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Results are all that matter - Jesus

Matthew 11
18 For John didn’t spend his time eating and drinking, and you say, ‘He’s possessed by a demon.’ 19 The Son of Man,[f] on the other hand, feasts and drinks, and you say, ‘He’s a glutton and a drunkard, and a friend of tax collectors and other sinners!’ But wisdom is shown to be right by its results.”

How rich are you?

I am the 107,565richest person in the world!
You may need to go here first

http://coinmill.com/AUD_USD.html

to convert you Aus dollar salary into US,
then go here

http://www.globalrichlist.com/

and find out where you stand on the scale, you are probably a lot richer than you think, it all depends on who you compare yourself too.

Just walk across the room

Starting a three week series based around Hybels book, "just walk across the room"


If you are into emerging church thoughts, and are not really a fan of Hybels, I encourage you to read this book. It might be a real challenge and encouragement to you.

The whole idea of a "Matthew Party" which Bill spells out, sounds remarkably similar to the 'best ideas' I see coming out of the Emergent voice. Some might think it is ironic that it would come from the originator of the "Seeker Sensitive" movement.

Peer Group

I have a peer group, a group of fellow Pastors.
We meet every month or so, probably when one of us gets our act together and organises it.
Without this group of friends who have encouraged me, told me off, exhorted me, prayed for me, prayed over me......

I would not still be in ministry.

I think friends are very important, but as I journey in ministry, there has been few things as important and needful to me as these guys.

Ignite Community

Its nice meeting people online. Its like circling at a party, and finding you have stuff in common.
There is something about being a minister, a pastor, a spiritual leader of some sort. Its a bit like a war out there sometimes, you stick your head up, and someone is ready to shoot you down. Thats why its nice to 'meet' someone good humoured who is 'in the job' as well.

Andrew 'Roo' Patrick is a youth pastor out at Carey Baptist. SUCKED IN BIG TIME Andrew, you have to work with Steve Izett :) :) :)

Not really, Steve is a great guy, and is a real believer in empowering people to lead, so I am sure your creativity is allowed to flow freely.
Andrew has a great blog, check it out sometime.

http://ignitecommunity.blogspot.com/

The other thing about Andrew is that he is a Geelong Supporter. Oh dear. No wonder him and Gareth are mates, they both have the same sort of persecution complex that drives them to support teams which will always be "almost there". Unlike the mighty Dockers, who never leave you guessing and this year will go one step further.

Mc Gill


I know he is not fashionable, but I would love to see Stuart Mc Gill get a cap for the upcoming test in Adelaide. You have to feel for the guy, who would be a walk up start for any other team in the world.


As well as that, he has managed to keep his private life just that. He also seems to be an intelligent and well versed commentator on many topics. I especially aprreciated the stand he took with the Zimbabwe tour.

"MacGill is the first Australian to tell selectors he could not in good conscience tour Zimbabwe since its cricket union imposed a new selection policy that's seen 13 white players refuse to play in protest" Story


He is also a proven wicket taker, often achieving breakthroughs when other players havestruggled. With the Poms starting to stand up for themselves, and with the Test at Cricket friendly Adelaide, I'm hoping he gets a call up.

Site Feed

Site feed visible for those who have asked

Wayne Field and good use of Carols

This will probably appear on Ra'ah, but deserves an airing here as well.

Expect a fun night of carols and family entertainment at this year’s Australind Carols in the Park Tornado Benefit. The event will be a special end to what has been a difficult year for the Leschenault community which was hit by a freak tornado in August.

Carols Director Mark Belton of Australind Baptist Church said that, “Proceeds from the event will be directed towards the Settler’s Community Hall rebuilding project.”

