Check Out This Edition of the VLOG!

Check out this week's VLOG by clicking HERE.

The included clip from youtube is sure to create a stir!

I'd love to hear your comments : )

To Grow... Evaluate Constantly

I have just read Jeremy Sargents blog... and i thought I should write a little something on the subject too. Click here to read Jeremy's blog.

I believe that evaluation is a key tool to making sure that I don't drift off and loose focus.
One of the laws of quantum physics is that the universe constantly moves towards chaos. If you've ever spent time gardening you know exactly what I mean. Leave it for 2 weeks... and the weeds begin to take over, the grass becomes a jungle, the beautifully trimmed hedge becomes a piece of abstract art...

I have 2 main sets of questions that I use.

Both are taken from Bill Hybels:

I'm not abiding in Christ when...

1. I go through most of the day or week pre-occupied with self concerns
2. I go through long periods of time with no promptings or convictions from the Holy Spirit
3. I go through long periods without being concerned for the poor
4. I go through long periods of time not being broken for the Lost
5. I can sit through worship sessions without being stirred to worship and honour God
6. I am easily angered when corrected

Here is my next list of questions...

1. Is my calling sure?
2. Is my vision clear?
3. Is my passion hot?
4. Am I developing my gifts?
5. Is my character submitted to Christ?
6. Is my pride subdued?
7. Am I overcoming fear?
8. Are interior issues undermining my leadership?
9. Is my pace sustainable?
10. Is my love for God and people increasing?

How do you evaluate your life and how often?
I look forward to your comments : )

We All Need Somebody...

For those of you who have read my Blog / & Vlog, you would know that I have been through a really frustrating time of trying to load my videos onto my vlog site.
Finally I made a post about it and within 24hours of the post my problem was solved! [Big ups to you Jeremy for sorting me out!]

I wonder how many other areas in our lives we could find answers and breakthroughs for if we just reached out for help and leveraged other peoples knowledge and ideas?

So here is my next attempt at leveraging in your wisdom, knowledge and ideas:
I am busy planning for next years Sunday evening services [ours are targeted to the 25 - 35 years of age]. My question is this: What topics , books of the Bible, etc. would you like to see covered (in your church?)
I look forward to receiving your comments!

I need your help!

I have tried 6X to load a 60meg video on my vlog, but Blogspot keeps ditching me. The furtherest I have been able to get is 50 meg uploaded and then crash.

Does anyone know how I can either get the video's smaller or upload via another medium? (I am taking the video's on my digital camera.)

Thanks : )

I am away

I am away on leave and will only be back next monday the 22nd Oct. Thanks for visiting the blog... see you again on the 22nd!

JAMES MACPHERSON: A Great Read: "The Twilight of Atheism"

For those of you who read my posts regularly, you need no introduction to Pastor James Mcpherson. If you are new... trust me, you'll love his thought provoking posts!

JAMES MACPHERSON: A Great Read: "The Twilight of Atheism"

When Faith Means More Than Words

(This image was supplied by FreeFoto.com. Click here to check them out)

I wanted to pass on a great thought from an exert of Dietrich Bonhoeffers book The Cost Of Discipleship. Now I did not agree with everything I read... but I thought it would be good to chew on this thought:

"The actual call of Jesus and the response of single-minded obedience have an irrevocable significance. By means of them Jesus calls people into an actual situation where faith is possible. For that reason his call is an actual call and he wishes it to be so understood, because he knows that only through actual obedience that a man can become liberated to believe."

Bonhoeffer is trying to express his belief that every scripture should be taken literally...
Now I don't want to get into that discussion in this blog post, I do like the thought that it is our action - our obedience to Christ - that allows us to have faith.
Faith is not simply a set of beliefs we talk about... our faith is made visible through our actions of obedience.

Saint James said it like this:

Jas 2:18-26 MSG
(18) I can already hear one of you agreeing by saying, "Sounds good. You take care of the faith department, I'll handle the works department." Not so fast. You can no more show me your works apart from your faith than I can show you my faith apart from my works. Faith and works, works and faith, fit together hand in glove.

(19) Do I hear you professing to believe in the one and only God, but then observe you complacently sitting back as if you had done something wonderful? That's just great. Demons do that, but what good does it do them?

(20) Use your heads! Do you suppose for a minute that you can cut faith and works in two and not end up with a corpse on your hands?

(21) Wasn't our ancestor Abraham "made right with God by works" when he placed his son Isaac on the sacrificial altar?

(22) Isn't it obvious that faith and works are yoked partners, that faith expresses itself in works? That the works are "works of faith"?

(23) The full meaning of "believe" in the Scripture sentence, "Abraham believed God and was set right with God," includes his action. It's that mesh of believing and acting that got Abraham named "God's friend."

(24) Is it not evident that a person is made right with God not by a barren faith but by faith fruitful in works?

(25) The same with Rahab, the Jericho harlot. Wasn't her action in hiding God's spies and helping them escape--that seamless unity of believing and doing--what counted with God?

(26) The very moment you separate body and spirit, you end up with a corpse. Separate faith and works and you get the same thing: a corpse.

