USA Roadtrip

Its been a bussssy time here in the USA - 3 Conferences down and just back from a roadtrip to Cedar Point. So rather than bore you with Conference details (other than to agree with Thompson on Wes Keitel) here's some of my unique experiences as a Kiwi in the USA:

Nuclear Power Plants The closest I get to one of these in NZ is watching Homer Simpson at work. For those of you who don't know, NZ has been sent to its room for some diplomatic time out by the USA on account of us not letting nuclear capable warships into NZ waters. We're staunchly no-nukes so seeing a nuclear power station was a slightly haunting experience!

120 mph Straight Up! We rode this roller coaster at Cedar Point that sends you from a standing start up to a speed of 120mph and then sends you straight up a couple hundred feet into the air, then down the other side. Its a blast. All over in seconds. Was it worth the 70 minute wait in line? Yeah...

Biblical Plagues The Cedar Point area was suffering from a plague of "Fish Flies". Apparently they live for 12 hours and exist only to mate and feed the fish from which they take their name...they also make a crunchy noise when you stand on them.

Johnny Rockets This dining experience was a real treat. Classic diner decor with table top juke box. But the highlight was the "spontaneous" staff dancing to tunes such as "Respect" and "Staying Alive" - all around the diner the waitrons would start singing and dancing in unison. Very cool. Our waitress was a few fries short of a happy meal which only added to the event!

More later...tomorrow we return to Watermark Church for a visit - looking forward to saying "hi" to old friends...

Kiwiboy

Back in the USA

We landed in Grand Rapids last night around midnight! Family and friends to greet us with balloons and camera flashes. Initial concern at lost bags turned into relief - they had come through on an earlier flight. Nothing too eventful on the flight - saw Starsky and Hutch - funny movie.

Today its off to WWF - no not the wrestling - Wesleyan World Fellowship - should be an interesting cultural phenomenon!

Jonesboy "Britt"

Sunday Checkpoint

Tonight at cession we started the "Extreme Makeover" series with Week #1 "The Image Consultant". I preached one of those crossover messages where you do your best to preach a message that hits both seekers and Christians - basically about being created in the image of God and asking the question what does it mean to live like a spiritual person? It ended up being a lot more intense in the delivery than I thought it would...not sure what that meant for those listening. An interesting response from Nick the returning resident atheist - he asked me tonight whether he could help out on worship team in the future! Now while some would dismiss this out of hand, for me it was a wonderful expression of Nick's engagement of the community. We agreed to talk some more when I got back. I think he was just amazed that I quoted from Oscar Wilde and Winnie the Pooh in the same message and managed to say "eschatological" without tripping over my tongue - maybe I shouldn't use big words, but I don't think its the end of the world if I do...

I crack me up.

We also had an hilarious drama "Pagan Eye for the Spiritual Guy" - very funny satire of the Pagan Eye doing his best to lower the expectations of the Spiritual Guy - very cleverly done around the metaphor of preparing food as if it were the Queer Eye kitchen segment. Ask me about the dogfood sometime...

Well its bedtime for me...tomorrow we fly to the US...so may be offline for a day or 2...

The Kiwi Flies Again...

Hitched, Crushed and Packing...

Hitched...Jacob and Melissa were successfully married this weekend. I married them in an underground wine grotto! Very atmospheric. Seemed to go well. I preached on "Marriage is Made in the Differences" and felt the whole event was a great celebration and an awesome witness.

Crushed...The English Rugby team. I don't care what sport you play but 36-3 is a thrashing in anyone's world! The supposed world champs who avoided playing us in the World Cup final due to an off day in the semi finals just got smashed by the mighty All Blacks. Plenty of blood and guts along with tremendous skill from the Men in Black.

Packing... Me. In preparation for our US sojourn leaving in 2 days. First things first - 2 services to negotiate tomorrow and then some rapid fire planning for the next 2 weeks... Looking forward to some input and reflection time while I'm away.

Well back to tidying up tomorrow am's service - the boss is already in the US - nice for some!

Jonesboy

The Return of the Jonesboy

Its been quite a week! And apologies for my silence to all my avid readers - I appreciate both of you...

This weekend just gone was the weekend of our National Convention at Lake Taupo. We spent from Friday - Monday together - people from all over New Zealand from every culture imaginable - Fijian, Tongan, Samoan, Chinese, Singaporean, Malaysian, Rotoman, Maori, Australian(!) and the occasional Kiwi. There were also some Americans - 7 in fact from Kentwood Community Church in Michigan.

