Matt has a great blog that explores how we engage with new spiritualities. He has tagged me and I am required to let you in on 8 things about me… I’ll try and let you know some stuff that you otherwise wouldn’t be aware of from reading the general nonsense on this blog!

Here goes:

1. I was once destined for the scrapheap when it comes to education. Growing up in Belfast, I did poorly at the 11+ exam and was due to be sent to the local tech school (a second grade education) but that same year we moved to the land of Oz. Because Irish kids started school 2 years before Oz kids I was quite advanced for my age and finished up becoming the runner up dux of the primary school. From then on, instead of thinking of myself as dumb I began to think of myself as intelligent and competent, a shift I believe was pivotal in orienting my whole life.

2. I have never had a bad experience of church – at least not one that I carry as a war wound. Sometimes it seems that those of us who are seeking to do mission and express our spirituality outside the main stream are perceived to have been burnt. Nope. I have always had very good experiences and love the church in all its expressions.

3. I used to be a pretty decent basketballer… but those days are long gone! I had a great 3 point shot, but was a lousy ball carrier. I played up until I was 40, but badly hurt my back that year and have struggled to get back into it.

4. Danelle and I ‘dated’ for 3 weeks before I proposed to her. Ok, so we lived in the same Bible College for 9 months together… but we literally were serious for 3 weeks before we both felt confident enough to jump. Even weirder is that I spent one of those weeks at a state basketball tournament in Sydney and while I was gone she went and purchased fabric for a wedding dress… before I had even asked her… Don’t call me presumptious!

5. I have been to the Philippines 9 times. The first two were short term basketball mission trips, the next couple were surfing trips and then I came back to visit friends and with a view to being a missionary there. It never eventuated, but it was those experiences that formed my sense of calling to be a vocational missionary.

6. I hardly ever listen to music. If I am driving I prefer silence, or if I listen to anything its usually a sermon. There is some music I like and I actually find music very moving and powerful at times, but I could easily live without it.

7. I like to drive old cars and believe they are better value than newer cars. I don’t think I have owned a newish car (let alone a brand new one!) but my favourites have been a Datsun 1600 (that once did 165kph down the freeway – at 3 am in the morning), and my current 1985 Landcruiser. If someone could prove to me that it was more economical to buy a newer car then I would change, but for now, I believe the best way to spend money on a depreciating asset is to spend as little as possible.

8. When I was 16 I used to have a job at Myers in Karrinyup, working in the ‘despatch’ area. It was a weird job because on Thursday nights and Saturday mornings there were never any despatches… so I never had anything to do. On Thursday evenings I would take in my homework and just finish that off while on Saturday morning a teenage girl’s dance class came in (and they were stunning), so I just watched them do their thing… I went on holidays after 6 months and when I came back my job had been discontinued… someone had caught on! It was fun while it lasted!

It was just 6 months ago that this blog entered a rather sudden hiatus as I sensed it was time to stop for a while. I thought it was probably going to be a couple of years, but over the last month I have felt like the break period is over. I’ve reflected on it, asked the thoughts of ‘Mrs Backyardmissionary’ and the end result is that I reckon its time to hit the keyboards again.

What’s changed in the last 6 months you may ask that I feel ok about jumping back in?

To be honest, I don’t really know. It just feels like the need to stop blogging has passed. So as one who loves writing and online interaction I’m happy to get going again.

I’m not planning on writing any more, or any less, or any differently. It’ll just be business as usual!

So, I hope you’ll stop by and join in the fun as we share a mix of theological ruminations, personal reflections, general silliness and naughty jokes…

I would be the first to admit that my exit from blogging world last week was rather a snap decision – albeit a right one – and as a result I hadn’t thought thru what to do with this blog… whether to delete it, keep it, hide it etc… all that sort of stuff.

Having chewed on it for a week I have decided to leave it up intact, as I do hope to be back writing again when this break is over.

Many thanks to all who have commented and written. It is really nice to know that what you do is appreciated and valued. I regularly read thru all the blogs listed on the sidebar so I will be able to stay in touch with your life as much as you choose to post and reveal!

Also, after pulling the plug, I remembered that I did agree to write 3 blog book reviews for people who have sent me their latest publications. I will probably post those reviews on here at some stage over the rest of 2007 as I want to honour those commitments.

