These Infinite Spaces

Interesting... (click here)

Rich guys, hot girls only need apply. (click here)

"Reject a divisive man after the first and second admonition"

Started home group last night - looks like a good bunch of people. We were looking at that bit in James that says don't show favourtism to the rich and famous. We then spent about 10 minutes discussing the famous Christians we personally knew. Ok, work in progress...

These guys are great. (click here)

...with Tasmania... (click here)

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Has Gordo started a blog?! The blogosphere is quaking in anticipation... (click here)

...starts to go a little crazy with his latest attack. You will know a tree by it's fruit.

I'm starting to "get" MySpace. I've customised my page a bit, extended my network of friends. (click here)

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More good nano-tech stuff. (click here)

A very popular podcast. This guy has a great voice, very nice to listen to. (click here)

A report from Access Economics showing how appallingly the state economy has been managed. (click here) Labor clearly has to go - I just wish the Coalition showed more promise...

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Some interesting thoughts. (click here)

David Simon's "Crimson Dark" has been nominated in the Outstanding Science Fiction category. (click here) Congratulations mate!

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Colson discusses some evidence that they are. (click here)

No, not an ad for viagra - a wonderful article by John Piper. (click here)

Going to the Comedy Club at Fox Studios with the world famous Joe Smith tonight, to watch a heat from the JJJ RAW Comedy festival...

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SydAng feature article. (click here)

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Challies reviews this book. (click here)

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Australian Islamic cleric calls for death to our troops. (click here)

FIDE-O have some comments on Watchmen, who I had a bit of a run-in with last year. (click here) I'm glad to see these guys are starting to be exposed...

We've gone to Leichardt pool about 3 times this week. It's in a lovely position, right next to the bay. The boys especially enjoyed the diving pool, jumping off the diving board and also the platform.

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Got to church this morning and it was full of guys running around, very busy setting up church for video recording. Lights, cameras, mixing desk - all required careful attention. The guys were having a great time. Confirmation of one of Morrow's theses, that a good way to attract men to church is to give them things to do...

Lectures online. (click here)

My latest podcast. (click here)

Note - the link goes to my podcast, NOT to the video of Saddam...

I'm watching a few of these episodes with my boys. My first car was a Charger - identical body to the General Lee...

"I believe we are on an irreversible trend toward more freedom and democracy - but that could change."

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Caroline Overington says no. (click here)

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Apparently, we're doomed. (click here)

John Sandeman just sent me a fascinating US study on the characteristics of growing churches. (click here) For those who aren't interested in the pragmatics of church growth ("It's all the Holy Spirit!"), switch off now. For the rest, there are some fascinating findings. Among these -

- Recently planted churches are more likely to grow than older churches
- Multi-racial churches grow more quickly than anglo churches
- The younger the average age of attendees, the more likely the church will grow
- The more men in the church, the more likely it is to grow (!!!!)
- "Spiritually alive" churches are more likely to grow
- Churches that are willing to change are more likely to grow
- Churches that experience much conflict are likely to decline
- "Joyful" churches are more likely to grow
- Churches with drums are more likely to grow (truly!)
- Churches with a "recruitment" plan are more likely to grow
- Churches with a website are more likely to grow
- Churches that have special support groups (eg. bereavement, 12 step) are much more likely to grow (interesting)
- Churches that use multiple means (eg. phone, email) to follow-up visitors are more likely to grow

So, does this sound like *your* church??

Here is the pilot for the US Version of Red Dwarf. (click here) Thankfully, it was never picked up...

Another lovely page from David's comic. (click here)

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Click here. Our SAS are very highly regarded - many consider them the best in the world.

Angus undergoes a burst of patriotism. (click here)

Interesting comments on liberal church decline. (click here)

A discussion just getting underway on SydAng. (click here) Interesting link to a study showing that male dominated churches grow 3 times as quickly as female dominated churches.

