The Peoples Democratic Liberation Movement for Morning Tea Handball

Who said College students have too much time on their hands? The PDLMfMTH showed up on Facebook yesterday. Here's some of their propaganda.

As I informed members of The PDLMfMTH on the FB page, one of the lecturer's told me he had read the minutes from the OH&S committee meeting, and as far as he can see they only banned handball for the monthly community chapel morning tea (when there are more people, kids running around, prams etc), which to me seems entirely reasonable. But still, once the people begin to rise these things always tend to get out of hand...

Improve your preaching with pretty pictures

Attention grabbing title, I know. But I'm serious, this will improve your preaching. I'm always after simple images to communicate complex information while preaching. But good pictures communicating just what I want are hard to find.

Enter into the picture, Mark Barry.

Mark works for AFES and he's a top bloke to boot! I got to know him a bit over the past two years of my ministry apprenticeship. His blog has been a bit slow of late, but thankfully he's started a new blog where he posts great 'Biblical infographics', I guess you'd call them. Historically a lot of them are designed for National Training Event strand material or for SALT magazine, but mostly they're just cool.

Always wanted a more detailed but schmick version of Goldsworthy's Biblical Timeline?

What about a simple image of the twelve tribes of Israel?

This one was three weeks too late for me, but as Mark has also recently been working on Micah, I suggested I would love a version of his map of Israel specific to Micah, which showed the places mentioned in the book (I even dared suggest over time he could develop one for each book of the Old Testament as a need I have identified). Anyways, I would suggest putting this one in your Micah folder for the next time you preach it or perhaps lead Bible Study on it.

What else do you need? Paul's journey to Rome?

Kings of Israel and Judah?

Go and check them all out. There's more to come according to Mark, and he's a humble guy, so if you see ways of improvement pop him a comment and I'm sure he'll consider it.

Appendectomy

Quote of the day from the post-grad student running our Hebrew tutorial;

The more you study Hebrew the more it becomes like... um... like your appendix. It just becomes part of you, that you don't even know is there.

Muttered under the breath of the student next to me;

What? A useless part.

Also if I could extend the imagery, Hebrew becomes a part of you that occasionally causes you intense pain.

Inept

Question in Old Testament 1A;

As we get to chapter 11 of 1 Samuel, can we really imply that the expectation is that Saul will be inept?

Answer;

Indeed, perhaps he was ept.

'The sermon was too long' and other signs of spiritual immaturity

It's been too long since my last rant.

Did you know my first ever real post was a rant? Maybe I'm just an angry young man.

--BEGIN RANT--

How long is too long when it comes to sermons? Or am I already asking the wrong question? Is there a right length? Is it possible to be too short?

A few thoughts;
Chappo thinks for every minute over 20 you lose four minutes of effectiveness. Therefore by 25 minutes you've erased your sermon.

More wisdom from Chappo; If you want me to speak on a passage for five minutes, I'll need a month to prepare, if you want 20 minutes gimme a fortnight, or if I can speak for as long as I like, I'll start right now.

I overheard a student minister from another church the other day saying all the feedback he got from the rector for one of his sermons was, '25 minutes and 20 seconds. Too long.'

That same student when asked how his sermon went last Sunday. 'Five people came up to me after the service and said, "18 minutes. Great work." That's the only thing anyone said. I swear I could tell them Jesus is evil and you only get to God through Buddha and as long as it comes in under 20 minutes they'd be happy'.

Preachers who teach preachers, like Phil Campbell, swear by a less-is-more philosophy. From memory, Phil is a 22 minute man.

Oftentimes the great preachers have a style and method (and length) you should never try to emulate.

If you have a foreign accent, you can guarantee at least 30% more attention.

My experience tells me I've hooked people for 40 minutes from go to woe, and yet at other times I've bored them within the first minute. There are times I've gotten the vibe from the front that, 'Though it was short, it felt long' and I've been told on other occasions of critique, 'It was long, but it felt short'.

What is the right length for a sermon? Should we just speak for as long as people are able to pay attention? I mean, there's no value in purely heaping words upon words. And yet if people are used to 10 minute sermon-ettes, surely I would want to be weaning them up to a greater tolerance for hearing from God's word. So is the point to always be just that bit above what people can handle?

