A Conversation With Derek Webb

Derek Webb's new CD, The Ringing Bell, takes on the concept of peace. Derek talks to us about the title and the concept.

Derek Webb has written some great music, first with Caedmon's Call and then on his own. I had the pleasure of chatting with Derek about his latest album, songwriting and old friends.

In this first part of the interview, Derek talks about title of his new album and the concept of the album.

Suite: The title of your new CD, The Ringing Bell, is from lyrics in the song “The End”, but is there some meaning beyond that context?

Derek: The, title really, for me, goes a handful of different directions. It’s interesting, but with every one of my records, except this one, I’ve had a really obvious title. Most of my records I’ve known what the title was going to be before I even wrote the first song, it’s really weird. I’ll conceptualize something I’ll have a really strong idea about, a sound or a concept, something I want to go after and the title comes just really naturally, really early.

And with this record we were down to the absolute wire. There was no obvious title anywhere on this record. I didn’t really know what to call it and The Ringing Bell kind of came at me from a few different directions. And for that reason it doesn’t really mean one thing to me. In that context of the lyric it references to Pavlov and the way that people have typical responses with the things they’ve seen before. It doesn’t exactly mean that.

There’s also an urgency for me to the concept of a record like this, mostly about the idea of peace, if you can live peaceably with people. Just the urgency of that idea. And “the ringing bell” just carries the urgency of that idea. There’s a handful of different images that can attain that meaning and for me that made the concept stick.

Suite: When you were putting this together did you have a concept for the album or was it a pool of songs that you pulled from?

Derek: No it definitely was a pretty strong idea from the beginning of what I felt like I wanted to do. I’ve got a lot of my friends that are artists in the way that they write all the time. They’re always writing so that they have a lot of songs to choose from when they make records. And they’ll have some that they don’t record and they’ll record for other things where they always have songs laying around.

I’m not like that at all. I literally write 11, 12 songs a year and I record every one of them. I never have one spare and I have to use every single one and it’s always been that way. Even back in the Caedmon’s days it was like that. When it came time to make the record, I had exactly the songs I needed. Not 1 more not 1 less.

This record was no different. The songs started to come, and they came really late in the game, it was just maybe a couple of months before I was scheduled to start recording the record that the songs really started to show up.

I did have a strong idea I knew that I wanted to write a bit on the peace tradition of the church and otherwise and I was really concerned more on that particular issue because I touched on it on Mockingbird a little bit. It felt like there was more discussion to be had, maybe some further views to get into in terms of that idea and another record's worth of songs just to focus on that. So I did know I was going to go in that direction. I was meditating in that direction.

Derek Webb Interview Part Two: Derek talks about peace and pacifism.

Derek Webb Interview Part Three: Derek expands on pacifism and tells us about his graphic novel.

Derek Webb Interview Part Four: Derek talks about using different mediums to communicate a concept.

Derek Webb Interview Part Five: Derek talks about his courtship and having fun.

Derek Webb Interview Part Six: Derek talks about reuniting with his friends in Caedmon's Call

Michigan 14, #10 PSU 9

Michigan has won nine straight and 10 of 12 since the Nittany Lions joined the Big Ten in 1993.

Penn State head coach Joe Paterno adjusts his hair while waiting for an official review on a play during the first half of a college football game against Michigan, Saturday, Sept. 22, 2007, in Ann Arbor, Mich. (AP Photo/Tony Ding)

Columbia Pike makeover under way with complex

Out of the way: With the demolition of the Safeway on Columbia Pike, Woodfields’ Greg Bonifield, at left, Todd Jacobus and Margaret Ford can build Siena Park, a mixed-use project.


