Topics for Young Adults  

17 comments Posted by Andrew

We're starting a young adults group that meets once a fortnight. I thought it would be a good idea to have something where people can put up a few ideas for what we can discuss. Some I thought might be good are:

-Predestination
-Hell, literal or figurative?
-Is the bible inerrant?
-Maybe something along the lines of critiques of the Baptist church

Much appreciated if you could give feedback on those and also come up with your own ideas on what we could do.

Church & Hell in a Dead Heat?  

1 comments Posted by Ian

Now here is some pretty powerful writing and mind-bending thinking with honesty, openness and questions of breathtaking proportions. The comments are worth a read too!

This is surely something to discuss or follow up at NapBap Young Adults?

Hat-tip to SmileyChris and RLP

Backbone or Spineless?  

0 comments Posted by Andrew


Here's the quote, that I mentioned on Sunday, that's been haunting me ever since I didn't respond to having a Passion for the Poor:

"The individual activity of one person with backbone will do more than a thousand people with a mere wishbone."

Black Ops  

9 comments Posted by Andrew

Sorry bout the poor quality. This is what NBC gets up to on the weekend...

Baptising Politics  

4 comments Posted by Andrew

I get very scared when I see politics being baptised. For a frightening example of this go and read here. The problem with this is it is too much of a cartoon picture. It's so ridiculous and weird, it's funny. But, the reality is that politics is the driver for a lot of our theology (views about God). Who you vote for says a lot about your views of the Christian faith. I'm treading carefully here because it's easy to step on landmines on these issues. For some people, they can't believe Christians would vote Labour. For other people, they can't believe that Christians would vote National! Within our church we would have people right across the range: from people who vote for the Greens through to people who vote for the Destiny party. I have 2 questions:

1). How do we co-exist? (Jesus prays in John 17:11b - "Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one."

2). Faith and politics are always inter-related because voting is based on convictions just as faith is based on convictions. However, how can faith transcend politics? Could you change who you vote for because of the gospel (e.g. from National to Labour or vice versa)? Or does who you vote for determine your Christian faith?

Will It Blend?  

3 comments Posted by Andrew

Brilliant!

I know what Love is  

0 comments Posted by ~Josie~

The other day I was listening to the radio, when a regular played song came on. It has quite a catchy beat and I started singing along. Its basically just this guy singing about his girlfriend, and how great she is…. blah, blah, blah. (Aren’t most songs about that these days?!)
Anyway, one of the lines was “She’s always ringing my phone, she’s even got her very own ring tone. If that’s not love, then I don’t know what love is.”
As I was singing along, I couldn’t help but think how glad I was that my God, in whom I have given my life and intend to live my life for, knows a greater love than this guy. The guy that’s singing this song thinks that love is giving someone his or her own ring tone. My God’s kind of love is one in which, he loves me so much that he sent his only son to die for me. His love is so big, that he made a great plan for my life before I was born. He loves every single person in the world with this kind of love.

I am so grateful, that me and the Person that I would most likely sing a song about, that praises them, (just as this one does about the guys girlfriend)- we have such a greater love than giving each other their own ring tone. I feel sorry for whoever wrote that song, because they clearly dont know what real love is! Gods love is awesome!
(No offence to anyone who likes this song – It’s a great song, but yea)

Close to Home  

0 comments Posted by Andrew

I love Real Live Preacher. He is a profound and yet simple writer - unravelling the depths of life in a way that most of us can't - even though we experience them, we can't name them with the clarity he can... He's my favourite author at the moment. He's just written a couple of posts on Foy that in parts are very close to home for me (don't read too much into that, it goes with the territory). If you want to know a little about how easy it is to lose your identity in a church - go and check them out:
Part 1 is here.
Part 2 (my favourite so far) is here.

Shift Happens  

0 comments Posted by Andrew

Following my post on Geekdom, Lauren reminded me not to be afraid of being a 'word nerd' (my new favourite title). BAndy then made connections between 'word nerds' and computer geeks. This clip is for all the computer geeks in the world. Looks like good news BAndy if you're studying I.T.: Shift Happens

Hat Tip: Prodigal Kiwis

Pride Comes Before a Fall  

2 comments Posted by Andrew

Corey Otto, an Australian Indoor Cricket player, was the fastest bowler in the world of Indoor Cricket at the 2004 Indoor Cricket World Cup held in Wellington New Zealand. One News, NZ TV channel, sent a reporter to go and check out just how fast he is. The reporter was fairly cocky and gave Corey some lip. Then he tried to face up to Corey with a bat - bad idea:

Gollygate  

2 comments Posted by Andrew

I've been staying at the Summer St Manse of Ponsonby Baptist. It's a swanky sort of place, full of style and class. But the tension here has been electric - you could cut it with a knife. I innocently came expecting a nice time with friends but found myself embroiled in the turmoil now known as Gollygate! Accusations flying everywhere. Nick (the prosecution) says of Golly (the defendant) "On Thursday Golly (the dog, so named because he’s black) ate an entire apple cake that Julian baked." Go here to find out more...


