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The Vision from Dave Wright on Vimeo.

So this guy comes up to me and says:
“what’s the vision? What’s the big idea?”
I open my mouth and words come out like this:
The vision?
The vision is JESUS – obsessively, dangerously, undeniably Jesus.

The vision is an army of young people.
You see bones? I see an army.
And they are FREE from materialism.

They laugh at 9-5 little prisons.
They could eat caviar on Monday and crusts on Tuesday.
They wouldn’t even notice.
They know the meaning of the Matrix, the way the west was won.

They are mobile like the wind, they belong to the nations.
They need no passport.
People write their addresses in pencil and wonder at their strange existence.
They are free yet they are slaves of the hurting and dirty and dying.

What is the vision ?

The vision is holiness that hurts the eyes.
It makes children laugh and adults angry.
It gave up the game of minimum integrity long ago to reach for the stars.
It scorns the good and strains for the best.
It is dangerously pure.

Light flickers from every secret motive, every private conversation.
It loves people away from their suicide leaps, their Satan games.
This is an army that will lay down its life for the cause.
A million times a day its soldiers choose to loose,
that they might one day win
the great ‘Well done’ of faithful sons and daughters.

Such heroes are as radical on Monday morning as Sunday night. They don’t need fame from names. Instead they grin quietly upwards and hear the crowds chanting again and again: “COME ON!”

And this is the sound of the underground
The whisper of history in the making
Foundations shaking
Revolutionaries dreaming once again
Mystery is scheming in whispers
Conspiracy is breathing…
This is the sound of the underground

And the army is discipl(in)ed.
Young people who beat their bodies into submission.
Every soldier would take a bullet for his comrade at arms.
The tattoo on their back boasts “for me to live is Christ and to die is gain”.

Sacrifice fuels the fire of victory in their upward eyes.
Winners. Martyrs.
Who can stop them ?
Can hormones hold them back?
Can failure succeed?
Can fear scare them or death kill them ?

And the generation prays

like a dying man
with groans beyond talking,
with warrior cries, sulphuric tears and
with great barrow loads of laughter!
Waiting. Watching: 24 – 7 – 365.

Whatever it takes they will give: Breaking the rules. Shaking mediocrity from its cosy little hide. Laying down their rights and their precious little wrongs, laughing at labels, fasting essentials. The advertisers cannot mould them. Hollywood cannot hold them. Peer-pressure is powerless to shake their resolve at late night parties before the cockerel cries.

They are incredibly cool, dangerously attractive

Inside.

On the outside? They hardly care.
They wear clothes like costumes to communicate and celebrate but never to hide.
Would they surrender their image or their popularity?
They would lay down their very lives – swap seats with the man on death row – guilty as hell. A throne for an electric chair.

With blood and sweat and many tears, with sleepless nights and fruitless days,
they pray as if it all depends on God and live as if it all depends on them.

Their DNA chooses JESUS. (He breathes out, they breathe in.)
Their subconscious sings. They had a blood transfusion with Jesus.
Their words make demons scream in shopping centres.

Don’t you hear them coming?

Herald the weirdo’s! Summon the losers and the freaks.
Here come the frightened and forgotten with fire in their eyes.
They walk tall and trees applaud, skyscrapers bow, mountains are dwarfed by these children of another dimension.
Their prayers summon the hounds of heaven and invoke the ancient dream of Eden.

And this vision will be.
It will come to pass;
it will come easily;
it will come soon.

How do I know?

Because this is the longing of creation itself,
the groaning of the Spirit,
the very dream of God.

My tomorrow is his today.
My distant hope is his 3D.
And my feeble, whispered, faithless prayer invokes a thunderous, resounding, bone-shaking great ‘Amen!’ from countless angels, from hero’s of the faith, from Christ himself. And he is the original dreamer, the ultimate winner.

Guaranteed.