One of Columbia Pike's relics will finally meet the wrecking ball to make way for an $88 million development along the Arlington corridor.
Woodfield Investments has started demolition on an old Safeway supermarket and in its place will build Siena Park, a 188 -unit apartment complex with ground-floor retail and about 12,000 square feet of office space on the second floor.
Several redevelopment projects are taking place on an approximately three-mile stretch of Columbia Pike, and Woodfield officials wanted to join the activity, said Margaret Ford, a partner with Woodfield's office in Chevy Chase.
"It's only a mile from the Pentagon. It's right Just west of Woodfield's site, final designs are being drafted for Penrose Square. The redevelopment of a Giant Food -anchored shopping complex will include a new Giant, 300 apartments and 30,000 square feet of new retail and restaurants. Representatives of Carbon Thompson Development, the project's backer, could not be reached for comment, but demolition at the site could start in early 2008, according to the Columbia Pike Revitalization Organization.
Carbon Thompson officials have told Giant they will allow the current supermarket to stay open
through the holiday season, said Jim Whittaker, executive director of the Columbia Pike
Revitalization Organization. Giant and Carbon Thompson representatives are still putting together interior designs for the new supermarket, but the project's overall footprint has not changed, he said. Arlington County officials already have approved Penrose Square's plan.
"They will need to have all the designs finished before they apply for permits," Whittaker said. "We have heard that demolition probably won't get started until February."
In 2003, Arlington County adopted a form -based code for Columbia Pike that gives developers an expedited approval process if their plans follow certain guidelines. Form -based projects, like
Woodfield's, must be no more than six stories high and include retail or office space on the ground floors and residential or office space on the upper floors.

Form -based proposals also are eligible for a county reinvestment of up to 85 percent of the tax
revenue from the project for infrastructure costs typically borne by the developer.
Other projects along Columbia Pike include a 235-unit apartment complex by Fairfield Residential at Columbia Pike's juncture with South Greenbrier Street and a 269 -unit apartment building with 42,350 square feet of retail space at the intersection of Columbia Pike and South Walter Reed Drive.
The Safeway building at Woodfield's site opened in 1952 and closed in March 2005. Woodfield
bought the property in December 2006 for $12 million.
Woodfield's Siena Park will have 32,000 square feet of retail space with six or seven tenants, Ford said. Restaurants and neighborhood -serving stores will be in the mix at the site, which will include an underground parking garage with 408 spaces. The project could deliver near the end of 2009.
"Over the next couple of years, Columbia Pike will be transformed," Ford said. "There will be a
critical mass of new residential and retail."

Israel, U.S. Shared Data On Suspected Nuclear Site

Ken Burns Returns to War: His 14 1/2-hour documentary debuts on PBS next week.

The film makes clear that World War II was a "necessary war" in which the U.S. was unquestionably on the right side, but one that nonetheless came at a steep price. And that price, as in every bloody military conflict, was paid in two ways. Families at home suffered from the loss of their loved ones. And those on the front lines witnessed--even meted out--brutality they never would have imagined before the war. For example, one U.S. Marine--to the horror of his comrades--robbed a wounded Japanese soldier, using a knife to pry loose his gold teeth.

HillaryCare's New Clothes: Different means but the same political destination.

This is her strategy now. HillaryCare II is designed to cause minimal disruptions to current private insurance coverage in the short run, while dressing up the old agenda with slightly different mechanisms and rhetoric. Rather than fight small business, this time she is trying to seduce it with tax credits for small companies that provide insurance. Only later when costs rise will the credits shrink or other taxes rise. To court large manufacturers, like the auto and steel industries, she'll offer another, "temporary" tax credit to subsidize their health-care liabilities. Her plan, in short, is HillaryCare I in better clothes--a transitional platform to shift people to the default option, which is government insurance.

What's striking about all this is how little new thinking there is. Like the other Democratic proposals, HillaryCare II would mark another major government intrusion into health care. It would keep all of the system's current problems, most of them created by government policies, and entrench and expand them. The creativity is all in the political repackaging.

The Real Bush Record

We Want You to Be a Christian Hedonist!

The Happiness of God: Foundation for Christian Hedonism

Jeremiah 32:36-41

September 11, 1983

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Conversion to Christ: The Making of a Christian Hedonist

Matthew 13:44-46

September 18, 1983

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Worship: The Feast of Christian Hedonism

Psalm 63:5-6

September 25, 1983

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Love: The Labor of Christian Hedonism

2 Corinthians 8:1-2,8

October 2, 1983

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Money: Currency for Christian Hedonism

1 Timothy 6:6-19

October 9, 1983

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Marriage: A Matrix of Christian Hedonism

Ephesians 5:21-33

October 16, 1983

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Prayer: The Power of Christian Hedonism

John 16:24

October 23, 1983

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The Bible: Kindling for Christian Hedonism

Psalm 19:7-11

October 30, 1983

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Missions: The Battle Cry of Christian Hedonism

Mark 10:17-31

November 13, 1983

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Terror Matrix: Current Threats Facing U.S.

