If you used to link to this blog, I would love it if you could change your link to my new blog with its own domain.

www.markedly.com.au

Thanks so much!

Apologies if it has not hit your server yet.
It may not have propagated yet.
But I can now see it online, and the new address is

www.markedly.com.au

Not hard eh?
There should be an automatic RSS Feed there as well. Please let me know if it is not working (RSS Feed) for you.

Would love you to come over....and relink me if you do link to me now.
Blessings!

Check back soon....but I have bought my own url www.markedly.com.au and soon this blog will be published there.

Will be changing everything over, including RSS feeds, in the next couple of days.

Today I headed off to the West Australian Baptist Assembly.
In years gone by, and I have been around for a while now, these have been rather staid times. Except of course when there were arguments over spelling mistakes (that is not an exaggeration) or 'points of order chairman' and other mind numbing wasters of time.
Now its different.
Through the transitional work of former Director of Ministries Steve Smith, and now the leadership of DOM Mark Wilson, todays assembly was interesting, relevant and....inspiring!
Mark gave some vision, strategy and values....where he sees us as a body of churches going. And it was all great stuff. Much of our constitution and structure has been taken from the Paul Borden model, which releases people into ministry, trusts people, and keeps leaders accountable for results. Under previous models, while good ministry was taking place, at times it took a back seat to administration, politics and inward focused leadership.
There was a real sense in the meeting that under good leadership our denomination is having significant growth and health.
Its a great thing to be a Baptist Church in Western Australia.

It was also good to see a friend, Jackie Smoker, being accredited for ministry. A long journey for her, fulfilled as she was anointed, prayed for, and released into ministry. She pastors along with a friend of mine, her husband Phil, at Como Baptist.

There is a real sense that under our new, much healthier, leadership structure, based on trust and releasing people into leadership and creativity, we as a denomination have a lot to look forward to.
Let us keep going on this course, and not be swayed into returning to old ways!

Petra are coming to Western Australia!
Can you believe that?
Strawberry Festival near Albany on Easter Sunday
I will be in Church, big day of the year and all that.
But should be an awesome concert!
Petra were the most popular Christian Band, during Contemporary Christian Music Golden Age, the '80's. They sold nearly 10 million albums and where nominated for 13 Grammy Awards, winning four, and winning 10 Dove Awards. They are also the only Christian Band to have their memorabilia placed in Hard Rock Cafes (Wikipedia)
I really enjoyed their music, perhaps my favourite album being, "The Rock Cries Out"

But here is a great 80's Rock Concert song....Mullets included!


Strawberry Jam Music Festival

A friend of mine recently got offered some great electronic products if he would review them on his blog.

It got me thinking, why am I doing this blog?

It is not to get offered electronics...although feel free.
The reason my friend was offered products is because he has a professional looking, purposeful blog...aimed at a certain activity (gardening)

I know from different sources that this blog is well read. It has been around for a while now, and built up quite the web history.
Should I get my own domain, should I switch to wordpress...should I become more intentional?

The purpose of my blog is to give me a platform to share some of my life, thoughts and hopefully have some interaction with those who may read it.
It has never been about making money, just sharing my life.
Thats not likely to change...but I am thinking about making it a little more professional.

I don't know about you, but receiving long political emails from Christian groups you have never heard of, unsolicited, and unnamed...really cheeses me off.

Then you ask to be taken off the email list you did not ask to go on...and you are told 'your church will never bear fruit'!

Wow!

Some people are so full of their own importance, and their own issue, they just cannot see what everyone else can.

The biggest folly though is anonymous comments or emails where they expect you to be accountable to them...that is laughable....seriously...after 20 years in ministry, I just don't care anymore. Too busy with ministry, too much to do...to be bothered.

This month at Inglewood Church we have been dealing with FAQ...frequently asked questions.
I asked my twitter friends, most of them non-churched, to give me questions they would want churches to deal with.
The questions came...sickness, death, depression....sexual issues.
But the biggie...in my mind at least...was the one on Hell.
The eternal destiny of those without Jesus.
Tough eh?
How would you as a pastor deal with that one.
I have never preached a message on this topic.
Its just not me, I am...I hope...a passionate preacher. I believe in the gospel.
But as for actually speaking about this topic...confronting.
But I backed myself into a quarter! And it is good to preach on the whole of the Bible...not just those bits you like.
So here we go.

Worship House Media do some good stuff.
Their latest free loop download is good, and you can get it in Quicktime format. Its a nice loop of a Autumn scene.

Here

Was with my son down the shops and noticed the Amourguard security personal filling up an ATM.
What I noticed was the fact they had guns...real guns.

This got me thinking...why do we give guards who protect money...guns.
We don't give hospital security and other guards guns. Because in the main they are protecting people, not money.

If you asked anyone, they would say that people are more important than money. Yet we don't act that way.

Due to some interesting circumstances our church has been able to switch to Mac for our Presentation duties during Sunday services.
We have used Easy Worship with PC for probably last 10 years.
It has had its problems and plusses.
It is easy to use, volunteers can pick it up and operate it with minimal training.
Logical and well ordered.
Its limitations is in its ability to play media. While we could get it to play WMV files okay, it struggled with Quicktime, Mpeg and other file formats. If the video files was large and processor intense, we had issues.
It was not uncommon for Easy Worship to crash, despite having it installed on various laptops and PC's, including one whose only task was to run it.

