+ Carol of the Bells - The HipCola
+ Thank You God - Bill Tucker
+ He Lives - Jon Weems
+ I Saw The Light - Gordon Scott
+ Wayfaring Stranger - Miss Behavin’
+ Holy River - Steve Swanson

Back on duty with a half-dozen independent artists from the Podsafe Music Network ...

+ Shine On Me - Shawn Cole
+ Made Free - Jessica Smith
+ New Man - Josh Lindsey
+ Window of Your Soul - Terrance Damian
+ More Than Me - Rachel Keagy
+ We Three Kings - Jennifer Avalon

Hi folks,

Not to worry, I took a break and we'll be back on schedule Monday with some familiar voices and a new friend or two. Thanks for your patience!

UW

+ Joy in the House - Stephanie Lawrence
+ Thank You Jesus - Sinners to Saints
+ Superstar - Covenant
+ Lazarus - Pulling Thorns

+ Dancers Dancing - The Mustard Procedure
+ Lift Up Your Eyes - Eddie Ramirez
+ Soul Exhalation - Joe Thomashefski
+ Search Me - Tara Leigh Cobble
+ Holy Holy - Rudi Massyn

+  His Voice I Heard - Dee Dee Downs
+ God of Glory - Dan Ryker
+ Forever - Bill Tucker
+ The Night Sky and a Telescope - Tara Leigh Cobble
+ Sweet Holy Spirit - CLC Band/Podcast Paul

+ Who Do You Say? - Alan Horvath
+ Don’t You Know - Motorist Jones
+ Glory to the Lord - Motorist Jones
+ Hope - Al Stravinsky
+ All My Reservations - Dan Ryker

I just found this while exploring an old floppy disk of stuff I wrote a long time ago ...

Good Friday
As I left the church
thinking about His precious gift,
A drop of rain
touched my cheek
where a tear would go.

Funny you should mention that, Robert ...

Here are "I Will Not Be Silent" from Recent Rainfall ... "Hallelujah" by Bill Tucker ... "The Warmth of Your Eyes" by Lazarus ... "Out of the Darkness" with Karmyn Tyler ... and "Rescue Me" by Zach and Sarah.

Somehow "a week and a half" became a month and a half ... but the podcast is back. Thanks for caring!

UPDATE: Imagine my surprise when my iTunes account downloaded Ikthuscast 28 with a red "explicit" label! I clicked the wrong label; I blame my oncoming bad cold for addling my brain. The only thing explicit in this show was the Christian content. Sorry about that, folx.

I'm going to be away from the microphone for about a week and a half. I plan to have some new wrinkles when I return ... sorry about the interruption in service, but, well, I'm going to be away from the microphone, which is an important part of making the show. Watch (listen?) for Ikthuscast again around Monday, Sept. 24.

I shorted you this time around - here's exactly 14 minutes of Jesus!

"Love You More," Air 5

"This is My Father's World," Jilleen

"Fill It Up," Paul Lisney

"Stand Up and Be Joyful," Susan Bailey

The top Christian tunes of "all time" from the Podsafe Music Network:
1. Dream On - Carrie Pettit
2. Rain - Matthew Ebel
3. Saint - wahba
4. Clean - Matthew Casteel

Top 4 Podsafe Music Tunes of 2006:
4. Lead Us To You - Wahba
3. All That We Need - Wahba
2. Invisible People - Ryan Meyers
1. I Will Follow You - Megan Pettengill

Ikthuscast 24 is a bit of a departure from what has happened here so far - for the next three shows I'll be gleening songs from the "Most Popular" Christian tunes at the Podsafe Music Network - this time around, the four top tunes so far in 2007.

It's a brand new Recent Rainfall tune, newly uploaded to the Podsafe Music Network - "Holy Moment." Then it's a tune from Michael Popenhagen named "Brand New." And finally Laz Hernandez sings "Lamb of God." And then 15 minutes is pretty much over! Time flies when you're having fun.

The next three shows will be culled from the "Most Popular" tunes on the Podsafe Music Network, and then I've lined up a special guest for Ikthuscast 27 - stay subscribed! Or get subscribed if you're not!