WASHINGTON - The day after the sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, President George Bush notified Congress that he was renewing the national emergency he announced in 2001 for another year. He also extended the powers that go along with it.

A national emergency gives the president the authority to take over certain elements of the economy that might be an asset, such as companies that work with certain raw materials. He can order the intelligence agencies to take extraordinary actions and he can suspend habeas corpus.

Bush said he extended it because of the "continuing and immediate threat of further attacks on the United States."

What are the threats and how does the intelligence community figure out which are of greatest concern? The best way to answer is to visit the nerve center of counter-terrorism.

Press spokesman Carl Kropf opened the door to a large suite of second floor offices at the National Counter Terrorism Center and led me in to see the director of the center Vice Adm. John Scott Redd -- the man that I often call "E.F. Hutton."

E.F. Hutton & Co. was one of the most respected financial firms in the United States for several decades. The company was best known for its commercials in the 1970s and 1980s based on the phrase, "When E.F. Hutton talks, people listen."

Redd rarely grants interviews. My first and last one until now was late December 2005. It was an eye-opener for me, and several other media organizations that quoted the interview.

This recent interview would prove to be no disappointment. Redd, Chief of Staff Joseph Stewart and NCTC Deputy Director Russ Travers met us at the entrance to Redd's office.

Just as we walked in, Fox News National Security Correspondent Catherine Herridge was doing a liveshot on one of several large wall-mounted flat-screen TV sets. She was talking about a radical Islamic Web site message threatening an attack on Manhattan.

That set the tone for the interview.

"Let me try to put that in context for you -- everyday, NCTC gets thousands of pieces of information related to terrorism."

He said they sort the item, as do all the other elements of the intelligence community.

"We go through each one of them taking nothing off the table automatically. And we try and say which of these are we most worried about."

On that morning, 23 items made the "threat matrix," which is a list of major threats that were reported for that morning. The website threat was one of them. The fact that it made it into the matrix meant it was significant.

It fell into the category of "chatter."

"The specific issue that comes up very often is the issue of chatter. That has been used by a number of people as an indication that something is about to happen," Redd said. "We clearly take it seriously but again each piece of it has to be looked at on its merits. What's the source? Is it credible?"

In this case, the Web site threat turned out to be empty, but halfway around the world in Denmark and Germany, very serious and very real threats were unfolding.

Redd didn't talk specifics, but he did say al Qaida is "moving into a higher tempo of operations."

"What we're not sure of, and what we don't have as much information on, are the more tactical details -- the who, what, where and when of the threat."

The warning the terrorists may be loose somewhere in the country raised a big question. Does the government's terrorist screening process actually work?

Travers said 'yes,' and laid out the proof.

"There have been people who have ultimately conducted suicide attacks overseas that have been prevented from coming into the country."

He would not go any further on that matter because of professional restrictions, but he was referring to cases like the one where a traveler from the Middle East arrived at Chicago's O'Hare Airport in June of 2003 and was turned around because he was on the list. Two years later his fingerprints were found on the steering wheel of truck used in a suicide bombing in Iraq that killed 132 people.

So that part of the system works, but "as we saw on 9-11, the 19 hijackers used 362 odd aliases. That's a challenge for us."

That memory of that aspect of Sept. 11 cuts deeply in the intelligence community and the German plot ripped the scab off it before it was healed.

The reason? The Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks were planned in Germany. And as the details of last week's plot emerge, we're beginning to learn just how serious it was. CIA Director Michael Hayden said to have been concerned enough about it that he traveled there and talked about "threats" in a speech at the Council on Foreign Relations last Friday.

Analysts assess with high confidence that al-Qaida's central leadership is planning high-impact plots against the U.S. homeland. Second, they assess that al-Qaida has protected or regenerated key elements of its homeland attack capability. That means safe haven in the Tribal Areas of Pakistan, operational lieutenants, and a top leadership engaged in planning.

Al-Qaida's success with the remaining element-planting operatives in this country is less certain.

Third, they assess whether al-Qaida is focusing on targets that would produce mass casualties, dramatic destruction, and significant economic aftershocks.

And based on information from German sources, this plot was the real deal and there is evidence that had it not been foiled, today might might have been eerily similar to Sept 11, 2001.

