Wow I wrote this article awhile ago but forgot to actually post it, and considering the changes being forced upon me at the moment it kind of hit me like a ton of bricks! I saw two t-shirts which I like this week. The first said ‘sarcasm is one of the services offered here’. The second was ‘quick look busy the boss is coming’. I think another slight variation might work ‘look busy Jesus is coming’. I think that shirt would work for many church going people because it is exactly how it is! So often I find myself running around doing ‘important stuff’. But after a few years of running around doing the ‘important stuff’...

I had to speak to our Cert IV grads who are beginning the Diploma course today. And while today should be a celebration for them… they have finished the CertIV… and although they earned to right to look back… and while it would be good to talk about how good the journey has been so far… I was reluctant to do so. And it wasn’t because I feared some of them would not shutup! I will explain in a moment. If you visit my house you’d see some of the furniture I’ve made. Traditional cabinet making is my trade, but it was more than a trade for me, it was my passion. Before I was married I spent what seemed...

Sometime ago I wrote an article about the 3 “f’s” of my church planting journey fear, finances and failure. Since then nothing much has changed. Those three things are still there but I thought it was time I did a follow-up –  this time about the ABC’s of Church planting from the perspective of someone like me… overworked, overstressed, overweight, underpaid, underachieving, undertheweather! One of the things I remember vividly about church in my younger days was the complete lack of excitement. People just gathered, sang a few songs which were unlike any of the songs I heard on the radio, rehashed the same...

I was revising my evangelism teaching notes and came across an old article about ‘deconversion’. This article has always struck a cord with me and I thought it was about time I shared it with you. It’s long, but worth it. I can no longer get in contact with the orginal author to get personal permission. But I have noticed it is now scattered throughout the wonderful land of public domain on the net, so I hope it is ok (if it’s yours, please email me). The late fall afternoon is peaceful as I cozy up on the sofa for a few hours of cable television movies. Flipping through the channels, I happen upon a prerecorded...

When I think back about why I chose to learn at The Pines, it really wasn’t to learn how to plant churches. (Sorry). I had felt for quite a while that Australian churches weren’t really impacting Australia, like we could or should.. like what happened in the Bible. I couldn’t see the blokes at high school coming along to youth group (though ironically some of the tougher guys did 🙂 And I was frustrated with the lack of progress I was experiencing with the guys at work. There was no way that the blokes there would come along to church or home-group! In fact, I wasn’t even interested in getting them to church. Most of the blokes I dealt with...

David Garrison has alerted the world to the amazing phenomenon of Church multiplication movements.  I get excited when I hear about Churches multiplying themselves through a society via the rapid spread of the Gospel through relational webs. Most of the success is due to Church people (not pastors) taking the initiative to share the “Good News” with friends and family.  According to Garrison, most of this growth is occurring in Latin America, Africa and Asia. There is no evidence to date of this phenomenon occurring in the West. As an Australian I am envious. Why can’t this happen in my land? Garrison and Ed Stetzer write that two...