Part of my history.
This extraordinary artist still has something to say to us today.

The Eagles have put out some pretty amazing spin over the years...but this takes the cake.

According to Channel Eagle, Basil reports a senior official in the Eagles camp strongly suggested that the reason they signed up Worsfold quickly was so that Freo would not get him when they sack Harvey in a years time.

What a joke. The Eagles believe it would be a marketing coup. Marketing coup? More like a marketing disaster.

Worsfold came into a side that had a star midfield, and still, in many commentators eyes, underperformed.
Now, when the pressure is on, the team has not won a away game for the last 17 games. Over the past two years they have a 20% winning record.
Woosha presided over the worst period of the clubs history as their PR Spin department lost the battle with numerous gaping holes in their culture being exposed, as the rats jumped off the sinking ship. It got so bad that players such as Selwood put a clause in contracts to say if there was any more serioius misdemenours, he could leave!

Since Judd, Cousins and Gardiner have left Wooshas coaching, they have all become far better players. Judd is amazing, Cousins is in career best form, and Gardiner has recaptured and surpassed his AA form, being the unbeaten St Kilda's premier ruckman.

Freo don't want Woosha, its just a weak excuse to resign someone who should be under a lot more pressure than he is.
The Eagles have put out some pretty amazing spin over the years...but this takes the cake.

According to Channel Eagle, Basil reports a senior official in the Eagles camp strongly suggested that the reason they signed up Worsfold quickly was so that Freo would not get him when they sack Harvey in a years time.

What a joke. The Eagles believe it would be a marketing coup. Marketing coup? More like a marketing disaster.

Worsfold came into a side that had a star midfield, and still, in many commentators eyes, underperformed.
Now, when the pressure is on, the team has not won a away game for the last 17 games. Over the past two years they have a 20% winning record.
Woosha presided over the worst period of the clubs history as their PR Spin department lost the battle with numerous gaping holes in their culture being exposed, as the rats jumped off the sinking ship. It got so bad that players such as Selwood put a clause in contracts to say if there was any more serioius misdemenours, he could leave!

Since Judd, Cousins and Gardiner have left Wooshas coaching, they have all become far better players. Judd is amazing, Cousins is in career best form, and Gardiner has recaptured and surpassed his AA form, being the unbeaten St Kilda's premier ruckman.

Freo don't want Woosha, its just a weak excuse to resign someone who should be under a lot more pressure than he is.

This is a very very good website

Who is Jesus

This song is an original song written By Pastor Vlatko from Inglewood Church, and performed by the Angus Buchan Mighty Mens Conference 2009 Band.
Sound is not great, apologies, audio was overdriven at sound input...But Live it was phenomonal...especially when 2500 blokes stood up and sang it out.
Blokes do sing...just give them the right song, in the right place...we lifted the roof on that tent!

This is our series at Inglewood Church for July...
Should be awesome.
David the warrior, the worshipper, the King, the lover...
I love delving into the people behind the stories and legends. The people are what make it relevant to contemporary life.

This is a great quote....
"The Christian life, therefore, is not an individual pursuit. It’s a corporate journey. Knowing Christ and making him known is not an individual prospect. Those who insist on flying life solo will be brought to earth, with a crash. Thus Christ and his church are intimately joined and connected. What God has joined together, let no person put asunder. We were made for life with God; our only happiness is found in life with God. And God’s own pleasure and delight is found therein as well.

If Jesus could rise from the dead, we can at least rise from our bed, get off our couches and pews, and respond to the Lord’s resurrection life within us, joining Jesus in what he’s up to in the world. We call on others to join us—not in removing ourselves from planet Earth, but to plant our feet more firmly on the Earth while our spirits soar in the heavens of God’s pleasure and purpose. We are not of this world, but we live in this world for the Lord’s rights and interests. We, collectively, as the ekklesia of God, are Christ in and to this world"
(A Jesus Manifesto Sweet and Viola)

Coming soon!!!!!

When I come home from a Dockers loss...I am normally despressed, philosophic, struggling to find positives.
Not tonight.
That was a gutsy effort from the young lads in purple.
Nick De Ber, Garrick Ibbotson...Stephen Hill....all played awesome games.
Sandilands is the best ruckman....and certainly playing better than his much more fancied cross town rival.
That was the best game I have seen him play.
Talking of best games, I have not seen Tarrant play a better one that today, at least while dressed in purple. He kept his opponent, Mooney, to a nil goal score line. Pretty impressive, and the knowledgable Fremantle crowd showed their appreciation.

If...McPharlin had bought his kicking boots on, if the umpire had paid the blatant free kick to McPharlin (that was the worst decision all day, but the umpiring was poor all day)...then we might have sneaked a win.

It was not to be, but what a great game of football, seriously, the best one I have seen the Dockers play all year, and that includes their wins.

This is a countdown I have made up for this Sunday as we continue our series on Solomon.
But I have modified it so you can use it. I have taken off our church logo, and the music I used, and replaced it with some generic stuff.

You can download it here.(Righty Click)
Please let me know if you find it helpful.

By all reports a few clubs are chasing Buckley for the senior coach next year.
I am staggered by this.
No doubt he was a good player.
But....
All reports are that he was not a great captain. He found it hard to understand why everyone was not like him. He was not a great communicator.
He has not coached anyone...really.
He has not been an assistant anywhere.
He is not great in the media, and I think will be prickly if pressed.

and....he always wore his shorts too high for my liking...anyone who wears their shorts too high is always the sort of kid that no one liked in the playground....

Not much about the Dockers on this blog for a while....

Playing the young players is the right strategy...in my totally unprofessional opinion....

