We arrive in Sydney on Saturday. Staying with Fuzz and Carolyn Kitto. 3 days only and then on to Perth.
Read MoreHanging with the barcode guy
Meet the barcode guy. We are spending a few days in Devonport, Auckland, with David and Margaret Allis. David is a house church guy and fundraising radical who has been following my blog for years so its great to finally meet up. Thanks Ellis family for your hospitatlity and giving space for our noisy family.…
Read MoreArrived in Auckland, New Zealand
Our final week in New Zealand before setting off for Australia (Sydney, Perth Adelaide) and then Hong Kong and Europe. We arrived in Auckland last night and will be in the north this weekend – I am speaking at Mangawhai Baptist on Sunday. Then back to Auckland and fly to Sydney on April 2nd. This…
Read MoreEnd of the week and I didnt buy the book. YEAH!
The end of the week has come about and I have successfully resisted the urge to buy Rob Bell's Love Wins book. [!!!! hallelujah chorus !!!!!] But I did follow the conversation and I was impressed that my son was talking theology today on his facebook page in relation to the Rob Bell controversy. Wow…
Read MoreHear me speak at Cornerstone Festival
I am really excited about speaking at Cornerstone Festival this year in Illinois, USA. I haven't been to Cornerstone since 1999. They asked me to give 3 seminars. I just sent them these details. Let me know if you will be there so we can meet each other and you can buy me a coffee…
Read MorePhilip Jenkins on Jesus wars, heresies and orthodoxy
I just finished Philip Jenkin's latest book called "Jesus Wars: How Four Patriarchs, Three Queens, and Two Emperors Decided What Christians Would Believe for the Next 1,500 Years" Funny title. Good content. Not a riveting book but quite a relevant one to read this week, with all the controversies about what is orthodox and what…
Read MoreRob Bell and the new generation
Travis asked me about Rob Bell and the new generation of Christians yesterday, in the light of the present controversy regarding his Love Wins book release. My answer is a bit long for his blog comments so I will post it here. Travis, I think neither one will happen. Rob Bell will not become irrelevant…
Read MoreJapanese house churches and the earthquake
Its mind-boggling, this catastrophe in Japan. Massive earthquake, then powerful tsunami, then nuclear meltdowns, then volcanic activity . . . its like a Godzilla movie come to life! Its tragic beyond the scope of my imagnation because nothing on this scale has every happened in my life-time. During my time in Japan some years ago,…
Read MoreWho has the skinny on hell?
The release of Rob Bell's book Love Wins has become an event. Maybe even an Advent. The conversation has touched a nerve in USA and the twittersphere has been twitching with pithy tweets and retweets for over a week. "Farewell Rob Bell" has probably become the most famous Christian tweet of all time, even though…
Read MoreHanging with Kate in Christchurch
If you read Relevant Mag then you have probably read Kate Cremisino's creative writing and ideas. I remember reading her piece last year with hipster Brett McCraken called Relevant's Epic Summer Road Trip. Anyway, we have been wonderfully hosted in Kate's earthquake-damaged house and our girls have really taken to her and, in fact, Elizabeth…
Read More“I pray that no more death will be caused by this earthquake”, Mika Goto in Japan
My friend Mika Goto was stuck in Tokyo tonight after the earthquake and I asked her some questions for the blog. I am posting it unedited. TSK: Did you feel the earthquake in Tokyo? What is happening there now? MIKA: I and co-workers, felt the earthquake in the central Tokyo. It was the biggest earthquake in…
Read MoreThinking about Japan
I was woken up by another aftershock here in Christchurch, something that happens every night. But now I learn of the earthquake in Japan that was 8000 times stronger than ours, and the number of missiong people from the tsunami is already in the thousands, and it puts things into perspective. Their loss is so…
Read MoreYWAM – Around the world in 80 days
Last night I did some teaching and storytelling at the YWAM Oxford base, just north of Christchurch, NZ. The 50 students were mostly from a new initiatve called "Around the world in 80 days". Participants in this DTS (Discipleship Training School) buy a round-the-world ticket and try to change the world wherever God leads them.…
Read MoreJamie, the very worst missionary
I just supported Jamie, who is, in her own blog description, the world's very worst missionary. I noticed her blog last year and it was so refreshing to hear someone be HONEST and VULNERABLE about their mistakes and the mundane parts of their life – even the life of a missionary in Costa Rica, and…
Read MoreTallskinnykiwi in Christchurch like . . . this Saturday.
Its really last minute but I am doing an informal meeting tomorrow in earthquake-devasted Christchurch, New Zealand to meet with a few young church and mission leaders who invited me down here. We will meet in someones house which doesn't have running water so use the toilet before you come. A lot of you have…
Read MoreRob Bell on being something of a universalist
@robbell wasnt sure why he was being denounced by American Christians or why people kept sending him twitter messages saying "Farewell @robbell" because he wasnt going anywhere. And why on earth would a web designer in the north of England be branded a heretic? Rachel Held Evans interviews the web designer @robbell who was trending…
Read More2 years on the road: THANKS!
Its been two years of living full time on the road. We left Scotland on March 10, 2009 in our 4×4 overland truck that we built. Remember this? Since then, we have been in almost 30 countries, visiting and encouraging fresh expressions of church and helping to launch new social enterprises that will change the…
Read MoreBefore you read LOVE WINS by Rob Bell
Some people are amazed at all the blog chatter regarding Rob Bell's upcoming (Mar 15) book Love Wins: A book about heaven, hell, and the fate of every person who ever lived. I am not surprised. Its a huge issue and its much bigger than Rob Bell. In the world of evangelical demi-gods, John Piper…
Read MoreTraining for global nomads
Tomorrow I am doing a training session at the YWAM base in Oxford (50 kms from Christchurch) for global nomads. About 50 students from two different schools – "Around the world in 80 days" for crazy young people about to circle the globe and make a difference for God, and "Crossroads" which is a training…
Read MorePodcast: New Monasticism as Fresh Expressions
The most hopeful podcasts I have heard all year on the fresh expressions and emerging church. "New Monasticism as Fresh Expressions of the Church" as part of the book launch. Podcast: Number 1 of 3 Podcast: Number 2 of 3 Best part is Bishop Graham Cray's suggestion in the Intro (Number 1) that fresh expressions…
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