Pop God

POP GOD POPcast: Episode 17 – David Zach

/ Alex Doriot / Leave a comment

slide.001Welcome to Episode 17 of the POP GOD POPcast – an exploration of into the lives of people seeking God in the present tense.

This week’s guest is David Zach. David is the lead singer and founding member of the band Remedy Drive. Remedy Drive has been recording powerful, inspirational music for over 15 years including hits like “Daylight” and “Better Than Life”. We talk about the formation of the band and David’s early inspiration from 90s rock and jam bands – including how Dave Matthews Band inspired the band’s name. David also opens up about the difficulties of starting a music career and how the experience broke him and transformed him. David also shares the band’s connection with The Exodus Road and how you can get involved in the fight against child slavery. Enjoy this deeper look inside the life of a musician truly seeking God in the present tense.

Listen to the podcast here:

Or Download on iTunes Or Listen on Podbean

Check out Remedy Drive’s site for tour information and pick up Resuscitate on iTunes

Find out about how you can get involved with the fight against childhood slavery with The Exodus Road

Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, rate it, leave a comment, listen to all the other episodes, share it on Twitter and Facebook and anywhere else. I’d really appreciate it. Thanks.

I love sharing stories of people seeking God in the present tense. Let me hear your feedback. Leave me a comment and let me know how to improve things, what you’d like to hear discussed, and give me your ideas as to who you’d like to see on the next episode of the POPcast.

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POP GOD POPcast: Episode 16 – Ellie Holcomb

/ Alex Doriot / 2 Comments

slide.001Welcome to Episode 16 of the POP GOD POPcast – an exploration of into the lives of people seeking God in the present tense.

This week’s guest is Ellie Holcomb. Ellie recently released her first full-length solo record entitled “As Sure As The Sun”. We talk about what led to her branching out from her husband and their band to record this album and the incredible amount of support she received. Ellie also shares how she came onto the music scene, her fears and doubts about hitting the road, the way a newborn changes everything, and what it’s like to have your music played at department stores across the country. Plus since it’s Ellie’s first solo album we play a game of Firsts to reveal some things you probably never knew about her like her first job, first concert, and more! Enjoy this deeper look inside the life of a musician truly seeking God in the present tense.

Listen to the podcast here:

Or Subscribe and Download on iTunes Or Listen on Podbean

Check out Ellie Holcomb’s site for tour information and pick up As Sure As The Sun on iTunes

Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, rate it, leave a comment, listen to all the other episodes, share it on Twitter and Facebook and anywhere else. I’d really appreciate it. Thanks.

I love sharing stories of people seeking God in the present tense. Let me hear your feedback. Leave me a comment and let me know how to improve things, what you’d like to hear discussed, and give me your ideas as to who you’d like to see on the next episode of the POPcast.

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When All Is Lost, Remember This:

/ Alex Doriot / 1 Comment

(Click Here if you can’t see the video above)

I watched the movie “All Is Lost” starring Robert Redford this past week. It wasn’t a great movie, or even a very good one. But I was really impressed by some of the visuals of Redford lost at sea, adrift in a seemingly endless ocean.

“All Is Lost” is as barebones simple of a movie as it gets. Redford’s character (whose name or background we never learn) is sailing across the ocean. One morning he awakes to a huge leak in his ship. The movie follows him trying to fix the leak and trying to stay alive.

That’s all. No other characters. Only 2 or 3 lines of dialogue across 2 hours. Just an old man and the sea.

Like I said, I was awestruck by the enormity of the ocean in the film. “All Is Lost” worked as a great advertisement against ever setting sail on my own.

As Redford’s character kept battling the elements, I kept wondering, “Why would you ever mess with the ocean?” Continue reading →

POP GOD POPcast: Episode 14 – Zak Todd

/ Alex Doriot / Leave a comment

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Welcome to Episode 14 of the POP GOD POPcast – an exploration into the lives of people seeking God in the present tense.

