Muslim sanctuaries: For Your Eyes Only

“Cinderazahd: For Your Eyes Only” has its world premiere at the Dowse Art Museum next week but men will not be allowed in. The Qatari writer and film-maker Sophia Al-Maria has expressed her wishes that men should not see the unveiled women in her video, a wish that corresponds with her Muslim faith. Fair enough. I…

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Mission among subcultures and the emerging church

Tomorrow I am teaching two sessions on missions at Praxis. The first will be a more practical and interactive look at Luke 10, some church planting movements overseas that are doing well, a few controversial issues related to that. For those that cannot be there, I recommend reading  11 Practices of a new Jesus movement (Lausanne)…

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I am speaking at Flourish Tonight

It’s very short notice but someone could not make their speaking engagement tonight and so I have been invited to speak at Flourish, at the Wellington City Mission. 7pm. There is live music and dessert. I will be showing the same 5 images from 5 countries that I used at an Anglican church last week,…

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Challies and Perriman on the existence of hell

Sunday theological conversation that requires a cup of tea and an armchair:  Tim Challies kicks off a series on hell. Andrew Perriman responds.  Tim Challies concludes with his final post  and Andrew Perriman gives a  summary response. There might be some more posts in the middle but the book-ends are worth a read. Last year, when the talk revolved around…

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Overhead on non-profits

Summary of study from GreyMatter: New research shows the average American believes it is reasonable for non-profit organizations to spend 23 cents out of every dollar on overhead expenses such as fundraising or administration.  However, 62% believe non-profits typically spend more than is reasonable for overhead, and the average American estimates spending on overhead at…

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Evoke 5: Stories of justice and hope

This Sunday I am presenting 5 stories with 5 images from 5 places I have visited recently. The five countries are Egypt, Turkey, China, Morocco and Indonesia.  These are places of unrest, tragedy, tension, uncertainty, hope and joy. The photos I took at those locations last year may not be National Geographic quality but they evoke…

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Our 25th Wedding Anniversary

Debbie and I were married 25 years ago at First Evangelical Free Church, Fullerton, also known as the “Pizza Hut”. We honeymooned at Palm Springs and lived in California for a further six months before moving to Portland, Oregon. Thanks Debbie for putting up with me for 25 years and being a soulmate and travel…

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You don’t have to live like a refugee

Well sometimes you do have to live like a refugee. Especially when you ARE a refugee. I got an email from Egypt today saying that one of my friends that I met in Cairo last year, who was arrested and beaten very badly shortly before we met will be going through the same treatment again,…

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$500 mini-grant to know Your community

Starting a social enterprise? You need to know the community you serve. My friends at Echoing Green want to encourage you to do this by offering $500 for the best strategy. You have until August 8th to submit your idea on how that $500 could make a difference. That’s one week. So on your bike and…

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William Cavanaugh on Religious Violence

“The myth of religious violence promotes a dichotomy between us in the secular West who are rational and peacemaking, and them, the hordes of violent religious fanatics in the Muslim world. Their violence is religious, and therefore irrational and divisive. Our violence, on the other hand, is rational, peacemaking, and necessary. Regrettably, we find ourselves…

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100 million Christians exposing corruption

Good news. We are joining the Exposed 2013 Campaign and plan on doing our bit to help leverage 100 million Christians to shine light and speak truth into corruption.    “Through mismanagement, illicit business practices and poor governance, well over US$1 TRILLION goes missing every year!  A report by the Global Financial Integrity group suggests that corruption and tax…

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The Folly of Picking Emerging Young Leaders

They all happened at the same time. Charisma Mag announced their latest lineup of emerging leaders for tomorrow’s church, Lausanne reported on their Young Leaders gathering in USA, and the reading in our chapel service was about the folly of selecting young leaders – it was Samuel sorting through the big manly sons of Jesse…

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