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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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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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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Taking your time in a rushed world

The two brothers from The Holy Transfiguration Monastery just left us. Its been a great three days. This morning we had our final breakfast and chat with them and we all shared what we learned. As for me, I was impressed with their perspective on time, their patience to wait for God’s timing, their reluctance to…

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Baptist Monasteries. NOT an oxymoron.

Graeme and Oz just arrived from the Holy Transfiguration Monastery in Victoria, Australia to hang with us here at Ngatiawa Contemporary Monastery. They are Baptists and they are monks. They even wear habits.  We had a chat about Baptist monastic movements. Some of the noteworthy and historic Baptist monasteries that have made their radar include…

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Bringing Abigail home: miles needed

Does anyone have spare miles? We could use some to get our daughter home from Europe. Abigail has been volunteering at a Christian based hostel in Prague and has completed an informal micro-apprenticeship on how to run hostels, something we think will become very valuable.  Abi is fearless and competent, friendly and generous, all qualities needed…

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St Luke’s Church, Waikanae

Tomorrow I am preaching at St Luke’s Church in Waikanae. The passage is Mark 6, the feeding of the 5000. Same story I am speaking on next year at Kirchentag in Germany. So if you are around, its at ten o’clock, come along.

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Jim from OldTruth Passes

Blogger and Reformer Jim Bublitz passed away, after a long bout with illness – we prayed for him a while ago. Jim ran the OldTruth blog and launched many bloggers into their calling. Jim and I found ourselves on different sides of the argument concerning the Reformation and the emerging church but I found Jim very likable,…

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Wish I was in Poland

In Poland right now there are thousands of young people gathered for Slot Festival. Our family are normally there because Slot is on our teaching circuit but this year we are in NZ and have to sit it out. We hope to be there next year.   We are, however, helping to sponsor a band…

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3 Books from 2011 you should have read

Books come and go. I have a huge stack of books that I have read but have not had the time to review or mention on the blog. Most of them will disappear into oblivion and a few will stay kicking around in our consciousness. In my world, there were three books released last year…

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How Christian can Islamic banking be?

 Strange happenings in the world of Christian banking, especially for the Vatican Bank. Read on and tell me if I am not taking crazy pills. Today is the day that a men-in-black team called Moneyval gather to “discuss a report assessing the Holy See’s progress in preventing money laundering and terrorism financing, a crucial step toward…

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The Church’s New Dreadlocked Bishop

So yesterday was a huge day for all of us. Justin Duckworth from the Ngatiawa contemporary monastery where we live got installed as the Anglican Bishop of Wellington. Busy day.  We had a big breakfast at St Cuthberts for the Urban Vision crowd. Then we all turned up at the Wellington Cathedral to see barefooted…

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Colonel Justin Party tonight

Tonight we are having a special meal for Justin Duckworth who gets “enthroned” tomorrow as the 11th Bishop of Wellington. His favourite fast food is KFC so I thought it appropriate have a finger lick’n party for Justin tonight. KFC were kind enough to give me a bucket big enough for a bishop’s mitre. This…

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Benny Hinn’s Wedding Present?

Benny Hinn is getting remarried to his ex-wife. Todd Rhoades asks what an appropriate wedding present might be. I am not sure what I would get him but I think that whatever it was, it would be WHITE. What would you get him?

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When your blog BORES you

My  blog has been BORING THE HECK out of me recently. So I am changing EVERYTHING. Starting with the way it looks.  I was inspired by the graphics and cool sets of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy last week and so I might add a few 1970’s touches to the blog to play out this desire…

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Southern Baptists elect black president

Well done! Good to see the Southern Baptists elect their first black president and take another step to put their past behind them. Congrats to President Fred Luter of New Orleans for being elected unopposed. Hope he does well. Baptist Press has the skinny. You might know that I worked for the SBC for 7…

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