This week’s guest is Zak Todd. Zak is a friend and musician who’s about to reunite with his band Mazes And Monsters for a special concert February 21st at Sky City in Augusta. He’s also part of the worship band team at Redemption Church. Zak has a lot of great thoughts on the intersection of music and faith and we discuss the role of music in the church. Plus we share a little U2 and WWE love, break down the positives and negatives of living downtown, and share some weird fan interactions. A really fun conversation with a really fun guy. Enjoy this deeper look inside the life of a musician truly seeking God in the present tense.

Listen to the podcast here:

Or Subscribe and Download on iTunes Or Listen on Podbean

Download your free copy of The Spaces In Between from Mazes And Monsters on Bandcamp

Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, rate it, leave a comment, listen to all the other episodes, share it on Twitter and Facebook and anywhere else. I’d really appreciate it. Thanks.

I love sharing stories of people seeking God in the present tense. Let me hear your feedback. Leave me a comment and let me know how to improve things, what you’d like to hear discussed, and give me your ideas as to who you’d like to see on the next episode of the POPcast.mazesmonsters 2014

POP GOD POPcast: Episode 13 – Mitch Schultz

/ Alex Doriot / Leave a comment

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Welcome to Episode 13 of the POP GOD POPcast – an exploration into the lives of people seeking God in the present tense.

This week’s guest is Mitch Schultz. Mitch is a pastor who’s served for nearly 30 years with the Christian and Missionary Alliance. He’s also the author of the new novel The Whisper. The Whisper tells the story of a pastor caught up in a vicious church scandal who tries to run from God. Mitch talks about the creative journey behind the book and shares his incredible testimony as well. From being born to missionaries in Papua New Guinea to pastoring in England to facing down personal tragedy, Mitch has a truly unique story and he opens up about the way God uses our personal pain to bring us back to Him. Enjoy this deeper look inside the life of a pastor and author truly seeking God in the present tense.

Listen to the podcast here:

[audio http://adoriot.podbean.com/mf/web/zhch8s/Popcast13.m4a]

Or Subscribe and Download on iTunes Or Listen on Podbean

Pick up your copy of The Whisper on Amazon

Find out more about The Whisper and get updates from Mitch on Facebook

Subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, rate it, leave a comment, listen to all the other episodes, share it on Twitter and Facebook and anywhere else. I’d really appreciate it. Thanks.

I’m so excited to open up POP GOD and share more stories of people seeking God in the present tense. I’d love to hear your feedback. Leave me a comment and let me know how to improve things, what you’d like to hear discussed, and give me your ideas as to who you’d like to see on the next episode of the POPcast.

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Could You Do Me A Favor?

/ Alex Doriot / Leave a comment

It’s been almost a year since I launched POP GOD. Creating this blog has been a long-running dream come true for me.

That’s all because of you – the reader. For every one of you who has read, shared, or commented on even one post, thank you. I don’t just write this blog for me. I write with the idea of opening up a conversation about the presence of God in our world. I write to hopefully encourage, inspire and challenge.

I know how many blogs and other sites are competing for your small window of time, and it means the world that anyone would give that time to me for something I wrote.

You put up with a lot of my plugs, with my typos, with bad posts and good posts. Thank you for being patient with me as I grow.

Could you do me one more favor? Could you take 3 minutes and fill out this feedback survey?

I want to make POP GOD a site you’ll keep coming back to. I want POP GOD to be a conversation we have together. I want to grow POP GOD into a community of believers seeking God in the present tense.

Answering these 7 short questions will go a long way in helping me make that possible.

So please be honest. Your answers are anonymous. I’ve got a thick skin – you won’t hurt my feelings with your true opinions. Thanks in advance.

Click Here to take the POP GOD Reader Survey on Survey Monkey

Throwback Thursday: Making The Most Of Your MMMBOP

/ Alex Doriot / Leave a comment

***Last week on the blog I asked for your requests and ideas for POP GOD. This week we have our first reader-requested post from my friend Ogden, who asked for a post on Hanson’s classic song “MMMBop”. If you have a current or classic pop culture item you’d like to see discussed on POP GOD, leave a comment and I will make your request happen:

Middle+Of+NowhereHas there ever been a song quite like “MMMBop”?