Adrian continues his interview with a deaconess at Mars Hill Church. They talk about the experience of women at the church. (click here )

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What do you think? (click here)

A fascinating question. (click here) Perhaps some of my lawyer friends could comment?

More youth pastors are getting involved with MySpace. (click here) This is a good move - MySpace is just huge with kids.

It seems the Stern Report has seriously underestimated the cost of it's recommendations. (click here)

Check it out. (click here)

Excellent post from Mohler. (click here)

Woah. Heavy, provocative comments from Piper. (click here)

How creatively can you use $100 to promote the kingdom? (click here)

Rudd is calling for an "education revolution". (click here) Will be interesting to see the detail...

2007 is beginning to take shape. I'm leading a home group on Tuesday night - some good people in the group, so should be fun. Thursday nights will be kick-boxing night. I may switch to jui-jitsu at some point during the year. Monday nights I'm going to attend evening lectures at a nearby bible college, doing an introduction to NT Greek. Alternate weekends I have the boys of course. I will attempt to use my few remaining free evenings to catch up with people - hopefully doing a better job than I did in 2006!

Click here. We may head down there for Oz Day - it's a fun idea...

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Adrian is interviewing a deaconess from Driscoll's Church. She discusses how Mars Hill uses their "members only" website to build community. ( click here)

DavidO will be a student minister with Evangelism Ministries this year. Well done mate, be sure to keep us informed of how things go. (click here)

FIDE-O has some helpful thoughts. (click here)

The boys have discovered The Goodies. Remember the "Pirate Post Office" episode? They were in hysterics. I love hearing the sound of Matty giggle...

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The question of women teaching men at seminary is becoming an issue in the SBC. (click here)

An old post from Byron. A good question. (click here)

MJ shares what he has learnt. (click here)

An interesting little feature. (click here)

Pulpit Magazine enters the fray. (click here)

Preaching tools and resources. (click here)

An interesting comment piece. (click here)

The "Big Day Out" organisers are requesting that concert goers do not bring Australian flags to the event. (click here) Originally they were planning to confiscate any flags brought to the event, but they seem to have backed down from this.

"I'll be back! You can't keep the Democrats out of the White House forever! And when they get in, I'm back on the street with all my criminal buddies! Mwuhahaha!"

Well, our morning service had more than 80 adults today! Dear me, God seems to be pouring out his blessing on our little church. It is exciting to be a part of it...

Someone has started a new blog with this title. They are upset that some Sydney Anglicans believe God may have used evolution to create. (click here)

Technorati Profile

PhilJ has had a tough week over on Pyromaniacs. (click here)

What is happening to our society? (click here)

Phil Johnson responds to a common misunderstanding of sola scriptura. (click here)

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Quite clever. Click here

I was helping wash up at church last week, and it took a long time! Someone said we had about 60 adults in the morning. I guess there were about 30 kids there as well. Average evening attendance is over 100, so we possibly cracked 200 people for the day. A significant milestone if we are doing that regularly.

Currently linked to the net over a very slow old phone line. We are having a great time up here, lots of adventures. Will be heading back tomorrow (Saturday). Hope you are all well...

Heading up to our farm tomorrow...will be offline for a few days...

A very insightful post by Michael Jensen. (click here)

A nice looking page. (click here)

My eldest, Justyn, has been learning to draw manga. Following is one of his recent efforts (click to enlarge).

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Mandy asks a very good question about female missionaries. (click here)

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Some info on the suburb where I grew up. (click here)

This provides some very interesting perspective... (click here)

Heading away on holidays on Tuesday, going to Mum & Dads farm for a few days. Boys are looking forward to it, especially Matty...

It was my great pleasure to drive MikeStine to Christians in the Media tonight. Very glad to catch up with them...

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Karen starts a series of posts about MTS. (click here)

There are both state and federal elections for us in NSW this year. Sandy Grant has put together some points to think about when voting. (click here )

This is horrible. (click here)

Andrew Lim discusses cyber evangelism in 2nd life. My computer is too slow to run 2nd Life very effectively. (click here)

Click here. Melbourne is "home" now, rather than Tasmania.