Only $40 a month

For $40 a month you can get 26 channels, seven sports channels. "Ongoing packages range from $36.95 to $101.95 per month." www.foxtel.com.au


Either that or you can potentially save a child's life, give him or her hope for their future.
This morning our family adopted a little boy. (Well sort of!)
We are sponsoring a child through Compassion. No father, living in Hondorus, speaks Spanish.
Sure makes me feel better about myself than the prospect of watching more TV, especially since Fox lost the footy :)

Carols Sunday Night the 3rd


We hold this at the local Primary School, normally get about 600 there,
love to see you there!!
Free sausage sizzle for all Markedly readers!

Lester Sutton this week


Lester Sutton from Compassion speaking this week, following on from three weeks on Parenthood.
Idea being that we open our eyes to the rest of the world, and broaden the scope of our own family a little.

Have prepared a great opening multi media for the service, lets hope we all enjoy it and are challenged.

Parenthood Part Three

Third part of message,
dealing with what to do when kids go bad!!

Hope you enjoy it,

Parenthood part three

Really enjoyed this series, and taking Parenthood beyond the traditional constraints of the family.

Facing the Giants

This is a pretty amazing story.

Alex Kendrick teamed with his brother Stephen to write Facing the Giants. The cast is comprised of volunteers from Sherwood Baptist Church, located in Albany Georgia. , as well as others from the surrounding area. The Kendricks hired five film pro's to fill the technical positions on the motion picture. Church members and community volunteers helped to keep production costs down by supplementing the professional crew.
Wiki
This very ordinary church has made a movie with a budget of $100, 000.

The kicker to the story?

The film has grossed over $5,000,000 as of late October, 2006.
The film is maintaining a respectable $2,400 per theater average in its third week after release. Opening weekend's average was over $3,000 per theater, grossing over $1,300,000.


The church made the film to portray the gospel in a contemporary way, hoping to show it in the local theatres!!!!
Here is something from the Rotten Tomatoes site,
"I have to say, that in an age of super budgeted feature films where most come and go in a couple of weeks after tanking, Facing The Giants outshines and out classes a large majority of those Hollywood giants. Maybe that's another message the film makers didn't intend to be communicated through their film but is there anyway. Watch out Hollywood. If you won't make family friendly films which portray Christian people in a positive, realistic way, then they will. And people will come and spend their money to see them"

Media get it wrong over Wilmots

Dear Friends,

Malawi is a country with about 12 million people and there really are 1 million orphans. Constantly our Malawian friends are living with death; last week the director of Total Life Care lost his 6 month old daughter. 1 in 4 children really do die before the age of 5. Mother’s and Father’s really do wonder if they will have enough food to feed their families, HIV infected people really are as high as 1 in 3. Despite this Malawian people continue to inspire us with their human spirit, resilience and warm hearts.

As you know Madonna has put Malawi on the map, somehow though, we have found ourselves embroiled in media hype surrounding Madonna and adoption. So we thought it may be helpful to clarify a few things. We are at present going through the process to adopt a beautiful little girl, Jessica. This is something that, because of its personal nature, we have chosen to keep confidential until things were official and our family and organisation were informed. I guess it is no longer confidential. And we do apologise to those people involved in our life who are reading about such a sensitive and personal issue in the paper; like members of our family.

The article is not true and the quotes attached to Angela are also not true. My understanding is the “human rights charter for children” should protect their identity, so we are disappointed at the article and feel that it is a violation of Jessica’s rights. We did speak to a journalist, over the phone, but are upset that this is the slant they put on the article. In contacting us we were given the impression that because he heard of us adopting children, he wanted to highlight orphans and poverty. It was later he brought up our present adoption process, which we were quite surprised by, due to the confidentiality. Unfortunately we are being used to create a story and we naively went along with it, allowing pictures to be taken of our family. My understanding is they are using all people quoted to create a story.

We are not involved in a ‘tug of war’ with Madonna. During Madonna’s time in Malawi she did visit the orphanage were this little girl is currently being cared for. Jessica was one of many children that Madonna spent time with and she has no intention of adopting Jessica, but that’s about where the story begins and ends. We are very sympathetic to and supportive of Madonna and appreciate her desire to respond to the world she lives in. We wish her, her husband and her children all the best in their adoption. It is not an easy journey to decide to adopt or to travel the road to adoption and we are just thankful our lives are able to go on without the scrutiny of press she is subjected to.

