Covers Project – lists cover songs according to artist.
Church asks court to keep music minister off property
From the “This-Newspaper-Doesn’t-Have-a-Website Department”
By Clint Brewer
Lebanon Democrat, January 16, 2003
A Mt. Juliet church got a restraining order against its music minister Wednesday after he was charged with possessing illegal weapons.
Green Hill Church filed a temporary restraining order against Mark Lancaster to keep him from coming onto church property until the conclusion of any pending criminal investigation or prosecution, according to court documents.
Lancaster, 40, is charged with illegally manufacturing and possessing 15 machine guns in his Mt. Juliet home. He was arrested when the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms raided is Page Drive home Jan. 8 and found 15 unregistered machine guns. He is on suspension with pay from the church, but is in federal custody.
Larry Crain, Green Hill Church’s attorney, said the church decided to file a restraining order after learning Lancaster had fired a weapon on church property.
“That was new information for us as well,” he said. “That was a key point for us in deciding to pursue this order… Until all the facts were in, we decided it was prudent to do this.”
The ATF started investigating Lancaster after receiving a tip at its Washington, D.C., hotline. The called claimed Lancaster had “converted the Green Hill Baptist Church bus into a shooting rang,” according to the federal affidavit. But that was partly inaccurate, ATF spokesman Mark Leiser said.
“It was not converted into a shooting range,” he said. “It was a bus that had not been used…It’s not an old bus that was somewhere out in a field.”
ATF agents, however, did find a church bus with three bullet holes in it.
Green Hill Church also decided for the restraining order to ease parent’s minds about their children attending its day care.
“The nature of their (church member’s) concerns were that parents with children in day care that they take steps to ensure the children’s safety,” Crain said. “The day care is open to the public and has non-church members’ children in it as well.”
Crain said Lancaster has not had any contact with church leaders.
“Certainly, there are those who are awaiting the opportunity to meet and speak with him, but we have not been able to since he has been in custody,” he said.
The guns collected by the ATF were mainly war-era type. Lancaster had a federal firearms license as a collector of curios, but did not have the proper license to possess machine guns, Leiser said.
Lancaster is schedule for a detention hearing at 2 p.m. Thursday, assistant U.S. Attorney Phil Wehby said. Wehby’s office has filed to keep Lancaster in custody.
Celebrating Martin Luther King Day
“I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”
–Martin Luther King, Jr.
August 28, 1963
Happy MLK Day. It’s time to reflect on the role of equality in America.
Martin Luther King Jr. has been elevated to the pseudo-status of an American saint. Was it his ideals? Was it his guts to stand up against something which he wholeheartedly thought was wrong? Something as silly as having separate water fountains and entrances for the different races. Something silly like African Americans having to give up their seat on a bus for a white patron.
Then again sometimes I wonder if King would have supported some of these more radical race issues. Like the government paying compensation to slave decendents.
Even affirmative action could be considered racist since admission and hiring policies are primarily based on race instead of “the content of one’s character.” I wonder if King would have supported this idea.
How does America celebrate MLK Day? I noticed the SciFi Channel was playing a Quantum Leap marathon today. I’m not sure what that has to do with King, although the show did deal with race and equality issues sometimes. Several people went skiing this weekend. Maybe that’s how many white people celebrate MLK day.
During my school years we didn’t get MLK Day off. Yet many of my African American classmates decided to take off on MLK Day for whatever reason. This runs completely opposite of what King fought for. He fought so that children of all races could attend school together.
Is fighting racism important to me? Yes. However being male, middle class, and white, there are some things I’m not able to fully understand. To my knowledge I’ve never been turned down for something based solely on race.
I don’t have many African American friends. I had a black friend in high school. He was cool. We would joke around with him during band camp. Asked him if the weather was “Africa Hot?” As if he would actually know how hot Africa’s weather was.
They say that the most segregated hour in America is on Sunday mornings. Most Americans worship in seperate church (seperated by race). Many times this is done by choice. Its unfortunate because we’d probably understand each other alot better if we’d worship together.
I think we as a society are better off than we were 40 years ago as far as race relations. We still have some time to go. As long as race is used in hiring decisions and university admittance….. As long as hate groups are still around, we’ll still need to be making a concerted effort to try to build better race relations.
Deja Vu Skiing
So I went skiing this weekend with a group from Highland Heights church of Christ in Smyrna. I know them from visiting Short Mountain Bible Camp.
We left the church building at promptly 5:45PM Friday. They’ve set a precidence there. If you aren’t on time, you get left. Everyone knows this and arrives promptly.