In 1997 the Hanson brothers exploded onto the pop scene with arguably the most infectious and nonsensical song of the 90s.

Everybody knew “MMMBop”. A lot of people still know “MMMBop”. Just play the video if you can’t quite remember the song and it should come rushing right back to your brain.

(Click Here if you can’t see the video above.)

You can sing the chorus right now. It’s just a bunch of nonsense bebops and dubadops.

But do you know the rest of the lyrics? Can you sing the other verses of “MMMBop”? Continue reading →

Let’s Not Get Lost On The Way To Christmas

/ Alex Doriot / Leave a comment

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You knew it would happen.

As soon as the news broke of “Duck Dynasty” patriarch Phil Robertson’s controversial interview with GQ, you knew what the reaction would be.

No, I’m not talking about A&E suspending Robertson from his hit show.

I’m talking about the thousands of pastors across the country who started scrambling to rewrite their Sunday Morning Sermons.

I just have a feeling churches, especially across the southeast, are about to get an earful about what a reality television family’s religious stance means for our country and the church as a whole.

Pastors, may I ask one small request of you? Could you please pledge to avoid pop culture commentary from the pulpit?  Continue reading →

The Nativity Scene Smackdown

/ Alex Doriot / 2 Comments

slide.001The Doriot Family Nativity Scene was a war zone.

Every year my parents put out a handmade wooden Nativity scene. There’s a swinging fence, hay on the ground in the barn, a reverent recreation of the first Christmas.

And every year I couldn’t help but desecrate it.

The first thing I did when the Nativity Scene came out of the attic was hijack it to use with my wrestling figures. The barn became the backdrop for an epic wrestling match. I called it the annual Christmas Clash.

The Christmas Clash was the centerpiece of my make-believe wrestling federation – the biggest card of the year, my own personal Wrestlemania. For some reason I loved having this beautiful barn as the setpiece for my miniature grapplers to have their most important matches.

The baby Jesus sat in the background and an angel looked down overhead as Shawn Michaels and Diesel wrestled all around. This is what I turned the Christmas story into as a child.

What have we turned Christmas into?

The mission of POP GOD has been to seek God in the present tense of pop culture. You would think it’d be easier than ever to see God’s presence in pop culture during Christmas. But Christmas has become less a celebration of the arrival of a Savior and more of a pagan holiday celebrating generic platitudes like giving and happiness and togetherness.

God has allowed us to redefine our worldly celebration of the birth of His Son in many different ways. Still, if you look closely, you can see the spirit of Christ amongst the masses. Just as the baby Jesus was present in my Nativity Scene Smackdowns, the Lord is present in the pop culture of Christmas.

So this season on POP GOD, I don’t want to ask the question of “Where is God underneath the wrapping paper?”

Instead, I want to ask, “Where is God in the wrapping paper?”

Where is God in the minutiae of this holiday? Where is God in the cheesy Christmas songs and movies? Where is God in egg nog and Christmas Tree Cakes?

I used to think I was being blasphemous with the way I used my wrestling figures. Now I think I was just embodying what Christmas is all about – the presence of the Lord descending into our everyday lives.

As a child though, I relegated the savior to the background as my wrestling figures brawled before His birthplace. This year on POP GOD, we’ll be celebrating the presence of God in the midst of every aspect of Christmas in pop culture.

Stay tuned to POP GOD during the Advent season for a special Christmas countdown. We’ll have a new post every weekday leading up to Christmas including a few Guest Posts and a special Christmas music episode of the POP GOD POPcast.

(If you don’t want to miss anything, enter your email address in the box on the left side of the page to subscribe to POP GOD and have every new post delivered to your inbox.)

Christmas does not mean what it once did. God’s presence is in the background of how the world celebrates the season. But He is still there – if only we will look.

Did you ever misuse your family’s Christmas decorations as a child? What’s an unusual place you’ve seen Jesus at Christmas? Leave a comment below and join the Christmas conversation: