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How to Get the Most out of this Blog

Here are 7 tips for getting the most out of this blog:

  1. Bookmark this page in your internet browser and return to it regularly to check for new posts (a 'post' is a blog entry). I try to add a new post every few days.

  2. Read the latest posts. They are in the left column of the blog. You can scroll down to read all the latest posts OR click on any post title under 'Recent Posts' in the right column (just below the Categories section).

  3. Click on any Category of interest (in the upper right hand column) to view posts grouped by topic.

  4. Click on any link within a post to find additional information, resources, or related web sites. Any underlined word is a link to additional material.

  5. Click on 'Comments' under any post to read other people's comments about that particular post or to make a comment yourself about the post or about someone's else's comments. I try to read every comment. It isn't practical for me to respond to every comment, but I do try to answer any questions and make occasional comments on any developing conversation. [Be sure to check out the commenting guidelines for this blog]

  6. Feel free to tell others about the blog and encourage them to join in the conversation too.

  7. If you are really keen, you can subscribe to this blog, which enables you to receive notifications each time a new post is added. You will need to do this through a blog reader such as Google Reader, Bloglines or Newsgator. You will need to copy the URL of this blog into whichever blog reader you choose. Click on 'subscribe' in the right hand column of this blog (just under the Category section) to save the URL, then copy it into the blog reader. Of course, it is simple to unsubscribe at any time.

  8. To search for a particular topic within the blog, type your topic or word of interest in the Search Box in the upper right hand corner of the blog and hit 'Enter'. A window will open up with a list of the most relevant hits.

Enjoy!

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10 Reasons Why I Blog

Here are 10 reasons why I started a Blog:

  1. It’s a chance for me to share a variety of things that I think and feel that I don’t always have a forum for or time to speak about. A blog is essentially a unique communication tool. It’s a bit like a free-flowing coffee shop conversation – casual, friendly and open.
  2. It’s enables people to get to know me a bit better. Through my blog, I can tell some of my own story and journey. This is especially important in a large growing church where I can’t spend time with each person one on one.
  3. It’s an opportunity for me to share what I am learning.
  4. It gives me the ability to pass on resources to other people that may help them. I like to write a few brief things on a topic then provide links where people can find out more information or recommend books for people to do further reading. A blog is about knowledge sharing.
  5. I like to hear feedback on various issues and topics. That’s why I try to read every comment that is posted on my blog. Although I can’t answer them all, I can keep a listening ear to what other people are thinking and feeling.
  6. It provides a forum for people to engage in a conversation about a topic of their interest. I enjoy stimulating people’s thinking and then listening in to what they have to say. Blogs can connect people and build community.
  7. Amazingly, it enables me to connect with people all around the world. It’s a global communication tool.
  8. I enjoy writing and putting my thoughts into words.
  9. I like new technology and I enjoy learning new things.
  10. It’s fun!

Some people ask about how much time it takes me, especially when I’m already so busy. Essentially, making a single post is as simple as writing an email. You type in a subject or title, then the body of the text, then press ‘post’ and presto … there it is on your blog (or you can choose to have it published at a later time – enabling you to write a bunch of posts at one time and release them a day at a time, which is pretty cool). I use a blog program called TypePad, as it’s simple to use and professional looking.

For those that want to learn a lot more about the world of blogging, I recommend The Blogging Church by Brian Bailey and Terry Storch, a publication by Leadership Network that has just been released. I found it very helpful and gleaned a lot of ideas for making my blog even better. 

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Which Bible Translation?

Bibles The majority of the books of the Bible were written in Hebrew (the Old Testament) and Greek (the New Testament). Eventually the Bible was translated into other languages such as Latin and German, and then English. In 1611, the King James version (KJV) of the Bible was released and it remained the most popular English translation for over 300 years. In the last 100 years, there have been many other English translations, resulting in literally dozens being now available. 