"Let Him Rise," the centerpiece of Josh Lindsey's album "Take Your Places," gets a spotlight under the sign of the fish this time around. We also hear from Jileen with a straightforward rendition of "Jesus Loves Me" and Motorist Jones' tasty tune "You Touched Me."

"You've got to turn your cares to Jesus if you wanna get satisfied." Good thinkin' by Alan Horvath, who leads off today's 15 minutes of Jesus. Alan's a fellow native of New Jersey, although he stayed and I moved to Wisconsin a few years back.

The lovely and talented Kerri Crocker makes her third appearance at the sign of the fish with her song about priorities and such, "What If."

We heard from "Benjamin" a few episodes back, and we move back in time to a band for whom Ben served as lead vocalist, Tenth Hour Calling, who present "All of Yours."

Songwriters John and Helen Green are Recent Rainfall. They bring us today's benediction, "Bless and Keep You."

Thank you for checking out Ikthuscast! If you have comments, requests and/or questions, leave a comment or send me an e-mail at wpbluhm@netnet.net.

Help spread the word about how these terrific musicians are spreading the love of Jesus:

Terrance Damian, "Brand New Start" ... Miss Behavin', "Amazing Grace" ... Jessica Smith-Wright, "I Pour Out" ... and Shawn Cole, "Change My Heart."

The Redding Brothers launch our 19th excursion into independent Christian music with their song "Elijah." Also in the house are Bill Tucker, with his newly released "I Heard Jesus" ... Jonathan Roberts with "My Everything" ... and A Breath of Fresh Air and "You Light My Way."

Talented, hard-working singer-songwriter Tara Leigh Cobble kicks it off with her song "The Day Before Damascus," from her project "Here's to Hindsight."

Then Kerri Crocker moves in with "I Wanna Live" from her debut CD "Shine."

Mother Teresa famously said, "You can do no great things, just small things with great love." What she didn't mention is that doing those small things unceasingly, as she did, can add up to a great and blessed life. Susan Bailey did a small recording with great love called "Teach Me to Love (For Mother Teresa)," and I for one can't stop humming it ...

"The Stone Was Rolled Away" - A Breath of Fresh Air

"Happiness" - Covenant

"Jesus Be" - Shawn Cole

Here's an "unplugged" edition of Ikthuscast featuring Matt Brady ("Be the Clay") ... Brian Kelley "Firmly Planted - rough" ... Tara Leigh Cobble ("I Wonder" ... and John Miles ("Lead Me To The Cross").

Tastefully executed musicianship and mega-blessings from three newcomers to the Ikthuscast podstage: Benjamin kicks it off with "I Know" ... Mashach brings "Amazing Grace" - it's not what you think - and Delta DJ offers a bluesy tune called "Take It To The Cross."

We're back! And with a couple of familiar voices and a new friend. Michael Popenhagen returns with his song "Time" ... Jessica Smith-Wright lands for the fourth (!) time with "Straight To Your Heart" ... and meet Matt Brady, who takes us home with "Blessed Assurance."

Yes, you're right - there's no Monday Ikthuscast this week. Don't be alarmed, the show will be right back, probably even this Thursday. As Proverbs 16:9 reminds us, "In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps." He just had me taking other steps this weekend, so my plans changed. Watch for Michael Popenhagen, Jessica Smith-Wright, Matt Brady and a newcomer named Benjamin in upcoming 'casts.

Here's your chance to catch up on shows you missed!

UPDATE: OK, Monday pretty much for sure. Thanks for your patience. Oh, and Benjamin's not exactly a newcomer to the "biz."

Encore performances of some of my favorite tunes so far along the way ...

Shawn Cole is not new to this podcast - he leads us off with "Where Will I Run" from his album "Shelter."

Ben Vega released an album called "You Did This For Me" in 2005, but he has a brand new song called "I'll Follow You."

Recent Rainfall knows those who are in Christ Jesus face "No Condemnation," and Joshua Burke closes out this 15 minutes of independent Christian music with his rendering of "Holy Holy Holy."