China's Tallest Building Nearly Done

Workers walk out from construction site of Shanghai World Financial Center on Thursday Sept. 13, 2007 in Shanghai, China. The concrete, steel, and glass tower is due to be finished in spring of 2008, when its 101 stories will loom 1,614 feet (492 meters) over China's business hub. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

The Cross - Jesus in China

Seeds of Blood follows the bloody footprints of the Chinese missionaries of the older generation after the Boxer Rebellion, particularly in the past fifty years. The Bitter Cup abounds with compelling testimonies by missionaries of the younger generation. Their dedication, suffering, faithfulness, and thanksgiving have led to an unprecedented revival of the Chinese Christian church. The Spring of Life recounts the rebirth that the Gospel has brought to a broad spectrum of people in modern China. Included are testimonies from farmers, students, officials, criminals, orphans, actors, writers, scientists, and entrepreneurs. The Canaan Hymns tells the amazing story of a farm girl Xiao Min. She is a high school dropout with no musical training. Nevertheless, she created nearly a thousand hymns by the power of the Holy Spirit. Quick Play High-Bandwidth Video Download Video
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'Special Report' Panel on General Petraeus and the Anti-War Faction

KONDRACKE: I thought the best line of the week on this was from Admiral Redd, who is now the head of the National Counterterrorism Center, who said that we are safer than we were on 9/11, but we are not safe, and we will not be safe for a generation, because this is a long war.

And it seems to be true. The Al Qaeda has not attacked back in the United States again. As a matter of fact, Judy Miller wrote a piece in The Telegraph, saying instead of attacking us in commemoration of 9/11, he sent out a video tape, which indicates progress on our part.

And so, clearly, we're safer than we were. The whole purpose of the foreign police of the United States is to fight Islamic terrorism now, and we barely recognized the threat back before 9/11.

But we're not safe, as witness Al Qaeda's ability to attack in Germany which we foiled. But we do not know whether there are any Al Qaeda plants in the United States. I would guess that there probably are, waiting around for the right message from Usama bin Laden.

So this is going to go on for a long time, which is why we have to do things like give the government this FISA power that they asked for and the Congress reluctantly gave them

Hart's prediction, U-M, Notre Dame are jokes to the nation

God, Psychology, and Christian Care of the Soul

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God, Psychology, and Christian Care of the Soul, Part 1

2001 Desiring God Conference for Pastors

January 29, 2001

David Powlison

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God, Psychology, and Christian Care of the Soul, Part 2

2000 Desiring God Conference for Pastors

January 30, 2001

David Powlison

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God, Psychology, and Christian Care of the Soul, Part 3

2001 Desiring God Conference for Pastors

January 30, 2001

David Powlison

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God, Psychology, and Christian Care of the Soul, Panel Discussion

2001 Desiring God Conference for Pastors

January 31, 2001

Various

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God, Psychology, and Christian Care of the Soul, Greg Livingstone

2001 Desiring God Conference for Pastors

January 31, 2001

Greg Livingstone

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Sex and the Supremacy of Christ, 2004 Desiring God Conference

Sex and the Supremacy of Christ, Part 2

2004 Desiring God National Conference

September 26, 2004

John Piper

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The Goodness of Sex and the Glory of God

2004 Desiring God National Conference

September 25, 2004

Ben Patterson

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Homosexual "Marriage": A Tragic Oxymoron--Biblical and Cultural Reflections

2004 Desiring God National Conference

September 25, 2004

Al Mohler

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Christian Hedonists or Religious Prudes? The Puritans on Sex

2004 Desiring God National Conference

September 25, 2004

Mark Dever

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Making All Things New: Restoring Pure Joy to the Sexually Broken

2004 Desiring God National Conference

September 25, 2004

David Powlison

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Speaker Interviews with Mark Dever (Saturday)

2004 Desiring God National Conference

September 25, 2004

Various

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Sex, Romance, and the Glory of God: What Every Christian Husband Needs to Know

2004 Desiring God National Conference

September 25, 2004

C.J. Mahaney

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Sex, Romance, and the Glory of God: What Every Christian Wife Needs to Know

2004 Desiring God National Conference

September 25, 2004

Carolyn Mahaney

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Sex and the Single Man

2004 Desiring God National Conference

September 25, 2004

Mark Dever

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We're Not on Hold: Biblical Femininity for Single Women

2004 Desiring God National Conference

September 25, 2004

Carolyn McCulley

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Sex and the Supremacy of Christ, Part 1

2004 Desiring God National Conference

September 24, 2004

John Piper

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