(The Vision – - by Pete Greig)

Technorati Tags: 24/7 Prayer, Vision

I just finished reading Seth Godin’s book “Tribes” and have just been fired-up with its message of radically changing the rules of the game through the fluid, cause-based, leadership of communities that he aptly terms “Tribes”. Anybody who is involved in influencing the market of ideas, would do well to take this book’s central themes to heart. By the way, YOU are that person, involved in influencing the market of ideas. If you care about stuff, if you want to get things done, if you want to change things, if you use the power of words to bring about change…… then this message os for you.

If you are passionate about an idea, or a message, then there is a tribe out there waiting for you to take the initiative and lead. Your message needs you – your tribe needs you….. welcome to the new world.

Technorati Tags: Tribes, Seth Godin, Books, Viral, Marketing

The following email was sent to Gibraltar’s Minister for Family, Youth and Community Affairs, asking the Government to introduce a fast-track system for adopting children that are orphaned in disasters such as Haiti’s massive earthquake.

————

The Honourable J J Netto
Minister for Family, Youth & Community Affairs
14 Governor’s Parade
Gibraltar

Dear Sir,

Re: Crisis response protocol for adoption in Gibraltar.

It is with astonishment that we witness the scenes of devastation coming out of Haiti. every day. In times like these we all wish that there was something that we could do to help, and no doubt the typical response from our community will be to contribute money, energy and time to help the lot of those less fortunate.

Although I’m not aware of the intricacies of the adoption process here in Gibraltar, I am writing to ask whether the Government of Gibraltar has considered introducing a fast-track protocol for the adoption of orphaned children following a disaster such as Haiti. Parents who decide to adopt these orphans would be able to bring the child to Gibraltar under a certain protocol, that would relax any bureaucratic impediments and expedite the whole process.

I am aware that there may not be multitudes of Gibraltarians standing in line waiting to adopt orphans, however I am also aware that sometimes small but poignant gestures, such as having Government introduce the said protocol, will serve as a powerfully symbolic catalyst to motivate some to take action. Sometimes not doing anything at all can be the worst thing we can do.

Thank you for your kind attention to this matter,

I remain,

Yours faithfully,

John K. Baw

The following telephone exchange between room-service and a guest at a hotel in Asia was recorded and published in the Far East Economic Review.

Hotel:  Morny, ruin sorbees.

Guest:  Sorry, I thought I dialed room-service.

Hotel:  Rye! Ruin sorbees … morny! Jewish to odor sunteen??

Guest:  Uh … yes … I’d like some bacon and eggs.

Hotel:  Ow July den?

Guest:  What??

Hotel:  Ow July den … pry, boy, pooch?

Guest:  Oh, the eggs! How do I like them? Sorry, scrambled please.

Hotel:  Ow July dee baychem … crease?

Guest:  Crisp will be fine.

Hotel:  Hokay. An San tos?

Guest:  What?

Hotel:  San tos. July San tos?

Guest:  I don’t think so.

Hotel:  No? Judo one toes?

Guest:  I feel really bad about this, but I don’t know what ‘judo onetoes’ means.

Hotel:  Toes! Toes! … Why djew Don Juan toes? Ow bow singlishmopping we bother?

Guest:  English muffin!! I’ve got it! You were saying ‘Toast.’ Fine.Yes, an English muffin will be fine.

Hotel:  We bother?

Guest:  No, just put the bother on the side.

Hotel:  Wad?

Guest:  I mean butter … just put it on the side.

Hotel:  Copy?

Guest:  Sorry?

Hotel:  Copy … tea … mill?

Guest:  Yes. Coffee please, and that’s all.

Hotel:  One Minnie. Ass strangle ache, creasebaychem, tossy singlish mopping we bother honey sigh, and copy… rye?

Guest:  Whatever you say.

Hotel:  Ten jew berry mud.

Guest:  You’re welcome.

