some kind of monster

last night i got the chance to finally see the Metallica doco "some kind of monster", now like every kid who grew up in the 90's i had a tape copy of the black album that got a pretty good work over on the walkman, (thats what kids did before napster larz!) it also inspired the love of riffs played way too loud in music rooms at lunch time.

I must admit though that the doco was both hilarious and enlightening, here are the gods of metal in therapy! but the funny thing was that after seeing the "real" metallica i sorta got to like these guys as ordanay people with a pretty wacky job.

... but what would the die hard metal fan think? one who saw James, Kurt and Larz as the uber metal band! I reckon they might be in a bit of disarray, but i think that the "realness" probably won over a whole new generation of fans...

So here is the deal, even in the ego driven world of metal we see a longing to see our stars as real people but in the church are we willing to be that honest?

we seem to get bombarded with a slick home grown "all together" type pastor who wants you to reach the level of perfection that he himself has already obtained....

but is this the best model? can any leader actually live up to this? and does the next generation WANT leaders like this?

i know for myself that leadership can be "some kind of monster" when people look to you for answers or direction i know i quite often think "i don't have it together enough to answer that..."

as this next generation emerges into leadership of the church i really hope that we can be real about the "monster" of leadership.

i pray that as i seek to lead a bunch of people following Jesus that it can be a community that accepts the weakness both in leadership and in each other....

when it comes to church i like the old saying "we are just beggars telling other beggars where to get the bread"

summer passions

on sunday we will be starting a new series in our evening congregation called "summer passions" and no its NOT about sex.... well not all of it....

it is about our passions what drives us, i am giving a whole bunch of people the chance to share about something they are passionate about, i am keen to hear from people about what drives them.

as i was reflecting on this i began to ask myself, what is it that drives me? what is my passion? well this proved harder than i thought, i could think of many things i am passionate about... many different philosophy's and practice's but i still don't feel i am at the core of what drives me.

humanists will tell us our two driving forces are food and sex (see it was going to be in there somewhere) but as a Christian what should drive us?

the easy answer is God/Jesus/The Bible.... but thats not really it.... perhaps for me at the heart of it what drives me is a sense that things can be different.... that where i am right now isn't the end....

when i look at most of the decisions i have made in my life it is "discontent with the now" that seems to drive me. Call me a dreamer, an iconoclast, an agent of change or an exile i think this is the thing that drives me.

This year i want to give this passion over to God and allow him to shape and direct it

what is your passion?

happy new year

well another new year is upon us! and things are shaping up pretty well!
after a rocking cocktail party last night i am looking forward to a year full of new things to see myself and our church community stretched and grown... Happy 2007 everybody!