In Anticipation...

ministry insights - recently on the blog

noreply@blogger.com (Keith) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 10:33:00 +0000

The Countdown to Discovery Camp

From the Frontline (story from our minstry to the unemployed)

Special Needs (a place to belong)

K'Splat Term 4

Calling future leaders - come and do small group with me (re: a new way of training small group leaders)

The Prodigal Parishioner (a story of practical kindness)

The realtionship between evangelism and social action (part 1)

Luther on faith and works

luther on faith and works

noreply@blogger.com (Keith) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 03:56:00 +0000

Martin Luther’s dismissal of the Letter of James as the ‘right strawy epistle’ (written in the preface to his 1522 edition of the New Testament) is well known.

Less well known is his complete agreement with the actual argument of James, that faith without works is dead. He wrote this in his preface to Romans:

(Read the rest over on the St Pauls staff blog...)

who has a disability?

noreply@blogger.com (Keith) — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 23:53:00 +0000

I was reading around this morning and discovered the new 'Social Issues Executive' website. Terrible name, great website.

I was particularly heartened to see the lastest Briefing paper, entitled 'Who has a Disability?' Having had direct and intimate contact with a person with a 'disability' and knowing the issues that face someone like that entering into 'mainstream' society, I was glad to see some thinking on the issue and some resources being provided for churches to think through their approach to welcoming and including these people.

There are more people with 'disabilities' in our community than most people realise. According to the 2003 census, 1 in 5 people in Australia have a disability. Knowing some families of children with disablities, their experience is a hard one, where they have to constantly fight as advocates for information and access. Of all places, the church should be a place where they should not have to fight as hard, if at all.

I highly commend this paper written by Andrew Cameron, and the links that he provides to resources for churches to think through their approach.

Q & A from James 1

noreply@blogger.com (Keith) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 11:40:00 +0000

Some good questions were asked via the sms during the sermon last Sunday at 7pm:

When going through trials do you think having wisdom means you will understand God’s master plan?- If you’re not seeing the big picture is that an indication of lack of wisdom?

Referring to James 1:6; I often find myself doubting and asking questions of my faith- How am I to help this? And is it natural to doubt as a growing Christian?

I see wisdom as an individual pursuit, but how can we encourage the foolish among us to seek wisdom, especially when they seem to think they are already mature & even more so when they are also in positions of authority?

Just how does a person ‘do joy’ when they are faced with redundancy or serious medical news?

For my attempt to answer these, check out the St Pauls Staff Blog here.

who knew?

noreply@blogger.com (Keith) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 11:38:00 +0000

world renowned scholar serves up a feast

noreply@blogger.com (Keith) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 01:31:00 +0000

I had the thrill of hosting Paul Barnett at St Pauls for a breakfast on the book of James.

Read about it here

how mature christians can keep growing

noreply@blogger.com (Keith) — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 22:57:00 +0000

One of the best ways to keep growing in your walk with Jesus (apart from regular time in the Word) is to be in conversations with others who are walking the same walk. Chatting to others after church, sharing your lives in small groups are vital.

Another method of conversation is reading Christian books. Over the past 2 years, we’ve been running the ‘Digging Deeper Bookclub’ at St Pauls and Glenhaven. Its a chance for a whole bunch of us to grab and read the same book at the same time, and have a conversation about it. One of the side benefits is that we can get books at cheaper than retail prices, and we bring them to you!

The book for term 4 this year is John Ortberg’s, Faith and Doubt. I have chosen it because it ties into some of the themes we will be touching on during the James sermon series, and because Ortberg is a faithful bible teacher & outstanding communicator.

Anyone can join the bookclub, simply by buying a book and giving us your details. We try to run several opportunities per term for people to get together to chat about the book, and we let you know once the term is underway.

Faith and Doubt will be available from this Sunday from the College of Ministry counter at the foyer of St Pauls, for $15.00 (RRP $20). See you there!

Horror Film Wisdom

noreply@blogger.com (Keith) — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 03:34:00 +0000

Found this...

When it seems that you've killed the monster, never check to see if it's really dead.
If you find that your house is built upon or near a cemetery, was once a church used for black masses, had previous inhabitants who went mad or committed suicide or died in some horrible fashion or who performed necrophilia or satanic practices, move away immediately.
Do not search the basement, especially when the power has just gone out.
If your children speak to you in Latin or any other language which they do not know, or if they speak using a voice other than their own, shoot them at once. It will save you a lot of grief in the long run. Note: it's unlikely they'll die easy, so be prepared.
When you have the benefit of numbers, never go alone.
If you're searching for something which caused a noise and find out that it's just the cat, leave the room immediately if you value your life.
If you're running from the monster, you will most likely trip or fall. If you are female you will.
Stay away from certain geographical locations, some of which are listed here: Amityville, Elm Street, Transylvania, Nilbog (God help you if you recognize this one), the Bermuda Triangle, or any small town in Maine, especially if it is called Derry.
If your car runs out of gas at night, do not go to the nearby deserted-looking house to phone for help.
When something bad is chasing you, bear in mind that when you try to start your car, no matter how reliable the vehicle is normally, you'll have to crank the engine over many times before it will fire up.
People arriving to rescue you generally get ambushed by the monster, so don't rely on them as your only means of escape. In fact, expect to be surprised and delayed by encountering their flayed corpse at some point.
Do not call the police as they are either evil and will turn you in or will not believe you and laugh at you. Either way, you must handle the problem yourself.
If you are using a gun to combat the all-comsuming evil, it is a good idea to quickly find a new means of defense, because no matter how much ammo you have, you'll run out just before you kill the monster (unless your name is Ash, in which case, you'll never have to reload).
If you have defeated the monster, pay close attention to the camera, if it pans away for no apparent reason at all, get the heck out of there.
Skeptics are always proved wrong in some horrible, nasty, painful way. Be a believer.
If you are a child, don't panic! Monsters only attack overly horny teenagers. Children can NOT be killed in a movie, only possessed or absorbed. So cheer up!
If you've beaten the monster into a bloody pulp and you're sure he must be dead, take the opportunity to dismember, burn, eat, blow up or otherwise utterly destroy him.