Thanks guys for your continued support of us. Poverty is a chronic problem and won’t end overnight, please don’t tire of hearing about it, praying for it and standing against it. Our lives really do make a difference.

We are not giving any further interviews, as our commitment to these beautiful people in Malawi and our duty of care to our children is one of dignity, empowerment and uplift and not for manipulation for the sake of a story.

Warmest regards

John and Angela Wilmot
(Michael, Shaun, Grace, Martha, Brian, Ruth and one day Jessica)

John and Angela Wilmot and Madonna adoption controversy

John and Angela Wilmot, John being a friend I studied with at BTC, have made the third page of the West. I suspect this story could grow, and we might see John and Angela on TV. It appears they are in a adoption row with Madonna. Angela and John have already adopted four boys and where well down the track of adopting Jessica when Madonna spotted her and expressed her desire to adopt her.

Angela has stated that Madonna has done the right thing in adopting David, the child in the middle of the previous controversy.


Story

The singer — who faced a public backlash when she took a 13-monthold boy from Malawi to Britain — is thought to be returning to the impoverished African country to adopt an 18-month-old girl called Jessica. However, the youngster, who was found abandoned under a bush, could find herself caught in a dramatic tug-of-war battle. Australian missionaries Angela and John Wilmot have spoken of their fears that their plans to adopt the little girl could be thwarted by the pop queen. In an interview with Closer magazine in Britain, Mrs Wilmot, 34, said: “We heard that Madonna was interested in a child, who we now hear is Jessica, but we are quite far down the line with our adoption.” The Wilmots said they were already in the process of adopting Jessica when the 48-year-old singer expressed interest in taking her to Britain and made a follow-up visit to the orphanage to see her. The couple, who already have two sons and four adopted children, moved to Malawi seven years ago. Madonna met Jessica at the Kondanani Orphan Care Centre at Blantyre earlier this year. She then “fell in love” with David Banda at the Home of Hope orphanage in Mchinji and took him to London amid a storm of controversy, with some critics claiming the move was not legal. “We knew Madonna was at the orphanage and she’d met all the kids, but we were already in the process of adopting Jessica and we hope we’ll be successful,” Mrs Wilmot said. Kondanani Orphan Care Centre’s Cherrie Martin said: “Madonna is a lovely lady. Very down to earth and very caring. She really loved Jessica when she met her.” Despite their concerns for Jessica, the Wilmots said they backed the singer’s planned adoption of David.
KATIE HAMPSON

Scrapbooking

Having a mad keen scrapbooker for a wife has its advantages!
Beautiful story books to hand on to our kids one day,
interesting journalled photo books to reminesce over.
I have set up a blog for my wife's, and our churches, scrapbooking club.
I don;t think it will get many entries, maybe once a month,
but here it is anyway.

www.bedfordscrapbooking.blogspot.com

Jeremiah 10.23-25

23 I know, Lord, that our lives are not our own.
We are not able to plan our own course.
24 So correct me, Lord, but please be gentle.
Do not correct me in anger, for I would die.

What a awe inspiring piece of scripture. The Weeping Prophet has an ability to get to the heart of the matter. He recognises his own frailties, yet also has a deep desire to be in the centre of the will of God.

What does it mean for God to correct us? How does He do this? Only if we are humble and open to His correction in this life. If we decline His offer of a gentle lead now, He will correct us later.

Prayer, "God that I would hear and listen and obey your voice now. God that You would make it clear what my path is to be today, tommorow. Cause me to make Godly decisions, made in the light of Your vision and will for my life."

Running around like a headless chook


Oh dear, must be something in the water.

Have you heard the true story about the headless chook who kept living for 18 months after having his head cut off?