The fall out of Gollygate has been huge - Nick is refusing to even acknowledge Golly's presence! Now you'd think with a therapist and 2 pastors in the house that Nick and Golly could be shown the way to resolving their their differences. Shake hands, lick each other's faces, sniff each other's butts and get on with it. But no, the tension hovering over Summer St has been like a linguist listening to a George Bush speech! That was until Brian came over for a yoga session. I'd never met Brian but I over the night of yoga and eating pizza I came to love the man - what's not to love about a man who passionately helps you to understand more about Jacques Derrida? (even though he told me I looked 40). Things are different when Brian's in the room - life is good. Brian blew away the dark clouds of Gollygate that surrounded Summer St and now all things have been made new:

Thanks Brian!

Geekdom  

3 comments Posted by Andrew

I've been holed up in a little study corral at Carey Baptist College for the last week. There's books and journal articles everywhere. Now, I could pretend that this is all really oppressive and woe is me but the reality is I LOVE IT! I am a geek and I love reading books and doing study. I am in my element in this pokey study corral. I am a geek and I don't care. I love books and study.

I have books on my desk:
I have another book bag I carry with me with more books in it:
And then there's the stash of books I have in the back of my car that won't fit in my book bag:
I am a geek and I love books!

By the way, if you happen to see Mrs Picard and little Miss 6 year old Picard be extra nice to them. Mr Picard's off fueling his geekiness in the library while they're at home with bad colds. Get better soon female Picards, and then I'll come home....

More Baptism Photos  

0 comments Posted by Andrew

Here's some more photos from the baptisms the other week. I'm hoping to have some more photos soon of the baptisms and of our famous Indian Night...





Keeping the Main Thing the Main Thing - Lauren Roche  

4 comments Posted by Andrew


I'm up at Carey Baptist College for the next 2 weeks spending some focussed time on a BTh (Hons) dissertation that I'm writing on Baptistic Ecclesiology in the Context of Being a Missional Church. I won't hijack the blog with the details. Great to see Weeza has made it into the blogging world despite being 'computerically challenged'. Perhaps BAndy could be of some help? To any who wanted to know, I've gotten over my illness from Sunday. Preaching with food poisioning is no fun at all! I hope to put up some more photos of the Baptisms soon.

Now, go and check out Lauren Roche's website. Go now and do it! Lauren is a member of our church and was among the 6 awesome people we baptised last Sunday. She is a frequent visitor and commentor to this blog (Lauren, if you're keen to write posts on this blog - let me know). She has written two amazing books on her life and is a truly inspirational person. Lauren's books, so far, are Bent not Broken and Life on the Line - they are inspirational. On the one hand they are an incredibly harrowing read (many parts brought me to tears) because Lauren has been through hell, on the other hand they are an incredibly inspiring and hopeful read (and many of these parts brought me to tears) because Lauren is such a brave and courageous woman that not even hell itself could hold her down. I haven't asked Lauren if this is true, and if you think it isn't Lauren, then please correct me. I wonder if somewhere and somehow in the midst of Lauren's life, God's hand and God's resurrecting power was at work - even when she didn't know it? I have given Lauren's book to a person trying to turn their life around, because Lauren refuses to shrink from being truthful about the ugliness and evil that exists in life while at the same time refusing to give up on hope. This person found her books very inspiring and planned to come to her baptism (having never been in a church for 10 or more years) but at the last minute couldn't make it because of family reasons. Lauren's courage to write about her life from drug abusing teen stripper and protitute to medical doctor helped to give hope to this person's, and many other people's lives and futures.

I love Lauren's excitement for life, her strength, her hope and the ribbon of steel that runs through her that won't compromise on love and hope. Already (see comments on last post), Lauren has reminded us of the significance of staying focussed on the heart of the Christian faith - "Let's not be Christians who tell the world what we are against, but show everyone what we stand for. Rather than shutting down other faiths, let's live The Word and have others say 'I want what they're having'. I'm new to this - perhaps it's all been said a zillion times before. I have a freshness of Faith to believe we can do it. Who wants to start?"

Wow! Who's inspired by this? I certainly am! So who's in? Lauren, and all the people at Napier Baptist, please help to keep us focussed on the main thing and if you ever think I'm shrinking or chickening out of showing the depth and breadth of God's love in Christ, then feel free to give me a swift kick up the bum and get me back on track to keep the main thing the main thing!

Let me not forget to mention Lauren's wonderful husband Murray, who is also a treasured part of Napier Baptist.

Computerically Challenged!  

1 comments Posted by Weeza

Hey ya'll, So, Ive finally added myself to this blog thing, but I SO dont understand how it all works- im so computerically challenged- let me tell you!! I'm hoping that now that Ive made this new post, that my name will appear on the list with all ya'll- here's hoping...
Anyways, hows ya'll doing??- Holidays!!!! fun fun fun- fun for everyone...oh, apart from those that arent on holiday...my bad

MOMENTS OF SAVAGE JOY  

6 comments Posted by Andrew

"Moments of savage joy are there for all of us to find. If you haven’t seen one lately, you only need to slow down a bit and keep your eyes open. I can give you no counsel beyond that. But if you come across a moment of wild, untamed joy, for God’s sake eat it; drink it; hear it; receive it. This is the stuff of life. It doesn’t get any better."