HH has this huge Greyhound bus which they use on big trips like this. This model is one from 1988. The ride is pretty smooth. The bus is in good condition, although the mini-televisions (which are located up above every few seats) don’t work.
This whole trip was sorta deja vu for me, having been up there just a week before. Stayed at the same hotel and skied at the same place.
You could tell it was a holiday weekend. The ski lift lines and lodge was really crowded. A friend and I found a ski lift that wasn’t crowded at all and began to ski those hills almost exclusively. While we were there it started snowing. Eventually I had to break out the goggles I had borrowed.
The snow kept on and eventually those in charge got cold feet (literally) about a bus going down the hill from Paoli. So we decided to leave early. After several minutes of unsuccessfully trying to get the bus started, it eventually started. This was to be a foreshadowing of what was to come.
Getting back to the hotel, many of us played cards and other timewasters until the midnight curfew. We also explored the hotel and found some really interesting rooms full of old furniture in need of repair. There was some kind of fraternity/sorority dance going on in the room next door to our group meeting room. So no one wanted to stay in there.
We saw many different types of people in the hotel, from prom-dressed people to skiers coming in from the slopes. Some of the skiers even wore the rental boots and had the rented skis with them. The skis were clearly marked “Paoli Peaks rental.” I figured they were going back the next day and didn’t want to wait in line again. However I doubt that Paoli would have taken kindly to people taking their rental equipment back to the hotel with them.
There were church groups there from Tullahoma and Springfield, TN. Many had charter buses with them. It is amazing the number of Tennesseans which were staying in the hotel.
Sunday morning we worshipped in the group room which just a few hours before had been next door to the dance hall. I thought that we might have had some problems with literally back to back worship services (there was a Baptist church group meeting right next door to us), yet we didn’t have a problem since the worship services weren’t going on at the same time.
After worship, it was revealed to us that we were having bus troubles. We were told to expect a new bus at about 4PM. So we pretty much sat around and wasted more time until our bus arrived at 8:30PM. Not sure why it took so long. Glenn, HH’s youth minister, was going around apologizing for all this trouble. I told him it wasn’t anything he could do anything about (foresee it happening), so there was no need to apologize.
On the road we stopped at a McDonald’s/Gas Station somewhere in between Louisville and Elizabethtown. Normally I usually try to stay away from restaurants attached to gas stations. I don’t know why. I just figured the food would probably smell like gas or something.
We got back to Smyrna at 12:45 this morning. I finally got back home to MJ at around 1:45AM.
Glenn is the master negotiator. He was able to get a ski trip for a total of $82…and food was included in that price. We got breakfast in the mornings, Pizza Saturday night, and fried chicken Sunday for lunch. I don’t know how he does it. I asked him about it. He said he used to be a buyer and he was used to talking a seller down to a more reasonable price.
Back to Paoli
For those of you who care, (and apparently there are plenty of you who do care), I’m going to Paoli again this weekend with another church group. So hopefully I’ll have a good time. There’s plenty of snow for it.
The Tennessean, Newschannel 5 and Channel 4 all have photo galleries of the snow.
Total Gridlock
It’s times like these when I’m glad I’m unemployeed. My parents said they left work in downtown Nashville at 9:30AM. Took them until 4PM to get home.
School buses couldn’t take school children home. So some had to turn around and head back to school. Parents are probably beside themselves. Trying to get to their kid at their school, yet not being able to get to them. Kids are probably taking it in stride. Oxymoron. Being at school, yet being told “Schools are closed.”
By my measurement, we got 7 inches at the house. Biggest snowfall I’ve seen in a while.
Tonight we’ll have to worry about that black ice. Black ice is that unholy scourge brought upon by freezing temperatures and moisture. I’ve never actually seen it, which is why it is so dangerous. I’m expecting at any moment Ron Howells to scream at the camera…with bloodshot eyes saying “FEAR THE BLACK ICE!!!!”
I’m supposed to be leaving to go skiing tomorrow. I think we should still go if Murfreesboro Road and the Interstate is ok. But likely it will be called off. Imagine that. A ski trip called off because of snow.
Dogs and cats living together…mass hysteria!
Natural Snowmaking
The snow is falling right now. Snow is covering everything. Nashville drivers don’t know how to drive in the snow. That, coupled with a limited number of salt trucks makes driving in the snow dangereous.
Schools are closing early. Initually when I got up this morning, there was no snow. Schools continued to be on the normal schedule. Somehow I knew that teachers weren’t getting anything done because the kids were so hyped up on the potential snow.
