I am doing a wedding on Saturday for a lovely couple from my Church.

They are two great young people, launching into life together. Its great to be involved in their lives at this special time. I need to go and get a fresh Tie. Have not worn a tie for a fair time…since the funeral I did about 3 months ago.

Then I have an engagement party for another young couple on Saturday….life is full and only going to get fuller as we head towards Christmas, the time of year when Pastors put in some serious hours.

Its a great time of year, and everything seems to be happening.

Hope, life, beginnings….its all great!

I have been making a fair amount of change and purposeful growth in my life this year.
Traveling to Indonesia to do some teaching there, stretching myself as a leader and Pastor
Moving to the ‘Mac’ world
And now moving to WordPress and my own URL.
I hope you continue to journey with me.

A big thanks to James Middleton and Quentin Gribble for guiding me through the process.

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 RS 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.