More photos from Day 1

Some QLD NERDS (above) playing iphone monopoly

2 of the boys (Eric & Jordan)

Pete out front of one of our troop carriers...ahh the memories!

Alice Springs - Day 1

Day 1 started at 4am! I then drove (barely awake) to city church brisbane to catch a bus to the airport. A group of 20+ flew from Brisbane to Sydney to meet up with our NSW friends, 3 and a half hours later, after another flight & some more Quantas in-flight entertainment and food...we arrived in Alice Springs! It is absolutely breath-taking and RED!

The rest of the afternoon and night was spent doing two things - 1. rehearsing for the week ahead with; Jordan Grace, Eric Swavley and Matt Purcell & 2. consuming micky d's....one particular team member ate 4 too many Mighty Angus Burgers! (He is currently in a critical yet stable condition. Please be praying for those sleeping near him tonight. Updates to come on that later.)

Anyway - it is later here. We are all super pumped for what God is going to do through our lives this week. We will be working in local schools, community programs and drop in centers! God is going to do massive things!!! Our prayer meeting went off tonight...and we are expecting BIG things!

See you all tomorrow :)

Ben

Communicating

'Great leaders almost become like third grade teachers. The communicate their vision, values, and goals over and over again, until people get them right.' - Ken Blachard

Forgiveness

This week I am reading the book 'Lead Like Jesus' and this thought on forgiveness caught my attention.

"Forgiveness is a supernatural act, not a natural response to being hurt or let down. It is an act of the will of one who has surrendered to control to a higher court of judgement. Forgiveness is a hallmark of what it means to lead like Jesus."

Geoff Blight's Blog

Make sure to surf over to my Senior Pastor's blog www.geoffblight.blogspot.com

Humility and Leadership

"Leaders with humility don't think less of themselves, they just think of themselves less."

Leadership Trust

I have been reading Ken Blanchard's book 'Lead Like Jesus'. I have personally found it very challenging so far. The author writes that Jesus spent 3 years developing trust between himself and his team, and it was from that platform that his team (the disciples) were able to go and influence the world.

So I had a think about it and came up with 3 ways to nuture trust in leadership:

1. Responsibility

Take responsibility for the problem, don't be quick to blame someone else. If I am constantly blaming others to make myself look better I will never be a great leader.

2. Respect

I have found that the leaders I most respect are those who respect others. A great leader is someone who is not threatened by other people and their giftings or opinions, but someone who knows how to work alongside others to achieve a common goal. However, respect far more than outcomes, it is about understanding that the people you are doing life with are God's creation in whom He loves!

3. Real

The third key to building a foundation of trust in your team is to be real. That doesn't mean throwing it all out there for the whole world to see, but more about living honest before God and those you are doing life with. Allowing people into your life is key to building trust in a great team.

Just some thoughts anyway...back to the book!

Leadership & "Tribes"

"The Beatles did not invent teenagers, they merely decided to lead them"

Seth Godin's take on Leadership and Tribes is very interesting.

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/seth_godin_on_the_tribes_we_lead.html

Accidental Millionaires!

New Zealand police are searching for a couple believed to have fled the country with millions of dollars they received in a banking error.

Police will not reveal who the accidental millionaires are, but it is believed they ran a service station in the North Island city of Rotorua.

The couple had applied for a $10,000 loan to stop their business going under, but Westpac mistakenly transferred $8 million ($NZ10 million) into their account.

Now these cunning Kiwis have done a runner, but police are in hot pursuit.

Read the full article here:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/05/21/2576790.htm

Emily and myself head to NZ next month, perhaps we can be of some assitance in finding these criminals!?

Faith

"Faith is like film, it's developed in the dark!" - Ps David Brydges

A Generational Church

A Generational Church is one where Abraham resources Isaac, Isaac releases Jacob and Jacob reveers Abraham.

Psalm 145 tells us 'One generation will commend your works to another, they will tell of your mighty acts!'

I want to be a part of a church that releases the next generation to serve God in greater ways than we could ever imagine!

Honestly, where did he find the time?