Is it more to do with the giftedness of the preacher? The so called 'big-names' can easily hold my attention for an hour, and these are the most popular preachers in the world. Yet others bore me no end, pretty much from the first sentence.

I've come from a university context where people are used to sitting in lectures for an hour and concentrating, but this isn't a morning congregation with babes in arms, and tired shift-workers. I re-learnt this Sunday week ago. How long should we preach?

As a general rule, anyone who sits timing a sermon is spiritually immature. You have not prepared yourself to listen to the word of God. If you comment on the length of the sermon it says more about you, than it ever will the preacher. Get rid of your watch and look at your Bible.

As a general rule, preachers who want to preach for longer - especially after being repeatedly asked to shorten it - are experiencing an overestimation of their preaching abilities. You need to care enough for your people to not force feed them your ramblings. Go and edit your sermon again.

--END RANT--

Study soundtrack

Since starting Bible College, I haven't returned to my old ways of listening to loud music while I study. I have been playing the occasional bit of Mozart or something else classical, but nothing rocky or with lyrics. Just head down in the books for the most part. But seeing as today looked like being a 15+ hour workday I decided to give in and have some old friends keep me company.

Most Christian rock bands I'd generally rate from poor to dodgy. Many seem to be pretty much just trying to be rock stars but with the occasional mention of God in their songs. I'm not saying that good ones don't exist - back in my High School days the band Aroma were one of the greatest evangelistic bands ever known to man. But my own view is that the whole Christian band thing is a bit like Christian surfers - many are doing a great job, but I wonder how many of them are surfers who happen to be Christian, rather than Christian surfers, if you catch my drift.

These meandering thoughts are my way of introducing you to The O.C. Supertones - a Christian rock band of in my opinion unparalleled brilliance. I grew up listening to these guys, and their musicality is great (if you like ska music) and even if you don't like the music, you can purely appreciate them for their lyrics, which are profound. There really is no excuse for the fluff that comes from most "Christian" bands, except to say the depth of the lyrics probably reflect the depth of their author's thoughts.

The Supertones have their not so serious songs as well, and I assume most people aren't into their kind of music in general, but let me ask you, have you ever heard another popular band with lyrics such as these?
In Between
Please allow me to introduce me.
Half of me slave, the other half free.
Righteous and sinful,
both at the same time.
Iniquity and purity
fill up the same mind.
And out of the same mouth,
the holy and profane.
I curse all my brothers,
then I bless Christ's name.
I hang in the balance,
but still I'm secure.
I'm leaning towards evil,
but striving to be pure.

I stand between the saint and
sinner, chasing after holiness, close
enough to grasp, but still it's just
beyond my reach.

Who I am is in between,
what I wanna be and what I am.
(x3)

Pulling from both sides,
humility and pride.
One seeks to give,
the other to be gratified.
In any case, however,
I know I'm in need.
Two appetites in me,
which one do I feed?
Running fast as I can
after elusive perfection.
Know I'm not there yet,
but sure I'm in the right direction.
Cause I see me at the end
and I look glorified.
Justified safe inside,
so I seek to be sanctified.

I stand between the saint and
sinner, chasing after holiness, close
enough to grasp, but still it's just
beyond my reach.

Who I am is in between,
what I wanna be and what I am.

Language Learning

I'm quickly developing a love/hate relationship with language learning at College.

Love Greek.
Hate Hebrew.

Arminian Amazing Grace

I was just sent this on FB and I'm assuming its old. But seeing as though I'm not (old, that is), I have no way of knowing if this has gone around a thousand times like some form of Christian joke spam. You know, like all those forwarded joke emails that would die a quick death if it wasn't for parents.

It's worth stating that I don't think parodying through the form of song those who disagree with you, is necessarily the most beneficial form of discussion. Though in a way we do it by implication every time we sing the truth.

But come now, surely we can put all that seriousness aside and have a laugh...

Arminian Amazing Grace
Sing to the tune of Amazing Grace...

Arminian “grace!” How strange the sound,
Salvation hinged on me.
I once was lost then turned around,
Was blind then chose to see.


What “grace” is it that calls for choice,
Made from some good within?
That part that wills to heed God’s voice,
Proved stronger than my sin.


