Ultimately

The Mike Gugliulmucci fall has hurt a lot of people.  I just wanted to address what needs to happen in you ultimately.

- Ultimately you need to get through it and grow because of it.

- Ultimately you need to forgive him/them

- Ultimately you need to take responsibility for your response (inc. actions, thoughts, blog posts etc).

- Ultimately your relationship with God needs to deepen through it.

- Ultimately you will be responsible for what you did, what you said, your attitude, your bitterness or your forgiveness, how you helped others get through it or whether you helped bitterness develop in them.

Hebrews 12:15 warns us that the root of bitterness can cause the grace of God to be choked off, we become defiled and miss it.

Michael Guglielmucci – An Appropriate Response

My friend John Finkelde gives an appropriate response to this situation below:

Russell Evans, Planetshakers Church pastor, issued a statement last night about Michael Guglielmucci, renowned Australian pastor & song writer whose struggle with cancer has been widely chronicled. His song Healer is featured on the latest Hillsong DVD & CD.

Michael Guglielmucci has informed us that he does not suffer from cancer, was never diagnosed with cancer, and has never suffered from the disease. This admission has come as a great shock to everyone including his wife and family who had no knowledge of the matter.

This shocking news has left me dumbfounded.

Michael’s deception & betrayal will wreak havoc – unbelievers will mock the church, Christians in the workplace will face increased cynicism, pastors will be less trusted & the supernatural nature of the gospel will be openly questioned.

So why do pastors lie?

Same reason anyone lies – approval, pride, survival, prestige, ego.

The difference is that pastors are required to live impeccable (not perfect) lives so that Christ is honoured & people are shepherded securely.

This is an entirely appropriate demand. When leaders ignore it hell rejoices & breaks loose.

What to do?

First, it’s ok to be angry & disappointed.

Second, reject the easy option of projecting Michael’s failure onto all & sundry. It’s his sin, not mine … or yours.

Third, pray for … yourself, your friends, your church & the Guglielmucci family. And the Planetshakers & Edge churches – it’s going to be a tough Sunday in those churches this weekend.

Thanks John for a well balanced, loving and real response.  Let’s do that.

Beijing? No.

Ethan, my 4 year old, when picked up from pre-school yesterday said,

‘Where’s Beijing?’

‘In China.’ ‘

Oh, well I don’t want to go to Beijing, I just want to go to Movie World.’

Where the heck did Ethan learn about Movie World?!

Reading the Bible – Eat This Book

Reading your Bible can be hard work, especially setting up a habit of it.  I encourage Christians to read their Bible every day.  If you’re new at it, start small… read 5-10 minutes of it every day.  Even just read a story (from heading to heading) and start in the New Testament.

John Finkelde, a pastor friend of mine from Perth has some great tips on his church’s website about reading the Bible.  He’s got a series of short videos on YouTube to help you get the most out of your time in the Word of God.  Check it out here.

We’ve also got some great tools online at www.newlife.org.au too.  Click here for the downloads section and grab a copy of ‘A Revelation Every Day’ booklet free for download.

Don’t forget YouVersion too… an online community where you can read 16 different translations of the Bible and journal your thoughts at the same time.  You can also contribute your thoughts to the community and read other people’s ideas on each passage.  Brilliant!

Get into the Word of God… it’ll change your life!

The Dark Knight

Will do a full review sometime later… but for now… The Dark Knight is freakin awesome!

Man or Boy-Man?

It’s the REALMEN Conference time of year again and I absolutely, positively can’t wait.  For some reason every years REALMEN Conference is a shifting time for me.  I’ve been deeply touched by God, injected with new faith, received amazing new revelations and spent time with some amazing lads.  You should go!

Last night Beck and I watched a movie called Definitely Maybe with Ryan Reynolds, Isla Fisher and Rachel Weiz.  While it wasn’t a ‘manly’ movie, Ryan’s character was often referred to as the boy-man with boyish good looks.  While we can’t change our looks (save from showering, shaving and generally looking neat and tidy!) we can decide if we’re going to stay a boy-man or grow into a man.

Last year Greg French shared that growing into a man means taking responsibility for yourself.  Often, I’ve discovered that this means you do it before you act.  Becoming a man on purpose is not an easy feat.  But it means discovering that which is boyish and putting it behind you.  Thinking about what is a man and focusing on becoming that.

I think accountability is key in becoming a man.  Find some ‘man’ that you appreciate and get accountable to him guys.  Keep your moving progressive, not regressive.  And conferences such as REALMEN will help you on that important journey.  Cya there!

Winning With People – John Maxwell

It’s not every day that I finish a book. Or even once a month though that’s my goal. But mere days ago I finished this brilliant book on relationships by the leadership master John Maxwell. I love doing life with people and building relationships. People are intriguing and doing life with others beats doing life alone any day!

Anyway, my passion for having better relationships led me to read this book and I believe every person needs to learn the principles in this book… the socially inept, the bubbly types, the leaders, followers, employers, employees, everyone.

A couple of great examples of the principles you’ll find in this book are:

• #1 The Lens Principle - Who we are determines how we see others.
• #4 The Hammer Principle – Never use a hammer to swat a fly off someone’s head
• #10 The Number 10 Principle – Believing the best in people usually brings out the best in people.
• #14 The Bob Principle – When Bob has a problem with everyone, Bob is usually the problem.
• #16 The Foxhole Principle – When preparing for battle, dig a hole big enough for a friend
• #20 The Celebration Principle – The true test of relationship is not how loyal we are when friends fail but how thrilled we are when they succeed.
• #24 The Partnership Principle – Working together increases the odds of winning together.

Amazing stuff… and that’s only a sample of the 25 principles you’ll find in this book. It’s worth getting for sure. What is the biggest thing you’ve learned lately about relationships? Do you need this book?!

E-Sword LIVE – New!

E=Sword has finally gone online over at http://live.e-sword.net. Several version of the Bible are available, not as many as YouVersion or BibleGateway however but the site is more tailored to Bible study rather than reading or sharing revelations with the online community. It’s well worth a look.

Check out my review here over at techpastor. What do you use to go deeper in your knowledge and understanding of the rich depth of the Word of God?

An Exciting Development

Last Sunday we announced a bold move to find and rent a facility that we will be able to use as a centre for our ministry. The facility would provide office space, a place for volunteers to help, a space for training, teaching, leadership nights and educational outreach events (such as Starting Points for parents of 0-3yr olds).

More than that, the ministry centre would provide us a constant, visible presence in the area, a stake in the ground spiritually, a 24/7 location visible by all. It will also give us a bold faith move, a strong step forward for our vision to influence and our mission of significance and stretch us into dimensional growth.

Our current venue for our services will remain the same unless we find something more suitable and closer to the location of our ministry centre. I’m pumped about it. More developments as they happen. Bring it on!

Scheduled Chilling Out

I love Mondays, mainly because it’s my day off and I get to hang out with my twins for the day. Mondays provide essential downtime for me mentally and emotionally (except when the lads are playing up!).

Rest is a spiritual principle. You can’t fire on all cylinders every day of the week continuously, there’s got to be some solid rest in there as well and it needs to be scheduled. What you value, you schedule. Rest is vital for your life, body, ministry, work, relationships, family etc. God did it so you should too.

Rest is important to factor in as it refreshes you for greater work.

What day(s) do you have off? What’s something you do that helps you rest?