Clowning in Rome – Reflections on Solitude, Celibacy, Prayer and Contemplation (By: Henri J. M. Nouwen)

Our cultures have pretty much put aside the values of solitude, celibacy, prayer and contemplation. As a result, we experience emptiness in our hearts and our relationships. Clowning in Rome will perhaps inspire us to risk to be touched by those in our homes and on our streets that we would rather put aside and forget. The homeless, belligerent, rejected, violent, lost, uncooperative, and vulnerable people are the prophets of today beckoning us to become clowns in the circus of life, where we foolishly squander our enormous energies of love and generosity. -Foreword (xviii)

… I [slowly] realized that in the great circus of [life], full of lion tamers and trapeze artists whose dazzling feats claim our attention, the real and true story was told by the clowns. Clowns are not in the centre of the events. They appear between the great acts, fumble and fall, and make us smile again after the tensions created by the heroes we came to admire. The clowns don’t have it together they do not succeed in what they try to do, they are awkward, out of balance, and left-handed, but…. they are on our side. We respond to them not with admiration but with sympathy , not with amazement but with understanding, not with tension but with a smile. Of the virtuosi we say, “How can they do it?” Of the clowns we say, “They are like us.” The clowns remind us with a tear and a smile that we share the same human weakness. -page 3.

photo credit: Himalayan Trails

Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth – 1 Corinthians 5:8

Talk to someone about what they think of the “Church” or of “Christians” and painfully often you will hear THAT word: “hypocrites”. Ouch!

It hurts me that people will often refer to Christians or the Church as “hypocritical”, sort-of in the same vein as one hears people talk about politicians, perceived by many to be milking the public purse for personal gain, or bonanza-bonus-taking bankers, who, many argue, are paying themselves huge sums out of money that they only have because they have mortgaged our whole economies for the next few generations.

St. Paul, in his letter to the Corinthian church, urges them to “keep the festival” of the (new) Passover, but to keep it in the spiritual sense, having Jesus as their sacrificial lamb that makes atonement for their sins. This festival of the Passover is the foundation of Christianity.

I will spare you the intricacies of Jewish Passover-observance, and the rituals of purging-out of yeast that goes with it – suffice it to say that Passover requires a cleaning-out of every nook and cranny of your kitchen in order to remove any traces of yeast – yeast is symbolic of sin and impurity. He then goes on to state that this festival is to be observed “with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”

Now here’s a thought: We place a lot of emphasis on keeping the festival with the proper truth (and doctrine becomes the rallying-cry for many movements, divisions and separations), but are we placing equal emphasis on keeping the festival, on being true Christians, with the quality of transparency and sincerity? Surely if the world sees the Church as full of hypocrisy, we need sincerity by the bucket load – for fail you might, but people will always appreciate you if something is genuine.

In Paul’s Corinth, it is said that it was normal practice for people selling earthenware to cover-up imperfections, cracks and crevices with wax, pouring it into all the nooks and crannies, and then paint-over the whole vessel. These were sold in dark shops, so the unsuspecting buyer got the shock of his life when a perfectly looking vessel was used to pour hot water into it – the wax invariably melted, and the water was spilled on the ground – and what looked like a beautiful earthen pot was therefore useless. The way to detect that the vessel was “sincere” was by holding-it up against a bright light, and the wax would let the light through in contrast with the opaque clay and all imperfections would be highlighted.

From this practice of filling-up cracks with wax, some say that we get the word “sincere” from the latin sin (without) cere (wax).

Here’s where this thought is taking me: I don’t want to appear as if I’ve got it all together, only to discover wax covering my cracks and faults. In 2010 I purpose to hold my own heart and life up to the “bright light” of God’s presence and have Him reveal all the imperfections, shortfalls, nooks and crannies. I apologize to you all beforehand if it isn’t a pretty sight, but when all is said and done I want to be part of the real deal.

Happy New Year Friends!

The dawning of a new day…..
the birthing of a new year….
the ushering-in of a new decade.

