Appropriate rain

Today my Dad lost his five year battle with cancer. He passed away at the hospital in little or no pain.

Once my Mum, sister and I got home from the hospital it began to rain...

Spreading out the dots

I'm going to let you in on a little secret.

This blog isn't really about my random thoughts on ministry and church. Really, it's about WORLD DOMINATION!!!

I love the visitors map on my blog. I love the dots that spring up all over the globe. I love it when 1-9 dots engorge into 10-99 dots.

And i love the power of knowing well in advance which countries will explode in a pretty display of visitor dots. Lately i was waiting with tingling expectation for Italy and the UAE to appear. 14 hours later, appear they did.

Well... There are a few places that my blog still needs to infiltrate.

China, Alaska, South Africa, I'm looking at you.

STOP PRESS: South Africa is about to be lit up. Now if only Anchorage and Beijing/Shanghai can pull their weight...

Becoming what you... dislike

In the heading i wanted to use the word hate. But that would be too powerful a word.

The other day i said "They can't do that! Not to MY house!"

At the time, my wife and i were driving past the home i grew up in (which my parents sold a few weeks ago), that is now lived in by "other strangers."

And they had parked their car on the front lawn.

OUTRAGEOUS.

RIDICULOUS.

Near BLASPHEMOUS!

It would NEVER have happened back in my day.

But, it's their home now, not mine.

And, for an instant i identified with the (normally older) folks that you encounter at churches who are resistant to change. Oh how i... dislike... them at those moments.

At least i can identify with them a bit better now.

Year Calendars

I am a genius! (or i ripped off an idea from somewhere on the Internet).

I'm sitting in my office peeling labels off 1cm by 1cm youth ministry logos.

No, this does not make me a genius.

What may (but i suspect really doesn't), is sending all the kids in the churches youth ministry a calendar for the year ahead with all the youth ministries activities already marked out, ranging from regular youth group to upcoming camps.

I did this a few years back for the young adults at my previous church as a way of informing them of any potential event that they may be interested in (even if it wouldn't tickle my fancy).

But now... Bible Society: COLLISION CALENDAR 2010 - Ancient Wisdom for Today's World... is my new advertising tool.

Additionally... Apologies for the drop off in posts lately, but this last week has had some potentially rocky/exciting/confusing times which i can't post on yet... but hopefully will soon.

Falling and drifting

On one of my old mobile phones i had a daily reminder that said "Do you still want to follow Jesus?"

I believe each day a Christian must make a choice, at least in how they will choose to behave, whether they will follow Jesus or not.

I think, generally, people abandon their faith in one of two ways.

One - A traumatic event happens and, as a consequence, they stop believing in God or wouldn't follow a God that would allow the set of circumstances that they are going through to transpire.

Or Two - The answer to the question "Do you still want to follow Jesus?" slowly changes from "YES!"... to... "yep"... to... "suppose"... to... "it's what i do"... to... "it's what i should do"... to... "maybe"... to... "not so much"... to... "not any more."

The journey away from God can be one massive step or a bunch of tiny ones. Either way, the result is the same. One just takes longer.

Look at that kids head... Convert him!

Today Ange and i were at the Mall and we saw a youth with a hideous haircut. Downright awful it was.

And it made me think... That guy should become a Christian.

I could only imagine the impact that someone, who willingly tries to stand out, can make for Christ.

Often, the church avoids people (especially young people) who stand out. People with weird or dyed hair. Or tattoos. Or piercings. Or all of the aforementioned.

These people, if on fire for God, can make a massive impact in their world. They are (caution: generalisation ahead!) either leaders who people follow, or people who are confident enough to be different (or both).

But these people aren't in churches all that often. Or they are, but are told to tone down and "fit in".

Reason #1 to do scripture in high school: You have contact with these kids.

The odd kids.
The weird kids.
The kids that are often avoided by churches.

The potential difference makers.