We have used Pro Presenter for one week, but I think it will perform better, as a Mac program should. All video files, including windows ones, and large, processor intense video files, play beautifully on it. It also has a crisper, clearer picture on the screen, with some lovely transitions and formats. It looks better.

One serious limitation with Pro Presenter is its inability to import Powerpoint files unless you have Ppoint for Mac Installed. This wont be a problem for me, but I can see a time when a visiting preacher will bring a ppoint file along, and we will have issues. I have Keynote installed, so you would think with Keynotes inbuilt ability to import Powerpoint, Pro Presenter could import Ppoint files, but it can't. Seems wrong to have to install a Office product on your Mac! Moving away from Windows based OS is one of the attractions of Pro Presenter.

God is good.

Prayed about some new software I need.
My old (12 months old) laptop was stolen. Bummer
Insurance bought me a new Mac...yeh!

This meant I could gift my old (2months old!) Mac to the church and use 'Pro - Presenter" for church presentation duties. Trying it out this Sunday, let you know how it goes.

But is also meant I had lost access to Photoshop...bummer.
Turns out I can get it for Mac, but it cost about $1000....bummer.

Then I got an unexpected cheque for $250 from someone..yeh!
Buying the education version of Adobe Suite with my wifes education discount ($400 total)...yeh!

I should not have to use one of Gates dreaded products for anything....super yeah!

Of course it is not a cat...but a Civet.
"Kopi luwak (Indonesian [ˈkopi ˈlu.ak]), or civet coffee, is coffee made from the beans of coffee berries which have been eaten by the Asian Palm Civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus) and other related civets, then passed through its digestive tract.^[1] A civet eats the berries for their fleshy pulp. In its stomach, proteolytic enzymes seep into the beans, making shorter peptides and more free amino acids. Passing through a civet's intestines the beans are then defecated, keeping their shape. After gathering, thorough washing, sun drying, light roasting and brewing, these beans yield an aromatic coffee with much less bitterness, widely noted as the most expensive coffee in the world."
(Source Wikipedia)

While away I had transferred a Jesus Culture DVD to my Iphone and MacBook.
Was able to listen devotionally to this every morning.
Was great, suggest you start to think about using these guys resources to your Church worship.

Kediri to be precise.

My good mate Pastor Wayne Field and I decided this year that it was the year of challenge and personal growth. To get out of our comfort zone. To keep this post reasonably short, we sought out an opportunity to teach Pastors in a cross cultural setting. We wanted to share some of what we have learnt, and were given a opportunity in Kediri, Indonesia. It took about 4.5 hours to drive the less than 200kms (aprox) from Surabaya to Kediri, less than it took to fly from Perth to Surabaya. Kediri is the home of the President and Vice President of the Baptist Church in Indonesia, although HQ is in Jakarta.

We set out after having prepared material on....
Organizational Vision, Inclusion, Program and Management. This deals with the life-cycle of any organization, but in this context tailored to a Church Environment.
Conflict management and resolution.
Leadership Identification and recruitment, both in paid and volunteer setting.
I also had some on personal character and relationship issues.

I prayed about it, and decided that before we left I would have no expectations. Whatever happened...happened.
This was because before we left we had studied cultural issues, local tension between different faiths in Indonesia. What we read and studied informed us, but nothing prepared us for what we found.

Some points.
*As long as Indonesian Churches are aware that Indonesia is a Muslim dominated country, and are aware of the cultural sensitivities...they will not be persecuted. If Churches are deliberately provocative they will find themselves in trouble. In the local Church leaders view, some of the churches who have found themselves in trouble have been unwise.
*The Church in Indonesia is alive and well, growing and healthy. It has much to teach the West.
*It has some cultural difficulties to overcome if it is to become increasingly healthy. As we talked about recruiting leaders and identifying leaders, it was obvious this will be difficult in a culture which honours age over effectiveness.
*Pastors can find it difficult to 'lead' depending on their context. Like Australia, they need to determine to be in the church for a long period of time in order to gain trust and respect, and the authority needed to be an effective leader.
*Pastors find the same issues in character and integrity that we have, there are men...there are women...there are issues.
*The Indonesian Church needs to understand they are stronger, wealthier and more effective than they give themselves credit for. They should realise that far from needing support from 'The West" they have entered the lifecycle where they are significant contributors to the Global Church. It is time for them to send, release and multiply.

Personally this time was challenging to me. It is great to have your structures right, but a Church with spirit will always be more effective than one with good structures, but not as much spirit.

Most of the churches impressed me.
But the one I preached at first on Sunday morning was extraordinary in its worship.
It was a swelling, pulsating, passionate, emotive sense of passion. I loved it...and only understood a few words. It felt just like Inglewood Church. As far away as they are, and as different...worship transcends language.

Indonesia....Tarima kasi!

Back in a week or so.....

"The gift of leadership is too valuable to be quickly disposed of by a popularity contest."