backyardmissionary

Its been about 6 months now that I have been writing my thoughts down in this way. Its been the same length of time that I haven’t been preaching anywhere consistently. I am a person who can’t stop thinking - there is always something ticking around inside my head, and preaching used to be a […]

Over the last few years one of things I have observed in emerging church circles is a fair degree of debate over the nature and place of leadership in a Christian community. It’s a topic that has generated a fair bit of heat”
Some would advocate excellent leadership as a vital ingredient to a healthy […]

Tomorrow I am preaching at the Wagin Uniting Church. This was the place where I preached my first ever sermon - in front of a whole 8 people!
Wagin is a little town of 2500 about 250kms south of Perth and its major tourist attraction and landmark is the giant ram… which also has giant […]

Yesterday we went to Wayne’s funeral.
Wayne was the brother of a close mate of mine who died last week when he collided with a truck while riding his motorbike.
His brother Graeme decided he was going to take the funeral - a pretty gutsy effort - and he did an amazing job. It […]

This morning my brother, Loges and I rolled up at Hilary’s boat harbour nice and early all set for some surf. The wind was offshore and you can even see little bits of white water in the distance which are waves. We launched the Queen Mary, and I drove off to park the car while […]

Changing software is like moving house.
Its nice to be here but I feel like I’m still settling in and getting to know my way around the ‘neighbourhood’. As much as its going to cost me $$$$$ I think I might say farewell to Blogger and stick with Typepad.
See - I’m not a cheapskate!

I finally got to watch Bruce Almighty last night. Dumb, weak and boring are words that come to mind. I had hoped it would be much more engaging than that!…
Maybe its just me!

Recently someone said to me that the key to a great church plant is a good kids ministry and rockin music.
That person isn’t a part of our church… and probably won’t be in a hurry!
Its not that we don’t love our kids or enjoy music, but the question needs to be asked again, ‘where do […]

Recently I got an invite to a roundtable seminar with Pete Ward - author of Liquid Church - a book that has been doing the rounds of Emerging Churchers.
I am hoping to get over to the Gold Coast in March to chew things around and try and hear where Pete is coming from in his […]

When I graduated from Uni 17 years ago my first posting was to the little country town of Wagin where I was the Phys Ed teacher for the whole school (K-10) During my time there I was involved with the Uniting Church and made some great friends. It was also a year when I got […]

It seems there is a fair bit of debate around the place about how an organic missional church ought to be structured. Some favour a totally unstructured ‘relational’ network while others may desire a more substantial structure. I’m no expert, but I have been thinking a lot about it over the last few weeks. Here’s […]

Saint has a quote from a brilliant article by Naomi Wolfe :
“The young women who talk to me on campuses about the effect of pornography on their intimate lives speak of feeling that they can never measure up, that they can never ask for what they want; and that if they do not offer what […]

The most common question I get from people is along the lines of ’so what will your church look like’? Its a very tricky one, because I don’t know for sure.
If we believe that church forms up out of mission then we will have to wait… It doesn’t mean I have no idea and don’t […]

Danelle’s brother is a bit of a legend. Last Saturday night he was named Young West Australian of the Year for his work as a primary school principal in rural W.A. He is the youngest person to ever prinicipal a school in W.A and he is a very gifted leader and educator.
Here’s the spiel on […]

So you made it!…
What do you reckon? Is it worth spending money on?…
For the unfamiliar the two pics above are of an EH Holden crossing the Nullabor in 1968 (the Nullabor is a long stretch of road in the desert linking West Oz to the east) and a dunny/outhouse. You may know it as a […]