Month: April 2009

Spurious claim

Robyn and I went to a session of Spur on Saturday morning – Brisbane’s equivalent to whatever Sydney’s MTS conference is now called.

It was mind boggling. After a 4 year exile from Brisbane I knew almost nobody there. There’s been a complete generation change. It seems most of the guys of my generation are either doing ministry already, in theological education or doing some sort of MTS (and perhaps some have ruled it out).

That’s greatly encouraging – and is another prod that suggests college is the right thing for us next year. Enough thinking and talking – now it’s time for acting.

It must be said that the conference was “targeting” uni students so we didn’t quite fit the demograhpic.

The speaker was Townsville AFES staffworker Dave Walker – who used the pulpit to exhort and encourage the people there towards “reliability” – not flippancy or a reluctance to shoulder responsibility. He included a little dig about me in that – which was funny because we were in the back row, had arrived late, nobody knew we were there, and very few people knew who I was. It was like he assumed my notoriety still existed. Haha.

One memorable moment from his sermon though – that is worth recording for posterity – was his “first law of theodynamics” – which must surely rival “Walkers Ultimate 500” (still on the Wikipedia entry for 500) as one of the wisest things he’s ever come up with.

Roughly paraphrased it states:

“(Christian) Glory always follows suffering”…

Nice.

April 27, 2009

Told you so…

Some people, like the Hives, hate to say “I told you so”, but not me.

So now that Mars Hill has announced a plan to take over the whole world with video campuses I’m going to say it. I told you so. This is a bad model. And while I love Mark Driscoll for his teaching and gifts – and listen to his podcasts – the idea of broadcasting yourself to 50,000 people around the world sends shivers down my spine. When is enough growth enough? Mars Hill seems to have a scattergun approach to ministry ideas – shooting at every target they can possibly see.

It truly takes a phenomenal ego to think you should be broadcast to churches all over the planet 40 times a year. So much for finding 900 preachers for Jesus – what they really want is 900 AV men for Jesus.

In some ways, a local campus functions much like an independent church, with its own staff, elder team, and programs. A campus pastor leads the effort as the visible presence from the pulpit (preaching roughly ten Sundays every year) and as the authority for all campus matters.
The campus model allows people to participate in the ministry of Mars Hill Church and benefit from Pastor Mark’s teaching and other resources, while at the same time experiencing many of the benefits of a smaller church, such as intimate community, neighborhood ties, and proximity.
Also, the campus model allows pastors and local leaders to do ministry and spread the gospel without having to deal with the many administrative tasks—managing HR and budgets, building websites and databases—that hinder many churches. It also provides a way for smaller, dying churches to reinvigorate their local ministry by joining the mission of Mars Hill.

Your thoughts?

April 27, 2009

Sharing is caring

I’m interested in the whole “social bookmarking” phenomena around the blogosphere – Simone said once that there are several link love languages – the click, the comment, the link, the email, and the discussion (in real life) – I’d add “the share”.

Which is like a link – but different.

You’ll notice that at the bottom of each post there’s a link to “share this” – on a number of sharing platforms. I haven’t decided which I like best – but they’re great for generating traffic.

I use Google Reader as my bookmarking platform of choice – having had dalliances with delicious, StumbleUpon, Digg and Reddit. I like Google Reader because I use it to make my daily links posts. Pretty seemlessly.

I also like it because I can see things my actual friends are sharing right there in the browser window.

And I always feel pretty special when I score a “share”. Craig Schwarze is a much renowned (or at least widely read) Sydney Anglican blogger – every Christian I know who blogs subscribes to his blog or reads it regularly. It’s pretty good – he keeps on top of a wide range of issues and some of the comment threads there get comment counts that are the envy of even the die hard professionals. I must confess that I am trying to come up with the perfect recipe for having a post shared by Craig – links from his blog get almost as many hits as links from Facebook.

I’ve had 44 items shared by my friends (from my blog) – Google Reader lets me search that sort of thing, I haven’t kept a running tally – that would be a bit too narcissistic even for me.

But I’ve had a quick look through the items that have been shared and it’s hard to narrow down set criteria. I’ve had half serious posts and half trivial. Some of them have been regular features like t-shirts and videos, and a couple of the beginners guide to taking over the world made the list too. But sorry other bloggers – I am yet to narrow down the secret ingredient.

