Stinky Convoluted Past

Friday, January 30, 2004

  Off to {neurotribe.net}...
Well, I have decided that it is time to start my own blog. I seem to be the only one blogging here and (a) I don't want everyone thinking I speak for the whole site here and (b) there is some more personal stuff related to me and the journey of my own community that I want to record, so you can catch me at neurotribe.net...
:: :: Stephen :: 4:50 PM

Monday, January 12, 2004

  Gearing up for the week...
And what a big week it will be! First up is Soul Survivor in Melbourne. We are doing gigs on Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. Then for me, it is off to Perth in Western Australia for AMUC. I just got an email from my mate Steve McKinnon in Perth and he has organised some great catch up times with some key emerging church and urban mission leaders there. I am so excited!
:: :: Stephen :: 8:41 AM

Wednesday, January 07, 2004

  Intensive Time
Working on putting together the February Intensive. The intensives are always a good time to catch up with mates in mission, and also to see new faces on the scene. We were truly inspired by the open night at the December intensive. I think we have really turned a corner. It is no longer a matter of trying to agitate for change, change is upon us. It was evidenced by the crowd of just over 130 people (mostly in their 20's) listening to Mike Frost inspire us to mission. It was one of the most moving events for me last year.

We are expecting about 40 participants this February and have tinkered a fair bit with the program. I hope it works out to plan.
:: :: Stephen :: 9:04 AM

Monday, January 05, 2004

  That other thing I do...
I thought that I might also keep tabs on our fledgling missional community as it develops too.

Well, we finished up a week before Christmas and are planning a kickoff at the end of Jan. The idea here is to think about the disciplines that will act as our core. Think of it as an embodied mission statement rather than one you write down on paper. As Greg (one of the community members said once) "we should ask other people what they think our values are to see how we are going..."
:: :: Stephen :: 9:23 AM

  Technology
Here I am at the start of a new year, with a great refreshing break behind me and my laptop dies two days before I start back at work! Sheesh...

So here I am waiting for the Dell technician to arrive. I had such grand plans for the day.

Anyhoo, hooking up with Rob Lutton from GIA to talk about this conference idea we have been kicking around for emerging leaders in Australia. It is pretty much all systems go, just a matter of getting a core team together then off we go! Looks like we might even have Tony Campolo as the keynote for the first one...
:: :: Stephen :: 9:23 AM

Monday, December 08, 2003

  End of an Internship
I finished my Fore Internship last week. I mean I still have the second half of the second essay to write, but essentially, I have finished the practical component of a year long missional internship. It is bizarre...

I have worked for Forge for the last 5 years or so and this is the first time I did it as an intern. It was a powerfully transforming experience. I must say that the biggest transformation has been the one in my heart. The people that I have gotten to know have snuck under my academic and intellectual radar and landed direct hits on my heart.

I would never have said I was an evangelist (and still don't) and would never confess to having "God's hear for people", but I tell you what, if what is going on, inside of me is what church people mean when they talk about having God's heart for people, I must admit, I like it.
:: :: Stephen :: 3:54 PM

Wednesday, November 26, 2003

  Advent
The other thing was that the household (we have a share house) has just begun advent together. I kicked off the reflection and asked the question, "if Jesus was coming to dinner Christmas Christmas eve, what would we be doing?", and there were interesting responses. The two main ones were wanting to brush up on who the visitor is so we could have an interesting evenings conversation, and the other was "clean the house".

We used this as a metaphor to talk about what we needed to do to "clean our house" or as the CHristmas carol says "prepare a room". Interesting times. I will keep you poseted.
:: :: Stephen :: 12:51 PM

  Haven't blogged for ages. It is the end of the year, the time when all the essays are due. It has been a pretty tough year, and I had to remind myself that I have visited two different countries this year and spent about 2 months overseas. I do not know how people do it for a living.

The year is coming to and end and there are some pretty big vocational changes that I will hopefully be able to share over the next few weeks. Personally, I am looking forward to hanging out with Lisa for a few weeks as we go camping and I do my best to forget everything related to life outside of my own and our little town of Hurstbridge.

In terms of satisfaction, I have been leading the development on Tear's new youth and young adult website www.advoc8.org/dev

At least I can point to something that is finished. Almost...
:: :: Stephen :: 12:45 PM

Friday, October 24, 2003

  Love
I think I am in love. For the small fee of $20 US I am free of spam! This little application kills spam before it gets to your inbox so you don't waste valuable bandwidth. I hope you don't mind the plug, I was just so excited. It is not uncommon for me to get 120 emails a day and 100 of them are spam. I should be less stressful these days.

Had a good catchup with my mate Adam, one of the mad men who is involved in our great experiment we call missional community. A complete tangent during our lunch (yummy Yum Cha!) was the incredible influence Jerry Bruckheimer has had on our lives! Have a look at this list and tell me he hasn't had a huge impact on you! Bloody hell! Just found out Peter Jackson is doing King Kong from the same website! How cool!

Had a great time this morning with the Baptist Youth pastors. We talked about developing holistic frameworks of spirituality for youth to sustain them as they engage the world as they get older. It was a fascinating conversation. I was effectively preaching to the converted. They have asked me to put together a short article for their web site. Yeah, more work. I guess I could always cross post on Phuture.
:: :: Stephen :: 3:00 PM

  Baptismo
I am off to see the Baptists, the wonderful Baptists of Oz... (To the tune of "The Wizard of Oz)...

How very extemporaneous of me?

Been asked to share with some Baptist Youth Pastors this morning what I'm thinking about this morning and to challenge them. I think I am going to talk about Ruth (see Tue Sept 30th post) and get them thinking about the long term effects of Youth Ministry. I hope it will be in insightful and stretching conversation...
:: :: Stephen :: 6:50 AM