The statistics show that only a handful of people are listening to Ikthuscast at this stage, but that's OK, it's fun exploring the world of independent Christian music a couple of times a week. If it was only me, it would still be worth it, but I'm glad you're here, too. If you enjoy these visits, let people know!

This time around, Chuck Stevens sets Psalm 147 to music, Leah Martensen sings "Something Beautiful" and Jessica Smith-Wright and her band spend a solid eight minutes "Standing True."

This show features Ellery - Justin and Tasha Golden - who will spend a couple of days in Wisconsin this week, including Friday night, July 6, at the Cup O'Joy Christian Coffeehouse in Green Bay. Selections are "Be Like This" and "You'll Get Through It."

Ellery's tunes are sandwiched between "It's Time" by Last Day and "You've Got the Time" by Terrance Damian - all in all, a timely episode of Ikthuscast, if I do say so myself.

The songs are "Stand" by Shawn Cole ... "I'm Amazed" from Michael Popenhagen ... and "Show Your Glory Lord" from Recent Rainfall.

Ikthuscast is produced every Monday and Thursday, but they're timeless shows, so if 15 minutes isn't enough, check out the earlier episodes:

This Monday's podcast is short, sweet and to the point, opening with "Amazing Grace" by Susan Bailey ... another encore from Miss Behavin, "I'll Fly Away" ... a fun little tune by Country Drive called "Billboard for the Lord" ... and Brian Kelley's gentle little tune, "Father Forgive."

The band Sweet Crystal, whose song "Soldiers of the Crown" appeared in Ikthuscast 5, goes back quite a few years, as you'll see in this slideshow, and their Web site proclaims their first performance in 12 years - coming up July 22.

The show features music by Jessica Smith-Wright, Terrance Damian and Bree Noble, along with a special visit from Pastor Art Pavelski of the Evangelical Free Church of Vestal, N.Y.

Ikthuscast #6 includes some thoughts about doing the right thing when you want to do something else ... as well as:

"Do Not Forget" by Jessica Vasquez

"The Divine Praises" by Paul Lisney, who can be found here and here

"Ten Thousand Angels" by Leah Martensen, making her second Ikthuscast visit

Songs about "the king of freedom" and "giver of liberty" as follows:

"Due His Name," Covenant, from the "Loose Cannon" project.

"Soldiers of the Crown," Sweet Crystal, "Still Standing."

"Made For You," Tara Leigh Cobble, "Here's To Hindsight."

"Ain't No Grave," Miss Behavin', "Making Amens."

Thanks for making Ikthuscast the biggest 15 minutes of Jesus twice a week to hit the podosphere in June 2007!

This time around I let the music do the talking, so here's some of the stuff I might have said:

Last Tuesday (June 5, 2007) Terrance Damian of Michigan released a half-dozen podsafe tunes, and they're all terrific, but I picked "I Know You're Listening" out of the pile. Terrance says he wrote 10 songs in 10 days, and then took 600 hours over three years to record them. You can hear the loving care in the tracks!

"Time," Kerri Crocker, from her album "Shine." At her Web site Kerri writes, "I pray you use the talents God has given you. His timing is perfect and His ways are always right!"

I played "Overcomer" by Jessica Smith-Wright in Ikthuscast 2, and the next day she uploaded a bunch of nifty tunes to the Podsafe Music Network, including "Real To Me."

Val Goldsack's "Our Father" finishes off the show on a gentle note.

My Podcast Alley feed! {pca-1a19cbd2c640ac4fb71938ef22abd633}

The Bible verse cited in today's show is 1 Timothy 1:15-17.

The songs:

"Shut Up and Pray," Leah Martensen

"Still," Andrew Thomas

"New Man," Josh Lindsey

The centerpiece of episode 2 is a story told by Pastor Bill Lenz of Christ the Rock Community Church in Menasha, Wis., just outside Appleton.
You can find each week's sermon available online in case Appleton's a tad too far to travel.