April 27, 2009

Megasoreass

That’s surely what you get when you sit on an uncomfortable seat in a megachurch? No?

I really am scraping the bottom of the title barrel in general… but I do like to think of megachurches as a massive prehistoric beast perambulating through Christendom munching on smaller churches and smashing established denominations with the sweep of a spiky Godzilla like tale (sic – that’s to show that was a clever pun for you pedants out there). But maybe that’s just me.

Anyway, Danderson (which is the result I chose from Namemasher for “Dan Anderson”) has posted a thoughtful piece on megachurches and why they exist.

You should most certainly check out the whole post. But I like this passage.

Frankly, people can’t exist without believing in something bigger than themselves. Even hard-core reductionist-materialist-Atheists become quasi-religious about their position given opportunity. Anything, or anyone, who can offer and deliver an experience that lifts us beyond the limits of the normal, and particularly any thing that challenges the dominant materialism of our cultural discourse will be a winner.
Mega-churches are winners because they have generally offered either Big Sound, Big Gestures, or Big Words – but most important: a Big Narrative.
Of course, the decline of Church, has been paralleled by the rise of alternative places to get these experiences. Mega-churches exist (partially at least) because they need to compete in a more densely contested marketplace. There are far more people at the Cinema and the Sports Stadium on any given weekend than in churches (and more than ever if you can unite a Big Sporting contest with a Big Narrative like that provided by Anzac Day).

April 27, 2009

#00AF33 is the new #000000

For that title to make any sense at all you’d need to google the hexadecimal codes. Go on. Do it. You know you want to…

It’s clever. And it recognises the fact that I’ve truly scraped the bottom of the barrel when it comes to writing headlines about the Green debate.

I’m still working on my WebSalt article – and thought I’d bring you – and the debate – up to speed with my progress. Our local perennial Greens candidate, Jenny Stirling, also happens to be an Anglican chaplain/minister/social worker. I sent her an email with some questions about how she sees the Green party in relation to her personal faith. Here’s a summary of her responses:

I am a Green because of my Christian spiritual values including a strong belief in social justice; respect for God’s creation and the certain knowledge that  all creation groans from our misuse of what is essentially a custodial role; the grass roots nature of our organisation which is  respectful of difference and mindful of marginalised discourses; and last but not least because it talks about peace and non-violence.

In my activism for the Greens and on Green issues (which encompass  all of people’s issues and not just the environment) I employ what I understand to be  the Jesus model of  working with people, that is; compassion; giving respect; opposing oppression; speaking truth to power; standing along side people who need support; listening; acting out of God’s strength and not my own and being mindful that it is  better to be the ‘salt than to have power’ – this quote comes from Bonhoeffer’s  “Seize The Day” which is a daily reflection on the bible from his cell in a Nazi concentration camp. I try to read it most days.

I mentioned the standard “Christian” criticisms of Green’s policy – in fact I sent her a copy of the article so far – which you can find in the comments section of this post. Here’s what she had to say about that:

I belong to the Anglican church and we do not oppose people having the right to express being gay.

I strongly suggest that the public perception is wrong in understanding that we are  soft on drugs. Our policy is in line with most organisations that deal with the link between drugs and crime, including the police. We favour decriminalisaton because it takes away the lure of  the anti-social, robs crime bosses of much of their power to corrupt and we basically want to make drug abuse a health and medical issue. I say that with full confidence because my son is a detective with the CIB and  deals with the standard approach and its failures to make any difference to the drug culture and crime. It is not working and kids lives are going down the drain because we have our heads stuck in  the  sand. Prohibition has never worked. Along with decriminalisation of drug use we support harm minimisation programmes and would continue to throw the book at hard drug dealers.

As for abortion, I am against it personally.  That said I cannot justify putting my values over someone else’s. There will always be women who are abused, raped  and abandoned in pregnancy. I cannot force them to have a child they do not want or leave them to back yard abortionists. I do not see abortion as an acceptable form of  contraception and would vote against that and late term terminations.

I am really impressed with two things – her willingness to speak and act for her convictions and the fact that she took the time to answer my questions (which went over a few different emails).

I don’t however agree with her on some points of theology – or at least the emphasis. But I’m sure some of you – my valued readers and commenters – do. So let me know what you think the most important things she had to say were and what you agree/disagree with. I’m also thinking that I should read some Bonhoeffer.

