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BlogHere are the thoughts and news of the people in our community. Leave a comment as you wish. If you want to join the blogging ask Mark.
Tuesday, March 28, 2006Bono the Worship Leader
 This is a great post from Steve Taylor, down-under: 7 things I learnt from Bono about worhsip leading. You'll have to go there to get the details, but here are the seven things: 1. Connect uniquely. While I am on worship, the latest Worship Development Team "DI Magazine" is now on-line. Spot the famous contributor!?!? Posted by: Mark | 8:21 am |
Monday, March 27, 2006What's your hope?
 lol! Posted by: Mark | 10:20 am |
Thursday, March 23, 2006Exciting New DevelopmentsWell, I think they are exciting developments! I have modified thte blog template today so that every post has it's own web page. Go on try it. Click on the time reference at the bottom of this post... The reason why this matters to me is that now I can reference an individual post, rather than just on old archive that includes all the posts from that month. For example do you remember this post on the trinity. There is another blog I found that references this post, but when you click on their link it is hard to know which one they meant. Now all that is solved. What I would really like is: to have 'tags' or 'categories' that each post is stored under so that it is easy to pull up all posts about a particular thing. This article on web 2.0 has really got me thinking on this. If you are at all interested in the internet then this article is a must read. Below are a few bullet points that intrigue me from them.
[Click here for some highlights] Posted by: Mark | 2:59 pm |
Blog Word Map
 This is an interesting way to picture this blog. I am fairly happy with the outcome. It kinda reflects what we value here, I think!! You can get a t-shirt with it on if you want... [but why!?] [ht Maggi Dawn] technorati tags:tags
Posted by: Mark | 9:38 am
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Monday, March 20, 2006"I desire mercy not sacrifice"
"While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew's house, many tax collectors and "sinners" came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and 'sinners'?" I don't know if you think it is a bit mad quoting these verses during Lent and a season of prayer and fasting [especially when I am fasting booze!]. But these verses struck me as I was reading them recently. It is classic in a period of fasting to think a lot about what we are giving up, what we are giving for the Lord. But you soon learn that Jesus was not impressed or interested by that kind of personal piety that makes you good about yourself but has not interest in others. I guess this is why the period of Lent has always had the sense of service towards others. "I desire mercy not sacrifice" Christian spirituality is never an individual affair. Never just "me and Jesus". It always takes us beyond oursleves; outside of ourselves to others. Jesus instructs the Pharisees to "Go and learn it". Otherwise the healthy get healthier and the sick get sicker. "Wisdom is proved right by her actions" Is it wise to eat with 'sinners'. Is it right to have the risk of being associated ith them, of being called "a drunkard and a glutton". Jesus says look at the fruit, look at the result of such topsy-turvey wisdom. Luke quotes this verse too in Luke 7:35, right before he tells the story of Jesus ebing anounted by the 'sinful woman'. Here is the fruit of such wisdom, of such friendship - a woman pouring out love affection and 'worship' at Jesus feet. Go and learn, think, consider what it might mean for you to act according to "I desire mercy not sacrifice". [You may want to read Isaiah 58 as you do...] Labels: discipleship, reflective, theology Posted by: Mark | 1:57 pm |
A Photo Blog
 Been meaning to link to this for a while. I have this blog's RSS feed on my bloglines; I love some of the photos this guy has. [By the way if you don't know what bloglines is, it is a great way to track various blogs or other websites that have an RSS feed. Bloglines checks the websites and lets you know when they are updated] Posted by: Mark | 1:50 pm |
The Sublime to The Ridiculous!
 Giving myself away a little bit here, but check out this little slide show of the world's 10 most expensive cars and try not to drool on the keyboard... Of course the Bugatti Veyron wins. Eschatalogoically I am a big believer in continuity - there are things in this world that will carry on into eternity. The is something *heavenly* about the Bugatti Veyron. So I've booked one of those in the New Creation [I'm guessing the creation destroying effects will have been resolves during the transistion...?] You may also been interested to know that Salt and Light have begun to publish the talks from the recent leaders conference on their website for free. No Tom Wright ones yet [although the ones fomr 2 years ago are here], but I am guessing they will come. As I said before I recommend: Why Christ, not Krishna - Martin Goldsmith Spoiled by Splendour - Nikki Sudlow **** Update: NT Wright mp3's are now up from the Leaders conference **** Plus, if you have broadband you will laugh your little socks off at this video: Baby got Book. Really, watch it... Posted by: Mark | 1:15 pm |
Even More Season of Prayer Quotes:Some of these deserve blogs posts of their own, but, well, not today! Just one day left of the Season of Prayer! "How can God speak to us if we don't take time to listen? Quietness is essential to listening. If we are too busy to listen, we won't hear. It takes time and quietness to prepare to listen to God."