Thru many ardent gospel pleas,
I sat with heart of stone.
But then some hidden good in me,
Propelled me toward my home.


When we’ve been there ten thousand years,
Because of what we’ve done,
We’ve no less days to sing our praise,
Than when we first begun.

Blog Procrastination

Tuesday is shaping up as a big day.

1. 1000 word critical reflection due on Broughton Knox's "God in Trinity" from The Everlasting God.
2. 20% Hebrew exam. With about 80 words of vocab to learn on top of all the grammar.
3. Preaching final sermon on Micah at Lunchtime Bible Teaching at Sydney Uni Cumberland.

Most of my breaks (and I use the term loosely) from sermon writing, I have used to go over Hebrew vocab, but this time I thought I'd share a bit of my sermon which picks up on a couple of things I've posted here during my preparation.

...to help us understand Micah, it is helpful to read it as history, theology, prophecy and finally we read it as poetry.

·      Poetry

That is, there is a poetic flavour to what Micah has written. It’s why in most of your Bibles it is printed in an indented form. Now it is near impossible to ascertain how close this written form is to the preached original, you know as if Micah spoke like someone in a Shakespearean play, but no doubt it had a poetic feel to it.

And poetic feel is the best term to use. That is, you’re meant to feel it. Now I know we’re all health science students, and feelings are meant to be discouraged as we are taught to get attached to our patients just enough to feel empathy, but keeping enough distance that we anaesthetize ourselves from the fact that all our efforts will ultimately fail as we all have an ultimate mortality rate of 100%. So I realise, there is no arts faculty here and I’m asking you to do something foreign, but this is poetic, and its meant to be felt.

And so the tension here captures some trepidation as to how one is meant to feel as they read this. I mean, what would the Israelites have felt as they read and heard Micah’s words? Partly I’m sure, they would want to rejoice at the glorious hope that is being set before them, and yet in the next breath, there is that strange application in chapter 1 that when faced with the horrible righteous judgment of God, for the disobediance of humanity, it is appropritate to mourn. Micah says he will strip naked and start crying - it's the only right way to respond!

You see, how is one meant to feel this poetry?

Sarah and I recently moved towards the city, and we live about 200m from the Enmore Theatre. Now I’m certain that many of you would have seen bands, or theatre or comedy acts there before –  the Sydney Comedy Festival is on at the moment and there’s a bunch of acts playing there. But a friend recently pointed out to Sarah and I that we should keep an eye out at the crowds. The Enmore Theatre hosts just about every event you can think of. One week it will be the Ragamuffin Caribbean Rastafarian music festival – and outside is all dreadlocks and those multi-coloured beanies and a constant faint aroma of pot smoke. The next night will be a heavy metal rock band and it will be black, everyone wearing black, the next day it’ll be the Wiggles performing and instead of security guards instead of strolling patrollers, they’re out patrolling the strollers - watching over the pram parking on the footpath. But depending on the day you walk past, there is a completely different feel. So how are we to feel reading Micah?

Sarah wouldn’t let me, but I wanted to dress as a goth for our first week. There was a strong depressing feel to chapters 1 and 2 and really only a faint whiff of hope. Yet last week was predominantly joyous as the glorious future was put before Israel, that in spite of judgment a glorious future awaits. I guess last week the feel would be more like the Wiggles concert at that point, a few tears and dirty nappies, but mostly an almost unhealthy youthful enthusiasm. But a bit of reflection leaves me confused as to how I’m meant to feel.

What good is this now? What good is this if the fine print puts it so far off? It is a vision of the future, which stands in stark contrast to that which is currently the reality. But I’m still living in reality!

Bible Book in a Sentence Sunday - Song of Songs

This week's challenge is Song of Songs;

My suggestion;

Do not awaken love until it pleases, in order that awakened love is pleasing.

Surely you can do better.

HANDBALL BAN

I'm pretty sure occupational health and safety committees are 10% concerned for occupational health and safety and 90% concerned with making sure no one has too much fun.

Different ways of asking Bible Study questions

Rudyard Kipling famously wrote;

I keep six honest serving-men
(They taught me all I knew);
Their names are What and Why and When
And How and Where and Who.