Maker 09 arts festival

noreply@blogger.com (Keith) — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 04:38:00 +0000

Its not too late to enter any sort of art form into the St Pauls arts festival known as 'Maker 09' - know your maker, be a maker.

Details here or here.

Edit: lilnks fixed - sorry about that!!

2 new blogs

noreply@blogger.com (Keith) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 12:25:00 +0000

I'm now part of a new blog. It is the staff blog of St Paul's Castle Hill, found here: www.stpaulscastlehill.org.au/staffblog. Come check it out!

The idea is to provide a direct link from all the staff to the people of the church (and beyond), to let them know 'from the horse's mouth' what is going on. You can hear from all members of staff, on everything from what books they are reading, to events that are coming up, to thoughts from personal devtion time, to whatever!

It is an exciting development in the life of the church, I think. I will be reproducing some of the stuff from there here, but this will still be a place where I can muse more personally on things.

Our Senior Minister, John Gray, has also launched a personal blog, with particular musings on the topic of leadership, and regular entries from his personal daily journalling in the Bible. Defintely worth a look.

wisdom #1

noreply@blogger.com (Keith) — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 03:46:00 +0000

"God is like a pitcher tilted on toward his children, just waiting to pour wisdom over the trial-parched landscape of their lives, if they will but ask."

Kent Hughes on James 1:5

daylight savings starts Oct 4th in NSW in 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Keith) — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 23:30:00 +0000

Check it out for yourself.

Don't be late next Sunday!

Now that’s a dust storm...

noreply@blogger.com (Keith) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 04:25:00 +0000

Many people know by now that Sydney was covered by a massive cloud of red dust this morning.

I was struck by how the red dust settled on everything and changed its appearance. I was particularly amazed at how the dust settled on my car parked out the front, and was so thick that it went from this:

To this!!!

Now that's a dust storm...

test for twitterfeed

noreply@blogger.com (Keith) — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 12:58:00 +0000

Just reading through some blogs (a poor alternative to spending time with my wife on a Saturday night, but she's away on a conference), and read about twitterfeed.

If I've read this right, and negotiated the page and its instructions aright, then the title of this blog post should appear on my twitter feed within the hour (with a link to the blog post content?)

We'll see.

st pauls in the media

noreply@blogger.com (Keith) — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 10:09:00 +0000

St Paul’s Castle Hill Album Sets CITY ALIGHT

CITY ALIGHT, a new CD celebrating the talents of budding and experienced songwriters from St Paul’s Anglican Church Castle Hill, will be launched on Sunday September 27 at two bumper celebration services.

St Paul’s music director, Bren McLean says the album has been a natural step forward after a boost in songwriting activity in recent years.

The CD contains 10 Christian pop/rock songs written, performed and produced by members of the St Paul’s music team.

“Not everyone has the gift of songwriting, but if you do have that gift, you should develop and use it – this album is an opportunity for our people to put into practice their God-given talents,” Mr McLean says.

“We’ve also created something that can be a blessing to our church by encouraging and assisting people in their personal worship of God.”

Read the rest of the feature article on the Christian Today Australia website

calling all musos and music teams...

noreply@blogger.com (Keith) — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 13:17:00 +0000

Check out this great chance to develop your skills and develop your team, for the glory of God.

Details and rego: www.cityalight.com/shine2009

in google we tust

noreply@blogger.com (Keith) — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 13:26:00 +0000

[from today's smh]

Millions of words have been written and broadcast about the rise of religion around the world, but rarely included in the discourse is the most powerful new spiritual force of them all. For hundreds of millions of people there is a new portal to understanding, a gateway to the world, a tree of knowledge, a believers' bible. The legion of believers grows with every hour. They believe in Google.

The word suggests infinite power. It is derived from a mathematical term, googol, which means one followed by a hundred zeros. The two visionaries who founded the company called Google chose the name to signify their dream of harnessing the immensity of information flowing through cyberspace. They have succeeded. This year Google will process more than 180 billion requests for information. It has become the world's most powerful information company. It has a market capitalisation of $173 billion. And it sprang to life just 11 years ago, in September 1998.