"On Monday September 10, 1945, farmer Lloyd Olsen of Fruita, Colorado, had his mother-in-law around for supper and was sent out to the yard by his wife to bring back a chicken. Olsen failed to completely decapitate the five-and-a-half month old bird named Mike, leaving one ear and most of the brain stem intact.
Not quite sure what to do with his by now loose head, on the first night after the decapitation Mike slept with it under his wing; it was this touching tenacity to life and the now redundant organ that convinced Olsen to reprieve Mike from the cooking pot.
Despite Olsen's botched handiwork, the by-now-headless Mike was still able to balance on a perch and walk clumsily; he even attempted to preen and crow, apparently not noticing that neither activity could be accomplished properly without a head. After the bird did not die, a surprised and no doubt guilty Mr. Olsen decided to continue to care permanently for Mike, feeding him a mixture of milk and water via an eyedropper; he was also fed small grains of corn. The unfortunate Mike occasionally choked on his own mucus, which the Olson family would clear using a syringe.
When used to his new and unusual center of mass Mike could easily get himself to the highest perches without falling. His crowing, though, was less impressive and consisted of a gurgling sound made in his throat, leaving him unable to crow at dawn.
Being headless did not stop Mike putting on weight; at the time of his beheading he weighed some 2½ pounds and at the time of his death, this had increased to nearly 8.
I've got to be able to use this as a sermon illustration somehow??? :)

Rove and Belinda and Cousin Shaun McManus

No, I am not blogging a gaffe like our serial fluffer Opposition Leader Kim Beazley. I am drawing a connection between the tradgedy of the passing of actress and singer Belinda Emmet, and our own Docker Shaum Mc Manus.

On the Channel Ten report of Belinda's funeral, there were the wavy blonde locks of Shaun. I thought, only for a brief second, what's he doing there? Then the connection was clear, Shaun is Rove's cousin.
How sad, how terribly sad for the humorous lad from Willeton (Rove). Rove has always struck me as a very decent guy, with a strong and loving family. He once said that his sister had achieved far more than him in life because she had two wonderful children. Now Rove will not know that pleasure with his first love, Belinda. Terribly sad for the guy.

Seeing Shaun at the funeral brought home to me the reality of the situation. It is at these times that cousins, friends, people who really care about you gather around you. I wonder if Rove will ever recover? I think with his good humour and energy he will. Not for some time, but there will be hope and humour for him. I pray he finds peace and hope in the midst of his grief.

Bono LIve at Saddleback December 1st

Bono will appear at Saddleback Church, with Rick Warren, at their World AIDS Day on Dec. 1.

And an up and coming politician Mr. Obama will also appear. He appears to be a strong possibility for the next White House candidate.

Purpose Driven Candidate

Jesus, on sale for $20 US


JESUS

Jesus was the most important person in history. Ever.He was born in a manger, raised as a carpenter, and crucified on a cross. He healed the sick. He raised the dead. He fed five thousand men with two fish and five loaves of bread. He was a revolutionary preacher and an extraordinary teacher who shook up the religious authority of that time.Jesus, the Son of God, came to earth in the form of a man. When He died, He defeated death. He defeated sin. Belief in Him brings eternal life. There has never been nor will there ever be anyone like Jesus!
Product Features:• 12" tall• Fully articulated, with 18 points of articulation including hands and fingers that can gasp and hold• Realistic eyes• Hand-sewn cloth outfits and sandals• 63 seconds of Scripture, recorded in an easy-to-memorize style
I dont know what everyone else thinks, but this is a bit gross for me.
I dont want to be religious or Pharisaical, but crumbs, I reckon there are better ways to teach our kids.

Thankfulness

I reckon one of the keys to a healthy life is to live a life of thankfulness.
Blessings, peace and joy come from deciding to be thankful. And it is a choice.
I am not subscribing to the 'name it and claim it' theology. Thats bunkum .

But think of the analogy God Himself gives us, He is our Father.
What sort of children does a Father love? I know what I am teaching my children, how to say thankyou, and when they say it of their own accord, it blesses me and others.

