Welcome to my new blog site! Hopefully this new blog will allow a lot more flexibility and future upgrades.
To bring the site to full functionality,we are working on the following: - Audio of messages in better,smaller file formats - Gallery of photos from the World Race,Nsoko Orphan Village,and the G42 Leadership Academy in Mijas,Spain - Video blogs
If there is anything more you would like to see on this site,please email and let me know.
We recently started our second 3 month semester here in the Leadership Academy in Spain and we were joined by 4 new interns . They have brought added value and we are all experiencing exhilarating and enjoyable days ( and evenings –last night they were all crowded in our apartment and terrace having a fine time !) with Presence and resurrection filled brokenness . Marvelous ! I think impartation and incarnation is taking place and it is a wonder to behold ! Almost all of them will leave mid Sept ( with a plan !) and as they are eating more and more into our hearts ,I am not looking forward to it . But they have to go . The world is calling . The church needs to be built ,orphans need a family ,businesses need to be planted and the tribe needs to increase . And others are coming…
To a man ( and woman ) they have all said that they believe that God sent them here . I`m very pleased . There is no other reason to be here . My raison d`etre too ! One of our life messages is that “there was a man sent by God and his name was…”God`s endless ,unstoppable quest to partner with human beings in the building of His Kingdom and the destruction of hell. Thank God for Last Adam who made it all possible .
Put your name is that space ;speak it out as you believe it ( I believe therefore have I spoken!) . Now act upon it in Jesus` Name –God is waiting for his partner to show up…!
Mother had it right . She 'taught'me thankfulness and humility . She had incarnated them . I don`t remember any lectures on the subject ,just a life ,well lived , day in ,day out and I received the truth . In theory ,at least . It has taken a lifetime and I guess still is ,to incarnate it fully into my own experience . I cannot ever recall hearing Mum complain about anything ! She was a Pastor`s wife and there were many opportunities ,over the years ,to let rip . She never did –quite remarkable !
David was a flawed man ,passionate ( remember the dance ?) ,lustful ( remember Bathsheba ?) ,but he knew the mercies of God and his language and writings are full of thankfulness . In his kingship ,he remembers that it is God`s choice that put him where he was and to the end ,remained the shepherd king as humility reigned in his heart .
My daily reading ,a couple of days ago included the well known words:”Repent and change your attitude .”In other words:”change your mind and change your attitude.”Both ! If I was pushed ,I would say that these two characteristics ,are at the top of any list I would make up of what is required to follow Christ. Maybe ,I can try and justify that statement….. if you need to ,change your attitude !
My daily reading this week has been the end of John and the beginning of Acts ! The prominent feature is the resurrection of the Lord Christ and his disciples` compelling witness to it . The turning point of entire history .
Some of you ,my friends ,must have thought that I was in need of a resurrection ! My walk in life ,pales into pallid insignificance when compared to Christ`s thrashing of death and hell ,and the opening of the way to life eternal for all men. Nevertheless ,I rejoice that because He lives ,we shall ( and do ) live also.
A number of circumstances have conspired to keep me occupied and silent the last few weeks –including a weird feeling of what I can only describe as 'writer`s block',and a strange lack of energy . A lifetime of good habits has kept me alive ! Habits,spiritual instincts ! As my Dad has said so many times:“It comes to pass..”And we will not be silent .
By the Grace of God we are laying good foundations with the interns here in Spain . We are blessed with great young people . They are in N. Africa this week on a practicum mission being led by David Hearn –due back on Saturday . Had good reports so far .
We have another 4 joining us in a couple of weeks and the kitchen table will have to be enlarged . Still my favorite place . Thanks for prayers and patience and I`ll be back quickly !
Here is a video created by one of our interns,Sean Smith,that captures what I believe is God’s dream for G42. Once you’re done watching,go to the G42 Leadership Academy to find out more and to apply!
2 weeks gone and it seems like yesterday that we started . We are blessed and feel the Presence of the Lord in this adventure . We are getting a rhythm and there is an energy from Heaven . So far:
- we have started the study on The Kingdom from the point of view of “What is God`s point?” - have delved into the Tabernacle of David and are finding the order of God`s plan (first the natural ,then the spiritual) and the sequence that led to its establishment and the absolute corollary in today`s circumstances ; - have commenced the study on 'Discerning Life Calling'; - have eaten great food and enjoyed each other`s company round the table ,including an Inaugural Meal ; - learned some new card games ; - have stopped talking about this generation`s inability to make decisions and long term commitments and started to prophesy a 'Spirit of Knowing and a Spirit of Might'; -have visited the flamingos ! ( see previous blog) ; -have begun the process of long term commitment to Kingdom planting and planning for our practicums –there are lots of opportunities to serve both in Spain ,Europe and N. Africa –some really good choices ; - are expecting our numbers to more than double by June ; - are expecting some parents to visit and maybe stay ;any Grandparents out there ? ; - are making a welcome for some summer interns ; -preached the 42 Generation ( intro) to a local Church .
We`ve been busy ! To hell with the devil and the Kingdom is coming . Come and see us …..
Made it ! Started the training center in Mijas ,Spain 3 days ago . We`re having a great time ….stonking ,comes to mind ! God is gracing us with an atmosphere of life and joy and there is sense of purpose about our activities already . We enjoyed our Inaugural Dinner last night in a lovely local restaurant with views from our mountain town over the sweeping coastline 6 miles away . Mijas is a delight . We have been warmly welcomed by new friends and very much feel at home .We will ,of course ,keep you in the picture ,and will also post a video in a few days to give an idea of who what and where .