The Convention was a huge success! We exceeded the camp facilities in the first year of operation - the kids and youth programmes were amazing. The times of worship were inspirational and LOUD! Workshops were relevant and empowering for ministry. Great time to build friendships, all within this context of cultural and ethnic diversity that I suspect is rare in this world.

So leading up to the weekend was full on. And these past 2 days the same - Tuesday was catch up day, Wednesday was last day with the Kentwood team. Tomorrow we head down country for a wedding I am doing and then Monday we're on the plane for the US. Plenty to do before then!!!

Anyway, I need to go and keep things moving.

Jonesboy...

The Eagle Has Landed

A team of youth specialists from Kentwood Community Church arrived in Auckland today to assist us with the Youth Programme at our weekend convention. Good to catch up with Rob Reynolds and Mark Carroll in particular and meet some of the others. Miraculously the best burger joint in the world - BurgerFuel - has opened just down the road from us! Ask Rob R if NZ has the best burgers...So one "Ringburner" later I'm feeling real satisfied.

Got a bunch of stuff to do tomorrow - just finished ECW Ministry Team meeting - it was an early start out at the airport (5.30am) so I feel the need for sleep!

Oh - my dissertation tutor kinda confirmed in an email that as far as he is concerned the dissertation is up to scratch. Cool. I wouldn't want to do that again anytime soon! Still waiting for official confirmation.

Anyways time for bed...

JonesBed

Pentecost Revisited

This Sunday we celebrated Pentecost. By "we" I mean the ECW cluster of churches including ECW 10am (I'm the worship pastor), 2pm Mandarin and the cession|community. The place was packed out. Following the message (titled in an understated way "We Need the Holy Spirit"), around 50 people responded to a call to be filled with the HS. The area in front of the platform was strewn with praying, kneeling, weeping people. Good times.

We changed the time to 4pm to bridge the 3 different congregations into one time - so for the first time I experienced the (nearly) cession timeslot as others do - without the morning rush! It only reinforced to me - evening church is the way to go! Relaxed family time in the morning leading to a meal and worship in the evening. The rhythm suits me!

My mother came - second week in a row. She's virtually a regular.

Saw Kill Bill 2 on the weekend. Really was a very good movie. Its almost a shame you have to see Kill Bill 1 in order to get to the better half of the thing. Check out the "5 Step Heart Explosion" and keep an eye on the eye... Am I sick because I enjoy Tarentino movies? I own a copy of Pulp Fiction and saw Reservoir Dogs before it was fashionable... I bet actors like Michael Madsen (Reservoir Dogs and Kill Bill), Uma Thuman (Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill) love QT - they always seem to turn up in his movies...he must be more than a deluded sicko?

Is there ANY connection between my thoughts today?

Jonesboy

A Restful Day

Nice day of rest today.

Spent the morning on the net - cruising some interesting sites - posted on the rebel site for General Conference - finally - I'd been watching the discussion at a distance but finally got engaged by a couple of threads on membership and church planting. I could easily become addicted.

Had a loooooong lunch with a friend. It was good. Ended up vision-casting to him on the cession plant. Will be interesting to see what happens.

Then did the shopping. I like shopping for groceries. Here's why:

> I like the challenge of getting the best quality for the best price
> I love getting good deals on staples and stocking up
> I like changing the week's meal plan when faced with a compelling deal
> There's something restful about it...go figure?

I hope you feel like you know me more deeply...

Tonight we made pizza (you have to taste my pizza to believe it...home made bases etc). We then kicked back and relaxed. Kristen watched TV. I played Cossacks. I love strategy war games.

Some good news: remember the riveting saga when I was writing my penultimate MBA assignment? Well I passed. The grade was pretty good too! Just the dissertation to go.

Anyways, I think I'll head for bed shortly. Don't forget to cheer for NZ boy Scott Dixon in the Indy 500...

Jonesboy

Working Week Winds Down

Its been a strange week. I've felt like maybe I've been lagging a little in the energy stakes but it still seems a mildly productive time with what I did get done. Always more to do I suppose. A few frustrations - wisdom from deep within: "Church would be perfect if it weren't for the people..." Cynical thinking I know. The reality is that its people being touched by God that make the whole thing worthwhile - its just there are some others who need a touch from God too...maybe a soft punch or something...

We are fully booked out for the Wesleyan convention at Lake Taupo in 2 weeks! Awesome. A huge risk - we'd have been $20K down the toilet if it hadn't come off. Hats off to the Rev. for having the guts to do it (N8 having guts is different from dropping them...)

Anyway its bedtime...so good night...

Looking forward to catching up with Watermarkers soooooon along with the SLWC crew and friends and family at Berkley Hills. I even wore my Watermarked shirt the other day. Happy days!

