Looking forward to Jim preaching

Jim Harrison will be preaching in the morning and I'm really looking forward to it. He's such a great encourager and always brings me back to think about the greatness of God and his promises. See you there! Chris.

Aggressive atheist

I just met my first truly aggressive atheist. I was having lunch in an Ashfield restaurant with Peter Gibson, one of the guys from church, and we were talking about the gospel and schools. While we were minding our own business, having a quiet chat over lunch, he came up, stood over our table and basically started hurling abuse at us. Words such as arrogant, stupid and deluded were strung together in sentences that came think and fast. Wow! I think if I had done a similar thing he would have called the cops.

In the end we a a brief conversation (where it felt that Peter was ten times more gracious than I was) before he had to return to his work. I had never really met a full blown agro atheist in the mould of Richard Dawkins but now I can say I have. What I want to know is what drives it? Any thoughts?

PS. It was really nice that he left me his card.

Pokies at church?

I just got my annual letter from Ashfield Council pointing me to the local clubs (Wests, Club Ashfield, Ashfield RSL and Wests Sports) for their community grants. In the letter it says, "the proposal must demonstrate how their project will benefit residents of the Ashfield Community including low income earners, carers, young people and isolated groups."

Like usual we will not be putting in a request for this money won by gambling but maybe the best proposal to help these groups would be to reduce or eliminate the pokies where the money came from in the first place. This might be the best way to care for the low income earners, young people and isolated groups. I think it is a bit of a no brainer myself.

Music Time starts up again on May 4

Music Time is taking a break for the school holidays and will begin a
brand new term on May 4th at 10.30am.

Great message from our new Pastor

Andy brought us a great message from John 12 on Lazarus last Sunday night to kick off our monthly 'Summer Hill at 6' meetings. Here is a young man (25y) who has left his job as a web designer and signed up for launching a church. He hasn't had to do 10 years of training but is just doing what guys and girls have been doing on MTS for the last generation as they take up full-time gospel ministry as trainees.

It's also changed my life as I have someone to work with on a day-by-day basis. Looking back, the last two years were pretty lonely without an offsider. If you want to join us full-time let me know, it would be great to have you part of the team! Chris.

Half-baked sermon

What is it with American evangelicals!#@!! I was listening to an Easter talk by Matt Chandler (he seems like a really great guy and I would love to hang out with him sometime) BUT he kept making false dichotomies, pitting one truth against another. What took the cake was his use of the theological term 'imparted' when he clearly meant 'imputed'. Please can we do better than America (or at least help them to Bible College before they plant a church!).

P.S. Something must be going his way since I can't even get my talks online nor do I get invites to Engage or great raps from Mark Driscoll. Chris.

You can find the sermon here.

Easter at Summer Hill

Our Easter meetings:

Good Friday, 10th April - 9.30am

Easter Sunday, 12 April - 9.30am and 6pm

Our new church, Summer Hill at 6, starts on Sunday.

Remembering '59 - Billy Graham's legacy - 50 year on

There is a special one hour documentary that looks at the impact of the 1959 Billy Graham Crusade showing on the Australian Christian Channel on Easter Saturday (11 April) at 8.30pm and 6pm on Easter Sunday (12 April). The documentary features interviews with our Archbishop Peter Jensen and many others. (If you are coming to Summer Hill at Six then the Easter Sunday one isn't for you!). For more info about the documentary check out their website www.remembering59.com.au. If you miss the broadcast the documentary is available on DVD from Koorong. Check out the preview below. Chris.

Rector's Report

Here is my report from our recent Annual General Meeting. I hope you find it encouraging. Chris.