Most days I try to remember to thank God for my family (boy am I thankful for them!)
my church, yes, especially now,
and my life.

Thanks God too for the beautiful ciabata bread and organic coffee I made for breakfast.

John Mc Arthur & John Piper

Aaaaah, you were thinking or hoping for a deep theological thought, ah ah, you've come to the wrong blog :)

I used to be a huge Mc Arthur fan, in my idealistic stage,

once delivered from that, I can now listen to this and laugh....

If you know who John Mc Arthur is you will either.... laugh out loud, or send me rude emails!!





And as an added bonus, here's John Pipers take on Michael Jackson's Bad




Parenthood Part Two

Hi all,
I know your all dying for the next exciting installment, here it is

Message Part Two

or right click and 'save target as' this one

Right click and save target as

Hard Work

There is something very soul building about doing hard work.
It is something we are designed for, from the garden, from the beginning.

As a Pastor, sometimes the work you are doing seems nebulous. There is no hole dug, no cabinet made, no bricks laid, to show for your work.

Leadership, inspiring, counselling, imparting, praying.
All people skills, all having their results in somewhat undefinable areas.

Then there are things like preparation, video and computer work, setting up stages, arranging events, producing brochures. These things are much more definable. Part of making things happen.

As Spiritual Leaders we cannot get away from work, to see a community transformed is difficult. If we expect it to be easy, or to pander to our own laziness, we are in the wrong field.

Linksys

We have three main computers at work, plus my laptop.
A technically minded guy at the church has just set up the wireless network for me.
Its unbelievable. Seriously I reckon I have gained about two hours on Friday. What I mean is this. I can prepare all the videos and services on my office computer, while doing other work on my laptop while the office computer is 'rendering' files. All cpmputers are online.

I then simply go across to the presentation computer which is in the auditorium. Grab the files from the 'shared folder" on either the laptop or office computer, and off I go.
I probably have not described this well, but what it means is that I can share files on every computer in the church, and share printers as well. A video file over 200meg, which meant I would normally have to waste a cdrom burning it to transfer, or try to compress it to fit on my 128meg usb drive, is now transferred between pc at the touch of a mouse.
ITS GREAT!!

The guy that set it up is a management type, with a stressful job with long hours, so I can't mention his name!! But he knows who he is, THANKS!

Spare the rod....

I dont think there are many things more controversial, or with the potential to be more controversial, than spanking your child.
In these politically correct days, the idea of inflicting pain to the 'seat of learning' may seem like an archaic and barbaric practice. The argument goes that violence begets violence.
Interesting logic. This generation will be the second that grows up with this generalised mindset. Lucky for us it has worked, and we live in a far less violent society (where is that sarcastic smilie gone??)

Of course we have not, we have grown up in a society with far less boundaries.
Ask yourself this, what would you prefer as a child?
To grow up knowing boundaries and respecting them, or to grow up with no real sense that there will be any retribution for wrong doing?

I love my kids, really love them. The thought of anyone causing them pain kills me. Listening to Wally Foreman's son talk about how he will miss his dad, had me crying.
Yet I want them to grow up knowing boundaries. They need to feel some pain when they have crossed the line.

"The rod of correction imparts wisdom, but a child left to himself disgraces his mother...Discipline your son, and he will give you peace; he will bring delight to your soul." Proverbs 29:15, 17

Samsung Service is brilliant



On this blog I have bagged various organisations for bad or ordinary service.


Time for a great story.





Recently I bought a SAMSUNG copy/fax/printer for the church.


We have just transfered all our internet and phone stuff to AAPT who set up a duet line. This means we could keep our fax number, but have it on the same line, and get charged about 1/10th the price.





I suspected my new Samsung Fax would support this, so I rang their customer care guy. Not only did he help me, he rang me on my mobile so he could then ring my landline and set it up for me. I cant believe how


  • knowledgable he was
  • helpful he was
  • efficient he was
He cared about my problem, knew how to fix it, and did!!!!!
His name was Mark by the way,
well done SAMSUNG

Parenthood and touch

Preparing for my second part of the series on Parenthood.

