Iced Coffees at Merlo

The Church for Consumers
Read this, especially the last two lines:It is impossible tofulfil the biblical mandate to produce mature Christians (Colossians 1: 28-29,Ephesians 4:11-16) if, on most Sundays, they are simply passive and uninvolvedrecipients of religious services provided by 'professionals'. But as all churchmembers assume ministry-responsibilities, there will be an inevitableminimization of church structures and hierarchical church 'orders'.Decision-making will be truly participatory. People will be thoroughly trainedand will take on many of the roles now performed by the clergy. Worshipservices will no longer be simply 'orchestrated bless-me' ceremonies. The oldchurch structures

Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places
I've started reading Eugene Peterson's book 'Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places: A Conversation in Spiritual Theology'.  He gets the name and outline of his book from a poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins.  The last few lines are:Chríst — for Christ plays in ten thousand places,Lovely in limbs, and lovely in eyes not hisTo the Father through the features of men's faces.

New Phone
My new iPhone and I are very happy together :-)

you can never have too many baptisms
We had another fantastic Beach Baptism service yesterday afternoon.  23 people were baptised in the surf at Main Beach, and I had the privilege of baptising a few incredible people!Thanks to Adam Weathered for the photo.