Signs outside church

1. There was a church that had problems with outsiders parking in its parking lots, so they put up a sign:
CHURCH CAR PARK – FOR MEMBERS ONLY,TRESPASSERS WILL BE BAPTIZED!
That took care of the problem!

2. “No God – No Peace? Know God – Know Peace.”

3. “Free Trip to heaven. Details Inside!”

4. “Try our Sundays. They are better than Baskin-Robbins.”

5. “Searching for a new look? Have your faith lifted here!”

6. An ad for one Church has a picture of two hands holding stone tablets on which the Ten Commandments are inscribed and a headline that reads: “For fast, fast, fast relief, take two tablets.”

7. When the restaurant next to another Church put out a sign with big red letters that said, “Open Sundays,” the church reciprocated with its own message: “We are open on Sundays, too.”

8. “People are like tea bags – you have to put them in hot water before you know how strong they are.”

9. “Fight truth decay – study the Bible daily.”

10. “How will you spend eternity – Smoking or Non-smoking?”

11. “Dusty Bibles lead to Dirty Lives”

12. “Come work for the Lord. The work is hard, the hours are long and the pay is low. But the retirement benefits are out of this world.”

13. “It is unlikely there’ll be a reduction in the wages of sin.”

14. “Do not wait for the hearse to take you to church.”

15. “If you’re headed in the wrong direction, God allows U-turns.”

16. “If you don’t like the way you were born, try being born again.”

17. “Looking at the way some people live, they ought to obtain eternal fire insurance soon.”

18. “This is a ch_ _ ch. What is missing?” —– (U R)

19. “In the dark? Follow the Son.”

20. “Running low on faith? Step in for a fill-up.”

21. “If you can’t sleep, don’t count sheep. Talk to the Shepherd.”

a year and a month

it’s been a year and a month, yet it’s felt like it was yesterday

welcome back!

from anakin to darth

see here for post

do you love me?

i have been thinking of this passage or rather the moment when Jesus approaches Peter on the beach. it’s after Peter had denied Him three times. Peter must be feeling that sense of guilt and shame and embarrassment. Peter was the head student. He was the one who was willing to get out of the boat. He was the strong one, the loud one, the one who was the ‘man of action’ – ready to do whatever was required. And yet he failed. messed up. didn’t cut it. flunked the finals.

and Jesus goes to him again. the same way the word of the Lord comes to Jonah a second time.

and Jesus has only one question really.

do you love me?

not do you have the skills sets necessary? can you assure me you will not mess up again? have you felt sorry enough for your wrong-doing? He doesn’t ask for an explanation, nor  even an apology. he only asks ‘Peter, do you love me?’

He wasn’t looking for one who was ‘together’ or one who wouldn’t hurt Him or fail Him again. He just needed to know this one thing. If Peter loved Him, then Jesus could work with that.

i have been thinking of this passage and thinking about my questions to potential team people in church. i want to know skill and competence. We teach a class where we extol the gifts and talents, and encourage them to discover their strength and to use it. but i have never asked this one question: do you love Jesus?

Jesus knew that as long as Peter loved Him, then Peter would always be in the right place to serve Him.

and i can’t help with this thinking to ask myself that same question:

rhordan, do YOU love Him?

substance over style

from Ps Steven Furtick’s blog. some great advise, and a great reminder to keep things real!

Guest Blogger: Larry Hubatka, Creative Pastor

Today I sat down with the Design Team and mapped out the video production schedule for the next couple weeks. It’s super hairy, but doable (sidebar: that’s one of the reasons why I love the Design Team–they recognize the difference between super-hairy-but-doable and crazy-heavy-can’t-pull-it-off). The best part of the whole process was we dumped all the computers for the planning session and went straight paper, pen and scissors. Scissors? Yep, scissors.

I was cutting out graph paper and mapping out the schedule old school. Sliding video shoots and post-production edit sessions all around on the table on little scraps of paper. It wasn’t the best, most efficient approach to project planning. But sometimes you’ve got to go old school to get back to the basics. To remind yourself how the technology is supposed to help, not be the point.

For example, just because you know how to use the technology to edit a video in Final Cut doesn’t mean you’re a video producer. Handing in something that looks like a movie doesn’t make it a movie.

If you can’t tell a story, you can’t make movies. Sorry.

Don’t be confused by being able to tell a great story and being able to communicate a lot of information quickly. We’ve gotten really good at covering up our lack of substance with style or technique. But substance always wins. Just like character always wins. And integrity. And truth.