Here is something thats interesting.

Skin hunger is a relatively new term that has been applied to the emotional response engendered by the loss of touch in our society. One of the five basic senses, touch is the only one deemed essential to human life. (emphasis mine) During WW II babies in orphanages developed Failure to thrive or even died when deprived of human contact. In a classic study by Harry Harlow, newborn monkeys were taken from their biological mothers and given surrogates made of either wire or soft terry cloth. The baby monkeys consistently chose the soft mother even when deprived of nourishment. The need for bonding outweighed even the basic necessity of food.
The need for touch extends beyond the early developmental years. It is the first sense to develop in utero and the last to diminish as we die. Babies and children with loving parents are cuddled and kissed and touched. As a child ages he seeks to become more independent and may even resist too much lovin'. How many of us parents have mourned the day our children became too big to sit in our laps anymore? Boys, especially, are discouraged from showing too much affection. To be a man means to be strong and stoic and emotion is deemed a sign of weakness.
Adolescence is a time of self discovery and growing sexual awareness. As kids grow into teens they may seek sexual intimacy even when not emotionally ready because the need for touch is so strong. How many girls have had sex prematurely when all they really wanted was to be held? Compounding the problem, many parents will decrease physical contact with their teens because of fears of inappropriateness.
Maturing into adults we face a world that explodes with sexual images but discourages more than a friendly nod or a handshake in public. Sexuality is OK but intimacy is not.
The elderly, the disabled and the very ill, aka the "Untouchables", are at greatest risk of touch deprivation. Living in isolated homes, the elderly and the disabled often have limited mobility and fears of victimization may prevent their venturing out. People with a terminal illness like HIV may have very little contact with another human being due to inherent fears of the disease. Although not as fulfilling as human contact, a pet may provide the bonding and comfort needed.

Story

Seth's blog

I have just added Seth's blog to my blogroll.
It is fantastic. Does not matter what industry you are in, or what you are on about, this is a great site to visit for marketing and service tips and angles.


"SETH GODIN is a bestselling author, entrepreneur and agent of change.
Godin is author of five (no, it's six! [no it's SEVEN Free Prize Inside was published in early May, 2004 and All Marketers Are Liars.was published in 2005) books that have been bestsellers around the world and changed the way people think about marketing, change and work"






Ipod to go the way of 8 Track

Ipod this, ipod that.
Apple's Ipod is the market leader of music players at the moment.
Trendy, stylish, easy to use, and trendy.

However consider this.
It has very limited transferability to other platforms
It only does one thing, or maybe two if you counnt playing videos.

Sony have introduced a mobile phone which is also a great Mp3 player.
My PDA is a smartphone and plays video and most audio files. It also has an expandable memory slot.

This means I only have to carry one instrument to do all those tasks.
I cant see the Ipod's sales domination lasting more than another 3 or 4 years, unless something dramatic changes about the product.

Esnips and Parenthood Part One


After no end of trouble trying to upload the last week of messages, I have switched over to esnips.com. Excellet product, and the best possible price.

You can hear or download my message on Parenthood right here
Parenthood Part One (spirituality and proactivity)




alternatively just 'save target' at this link


Ted Haggard pre controversy

Be careful what you say.

Its got more haggard

The truth, or perhaps more of the truth, has come out about Ted Haggard.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado (CNN) -- Less than 24 hours after being fired from the mega-church he founded, evangelical Pastor Ted Haggard confessed to a "lifelong" sexual problem.
In a letter read to members of his New Life Church Sunday, Haggard said he is "a deceiver and a liar." Haggard apologized to his congregation in the letter and asked for their forgiveness.
"There is part of my life that is so repulsive and dark that I've been warring against it all of my adult life," Haggard said in the letter read by Pastor Larry Stockstill, a member of the board of overseers of New Life Church. On Saturday, members of the board ousted Haggard from the 14,000-member church, citing his "sexually immoral conduct. story

Ted got up in front of the whole congregaion and wept and confessed. His wife has said she will stick by him.
Having observed these situations up close before, when a Pastor committs adultery, the only way for real healing for both the leader and the congregation, is for all the dirty stuff to be confessed to, be frank and honest about.
Men, men, men. The Valiant Man course we are doing at Bedford is so relevant to how I am feeling at the moment. Men have to be honest about the struggles they are going through, even if that struggle is one with homosexuality, sexual addiction, or something else which is embarassing and 'hidden'.

