GHOSTING (P.S.I)

I love my sports and heres one I think is going to catch on...

Alan Hirsch

Ive been at Forge Mission Conference and the Youth workers and interns conference this weekend, they're all tied in together. Its been pretty good. My highlight so far has been listening to Alan Hirsch.

He's basically told us that we have been getting discipled by our culture, through materialism, consumerism etc and that the church is in decline in the one third world. Both statements are true. He then goes on to say that China which rose from 2 million people to 130 million people in 60 years without "leaders and buildings" is the pattern for us to follow.

People ask him how they did it. And he likes to get people in a room and not let them get out or get a drink until they've worked out how. "Everybody knows how, they just dont act on it." I believe this is true. Often we overlook how simple the message is. We also have a problem with leaders. That is, we rely on them.

The Biblical way of leadership is not based on "leadership" but rather what we are set to be... Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Shepherds and Teachers. (Ephesians) Then he says when they all work together it works. It creates a movement. But we dont operate in that system. "Every movement in decline is driven by shepherds and teachers." You need the APE at the front, they're the ones that pick up steam. I could say so much more, but I'll leave it for my next post...
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Heres a couple of quotes for you to look at in the mean time...

"In my redemption is the redemption of the world.

"Our loss of eschatology has led to a loss of urgency

"Father Christmas (Santa Clause) is a materialistic pedophile

On consumerism, tv etc "Everyday we are being discipled into another story.

"The culture is discipling us, not Jesus

He explained how in Australia we have the Tall Poppy Syndrome, where we cut down to size our leaders, heroes etc This makes leading people hard... In the USA they have Heroe Worship, ite easier to lead people as they follow champions... We need to find a new Champion following...

"The basic message is "Jesus is Lord." Easy to understand, hard to follow...

"The best critique of the bad is the practice of the better.

"Pacify now is spiritual and moral cowardice.

"You're designed to achieve what your already achieving.

I havent been blogging anywhere near as much as I would have liked but ive been busy! Its good though. Beginning to see some fruit from all the work we've been doing at Plenty Valley!
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heres a couple of thoughts, 1) Isnt it amazing how when some leaders ask you to go out of your way to do something you will plainly say no, but when a different leader, one who has earnt your trust and respect asks the same thing you willingly say ok? Im amazed at Johnothan sticking up for David in 1 Samuel...
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Salvo Surfers was fantastic! Had a ball! Got some waves and had alot of fun! A big thank you to Torquay Surf Academy for cheap wetsuit hire and another big thank you to Torquay Holiday Resort for the cheap camp site! God bless those people!
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The other day I was kicking the footy at church when a youth walked past. I ran up and introduced myself etc. Then today I got a phone call from a youth ive been hanging with a bit and asked if Id come play basketball with him. Of course I said ok, but what blew me away was that the guy who I asked the other day is this guys next door neighbour and he brought his friend aswell to come and play today! hahaha God is here!
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Prayer points! Got lots starting up at Plenty Valley Youth this term! Gonna get real busy!
1) Homework club
2) Youth Group
3) Youth Church with small groups etc
4) Basketball team
5) Salvo Surfers
6) Kids Church
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Blogs coming up:
some surf culture Kingdom lessons
lots of LISTS

Purpose Driven Church Confrence

On Friday I got to go to the "Purpose Driven Church Confrence" down in Geelong. I was a bit apprehensive at first (didnt know whatthey were going to say) but it turned out to be exceptionally good!

The basic gist was that God has given His church a purpose and if we follow His purposes a) we'll be healthy and b) we'll grow...

They had some great points on how to grow a church/evangelism...
1) Know what you are fishing for
2) Learn to think like a fish
3) Go where the fish are
4) Find the fish that are hungry
5) Use more than 1 hook
6) Fish for the kind of fish you caqn best catch

I like that thinking, it validated alot of thoughts Ive had lately...

Alos spoke about small groups etc. I was leaning quite heavily towards house churches with a prayer or celebration service before the onfrence but thats all changed now... sort of...

Purposes of the church:
1) Worship
2) Evangelism
3) Fellowship
4) Discipleship
5) Ministry

So small groups will work really well for some of those, and corporate works well for others...

Preached last night. Think it went well... Pray something of what was said sunk in and that the Holy Ghost continues to convict...

Holiday program starts tomorrow! Busy busy busy, especially with Easter camp coming up! Im helping organise an evangelism thing on camp, and Im doing the early morning knee drill! So Ive got lots to do.

Gods timing keeps amazing me, Ive been re-reading the old testament and i just so happend to be up to the Passover passage! We've got a passover meal at church tomorrow... timely.... God is good

and when He sees the blood on the lintel and the two doorposts, the LORD will passover the door and not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to strike you. Exodus 12:23

"this cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is shed for you" Luke 22:20

Hallelujah. Pray the blood.

Army advances!

Good news people! I heard about this the other day but thought Id blog it, taken from New Frontier publications:

When William Booth died, The Salvation Army existed in 56 countries. With the opening of this new outpost in Saipan, that number officially doubled, as Saipan became the 112th nation to fly the Army flag.

Hallelujah!

Also, went to a Purpose driven church confrence today, fantastic but more about that later!

Structure of the church

Here’s the basic structure of how a church meets together,

1) Call to worship
2) Songs
3) Bible reading
4) Songs
5) Sermon
6) Songs

We have a pretty much professionalised service, we have priests, altars, rituals, non members and a lot of members are in the audience as spectators. Leaders have power and authority. This structure really doesn’t change. It hasn’t changed since it came into being in the fourth century when Constantine made Christianity the official religion.

My last blog showed how ineffective that structure is for getting people saved and discipled.