April 27, 2009

On commenting on other blogs

Sometimes when I am a bit bored, or have some spare time up my sleeve, I choke up my browser by opening up people’s blogs and work my way through them commenting on the post at the top of the page. I don’t comment on every blog I open – but most of the comments I make in that vein are pretty vacuous and I don’t tend to return to continue the discussion or see if they’ve been replied to. But I do like you, all the people who write blogs I read. And I appreciate your efforts in distracting me from my sometimes mundane workplace existence. Here’s my blog link list from the left hand column of my page – if you’re a reader and I haven’t listed you – let me know. I have no doubt forgotten somebody…

If you don’t already read some of these people – you should, they’ll no doubt say interesting stuff.

April 27, 2009

Hostile unity

Hillsong has taken over the Garden City Church today. They were voted in by the members – but not cleanly. According to Ten news anyway…

It raises an interesting question about how much ownership a minister should have over their flock – and whether churches should ever be considered a “commodity” – surely Hillsong could simply have purchased their own block of land rather than launching a wholesale takeover.

If I were the current minister I’d be feeling a little ripped off having been turfed out just because a Sydney brand wanted somewhere to expand.

April 26, 2009

Losing the Passion

Seems Mel Gibson’s love for and obedience to God only extends to gorily glorifying the cross. Not to holding faithful to marriage vows.

I wonder whether this will cause negative publicity or a crisis of faith to the Catholic Church – and particularly the Catholic sect he belongs to. It can’t be a good thing.

It brings up a question that I’ve considered in the past – how much should we, as Christians, celebrate the art made by anyone in a “Christian phase” – for example Billy Corgan, Bob Dylan, Nick Cave or Mel Gibson… particularly if form suggests it won’t last, is fleeting, or their lives and doctrine aren’t matching.

April 26, 2009

Primary producers

I’ve been thinking a bit about preaching lately. Mostly in the course of producing my own sermons – but also as I listen to others.

One of the principles of journalism is trying to get as close to the primary source on a story as possible – a story is much more convincing if you’re dealing with someone with authority.

I think preachers need to be more careful to be pursuing the primary source – and not necessarily acknowledging sources for anything else. I guess I’m particularly referring to quoting other ministers, preachers, commentaries or texts that aren’t written with scriptural authority. For example, John Piper might have some important things to say about an issue – and it’s fine to use his thoughts and understandings of a passage to shape your message – but attributing quotes to him will only carry weight if everybody in your audience knows who he is. And ultimately your best bet is to just say what the person has said without mentioning it. At least from a communication and persuasion standpoint. If you’re really keen to give the author of the quote appropriate attribution and credit then introduce them properly as someone noteworthy to give their statement the appropriate gravitas. Fleeting name drops don’t serve anybody adequately.

April 26, 2009

Planely speaking

This is one of those inventions that has been waiting in the wings for years. The inventor must be a rocket scientist… ok, enough, you’ve got to know when to hold them, and when to fold them.

And thanks goes to the consistently cool bookofjoe.com for tracking it down.
Buy it here.

April 26, 2009

Textbook geek

Nice to know I’m not actually a geek according to this scientifically proven anatomical diagram.

April 26, 2009

Melting moment

If you’re going to holiday in the tropics in the summer you can look the part with these melting sunglasses. Found here.

April 26, 2009

My old old man

We’re in Brisbane this weekend to celebrate dad’s 50th (which was a couple of weeks ago). I made this video. It’s now on YouTube.

Happy belated birthday dad.

April 26, 2009

A bunch of links – April 26, 2009

April 26, 2009

Self Help Books for Dummies – Getting published

Getting a self-help book published is also fairly easy. Because of the size of the self-help market selling your book to publishers is like shooting fish in a barrel. The smaller the niche your book fits into is the smaller the barrel, or conversely the larger the fish. It’s important to pick the right publisher for your book. If you’re an aspiring novelist it may be worth holding on to your manuscript till one of the larger publishing companies shows interest. When this happens try to structure your deal to include a guarantee that the company will also publish your novel. Don’t be afraid to strike a hard bargain with the publisher, all they see when they’re dealing with you is the dollar signs. They can often be blinded by their greed.

A publishing company executive signing a multiple book deal with a self help book writer

April 26, 2009