rhythm+hue
My musings, writings, observations, ideas, & thoughts about God, Life, and following Jesus in Suburbia.
-
Archive for June, 2008
Come On!
Hey all, please take the time to click on the lips to the right of here and support me to shut up for the Homeless! So far, I have raised $2 - can’t we do better than that! Please support this cause!
Click here - http://www.everydayhero.com.au/Neal_Taylor
Posted in Australia, Fund raiser, Social Justice, church life, human rights, missional |
No Comments »The truth about what is going on in Zimbabwe right now!
This was sent to me by a good friend and Godly man who has been serving in Africa for past few years, and is from folk’s within Zimbabwe who sent this out as a plea for the Church around the World to pray for the people of Zimbabwe and to be a catalyst for action!
Warning! Some of the pictures in this article are very graphic in nature with images of the result of violence. If you are easily offended or are looking at this with kids, I would suggest waiting till you are ready.
This is what is going on right now in Zimbabwe – the Mugabe Government has termed it ‘Operation Mavoterapapi’ which translated means ‘Operation where did you vote”.
It is such a tragedy and the victims are completely at the mercy of ruthless thugs with a green light to do just as they please. The proposed run-off election is going to be more than unfair – it is a human rights travesty.
The photographs below show the charred remains of farm workers homes on Muniya Farm. (more…)
Posted in Blogging, Church, Politics, Social Justice, human rights, prayer, zimbabwe |
No Comments »Old Books?
if you have any old books, of any nature, but particularly church based, I would love to have them! If you would consider donating them to me, I am planning on starting an online second-hand bookstore in teh very near future to support the ministry I am doing in Mooroolbark and Croydon here in Melbourne.
Email me or use the contact form to let me know - and if you are an established author in the church/christian/emergent fields, I would love to talk to you about stocking your books on the site for sale here in Australia and New Zealand.
Hope to hear from you!
Posted in Australia, Fund raiser, Personal, book, croydon, missional |
No Comments »Why Mark is angry!
Mark Broadbent has two articles in the excellent Neoleader site about why he is angry about the church in the Western world. His most recent entry cites some excellent examples why we may not be experiencing success in our mission to share the gospel in Australia.
To many people I’ve met have told me that there’s a reason we are not experiencing evangelistic success in Australia: ‘Australians are just too hard to reach’. I certainly agree that we are not the most spiritual nation on Earth, but I just can’t buy into their argument.
HERE’S WHY:
We’ve given Australians every reason to walk away from Christianity…
1. Catholic priests committing pedophilia
2. TV evangelists asking for money
3. Boring Chapel Services at Private High Schools
4. Boring Church Services
5. Ned Flanders (I love the Simpsons, but Ned is not helping our cause)(If you’re not sure you agree, just watch an episode of The Chasers. They regularly find reasons to pay out Christians).
Go take a look here and here and share your comments here please!
Posted in Australia, Blogging, church life, missional |
No Comments »Victims of Fashion: Worker Abuse in USAmerican Sweatshops
The film, “Victims of Fashion” is about local sweatshops and the effects they have on the workers in the USAmerica economy, exposing audiences that sweatshop use is not only a problem in developing countries, but within USAmerican borders as well.
By: Tyler Garner, Jarrel Phillips, Jay Yu, and Tania Cervantes. This item is part of the collection: Bay Area Video Coalition: Youth. Producer: Tyler Garner, Jarrel Phillips, Jay Yu, and Tania Cervantes.
Creative Commons license: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike.
Posted in Social Justice, USA, human rights |
No Comments »Reasons Muslims Convert to Christianity
A recent survey of 750 Christians who had converted from Islam revealed five common reasons why they choose to follow Christ.
- The lifestyle of Christians. Former Muslims cited the love that Christians exhibited in their relationships with non-Christians and their treatment of women as equals.
- The power of God in answered prayers and healing. According to the survey, experiences of God’s supernatural work increased after their conversions. Often dreams about Jesus were reported.
- Dissatisfaction with the type of Islam they had experienced. Many expressed dissatisfaction with the Qur’an, emphasizing God’s punishment over his love. Others cited Islamic militancy and the failure of Islamic law to transform society.