Rudyard may have had five servants, but I've got 17. Consequently, mine don't rhyme.

I don't think I've posted these before. It's a list of types of questions to ask to keep Bible Study interesting. From Leading Better Bible Studies by Karen & Rod Morris.

1. Summarise

2. Paraphrase

3. Compare

4. Note

5. Organise

6. Contrast

7. Identify

8. Drawing

9. Interview

10. Sentence Analysis

11. Mapping

12. List

13. Table

14. Role-play

15. Logic-Flow, Cause and Effect Diagrams

16. Plot

17. Key Question

I could have rhymed, were I to care

Summarise, paraphrase, compare.

But note I will not organise

Or contrast or identify

And drawing from the great abyss

Interview, sentence analysis

Mapping, List, Table, I've got

a Role-play, logic-flow or plot

The key question of this game I'm hating

Is what am I procrastinating?

Hebrew.

Why I've always been a bit of a girly man

Amongst writing sermons, Bible studies, learning two new languages, and composing essays galore - nearly every bone in my body wanted to say 'No way!' when another request came in this afternoon.

The request was to write 200-400 words (by tonight) for publication in a statewide magazine raising desperately needed support for SRE teachers in New South Wales.

I wanted to say no, but I couldn't. It's too important a work.

Here's what I wrote; (399 words)

Perhaps it stems from growing up in country NSW, or maybe from having three sisters, but I always thought blokes wearing jewellery was a bit girly. I still remember the first bit of jewellery I ever wore: 1996, Maclean Primary School, a black leather string with coloured beads threaded on, worn around my wrist. As it turns out, wearing a ‘bracelet’ is prime fodder for teasing and I quietly removed it after one afternoon. The offending jewellery was made in year six Scripture, as a way of introducing us to our High School SRE teacher. The coloured beads each represented something about Jesus. But for me it was a significant moment. Not because it was the first time I wore jewellery, but it marked the first time I had a public face as a follower of Jesus.

For me, that is the great benefit of SRE – giving Jesus a public face at school. I’m not sure when I first grasped the significance of Jesus’ death and resurrection for my sins, but SRE helped joined the dots. High School SRE lessons were invaluable in forming my understanding of who Jesus is and what it means to follow him. It doesn’t sound much like school, but analysing popular songs, movies and TV shows, against the Bible’s teaching, illustrated clearly to me who Jesus is, and ultimately how understanding God is integral to making sense of our world.

But though Jesus had a public face, my public face as a follower of Jesus was still forming. I was thankful at the time my school was big enough that I could sneak off to ISCF without telling my friends where I was going, though I’m sure they knew. It wasn’t until university that I was finally comfortable in my Christian skin, yet the step of missing a game of handball to go and meet with others to talk about Jesus was a big step in developing my public face as a Christian.

I’m thankful to God for the investment my SRE teacher and Christian friends put into me during High School. As a result I was well prepared for leaving the comfort of home as a follower of Jesus. I am currently studying in first year at Moore Theological College in Sydney with my wife Sarah, and it is our hope to spend the rest of our days telling others about Jesus.

Lost and found

Lost...

• ... people's attention a little bit today when I spoke on Micah chapters 3-5.
• ... track of time as well - I thought I'd have 40 minutes, but a late lecture and a lack of pace from the front meant I had closer to 30. Unfortunately I rushed and spoke for about 34.
• ... my place in the notes as I hurried, resulting in confusion for all.
• ... the logical flow because I skipped over too many linking sentences.
• ... my old Micah notes. I keep notes from every sermon I've ever heard in a big filing cabinet, and late in the stage of preparing my talks (often just before I start writing) I get out old notes and outlines for a look. This time, I took them out of the Micah folder but got distracted and when I went back to read them, couldn't locate the notes anywhere. I've spent probably a good few hours over the past month searching high and low to find them. Very frustrating.

Found...

• ... my mojo. Thought it was gone after Sunday night. For the most part, it's back.
• ... solace in the fact I have next week to recap what I missed and it works well with that talk anyway.
• ... out how hard it is to shorten a talk on the run, especially 10 minutes worth.
• ... my old Micah notes, finally. With just one talk left to finish writing, they showed up today... in Sarah's inbox. Probably the only place in the house I didn't look. David Allen wouldn't be happy about this.