Essentially, there are three types of translations:

  1. A Literal Translation – this is an attempt at a direct 'word for word' translation. The New King James Version (NKJV) and the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) are literal translations.
  2. A Dynamic Equivalent Translation – this type of translation endeavors to translate the broader sense of the phrases, not just the literal words. The New International Version (NIV) and the New Living Translation (NLT) are dynamic equivalent translations.
  3. A Paraphrase – this is a translation into modern English. The Good News Bible (GNB) and the Message Bible (MB) are paraphrases.

Each of these types of translations have to try to balance readability with faithfulness to the original text. Because of this, there is really no fixed boundary between these three types of translations. They simply represent a range of translation methods.

The New Testament was written in Koine or 'common' Greek, which was the local street language of the day used for speaking with your neighbors or shopping at the market NOT in classical or 'proper' Greek, which was used for writing history, philosophy or poetry. As Eugene Peterson says, 'Our Bible was not written in the educated and polished language of scholars, historians, philosophers and theologians but primarily in the common language of fisherman, prostitutes, homemakers and carpenters." It was said about Jesus, "… and the common people heard him gladly (Mark 12:37 NKJV)." The Bible is meant to be readable as it is. It is not a book of secret knowledge accessible only to the academic elite. It is written plainly for plain men and women.

So which is the best translation? The Hebrew and Greek, of course! But unless you read these languages, you'll need an English translation. The best translation depends on your purpose. For something closer to the original words, use a literal translation. For something more readable, use a dynamic equivalent translation. For something fresh and contemporary, use a paraphrase.

The King James Version (KJV) was ‘contemporary’ 400 years ago. Unless you still speak to your neighbors like this – “Yea, verily, whither dost thou goest and how art thou?” … it's probably time to move on.

The main Bible that I use is the NIV, but I also really like the NLT, as well as the Message Bible.

For further information on choosing a Bible translation, I recommend the following two books:

Thankfully, with powerful Bible software anyone can now discover the meanings of Bible words in the original languages and do all sorts of interesting background studies. I recommend PC Study Bible.

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My Favourite Music

Music_art2 I am thankful that our family grew up with a love for music. I studied classical piano (completed my 8th Grade exams) and dabbled a bit with saxophone and guitar too. I also studied music theory (completed 5th Grade exams) and arranging. Over the years I’ve done some song-writing and some recording too. In fact, my first ministry role in church was with worship and music. I thought I’d do this the rest of my life … but God had other plans. Nevertheless, I still enjoy music very much.

Here are some of my enjoyable musical styles and artists:

  • Worship Music – Michael W. Smith, Hillsong, Delirious?, Israel Houghton and Lincoln Brewster
  • Contemporary Christian Music – currently I enjoy listening to Leeland, The Fray, Relient K, Switchfoot and Brooke Fraser. As a teenager, I really liked artists such as Keith Green, Michael W. Smith, Amy Grant, Andrae’ Crouch, Petra, and Russ Taff.
  • Pop Music – some artists whose musical style I quite enjoy include: U2, Jamie Cullum, Michael Buble, John Mayer, Celine Dion and Norah Jones.
  • Classical Music – you can’t go past a Bach or Mozart piano concerto. When it comes to classical singing, I really enjoy Andrea Bocelli (great music to play while cooking Italian food!) and young artists such as Josh Groban.
  • Other Instrumental Music – I enjoy saxophone (Kenny G, David Koz and Brad Evans, of course!) and piano music (David Foster is my favorite arranger).

"Good people, cheer God! Right-living people sound best when praising. Use guitars to reinforce your Hallelujahs! Play his praise on a grand piano! Invent your own new song to him; give him a trumpet fanfare." Psalm 33:1-3. [The Message Bible]

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A Theology of Self Care

The Apostle Paul gathered the leaders from the church at Ephesus for some parting words. He had been with them for a few years and they had experienced an incredible revival in their city and beyond. We don’t have this meeting on DVD but thankfully someone took some notes of what he said (see Acts 20:17-38).

