Here is the countdown I have made up for our new series…..Fresh

Things have been really exciting at church lately.
We had another big crowd in today….ran out of seats up the back….thats exciting.
The worship team have been playing excellent music…and it has really been helped by a couple of great musicians sticking around. Eliot is doing a great job with them.

I kicked off our new series and tried some different creative elements….used a few pictures ala ‘Seth Godin’ style. That is used pictures to illustrate a point…bring emotion in. Used my little clicker to control it from the front. I have not used powerpoint for so long…its pretty old and lame. But today I used it in a fresh way. Just used pictures as illustrations…no text, to convey emotion and truth as much as anything else.
I also got one of the blokes from church who has made some significant changes and taken some risks in his work life to tell a three minute ‘vignette’ or testimony to illustrate a point.
We are talking about being fresh….and this morning I talked about how God is a creative God, how we are made in His image…and how one way to find refreshment in your work is to exersise your creative talents.
I think it went okay….

Then…later on in the day I took the two kids and our dog for a walk down Bayswater river….beautiful day…beautiful kids.

Then…my brother in law gave me a nice bottle of red for my birthday….

Chris Judd said something really significant during the week…particularly for a footballer. He said that ‘football’ is not real life.. Ha!! your right Chris.

Thanks God for a beautiful refreshing day, thanks for my wife, my kids, my church…and some beautiful provisions today.

To describe how I feel after the Dockers went down to Melbourne by one goal.

You think you have felt it all as a Freo supporter and member of long standing. Crumbs….we survived the ‘Drum’ years…..

but today they took it to a new level.
Up by 50 points against the bottom team in the competition after taking it right up to the best team last week……

I can’t handle much more of this.

After hearing all the stories about 60, 000 men attending the Angus Buchan crusade in South Africa, both from the web but also from my associate who attended….am excited about the crusade which will be happening in Perth.

Friday 27th February 2009 to Sunday 1st March 2009

There will be a web site up within the next couple of weeks with registration forms and information. Bedford Baptist’s childrens worker who is excellent on IT will be putting that together. We will also be helping out with the music/worship side of it as well…..
Suffice to say I will be involved in some of the planning, multi media and whatever else I am asked to do.

Its pretty exciting…and we are hoping for a great increase on 2008’s attendance of over 700 men…

Ha! Hypocrisy at its best.

Booing is part of the game….you get involved, you boo a bad decision….you cheer for your own players.

West Coast supporters….namely the WA media….had a red hot go at Freo supporters for booing Judd at a Western Derby….

Now they find themselves booing him…what will the excuse be.
By the way, I am finding a way to enjoy the Weagles misery, despite my own at Freo’s losses!

Doing some research on my message topic for this month….FRESH

this video is cool as…..a very creative and cheap device that transforms a $40 Wii controller into a whole heap more…

Wednesday was the best day of the conference, in terms of input from speakers.
Karen Siggins from Lesmurdie nailed a great talk on stress. She said that when we feel stressed our normal reaction is to try and remove the things which are stressing us out, to remove part of our lives which cause us stress. As pastors this is not always possible or even desirable. So instead she basically said we need to be able to laugh, have a spark of madness about us and remember what truly gives us hope.

Tim Hanna
Public life determined by private
Difference between public & private
Whats keeping your life vibrant ?
Need to be teachable
Need for both a Barnabae and a Timothii in your life
We need to be the people who consistent example
John 13
Ability to serve comes from security of life
Need for Persistence & Resistance

It was a great conference. 197 delegates (up about 35 from last year), great times of food, fun, fellowship, worship, networking…rejoicing.