Fool me twice, shame on me

Question: What is worse than leaving your water meter reading work phone on the roof of your car and then driving away?

Answer: Doing it twice.

Worse still: Add your iPod into the annoying equation.

Silver lining: You track down your work phone, which still functions, thus avoiding a chewing out from your boss.

Dark cloud: You don't locate your iPod.

Overbooked preaching

On Sunday i preached on "taming the tongue" from James 3. I could have easily overbooked the sermon.

During the sermon i pretended to finish the sermon after only saying one sentence, had those in the congregation show the underside of their tongues to one another (yes, even the oldies!), frantically drank my glass of water so i could then drink milk straight from the container and subsequently added off milk to the newly sampled container. Sure, this seems a but excessive in only 20 minutes, but each illustration added to the sermon and made each point memorable (or so i was told!).

But i could have done more to theatre-ise my sermon.

Originally i had planned to dramatically show the effects of gossip by cutting open a feather lined pillow and then hitting the pillow to make the feathers explode out.

But i was aware of overbooking.

Overbooking: A wrestling term where a show has dramatic changes, but none stand out due to the quick progression of the program, thus reducing the effectiveness of what has just transpired.

One constant criticism of a particular wrestling company is that they overbook their show. Any surprise isn't given enough time to adequate sink in (eg happen just before a commercial, or have the announcers talk about the implications of what just happened).

Last Sunday i didn't want too many memorable things to occur, and thus water down the overall effect or confuse those in the pews.

Spouse swooning

At last nights wedding i mentioned to the youngest brother of the bride that he was the second most popular chap in attendance (after the groom obviously!).

The reason? He sang during the ceremony, and being is sickeningly talented, all the single ladies (yes, all the single ladies) would have swooned over his musical prowess.

On the way home, Ange admitted that she has a similar thing happen to her when i preach. She swoons. She internally struts around and declares... THAT'S MY MAN!

And i did the same thing today over her.

While we were visiting my Mum, my niece was there being babysat.

And my wife performed child minding that produced a swoon from her husband.

Wedding reminders

Yesterday Ange and i went to a wedding.

I like going to weddings. I find them useful. They remind me what i signed up for when i became a husband.

Actually, it's one of the advantages of marrying before most of the people that you hang with.

Pretty much every year (at least), you get a reminder of the vows that you said and the promises that you made.

A similar thing happens when i go to baptisms and confirmations.

When you watch others go through the same milestones that you yourself have, it pays to pay attention.

Prayer awkwardness

I significant pat of my job seems to be leading church services.

As a result, it sometimes creates an awkward churning in the depths of my being. And it all surrounds public prayer.

Prior to any church service, there is usually joint prayer involving the preacher, the service leader, the band and anyone else milling about and willing to be involved. This makes me uncomfortable.

During the services there is also prayer, on occasions, group prayer (as i lead last Sunday). This made me feel awkward.

Why the awkwardness?

The problem: Do you steal/borrow what you have heard or use your own prayer material?

When you are in joint prayer before the service, and you know what (roughly) you are going to say to open the service, do you preempt your service opening? Really, you're just going to pray that people will be aware of God's presence, that He will work during the service and that what happens during the service will being honour to God.

But... Do you save your prayer for the start of the service?

Or, when you're bringing a group prayer segment to a close, do you repeat what your group has just prayed if it was really good? Would you be viewed as a prayer thief? Do you rein in your own prayer input because you will get up and close the prayer time?

Maybe these are problems only i worry about...

Verse skimming

I admit it, to my shame, I'm a verse skimmer.

Whenever i read a book, i gobble up the authors words and (barely) glance over any bible passages.

I have a problem.

I know i should AT LEAST READ the verses quoted by authors, but for some reason, i just can't bring myself to do it.

The sad truth could be that i (at least in my actions) value the words of various authors more than the Word of God...

I hope I'm not the only one with this condition... I'm calling it versicus skimmicus.

The injury of the next generation

Yesterday Ange and i got a Nintendo Wii.