They reckon the latest rookie...'Ruffles' looks about 14....and is built very slighty.
Its incredible how much the game has changed, that such a player could get a jig...and not have his body ripped apart.
I watched an old video of a game between Essendon and Hawthorn the other day, and they were big blokes....skills were good, but I think todays skills are better.

"Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will"

So said Rev ML King to the 'white moderates' whose desire for peace frustrated him. Peace like they wanted, was no peace at all...was Kings contention. And he was right. The plight of King's community was so wrong, that even if they had played nice, that would not have made the situation tolerable. Like someone in an abusive situation, you want them to create a fuss, and get out of that situation. Sometimes complacency needs to be shaken...hard!

In a similar way, it is frustrating to me that 'people of good will' don't understand the necesity, the urgency, the paramount importance, of discovering their Creator, being discovered by Him, acknowledging Him. Maybe the frustration is even with myself. I am not all I should be, when I consider all He is.....

Passionate people, that is what I know God wants....and that is what this world needs.

Proverbs One
24 “I called you so often, but you wouldn’t come. I reached out to you, but you paid no attention. 25 You ignored my advice and rejected the correction I offered. 26 So I will laugh when you are in trouble! I will mock you when disaster overtakes you— 27 when calamity overtakes you like a storm, when disaster engulfs you like a cyclone, and anguish and distress overwhelm you.

Woh.....don't ignore God's wisdom...ignore it at your own peril.
Ignore it, and the wisdom will cry out at you, why did you ignore me?

Reflecting on a friend who recently left the ministry....
People have deleted links to his blog, stopped talking about him...he is suddenly not that relevant any more.

I think about the stories of people in the bible....how much of it is about what they did, who they were or thirdly, what God did in their lives?

No conclusions, just some Monday morning thoughts.

Being as opposed to doing.

"the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom'

We associate fear as a negative emotion.
Fear has no place in the life of a victorious, fully actualised human...we are told.

But fear is natural, and can be helpful, nature teaches us that.
Try telling a deer running from a wolf that fear is not helpful, it is...it provides energy!

Fear of God? Well that can be associated with negative connotations. Because none of us post modern, gen x'ers want to believe in a God who judges, condemns, hurts...
We want a nice God who loves and cuddles us.

But what we need...is a God who is strong.
If your father was not at least a little scary, then he was probably weak, and none of us, when the tough times come, want a weak father.
Nor do we actually want a weak God...we want a strong God.

That means, He is a little, maybe a lot, scary.

He is awesome...frightening, strong...to be obeyed.
He is the strong wind, the fire, the thunder....

Perfect love drives out fear...but what if God, who is love, is the one to be feared? What then?

Well...I am afraid of God, but I am also loved by Him, and I love Him.
This is a paradox......

Things that make you go mmmmmm.
What do you think?

With Schuller now bringing in guest speakers every week to the Crystal Cathedral, the guest speaker this week is straight talker 'Mark Driscoll'.

I think the most interesting aspect of this is not what Mark will say, nor how the predonimantly senior congregation might cope with the cussing, direct language and content of Driscoll's message...but what Mark will wear in the almost entirely suit wearing church....

Who remembers the infamous incident when Brad Hardie threw his jumper off...one day playing for Footscray...when Mick Malthouse dragged him.
Now Mick has brought out his best team from Footscray, West Coast and Collingwood.
Brad, despite being a Brownlow Medalist, and one of the best pocket players...ever...did not make the list.

It is pretty obvious that Brad was not included because Mick does not like him.

Brad does not like Mick, and let the world know it on 6peagle last night.

Bitterness, unforgiveness....lack of communication.
It makes us unhappy...it does not help anyone, it causes us to stew and foster bad thoughts and feelings....

Forgiveness...such a better option...for everyone.

I have deleted the post which dealt with an issue which has been circulating the net regarding a well known pastor.
Would I want people talking about me if this happened to me? No.

It is not a hypothetical issue, it is a real person.
I am not judging others who talked about it. I wanted to!
But I just don't want it on my blog.

We have all heard the rumours, people not getting jobs, or losing them, because of a potential boss, or present boss, 'googling' them.

You are probably on the net, even if you dont think you are, even if you are just in the 'white pages'.

Be careful what you post!
Probably more than 70% of the people visiting our church tell me they come because of our church internet site, or at the least, visit the site before they visit the church.

I imagine the internet savvy of them google "Pastor Mark Edwards' afterwards! No doubt they will find this blog....

If you find yourself posting comments on other people's blogs, or you are on facebook..or whevever...and people want to find out who you are, they will! As I found out yesterday, you can nearly always find out who someone is if you want to.

I know they lost, but with 10 players who have played under ten games, and two new players, they did well against Port away.

Tarrant in particular 'owned' Tredrea, and it was good to see the rookies do really well.

For those of you who dont know, which is probably a lot of us, the National Basketball Competition in Australia is in serious danger of folding.
In my view, the decline really started when television stopped broadcasting the games. Now you would think that this would stop people from going, because they could just stay at home and watch it. But no, seeing part of the game, made people want to experience the whole.

What lessons or applications are there for a church that is not big enough to have its services broadcast on free to air television?

I think in this age of easily uploadable video, there are some applications.

"Kiss me and kiss me again, for your love is sweeter than wine. How fragrant your cologne; your name is like its spreading fragrance. No wonder all the young women love you! Take me with you; come, let’s run! You have brought me into your bedroom."

No....this is not the latest Brittney Spears perfume advertisement,
nor is it the latest song from Lady Gaga.....

Its the piece of scripture I am speaking from this week......

The media have gotten themself into a sanctimonious lather over the latest Ben Cousins incident. Cousins ‘pulled the bird’ at the camera before the Fremantle v Richmond game on Saturday night. He is clearly shown directing his attention at the camera in the changerooms at Subiaco.
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