Posted by: Mark | 1:09 pm
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Charles Stanley "An unschooled man who knows how to meditate upon the Lord has learned far more than the man with the highest education who does not know how to meditate." Charles Stanley "To pray is to change. Prayer is the central avenue God uses to transform us. If we are unwilling to change, we will abandon prayer as a noticeable characteristic of our lives. The more we pray, the more we come to heartbeat of God. Prayer starts the communication process between ourselves and God. All the options of life fall before us. At that point we will either forsake our prayer life and cease to grow, or we will pursue our prayer life and let Him change us. Either option is painful. To not grow in His likeness is to not enjoy his fulness. When this happens, a haunting voice continues to ask, 'What could I have become in him if I would have been a man of prayer?’'To grow in His likeness is to enjoy His fullness. When this happens, the priorities of the world begin to fade away." Richard Foster "I saw more clearly than ever, that the first great and primary business to which I ought to attend every day was, to have my soul happy in the Lord. The first thing to be concerned about was not, how I might serve the Lord, how I might glorify the Lord; but how I might get my soul into a happy state, and how my inner man may be nourished.... I saw that the most important thing I had to do was to give myself to the reading of the Word of God and to meditation of it." George Mueller of Bristol "I have lived to thank God that not all my prayers have been answered." Jean Ingelow There is a place where thou canst touch the eyes Of blinded men to instant, perfect sight; There is a place where thou canst say, "Arise" To dying captives, bound in chains of night; There is a place where thou canst reach the store Of hoarded gold and free it for the Lord; There is a place--upon some distant shore-- Where thou canst send the worker and the Word. Where is that secret place--dost thou ask, "Where?" O soul, it is the secret place of prayer! Alfred Lord Tennyson
Tuesday, March 14, 2006When I say...I quite like this... WHEN I SAY... Thanks to Sivin Kit Posted by: Mark | 1:33 pm |
Friday, March 10, 2006Season of Prayer Quotes:
"Pursuing prayer is prayer on a mission. It is diligent, fervent, constant, persevering, determined, and convinced."
Posted by: Mark | 7:45 pm
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David Bryant "All I know is that when I pray, coincidences happen; and when I don't pray, they don't happen." Dan Hayes "Prayer is the expression of dependence on God; the belief that we cannot do it on our own" Mark Norridge ;o)
Wednesday, March 08, 2006Conferences, conferences
 Actually while I am on conferences, I wish I was going to this: Mission 21 conference. In fact if it had fallen on a different week of the year [bar a few others...] then i probably would have. It could be quite a significant gathering. Mark M and Steve P are gonna be there though, so I'll get the latest from them :o). P.S. Clearly green is the conference colour this year... Posted by: Mark | 11:07 am |
Tuesday, March 07, 2006Forum for the future "Innovation & Transformation"
 For those who are interested [that'll be just me then...] I am planning to go to this conference with some guys from Derby at the end of April. It looks great! Alan Hirsch is speaking at it. Did I mention he liked my Incarnational Mission article?! Also I have added an article on Easter called Easter Past and Present which I wrote for the Direct Input magazine, that was issued last weekend. Tell me what you think of it! Posted by: Mark | 2:59 pm |
More Season of Prayer Quotes: "Work, work, from morning until late at night. In fact, I have so much to do that I shall have to spend the first three hours in prayer."
Posted by: Mark | 2:30 pm
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Martin Luther "Nothing tends more to cement the hearts of Christians than praying together. Never do they love one another so well as when they witness the outpouring of each other's hearts in prayer." Charles Finney "In fasting, we are free from compulsion and self-centered living." Karl Thienes "Prayer lays hold of God's plan and becomes the link between His will and its accomplishment on earth. Amazing things happen, and we are given the privilege of being the channels of the Holy Spirit's prayer." Elisabeth Elliot "When at night you cannot sleep, talk to the Shepherd and stop counting sheep." Author unknown [or was to embarrassed to confess!] "When prayer is a struggle, do not worry about the prayers that you cannot pray. You yourself are a prayer to God at that moment. All that is within you cries out to Him, and He hears all the pleas that your suffering soul and body are making to Him with groanings which cannot be uttered." O. Hallesby "What seem our worst prayers may really be, in God’s eyes, our best. Those, I mean, which are least supported by devotional feeling. For these may come from a deeper level than feeling. God sometimes seems to speak to us most intimately when he catches us, as it were, off our guard." C.S. Lewis
Thursday, March 02, 2006Prophetic Imagination "The prophet engages in future fantasy. The prophet does not ask if the vision can be implemented... The imagination must come before the implementation. Our culture is competent to implement almost anything and to imagine almost nothing.... Every totalitarian regime is frightened of the artist. It is the vocation of the prophet to keep alive the ministry of imagination, to keep conjuring and proposing alternative futures." Walter Brueggemann
Posted by: Mark | 8:01 pm
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Wednesday, March 01, 2006TodayToday I should be reading hard. Thursday and Friday I am attedning the Salt and Light Theological forum and I haven't yet completed the reading. The main topic is a biblical view of Divorce. Particularly looking at a new view from Instone-Brewer challenging traditional evangelical understanding. So I have to read books on either side:  Wenham and Heth "Jesus and Divorce" and  D Instone-Brewer "Divorce and Remarriage in the Church". I haven't ever really looked into it so in should be interesting. Also interesting is the fact that Heth hsa changed his mind from his original position. If you are interested in getting a feel for the debate then just read Heth's paper on why he changed his mind.  The other topic is reviewing a book called Younger Evangelicals. Fortunately I have read this one, but need to skim it again. I also think it is extremely helpful in looking at church trends among young leaders. We will see how that goes. Posted by: Mark | 11:05 am |
More churches closing than opening survey finds This is an interesting article from ekklesia. A couple of interesing quotes: "The Methodist Church suffered a net loss of about 300 churches, and the Church of England fell by more than 100 during this period. "The headline figures however mask underlying changes which saw more than 1,000 new Christian churches also created.Posted by: Mark | 9:17 am |
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