"If you cannot smile, do not open shop." [Old Chinese proverb] Read more →

A.W. Tozer was a well-known American pastor, author and Bible teacher (1897-1963). He wrote more than forty books, two of which are regarded as classics: The Pursuit of God and Knowledge of the Holy. He was a person of prayer who spoke much about pursuing a deeper relationship with God. Here are some insightful quotes from him: Prayer is never an acceptable substitute for obedience. The sovereign Lord accepts no offering from His creatures that is not accompanied by obedience. To pray for revival while ignoring or actually flouting the plain precept laid down in the Scriptures is to waste... Read more →

Southern Cross Kids Camp is an excellent ministry reaching out to needy children, especially those from abusive backgrounds. There are now eight camps held each year in three states in Australia. Camps are also starting up in New Zealand. These camps provide a safe and positive environment for children to find healing from the hurts of their past and hope for their future. Carolyn Boyd, a former children's pastor from our church and now one of our mission workers, was instrumental in establishing this ministry here in Australia. Dave Marrett is now the CEO. To read some inspirational stories of... Read more →

Okay, confession time ... I have an iPad ... and it is really cool. It hasn't replaced my phone or my laptop ... yet ... but it does a lot of things really well. It is brilliant for browsing the internet, doing email and checking your calendar. The eBook reader on it is much better than the Kindle. It is colour and turning pages is much more intuitive and you can load all your Kindle books on to it, plus 1000s of other eBooks (one application alone gives you access to over 23,000 free public domain classic books). The touch... Read more →

LifeChurch.tv has launched a free online Bible called YouVersion. YouVersion has been growing by hundreds of thousands of users each month. Almost 7 million people are reading the Bible through one of their mobile apps, including the iPhone and the newly released iPad. Check out their BLOG here. In addition to multiple translations being available, you can put together your own personal reading plan, create journal notes, and interact with other people about their learnings. Worth checking out! Read more →

A 1st grade school teacher had 26 students in her class. She presented each child in her classroom with the first of a well-known proverb and asked them to come up with the remainder of the proverb. While reading, keep in mind that these are first-graders, 6-year-olds, because the last one is a classic. 1. Don't change horses until they stop running. 2. Strike while the bug is close. 3. It's always darkest before Daylight Saving Time. 4. Never underestimate the power of termites. 5. You can lead a horse to water but How? 6. Don't bite the hand that... Read more →

Rick Warren recently said ... The last 50 years has seen the greatest redistribution of a religion ever in the history of the world. There is nothing even to compare to it. For instance, at the beginning of the 20th century, in 1900, 71% of all, quote, "Christians" lived in Europe. By 2000 only 28% claimed to be Christian, and I'm sure it's far smaller than that who actually even go to a church. On the other hand, Christianity was exploding in Africa, Asia and Latin America. If you want to know the future of evangelicalism, it is in those... Read more →

Ideas usually cannot be imported without modification. The cultures and other aspects of leadership and management are different; therefore, that they fail without some modification shouldn't be surprising. Even adopting simple devices may cause problems. For example, traffic signals were invented in England, although the version used today was developed in the United States. Despite their successful use elsewhere, when traffic signals were introduced to Ireland, the Irish were so outraged that they actually rioted. Why? Because the red light was on top and the green light was on the bottom, and to the Irish, red is the color of... Read more →

Life is made up of daily habits. Our habits combine to shape who we are and who we will become. Habits are practices that we do repeatedly, often without awareness. Reflecting on our habits and then intentionally creating healthy habits is an important part of personal growth. Disciples of Jesus are those who discipline themselves to become like Jesus - in thought, word and action. Here are five habits that I try to engage in each day: 1. Devotion - love, listen and obey. This is the development of my spiritual life and it is aided by daily time reading... Read more →

Dick Staub has written a thought-provoking book - The Culturally Savvy Christian: a Manifesto for Deepening Faith and Enriching Popular Culture in an Age of Christianity-Lite. In his opinion, culturally savvy Christians are savvy about faith and about culture. The author does a good job of exposing the superficiality of much of pop culture but also challenges what he calls 'Christianity Lite' or 'Pop Christianity,' which he defines as "a brand of faith that tastes great but is less filling, and wherever it prevails, it a source of impoverishment of faith and culture." From a church history perspective, the author... Read more →

Our church is currently reading through the Gospel of John together (click here for the reading plan as well as other related resources, including Bible devotional thoughts). John would be many people's favorite gospel, because of its uniqueness. Many of our most well-known Bible verses come from John such as "God so loved the world that he gave ..." and "I am the resurrection and the life ..." Medieval scribes symbolized this Gospel with an eagle to indicate the heights of the Gospel's thought. John was an eyewitness to the life of Jesus (see John 19:35 and 1 John 1:1-3).... Read more →

This month, the number of people using Facebook will pass the 500 million mark. This is astounding when you consider that it was only six ago that years after Harvard graduate Mark Zuckerberg helped found Facebook in his dorm room as a way for students to keep tabs on one another. If Facebook was a country it would be the third largest country in the world (even bigger than the USA). It could be nothing short of a social media revolution. Facebook enables you to connect with your friends wherever they live anywhere in the world. You can let them... Read more →