Desperate
Have you ever been desperate? Really desperate? So desperate that it drove you to your knees in prayer? I have been there. Often. Really desperate for God to hear and answer my prayers. One time of desperation I remember so vividly. My wife Jeannie and I moved to a new city to plant a church. W...
I might get into trouble for saying this, but I am not a fan of the usual 'meet and greet' times in so many of our churches. Oh, it might work well for people who are regulars at church. They do this every Sunday as they sit in the same pews or seats, and they usually shake the hands of the same people. Week in, week out. ...
I always found catching fish easier than cleaning fish. Not that I am that good at catching fish, but cleaning fish is not easy. It smells. Your hands become filthy. The fish is so slippery that it moves all over the place. And what do you do with all the guts? Years ago I would bury the guts in the gr...
The Australian cultural landscape is changing, and changing rapidly. More than 20% of Australians speak a language other than English at home. 1 out of 4 Australians were born overseas. 50% of Australians have an overseas parent. Australians identify with over 270 ancestral backgrounds. And all of this in a ...
God found a young man who refused to miss a prayer meeting as he cried to the Lord: "Bend me!" This young man, Evan Roberts, was used by God as an instrument to see the gospel spread like wild fire during the Welsh revival in the early 1900's. Roberts began asking God for a 100,000 lost to be found and brought to fai...
I did a dirt experiment. I wanted to grow some spinach seedlings to transplant into our veggie patch. I picked up the cheapest bag of dirt at the local garden supply store - $2.99. The dirt looked clumpy, full of bits and pieces of who knows what. I dropped the seeds into the individual pods of 'cheap' dirt. It too...
Growing up I never was really good at catching fish! Perhaps I lacked the patience required. Perhaps it was because I grew up in the city away from easy access to rivers and lakes. Whatever the reason, when I put a line and hook in the water, I did not catch fish. Until I met my wife. She grew up right beside a river. &nb...
A challenge in full-time gospel work is to free up time. There is just so much that can and needs to be done. As we seek to grow healthy churches and plant new churches, as a denomination our GROW strategy includes encouraging full time ordained ministers to re-evaluate their timetable and responsibilities to free up time (for example,...
