backyardmissionary

Today at our final Forge session Stu asked us to draw an icon that depicted where we saw ourselves at in regard to the dreams and ethos of Forge.
This is mine…

Initially I drew a face with two eyes both looking in opposite directions. One is looking back the other looking forward. I believe we […]

Still running!
Its amazng how tired you can get when you are simply running a conference and not even  doing a lot of speaking.
Darryl Gardiner, our kiwi guest and a fantastic high energy communicator arrived on Saturday night and spoke at our open night, preached twice on Sunday AM, spoke at Forge twice on Sunday arvo […]

Its all go.
We started our Forge intensive today - a great day with Hirschy doing his thing on missional DNA, Harry Wykman telling his story, a round table discussion on pioneering leadership and Darryl Gardiner sharing his story in the evening.
Tomorrow we do it all over again…
Might be a quiet week in blog land!

I was just down at Bob Janes getting a tyre fitted to the beast and killed the time by reading Readers Digest. It sounds pretty lame, but they have some great articles in there!!
The one I liked referred to a study done in England where people were asked what they would add to the list […]

Garth is a pretty regular reader here and today while I was reading his blog I came across this autobiographical account of what he learnt in his own venture into planting a missional community.
Its a story about the community that was and what may have brought it undone.
I’d say read the whole lot, but here […]

The next two weeks look like being pretty frenetic.
With a Forge intensive this weekend, a trip to Melbourne for and my final (yes F-I-N-A-L) days of teaching for my life the year it will be busy.
I’ve been taking it easier the last few days to compensate because I can see I’ll be going hard come […]

Tonight we watched a DVD made during ‘Surrender’, the UNOH gig in Melbourne earlier this year.
The DVD was of Kiwi, Mick Duncan letting rip on the whole idea of living passionately. Very inspiring - even on DVD 4 months later!
One of his statements was  ‘I lament the death of outrage in our churches’. We no […]

We used this with our team tonight.
I think it went well, but when you’re running it its always hard to experience it in the same way.
I liked the flow of it and adapted it to suit our setting.

Its the sound a 4WD tyre makes when you jam the side wall on a stick… That is what I discovered today.
Fortunately we were only 2 kms down our local track when it happened as I quickly discovered that my rachet socket was not going to budge the wheel nuts and we had to limp […]

I am sitting here watching the Panel where they are interviewing that guy who cut his own arm off after a rock climbing accident.
Not a fun story!
But now I know what to do if I am ever stuck in the middle of nowhere with my arm stuck under a rock.

I had a great time with a mate today discussing how we are going as a team. One of the things we discussed was the way in which a team like ours needs to be led.
He suggested that I should consider leading more strongly - setting the pace a bit more and giving more […]

Some days I am really grateful for what God has called me to and the people I have been privileged to spend time with.
Today was one of those days. It began with a breakfast with the old man of mentoring - John Mallison. John is an Aussie icon when it comes to the art of […]

Right now is a busy and at times stressful period.
It seems there are so many things going thru my head at once. Its like my brain is channel surfing.
We were praying tonight at our team gathering and my mind was flitting and flicking as I mulled over the things that need doing, the things I […]

Another new face on the local blog scene is Scott Vawser - an all round good bloke who will have plenty of interesting and probably humorous things to say.
Scott’s and my paths cross in many places and I have been enjoying getting to know him.
Have a look…

When is a good time to discover that the suncream you smeared all over your face today is actually ‘glitter’ suncream?
While we were sitting having fish and chips for lunch I was wondering why Sam had glitter all over his face. How did that get there?
One look in the mirror when I got home confirmed […]

Last week when I was returning my boat to the house where I keep it I backed it into the side of the house and put a hole in the asbestos that clads the house.
Now its a bummer that I did that because asbestos is a bugger to fix and the rules on dealing […]

Tomorrow Danelle is spending the day running a creative memories workshop, which means I have the kids…
I have always felt there are two ways you could look at this situation - bummer its going to be a beautiful day and I can’t get out on the water because I’ve got the kids from 9-5… […]

Dan Brown is a novelist and The Da Vinci Code is fiction. Asking a New Testament person to comment is like asking a Marine Biologist to comment on Finding Nemo. The expert is of course going to say that sting rays do not sing and clown fish do not talk.
Its not even that good […]

Almost 3 weeks to go until the school year ends for me.
On Tuesday ‘The Australian ‘ actually did a write up on the school I am teaching at as one of the best in Australia…
I think we were all a bit astounded!
Next year i need to replace $22000.00 that I will no longer have […]

Today I met with my mate Steve McAlpine who has been looking at trying to get Steve Timmis from Crowded House in Sheffield to come to Perth.
We were discussing and teeing up his visit for June next year. This guy sounds like a sharp theologian and effective practicioner. It’ll be great to have in Perth […]