Milwaukee Bucks forward Charlie Villanueva was scolded by coach Scott Skiles after he (Villanueva) Twittered during halftime of his team's 86-77 win over the Boston Celtics on Sunday. Apparently Villanueva, who goes by @CV31 on Twitter, couldn't wait until after the game to keep his thousands of followers updated so he secretly wrote, "We're playing the Celtics, tie ball game at da half. Coach wants more toughness. I gotta step up."

 

Read more here -

http://www.switched.com/2009/03/20/nba-star-chastised-for-twittering-during-halftime/

 

Vision

The elephant is the only creature who does not know how big his body is. His eyes are too small and he has two huge ears sticking out right beside them. So he walks around like a little animal, led by a small boy with a stick.

Lets never forget that as part of the Church, big C, we are apart of a family and body that is so huge in God's eyes nothing will stop it's increase on the earth!

Power to Change

I loved this verse in 1 Samuel 10:6
'The Spirit of the Lord will come upon you in power...and you will be changed into a different person.'

I love church because it's a place where people can encounter God and his presence to transform us; his love to heal us, his grace to free us and power to change us!

Lets live today ready to change and grow!

Identity

Tonight at Ignition, the youth ministry at Life Church, I’m preaching on our Identity.  I’ll be using Psalm 139 but I liked this quote by Howard Hendricks.

 

“There was no identity crisis in the life of Jesus Christ. He knew who He was. He knew where He had come from, and why he was here. And he knew where He was going. And when you are that liberated, then you can serve.”

 

I pray our young people will know their Identity in Christ and from that revelation they will be passionate to serve their generation!

Charles Swindoll's book, Improving Your Serve

"Early one chilly morning an American soldier was making his way back to the barracks in London. As he turned the corner in his jeep, he spotted a little lad with his nose pressed to the window of a pastry shop. Inside, the cook was kneading dough for a fresh batch of pastries. The hungry boy stared in silence, watching every move.

The soldier pulled his jeep to the kerb, stopped, got out and walked quietly over to where the little fellow was standing. Through the steamed window he could see the mouthwatering morsels as they were being pulled from the oven, piping hot... The soldier’s heart went out to the nameless orphan as he stood beside him. “Son, would you like some of those?” The boy was startled. “Oh, yeah, I would!”

The American stepped inside and bought a dozen, put them in a bag, and walked back to where the lad was standing in the foggy cold of the London morning. He smiled, held out the bag, and said simply, “Here you are.” As he turned to walk away, he felt a tug on his coat. He looked back and heard the child ask quietly, “Mister, are you God?”

Just remember, your life, my life - might be the only gospel some people ever read.

More from Wayne Cordeiro

Friends are rare these days, but it is not because they have diminished in importance. lt is because we have increased in speed.

Friendships are not made in the blur of life. They are made in the margins:Margins, like the white space around the words on this page that you are reading, add to the composition and overall fabric of the whole. Without margins; the words would crowd one another and fight for space, making it unreadable.

Of course, if the printer extended the words from one end of the page to the other without a break, it would reduce the book by fifty pages or so, save trees, and cost less. But who would read it? lt would be a futile exercise in stress management.

No book ever begrudges its margins.
~ And no life should either ~

One of the benefits of margins is that this is where friends are found. Friends are God's gifts to us.

Epidemic

Epidemic Camp is our highschool youth ministries annual camp. This year our guest preacher was Lucas Connell from Calvary, we had just over 100 students at camp and I loved every minute of it. God did so much in the lives of our young people and leaders. Well done to Chris and Jayde Mackay and our Ignition team. I am speak proud of you guys. Ben

Perspective

Here are a few cool thoughts on perspective from Wayne Cordeiro's book 'Leading on Empty'.

- The way we view our problem oftentimes is the problem
- Where you stand will always affect what you see

"Every difficulty has an opportunity" - J. Sidlow Baxter

MJ on Failure and Success

"I've missed more  than 9,000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times I've been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."  - Michael Jordan

New York Mugging

A turtle was walking down an alley in New York when he was mugged by a gang of snails. A police detective came to investigate and asked the turtle if he could explain what happened.

The turtle looked at the detective with a confused look on his face and replied “I don't know, it all happened so fast.”

Technology

I've just signed up for Twitter and now posting this from my phone. As lb would say, I love technology. Youth Camp is two weeks away, I can't wait!