In the midst of some important heart-felt instructions, Paul said: "Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock …" (Acts 20:28). Notice the order … look after yourselves as a first priority THEN the church or people entrusted to your care. How often leaders pour all of their time and energy into looking after others while neglecting themselves.

Here in Australia, Rowland Croucher, from John Mark Ministries, estimates that there are over 10,000 ex-pastors. How sad! These are people who once had a dream and a vision but for some reason have dropped out of the race.

In 2001, the National Church Life Survey revealed that of existing pastors in Australia, approximately 25% are in burnout (clinical depression), 50% are in the danger zone, and only 25% are what could be called emotionally healthy (see the NCLS publication Burnout in Church Leaders). If the local church is the hope of the world and its future is in the hands of its leaders (a quote from Bill Hybels), then these are highly concerning statistics! No wonder Paul told these Elders to take care of themselves!

How do we care for ourselves – as followers of Christ and as leaders? Here are five habits for anyone who wants to be a healthy person:

  1. Retreat Regularly (a healthy spiritual life). How easy it is for us to be more of a Martha than a Mary (see Luke 10:38-42). We can be so busy working for the Lord that we don’t take time to sit at his feet and develop intimacy with Him. It’s so important that we regularly pull aside from our busyness to connect with our God and to receive direction from Him. Jesus did this often (Mk.1:35. Lk.5:16) and so did the early church leaders (Acts 6:1-4). Make time for it – daily, weekly and monthly.
  2. Deal with your Internal Stress (a healthy emotional life). Life and ministry can be stressful but it is the stress that we carry within that does the most damage. Internal stress can come from unrealistic expectations, negative emotions, and unresolved conflicts. Renew your mind, resolve conflicts quickly, confront issues, and talk about your feelings with a safe friend, counsellor or spiritual director.
  3. Keep Growing (a healthy mental life). God has called us to a life of ‘progress’ (1 Tim.4:12-16). Keep growing and improving yourself on a continual basis. Read good books, listen to helpful teaching, learn from mentors, and gain all the experience you can.
  4. Develop Close Friendships (a healthy social life). Love your family and spend regular time with emotionally replenishing people who pour back into your life. Also, develop a broad variety of interests and/or hobbies. It’s healthy.
  5. Keep Healthy and Fit (a healthy physical life). God is interested in all of us – spirit, soul and body. Maintain a balanced diet, get regular exercise, as well as adequate sleep. Balance activity times with rest, relaxation and recovery times. Develop a sustainable pace. Keep the Sabbath principle. Take a good day off. Have regular holidays. Laugh and enjoy life!

Rate yourself from 1-10 on each one of these habits. What are your lowest two? What could you do in the next few weeks to lift in these areas? Great. Like the prophet Nike says, ‘Just do it!"

The best gift you can give those who follow you is for you to be a healthy leader. Remember, it’s not how fast you run but how long you last. Finish your race! Don’t be another statistic. All of heaven is cheering you on. We need you!

For those interested, here are some good resources for healthy living, especially for leaders:

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Leadership Development Event

WcaOne of the best leadership development events in the world is the annual the Willow Creek Leadership Summit. Bill Hybels and his team always put together an amazing line up of speakers all with the specific focus of helping people develop their leadership gift.

A few weeks ago this years summit was held in Chicago with satellite connection to 110 sites in North America enabling 65,000 leaders to participate in this event ‘live’. Now through the Global Leadership Summit, another 83 sites around the world will experience much of the same event through delayed video presentations, resulting in around 100,000 leaders being impacted. That’s phenomenal!

Speakers at the 2007 summit included Bill Hybels, John Ortberg, Colin Powell, Carly Fiorina, Jimmy Carter and Marcus Buckingham.

Here in Australia the Global Leadership Summit will be held in a variety of cities during the month of October. Click here to register online today. Early bird registration rates are available up until September 7th, 2007.

