TLC

Marty and I had the great pleasure of going to the Tasmanian Leadership Conference (TLC) on the weekend. Here are some things I was encouraged & challenged by -

Encouraged:

• We got to lead a group of rather young first-timers who had never written a Bible study before, so to see them really get into the passage & interpret it for themselves & write a study was so encouraging.
  
• To listen to what people are doing around the State in terms of ministry is always really encouraging to hear.

Challenged:

• About our singing – Andrew Reid defined song as putting you in touch with what it means to be Gods people in Gods world. So, it’s making theology our own with our experiences & emotion. Have we concentrated too much on theology & left out emotion?
  
• I was reminded of how important the Bible is to continue reading individually & corporately. Andrew really challenged us to think about whether or not this is done enough corporately these days.
  
• How much I am like the Israelites & try & self-rule instead of let God rule.
  
• As Christians we are to live authentic lives, not putting up a face of ‘goodness’, but truly living out the gospel & there is no better evangelism than that!
  

Once again TLC proved to be a great conference for training people to read & interpret the Bible for themselves! So, be there next year!

I became a true Kingstonite & Australian in 1 day!!

I have been told that you are not a true ‘Kingstonite’ until you have done the big walk above the trees into the sky - the Tahune AirWalk. Well I finally did it! And it was amazing - being above the trees & seeing everything from a bird’s perspective was very cool.

But the coolest thing was actually those swinging bridges (yes there is 2!). You may have been there & not done them as it’s not really talked about or hyped up – both those swinging bridges are a whole lot more scarier, & very possibly cooler, than the platform in the sky. To see the terrifying experience watch the movie….

And I am also now a true Australian as I have seen ‘Australia’. It was also pretty cool - just another movie really!

What is wrong with me?

As I was planning the year – I felt nothing for it, just a bit taken back about how busy it was! There was no excitement for things coming up, even trips to Sydney which I love doing. In fact there was just not really any feeling at all.

What was wrong with me?

I did a lot of thinking about it - I even took a day off to try & figure it out. Finally it was an epiphany that came to me in Gloria Jeans one very warm morning over a skinny cappuccino & a great book - I had momentarily lost my passion for full-time ministry.

So I went back to some inspiring talks & it brought me back to Jesus. This should come as no surprise to you - but it is always God & all that he has done for us that brings us back to reality isn’t it!?! It’s through being totally humbled & realising how crap you are that puts everything back into place.

Being in full-time paid ministry is such a privilege – I am apart of this massive plan of spreading the great news of Christ to the world! This should never be left out of the picture when you are planning your year!!

The 5 P's

Well the second year of my MTS apprenticeship is well underway & so has the planning. It feels strange to spend almost a whole month planning the rest of the year. But as BV shared – ‘Prior Preparation Prevents Poor Performance’. So let’s hope that comes true!

the first year of my MTS apprenticeship...

Well the first year of my MTS apprenticeship has come to an end.

Its one of those strange things where you look back & have no idea what you have done… but I am pretty sure I have done something! One thing I do know is that I have learnt a lot! Not just about ministry, but about our great heavenly father & I have learnt heaps about myself.

I have been involved in many different sorts of ministry & have been hugely challenged in all of them! But most of all I have been reminded about how amazing our God is & how much we are all in desperate need of him. It’s when you lose sight of this that everything starts falling part. So I am extremely thankful to the many people who reminded me of this throughout the year.

There is many more that I want thank for being apart of my training, praying for me, & supporting me so far, but I really want to thank Marty… thanks for always supporting me, & pushing me when I needed it, or telling me to stop! You always seem to put everything into perspective for me, for which I am very grateful. I am very blessed to have you lead me through life (& happy birthday for tomorrow!!)

I am really looking forward to next year & all the different things that it will bring. Just need a little break first…

I am a Gentile...

God chose the Israelites to be his people – I am not an Israelite.

It’s through Jesus’ work on earth & on the cross that has made me one of Gods chosen people (Ephesians 2:11-13). I have been grafted into his kingdom! (Romans 11:11-24)

'I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile' (Romans 1:16)

Should the fact that we are Gentiles make any difference to us?

Climate Change

I have been whinging to Marty for some time now that this whole new climate change thing is just a farce. It’s a media built up phenomenon, & I’m sure someone out there is getting a lot of money out of it!

In my view the world has always been disintegrating, the media has just decided to hype it up in the last few years. My point is that I’m sure people have been looking into this and studying it for years & realised how serious it is ages ago.

So I was stoked to read Schaeffer write in 1970!
“So there is a true dilemma. Modern man has seen that we are upsetting the balance of nature and the problem is drastic and urgent” (pg 17 from ‘Pollution & the Death of Man: The Christian View of Ecology’)

It’s a great book to get you thinking about the Christian view of creation.