Where did the sermon fail?

Somewhere in the deep recesses of my mind is a vague recollection of a conversation with a former Moore College student. As I recall, the question 'Where did the sermon fail?' was asked rhetorically by the lecturer (Knox?) at the beginning of every critique of the students Chapel sermons.

It was stopped many years ago because it hurt people's feelings.

But with few redeeming features it is apt to bring it back for my sermon last night at church.

So, where did my sermon fail last night?
1. I was thrown off track by my title being changed without my knowledge from "Here's to Ears to Hear" to "Here's to the Ears". There's nothing wrong with that really, except I stupidly made reference to it as the first thing I said. Stupid. Just should have ignored it, even if it didn't make sense to me.

2. I should have just deleted the introduction. It was an old sermon which was written in a circumstance where it was important to give the big picture before digging into the passage. I intended to delete it, but when I went to review the sermon (I only had an hour to do this) I realised it was integral to my argument. The problem was, in an effort to cut down time I got rid of my linking statements which showed the connection. Stupid.

3. My mental breaks didn't work, nobody laughed, so I ditched them on the run. It meant long silences while I found my place, and a lack of clarity in what I did say.

4. It was too long. They are used to 25 minutes. I spoke for 34. Stupid.

5. I could tell the congregation was bored. And Sarah said I reflected their boredom back to them in my delivery compared to normal. I didn't have a day off this week. Stupid.

6. My outline was all over the place. I went through the different soils about seven times.

Okay, I've vented enough now, though much more could be said. It feels weird to be so disappointed in a sermon. All in all, I'm convinced I spoke the truth. And it's not that I don't think God will use my efforts for his purposes. I'm not upset, just disappointed.

If it was because I was lazy, I would be rebuking myself for sinfulness. Unfortunately this has come about through workaholism. The opposite sin. Perhaps its a lesson in saying no. I only said yes to preaching at church if I could preach an old sermon because I knew I'd be writing three new sermons on Micah for uni and wouldn't have time to work up something new or even re-work an old talk. Should have said no.

There's no grace in feigned humility. This isn't feigned humility. It just sucked.

On the positive, the more it sucked, the more I tend to pray for the effectiveness of my preaching. There's some dodgy theology behind this somewhere.

Post preaching blues

... I got the blues real bad.

Shouldn't have preached an old sermon tonight. Was too long, not suited for the context. First sermon at our new church. Oh well, at least their expectations for the future will be realistic.

On a related note, someone asked me how my sermon went last Tuesday at uni. I said "I've had enough experience losing congregations while preaching, that I know when I have them. And today I had them". Unfortunately I was back to adding to that experience tonight.

Jump in Micah

For my three talks on Micah at Sydney Uni Cumberland, I've been trying to succinctly capture some of the considerations necessary to read the prophecy correctly. In other words, what is it we're actually reading?

These points don't constitute the main thrust of each sermon, but are utilised as a form of both introduction and in later weeks to summarise the content of the previous talk.

Talk 1 introduced the concepts that Micah is;

a. History - this is an historical book, spoken to a particular people at a particular time in their history

b. Theology - this is 'The word of the LORD that came to Micah', it is in the pages of this book that we can know God.

At this stage, for talk 2 I am recapping those points again and introducing

c. Prophecy - this contains a vision of the future, from God

The final talk will again recap a-c with the introduction of;

d. Poetry - we cannot tell if Micah actually spoke in this poetic way as if he was in a Shakespearean play. But it is presented to us with poetic characteristics.

To read Micah correctly is to understand it as History, Theology, Prophecy and Poetry. Each of these aspects shapes our reading and comprehension of the book.

Creationism and Queenslanders

Simone asks who else would be happy to agree with the Westminster Confession on creation? I would be. But it reminded me of something that came up in class the other day. Our lecturer was talking about how we should be reading Genesis 1-3. Like all good lecturers, he didn't tell us how we should think, but the considerations we needed to keep in mind as we read. His conclusion was;

These are the broad considerations to keep in mind when reading the creation account in Genesis. And I'd be safe saying that in pretty much all of Australia. Except maybe Queensland.