But then again, I’m of the opinion that they shouldn’t close schools unless they actually see snow. Too many times schools have closed because they “think” it’s going to snow.
Church Gets a Restraining Order Against Gun Enthusiast Minister. (WKRN News 2 Real Video)
I found a good song by The White Stripes. “We’re Going to Be Friends.” Great song. It’d be good for an elementary school end-of-the-year slideshow. (Melissa, are you listening???) The White Stripes are so dynamic musically. From “Fell in Love with a Girl” to “Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground” and now “We’re Going to Be Friends.” What a great group.
” There is a lot of great music; you’ve just gotta do a lot more work to find it. I think the White Stripes are kind of exciting and fresh.”
–Tom Petty, CDNow Interview, October 2002
I had a conversation with a radio DJ friend of mine last night. As it turns out Lightning 100’s format is considered “Adult Album Alternative,” while 102.9 The Buzz is considered “Modern Rock.” There’s a difference there. Lightning 100 plays indie songs you’ll never hear on mainstream. There is a rare exception when a song like Train’s “Meet Virginia” somehow gets picked up by 107.5 the River and gets Top 40 airplay. Lightning 100 was playing “Meet Virginia” first.
VW Convertable Commerical (in Quicktime Video) featuring the song “Mr. Blue Sky.” This is the best commerical I’ve seen all year. It’s one of those you don’t know exactly what they’re advertising, but you can relate to it. All those same work days where nothing ever changes.
I downloaded and installed the latest verison of AOL Instant Messenger. Bad idea. Anytime I try to add a buddy to the list, the program locks up on me. Guess it must not be compatible with Win2K. Time to downgrade.
Ananias, Sapphira, and the next Bob Dylan
For Wednesday night Bible class I’m teaching the rest of Acts 5 past the Ananias and Sapphira part. Apparently during the last class, they only got through the first 11 verses about Ananias and Sapphira being struck dead. The part about God striking people dead is a hard concept to grasp, not just for 6th graders, but for everyone. I read that part when I was 11 or 12 and began to really fear God at that point.
Anyways the rest of the chapter can be summarized thusly: Apostles preach the Gospel, get put in prison, then get released. And that’s pretty much it. Oh yeah, there’s more to it than that, which I will dwell on during class. But it certainly isn’t as interesting as the Ananias & Sapphira part.
Last time in class the kids were pretty active and seemed to ask alot of questions. We got off on what happens to you when you die… pretty philisophical and definitely couldn’t be thoroughly answered in the brief time in class.
It is official. They are closing the Hermitage Kmart. How sad. Maybe we’ll get lucky and a Target will move in there. But I don’t think we’ll get that lucky. We already are going to be getting a big giant Super Walmart in Hermitage. Ugh. Walmart. Is anything worse than that? Crowded aisles. Jumbled merchandise. By contrast Target’s aisles are nice and wide and organized. Walmart has us all fooled into thinking their prices are always lower. They aren’t. Since they are so crowded, their customer service is terribly lacking. When America realizes that is when Walmart goes out.
Let me just note this. Freed Hardeman University’s website ( www.fhu.edu ) is terribly annoying with the flash plug-in. Being annoyed by an animation with music is not exactly what I want when I surf the web. I especially don’t want to hear it each time I go back to the main page. “Flash” is just that – all flash and no substance.
I am still trying to figure out why the American Music Awards had the Osbournes hosting it. Do the producers of this awards show want to trash any bit of legitamacy that had by doing this?
Speaking of music, I seem to have been listening to Bruce Springsteen alot here lately. While I was getting my teeth cleaned at the denist’s office “Glory Days” was playing on the radio. While I drove back from lunch I listened to “Dancing in the Dark.” Remember when Tom Petty came along and critics said he was the new Bob Dylan? Then Springsteen came along a few years after that and people said he was the new Dylan. Just who is the new Dylan? Petty has put out a bit more albums than Springsteen. Most people remember Dylan for “Born in the USA” while Petty has several hits under his belt.
Lancaster case: ATF got tips from his own church
(from another newspaper that doesn’t have an up-to-date website)
By Elizabeth M-K Kruse
Mt. Juliet News – Jan. 15, 2003
An anonymous tip from three informants led to the arrest of Green Hill Church Music Minister Mark Lancaster last Wednesday by agents from the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms after they were told of Lancaster’s cache of at least 15 automatic weapons.
Since the arrest, there has been some speculation in the community that the informants could be members of Victory Baptist Church a congregation of about 350 members which broke from Green Hill about two years ago due to disagreements about Lancaster’s contemporary musical selections.