In the meantime the ‘backyardmissionary test pattern’ is in place and this time I will actually leave you with some words that have been significant to me in the last week as I move into a different place in life for a while:

The Message Col 3:1-4

Meanwhile, be content with obscurity, like Christ.

“The real problem of the Christian life comes where people do not usually look for it. It comes the very moment you wake up each morning. All your wishes and hopes for the day rush at you like wild animals. And the first job each morning consists simply in shoving them all back; in listening to that other voice, taking that other point of view, letting that other larger, stronger, quieter life come flowing in.”

C.S. Lewis, in Mere Christianity

Over the last few years I found my morning routine involved waking up and then after getting the kids breakfast and getting my own breakfast I would flick on the laptop to check email and read a few blogs. This year we were offered the ‘West Australian’ newspaper home delivered for $2.00/week until July and I said ‘yes’ to that. So now I had email, blogs and newspaper to read first thing… And then there is everything to do each day…

I found that often by the time I had dealt with email and blogs I wasn’t getting around to time in the scriptures, but was heading off to work. Now with a newspaper to read it only exacerbated the issue.

This year I thought it would be a simple practice to simply rearrange the order of the variables to reflect what I would like download smart people online my life to be shaped by, so part of my personal practices for 2007 involves not turning on the laptop or opening the paper until I have spent some time reflecting on scripture. I have also made Saturday a ‘computer off’ day.

Its so easy for stuff to get out of kilter and for us to not actually live out of the priorities we say we hold. I’m not one for a 30 minute ‘quiet time’. I’m more for spending time with God and sometimes it will be 15 mins and sometimes a couple of hours. I don’t think the time value is the key, but I do think regularly putting yourself in the space to meet God does allow for personal renewal.

Its easy for things to get out of control.

Its also very easy to make choices to re-shape the way we live.

Funnily enough that newspaper doesn’t get read very often!good dvd divx glory

This year Danelle and I will be going back to a traditional church.

No I’m not kidding. I will explain in a moment, but first a digression.

If technorati were working properly then yesterday I would have finally made it to the first page of blogs tagged with ‘Emerging Church’ and I would have been able to bask in my considerable fame… (tongue now coming out of cheek) but for some reason mine doesn’t show up on their lists any longer and I have been denied this much needed ego gratification…

Since then Jamie has clocked another two links and bumped me out anyway! (Then again if TSK didn’t hold 3 of the top 10 spots everybody would have a much fairer shot 🙂 )

Ok – enough narcissistic frivolity…

I’m pretty sure everywhere I go these days my name gets linked to the ’emerging church’ and that’s fine as far as it goes. I’m guessing it causes people who don’t know me to think of me in certain ways – like this kind hearted blogger who has been criticised by some emerging church guys and writes:

“I just love that-here you have 15-20 people”usually guys, who sit in rooms smoking cigars and drinking beer, debating theology while the world around them goes to hell”and somehow they think they’ve “got it!” In my opinion the only thing that needs to “emerge” from the emerging church is their head out of their rear ends so that they can better listen to God and fulfill the Great Commission.”

What can you say to that?…

Others would perceive us less harshly and still others who know us would see us differently again. Such is the limitations of this online medium.

So chances are when I say that Danelle and I have decided to get involved again with a tradtional church some of you might wonder what the hell is going on. Have we ‘deserted the ship?!’

So here’s the story…

Over the last year or so I have been praying each day that we will have some older Christians 60+’s come and join us at Upstream to add a different dimension to our group and I have been praying that we will know how to diversify the community we are currently creating.

But after a year of praying and seeking some people out, it hasn’t happened.

I believe diversity and variety in a Christian community is incredibly valuable and important and I would like us (Danelle and I) as well as our kids in contact with a wider range of people than we currently see regularly.

On the Sunday morning of Christmas eve we went to mum and dad’s church (Scarborough Baptist

) a smaller community about 40 minutes south of where we live – the church where I grew up and where I served as a youth pastor for 5 years. Over that morning I was deeply aware again that we were missing some of what was happening in this community. And as I sat around the morning tea table with some of the old guys and chatted about fishing I was also aware of how much we are still loved and valued by the people there – and also awae of how much we love them and value them too.

I sensed God speaking again about the need to do something in regard to placing ourselves in more diverse community and I felt like he was saying ‘why not here?’. We have several churches up this way that we could get to quicker and easier, and that also have many more programs for kids as well as the bells and whistles that are supposed to be so vital to church life, but we have made a commitment to be part of the Scarborough Baptist Community once a month for this coming year because of the sense of community we experience there.