This brought forth laughter from the students as we thought it was a bit harsh. But the lecturer protested;

It's a hot issue up there. I could be wrong, but I thought it was well known that most of the 6 literal 24 hour-day creation movement comes from Queensland. Is anyone from Queensland? There's one of you. Isn't it a hotter issue up there?

Brief silence from the student. Then...

Everything's hotter in Queensland.

Call of the week.

Cross-cultural Mission and Missional Church-Planting

Al Stewart and Bruce Hall at Moore today.

Apparently leading a seminar on buzzwords.

Blogging Late-ish after KYCK #15

I am yet to have a lot of experience with specific evangelistic preaching. So I was really thankful to God for the Saturday night talk at KYCK. The call to become a Christian was driven well from the word of God, passionately by the preacher, and about 40 youths responded to the call to repent and believe, and another 50 or so wanted to recommit their lives to living for Jesus. Praise God.

But I think one of the best things about it, was the next morning. Becoming a Christian is almost always an emotional affair because we need see our brokenness before God. After the emotion of hearing the powerful word of God and having it cut to the heart, at the start of the next mornings session, the speaker asked those who had made a commitment the night before, to stand up so that we could all pray for them, and rejoice with both them and God that they had become Christians.

The speaker also got them to write down the date from the night before, so that each year they could celebrate their birth birthday and their Christian birthday, seeing as they had been born again. Those travelling home with anyone who had made a commitment were encouraged to have a party in the car on the way home to celebrate with them.

What a great idea to make sure the emotional nature of needing to get right with God was not just a one off, but rather the beginning of their Christian walk.

More on blog rebuke

After a bit of agonising I have decided against removing the posts regarding KYCK preaching feedback. Also, I won't offer my thoughts on the final talk in the same manner, nor am I intending on doing this in the future.

Blog rebuke

I received an email today from someone concerned about the nature and method of my reflections from KYCK. These concerns were put graciously and gently.

While I disagreed with some aspects of the criticism, I thought it would be helpful to repeat a part of the email as well as my reply, in order to clarify a few things. I also want to alleviate the concerns of others, who may have felt similarly.

I am not a confrontational kind of guy, and I'm especially wary of getting a bad reputation online which I feel doesn't reflect me personally. My first response when people react negatively to something I've written is to wonder if I should just give up blogging. Yes, I really am that insecure. But ultimately I am thankful when people pull me up, even if I disagree with them.

Also, I have disabled comments on this post to ensure that my blog-friends out there don't undercut my gratitude for the graciousness of the email. I don't intend to start a debate.

Part of the email;

One thought: i'm not sure it is helpful or honouring to the preachers for you to post 'feedback' on individual messages. I'm not agreeing or disagreeing with your feedback necessarily, but i think this is a conversation that should happen between you and the preachers directly rather than in a public forum like this one. And even then not immediately after they have delivered them. i'm assuming from your blog that you preach and i'm sure you're aware that it is a significant emotional investment for the preacher and immediately after preaching is a particularly vulnerable time for any minister of the word. So maybe recording your reflections and holding them for a few days before contacting the speakers directly would be more helpful.

Here's the majority of my response;
Hi ____,

Your awareness of the power of the public forum of blogs is a true concern, and I am aware of their power.

Let me offer some thoughts behind my writing;

I personally don't ascribe to the often heard claim that there is no place for discussion regarding individuals in the public forum without approaching that person directly. This is particularly true of those engaged in big public ministry. That is, everyone is talking about what has been said, and for everyone with any feedback to contact them, would be both impossible, and unnecessary. That delivered in the public forum can be discussed in the public forum in most instances.

In this instance, there were a number of reasons I didn't approach the people directly;

1. Because I don't know the speakers personally and therefore;

2. I would rightly be perceived as a young punk with little preaching experience who for the most part doesn't know what he's talking about.

3. I thought they did a great job.

Were I rebuking them, or criticising them personally, I would not in most instances blog that first (edit: or at all) without attempting to contact them personally.

So why did I write my thoughts?

Because my blog reflects what I'm thinking about, and that is what I was thinking.

Because I want to sharpen people in reflective thought of what we do.

