backyardmissionary

There sure was some humugous swell around Perth today.
Check out these pics of me taking the boat out into it.
Am I a wildman or what?…

started crappy
got better
actually much better!

I am about half way thru the Celestine Prophecy, a book loaned to me by a friend who has recently read it and found it inspiring and helpful. (BTW - Thanks to those who have left comment about ‘inspiring books’)
A few observations:
* As a novel it is crap! It is nothing more than an excuse […]

In a meeting the other day with Ian Robinson I asked him what shifts he has seen in evangelism over the last 20-30 years.
He suggested a key one was that it now takes the average person 7 years to come to faith instead of 2. Its a much longer journey.
I am very aware of not […]

I’d like you to tell me what the most inspiring Christian books are that you have read.
I have friends who are reading spiritual books seeking answers and I’d like to factor Jesus into their decision making.
It seems that the key thing they appeciate in a book is its ability to inspire.
So… tell me what […]

that yesterday wasn’t seasickness after all. How embarrassing would that be - to have to sell your boat because you get sick!!
After 9 or 10 bouts of vomitting last night I think I can safely conclude that it was a virus. Seems most people in the street have had it so I guess it was […]

Today I finally got to take the new boat out - and after about 30 minutes I was leaning over the side and feeding my breakfast to the fish. I never get seasick, but today… Well…
It might actually have been a virus as the whole street has been down and Danelle was laughing at […]

At last Forge has a new website.
Its still in development but you can get the vibe of what we are on about.
I am convinced that what we offer is probably the best training for first world mission I have ever come across. If you are dinkum about connecting with western people and haven’t checked out […]

If you’ve been following our journey with leadership then you’ll be interested in what came out of our meeting last Tuesday night.
We finished our biblical reflection and distillation with the following conclusions and over the last week we were going to take time to pray, listen to God and see what he had to say […]

On Tuesday I had a series of meetings at Gloria Jeans Coffee shop at Hilary’s marina. I get sick of cheesy coffee shop crap
“What would you like sir?”
“I’ll have a mochalatte thanks.”
“Can I have a first name to go with that?”
“Sure - Boris.”
“Boris?…”
“Yep”
“Thank you sir - that will be $4.00″
She didn’t say it had to […]

Well done OI for a fantastic night last night!
These guys really are one of the greatest organisations I have ever come across. In the last 10 years they have created 2.4 million jobs in third world countries thru the establishment of trust banks (small local banks that make loans to local people so they can […]

I am now 40 and have maybe 25 years to what is commony called ‘retirement’ - not that I actually intend to retire…
But the question of future financial planning is one that we can’t avoid much longer.
At present I have minimal superannuation and while we are part way to owning our own home there […]

For Father’s day last year Danelle bought me a cordless drill - a $19.99 special from Action called the Iron Horse.
Well… today the iron horse chuck refused to adjust so its in the bin for this baby.
I guess you get what you pay for…

I was checking thru the site I pointed to yesterday to see if I could make a go of teaching at this place.
Its interesting to see similar rhetoric to what we use in Christian schools - but also some that is very different.
This had some very similar angles, for a while…
What is motivating you to […]

Its been a while since I have spoken anywhere, but its time for my annual ’sermon’ at the Cottesloe Vineyard.
I have been there once every year for the last 4 years…
The senior pastor there - Stuart Wesley - is probably my longest standing friend - a really good mate who I went thru school with, […]

I always read the employment section of the paper - never know what might pop up!
Turns out these guys are looking for teachers….
I reckon it could be an interesting experience. A friend who is also a qualified Baptist minister taught there for a while and reckoned he had more conversations over lunch about issues of […]

This looks a lot like this…

This bloke is a rare find.
He’s a gifted christian leader using his talents in what many would regard as the toughest job in W.A. I guess that’s why they are paying him half a mill a year!
Good for him I reckon.

I have written before that I believe the critical ingredient of effective missional communities is the leadership.
This is something we have been working on over the last couple of months and now we are at the point of acting on what we believe the scriptures to be saying.
Listed below is our distilled summary of […]

Today I met with three different denominational leaders in one day - and even enjoyed it!
At one meeting I was putting my case for future funding for Forge (nice alliteration hey?!) and was given a fairly intense questioning by the guys I was meeting with. They were doing their job so don’t read this as […]