BOUTH TV

ok before a serious post on bubble church here is a little video treat for you, we are doing little promo videos each week at church for our youth program BOUTH ....

bubble church part 1

well here is some food for thought and some ideas i want to put out for people to think about, as you know i have just taken a job with a baptist church, as it is now its pretty standard sort of church with 2 services youth group small groups and kids ministry... i have been thinking about how a church which is more "contemporary" can move to being more "missional" without dismantling things and thus creating pain for all involved (mainly the leaders trying to hold things together)

anyway when thinking through some things i started to see bubbles.... yes bubbles we have all seen them, sometimes one big one floating through the air, sometimes small and frothy like the head of a beer, anyway i would like to share my bubble theory of church.

A few things about bubbles, they join and share there "stuff" they grow shrink and pop....

So i want to talk about some different ways churches are or can be like bubbles...

The "All in one Bubble Church" this is the simple model of church, one worship gathering and that’s about it, it is small and not that outward focused, the only way into the bubble is through the wall, the boundaries and programs are simple, one gathering, one group...
When an all in one bubble church grows it develops a need to see smaller community happen within the "big group" we see the formation of small groups, youth groups, children’s ministry all these things servicing the needs of those within the bubble. this model provides the community needed but fails to remove the barrier of the wall, there is still a big shift in culture to move "inside" the bubble. Most modern churches are like this, God will quite often still provide growth but we see a very homogenous culture as the people coming in "fit" the bubble.

next post i will share a way to move beyond the single bubble into a missional model of church.

life is a beach

well its time for an announcement... my secret plans are finally revealed...

I have accepted a new job with Maroubra Baptist Church. This will start in about 6 weeks where i will be the new Youth Pastor (although i dont relay like that title...)

Check out my new hood!


so stay tuned for more details that i will post as they come to hand.

As experienced by dave being on church staff and blogging can be a perilous activity, but more on my future plans (dont worry loyal legions of fans i will not abandon ye!)

catch you on da flipside
(what the heck does that mean?)

Hillerious?

for the first time in 8 years i haven’t made the pilgrimage to the australian alps for the Young Life winter camp, but this gave me the chance to check out sydney’s wonderful hillsong conference, 20 years strong.

ok so i admit i had alteria motives for going along last night, delirious? were playing and i am a huge fan.

So the night started with finding our seats right up up uppp in the rafters on the Acer Arena, we were sitting behind the stage... i was a little pissed... but then we got moved to one section that was better, then another that was even better (reminding us of our last hillsong seating fiasco)


Anyway.... the night started with a really quite good video and then the band cut in with 2 rather lackluster songs, it was hard to really get into it and jump around fearing you may slip and fall 20 stories to you death...

After that was the obligatory giving talk where i believe the guys point was about being high yield and low maintenance, i have know idea what he meant but at least it was too baffling to be terrible...

finally they unleashed delirious? on stage, and it was worth sitting through the rest, these guys just love to rock out and worship all in the same breath! They played a good mix in there 9 song set, mainly from the Mission Bell album but with the old skool History Maker thrown in for good measure.

so after a great time with delirious? we then had to sit through some guy called Rick Goodwin, now as he walked out on stage i was like "Quick call ray martin, i have found the guy who stole his hair" but apart from the plastic fantastic look of the guy he spoke about being Salt. Now i have heard most of what he said before, in fact i don’t think any of his ideas or points were that original but he also seemed to contradict himself a few times when it comes to the application. I find it hard when you hear these mega church guys say something and you say "i agree with that" but then there application of the point is sooo off the mark!! for example...

Rick said, as many others have noted, that salt brings out the flavor in food, it exists to enhance other things not bring attention to itself. Now i agree and my application of that would be that we need to bring salt to our culture, to redeem those things in our culture through Jesus, but somehow Rick made it that we need to create our own culture the is counter culture to the world around us.... not does that not seem like a big bowl of salt? i don’t want to eat a bowl of salt...

anyway thats my rant, more rants soon im sure.... oh by the way check out this vid by the chaser on hill$song

peace

im standing on the rock, and my name is on the roll....

Once again I do apologise for the recent lack of activity on the blog front, I am currently working on some stuff that has taken up a lot of my thought and time, but cannot be revealed just yet…. Soon my loyal legion of fans…. (a cricket chirps in the background…)


Anyway I currently have a rock in my pocket, ummmm… no seriously, on Sunday night we heard a great message on the armour of God, specifically about the sword of the spirit which is the word of God.

We were encouraged to chose a memory verse and write it on a rock to meditate on for the week, and I chose John 15:5 "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”

I love this verse because it is both an encouragement and a big fat slap around the head, It encourages us because we know the it is Jesus who is working through us…. But it slaps us around the head and says but remember it is Jesus working through you NOT you working for Jesus

When it all comes down to the rock I wrote my memory verse could be used by God to declare his praise, but the wonderful privilege is that he choses us, choses us to be his hands and his feet. What an encouragement and what a reality check.