It took four years but happened in a day

This post deals with the merge of Bedford Baptist and Inglewood Church of Christ. It was an exciting time, built on trust and opportunity.

Apparently the Gabba crowd booed the increasingly unpopular Australian Test and One Day Cricketer Michael Clark. It seems the tide of popular opinion has turned over his ill form and public persona.

It just seems so unaustralian to boo one of our own cricketers. The Gabba crowd has form in this area. They booed Adam Gilchrist when he came on after replacing Ian Healy, one of Queenslands own. With the benefit of history, and Adams sterling career, that was a very unfortunate choice.

Along with bad form, perhaps its the way Michael wears his hair, struts around advertising underwear or dates models, who knows.

Either way, leave the booing for the real enemies, the English, and the umpires.

Went well last night, glad we were not doing it tonight, with rain and wind forecast!
It was hot, and hot setting up.

But the main thing is there were about 250 people who rocked up, mostly non-church folk.
The volunteers and Pastors did a great job of setting and packing up.

The idea behind this event is so we can let people know there is a Church in their community who cares about them, and who wants to serve them. We set up a big screen, big sound, in a local park, put on a sausage sizzle and bouncy castle and show a family friendly and focused movie. You have to get a licence to show the movie, but that is not that hard. It costs money, but not too much that cant be covered by a donation. One of my good friends has a great set up with a screen on the back of a trailer which he lets me use.

The movie “Up is in my opinion the best animated film I have ever seen. What a moving story.
Look forward to next week.

Been meditating on this thought.
Forgiveness is not the same as reconciliation.
When Jesus confronts Peter after the resurrection, He asks him those famous questions, ‘Peter do you love me”. He points out to Peter that when he proudly boasted he would never deny Christ, and then did it three times, his heartfelt devotion was in question.

Jesus points our his sin clearly and confronts him with his own attitude and action.
Now while Jesus could and would forgive him for his sin, true reconciliation would not take place without confrontation. An honest conversation.

Sometimes conflicts are not able to be resolved, reconciliation cannot take place. That does not mean forgiveness cannot take place. We can let go of the pain and the hurt, and release the person from any hold they have on us, or we on them. We can let the bitterness go. We can do that even if they don’t say sorry, and wont deal with the issue. But we cant be reconciled.

I scored some free tickets to this from a friend of mine so I took along my youth pastor. While I could not attend every session, it was great to have some time to listen and take in.

Its an annual conference borne out of Paradise AOG Church with Pastor Evans.

Pastor Creflo Dollar, who no doubt we have all heard about, was the first speaker I heard. He gave a surprisingly restrained message all about reading our bibles. He emphasized the need for revelation to come from scripture, not from extra biblical sources.

I also heard a great message from Dr Samuel R Chand. His was the highlight of the conference for me, so much I bought his book!

Here are my notes from that session.

Transitions ‘in the meantime’
What do you do in the meantime?
You need to keep changing!
Shifted
What do you do when you have outgrown your place?
Your friends are getting ahead of you?
‘ambiguity’
Highest level of leadership, leading someplace where you don’t know
Moses led the stupid idiots to a place where they did not know
Still keep going even though you don’t know where! Walk as if you know where you are going
Dangers complacency, distractions, frustrations, competition, doubt, wrong counsel… Three of four people close to you will determine your destiny, you are known by the company you keep

Opportunities
1. Preparation sharp knife in your kitchen draw, ready fir action
The only time you start at the top is when you are digging a hole
Your part is preparation, Gods part is to bring opportunities
2. Growth learning to trust Him, ministry is not a corporate ladder, some leaders made themselves, some are God made. Character will keep you in room
3. Reinvention
4. New relationships, don’t miss
If you leave with great word, that’s good but good relationships can change your life
5. Jesus knew His time had not yet come but He handled transitions well
2 mental images: landscape, seascape
Seascape constantly changes, landscape does not. Walk in faith, towards the sea

Unlearning
take someone down a mental pathway, stuck in that path, how do we get unstuck? Trying to go to new lands with old maps
You have to get worse to get any better… Golf illustration. Hacker
Because it came easy to me, I never got  good at it.

I also attended the Tuesday night session with Pastor Chris Hill. He was good, you can learn from anyone I reckon. If you want to know how to preach passionately, with humour and emotion, Pastor Chris Hill is your man.

What was most interesting to me and my mate who came along though was the pre worship rap. As we were listening, and enjoying I have to say, this….we discussed amongst ourselves, is this how our kids will enjoy worship services in the future? It was God honouring, if not my style. If that is the case, we have to make sure we make time and room for them to sing a new song, in a new way, to Jesus.

My latest post is up, this one deals with some happier times as we started to become the Church God wanted us to be.

Confront Quickly Next Time

Unfortunately one leader of a Church is getting media time as he declares that the floods in Queensland are the result of God’s judgment on Kevin Rudd.

A read of Jesus life makes it clear what his response to such a line of thinking would have been. We don’t have to guess, its there in the Bible.

“Do you think those Galileans were worse sinners than all the other people from Galilee?” Jesus asked. “Is that why they suffered? ³ Not at all! And you will perish, too, unless you repent of your sins and turn to God. ⁴ And what about the eighteen people who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them? Were they the worst sinners in Jerusalem? ⁵ No, and I tell you again that unless you repent, you will perish, too.”

Jesus makes a call here for personal reflection, and as a Christian I believe we are all responsible to our Creator for how we live our lives. But this is not what I want to emphasise today. His words and meaning are clear, the poor souls who died in a accident were not being judged for what they had done, it was just an accident. Bad things happen…like floods in Queensland. We can blame climate change, we can blame dams, we can say it is an act of nature….but don’t try to blame God. God is not willing that any would perish…but wants everyone to live abundant lives. Sometimes bad things happen, and we don’t know why.

There are so many churches being Gods hand and feet…and not trying to be His mouthpiece, working hard for others in Queensland. My namesakes Church in Ipswich, Ipswich Region Community Church, is an official evacuation centre. People are donating time, money, food and effort to care for those affected by the floods. That is what Jesus would want. Love of God demonstrated in acts of kindness. And that is only one of hundreds of Churches and other community groups banding together to help. My family donated some money this week, as are millions of other ordinary Australians. I encourage us all, share Gods love. Let people know you are a Christian by your love and actions.

If you want to help: After careful consideration Australian Baptist Ministries (BUA) has decided to open its National Disaster and Relief Fund to channel specific giving through local Queensland Baptist Churches, Queensland Baptist Care initiatives, and other likeminded agencies. If people in your church would like to donate through this fund (Donations of $2 and over are tax deductible) the details are as follows:

If donating by cheque: Cheques payable to BUA National Disaster & Relief Fund, and posted to PO Box 273, Hawthorn, VIC 3122
If donating by direct credit: The Baptist Union of Australia, ANZ Camberwell, BSB: 013-247, Ac No. 4955 55525. (To receive a receipt the donors name and address will also be required.)
If donating via Credit Card (Visa and Mastercard only): Send an email to bua@baptist.org.au supplying the card number, expiry date, the cardholders name and their signature.