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The Bread and Wine

Okay... Please don't shout at me. I know. You're angry, and you have every right to be. But there are valid reasons why I didn't blog for such a long time. Reasons such as career changes... amongst other things.

But, I'll share all that in another post shortly.

Today, I want to tell you about The Bread and Wine. Exciting stuff! The B&W is a new blog launched by the echurch foundation of South Africa. It is the collaboration of 30 something forward-thinking Christian writers, to create a blog for people passionate about Jesus. Posts will be daily! Promise...

It is an honor for me to be one of the writers. Fancy that.

Please go check it out! And subscribe, because launch date is 1 April... Yes, that's tomorrow! And you don't want to miss any posts. Trust me, this promises to be very cool.

The Clifton StrengthsFinder

I started my Clifton StrengthsFinder coach training in Paarl (near Cape Town), South Africa, today. Joe Cavanaugh of Gallup is here training a handful of coaches - only 6 of us.

I realized anew today how powerful it is to know what your five top talents are. It is difficult to explain. It is like knowing the top features of your new PDA, or like knowing about the strong points of your new SUV. I can now concentrate on what I do best, and performance, happiness and success will follow... I'm not necessarily talking about financial success - more like bearing lots of fruit for God in the way that He wants you to.

My top five talents are:

1. Activator,
2. Belief,
3. Responsibility,
4. Command, and
5. Communication.

There has never been a person like you... There will never again be a person like you... You are truly unique. The probability of another person having your top ten talents (out of 34), in the same order, is one out of more than 400 trillion!

You were created by God with specific things in mind. Now is the time to achieve these things. Consider it a challenge...

Do you think it would be a good idea to know your talents and learn more about turning them into strengths? I thought so! If you do, order yourself a copy of Living Your Strengths. It includes a code for the online assessment and gives you all the information you need with it.

Go, and find out what your top five talents are. I hope you will turn them into strengths in no time!

What's happening...

I have been a bit quiet the past few days, but running around like crazy behind the scenes. I once read that someone who doesn't blog for a few days could be considered persona non-bloga. Well, that's me.

I have however, following the amazing insights gained from reading Pagan Christianity? by Frank Viola and George Barna, put some things in motion for my journey toward Organic Church. Tonight is the first gathering, and I am very excited. It is a bit funny though, since it will only be my wife and I, but I do need to communicate thoroughly with her in this regard, so it is all good!

I will keep you up to date on the progress.

If you are not sure what organic church is, and want to know more, please download the .pdf booklet at TheRebuilders.org.

Review of Pagan Christianity?

I have finally completed and posted my review of Pagan Christianity? by Frank Viola and George Barna. Click on the link in the previous sentence to go read it.

And let me know what you think by posting comments to this post...

Our God

"God, our God! God the one and only!

Love God, your God, with your whole heart: love him with all that's in you, love him with all you've got!"

Isn't this beautiful? It's from Deuteronomy 6 in The Message//REMIX 2.0.

My Life...

What's going on in my life right now? You don't want to know... it feels like other people are trying to run my life for me, use me, and get me to do their dirty work. It's sickening.

One good thing though, it makes me want to share a quote that I came across when reading Jesus Drives Me Crazy! by Leonard Sweet:

"To be nobody but yourself in a world that's doing its best to make you somebody else, is to fight the hardest battle you are ever going to fight. Never stop fighting." - E.E. Cummings (American Poet, 1894-1962).

Don't worry... I won't stop fighting!

Spiritual Revelation

While reading Pagan Christianity? by Frank Viola and George Barna, I stumbled upon this very cool quote by AW Tozer (quoted from another book on page 206):

"Divine truth is of the nature of spirit and for that reason can be received only by spiritual revelation. ... God's thoughts belong to the world of spirit, man's to the world of intellect, and while spirit can embrace intellect, the human intellect can never comprehend spirit. ... Man by reason cannot know God; he can only know about God. ... Man's reason is a fine instrument and useful within its field. It was not given as an organ by which to know God." Gems from Tozer (Camp Hill, PA: Christian Publications, 1969), 36-37.