One word comes to mind for this 2010 – PROMISE. As you nurture the dreams of your heart, may the HOPE of PROMISE guide your every decision, help you at every turn, and propel you to new heights.
Love,

John, Annabelle, Aaron, Eli & Ethan.

photo credit: escapedtowisconsin

Just a couple of quick thoughts:

Spent the day with a friend that I had known as a blog/facebook/twiter friend for some years but only just met in real life today. Man the world of the Internet is great, but real-life connections are just so much better! It is awesome how we managed to cram weeks of conversation into several hours and yet found that we were very much on the same page in everything we talked about! A shared meal does more for fellowship and friendship than weeks of online interaction, but on the other hand new technologies are making connecting with people and ministering to them so much easier! It is an incredible time to be alive!

Last night I spent half an hour on the phone with some dear friends of ours who are in a time of transition in their ministry. They have left the familiar territory of their past denominational structures and have cast out into the unchartered and unfamiliar seas of what the Lord’s Spirit is leading them into. Exciting but terrifying all at once. They are relating with an “online/virtual church” community that is providing guidance and support to them during this time of transition. New technologies mean new ways of connecting with people and all very life-giving.

One story is of an online friendship that evolves into a real-life meeting and friendship, the other involves a transition from real-life church relationships evolving into having new online connections for ministry. The game is still the same, but maybe with these new technologies we have new tools in our toolbox that we should be using to maximum effect.

photo credit: R. Motti

Merry Christmas to all my friends and enemies. What a wonderful time to be grateful for all our blessings in life, for the lovely friends and family that surround us, and to reflect on the greatest gift of all……. God giving his own Son Jesus for us and sending Him into our world to destroy the power of evil once and for all.

When God shows up…. everything changes!!

photo credit: Frank Taillandier

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Forget me not when I am old
When I repeat the same things
When I insist on having my way
When I forget your name
When I spoil your plans

Forget me not when I am old
When I am just taking-up space
When I am a burden on your day
When I call you a hundred times
When I seem to presume too much

My child, afford me a little dignity
- spare me a little patience
- show me a little kindness

Forget me not when I am old
for this much I have earned:
Through countless sleepless nights
-caring for you
Through a thousand tiring days
-working hard for you
Through these many years
-watching over you
-to see the beauty of who you have become

Forget me not when I am old
For your care of me
Brings out the best in you
and sows the seeds
of your own tomorrow.

(c) 2009 – John K. Baw

Movements have a cause. Their message behaves very much like a virus. I was intrigued about the guidelines released by Governments for containing the H1N1 virus, the virus also know as ‘Swine Flu’. These same principles that will stop viruses form spreading are the principles that will cause a movement to die out.

Viruses are stopped firstly by there being a mechanism in place to ‘catch’ or ‘contain’ the delivery of the message. If you want to quench the power of a movement, start to dictate how, when and in what way the viral message is to be delivered. Start to issue guidelines on what is appropriate and what is not, on who should be involved, and what the right ‘qualifications’ for the task at hand are.

Secondly you ‘bin’ it. You try and keep control over your message – keep it ‘contained’ in a secure and safe place.

Thirdly you ‘kill’ it by using a chemical agent that works anti-virally. When a counter-message is evoked, an anti-message, if you will, is spread, that has the power to totally undermine your movement and leave it dead on the water.

In many circles, churches have almost killed-off the raw power of the message of Christianity by doing just that. The ‘virus’ is ‘caught’ by insisting on qualifications for the job. Thus a whole clerical hierarchy has evolved and it ensures that only appropriate channels are used to deliver the message. Secondly, special ‘bins’ called ‘churches’ and ‘cathedrals’ are the only places authorised to house this message. Thirdly, an anti-virus is applied – a positive message (virus) of hope, love, and peace has been replaced by one of end-of-the-age-doom, of judgement and of performance against standards of behaviour.

This tragedy has seen the people of God transition from being the light of the world, to a community that shies-away from the world in order to avoid being contaminated with impurity.

God is now raising an end-time army of surrendered ones who have totally been infected with the virus of LOVE, and who are actively engaging with society in order to get as many infected with the same virus as possible.