My shoulder thinks that I've played it more than i should have.

I think i now have Wii elbow.

2009 Best of...

In case you joint the Rambling train late... Here is the wheat separated from the chaff... The top 30 of 2009!

Erin Louise

The gospel: FTH

Giggles in the heat

Jesus Saviour?

Dechurched or unchurched? (the most viewed post from 2009)

Spreading the love (for my Kiwi visitor)

Ya know in 6 months... Ya know in 12

Number hurdles

Women in ministry

Communion Awkwardness

Arr Rump Pa Pum Pum

The death of Cecil

When you're not spared the consequences

Small group movie watching

Marriage prep

Ministry lube

The X Commandments of youth ministry leadership

Avoiding the hole

Single exposure

Existence of God

Reliable 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

Meeting chuckle notes

Temptation part 1 & 2

Square one

If it wasn't for Jesus...

Change reaction

Who said it would be easy?

Verse of plausibility

2008 favourites

Pre sermon checklist

Bible hearing

Words are important. They shape the way you think.

So, why do we have a Bible reading in a church service, not a Bible hearing?

I think it would put the segment prior to the sermon in better perspective. We don't just read a book, but hear from the Word of God.

We should pay as much attention to the Biblical text as we do the the sermon that follows its declaration.

Giving check-up

Do you think giving talks suck? Do they make you feel awkward?

There could be two reasons...

One - You need to hear what is being said. You're being convicted of a failing in your Christian life.

Two - The person presenting the giving talk is being insensitive.

Think of the process like getting a medical check-up.

If the doctor pushes on a part of your body and you feel discomfort, either something is askew, or the physician pushed too hard.

Ministry burnouts

Apart from Sunday Christmas next year, I'm really looking forward to 2010 at church.

The reason? The season of doing ministry burnouts has almost passed.

For the first six months you make a lot of noise, create a bunch of smoke, generate heat, gain traction, but don't make a heap of meaningful progress.

Once you've been around for a while, then you can make significant steps forward.

I hope 2010 is a year of moving forward.

80 minutes till undead

I just found out that it would take 1 hour and 20 minutes from being bitten by a zombie until i was infected.

I assume that this is a very scientific study, done by people in white cloaks who work in a fine academic facility like the Pond's Institute.

You can find out how long you would take here.

Church niches

Lately, I've been thinking that churches should work together by spreading out ministries.

When i look at the suburb that I'm working in now, there are three churches located in about four blocks, and they basically all do the same thing.

I think it would make more sense if they each did a few things. And do these few things really well.

Churches could work more effectively if they honed in on a few ministry areas, which they became locally known, and people were funnelled towards them if they fall into a particular niche.

There are a stack of options that a church could be known for... Preschools, children's ministry, youth ministry, young adult ministry, ministering to singles, parenting issues, ministry to the elderly, ministering to the poor, or to single mothers, or to those suffering addictions or being known for great music or creativity in worship... or whatever...

Sure, churches would still individually need to maintain support for those who go to their church and upkeep all the regular church activities, but I'm not convinced that a churches aim should be to "do it all."

For the majority of churches, they just aren't equipped (either physically nor personally) to do have a dozen, well run, effective ministries.

I'm not sure how or if it would work ... But maybe churches would benefit if the load was spread...

Those who go to churches would probably benefit...

Preaching to the unseen audience

My last post about ministers needing to be tech savvy, i was reminded about the unseen listeners located when giving a sermon.

Whenever giving a sermon i don't give a whole lot of on weight to the physical number in the building (it's nice if the number is larger than you expect though!) since the message can go beyond those who are present.

Your sermon can come up in future conversations during the week. Or a point remembered and used years later. I still use old sermon notes that i took years ago.

More likely, if you post your sermons online (thus the benefits of a tech savvy minister), they can minister to anyone with a computer.

In theory, the sermon that you deliver before 30 people, can reach well beyond the churches walls.