Kiwiboy

Post Match

A rewarding day. The morning drama went pretty well - while they didn't quite nail it, the end result was very funny (the main goal) and certainly set things up for later on. Apart from the senior pastor feeling the need to "explain" the drama during his sermon - I'll be having words...I mean we will engage in a constructive feedback dialogue... Another week without a worship leader - so we just didn't use one! Working on the theory that the whole team just leads by their example...not a long term strategy but we survived another week. Did take the opportunity to introduce a worship leader candidate on vocals with a view to her stepping up next month.

My Mother, sister and niece/nephew came which was very cool.

Sunday afternoon had another successful "Plugging In @ cession" seminar. We welcomed 7 people into Partnership on Sunday evening.

We did cession|connect with a difference last night - decided to mark 3 months of being a church together by following the OT example of erecting altars around the PAC. We tore down all the staging as well and did unplugged sets with the grand piano, acoustic gat and percussion. So we erected a Sacrifice Altar to mark the sacrifice and obedience of people along the journey - we opened the mike on this and had some great affirmations of community members - a Community Altar - made of cardboard boxes with big photos of cession people on the outside - looked very cool and a Truth Encounters Altar - opened the mike for testimony on this as well. I then did some brief sharing on the Future Altar - Dave had produced this "space, the final frontier" kinda altar on the computer - it was pretty cool!

Add to that the Kiwi cricketers in a winning position with 1 day to go in the test v England at Lords, the Warriors managed a rare win and another sunny autumn day...

Roll on the week!

Flyin' Kiwi

Stretch

Overall right now I'm think I'm in a time of stretching and I don't mean the middle age spread - stretch marks I do not need! But I do think I am learning some things:

- It is possible to plant a church in your own strength. But only for a very short time.
- My wife's personal courage and the love and unconditional acceptance she shows me challenges my relationship with God (in a good way).
- God changes people. I don't. I'm not sure I ever believed that I could. But sometime I place burdens on myself and do things that suggest that maybe deep down I do...seeing God change people has convinced me my role is much less than I feared!
- The most important person that I am responsible to lead is myself - even then it is more a part of me handing much of that to God. But I am responsible for showing up at the meetings he is calling me to attend on a regular basis. I am a fool if I think I can lead anybody anywhere worthwhile without having God first leading me.
- People are amazingly gifted, surprisingly resilient and well worth any investment I might make in them.

Trite maybe. But its one thing to read this stuff in some leadership book...its quite another to have them take deep root within you - I'm not sure that these are issues that are done and dusted for me. In fact, I'm sure they're not.

Had cession|core today, a time where the cession|community's leadership team gather to pray, vision, plan etc. It was a good time. We are only barely started on our leadership journey and I would love the ability to meet say as a staff every week, but we are getting there. Some cool things happening within the various ministry areas.

Tomorrow is a rather full day so don't expect to find me here:

- 6am Write sermon for Sunday evebing (a terrible habit I know)
- 7am Gather all the props and things for ECW morning service
- 8am Set up
- 8.45 Practice
- 10am Service - doing keys
- 12.00 Family arrive for lunch
- 2.30 Plugging in @ cession Seminar
- 4.15 Set up for cession
- 4.30 Practice
- 5.30 cession|chow meal
- 6.15 cession|connect worship gathering
- 7.30 Post gathering chitty chat
- 8.30 Pack down
- 9.30 Arrive home!

I'm very glad that I kept my Friday Sabbath religiously...I mean in the right spirit...you know...

Well better get back to it...a fun drama to write like yesterday!

Jonesblog

Mid Week Checkpoint

Its been a good week so far. Had some great opportunities to connect with a few of the cession|community leaders. I always find those times stimulating and rewarding. They really are the first things that need to be on my schedule from a ministry point of view. Well maybe second - I think the DAWG (or HOTDAWG* in my case) is something to find a space for SOON!

Had an interesting meeting with a guy today - very talented speaker and a natural leader of people. I had some thoughts for his future involvement but he's not feeling called in those directions right now. The guy works as a programme director for a Christian radio station so he's certainly doing his share of ministry. What we did end up talking about was some mutual encouragement we might be able to offer each other through regular meetings. We'll see where God takes it. Its been on my mind lately - I am undersupported in my role - I have some operational supervision - but lack people in accountability, prayer and mentoring...just a few biggies! So I'm praying God will organise that stuff in coming weeks. I have another lead I'm following up as well in this respect.

The renewal of even the most basic disciplines has made a significant difference in my week. I'm hoping it has more to do with God working in me than being back to 2 rather than 3 jobs! I'd much rather it was personal growth, rather than eased circumstances...if that makes any sense!