Because all that the kids say is things like "That talk was too long" and I'm trying to analyse why they thought that.

Because I have no relationship with any of the speakers except Dave, so I wouldn't assume that they read my blog, and so I'm not concerned with hurting their feelings because its too soon after the sermon, as that was not the intention and I thought it unlikely they would read.

That said, I understand you saying that it might be worth letting the thoughts simmer for a bit before posting due to the emotional nature of preaching. But seeing as though I thought there was little chance of them reading it, it wasn't necessary to wait. Plus, even if they did, seeing as though it was only a few small issues of content and delivery, I wouldn't label it as criticism. If anything I would hope they would be encouraged by what I learnt, and thankful that people were thinking hard upon the word of God.

Either way, I understand it may have been misleading to write it as "feedback". However I thought I had communicated that this wasn't like an open letter, by prefacing my statements as "If I was giving feedback..."

I guess I could have simply written what I learnt. But that rarely communicates well to those not there. I still tried to do that, combined with some thoughtful reflection both on the handling of the word of God, combined with its delivery, as well as broader aspects of the weekend.

Also, I would like you to know I have no hidden agenda. I thought my comments were well balanced and reflective of the discussions that the kids I took along were talking about. I also hope that anyone reading would be encouraged to come along to KYCK in future years. Those who regularly read my blog I'm certain would have an understanding of what I'm trying to do, and I think would have an understanding that there is no intended malice behind my words. My hope as always is to express my personal reflections in a manner that encourages others to think hard about being followers of Jesus.

Izaac.

Blogging Late-ish after KYCK #14

Feedback from talk 5;
1. The flow of logic for this whole talk worked well and assisted in the communication.

2. The speaker said, "Creation doesn't teach us what God is like, but how life in God's world works". Very helpful and insightful. I wonder if it was worth making a bigger deal of this comment as summarising what has already been said. That way the statement could be reversed as a way of capturing the final point 'Remember God your judge'.
E.g.
Summary of last talks: Creation doesn't teach us what God is like, but how life in God's world works. 
Conclusion of this talk: Knowing God teaches us what life is like, and how living in God's world works best.

3. The three talks from this speaker complemented each other well, but there were structural difficulties linking in with the other speakers, purely because of different turns of phrase.

4. Big picture wise, I think what would have been helpful in linking with the other preachers was to have a youth equivalent to "what does man gain?" which could be carried through the talks. Talk 1 focused on the definition of meaningless - this discussion needed to finish with a clear question, capturing that life is lived in vain. "Life is a breath" and "Life is fleeting" capture aspects of meaningless, but they didn't issue forth in a big question. I personally like, "What's the point?" It's a very teenage thing to say, to constantly ask their parents "Why?", and captures the lack of a net result for life under the sun. (More on this in the comments here).

5. The eye contact and expression was really good when recounting stories and illustrations. I reckon this is when everything could change down two gears in the delivery to give us even more of a mental break. It's the time to do it, because it's when we listen the most so don't have to fight for our attention.

6. After listening to Dave, I've realised why I felt a bit rushed by this preacher even though the delivery was measured. When it got to making the big points, he just needed one more phrase that grabs our attention. Things like "This is where it hits home. (take a breath)...", or "Here's the thing... (take a breath)..." etc.

7. Movement from behind the lecturn to speak directly was really personal and effective and I hope as the talks are repeated that this can happen more and more.

8. When discussing that the more we know the more we realise we don't know, delete the sentence "You can't create a baby in your science lab". I'll tell you why everyone was sniggering. 1. They thought about people having sex in the science lab. 2. IVF is known by the kids as a "Test tube baby", and nothing says science lab like 'test tube' - that is, in their minds you CAN make a baby in the science lab.

9. I really enjoyed these main sermons, I think they captured well the way that knowing God redeems life, and frees us to enjoy this life and this creation because we don't see them as absolutes. This was really timely for me to hear. I lean towards work, work, work (as my posts up until 1am while procrastinating on sermon prep testify). I have repented of my failure to enjoy the day. Though I feel much of my labour is working on that which is not in vain, I've realised I'm living like the fool. On this point, I'm sure my wife thanks the speaker too.

