Playlist Theology
If not unison, then harmony.
If you grew up conservative and still love the hymns and the reverence—but quietly wonder if some of the lines you were taught were drawn in the wrong places—this book is for you.
Ben Everson takes an honest look at what the Bible actually says about music—and what it doesn't. The result is a gracious framework that gives believers permission to rethink old applications without abandoning biblical principles.
Playlist Theology isn't an invitation to compromise. It's an invitation to think—and to find freedom where Scripture gives it.
Discover how music actually works, what Scripture says and doesn't say, where the real boundaries are, and how to lead your family and church with wisdom instead of fear.
It's time to stop arguing and start discerning.
Want the audiobook? Order at www.beneverson.com. Look for "Playlist Theology" in the top menu.
The chapter titles are as follows:
Why We’re Still Talking About This
What Went Wrong in the Past
The Emotional Weight of the Music Debate
How Music Works: The Forgotten Basics
What the Bible Actually Says About Music
Discernment and the Holy Spirit
Where Is Our Joy?
The Music Standard Quotient Detector
Music and the Flesh — What’s Actually Sensual?
Guidelines
Syncopation & Fear of the Body
The Beat
Music That Is Clearly Wrong for Everyone
Where Do We Go from Here?
Every Church Has a Flavor
When Batman Helped Me Finish the Book
A Word of Honor
Appendix A: Can I Enjoy Music That Isn’t “Sacred”?
Appendix B: The Demon Beat
Appendix C: Is Music Amoral?
——Quotes
“If ever a subject needed addressing, this book is it.”
“Challenging, encouraging, and liberating.”
“He offers us good medicine if we'll have the grace to hear him.”
“A rare combination of courage and grace. . . This book is both refreshing and necessary. ”
“succeeds in bringing us back to the heart of the main thing.”
“Thank you, Ben Everson, for starting the conversation we've needed for so long! ”
“clearly articulates what so many of us have learned over time. . . believers may walk on different melodic lines—traditional or contemporary—and still harmonize in the ears of God.”
“Ben is uniquely prepared to speak the truth in love on the important subject of music.”
“geared for those of us who grew up with conservative music and still love it with all our hearts, and for young people with sincere questions. ”
“. . . systematically dismantled my entire framework for looking at music by asking the all-important question, "What does the Bible actually say?" and the equally important question, "What does it not say?" Playlist Theology comes to some conclusions that are outside of my musically conservative comfort zone. But in doing so, it forces the reader to evaluate whether or not one's stances on music are truly Biblical. And that evaluation process is both illuminating and incredibly valuable.”
“This book should go down as a classic read on this topic. It’s articulate, extremely balanced, scriptural, insightful, and thought-provoking; but it’s written with a humility that invites the readers (me, included!) to truly think about the powerful role of biblical discernment in our music. God created music, so it’s well-worth our time to study it biblically. I was fortunate to grow up with a balanced view of music— lots of joy and praise allowed!— and this book echoed my heart on this subject. Thank you, THANK YOU, for this gift of literature for the church!”
- 266 pages
- Paperback
- 5in × 8in
- Black & White
- 979-890138802-0
The Breath and the Machine
A Biblical Framework for the Age of AI
The most dangerous thing artificial intelligence is doing is not flying over a battlefield. It is sitting in your pocket.
Artificial intelligence is advancing at a speed no generation has ever experienced. It writes sermons. It composes worship music. It answers theological questions at midnight. It simulates empathy. It removes friction. It feels helpful. It feels efficient. It feels inevitable.
But what is it forming?
In The Breath and the Machine, veteran evangelist Ben Everson offers a biblical framework for the age of AI; not panic, not hype, and not naïve adoption, but careful, scriptural discernment. This is not a technology manual. It is a pastoral examination of what happens to the human soul when thinking, creating, and even relating can be outsourced to a machine.
What happens when answers become instant and struggle becomes optional?
What happens when simulated relationship feels easier than real fellowship?
What happens when truth can be fabricated convincingly?
What happens when the church is silent while algorithms catechize a generation?
Drawing deeply from Scripture, history, and decades of ministry experience, Everson walks readers through the spiritual, relational, and theological implications of artificial intelligence. From “tool vs. oracle” to the irreplaceable necessity of embodied church life, he argues that the real battleground is not technological; it is formative.
This book will challenge both extremes:
Those who embrace AI uncritically
Those who reject it reflexively
Instead, it calls believers to stewardship: to prove the tool, guard the soul, and keep AI as a servant rather than a substitute.
Clear-eyed. Pastoral. Biblically grounded.
The Breath and the Machine is not about predicting the future. It is about preparing the church.
Because the question is no longer “if.”
It is “who will shape whom?”
- 256 pages
- Paperback
- 5in × 8in
- Black & White
- 979-890356866-6
Help Me Believe
Messages about Faith in the Dark
Life doesn't always make sense. Prayers go unanswered. The diagnosis comes back wrong. Grief lingers longer than it should. Doubt creeps in where certainty used to live.
Help Me Believe is a collection of messages from evangelist Ben Everson — drawn from nearly three decades of preaching across America — written for anyone who is trying to trust God in a season that makes trust feel almost impossible.
These aren't theoretical answers to hypothetical problems. They're honest, biblical, and pastoral reflections on the hardest questions real people face: Why does God allow suffering? What do you do with deep hurts? How do you keep believing when God seems silent? What does the Bible actually say about terminal illness, unresolved doubt, and the courage to keep going?
With chapters ranging from Elijah's burnout to the hidden hand of God in Esther, Help Me Believe draws from Scripture to meet you where you are — not with easy answers, but with the kind of steady, gospel-centered hope that holds even when everything else gives way.
19 chapters. Real questions. Biblical hope. Jesus at the center.
- 174 pages
- Paperback
- 5in × 8in
- Black & White
- 979-890356480-4