Looking forward to 2 weeks in the US come June! Renewing friendships, seeing family, getting inspired, riding rollercoasters - I can't wait!

Anyways...its meeting time - putting on my Associate Pastor's hat and heading to the ECW Ministry Team Leaders' meeting. Its gonna be a strategy type meeting tonight - there are some serious next steps to get in place. Maybe one of them will be hiring a new Associate...

Only half joking...

BJ
*Half Of The Day Alone With God

Somewhat Amazed...

There's this thing that God does that I hardly ever "get". It always leaves me asking, "how did that happen again?" Its like I am surprised by His ability to make a significant difference in my life...I'm thinking to myself: "It can't be that easy? Surely, I need to DO more for life to be so different, so suddenly?"

Therein lies the deception - my life is about what I do - a subtle belief that my efforts must be in proportion to the level of grace that God will provide. Its more of a contractual state of mind.

Whereas (a contractual term itself...) God just wants my heart, mind and soul - not my puny efforts - and while I'm sure He's glad that some things have changed in how I am directing myself to Him its the decision to do so that makes the real difference - the desperation that leads to the cry of the heart. I had a God encounter involving my crappy car stereo last Thursday - a song that moves me to worship came on the radio: "Enough" and I just responded. That moment made a difference. He has been enough.

I'm excited about a lot of my schedule today - apart from the marking of assessments I HAVE to complete this morning - the only thing I find exciting about that is the pay cheque! I'm preparing for cession|core this weekend - thats the cession leaders' group (none of the luxuries of a multi-staff team here boys!) We're in a crazy season right now - Reuben and Vania have just had a baby, Jacob and Melissa are about to get married - but we're holding our own. I love these guys - I'm really looking forward to getting together. I'm really pleased that we have both Sunday's covered for preaching while I'm away - a couple of dead ends and I was starting to sweat on it a bit!

Anyways...devotions are calling...the sun is coming up...I need to drag my corpulence to the gym...

Jonesbody

Midwinter Sun

It was a beautiful mid winter's day yesterday - today looks like being another...fresh winter temperatures but warm in the sun! I like days like that.

The weekend felt a bit like that personally. For some reason there was respite despite the ongoing pace. A potential disaster Sunday morning with key worship people out of commission turned into a win. Sunday evening didn't quite "fire" - not 100% sure why - but I felt that I preached well on "The Body" and that the Vision took over...if you know what I mean. I preached out of Nehemiah and looked at different angles on how Nehemiah built (moved by vision, in the context of community, with all his heart) and that he built much more than a wall. It was pretty good for a 40 minute preparation phase (although I have to admit the ideas had been percolating for some days without ever making it to paper).

Some cool things happened last night - 2 weeks ago a young woman previously, but inconsistently, following Christ turned up - she connected in immediately with our Back to Basics Life group and has come both weeks. God has been showing up in her life and given her the opportunity to minister to a friend who is in a bad place - she brought the friend Sunday night... Another friend of mine (actually we flatted together for 4 years and I was his best man at his wedding) turned up as well. I've been asking him for a while now - he used to be right into God but the (persistent) lure of feminine wiles slowly created a barrier between him and God. Anyway he's married now so he can stop feeling guilty... So, some other friends of ours who Kristen has been connecting with actually brought them along! It was very cool to see him there. I don't know where that will all go but I pray that he caught something of God while he was there and that his wife (never been to church) saw something that will start some things for her...

Some people to connect with this week - I'm looking forward to that. I always feel like I do the most important part of this deal when I make the time to meet with people. Somehow the other stuff still gets done.

Right I'm off to make my week plan. An obvious (but neglected) discipline I'm reinvigorating this week.

Kiwiboy

Deleted...

Had the BTB Life Group last night. Very cool again. Most of them potential leaders - I feel good about the investment. Not sure whether I'm doing the job or not.

Having a love/hate relationship with a video I am working on - I love doing it - but am under resourced (mainly from a skill POV) and struggling with some corrupted footage.

I am contemplating having to lead worship on Sunday. I had built my team up last year to 5 leaders. Now I have only one of those left who is not even available this month. I have recruited one more but she is committed in other areas of the church as well so has limited availability. I am working with 2 others but they're not going to be ready for this week, nor the next. I'm just not that good a keyboard player that I can play and talk at the same time. Should be a laugh.

Well I've deleted most of this blog. It was maybe cathartic for me to a point.

I'm not sure what to do with most of it.

And my lawns are overgrown. Thats a metaphor for something I'm sure. Then again, I could just be lazy.

B