Get back to some of what you lost when you got the new toys and tools to play with. Get back to the basics. It might surprise you how far you’ve walked off the path you always thought you’d follow.

Africa (originally by Toto), performed here by Perpetuum Jazzile

wow. a vocal group from slovenia!

one day, we’ll get choir to do this!

a full day/happy birthday yeronn

i cannot believe that i only have 23 minutes before this day is over. it’s been a pretty full day (ermm… actually come to think of it, it’s been a pretty full (and full on) YEAR!). the day started quite early with some reading. i’m trying to get through a couple of stacks of youth curriculum. i’m hoping to be able to map out a three/four or six year plan for Surge (see SurgeCentral for more info about our youth ministry). then it was a rush down to Harbourfront to pick up Nic, Merv,and Ter for a little tennis. It was terence’s first time! (and my guess, like most sports, he’ll pick this one up quite fast too!). my knee’s been troubling me somewhat, so i thot it wise to not play too much, so i went for a slow jog (or a fast walk – it really depends on how much a boost to ones ego one needs!). went across henderson wave. (see pic) i’d seen the bridge from the road, but never actually walked across it. it’s really pretty cool. and it’s quite high up.

meandering around, i found myself along some “forest walk” route. i felt somewhat schizo along that path – there were moments when i was transported back to my army days – route marches, runs etc; and then there were moments i was taken to another country – australia, america. you judge for yourself. (see pic). but the thing that i liked about the whole route best, was that i was the only one on it! (well, expect for two grass-cutters who had found a nice corner to slack)

it was then to sunshine plaza (a really nice place called “Sarah’s Corner”) and then to desert. there’s this little ice-cream shop in Sunshine Plaza that sells great ice-cream. The place is called O’Divino and it’s built on the same concept at cold stone creamery or cold rock. Tiffany joined us for lunch and for desert too!

the guys make effort to smile!

it was then, back to the office for a couple of admin things – emails, letters, plans. had a great time catching up with Tiffany – and it was really uplifting to hear her testimony and lessons learnt from her recent trip to europe. back to the office to an orientation meeting for new team members to Cafe. a couple more emails, more admin. then grabbed Yeronn, and took him out for his birthday dinner.

happy 22nd birthday dude!

to a guy who truly values people and friendships

one who will go to any length for a friend

one who will remain loyal

through thick and thin

who will fight together with you

who will listen and feel your pain and journey

who will be willing to carry your burdens with you

one who cares

much

to the point that s0metimes he hurts too

to the one whom God has given a pastors heart.

may this year be one of your best yet dude!

happy birthday!

now, back to get some work/study done! hoooo!

if xerox made toasters…

If Xerox made toasters… You could toast one-sided or double-sided. Successive slices would get lighter and lighter. The toaster would jam your bread for you

hanging out with the interns

the day started with an early morning movie – the state of play. good movie. good acting. plot was great – till the end. it felt like a strange ending. it was go-with-nic-shopping-for-school day. turned out great. it’s not difficult to get clothes for him. and it seems that he isn’t that picky about what he’s wearing. (he’s one of those fortunate singaporeans, who can walk pretty much into any shop and buy stuff off the rack – unlike me. not everything fits!!!! haha) crepes for lunch – and conversations over SurgeCentral last friday, and then to shop! at the end of it – nic did well! got himself some new stuff – mostly pants, and mostly from Muji (yup who would have thot huh!?!? but if you know nic, it’s all quite fitting (sorry, i couldn’t help the pun!)).

here’s a pic of nic (oh the poetry of that!)

well, it was a day with the interns. (so you are wondering where’s the other one huh)

i’ll let the pics speak for themselves!:

oh well, i guess he was tired.

drink from the river

just a little something to put a smile on your face. (got this in am email from a member of our church!)

The preacher says:

‘If I had all the beer in the world, I’d take it and throw it into the
river.’

The congregation cried, ‘Amen!’

‘And if I had all the wine in the world, I’d take it and throw it in
the river.’

And the congregation cried, ‘Amen!’

‘And if I had all the whiskey and rum in the world, I’d take it all
and throw it in the river.’

Again the congregation cried, ‘Amen!’

The Preacher sat down.

The deacon then stood up & said: ‘For our closing hymn, let’s turn to
page 126 of our hymn books and sing:

‘We shall drink from that River.’

The congregation screamed ‘HALLELUYAAAAAA’.