Google inspires awe, which is one reason why the Church of Google has appeared on the internet. The site (founded in 2006 by a young Canadian, Matt MacPherson) posits this argument:...

Read the rest at smh

it's just not true...

noreply@blogger.com (Keith) — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 10:30:00 +0000

someone sent me this...

10 benefits of jesus #3 & #4

noreply@blogger.com (Keith) — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 12:21:00 +0000

#3 Victory

Since the very beginning, mankind's ultimate nemesis has been death. A foe that could not be overthrown. Like an oncoming truck somewhere down the highway of your life, you don't know when, but you know it will hit you hard. For some people, death casts a huge shadow over their present lives. I know grandparents who won't visit their grandkids because they are scared of the roads that lead them there. Death holds them hostage, even years out from a visit.

But Jesus overthrows death. 1 Cor 15:

⁵⁵"Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?" ⁵⁶The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. ⁵⁷But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

#4 Freedom

Mankind has longed for freedom from the beginning. The modern concept of freedom is unlimited options, and unlimited opportunity to pursue them. But the result is chaos. Worse, the Bible tells us the result is slavery. Everyone is hardwired for worship - to ascribe ultimate worth to someone or something, and spend our energies in the pursuit and exhaltation of that thing. The problem is, to worship anything other than the living God is to bind yourself to something that won't deliver what you hope for, but will keep you pouring your energy in anyway.

But Christ came to set us free from all that. Galations 5:1:

¹It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

caption competition

noreply@blogger.com (Keith) — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 13:34:00 +0000

Ok, what can you come up with: I'm after a caption for the man in the blue shirt (me!), and the little child closest to me.

(if you are reading on FB, you may need to go to www.keithbaker.blogspot.com to see the photo).

new st paul's album website

noreply@blogger.com (Keith) — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 12:34:00 +0000

The new album is almost here. It has been mastered, the artwork is finalised, the cds printed. We are looking forward to getting hold of it at our Celebration Service on Sunday 27th September. But for all readers out there who aren't part of St Paul's, you can listen to preview tracks, see some behind the scenes videos and even preorder the cd online at the album website:

www.cityalight.com

10 benefits of jesus #1 & #2

noreply@blogger.com (Keith) — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 05:54:00 +0000

On Sunday at St Paul's we finished a 5 week series of talks on big questions that Christianity must answer:

1. Does God exist?
2. Is the Bible reliable?
3. Is Jesus really alive?
4. Is Jesus the only way?
5. Is Jesus really worth it?

Is was priviliged enough to speak on 3,4, and 5. The talks are on the St Pauls website now.

In my answer to question 5, I looked at whether the benefits of entrusting your life to Jesus outweigh the costs. Someone asked me if I would post the list of 10 benefits that I mentioned. I said, 'Sure!'

I will post them in a series of 5, 2 each time. Here are the first 2.

Benefit #1: Life

Before attaching our lives to Jesus, we are dead in God's eyes. Whether we know it, or feel it, it is true. We are spiritually dead in God's eyes without Jesus, and at high risk of staying that way for eternity.

But in Jesus, we are raised up from that death, to everlasting spiritual life. Ephesians 2:4-5:

But because of his great love for us, , God who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions - it is by grace you have been saved.

Benefit #2: Cleansing

Not only do we have a change in our unseen status before God; we also have a tangible break with our past. All the words we have fired off that have hurt; the things we have done that we regret; the things that have been done or said to us - we carry these around with us like filthy stained undergarments. No matter what sort of suit we put oer the top, we carry the stain close to us as a heavey burden.

But Jesus offers us cleansing; Revelation 7:9-14:

After this I looked and there before me was the great multitude that noone could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands.

Then one of the elders asked me, 'These in white robes - who are they, and where di they come from?'

I answered, 'Sir, you know.'

And he said, 'These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb' (that is, Jesus).

review of 3 books on depression

noreply@blogger.com (Keith) — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 13:02:00 +0000

by Keith Condie, here: http://matthiasmedia.com.au/briefing/library/3437/

next bookclub book?

noreply@blogger.com (Keith) — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 01:35:00 +0000

This term's Digger Deeper Bookclub book is Chappo's, A Foot in Two Worlds. We are about to embark on our round of discussion groups, over suppers or afternoon teas. I am looking forward to it.

Tomorrow I am going to a certain bookstore to scout out the 4th term book. Love to hear your suggestions?

The following are criteria I'm trying to meet:

1. Pitched at a bible study leader level of theological comprehension.

2. Opens up a particular topic or aspect of the Christian life for non-sepcialists (so, eg., that rules out books on the New Perspective or other academic debates)

3. Short enough not to be daunting (we did some 200+ page books which no one finished - the current book is under 100 - I'm thinking 150 might be our upper limit?)

4. Classics could be included - last year we did Luther's 'Freedom of a Christian', which people found encouraging. So far this year, we haven't done any classics...)

Thoughts?

album update vid 6

noreply@blogger.com (Keith) — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 08:38:00 +0000

or here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLfOGW3J9c8