I don't want to lose any of my mates in the ministry to this sort of thing, nor do I want any of the blokes in my church to succumb to this, or be crippled but it.
We have got to get better at doing life together.

Stats, lies and more stats.... who are you?


Recently I installed a free stat counter on my bog, visible only to me.
A little bit of a test to see if I was rambling to the breeze, although the diversity of people commenting on this blog suggests otherwise.
Who on earth are the 70 or so people who visited the blog on Saturday?
Monday morning apears to be a popular time as well, with about 50 unique hits.
I know this is only a very small blog, but is is nice to see so many people visiting it.
If you visit, and feel compelled, leave a comment, don't be shy!
Also, if you are a Pastor, I would love you to visit my other project,
the Aussie Pastors Blog.

Dog training, fly fishing and buying meth off a male prostitute

This is a really sad story. Tedd Haggard's book has been very helpful to me. I really hope the truth comes out, whatever that is.

I hope he find forgiveness and reconciliation with his family.
I hope the Church (his church) deals with the situation with grace, but also with integrity.
It sucks when someone who has been effective in the Lord's kingdom falls from grace so spectacularly. I don't count Haggard in the same league as Swaggart and Co. I hope most of this is not true, but I have a bad feeling about this.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. Nov 3, 2006 (AP)— The Rev. Ted Haggard admitted Friday he bought methamphetamine and received a massage from a male prostitute. But the influential Christian evangelist insisted he threw the drugs away and never had sex with the man.

In addition to resigning his post at the NAE, which claims 30 million members, Haggard stepped aside as leader of his 14,000-member New Life Church pending a church investigation. In a TV interview earlier this week, he said: "Never had a gay relationship with anybody, and I'm steady with my wife, I'm faithful to my wife." story


Rock Music

Love this quote from the Age

"Peter Miles, who presents a Sunday morning gospel music program on 3PBS, points out that church-based singers have been crossing over into mainstream popular music for more than a generation. "A lot of mainstream music borrows from gospel music without knowing about it," he says.
"I think gospel music, more than most people recognise, is a foundation for mainstream rock music."
But where performers such as Elvis Presley borrowed from gospel to create a new sound, the pendulum now swings in the other direction, with church-based musicians borrowing from rock'n'roll to make their songs more palatable to a young audience, he says. "Contemporary Christian artists do all sorts of stuff. Christian death metal, bluegrass, reggae, funk ..."
In 2005, Woodlands Media estimated that the Christian music market in Australia in the previous 12 months was responsible for 5.6 per cent of local music sales, with a value of $540 million. Jay says the Christian music market remains strong, which, given falling sales in all other sectors, could be evidence that it is growing in popularity"

GO Church!!

Story first see at The Journey

Parenthood


Starting my new series this week. See the flyer in a previous post.

Its tough writing material for parenting, when everyone in church sees your kids, and knows they are not perfect. Yet I am not perfect in any way (news flash I know !) and so hopefully we will all be on a journey together. I am also really conscious that not everyone in our church is a parent. Yet they all are involved with children in some way, and they all have parents. I hope and pray that this is a relevant and timely series for us all at Bedford.

Carols

Can you believe Christmas time is almost upon us???

I have been starting to organise our Christmas Carols service for 06

will be great, and pray it does not rain!!

Yesterdays Heros


While getting our rabbit some fresh water, I noticed the newspaper lining on his cage. I might let him poo on it a litte longer before I change it.