I'd love to hear your feedback : )

My next messages

SHAPE: (leadership input) Sunday 14th Oct
As we enter the exam season for the last big push of the year, I want to highlight our need to stay in the flow of our devotions. As the pressure comes on we need to run towards Jesus and not drop our personal devotions and church attendance.

Pro 3:5-6 ESV
(5) Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.
(6) In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

Psa 20:7 ESV
(7) Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.


ELEVATE: (High school service) Friday 26th Oct
We are doing a series called 'WHY?'
I will be covering the subject of why God sometimes does not answer our prayers.
Why would He do this to us?
How do we know that God has even heard us or that He even cares?
What should we do when it seems like God isn't answering our prayers?


6pm Service: Sunday 28th Oct
I will be concluding our series called 'MY WORLD'

I will be encouraging people to embrace a generous lifestyle. (see my first VLOG)
I will also be encouraging people to not be limited to what resources that they currently have. I will encourage people to undertake some creative means of generating finances to support their chosen ministries / causes / or just to have $ to bless people with.

A generous man dreams of ways to be generous, and by generosity he shall stand.
Isaiah 32:8

Pro 11:24 MSG
(24) The world of the generous gets larger and larger; the world of the stingy gets smaller and smaller.

Power To The VLOG!

Check out my first (weekly) Vlog (or video blog). (its under 2mins)

(There is also a link to this site on the right hand side bar of the blog site.)

Leave your comments, I'd love to hear your thoughts!!!

Arrogance, Confidence Or Despair?

This following post is taken from Rosabeth Moss Kanter's book Confidence.

"Confidence is a sweet spot between arrogance and despair. Arrogance involves the failure to see any flaws or weaknesses, despair the failure to see any strengths. Overconfidence leads people to overshoot, to overbuild, to become irrationally exuberant or delusionally optimistic, and to assume that they are invulnerable. Thats what induces people to become complacent, leaders to neglect fundamental disciplines, investors to turn into gamblers. But under confidence is just as bad, and perhaps worse. It leads people to under invest, to under-innovate, and to assume that everything is stacked against them, so there is no point in trying."

What To Do With Power?

This post is taken from the catalyst conference blog. Click here to visit their blog.

Andy Stanley just finished the first session at Catalyst on the topic of power. I’m not sure I’ve heard anyone teach from Scripture with more insight and clarity than Andy does. Notes from his presentation are below:

What do you do, when it dawns on you that you’re the most powerful person in the room?

Your answer to that question will determine the character and the legacy of your leadership.

If you want to know what to do when it dawns on you that you’re the most important person in the room, look to the example of Jesus.

John 13
“It was just before the Passover feast, and Jesus knew that the time had come for Him to leave this world and go to the Father… Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God so he got up from his meal, took off his outer clothing and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel he was wearing around him.”

Jesus, in the moment of the greatest recognition of his power, leverages it for the good of the people in the room. At the pinnacle of his power, he sheds his robe, the symbol of his authority as a rabbi, and humbles himself.

The disciples are stunned by his humility. They want to put him back on the pedestal. To them, he has no business shedding his authority. But Jesus has a message for them, “You will preach the Gospel and heal diseases, everyone will want to be close to you, because and you were the ones closest to Me. You are going to be extraordinarily influential, but don’t forget this night.”

The disciples understood. That’s why we admire them today. That’s why their words reverberate through history. They refused to leverage power for their own sake, but they leveraged it for the other people in the room.

How can I leverage my power for the sake and benefit of the other people in the room?
I’m not greater than my Master, and I’m not greater than my Savior. If His response was to lay it aside to benefit others, then that’s what I’ll do with my leadership.

Are You Sure That You're A Christian?

What is it exactly that defines one as a Christian? What is it that we can point out to that clearly proofs us as a Christian?

Is it because we believe in Jesus?
Jas 2:19 ESV (19) You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe--and shudder!

Is it because you attend church or because you live a pious lifestyle or even because you know the Bible?
Jesus called the religious leaders of His day 'sons of hell'!
Mat 23:15 ESV (15) Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.

Is it because we participate in spiritual events - such as casting out demons, prophesying, working miracles, etc?
Mat 7:22 ESV (22) On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?'

Is it because we obey the 'law' / Bible and we really want to follow Jesus?
Luk 18:18-23 ESV (18) And a ruler asked him, "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" (19) And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. (20) You know the commandments: 'Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.'" (21) And he said, "All these I have kept from my youth." (22) When Jesus heard this, he said to him, "One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me." (23) But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich.

How then do we know ourselves as Christians... what is it that qualifies us?
I'd love to hear your comments on this one!

The Sky Is The Limit!

I have been intrigued over the last week about the contents of my previous blog... where Kyle MacDonald through 14 trades traded a single red paper clip for a 1 year lease on a house in Canada!
It got me thinking... what exactly is possible? With a little creativity what could we achieve?

Then my mate Stuart Buchanan gave me an invite to his 21st. Check out the pics below of his invite.

21st are traditionally a time that focuses and celebrates the individuals journey thus far.
Stu has turned this on its head... he has invited his mates to get into teams of 4... to go and do good deeds... to take photos etc of the good deeds... and then to share what was done at his 21st. What an awesome idea!!! Imagine the good that will come of that!

What possibilities lie before us if we are willing to be creative and think outside of the box?
I hope you and I will venture there!