We know we aren’t going to be wowed by funky music or extravagant programs – but the further along I go, the less I care for these things. What I do know is that we will be in a community of people where we will be loved and supported (because many still know us from the old days) and where our kids will be able to engage with a much wider range of people than at present. We have also offered to contribute what we can as we are able so that we aren’t spectators in the scheme of things.

Is it a big decision for us to head back to a ‘normal’ church?

Not really.

And I say that because despite pursuing an experimental approach to church and despite seeing the flaws in the traditional system we didn’t ever step out because of that.

It just feels like the ‘right thing’ to do at this juncture.

So on the first Sunday of each month we will make the drive down to Scarborough to join a bunch of people who are in many ways (by contemporary church standards) quite unimpressive – but amongst whom we feel a strong sense of love and connection. My hope is that as we do this we will be stretched and grown in our discipleship and we will also be able to challenge some of the people there with some of what we have been learning up here.

And Perry – if I ever do get my head out of my arse long enough I may just drop in at your church and say hello… might even put some money in your offering…

Then again…

An Aussie mate by the name of Glenn who is living in the US just got news that his 3 year old daugher Madison has been diagnosed with a form of liver cancer that typically attacks young children.

A biopsy will be done on Tuesday and we’d love people to pray for a bit of a miracle and the tumor to either be benign or non-existent.

Those of us with kids can imagine a bit of how this would feel, so if you want to make a point of it then I know Glenn and family would really appreciate it.

FYI – Glenn is an ex Warwick Church of Christ bloke, living in US with his wife and 3 kids but planning on coming back to Perth to plant a church in the next few years. We have developed a friendship over the last two years and we have really appreciate the way they have supported us.

Once a term Danelle and I take a day out to spend together talking, praying, reading, coffeeing and generally re-aligning with God and each other.

In the crazy world we live its become a practice we value for helping us stay focused on what we are doing and who we are.

Today I hope to reflect on the year that has been as well as looking ahead to 2007.

It might seem like a luxury to be able to take a day to do that, but for us it is an essential. Our ‘business’ is spiritual leadership and to be ‘out of shape’ is to do harm to those we are connected to and who we lead and share life with.

The life of a professional athlete sometimes may look very cruisy with days devoted to training and self care. In the same way the life of someone who’s life calling is mission and ministry needs to reflect similar amounts of self care and training in other areas.

Reality is many neglect the self care and re-alignment times and do so at their own peril and at the expense of those they lead. I have a sense that as we get older we start to realise the value and importance of this time more and more.

After six weeks of being fobbed off I finally got thru to an intelligent human at Connected Hosting and managed to get a complete refund.

How hard was that?…

If I wasn’t a persistent bugger I would have been $118.00 worse off though.

May 15th 2003 was the day of my very first blog entry on what was then http://backyardmissionaries.blogspot.com The link takes you to the earliest stuff I could find courtesy of the wayback machine.

Since starting I have written pretty much continuously for the last 3 1/2 years and found blogging to be a practice that is enjoyable, challenging and also very addictive. I have always been a very ‘average’ journaller but a blog is so much easier because it is mostly idea based rather than feeling based. (I am an INTJ!)

This little blog has grown to quite a substantial readership since the humble blogger days. In fact if it were a church, then based on the ‘weekly attendance’ it might even be considered a mega-church!

How ironic…

The original intent of ‘backyardmissionary’ was to provide a way for those in our home church (Lesmurdie Baptist) to keep in touch with what we were doing in Brighton, but since then it has morphed into a collection of my thoughts on mission and church as well as personal life stories and general silliness.

But… I’m feeling its time to stop writing for a short time and take a break.

As of Tuesday I’m on holidays for two weeks and I have decided to put the keyboard down and take a blog-break until we return on Oct 10th. I don’t always do that, because blogging is a fun thing for me, but I have been feeling lately like I need a rest from it.

However… and this is where the fun starts… I have asked my good friend, fellow Brighton resident and coffee connoisseur ‘Grendel‘ if he would like to take up the reins for a couple of weeks and offer his own insights on here.

Without giving too much away I will say that Grendel sees the world from a somewhat different perspective to myself… and for that reason I imagine it will be very interesting having him write on here.

I am sure he will offer some interesting, provocative and challenging discussion. so make sure you drop in and join in on conversation that will have a different flavour.

I might even stop by and make a comment or two…