The music courtesy of the Podsafe Music Network begins with a funky version of "Rocka My Soul" from Miss Behavin' of Germany.

You'll also hear a tasty version of "Fairest Lord Jesus" by Jilleen and a rockin' tune from Jessica Smith-Wright called "Overcomer."

Thanks for visiting!

Response to Ikthuscast #1 has been lovely, especially among old friends from New Jersey who remember the "little stone chapel in the woods" where a coffeehouse named Ikthus provided a place to go in the late '60s, early '70s.

Reid sent a copy of the old ads for Ikthus, and he pulled one more name for Shiloh/Lazarus out of the memory hole, one that made me slap my forehead and say "Doh! Of course": "Thanks! I've recalled the marvelous music of 'Blue Sky Investment'/'Shiloh'/'Lazarus' several time over the years and wondered what happened to them. Thanks for blessing me with this music."

Linda adds, "Some of my happiest high school memories are from those Friday evenings at Ikthus, what a wonderful place of freedom that was.  I went on a canoe trip with the Ikthus group in the Adirondacks sophomore year, and it was really special, too."

The best part of the launch has been the nice notes and words of encouragement - thank you thank you thank you! And "tune back in" Monday for #2.

And off we go. Expect a new episode of Ikthuscast every Monday and Thursday - about 15 minutes at a time of "joyful noise unto the Lord," with the primary source of material being the Podsafe Music Network. But I'll have other surprises for you along the way, as well, such as the out-of-print recording by Lazarus at the heart of this debut program.

"Hallelujah" by 38 Acres is a beautiful tune to launch a podcast with - in fact, I found at least one other show that did exactly that - Joe's Podcast Christian Edition. It was fun finding out that the band is based in Wisconsin, just like moi.

In a small forest near Mendham, N.J., in the late 1960s, a group of teenagers opened a coffeehouse inside a little stone chapel. They named it "Ikthus," which gives this podcast its name. One of the groups that performed there was Shiloh, a folk trio comprised of Bill Hughes, Carl Keesee and Gary Dye. They later changed their name to Lazarus and recorded a couple of albums. From their out-of-print debut LP, here's "Blessed."

Last but not least, here's Shawn Cole with a nifty acronym: G.R.A.C.E. - God's Riches At Christ's Expense.

Let me know what you think, and y'all come back now, here?

Because Jesus called us to be "fishers of men," the fish became one of the first symbols of Christianity. Ikthus is the Greek word for fish, and its individual letters can also be seen as describing the Savior:

i -- iesus

k -- kristos

th -- theos (Greek for "God")

us -- uios (Green for "son")

ikthus -- Jesus Christ, son of God

It's said that early Christians recognized each other like this: One person would, seemingly idly, trace a curve on the ground, and the other would then draw a second curve, completing the drawing of the fish.

Ikthuscast debuts Thursday, May 31, and will be posted Mondays and Thursdays after that. If you like what you hear, please tell people about the show!

Much spiritual hemming and hawing has taken place over the past 30 days - what do I need to get started? am I really ready to do this? is this a duplication of other podcasts? is it really God's will that I jump into this? - but the bottom line is I've been procrastinating. Enough.

Ikthuscast debuts Thursday, May 31, 2007, and will appear on this spot of the Internet Mondays and Thursdays from that time onward, Lord willing and the creek don't rise.

Psalm 100 in its old-fashioned translation begins, “Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all the Earth.� That’s been changed in more modern versions to “Shout for joy to the Lord,� but I still like “Make a joyful noise.�

The psalm continues: “Serve the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.� And that’s the main purpose of this new little podcast.

Hi, folks, I’m Uncle Warren Bluhm ... and welcome to Ikthuscast.

For 15-20 minutes at a time - probably once or twice a week - I'll be bringing you the best of independent Christian music, much of it found at the Podsafe Music Network, and more. I'm still working on what I mean by "more," so you'll have to come back and find out with me.

I'm making this up as I go along, so I'm open to suggestions. Send me a note at wpbluhm@netnet.net and we'll grow this little show together. When will the first episode be up? Soon! (Lord willing and the creek don't rise.)