- The spiritual truth in the Bible. Muslims are generally taught that the Torah, Psalms, and the Gospels are from God, but that they became corrupted. These Christian converts said, however, that the truth of God found in Scripture became compelling for them and key to their understanding of God’s character.
- Biblical teachings about the love of God. In the Qur’an, God’s love is conditional; but God’s love in the Bible for all people was especially eye-opening for Muslims. These converts were moved by the love expressed through the life and teachings of Jesus.
Leadership Journal, Winter 2008, Vol. XXIX, No. 1, page 13.
HT: SA
Posted in Jesus, church life, muslim, prayer |
No Comments »What do to with the domain iChurch.com.au?
I own the domain name ichurch.com.au - bought a couple of years ago as an idea for an online “church” utilising social media software that was not quite ready at that time. So, it has been dormant for the last couple of years. At one time I did ask a few of the guys at Forge around Australia if they thought the domain could go for an online magazine for Australian missional emerging churches. But, that was not too well recieved as it was though that there was already a few of those around (US and O/S one sure but where was the Aussie voices?).
So, now I ask you all, the few that read this blog and the many that stumble across these pages, what could this domain be used for? What ideas do you have? What can we do together to utilise the domain for the Kingdom here in Australia?
This is an open call for ideas, suggestions and yes, I am also seeing who would be interested in collaborating!
Posted in Australia, Blogging, Kingdom, Web |
No Comments »Emergent Jewish Leaders meet Emergent Chirstian Leaders
Anyone care to comment after watching that?
Posted in Media, emergent |
No Comments »At The Trouble with Paris Book Launch
Well, today (you may recall I posted about the upcoming event here) was the book launch for Mark Sayers‘ book, “The Trouble with Paris” at the place that Red East meets, and I was lucky enough to go along with Darren C after dropping his daughter and my son at their classmates birthday party at Hungry Jacks (Burger King for you Yanks!). We arrived in Box Hill about an hour early and went for a walk to a cafe in the Box Hill arcade - man that place has changed. Sorry there are no pics of the event - I didn’t have my camera with me, so I will see if there are any published on Mark’s blog later!Anyway, we went back to the East Red office up some stairs into a really cool space that Red East meets in. There were some folk there I had seen before at similar events so it was good to make some new friends and acquaintances. I was also pleasantly surprised to bump into an old mate from my sojourn at Oxley College as well as some folk I had met at a recent job interview.
Posted in Australia, book, church life |
No Comments »I would appreciate your prayers and thoughts…
When I started the year and began to study the course I am doing, it was planned that Forge Victoria would continue to pay me half-a-day a week to do graphics and manage the website for Forge. But, for many reasons beyond my control, and I might add, very unhappily, I was told earlier that they could not afford to do so. The problem was, I had budgeted for the money, it was going to pay the college fees for the year!
So, I found myself not long into my course with no income. I applied for and now receive Austudy - the Aussie Gov’t’s financial, ahhh, “contribution” to help you through the course. This is of course for a full-time course and with a family. So, since then we have been getting by and I have been busy searching for a part-time job to help pay the bills and keep the wolf from the door!
Posted in Diploma Coursework, Family, Fund raiser, Personal, church life, croydon, life, prayer |
No Comments »What is going on?
I wrote the following one evening recently but have been unsure whether to publish it… tell me what you think.
In the course of my studies I have been researching homelessness and poverty in Australia, and in particular, Melbourne, and recently I had the great pleasure to go meet a lovely woman who works for the Salvation Army at a Crisis center here in Melbourne. After a tour of the fantastic facilities and meeting the others staff, we sat for a coffee and chat. A great hour and I was extremely thankful for the chat.
But, it further fueled my righteous anger to understand that local churches weren’t offering to help this crisis centre - something that we have found at The Dining Room (TDR). However, before I rant, I must say that there are some churches and schools in the area who are helping TDR, but let me emphasize - some out of many. We have some churches in the local area that are perched on acres of land, some with schools on the property and some without, and some with empty buildings and some that have a handful of people meeting in them.
Posted in Australia, Church, Fund raiser, Politics, Social Justice, church life, croydon, human rights, prayer |
No Comments »
Recent Comments