This afternoon I am leading a Bible study at a house church meeting. It will be on Matthew 17:14-20. Its the story of Jesus and the loony boy. The original word means “moonstruck” or “lunatic” but its pretty obvious he had a demon and Jesus kicks it out. Its an amazing story that seems pretty…
Read MorePentecost Festival
Pentecost Festival has started in London. Hope it goes well. Wish I was there. Or Amsterdam, where something smaller but similar is going on called Serve the City.
Read MoreRock Harbor an Emerging Church?
Its an interesting conversation for some. Rock Harbor Church is an item in the blogs right now after Lighthouse Trails gave them a hard time for being an "emerging church" and Rock Harbor has responded with a video. Phoenix Preacher has the skinny and is following the conversation. I wrote my thoughts a few years…
Read MoreRemembering Ralph Winter (Missiologist), 1924 – 2009
The famous missiologist Ralph Winter passed away on May 20, at the age of 84. He was one of the most intelligent Christian men I have ever met. He was a genius. He was a mission geek in the truest sense – a man with a gigantic mind like a computer that continually processed everything,…
Read MoreAscension Day
Today is Ascension Day, 40 days after Easter, in celebration of the ascension of Jesus Christ. NT Wright has been publishing and preaching on Ascension in recent years and its importance in our theology. Check out one of his Ascension messages here. I know its more about the resurrection than the ascension, but Si Smith,…
Read MoreScholarships for the 2009 Global Roundtable
The 2009 Global Roundtable for Emerging and Underground Ministries will be called “Kalejdoskop” and it will be held in Poland, July 8-11. There are a number of ministry leaders who cant afford the airfare and need scholarships. In particular, leaders from these countries: India, Brazil, Venezuela, Macedonia, Equador, Chile, Portugal, Albania and Turkey. We are…
Read MoreBaptists and the Emerging Church
Hi everyone from yesterday’s Baptist meeting in Lisbon, Portugal. Thanks for coming to the meeting and for such an inspiring and encouraging afternoon. REALLY REALLY GREAT to be with you. Here are some links related to our talk yesterday about emerging church, church planting, etc. “The Emergent/Emerging Church: A Missiological Perspective” Dr. Ed Stetzer, Fall…
Read MoreSocial Web Stuff
Wordpress theme developed for churches called The Church Grid Theme, for a discounted price. Thanks Cynthia. Any others worth mentioning? Any of them free? [Tim Bednar offers Ashford free] Cynthia also has thoughts on the future of the social web, which I stumbled on last week but forgot to blog it. More here.
Read MoreMonday Morning and I need some PMS Coffee
PMS Coffee is about ten minutes from our campsite here in Lisbon. Its a great name but I don’t think the Portuguese speaking owners see the humor [PMS, for non-native English speakers, stands for Premenstrual Syndrome]. Any ideas for a possible tagline? How about . . . PMS Coffee: When you need a coffee RIGHT…
Read MoreMoney for Missions: The Big and the Small of it
This week I was on the phone with an Executive Director of a Foundation that gives millions of dollars to missions. Things are tight right now for them, as they are for many other faith-based Foundations, but they are doing their best to keep commitments to missionaries. Not easy during this recession when the returns…
Read MoreColdPlay – Left Right Left Right Left
Coldplay’s new album is a free download. Lots of great songs, most of them you would have heard before, but this time recorded live from their concerts. The crowd participation makes Left Right Left Right Left a charming and endearing album and a great introduction to one of Brittain’s best bands ever. I just managed…
Read MoreTwitter and Yahoo Meme
Meme looks like Yahoo’s answer to Twitter, or at least to Orkut which is the social networking platform of choice for a lot of my Brazilian friends, and NOT a goat-sacrificing satanic cult, as I said back in 2004. Yahoo’s Meme is only in Portuguese at the moment which is funny because I am currently…
Read MoreWinkie: He is NOT a Gay Teletubbie!
I went out with Denny last night to hear the teacher Winkie Pratney, who was very quick to say that he was not a gay teletubbie. He was named after his father, William who was a famous New Zealand cyclist, occasionally getting up at 4am to do a 100 mile cycle before breakfast. Anyway, Wee…
Read MoreChristian Surfers Tonight
I am speaking at the Christian Surfers International meeting tonight here in Portugal. Thanks to Buck Waters for the invitation. There is quite a group here of surfers from all over. Lots of Californians also. I have been hanging out a little with Scott Last and Marty Uhler (pictured) who are both with Christian Associates…
Read MoreI got TAGGED on a Facebook Photo
Uno Photo: Crazy Tom Seward from the Canadian side of the Arctic Circle [far right] posted a Facebook photo that was 23 years old and guess what? Not only was yours truly in the photo [good looking skinny guy with glasses] but that Californian babe on the far left, formerly known as Debbie Cosper, played…
Read MoreChristian Web Conference and The Great Debate
UPDATE: Sep 9, 2009. Unfortunately, I had to cancel due to lack of funds. Details here. Apologies to all. I heard Cynthia Ware may take my place and if so, it will probably be even better. I have been invited to speak this year at the Christian Web Conference in Los Angeles, September 11-12. The…
Read MoreCriticism of Virtual Community and Cyber churches
Is the cyber-church a REAL church? I was studying and writing last weekend on virtual communities for a number of articles and also for speaking in Las Angeles next September at the Christian Web Conference. There are lots of arguments against virtual communities being “real” but there one quote that is probably the most comprehensive…
Read MoreMay: Banner from Heathrow Terminal 5
My banner for May is from a picture I took of the new Heathrow Terminal 5 which really is an architectural wonder. I picked my Aunty Olwen up at Heathrow Terminal 3 last weekend and we decided to have breakfast the next day at Terminal 5. She had flown in from Australia but still had…
Read MoreBack in Portugal
After a quick trip to Scotland and England, I am back in Portugal. The weather is perfect and we are quite close to the beach in Quincho (near Cascais), where I took this photo of a street lamp.
Read MoreSwine flu and a calm, reasonable, rational Church
Swine Flu? I was at London’s Heathrow airport yesterday and a lady walked off a plane with a face mask. I was tempted to take her picture but it occurred to me that only one person out of thousands and thousands had a mask and my photo of a single individual would create a distorted…
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