I have learnt more about leadership from Bill Hybels than anyone else. I encourage you to invest in your own leadership development through attending this event. Whether you’re involved in church, business or community work, you’ll definitely benefit tremendously from this experience.

DVDs of previous leadership summits are also available online. These make a great resource for personal development and staff training.

For a brief outline of a few of this year’s topics and session content, see Dave Ferguson’s blog (posts on August 10-11th, 2007).

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A Night at the Movies

MoviesGoing out to see a movie or hiring a DVD can be a fun way to spend an evening, especially with family and friends. However, choosing a good movie is quite another thing. To save the ‘hit and miss’ approach, it pays to check out as much as you can about a movie beforehand.

One of the best sites for this is Focus on the Family’s web site. It has an excellent coverage of a whole range of movies, as well as music and television programs. You may not always agree with their final assessment but at least you’ll know what a movie is about and what it contains before you see it. This site is also extremely helpful for parents who want to know what their teenagers are in to.

Here are a few other interesting sites with reviews of movies from a Christian perspective:

Happy viewing!

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Wonder

"The world will never starve for lack of wonders, but only for lack of wonder." [G.K. Chesterton]

  KidsSunsetWater_liliesGalaxy_2

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The God Delusion?

Dawkins Walk into any Border’s Bookstore and you’ll see Richard Dawkin’s latest book The God Delusion somewhere amongst the Top 10 non-fiction books. Dawkins is one of the world’s leading and most outspoken atheists. He believes that religion and the belief in God are the source of most of the world’s evil and that we’d all be better off without it. In this book he emphatically states – "If this book works as I intend, religious readers who open it will be atheists when they put it down."

Mature Christians can benefit from reading such books – simply to be aware of those who differ from how we think and also to be equipped to talk with people around us who may be reading this kind of material.

There are some good Christian responses to Dawkins book, none better that Alistair McGrath’s book The Dawkins Delusion? It is short and concise but it pulls apart most of Dawkins emotional arguments in a gracious manner. McGrath (a former atheist himself), like Dawkins, has been a professor at Oxford University for many years. The best quote is on the cover of McGrath’s book and it is from Michael Ruse, Professor of Philosophy at Florida State University. He says of McGrath’s book – "The God Delusion makes me embarrassed to be an atheist, and McGrath shows why."

It’s unfortunate that Borders doesn’t have McGrath’s book right alongside Dawkins – so people can read both perspectives. You will most likely only find McGrath’s book in a Christian bookshop (although I did find my copy in a small bookshop in Paris while there on holidays recently!).

For a number of other good articles in response to Dawkins’ book see:

For more information on Alistair McGrath, check out his web site.

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What Would Jesus Say

In the early 1990s, Lee Strobel, teaching pastor of Willow Creek Community Church at the time, shared a series of messages entitled "What Would Jesus Say." His goal was to help people see well-known personalities as Jesus might see them. Through people such as Bill Clinton, Michael Jordan, Donald Trump and even Madonna, Lee endeavoured to introduce people to God's heart, talking about topics such as success, sexuality, forgiveness, prayer and leadership.

I like the concept. We are called to walk in Jesus' steps – to know his heart and his mind, and then to be his hands and feet to the world. How would Jesus relate to people in our culture? What would he say … to your neighbours and the people you work or study with?

We don't want to presume on Jesus but through reading the gospel records we start to catch a glimpse of his heart for people and how he related to them. Interestingly, the only people Jesus ever got angry with were religious people who were living hypocritical lives. When it came to 'sinners', he was criticised by others as being their 'friend' because he came along side them, he got into their world, and he endeavoured to reach them with the Father's love. What an example for us. Jesus was fully 'in' the world but clearly 'not of' the world, enabling him to bring about transformation in people's lives.

A few years ago I spoke on 'What would Jesus say to Santa Claus?' for our Christmas church meetings. It went really well.

