:

• The Cross Movement – “Heaven’s Mentality”
• The Cross Movement – “House of Representatives”
• Ambassador – “Christology in Layman’s Terms”
• Grits – “Grammatical Revolution”
• Nuwine – “Ghetto Mission”
• Raiderz of the Lost – “Prepare 4 tha Spillage”

That was my first taste of Christian hip-hop, and any opportunity that I had to purchase more CDs I did, especially when it meant taking advantage of musicforce’s great offer. That expanded into buying things like “The Mark of the East Compilation,” KJ-52′s “7th Avenue,” E-Roc’s “Avalanche,” and many others. During that time I was also raiding sites like MP3.com, which was the site back in its day, for as much free Christian hip-hop that I could get my hands on. Admittedly, a lot of it was crap. Needless to say, my indoctrination into this sub-genre of music started off wildly varied, which I am extremely grateful for, as it has given me an appreciation for the varying flavors of Christian hip-hop.

People often ask how I started doing reviews; well, this is how I got my start. I was a member of just about all of the Christian hip-hop forums at the time, and in 2000-ish one of the guys said that he was starting a new website and was looking for writers to do CD reviews and conduct artist interviews. Once he mentioned the perks, I was game. The perks? Getting to keep any CD that I reviewed. Yeah, that was back before high speed Internet & MP3′s were as common as they were now, so the physical CD is how things went down (which I miss). With that in place, I became one of the lead writers for HipHopGateway.com, where at one point I was writing a new review almost weekly. As ear for music grew and my writing became more polished, I was offered a reviewer spot at SphereOfHipHop.com, which is the only place where I’m still writing. Then, I ventured out and started writing for other upstarts such as Rapzilla.com & Hip-Hop for the Soul (HHFTS.com). There was even a time where I was writing reviews for Feed magazine & Acaza.com. I had almost made it as a regular for Feed before the mag met its untimely demise.

During that time, I have to say that my music collection grew by leaps & bounds. Whatever CD I wasn’t getting for free for review, I was finding a way to purchase it. To be honest, having a credit card in college was my worst enemy, because I ended up charging a lot of the music I bought. Even with that, I used my good fortune as a means to bless others & introduce them to Christian hip-hop. As the number of CDs was starting to pile up and I constantly had new music coming in, one thing the Lord led me to do was to start filling my shoe boxes to the brim with CDs and giving them out to the youth at church. Wearing a size 15 shoe makes for lots of CDs in a single box. Before you knew it, all of the CDs I’d given away were replenished within a month or two; and, a few months down the road, I’d do it all over again. The only downside was that I gave away some really good CDs that I can no longer purchase & wish I still had.

One of the other things that I’ve enjoyed in my time in Christian hip-hop is digging in the trenches to find old classics that I missed from the 90′s before officially becoming a fan. In time I eventually found classics like LPG’s “Earthworm,” Tunnel Rats “Experience,” Freedom of Soul’s “Caught in a Land of Time,” SFC, and so many others. So, not only was I keeping up with the latest & greatest in the scene, but I was also doing my best to be a historian of the genre as well.

Having been at this for 13 years, it’s been interesting to see the ebbs & flows that our scene has taken. For as much as things have improved and changed for the better, there are still so many things that remain the same that I wish would change. For as many people that are out there trying to bring a level of legitimacy to what’s happening here, there is always a constant influx of those that would stir the pot and cause issues. Nevertheless, it’s been a journey that I’ve been glad to be a part of. Even though I don’t make music or even pretend to, I’ve been able to carve my own niche in this scene. I’m grateful for the lifelong friends that I’ve made outside of music, even though it was because of the music that we became acquainted. I continue to look forward to what’s in store.

Since moving to Charlotte, my friend Antoine and I have made it a point to get in some consistent fellowship with each other. That time usually consists of chopping it up over life, technology, and Scripture, then ends with a game or two on the Xbox 360. Well, one of the things that he’s been doing with a few different people is this discipleship framework that he’s created called “The 5 C’s.” Having heard about it and talking over it extensively through email over the last year or so, he asked me if I wanted to do it with him. I said yes, and we got it started today.

The first “C” is Context and uses Paul’s epistle to Titus. To do this, we just go through verse-by-verse and take a broad look at the text of Scripture and examine it on a surface level. In doing this, we began to use the text as a mirror to see if we both had the character traits that Paul gave Titus as qualifications for elder and overseer. Having read Titus several times before, I thought I was ready for this discussion, but it was quite a bit more than I expected, especially for as little “study” that we actually did. To be frank, I was floored by the light that was shined on me by Scripture.

As we talked through each of the qualifications, we began to put them into different categories. First, you have the personal/family side of things. Second, there is the work/business side of things. Third, how you relate to your community. Finally, you have how you relate to those who may try to speak against you. For the most part, I was able to say that I felt qualified in many aspects concerning the latter three. The first category of qualifcation opened some wounds, though, and offered an opportunity for transparency between brothers. In talking through some things, the Lord revealed some things about my previous relationships and where I have faltered. While I feel downtrodden on the one hand, I was still able to walk away encouraged because it gives me pieces that I can use to begin making iimprovements so that I can be above reproach in all areas of life.

If that was week one of the 5 C’s, I can only imagine what’s in store for future weeks. I can definitely see this as an opportunity for the Lord to grow and expand me, as well as another means for me to bond & grow closer with my brother in Christ. It’s nice to be able to chop it up in the Word with someone and it be no holds barred and no faking the funk; it’s definitely refreshing. I can’t wait for the opportunity to take what I’ve learned and begin using the 5 C’s with others around me; but, in due time.