A Bible for Rodney

"Boomer in the Pew" is getting older, I hear. And to celebrate his birthday, he is giving away the ultimate gift...God's Word! Although I'd love to win it myself, I would get more joy out of continuing the gift by passing it on to Rodney. Wanna join in the fun? Add a post that links to "Boomer in the Pew" 's gift post, like I have done and you have entered the contest.

Thanks for giving "Boomer" and Rodney....here's a shout out to you from the "other side"! :-)

Young Adults and Word-of-Mouth

On another blog, I have been musing about word of mouth, young adults and how to promo events. This year, I made a decision to NOT do a print brochure for a young adult event that I have been chairing for a couple of years. It wasn't particularly popular with the Baby Boomers who help to facilitate the event, but I was (and still am) convinced that the cost-to-benefit ratio for a full color glossy brochure just didn't justify the brochure.

Then Michael sent me this post from an unrelated-yet-related blog, with this quote, which was quite insightful:

MySpace is over, it's just not cool anymore; Facebook is still cool, but that might not last much longer; and the biggest thing in their life is word of mouth. That's how they hear about music, bands, everything."

If the conclusions drawn by these high-powered, high-paid "gurus" is correct, we have some homework to do, in order to understand how to get the "word" out about events for young adults. What do you think is the way to infect the word-of-mouth machine with info about new and upcoming events and the like?

Nostalgic for WA already -- the mourning process...

I had my last concert today with A Cappella PRAISE and have started to feel quite nostalgic about our life here. We are mourning the fact that we are going to be leave Western Australia, and it is really coming home to me of late! This morning, at the concert, the Director asked me - on the spot - to introduce a song.

It was "Ride the Morning Winds", and it was fitting that I should introduce the song because of all the upheaval in our lives right now. I cried right through the song, having introduced it based on our situation at present. We have so many things to do before we hand over the keys to our house in late October....so many unknowns, so many goodbyes, so many plans to make....well, it is overwhelming at times. Most times, actually. The song talks about the fact that regardless of WHERE we are or WHAT we are doing, we are not alone, God is there with us. ("I can ride the morning winds and you are there, I can sail the farthest seas and you are there...I can never be lost from you.")

Well, as I said, I was feeling nostalgic, so this evening, I asked the family if they would like to go watch the sunset over the ocean. We rode out to Coogee Beach (the one on the WEST coast, for you Sydney-siders!) and watched the sunset. It was so beautiful, and it is one thing I will DEFINITELY miss! It was neat because Erika -who tends to live in denial at the moment - said, "Can we do this a lot more before we leave?" It was a special time for us, and we look forward to doing it more because we will be HOURS from the coast in Virginia, not minutes! ...and it will be the East Coast too, so we won't get any sunset over the ocean.... I wouldn't say that sunsets over the Blue Ridge mountains aren't spectacular, but we will sure miss the Indian ocean!

An interesting thing happened while we were on the end of the jetty...like the people in the photo. A guy came up from the lower deck to speak to us. He wanted to give us an invitation to his church. I think it is probably the first time we have had that happen in our time in Australia! He was very personable, and didn't shy away at all from the "unique" nature of his church. He talked about the miracles that happened there all the time. The brochure they are handing out is a bit overboard about the supernatural, but I would be interested to know how many people respond positively and end up a part of the church. The guy gave a very positive reflection of the church, I thought. :0)

Mind Dump: 12 August 2007

Wow. Yesterday was a pretty full day. I spoke at two churches, and facilitated a "Speed Dating" event to help my church get to know the couple who are serious candidates to take the role of Interim Pastor. It was a lot of fun, and I was feeling so good last night, about the way the day had gone that I didn't want to go to bed. :-)

In the morning, I spoke at our church. I spoke on something that runs deep in my veins. Ephesians 2 talks about the work that God does in us to prepare us for the work He wants to do through us. I don't know what everybody else got, but I was quite moved by what the passage had to say! :-)

Charles Dickens penned the words, "Marley was dead; to begin with." as the opening line of "A Christmas Carol". What a funny way to open a novel that will go on to become one of the best known of his writings! A significant character in the drama is dead in the first sentence of the book!

Well....Ephesians 2 opens by saying something very similar. Only the opening line of this chapter is, "You were dead." HUH?! I really enjoy the jolt of the paradoxes that Paul lines up in this chapter. You were dead...but God made you alive. You were an object of wrath....but God loved you so much he showed mercy. You were going in a direction 180 degrees away from God's plan for you.....and he chose YOU as the one to continue His work in the direction He is going! Is that not ironic?! Fun stuff!

God brings stuff across your path that He either plans to use to prepared you for the work you were designed to do, or because it is the work you were designed for in the first place! There is something about being told that God has chosen--in advance--something good for you to do that is quite motivational. Especially when you realize that this means you are a unique part of the work that God is doing in this place. What if you are the ONLY one who could play that role?

Think about Noah, Moses, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob...etc... There are times when God seems to be unwise in His choices because He narrows the plan down to the point that it depends on the obedience and faith of ONE person! Awesome thought!

So. That was my topic on Sunday morning.

Immediately after the service, we played A Game Similar to the Game from 'Fill in the Blank Network -- Who Wants to be a Millionaire?". (PHEW! Avoided the copyright infringement issue there....I hope!!!) We had 10 questions. 5 about the couple we were getting to know, and 5 about our church...and we answered them about each other. It was a fun way to approach a serious task. I think it helped to "defuse" the possible tension over the whole matter of finding an Interim. I had fun anyway... :-) (BTW, I found a GREAT Powerpoint Template if anybody needs one for an even, I can give you a pointer to it... )

Sunday afternoon, I crashed for an hour or so, in order to have some of me left for the evening service where I was to speak.

Sunday night, I spoke on Romans 10, at a church where I knew some people, but had never attended. The message was very well recieved, and I think it helped them to think about mission in a whole new way. I use an illustration for the whole series of events that Paul outlines, and put a chair at the "end" of the series. So it is Sending > Preaching > Hearing > Believing > Calling on the Lord....and sitting down. The PROBLEM is that Paul wouldn't put a chair at the "Calling on the Lord" position like we do. He would make it a cycle, I believe.

Who better to fan the flames of those who are passionate about reaching out than those who have just been reached with the message?! And that will sweep them into the process as they learn to share their faith, and the cycle runs again. This is not a linear process....though we often tend to think, "The Gospel is about me not going to Hell." No, the Gospel is about me coming into relationship with God, and bringing others to that relationship!

So...you have had the "opportunity" to sit through two sermons of mine back-to-back! Exhausted? I know I was, but it was a very good exhaustion. :-)

GO! Reachout 2007!

For the third year running, I am involved in the day-to-day operations of GO! Reachout. GO! Reachout is a special mission event for young adults in Western Australia. I enjoy the event, but I must admit that some days, dealing with the logistics of day-to-day planning and the occasional "committee-style" meetings can be grueling. What I *LOVE* about GO! Reachout is the opportunity to spend time with Young Adults who just love Jesus and want to find the opportunity to serve him to the fullest! This year, we are also going to be the Premiere Opening event for the "Voices Tour". I am looking forward to the event, and to how it can be used to encourage young adults to consider their response to the Great Commission. Drop by the website and have a look! Let us know what you think... Thanks!