This coming Father's Day I'm going to speak on 'What would Jesus say to Homer Simpson?' Whether you are a Simpsons fan or not, we have to recognise that it is one of the most popular TV series of all time and that it influences 21st century families. So what would Jesus say? Homer2_2

What do you think? Feel free to post a comment … I might even use it in my message!

[EDIT: For a brief summary of my Father's Day message – "What would Jesus say to Homer Simpson?", click here – 'Jesus and Homer']

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A Prayer

"May the God of hope fill us up with joy, fill us up with peace, so that our believing lives, filled with the life-giving energy of the Holy Spirit, will brim over with hope!"

The Apostle Paul – Romans 15:13 [The Message Bible]

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The Emerging Church

The emerging church is a recent organic movement among postmodern believers seeking to practice the way of Jesus within contemporary culture.

Eddie Gibbs’ and Ryan Bolger’s book Emerging Churches endeavors to provide a pulse on this diverse grassroots movement. They define emerging churches by nine practices. In their opinion, emerging churches: (1) identify with the life of Jesus, (2) transform the secular realm, (3) live highly communal lives, (4) welcome the stranger, (5) serve with generosity, (6) participate as producers, (7) create as created beings, (8) lead as a body, and (9) take part in spiritual activities [p.45]. These are all good things. In fact, as a mega-church pastor, I’d say we’re endeavoring to do most of these things within our own church community, although most people would not refer to us as an emerging church.

Most emerging churches are forming outside the confines of traditional denominations and not without controversy. One influential church leader in the USA recently told me that, in his opinion, most emerging churches were filled with disillusioned Christians. I also have a friend who pastors a large church in Australia who lost a number of young adults to a nearby emerging church a few years back. Recently some have returned indicating that they are now not sure what they were emerging to.

Needless to say, any true Christ-follower longs to experience a more genuine expression of Christian community, spirituality and mission in our generation. When a follower of Christ is not experiencing these things within their local church they may seek to find it elsewhere, even through different expressions of church life.

Personally, I’m for all expressions of authentic church life. After all, we need all different types of churches to reach all different types of people. As long as churches are loving God, loving each other, and reaching out to people far from God, we shouldn’t be overly fussed whether a church is large or small, evangelical or charismatic, traditional or contemporary, urban or rural, or … emerging! We need to value diversity!

What concerns me is when one type of church, or expression of church life, criticises or belittles another. Together we are the ‘body of Christ’ and every part is valuable and necessary. Let’s seek to have a greater respect and appreciation for each other, as well as for different expressions of church. The truth is that from time to time, ALL of us need to rethink the way we ‘do church’ and how we are to best follow Christ in our culture.

Here are some other resources on the emerging church:

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The Multi-Site Church

MsUp until this time, the two primary ways for a local church to fulfill the Great Commission has been church growth and church planting. Church growth has focused on growing a congregation in one location, often through the use of multiple services. Church Planting has focused on starting new churches in different locations with the intention of reaching new people for Christ. Both church growth and church planting have had a relative measure of success over recent decades. A new emerging model is the multi-site church, which is somewhat of a blend of the two.

A multi-site church is simply ‘one church in multiple locations’. All sites share the same leadership team, budget, staff and administration. In most cases, the name of the church indicates both the overall church name and the particular site location (e.g. Hope Church North and Hope Church South). Each location develops its own set of volunteers for ministry areas but there is one leadership team and one teaching team that oversee and are involved in all sites.

There are now over 1500 churches around the world using this model. Some of the benefits of this new strategy include: the ability to reach a larger number of people through having a presence in different parts of the city, the ability for a church to maximise existing ministry strengths, the elimination of the need to build bigger and bigger buildings all the time, the opportunity to provide small church intimacy with large church resources, the harnessing of existing credibility and reputation for new congregations, and the mobilisation of many new people into ministry.

