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?