The Challenge of Jesus

The cross is the surest, truest and deepest window on the very heart and character of the living and loving God; the more we learn about the cross, in all its historical and theological dimensions, the more we discover about the one in whose image we are made, and hence about our own vocation to be the cross-bearing people, the people in whose lives and service the living God is made known.

When therefore we speak… of shaping our world, we do not – we dare not – simply treat the cross as the thing which saves us ‘personally’, but which can be left behind when get on with the job. The task of shaping our world is best understood as the redemptive task of bringing the achievement of the cross to bear on the world; and in that task the methods, as well as the message, must be cross-shaped through and through.

Recently a bunch of dudes and dudettes from Living Waters Church invaded the Ipanema restaurant in Gibraltar. I am amazed at how important it is, for your movement to eat together! There is something about shared meals that is at the centre of life together. In our culture, a lot of important business is conducted over a shared meal (Of course, we call them ” business lunches”, just to give it that sense of importance, or maybe even a sense of grown-up-ness) – In other cultures, shared meals form the backbone of much of civic life, commerce and polity.

If you want to foster common bonds, a shared sense of purpose, and a sense of belonging, then eat out…. a lot. Please tell me that you heard this. It is so simple that it runs the risk of seeming trivial. Simple stuff is usually overlooked. Simple stuff is often powerful.

Mankind has a innate craving for belonging, especially for belonging to a mission that has a cause. When people feel that they truly belong, and form an important part of, something greater than themselves, then watch-out, you have in your hands the genesis of a world-changing and paradigm-destroying phenomenon. In other words, you have in your hands the basic ingredients that can change the rules of the game.

Your movement needs that fellow-ship. It all begins happens around some good food and a healthy appetite for your mission. Ribs anyone?

For the record: The obligatory evidence:

What does the WildOx do when he is not changing the world?  He packs a car full of yung’uns and heads-off to Torremolinos, Spain to visit Crocodile Park.

We had an awesome time – well recommended for those of you who live in this neck of the woods and have kids.  I learnt a tonne of stuff about crocs – unfortunately we did not get to feed them because, as you all know, crocs do not eat from Autumn to Spring time.

I shot a few pics…….

Last week we had the privilege of having Christen Forster visit us at Living Waters Church. I had met Christen last November at the Windsor Castle day of impartation and at the Under an Open Heaven conference that followed it.

This guy is an awesome teacher. We had four incredible meetings where we saw several people being healed and many others delivered from bondage.

The really cool thing for me however was when we dialed-down and just shared over a coffee or a beer. I was really struck about how similarly we are both wired. Time and again he would share his opinion on an issue, or on a particular way of interpreting a certain text, and it would be bang-on with how I tend to think.

We have big dreams here in Living Waters Church, and we are exploring ways of how Christen, and his team at River Church can be a part of this God-thing.

I was finally doing a bit of housekeeping on my Flickr account (Which I had abandoned for a while in favour of just using FB) and managed to organize some of the photos that I had of Living Waters Church going back to 2003.

Although it is by no means a chronicle of the church’s history – and although there are glaring gaps when a lot was happening and no photographs were taken – it neverhteless felt good to see a photographic timeline since 2003 – the various stages of our development and growth. I am a grateful man today to have been allowed to experience these baby steps and this growth.

Click here to view photographs

MORE LORD!

We have just finished a couple of days with one of my favourite people in the world: Pastor Tom Rowe.

He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers – Malachi 4:6

When a person like Tom Rowe visits….. you sit down…and listen…. and take notes. That’s what 56 years in ministry gives you I guess….. the “gravity” to speak…. the “voice” that causes young hatchlings in ministry like myself, to take notes.