An affidavit filed by ATF Agent Patrick Hand specifically states that all three informants were from Green Hill Church. Hand interviewed the group at the church about a week before the arrest and seizure.
Prominent Mt. Juliet citizen Ron Britt is a member of Victory Baptist Church. Britt was a member of Green Hill for 22 years before he and more than 100 members became unhappy with the music ministry. When Dr. Lane Fordham was named pastor of the church in 1998.
Lancaster was hired as the new music minister. Lancaster’s approach to church music did not sit well with the church’s more traditional members.
“Lancaster had decided to go with contemporary music verses traditional,” Britt said, speaking for himself and not a representative of the church. “That’s all it amounted to.”
The addition of drums guitars and a band seemed foreign to what Britt described as historically traditional Southern Baptists. The overall leadership of the church supported the new music style and this was enough to spur members to leave, Britt explained.
Britt said he would be surprised if rumors were circulating that it may have been members of VBC who informed ATF agents about Lancaster’s cache of guns.
“I really would be shocked if it was form my church,” Britt said. “We now have a congregation of like-minded folks in terms of philosophy…and we have a great spirit.”
“I really regret this happened,” Britt added. “And I can honestly say my wife and I take no pleasure in seeing this happen because it’s not an ‘I told you so’ issue. What happened with the break-away was bigger than one individual.”
Lancaster is in custody and while the outcome for him is unknown, a community of concerned Green Hill Church members waits here at home.
In an effort to help the church’s young people deal with the situation, Associate Minister of Youth and Music Andy LaValley spent some time with Green Hill youth at Mt. Juliet High School last week.
“We always see our kids on Wednesday,” LaValley said.
“Really right now is a bad time to discuss this,” LaValley said when asked about Lancaster. “For the safety of the church’s integrity it would be better if we wait to discuss this.”
Kathy Kee, 16, is a junior at MJHS and has attended Green Hill for the past year. She is also a member of the choir.
“I’m disappointed in what happened,” Kee said. “Mr. LaValley just wanted to let us know that we need to keep our hopes up and that everything will be fine.” Lancaster “never struck me as strange or anything like that.”
Lancaster is scheduled to appear before the federal magistrate in Nashville tomorrow. He could face up to 10 years in prison and fines up to $250,000. Tomorrow’s hearing will determine if Lancaster must continue to remain in custody or be released on bond. Fordham, head pastor at Green Hill Church, did not return requests for comment. Chuck Grover, pastor of Victory Baptist was unavailable as well.
Everyone Has a Sob Story
Today I went to apply for unemployement benefits. How depressing! There was some guy in there who was moaning about how his company had reconsolidated and he had gotten the axe. Everyone has a sob story. No one really cares unless it happens to you or someone you know. Otherwise I’m sure the receptionist had heard all the sob stories. She didn’t need to hear another one. So I kept my mouth shut much of the time.
After I filled out all the paperwork, it was on to see a unemployement counselor. After filling out her part of my forms, she went through her rehearsed spiel about what I should do next. It was kinda like hearing the spiel airline stewardesses do at the bigging of the flight. She had obviously said it hundreds of times. Maybe there should be some website available to do this online, rather than waste some state worker’s time with this. Maybe there is a website which I don’t know about…
Is it in my best interest to tell someone I don’t like how situations are handled, over fear of not being asked back on certain activities? Is it in my best interest to keep a very public weblog showing my dislike for certain situations? I don’t try to stir up trouble. But when I see injustice, it bothers me tremendously.
I guess what is troubling me is seeing the proverbial wart on someone I respected at one time. It needs to be corrected. I’m looking for explainations, and not trying to condemn anyone.
I find myself hoping the Titans won’t win the next playoff game. Last time the Titans went to the Superbowl, I saw alot of silliness. I’d like to avoid this absurdity in the future. As you can guess, I’m not a football fan. Never have been, never will. I found it slightly amusing that last Saturday some people stopped skiing (which they had paid $100 to do) to watch a Titans game (something they could have done anytime). See what I mean by silliness? It is truly amazing how much emphasis we put on sports.
Anything that draws me away from God is a bad thing. We can safely assume that some people who normally would go to Sunday evening church services, will not be there on Super Bowl Sunday, especially if our beloved Titans squeak out another win against Oakland this weekend. Putting God first should happen 365 days a year. No exceptions on Super Bowl Sunday.
Not meaning to beat a dead horse, but I noticed this quote from that Tennessean article about the gun enthusiast minister: “…he had been known to borrow the church’s welding torch to work on his guns.” Since when does a church have a welding torch?