Category Archives: Spirituality

Lonnie Frisbee ‘Jesus Freak’ – What Can We Learn?…

Posted on by
Reply

I am a keen watcher of history and love to learn from the heroes of the past.

I dunno whether Lonnie Frisbee

joy ride end of the road free

is a hero or just an interesting human that God chose to use in unique ways.

Whatever the deal I bought the DVD as I am intrigued by the life he lived and its incongruities. Here is a true blue Jesus freak from the 60’s who led many to faith and then died of aids. should be an interesting story!

As TSK has said, there is some similarities between Lonnie’s story and that of a recent fallen leader. Perhaps part of the problem is we expect leaders to be better than everybody else in every way which is why we are so disappointed when they turn out to be human.

But for the grace of God…

‘Romero’ a Dollar Well Spent

Posted on by
Reply

Last night I stopped in at the local video store (can we still call them that now that they are phasing out ‘videos’ and using DVDs exclusively???) and saw the pile of videos that were being cleared out for a dollar each.

Among them was Romero, the story of the El Salvadorian archbishop who stood against both the armed forces and the rich and powerful elite to try and bring harmony to the country. I’d seen it before and remembered it as worth watching again.

Romero began the journey as a fairly innocuous ‘safe bet’ for the ruling class, but as he stood with people and felt the pain of injustice he was transformed both theologically and practically into a different person. His ecclesiology was radical and powerful as he called the church to actually be the church in the face of terrible oppression and injustice. Although it was hoped his bookish approach to life would keep him hidden away, his intellect and courage actually moved him to action and to service of those with no voice. Its a good study in liberation theology and how experience shapes our grasp of the gospel.

I had a debate with a friend recently about the impact power and position has on us. She argued that it always corrupts and changes a person for the worse. I argued that it often does – but that others can live with it and live with integrity. Sadly it seems they often die with integrity more than they live. Think MLK, Ghandi and also Romero.

Its probably not the world’s best made movie, but it is a tale of courage, transformation and the nature of the church. It will disturb you – but then I have a feeling we middle classers all need more disturbing.

Tell us what you think!

Posted on by
Reply

As part of obtaining feedback from the local WA community Forge WA have an online survey which we would love people to complete.

You can access it by clicking here. It will take you 5 or 10 minutes maximum.

Update – 58 surveys done so far. because its a freebie we can only do 100 max, so if you’re keen to offer your two bobs worth then do it now!

Once it looks like people have finished I will post the results up here for you to see. Thanks to all who have contributed!

WCA DVD Conference Review

Posted on by
Reply

‘BJ’ a youth pastor from one of our local Baptist churches picked up the free WCA ticket and here is his review of the event:

The conference was held at CCC Hepburn Heights which is a good facility and there was a large projection screen which was good for the DVD’s of the speakers. The morning started with a time of live musical worship lead by a team of people from the church. All the delegates received a booklet with an overview of all the sessions and also a space for writing notes. This was a great thing because it meant that you didn’t have to take notes if you didn’t want to or if you weren’t a super quick note taker.

The booklet was professionally put together as you could expect from Willow Creek. The speakers for the sessions were really good. It wasn’t your usual leadership conference and it was definitely targeted at higher level church leadership like Senior Pastors and team leaders. It was very business oriented in its focus for a lot of the sessions. They gave you team time after each of the sessions and there were questions in the booklet to go through with your team. As I was on my own this was a bit redundant. Also, because of the cost I could imagine that a lot of people wouldn’t be able to afford to bring their whole team. Not to mention the fact that you can buy all the DVD sessions and the booklet to reproduce for only $180.

I went to a Willow Creek conference in Sydney a couple of years ago and it was a really great conference. The speakers were actually there in person and there were targeted workshops in the afternoons. I’m not really sure why they choose to get people together in one place to watch a DVD when they sell the DVD for the same price as the ticket and you could show it to your entire team and church for nothing. If you couldn’t buy the DVD’s after the conference for so cheap then I may consider getting an early bird ticket to the conference but when I can buy the DVD’s for the same price as 1 ticket then I doubt that I would go again.

Willow Creek do great stuff for the church and I appreciate who they are but this seems like a bit of a strange concept and I think they would do better to market the DVD’s and allow more people to experience what they have to offer.free rocky ii movie download

Reaching Out to Christians

Posted on by
Reply

I was sitting at Greens cafe with Scott and Tim today just chatting when we noticed the cover of Tim’s Marketing magazine (Oct 2006 edition) where one of the feature articles was ‘How to reach the Christian Market’.

I only had time to skim the article but if Tim remembers to scan it and send it thru I will post it on here.

Its interesting that marketers have cottoned on to the fact that there is a whole niche of consumers out there just waiting to be evangelised to their products!divx cadillac man

BETTER BIBLE TEACHING!

Posted on by
2

There are certain ‘brands’ of theology that insist that the key to a godly life is good BIBLE teaching, MORE good BIBLE teaching… and… yes you guessed it EVEN MORE BIBLE TEACHING!

I caught up with a good friend recently (who shall remain nameless), but who is a great Bible teacher and would fit theologically into those ‘brands’, however… he doesn’t display the same anal fixation with ‘good teaching’ that seems to be the defining characteristic of so many others.