The weather has been unusually bleak and cold and very heavy rain . However ,this is good news . Since we arrived last Saturday it has not stopped raining . There is a sound of abundance of rain ! Mo and I walked through the rain yesterday to open a Spanish bank account and we had a good conversation with the bank lady .
The bank lady told of the three to four year drought that has just now officially ended . The lakes have filled up and the reservoirs are are topped up . Water restrictions have been lifted . There is an inland lake about 45 minutes away ,where flamingos have habitually visited and reproduced for many years . For the last three years there have been no flamingos . They`re back this year . They`re up to their old Spring time tricks and babies are on the way . Life is bursting forth again . We`re planning on making a trip to see them asap .
I am taking this as an encouraging sign . Rain after drought ,new life after no births . We want to believe to be part of a generation that sees a dry and spiritually dead continent ,burst forth into life and joy ,after rainless seasons and empty nests …Far fetched ? Still dreaming God`s dream . Those flamingos have me thinking and thanking…..
Mo and I leave the house in about 30 minutes and are scheduled to land in Malaga Spain tomorrow ,after stops in Chicago and Manchester . We are launching our g42 Training Center on Monday . I feel a little bit like a schoolboy . Oh it`s not the journey and the planes –the Lord knows I`ve done enough of those- nor landing in an unknown place- we`ve visited ,vacationed and worked in Spain many times .
We`re disrupting our life again on the 'call',the sense of a destiny and purpose to be lived out and fleshed out . Just because we believe the Lord said so . It`s quite ridiculous really isn`t it ? Staking your life on a dream and a word . The good part is that such a call takes you outside of your own life into risk and let`s face it ,adventure . Those two always go together . ”Outside your own life ”are good words ,I believe .
Be a life source ,spend yourself for others and God –certainly won`t always be easy or even reasonable ,but ,as they say ”That`s what makes it great!”I`m honored to put my trust in the Lord and His mighty word . Even being able to trust Him ,comes from Him and by Grace . I would not choose to live any other way . Either He said it to us and it`s His will ,or we`re all smoking dope !
My friends who read these blogs regularly will know that I am an advocate of informed risk taking . Also from time to time it seems that the Lord surprises us and we jump with little or no information . Either way you`ll never know unless you give it a go . This particular 'risk'falls into the informed category . So we are about to wing it and our hearts are filled with prayer and great praise for a Father who can be trusted completely . Hasta la vista…..
Somebody asked me the other day how old I am . I replied that I have had 64 birthdays but that doesn`t mean much ! Seems to me that if your faith outranks your fear ,if your dreams are alive and well in God ,and you`re maintaining disciplines ,then the number of birthdays is irrelevant . Youth renewed ,mounting up on eagles` wings and all that.
Mo and I are headed to Spain in 7 days` time where we and a great team are launching our g42 Leadership School . It`s probably the last great adventure of our lives . Don`t get me wrong –I don`t mean that I feel finished and washed up . It`s just that ,I believe this investment will last the rest of my life as we seek to inspire at least a part of a multi generational generation to its Kingdom inheritance . I was thinking maybe 25 more full on years !
I thought about this as it is 50 years since my Dad took me on our first missions trip to Spain . Francisco Franco ,soldiers following us everywhere with machine guns ,NO tourists ,marvelous people and a beautiful country . Spiritually very dry . Now it`s a new day ,for a Post Church ( not Post Christian ) Europe and hopes and faith are high for the Kingdom to come ,churches to be planted and ministries established .
This week I had a long conversation with a late forties Dad whose daughter is interested in coming to Spain . He spoke of the possibility of he and his wife coming to join us in the Leadership School . I think it`s a brilliant idea . I would like to see 3 generations there !
Please pray for us as we set off again ,and seriously consider coming to be with us . Whatever happens ,don`t fold up your tent ,until you have given it your all and made whatever changes are necessary for you to die happy and fully alive . Race run ,course finished . Think 25 years and how we might 'change the world.' If you`re 20 something you`d still only be 45 ;if you`re 64 you`d still only be 89…!
These thoughts were inspired by one of my daily readings from Bob Gass in The word for you Today . As I read it ,it converged with my own thought process and gave me more food for thought . I`m in Chicago on the way to UK –unexpectedly –going to the funeral tomorrow of a dear friend who passed over suddenly a few days ago . I added the trip to my schedule . Like many of you ,I can easily be engaged in too much 'muchness'and too much 'manyness.'Jesus said to His disciples:”Boys ,we need to get away and go rest.”
He encouraged them to go to a 'deserted'place . Deserted ,apparently doesn`t mean desolate or like a desert ,but 'quiet.'Quiet ! What a word to relish . There is no doubt that just about everything in our world accelerates to breakneck speed and roaring blur ,and we feel the pressures to conform . I think it`s a form of self importance !
Here`s a quote from the reading:'Richard Foster points out that in contemporary society ,the devil majors on three things:noise ,hurry and crowds ….he implants taxi meters in our brains . We hear the relentless tick ,tick ,tick telling us to hurry ,hurry ,hurry ,time is money ,resulting in this roaring blur called the human race . But Jesus stands against the tide saying ,”Come to me…””Come aside and rest awhile..”
The human race was not called to be a roaring blur . It`s time to get away….
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- we have started the study on The Kingdom from the point of view of “What is God`s point?”
Made it ! Started the training center in Mijas ,Spain 3 days ago . We`re having a great time ….stonking ,comes to mind ! God is gracing us with an atmosphere of life and joy and there is sense of purpose about our activities already . We enjoyed our Inaugural Dinner last night in a lovely local restaurant with views from our mountain town over the sweeping coastline 6 miles away . Mijas is a delight . We have been warmly welcomed by new friends and very much feel at home .We will ,of course ,keep you in the picture ,and will also post a video in a few days to give an idea of who what and where .