You've got to read this from Real Live Preacher. With 2 beautiful daughters, I know something of what he describes.

Hat Tip to Maggi Dawn

Baptism Service!  

11 comments Posted by ~Josie~

Hey guys!
Now that I am "super christian girl" I have agreed to join the blog! Haha
It was a really awesome, encouraging and emotional service.
PAndy you did a great job - thanks heaps =)
Tessa got some really awesome photos...







....And there is more where that came from (Theres photos of everyone that got dunked, but I could only fit this many on) , just let me know if you want some.
I know the Beavens got some cool ones too =)



AN INDEX TO YOUR FAITH  

4 comments Posted by Andrew


This is an old post that I thought I'd repost in light of our renewed discussion on worship. It's from when I ran a weekend retreat on worship at our church:

"No blood was spilt on the carpet over the weekend. This is no mean feat when you have a room full of people who are very talented and passionate musicians and you are trying to ask questions about the content of some of their favourite songs! We all had a great time exploring what is worship and what are we trying to do on a Sunday morning? We had some very robust discussions at times where we let our differences grow us (I hope). I suggested that Sunday worship is less about creating a certain "experience" for people and more about spiritual formation of the people of God. Less about "getting something out of it" and more about growing a gospel people. Rather than making experience primary and trying to create some emotions we need to be faithful to the gospel (content) and allow that to produce it's own experiences. This will sometimes mean profound thankfulness and joy but other times lament or confession or wrestling with God. If we make experience (especially creating that warm fuzzy feeling) primary we run the risk of abusing the gospel for our own ends (i.e. creating an experience). We need to trust in the power of the gospel to grow a gospel people and allow this to create it's own experiences. My conclusion was that Sunday morning worship is about nurturing and growing a gospel people. Therefore, the content matters to make sure we are growing a gospel people and not just any sort of people.A couple of fantastic and haunting quotes I really like in my research which both come from a journal article by Kevin Vanhoozer called "Worship at the Well" in the Trinity Journal 23 (2002):"We worship what we know. If our knowledge is not deep, our worship won't be either.""Our worship [and prayer] is the index to how well we have understood our faith."And finally a quote from N.T. Wright (via Vanhoozer's article):"If your idea of God...[and] salvation offered in Christ, is vague or remote, your idea of worship will be fuzzy and ill-informed."

THE WEEKEND AHEAD...  

4 comments Posted by Andrew

I'm a sucker for punishment at times. This weekend we have our baptismal service at church (see post below). However, on Friday (tomorrow) I'm off to Rotorua to catch up with some of the people I trained for ministry with. We try to catch up as a group once a year as a sort of retreat, reflection and refreshment time. We've been in ministry for about 3 years now and it's good to catch up with others who're facing similar stuff as you. We've got George Wieland coming to join us and lead us over the weekend. George was our NT lecturer while we were at college. He's a great guy and a fantastic Christian and communicator. I'm looking forward to it.

So, I go to Rotorua Friday night and race home Saturday night for the baptisms on Sunday. Then, after the service and lunch I head off back to Rotorua to finish the weekend with my friends and come back to Napier on Monday. Any prayer would be appreciated...

I've connected a video of George lecturing at Carey College on Romans to give you a glimpse of what's in store for us




Here's a clip of some of the weirdos I'm spending the weekend with - (as I said, prayer would be appreciated!

WELCOMING DISCIPLES  

1 comments Posted by Andrew

We have 6 people who are going through the waters of baptism at Napier Baptist this Sunday. I'd like to pretend that this happens all the time - "oh, just another 6 this weekend is it!" But it doesn't happen all the time in my experience of ministry so far. So, I'm very excited. We've stopped all normal operations to come together as a church and celebrate these people being baptised this Sunday. I'm in the throws of considering an appropriate message for this baptismal Sunday and read this in Gathering for Worship: Patterns and Prayers for the Community of Disciples: “Baptism is an action instituted by Jesus Christ in which God, the believer and the Christian community are all involved. In baptism new believers confess faith and share what God has already done in their lives. Here, there is also a ‘letting go’ in which new Christians abandon themselves to the grace of God and the resurrection power of the one who overcomes the chaos of death and sets our feet on the new path of life. The waters of baptism are a meeting-place where human trust and the life giving acts of God come together.
In baptism the Church celebrates the gospel of salvation through the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ and the life-giving, new-world-creating power of the Holy Spirit. The local church is again invited to follow Jesus Christ, and is reminded that life in the Spirit, from which all true fellowship and mission flows, is an immersion into the life of the triune God and a patterning after the likeness of Christ.
In baptism, God meets us and calls us to obedience and self-offering, as the forgiveness and grace of God are given tangible form. Here, the believer is incorporated into the Church, the body of Christ. Here, God commissions us for service and witness, and promises us the presence of the Holy Spirit – a promise made explicit by the laying on of hands.”
I thought it was quite a good outline of baptism for Baptists.

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