Just about to go on holidays for a couple of weeks. Blogging will probably be sporadic...

Woah. Click here

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Click here. I love the way this is written as a dialogue. Makes it great fun to read. We should use this tool more often.

A bizarre claim from the UK. (click here)

The Point opens up a can of worms. (click here) I'd like to think this sort of bravery self-sacrifice is what being a man is all about. I fear most of us fall a long way short...

A sermon by Michael Jensen. (click here)

Click here. Some good names on that list - and some less good...

Josh has some good thoughts on life, the universe and everything. (click here)

Finally finished reading this book, authored by Winston Churchill. Very entertaining and informative - I recommend it.

At the Passion 07 conference he said "God kicks our ass". He regrets it. ( click here)

A new book has been published documenting this - "Exodus: Why Americans Are Fleeing Liberal Churches for Conservative Christianity." Liberal church membership is in free fall. ( click here) And, like irresponsible tennants who have trashed their last house, some of the liberals are looking for new homes.

They are saying to us, "We actually like you guys, you just need to make a couple of small changes and we can all get along! You can do that, can't you?" This is what they did 100 years ago to the mainline denominations. If we give an ideological inch to these people, we are injecting poison into our church, we are condemning it to death.

When we stand up for biblical truth, we will get criticised for being "mean" and "narrow" and "not nice". It just happened on Sydney Anglicans where a (very liberal) Catholic said "No wonder people say such bad things about you guys." He was frustrated that we couldn't just agree that nice people go to heaven.

Perhaps these new liberals, neo-liberals, will sound nice, look nice, appear to be reasonable and accommodating. They want to come to our house, but they just want to change the curtains - nothing too significant. No! They must be resisted. If they come to our house, it is under our terms. And we will be counting the silverware because, frankly, they have a bad reputation and souls are at stake.

The women's ordination group are one such crowd. It seems such a silly little thing in some ways. Yet it is utterly associated with denominational decline. And, of course, it is completely anti-biblical. You must harden your hearts to the pleas of this movement. They will say "Oh - you are so arrogant! You don't listen! You are unloving!" Ignore the insults. These people, whether they know it or not, are the harbingers of denominational destruction. If being insulted is the price we must pay, so be it.

And my attitude is hardening against the emerging church as well. There is too much they are willing to place on the table for discussion. I know they are nice people, and their message of "can't we all just get along" sounds appealing. But many of them are just neo-liberals. They see the strength of biblically orthodox churches, they want to be part of it, but they want to change it. They want to compromise areas that should not be compromised. If they come on board it must be on our terms, not on theres. Otherwise they will have to go elsewhere.

This is not going to be a game of cricket. This is going to be a cage-fight. There is too much at stake to be naive here - especially in the name of being liked. Liberals caught the mainline denoms napping 100 years ago. I don't think it will happen again.

The first chapter of Pipers book on depression is "Faith alone and the fight for joy". That resonates with my soul. Joy is a fight - it doesn't just happen, we have to fight for it, take hold of it, grasp it, want it, desire it, take it. I think Piper has been right to make this idea of "joy" so central to his ministry. It is something that is so often missing from reformed evangelical Christian churches. If we don't have joy, we have failed in our understanding of the gospel. If we *do* have joy, our critics will be silenced. They will mutter a few words and then slink away, except for those who fall down and say "God is among you!"

This is an amazing tool for those learning the biblical languages. You select a book of the bible, and it generates a vocabulary list for you! (click here)

Click here. Ciao, baby...

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Rather bizarre. (click here)

We had a missionary support evening at church tonight. 15 of us gathered to hear an update from our 3 link missionary families, and to pray and write letters of support. Our missionaries (all young) are in Portugal, Slovenia and China.