Up until Constantine the church had been meeting in homes and in open spaces as a big group for a celebration. People were added to their numbers daily. Jesus never said anything about congregations. If we look at all churches around the world, the ones that are actually growing are the ones that have small groups that multiply themselves.

Is it a coincidence, that when Christians get together in their homes, share their possessions and lives, pray and eat together and include all people whether saved or not, that people get saved and discipled? Why do we bother with this other structure that only works once in a blue moon?

What would happen if we stopped all Sunday congregations and instead decided to have house churches or cell/Bible study groups? How many people would we loose? Now, why would we loose them? Because they like the structure of the church as it is, they are comfortable with it, even though the structure we have is not effective!

There can be some problems with house churches, please raise them with me and I’ll discuss them in my next blog! Until then, how bout this as a picture of church:

42They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. 44All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. 46Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47praising God and enjoying the favour of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. Acts 2:42-47

ME CHURCH

Ive been reading a book by Wolfgang Simson called "House Churches that change the world." So far it is FANTASTIC!

A church had 50 new people come to an evangelistic meeting, no one got saved or stayed on at the church but the pastor told someone, "Its ok, we're following them up."

Now, most people I know would say that the majority of people get saved through relationmships etc outside of the church building, service etc. Rather its by people evangelising them, talking and journeying with them outside the church.

Why do we put so much emphasis on "church" if it doesnt get people saved o discipled? Its simply not working. Some churches grow yes. But when we look at the population of Australia and see how many are getting saved we're not making any in-roads. WHY?

Is it that people dont want the gospel or we as Christians arent taking them the gospel? In all of my talks to people at target, 614, people on the street etc, from looking at tv shows, songs on the radio, books and magazines in secular Australia, there is NO DOUBT IN MY MIND THAT PEOPLE ARE SEARCHING! So what is wrong?




The definition of crazy, "Doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result." Are we doing that with church? Are we trying to reinvent something that DOES NOT WORK? Why is church as it it? What is its purpose?

From looking at it, its for those already saved, people possibly too traditional, too comfortable to jump out of the boat and into the sea to save souls. Am I being too harsh?I dont think so. But, what do you think about church? Is it effective? (Also, take a look at Mike Colemans blog which talks about the state of TSA...)

I'll explain some of my therefores in later posts....

IM SO EXCITED IM GOING TO SCREAM! GOD IS DOING AWESSOME THINGS IN THIS TERRITORY AND HAS BIG THINGS COMING UP!

STEPHEN COURT AND DANIELLE STRICKLAND, TWO HEROES OF MINE HAVE BEEN APPOINTED TO OUR TERRITORY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Stephen - Assistant Personel Secretary: Leadership/Officer DevelopmentDanielle - Territorial Social Justice Director

RRAY FOR THEM!!!!! BRING ON REVIVAL!!!

Friday night me and a few friends had a prayer meeting at the training college. We all have a similar heart for mission, we all come from different corps, so we thought we'd get together, pray then go do some outreach.

We started off by praying. Then we realised that sarah and greg werent baptised in the Holy Spirit so we prayed for them. We started off with sarah and I read and prayed Acts 2 over her, she was then slain in the Holy Spirit! The Holy Spirit knocked her over!

Then we prayed for Greg. I prayed the Corinthians spiritual gifts passage over Him. Sarah who was just baptised in the Holy Spirit started seeing visions of the Holy Spirit swirling around Greg as we prayed for him, then she saw Jesus come and stand with us! Greg was then slain in the Holy Spirit!

Then we started praying for Pete, again I used Scripture! Sarah again had visions as we were praying for him, and again he was slain the Holy Spirit!Then we were talking, I asked Greg, 'were you speaking in tongues?" He said, "I wasnt saying anything" and then Jo said "Yeah, you were praying in tongues!"

Then we prayed for me. I was determined to stand as long as I could, but when Pete prayed a Booth Tucker quote or something about getting as many people saved in the smallest amount of time, I was slain in the Holy Spirit!

Then we prayed for Jo. I had my Bible opend to a passage, but then I asked her what she wanted prayer for, she answered power. And guess what the opening line of the passage I had was? Be strong in the Lord and His mighty power! So we prayed for her and she was slain in the Holy Spirit!

Then we prayed for Simon! We had to pray for breakthrough and of course it came! Again, Sarah and I had visions as we prayed for him!And all of a sudden Sarah put both her hands on Simon and he flew to the ground! Again slain in the Holy Spirit!

Then we went out on the streets. Helped some drunks get home and get looked after. Then we went to the hospital and prayed for some people in the emergency room!I know that as we went there I was feeling very faithless, but I still prayed and am getting more confident now. I look forward to the day when we're all on fire, full of faith and see miracles in the hospital and on the streets! Its going to happen, and it will happen soon!

Anyway, long post again... worth it though! Praise God! And if you havent been baptised in the Holy Spirit get some friends together pray for it and see God do something new in your life!

Havent blogged for a bit! So heres something...

The other night, me saz, simon and tish prayed together at the training college thenlet God take us wherever He wanted. All we did was just pray and ask God "Where do you want us to go?" and once we were there we were like "what do you want us to do?"

It was really cool how God told all of us where to go. It was all the same place!!! God was sooo amongst it all!

We did some Spiritual warfare, prophecy, alot of praying and a bit of evangelism! It was great to see God using our personalities and gifts etc while we were in an intentional team! It worked really well!

We're not sure what we actually achieved but its a start of an exciting new ministry for us all! I know I have a strong sense that God is teaching us how to do that sort of thing and that over time as we develop our gifts God will glorify His name in SUPERNATURAL ways!

If you wanna know more call, leave a comment or email me! And pray for us coz we wana see people saved, healed, delivered etc!