We tend to place a lot of currency on the polished dynamic young preachers and speakers. That is good, and they certainly have their place, but it is also high time for the Church to recognize spiritual fathers in addition to the vibrant and dynamic speakers. There is an anointing that wows you, and that is awesome….. and then there is also the quality that says “I’ve been there.” I have purposed in my life to pursue the powerful anointing of the Holy Spirit in my life…… I want to pursue it with passion, intensity, focus and persistence – what is the point of it all if I don’t? I also recognize the need to surround myself with “been there” people – “fathers”, like Tom Rowe.

During Tom’s visits I LOVE the word He brings. I usually say that his ministry is a deep well that I turn to often. However I also find myself wondering whether I end up gleaning MORE from our conversations during the margins of his visit – conversations over a cup of coffee, whilst driving, whilst taking a walk – than I do during his sermons and teachings, deep and rich though they always are.

There comes a point when a pastor becomes a pastor’s pastor – Tom is, for many, a pastor’s pastor.

Some time ago I wrote about the gray-hair test. These thoughts are resonating in me again. I proposed the following ministry timeline:

• Childhood to 30 years: These are the formative years where you get rooted and grounded in the motivations behind your mission, and also get competent enough to fulfill it in an excellent way.
• 30 to 50 years: These are the performing years, where the actual job is done and the mission is advanced during your tenure.
• 50 to 70 years: These are the mentoring years (Reference the gray-hair test), where you take young aspiring leaders under your wing and nurture and mentor them in order to reproduce yourself in them.
• 70 years and over : These are the legacy years. During this season in your life you’d better get real busy and write as many books as you can, recording your legacy for as many generations to come as possible. During these years you are a mentor to mentors, a pastor to pastors, and a much needed source of wisdom, guidance and inspiration.

Thoughts?

This is an interview with Bill Johnson on the 700 club.  There is a deep well of wisdom and experience here.  He explains what happened to him when he surrendered 100% to God when he was in his 20s.  When that happened he found that …….

1. Nothing else mattered
2. There was a hunger for the Word
3. There was a passion for people
4. Worshipping in His Presence
5. An increased responsibility to the biblical standards of displaying the life of Christ in POWER.

Discuss.

The biblical text is clear, it teaches us to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thes. 5:17). Many think that this is not achievable outside of taking monastic vows and living a cloistered lifestyle. As for me, I believe that there is tremendous value in connecting regularly with the Heart of God, connecting several times a day – a rhythm of regularly stopping everything that you are doing and just concentrating on God’s heart.

Praying at fixed times during the day was by-and-large rejected by the Protestant Reformation. A the time, anything that smelled of Rome was rejected, with it the monastic movement and its lifestyle of the Divine Office – fixed-hour prayer. In my opinion the baby was thrown out with the dirty bath-water.

However, praying at fixed times during the day was not essentially a Roman Catholic tradition, although the monastic tradition had championed it and modeled it for centuries. Fixed-hour prayer was a Jewish tradition long before it ever became a Christian one.

Evening and morning and at noon I will pray, and cry aloud, And He shall hear my voice – Psalm 55:17

In the early church the tradition of praying at fixed hours throughout the day was continued to the point where we read in Acts Chapter 3 that Peter and John performed a miracle on a lame man when they were on their way to the temple to prayer “at the hour of prayer” (Acts 3:1).

I have begun an experiment with this notion of praying at fixed times during the day. I am exploring whether this lifestyle can be pursued outside of the monastic tradition – more specifically, whether this is doable whilst holding down a job, having a family, studying for a degree and also Pastoring a church.  If praying without ceasing is in the book it is something that is not only doable but necessary. This puts prayer at the centre of life. Prayer now becomes something that cannot be appended onto a busy schedule but rather something that must take the centre and have everything else revolve around it.

For this to become sustainable in the long term I need to add fuel to my prayer. For this I am taking a leaf out of the monastic tradition and using the bible as a prayer book to mull over the sacred text, musing, meditating and savouring every word and then praying this all back to God.

If you wish to look into this further, my message included below of 30th August 2009, “3 Things to Stoke the Fire of Revival” touches on this issue as well as the power of joy and the power of thankfulness.

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