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.

This month at Inglewood Church we have been dealing with FAQ…frequently asked questions.
I asked my twitter friends, most of them non-churched, to give me questions they would want churches to deal with.
The questions came…sickness, death, depression….sexual issues.
But the biggie…in my mind at least…was the one on Hell.
The eternal destiny of those without Jesus.
Tough eh?
How would you as a pastor deal with that one.
I have never preached a message on this topic.
Its just not me, I am…I hope…a passionate preacher. I believe in the gospel.
But as for actually speaking about this topic…confronting.
But I backed myself into a quarter! And it is good to preach on the whole of the Bible…not just those bits you like.
So here we go.

Worship House Media do some good stuff.
Their latest free loop download is good, and you can get it in Quicktime format. Its a nice loop of a Autumn scene.

Here

Was with my son down the shops and noticed the Amourguard security personal filling up an ATM.
What I noticed was the fact they had guns…real guns.

This got me thinking…why do we give guards who protect money…guns.
We don’t give hospital security and other guards guns. Because in the main they are protecting people, not money.

If you asked anyone, they would say that people are more important than money. Yet we don’t act that way.