All posts by Mark Edwards

Dealing with communication and whispers

This week through a series of events I was told that some long standing members and valued contributors of our church were heading overseas for six months, and this Sunday would be their last.
The person responsible for the rosters had heard something similar and was surprised because this couple are very reliable and always let her know their movements.

I spoke to the husband in question…..turns out they are planning some short drives around our state next year. He was as surprised as I was at what was being said.
Its amazing how the whispers start and continue into a crescendo!

Here is some leadership lessons.

1. If you hear something and it sounds surprising, don’t discount the ‘whispers’ effect.
2. Go to the source, ask the person direct, this is what I have heard, whats actually going on?
3. Don’t be amazed at the diversity between what you have heard, and what really is.
4. Open, frank communication is always the best policy, no matter what your cultural background and heritage says. The extra little bit you don’t say, may be the most important piece of information.

The Apostle Paul was baptised

Yes, he was.
Acts 9: 17 Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” 18 Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized, 19 and after taking some food, he regained his strength.

Amazing story eh?
Imagine being one of the Pharisees or teachers of that day. That had hated John the Baptist’s baptism, because it said that you needed something more than the Jewish faith offered. In fact you needed to turn from that. Imagine then one of your biggest assets, a threat to the spread of Christianity…goes and does exactly what he had previously hated…and been baptised!
Baptism is a powerful outward statement.
This week at Inglewood Church I am baptising two people who have recently come to believe in Jesus, and want their faith to take the next step. For both of them, in different ways, it is a significant statement to the family and friends around them.

Finding Free Images

This is a great search engine.

If like me you are reasonably proficient on Photoshop, but your budget is limited, you are probably often looking for images to manipulate and use in your non-profit advertisement. Often times Professional Stock Images can stretch budgets too far.

This site, Freepik does just what it says, “Freepik helps you find free photos, ilustrations and vectors to use for websites, banners, presentations, magazines, advertising.”

Unlike say Google Images, which helpfully in its own way drags up all types of images, Freepik finds you images you can use freely. I searched for “Christmas’ and came up with a stack of useful images which are useful.

Mac Video Convertor

I do a lot of video editing for Inglewood Church and have recently shifted to Mac for both editing and presentation duties. Before that I was moving between both PC and Mac platforms.

However even now with just Mac, I am always on the lookout for video converters that work. Often the good ones are the ones that cost you.

But get in quick, Macx Video Pro Convertor is available for the next day or so for free, make sure you download it, install it, and then grab the free authentication code off the website and register.

By the way, if you are still stuck in a Windows world, they also have a PC version for free as well.

Macx Video Convertor