There are also a number of challenges with this approach: the need for intensive leadership development, the need for a much greater degree of teamwork, the importance of alignment, as well as the fact that existing churches in an area can feel intimidated by a larger church starting a new site up.

Unfortunately, there is a common mindset that exists amongst some church leaders that says, 'We've already got enough churches in this area – why start another one!'  Personally, I think it is essential to keep looking at how many people aren’t in church rather than those who are. Here in Australia, only 10% of people attend church on any given weekend with about 20% attending once a month. That means that around 80% of our communities are still 'unchurched'. I think you’d agree with me that the reality is we need all existing churches in every community to reach more people and we need new churches to join the task at hand.

The motivation for a multi-site strategy should be evangelism, not just creating a more convenient location for people who live further away from the church. However, staring a new site with a solid core of existing members is a tremendous strength and a site nearer to their home can help assist them in seeking to win their friends and neighbors for Christ.

For further research on this new trend, I recommend the following resources:

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Mega-Churches

A 'mega-church' is defined as a church with over 2000 people attending each weekend. The number of mega-churches around the world has continued to escalate exponentially despite a variety of criticisms.

Foundationally, we need to acknowledge that the church in Jerusalemin the first century was a mega-church with 3,000 people joining the 120 disciples on the very first day (Acts 2:41). Fairly soon there were 5,000 men in this church (Acts 4:4), meaning that if you included women and children, this church was most likely over 10,000 people in number. That’s a mega-church!

Amazingly, despite it’s size, this first century church had a high quality of community and discipleship, due to their regular gathering in homes in addition to their large gatherings (see Acts 2:42-47). We don’t have a lot of information about the ‘programs’ of the early church, but they did have both large and small gatherings of believers, a model followed by Old Testament Israel, as well as by Jesus himself.

Ultimately, the mark of maturity for any church is not its size (bigger is not necessarily better), the architecture of it’s building (the first century church owned no buildings) or even its spiritual giftings (the church at Corinth was very gifted but still immature). THE mark of a mature church is the evidence of genuine LOVE – amongst its members and towards outsiders. This is what Jesus declared would be our greatest testimony to the watching world (John 13:35) and it was what Paul was always looking for in the churches he oversaw (1 Thess.1:2-3. 2 Thess.1:3. Col.1:3-8). As our churches becoming communities where authentic love abounds, God will be pleased and people will be reached. After all, the best church growth flows out of church health.

For more information about mega-churches, here are some helpful resources that you might want to check out:

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Kevin Rudd – When Our Past Comes Back to Haunt Us

News this week revealed that the Federal Labour Leader, Mr Kevin Rudd, visited a New York strip club back in 2003, where he also drank too much.

What do you think? How do you feel about this incident?

I have three responses:

  1. Disappointment. I have met Kevin personally, he has visited our church, and I have heard him speak publicly about his faith and Christian values. In light of this, it is disappointing to hear of this incident. It contradicts the persona Kevin has portrayed and attracts criticism of hypocrisy. People, especially leaders who are Christians, are expected to ‘practice what they preach’. When they don’t there is a credibility crisis that occurs. It’s disappointing.
  2. Compassion. If each of us had everything we’ve ever said or done displayed for public perusal, how would we feel? Humiliated, most likely. The truth is that each one of us, including me, have done things that we regret doing. All of us are made of the same stuff. We all, including Christians, have the same sinful tendencies. We make mistakes. None of us can point the finger at others. Rebels, respectable or religious – none of us are totally innocent. I feel compassion for Kevin.
  3. A healthy fear of God. We reap what we sow – not immediately but eventually. What is done in private will be made known in public. Fear of God is a healthy awareness that he is watching and evaluating everything that we say and do. When you realise this, you get smart (Proverbs tells us that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom)! May each of us live each day with greater integrity. Let there be an integration of what we portray externally to people and who we really are internally when no one is looking. I’m challenged to fear God more.

Will this incident affect Mr Rudd’s chances in the upcoming federal election? Only time will tell.