backyardmissionary

Matt Birney (WA Lib leader) gets pulled over by the cops and tests at .04 on the breathalyser, after an initial .05 reading was rechecked. The limit is .05. He is legal.
The bloke had two beers and ok to drive, according to our laws.
This morning as I drive to Albany listening to the ABC […]

Last night’s news:
The Schapelle Corby case = about 5 minutes of deeply emotive air time
The 2 million refugees in Darfur = about 30 seconds of bland ‘factual’ reporting
Life is tough for Corby whether she is innocent or guilty (how will we ever know the truth?…), but somehow we seem to have lost perspective.
I find myself […]

I’ve been spending the last few days tripping around the south west with family in tow visiting churches and youth workers in my role as the coach for Baptist Youth Ministries.
I’ve met some great people and really enjoyed it so far, but I am also reminded that the city folks and country folks do have […]

Its been a really good few days with Phil, but as of tomorrow we hit the road for another 6 days, this time to visit and coach youth pastors in the south west.
Danelle and kids are coming and we will be spending two days in Busselton, two in Katanning and then I will go to […]

In one of my coaching conversations today we were talking about a church that had ‘lost its saltiness’.
As we spoke we both then said ’so what does this mean’?
(Mat 5:13 NIV) "You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no […]

Today I had a 2 hour gap in the day, the good ole Luna cinema has $6.00 Wednesday and I needed a break.
So I thought I’d go see ‘What the Bleep Do We Know’, a much talked about movie that looks at how we determine what is real, where we come from, where we […]

In church we often speak of ‘the great commission’.
We think we know the great commission pretty well. Do you?…
Just try and recite it now… "Go into all the w…
Over the last week I have asked people to tell me Matt 28:18-20, not trying to be a smartarse, but just to see what comes out. No […]

Phil McCredden got in today and is here for the next two days, with all day seminar tomorrow looking at how he and Dan have developed a multi-congregational ‘emerging’ church in Melbourne.
Phil is a bloke I met via blogging so its interesting to see where things have gone since we ‘met’ a few years back!

Today I learnt a new word. Theodicy is the study of how a good God can co-exist with evil.
As Danelle and I were talking yesterday this issue came up and it got me intrigued. I am particularly curious about the origins of evil - the ‘first cause’ so to speak.
I had a crazy day […]

Today I learnt a new word. Theodicy is the study of how a good God can co-exist with evil.
As Danelle and I were talking yesterday this issue came up and it got me intrigued. I am particularly curious about the origins of evil - the ‘first cause’ so to speak.
I had a crazy day […]

Today was a hugely valuable time for reflecting, praying and just clearing the head of the amazing amount of junk that seems to clutter it up.
Danelle and I dropped the kids at mum and dad’s for the whole day while we headed down to the local beach area for time alone, together and with God. […]

While in Kalgoorlie a few weeks back I was given a book co written by one of the people I hooked up with about William & Catherine Booth, the Salvation Army founders.
What an amazing couple!!!
I had no idea of how dynamic and passionate these two were. I think it was one of the most inspiring […]

Today is one of the 5 retreat days Danelle and I have scheduled in for this year - a whole day to get away and pray, reflect, listen to God etc.
Typically these are easy to lose because there is always so much to ‘get on with’, but I know that its when I spend this […]

Wayne Pethrick is a local bloke, ex Phys Ed teacher turned futurist who has some great insights into where the world is headed.
You can check out his blog here. Wayne has been a contributor at our Forge intensives and is part of future labs.

You can see it live here.
Its about as close as I will get today!

I had a phone call from Owen today seeing if I wanted to head up to Derrs for a surf.
‘Its offshore and HUGE’, he said…
Maybe 15 years ago that would have had me dropping everything… but now… at 40 (41 on Tuesday I chose to stay home and watch the footy. What a […]

For a week in Dunsborough!
See you next Sunday

While Danelle was having coffee with a woman who has just moved into the area, Ellie was in her room giving that new mum’s daughter a hair cut…
All the ‘funnier’ (in my view) because that little girl is a flower girl this Saturday…
She was round again tonight to borrow our iron so seems they […]