10. Thanks for your labour in the Lord. My youth group kids and myself were really blessed by this teaching. Just starting out as a preacher myself, I learnt a lot about the craft from hearing, especially in communicating well to this age group. I pray God continues to encourage the speakers with much fruit from their ministry, particularly over the next two weekends.

Bible book in a Sentence Sunday - Micah

Back because one person asked by popular demand, is Bible Book in a Sentence Sunday. For newcomers, the rules are fairly self explanatory. One book of the Bible, summarised in one sentence and today is Sunday.

This morning BBiaSS is appearing at the special time of 1:19am. Because the particular book in question is the cause of my consciousness at this ungodly hour I present to you;

This weeks challenge; Micah. My suggestion;

The God who forgives sin is a God like no other.

Surely, you can do better.

Blogging Live-ish from KYCK #13

Inviting a Bible College student onto the platform at Katoomba opens you up for criticism. Even if they've got the experience that this guy has.

Whoever it was, kudos for having the guts to do it. It was the right decision based upon merit rather than tradition.

Live Blogging Feedback

Is anybody out there reading these posts?

This is the first real time I've done this. Is it helpful for those not at the conference?

It's certainly beneficial for my reflection, but I'll combine them into fewer and briefer posts if that would be better.

Thoughts?

Blogging Live-ish from KYCK #12

Why isn't your youth group coming to KYCK?

I've heard of threats to boycott and a few youth groups that have. Time to grow up I say. Maybe even repent of your divisiveness. Perhaps that's a bit strong seeing this is my first year and don't know what has happened previously. But my analysis and occasional misgivings expressed in these posts, show there's stuff there to criticise if you want, but for me it's really just a matter of rearranging the cream on the top of the cake. The clear focus of this conference is changing lives with the word of God. If you want to change the peripherals then try and join the committee. That way you can also protect the biblical centre of this ministry while you're at it.

Blogging Live-ish from KYCK #11

Some general reflections on preaching and essay writing. A common warning for Bible College students and recent graduates is 'Don't preach an essay'. I know what they're saying, which is, don't try and say everything. Also, forget the formality of language and just tell me what you are trying to say. The one thing that I think often gets lost in the process is the link between points being made. It's been the one thing the first two speakers could have done a bit more of. Don't get me wrong, the content was of an exceptionally high standard, but for me the journey could have been mapped in a more logical manner between a couple of points (though I have got 'essay on the brain' at the moment).

Feedback for talk 4;
1. Ignore the paragraph I just wrote because the preacher did this perfectly. In fact, here's the logic as I heard it;
a. If we really think about it, our world sucks
b. But don't be surprised because it's been happening even when Ecclesiastes was written and we can see that not everyone is good
c. We cry for someone to do something and try to fix it ourselves, but we are limited in our ability. We rightly cry 'Why doesn't God do something?'
d. But where do we draw the line of calling for justice? Because we're part of the problem. So we also cry for mercy.
e. But God does do something (from the time of Ecc) and he did do something (from our perspective) by sending Jesus to die on the cross for our sin
f. Yet we still see injustice because God has given time for you to turn back to him.
g. Do it now. Turn back to him.

2. It seems so trivial, and I almost feel embarrassed writing this; but some of the power of gesturing was lost due to sweat marks. A darker shirt, perhaps?

3. I can't remember any one of the other speakers talking specifically in their interview of what they understood to become a Christian. Great work getting it in there.

4. One youth group member said they were bored with the simplicity of the gospel message. This is about the best feedback you can get because it shows you communicated Jesus clearly and simply. Also I strongly disagree with the 'bored' part. I happened to be riveted and wanting to go back and become a Christian again, were that possible. I trust God has used this talk to call people back to him.

5. I wonder what the preacher would have changed had he given the first two talks? In other words, though he drew the listener in, we weren't already hooked in with questions from the first two talks that were resolved tonight. Even simple things like repeated phrases evoking parts of previous sermons, was lost. It's a pity this time the speaker wasn't given that opportunity.

6. Tone variation worked really well. I was even yelled at, without it seeming inappropriate. Cool.

7. Our attention was maintained for a long time! Dare I say this is proof that the failure to keep the attention of youth lies primarily with the attention seeker?

8. We felt the passion.