As we spoke another friend asked him ‘why aren’t you as obsessed as the rest on the whole Bible teaching deal?’

His response?…

‘In my experience and observation simply offering better Bible teaching has not produced better disciples.’

Or put another way – ‘it hasn’t worked’.

Now – some would argue its obviously not better Bible teaching if it doesn’t change people… or we could also argue that there is more to the picture than ‘better Bible teaching’.

I am a firm believer in the value of scripture to guide us into godliness, but I have at times been frustrated by those who see the answer to our woes as simply ‘more Bible’, so the reponse from my friend (who’s been around the block a few times) was quite telling.

My observation is that knowledge is only useful insofar as it reshapes how we live.

Knowing the Bible inside out, upside down and back to front is on a par with the bloke who built his house on sand. Jesus declared the difference between him and the other guy was simply that the ‘wise man’, was the one who ‘hears my words and puts them into practice’.

I love learning and love knowledge, but honestly, if it doesn’t reshape life then it isn’t worth a pinch of poop. In fact it ends up doing more harm than good because it creates an illusion of godliness.

I hear many people looking for churches with ‘good teaching’, but I am yet to hear anyone seeking a church that is committed to ‘doing the Bible stuff’.

I dream…

Grendel and God – part 3

Posted on by
Reply

Well, I’m off on two journeys here so far, my spiritual journey and my one about faith. We’ll get back to the coffee in a bit and talk a bit more about faith.

There have been some interesting and thought-provoking comments posted – so thanks everyone, for your contributions so far.

My work has taken me to some interesting places, and I have been witness to and participant in some amazing and terrible events (not always at the same time!).

I am well aware of the flawed nature of humanity and how Christians view these flaws as at the core of what goes wrong in the church rather than a failing of God. From my perspective though this is not evidence of God (or evidence against the existence of God) it just is – humans are not perfect and whether we adopt a code of ethics or moral framework that is based in religious beliefs or atheistic beliefs we will at some point fail to meet our own (or God’s) expectations.

Just a little aside here: I talk about God, rather than ‘a supposed deity’ or the ‘mythical creator figure’ or any of the other atheist sounding terms you might expect me to use – this is for two reasons, 1. I’m a guest here and I respect the role of this blog and the people that discuss issues in this space, 2. Talking about God is something I’ve done all my life and I’m hardly going to change the language I use whether or not I accept the existence of God.

Ok back on thread. . .

So I have seen a local youth elder, apparently strong in faith and full participant in the life of his church arrested for dealing in drugs, theft and during the investigation multiple affairs with women were also revealed – he was also a police officer. Would such a revelation shake my faith? No, I understand human nature well enough to know that such things are not even uncommon – no matter what belief structure you adhere to.

At this point in my journey though I was already to the point where I had serious questions. I do remember one event that gave me a lot to think about. I had been assisting a colleague to resuscitate a young man who had fallen from a balcony on to his head. He was not breathing when we arrived, but we got a pulse and then breathing with a bit of effort, and I knelt there monitoring him while we waited for the ambulance, his breath coming in ragged gasps, blood trickling from his ears and nose, his skull fractured and open, his eyes open but unseeing.

I knew as I waited that although he was breathing he had little chance of survival, or if he survived I could not imagine that he would have any cognitive response, the best we were doing was keeping him alive long enough for his family to say goodbye while he was still breathing.

I prayed at that point, I wanted him to live, I wanted him to be able to go back to his family, I didn’t even know who he was, just some bloke who got drunk and fell over a balcony but he was there, and I was there and I didn’t see why he should die at such a young age. Even as I prayed it hit me – I don’t even believe this will help – in fact I know it won’t. It’s not the first person I have seen die and it won’t be the last and the process is inevitable.

A couple of years later after I moved to Perth I attended a similar situation, although it is possible that this young man intended to fall rather than fell accidentally – I just don’t know. He was in some bush at the bottom of a cliff about a kilometre from our office by the river. I dashed up the track and met the rescue team from our office there and helped carry the stretcher back up the track.

Déjà vu.

The same sound of breath coming in ragged gasps, the sight of blood trickling from his ears and nose, his skull fractured and open, his eyes open but unseeing.

Again, he lived long enough for goodbyes and then died.

I know some people exposed to events like this receive reinforcement to their faith from them. What I experienced was realisation that life is very finite, it needs to be lived and valued. The fact that we can realise we are alive, that we a cognitive creatures capable of introspection and communication is remarkable and both a blessing and a curse.

For me – life is very very precious, and I don’t mean just my own life, I mean everyones. Because I see the ‘one shot’ we get, and thus taking someone’s life, or destroying it by harming them in terrible ways in an anathema to me. Helping people live their lives in dignity and helping people to meet there potential are therefore great gifts that one person can give another.

From a Christian perspective you might say “so that you can have life, and have it more abundantly” meaning that life in its fullness, both temporal and spiritual can only come through Jesus.

From my perspective that is not the responsibility of God but the responsibility of each person to every other person. For me that sometimes means supporting my human brothers and sisters in their religious beliefs or obligations because that is the path to fullness of life for them.

I’m sorry about the long posts but the opportunity to post on Hamo’s blog has certainly given me a new outlet for expressing my thoughts!

And this too shall continue later. . .