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Water, Beer and Pharisees


Amidst all the confusion and problems of the hurricanes in the US, some Southern Baptists have managed to keep themselves pure. A local beer company donated crates of water for the relief effort, and because it had beer labels, some local Pharisees decided they would not distribute it. Give me a break! What a terrible way to portray the love of God. Now if it had West Coast Eagles labels on it, I could understand it.
NBC Story

Warren named among 25 best US Leaders


Not bad for a Pastor to be named amongst the 25 most influential leaders.
Interesting to read Warren’s profile and understand his transperancy and vulnerability. He admits he had not even thought about widows and orphans until recently in his ministry life. Many of us have been concerned with our own little vineyard, and neglected the social aspect of the gospel. Now THE key leader of the evangelical movement of our time is coming out saying the social aspects of the gospel are equally important as the spiritual ones. USA Today Article

Cook is the right recipe


Good news today on the Freo front with Cookie being resigned for another 12 months. Having actually shook the great mans hand, and bought him a beer, I can tell you, he is one player that you would not want to be bumped by.
At a scratch match last year, when there was only about 300 people at the ground, I could hear the thump as Cook slammed an opposition Western Bulldongs player to the ground. Normally during a game you cant hear these things. But that whack by Cook was sufficient to guarantee a healthy dab of Epsom on the other shoulders. This from the Dockers website,

Recognised as one of the toughest players in the competition, his ferocious attack on the ball made him an instant fan favourite and valuable team contributor at Fremantle.

Cook has set the defensive standard for Fremantle where he has led the club’s tackling in five of his six seasons including 2005 where he had 87 tackles at 4.35 a game

Hillsong named most incarnational church in OZ


Alright, so the naming is only by me, and the title is just to stir some emergent types up, but seriously, browse their web site! Hillsong Services

This reinforces the recent ‘Australian Story’ episode when they talked of how many community activities the Church is involved in.
Having attended their national conference on and off for the past 6 years I have noticed how Hillsong Church is becoming increasingly socially aware, of their responsibilities, and of the needs of Australian Society. In fact if I really wanted to be frank, I would say that in my opinion they are being far more effective at being incarnational, that any other organisation in Australia.
Sure they have their issues, but who doesn’t? I know my church and my life is not perfect. But kudo’s where they are due I reckon.

The Bedford Bus


Well, its taken me about a week to formulate this in my mind,
but we have seen more first time conversions at Bedford Baptist in the last 12 months that in the whole first 10 years of my ministry.
We have also said some very sad goodbyes to some dear folk who have been at the church for a long time. If you are one of those folk, please don’t take offence at this, I have just been wondering aloud what is going on.

I do know this, the quality and creativity being displayed in our morning services and other ministries had gone through the roof. Thanks to the efforts of my Associate, the members of the Ministry Team and the freedom and empowerment being given to the Church by the Leadership team, things are humming along nicely. We reached in a significant way over 250 people at out Spring Fair. In a fortnights time we are having a party for our Sunday morning service. Now some may say every Sunday should be a party, but we are having balloons and streamers and hot dogs at this one! God’s Party

On November 20th we are having a Baptismal service with 3 wonderful people getting Baptised. I am so excited and joyful about what God is doing in this small part of His vineyard.

If you are part of our Church Community, jump on the Bedford Bus, its pulling out of the station!!

Spring Fair, Church and Church Together


Full on weekend.
Both physically emotionally and spiritually drained, with lots to think about.
On Saturday Melinda and I were getting our house ready to sell, and madly getting ready for the Bedford Baptist Spring fair. What a huge success. Organisationally a massive amount of work, and kudos to the chief organiser, who is pictured on stage here.
Aproximately 250-300 people came around to buy an old toaster, purchase a coffee and cake for $2, have a back massage or watch their child pat a pig. This is a 2nd stage event for us. A way to connect even further those who have been attending our Toddler Jam program to the Church Community. We gave out about 100 show bags with lollies, colouring in and information about the Church Communities activities. An unqualified success.
Sunday morning at Church was good, we served up the left over sausage sizzle to the crowd, and they seemed to enjoy my message on telling the truth in love. We also heard about some inspiring Prison Ministry some people form our Church have been involved in and the kids were led in a song from the Congo, from a refugee who is fellowshipping with us.

Sunday night was awesome too. Church Together brought about 18 000 people together for a time of worship and inspiration. Wayne Cordeiro was a humorous and appropriate speaker for the event, especially for the pre-Christians. I might have preferred more of a challenge, but that probably says more about me, than what was appropriate. So well done to all those involved!

On reflection, the most purposeful and best thing I did all weekend was talking to a number of people at the Spring Fair. Intentionally seeking them out and trying to make friends. Being a Pastor is tricky, because many people see you as being representative of the church. You never leave the job. But I loved being there and seeing the community come together, at what was essentially a Church event. Awesome and what the church should be doing.