forging ahead

Today i am off to a Forge conference which should be cool, we have Mike Frost and Mark Sayers from Melb.

Will post some thoughts on the sessions as debrief in the next few days.

If I say you're Lord

I have been thinking a lot about what it means to say that “Jesus Is Lord” to allow him to be the Ruler, King of our lives both individually and corporately.

The earliest Christians, when they proclaimed “Jesus Is Lord”, were being intentionally counter cultural. In the first century Roman world you were made to say “Caesar is Lord” which meant that you believed Caesar and the Roman Empire was the thing that was going to save the world.

So for those early christians to say “Jesus is Lord” meant that they were also saying “Caesar is NOT Lord”

What is it in our lives that gives us meaning, that gives us purpose? Is it money, career, possessions? For if we truly claim that “Jesus is Lord” then all these things are NOT Lord.

In thinking about this I wrote a song…

Lord of the heavens
Far above us, watching over
Lord of the Earth
Come among us Come to save us

You said your kingdom come
On Earth as it is in heaven
You said your kingdom come
So here is my life, my God and King

And if I say you're Lord
Then all else is but naught
And if I say you're Lord
Then everything around me fades away

This is a cross-post with www.maroubrabaptist.net

jamming and pie - the new Bestie Boys

Back in the days when i DIDN'T like hip hop there was always one band that i could stand... when the old skool beastie boys tracks came on even this white boy had to move...

I remember that some of the tracks off "Ill Communication" got me into hip hop, especially the very cool film clip for Sabotage

Anyway today i find myself listening to the beasties new album with no samples, no crazy rhymes and no turntableism from mix-master-mike!

Thats right peeps the new beasties album is all instrumental and all live instruments! that being said this is a seriously funky jam album! full of tasty beats some wacky organ sounds and sooooo much brown corduroy you would think they had invented the musical equivalent of a worm hole directly connecting them to 1971....

On pitchforkmedia Mike D said "Yeah, it would be a great record to eat pie to."

so grab your pie, sit on a beanbag and devour the tasty sounds of "The Mix-Up"

Track listing
01 B for My Name
02 14th St. Break
03 Suco de Tangerina
04 The Gala Event
05 Electric Worm
06 Freaky Hijiki
07 Off the Grid
08 The Rat Cage
09 The Melee
10 Dramastically Different
11 The Cousin of Death
12 The Kangaroo Rat

church ecosystems

I have been thinking a lot about church systems and structures the last few weeks, as i read through the forgotten ways. One thing that has struck me is the importance of viewing the way we do church as an organic model, as opposed to a rigid system.

This means that we understand the interconnectedness of relationships, groups, missions and people.

It is funny that we are starting to understand this more and more as the church, but tech company's have been using this organic terminology for years. When Bill Gates and Steve Jobs were recently interviewed at the all things digital conference they both spoke about there products being a part of an "Ecosystem".

My understanding of this term is that if a product that they produce can feed the development of other products it increases the market of their core product. i.e. the iPod drives iPod accessories, Music Sales, Video delivery, Broadband Access... the list goes on. These two smart guys also understand that without the ecosystem then their products will not have as big a market.

If we are to continue to view church as a big amorphous blob of conformity where everybody looks and thinks the same and meets at the same time then we are not an organic church, but a fortress who's walls are not easily bridged by "Not-Yet-Christians". When we move to an organic system the core "product" ie the Gospel of Jesus is able to reach and impact more people in many different ways.

There has been some talk over at signposts about this (where i got my original idea). I am keen to keep exploring this idea of church as an ecosystem.