What does this quote confirm for me? I must stop fussing to understand everything - I never will be able to fully comprehend God with a human brain. I must be careful of taking in too much information and then trying to reason things over - sometimes a revelation from God is the only thing that will give you understanding.

My passion for Christian media is good for wider understanding and most probably necessary to promote quality media, but I must remember to daily stop and seek God's face. Spiritual revelation is more important than any form of media.

Love, Sweet Love

The Message by Eugene Peterson starts Chapter 14 of 1st Corinthians like this:

"Go after a life of love as if your life depended on it - because it does."

Isn't this the essence of being a disciple of Jesus? I challenge you to continually measure your life against 1 Corinthians 13 (the chapter preceding this piece of wisdom). It's harder than it sounds...

Chuck Colson - Rethink speaker

Okay... As the marketing campaign for South Africa's rugby team, the Springboks, for the 2007 Rugby World Cup said... The time is now! And yes, they are the world champions now.

How exactly is that important? We'll, being proudly South African, they're my team. And the time is now to start talking about the Rethink speakers. And Charles Colson is lucky number one.

I tried to make thorough notes while listening at the conference, but I do not know shorthand, and I can't write very fast (and I type with 2 fingers) so, I might have missed important things... Sorry. Also, I am using my own words here, and things may come out differently to what the authors actually said. Sorry, again.

And now I am done being apologetic! I am sure the main drift of the message will come across fine (albeit short), and you will be convinced of the value of attending such a nice conference... and I will see you there in 2009!

I am sure Mr. Colson doesn't need much of an introduction. He is the founder of Prison Fellowship, and has a daily radio broadcast airing to more than 5 million people. It's called BreakPoint.

I have never read any of Chuck's books, but his most recent one, The Faith: What Christians Believe, Why They Believe It, and Why It Matters, promises to be one of the better apologetic works ever written, and I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of the paperback version in SA. Hurry Zondervan...

In his talk Chuck raised the question: What is Christianity? I think this is what he wants us to rethink. Our job is to advance the kingdom of God in all walks of life. He continued by pointing out that George Barna has developed a biblical world view questionnaire, which tests the beliefs of people out there, and approximately 1% of believes in all the (basic) things which constitutes a biblical world view.

Maybe if we believed what the Bible says the world would be different...

What does it really mean to be saved? Chuck argued that if you are saved, you will begin to change. You will be compelled to do certain things.

He said that the Church in the 3rd world is exploding because they are preaching the Truth. Maybe we should stop trying to be cool and get back to that?

He finished his talk by mentioning the Great Commission and asking if it says to go into all the world and tell people about Jesus, or to go into all the world and make disciples? Maybe rethinking confrontational evangelism strategies that only cares about conversion and nothing else is also not such a bad idea...

Pagan Christianity?

I just received a review copy of Pagan Christianity?, courtesy of Present Testimony Ministry. I have actually bought the book during my recent visit to the United States. Maybe I can use that (paid) copy as a gift now?

I am only about halfway through, and already one thing is certain... This book is going to ruffle some feathers. Especially those of pastors, other clergy or salaried church staff.

Many people are going to want to dismiss the book as not true. However, the problem with dismissing this controversial book is that it is so well-researched. Plus, George Barna won't add his name to something that is not trustworthy and true.

As soon as I have finished Pagan Christianity?, I will do a full review on it on BookDisciple.com and post a link here. If I have to guess, that will happen late next week. If you can't wait, order the book at a special introductory price by visiting the official Pagan Christianity? website.

You may also want to read Alan Hirsch's short review on The Forgotten Ways. He agrees that it is a thrilling, yet feisty ad explosive book...

Kindly, Frank viola is also willing to do print interviews, so watch out for that as well. I will contact him as soon as I have read all of Pagan Christianity?, which is definitely not going to be the last of his books read by me.

Have (or create!) a great day.