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I can't believe how ugly this thing is! (click here)

A new book from John Piper, available for free online. (click here) I haven't read it yet, but I'm sure it will be an excellent book for those struggling with depression.

Some interesting comments on Rudd's approach. (click here) He is beginning to attract some mild criticism from the left because of his outspoken Christianity.

Check out this promotional video for the "Religion of Peace". (click here)

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Click here. (h/t Angus)

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"How to Deal with the Guilt of Sexual Failure for the Glory of Christ and His Global Cause" - by John Piper. ( click here)

James Cameron to direct this ambitious new Sci-Fi movie. ( click here)

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Oh yes - Quickflix has just sent that to me, I should get it in my hot little hands tomorrow. Yeah, it's a few months old, yes, I know the result - still, can't wait to watch it! My youngest, Harry, will be very keen to see it as well - he's a great UFC fan. Royce Gracie is an MMA legend, a massive influence on modern Martial Arts. Matt Hughes was (until recently) Middlewight champion. A brilliant all-round fighter and also a committed Christian. This will rock...

I'm sure most laymen of an academic bent go through a period of wanting to learn biblical greek. I've picked up bits and pieces over the years, never gone too far with it. But I've really been enjoying the Biblical Greek VodCast. Brief, practical and entertaining. And I think all learning should be as entertaining as possible. Check it out. ( click here)

Jason has been arguing that formal church membership is a biblical concept. (click here) I am very much in favour of this.

I've now listened to all of these. (click here) They are really wonderful. Once again, ministers and ministers-in-training - listen to them!

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Hmmm...almost a case of damning them with faint praise. (click here)

I agree with this. (click here)

Really struggled to get to sleep last night. Feeling completely wasted this morning...

An excellent talk on Matthew 20. (click here)

Phil writes a sobering post. (click here)

An interesting post from an Anglo-Catholic. (click here) (h/t Byron)

He is about to go to Russia as a missionary. (click here)

My latest podcast. (click here)

John Lennon's born-again phase. (click here)

Looks like an interesting flick. (click here)

Another collection of all the headlines from the USA. (click here) Classic quote from Mark Shea - "I think what she meant to say was that it is not splintering *just* over gay issues. There's also the fact that she's a heretic quack who thinks that saying "There is no other name under heaven by which we can be saved than 'Jesus' is 'putting God in a small box'"

David (another one!) gives a summary. (click here)

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This is one of my favourite podcasts - it is a novel about an inter-galactic football league. (click here) Sound a bit childish? No - it is very well done. Some mild offensive language.

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Well worth subscribing to. (click here) I am a great fan of the Heidelberg Catechism.

Christopher Pearson questions Rudd's Christian values. (click here)

A very entertaining podcast. (click here)

...for the head of the Anglican church in the US. (click here)

This was billed as the most anticipated Ashes in history. But it was barely a contest - Australia have just taken the honours in Sydney for a 5-0 sweep of the series. What a disasterous tour for the Poms...

Oh dear. (click here)

JohnH has some interesting things to say. (click here) I suspect he is right that the Church of England will collapse in the near future. Sad in a nostalgic way - but it may well open up doors for the spread of the gospel. Europe is the new mission field for the 21st century. Our church has 3 link missionaries, and 2 of them are in Europe. Expect to see more of this in the future.

Spielberg has announced a sequel to Band of Brothers! (click here)

A huge survey of wives in the US turned up the following -

* 33% would not marry their husband again

* 75% fantasize about other men

* 39% flirt constantly

* 50% suspect their husbands of cheating

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DJP writes an amusing post on discerning God's will. (click here)

Provocative words on abortion from a civil rights activist. (click here)

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Very interesting demonstration of the process by DavidS. (click here)

Who is more generous? (click here) The answer may surprise you - it didn't surprise me though...

These are fascinating. (click here)

JMjr tackles the EC over it's approach to morality. (click here) I'm not at all surprised to see ambivalence in the movement over homosexuality and abortion...

Looks like a very interesting resource. (click here)

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