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Christmas reflection
Monday 24th December 2012 @ 11:18 am / 0 comments

I have attended a few nativity–type plays this Christmas … and there is no doubt, they are family friendly, serene, entertaining and –to use a word I don’t like but conveys my feelings – ‘cute.’ The experience undoubtedly brings a warmth of heart and a softening of heart. So why have they left me cold? I know why. The traditional children’s nativity of the Christmas narrative usually misses the heart of what the writings in Luke and Matthew want us to know about the birth of the Messiah. And something inside irks me, to the extent that, I wonder if ...

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A prayerful Christmas wish
Wednesday 19th December 2012 @ 4:37 pm / 0 comments

A prayerful Christmas wish …   Lord, Help me …   To not spend money, but spend time. Not give presents but give presence.   To Be Glad and be Happy to see/play with/listen to/talk with those around me, discern Christ come in them.   Listen to Christ born in me.   Provoke the way things are.   Promise the way things can be.   Live as a child of ‘the Child.’ Live as a worshipper of the way. Live as One with those around me. Live as one with Holy Trinity.   In the name of ...

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Christmas Prayer
Thursday 13th December 2012 @ 11:31 am / 0 comments

 I wrote this a couple of years ago as the city where Christ was born was experiencing heart–ache and oppression. Today, I’ve added a little more to the prayer – it seems the city where I was born also needs my prayers …   Please circulate and use if helpful … and remember at 8.30am on Saturday morning, folks are surrounding Belfast City Hall with joined hands and prayer for five minutes. Wherever you are in the world, you can help them by taking 5 minutes to pray at that time. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. And pray for ...

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Cliffs, Them, & the Pope
Monday 15th October 2012 @ 2:35 pm / 0 comments

 I’ve been preaching through Luke 4 recently, where Jesus goes from ‘isn’t that Joseph’s wee boy’ to ‘throw him off the cliff’ in a matter of a few sentences. One of the things that grabs me again & again & again about the passage is that Jesus dives into the narratives of the Jewish faith, in order to revitalize, rejuvenate and bring to fruition the Kingdom of God first revealed to the Jews. His own people. And his own people love it at first – ‘isn’t this Joseph’s wee lad – didn’t he do well?!?” But then Jesus ...

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Traditional values?
Monday 8th October 2012 @ 5:08 pm / 0 comments

The older I get … wait for it … the more confused I am by tradition. I have always valued it – I was brought in a way that saw worth in tradition & ‘traditional values.’ I, like most people, reacted against that in some ways. But then, gradually over the last decade, I have come to recognize more & more, how traditions have shaped me. Family traditions. Church traditions. Cultural traditions – I was brought up in Northern Ireland during ‘the Troubles’ after all. All these traditions have helped to mould and shape my life so far. ...

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Richard Branson’s top tips
Saturday 6th October 2012 @ 10:43 am / 0 comments

I came across these brief five points from Richard Branson on ‘starting a business.’ They make sense, remarkably simple sense. But they also push me toward thinking, how many of these things apply, not to starting a business, but to starting a fresh expression / pioneer church / church plant? Seems there is a lot in them … I have put my own sentence in italics applying them to ‘church world’ …   1. Listen more than you talkWe have two ears and one mouth, using them in proportion is not a bad idea! To be a good leader you ...

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Ibiza 3
Saturday 28th July 2012 @ 3:23 pm / 0 comments

Let’s just take one night as an example … that seems best because if I don’t do that I’m not sure I’ll know where to begin … this might be my memory getting hazy, because many of the nights fade into one … I think the following happened on one night, but it may be an amalgam of two! Praise and prayer at 11.30. So just when the day is almost done in most of the western European world, San Antonio wakes up … the prayer is sincere, fast, excited and anticipatory. Some of the full timers have given their ...

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Ibiza 2
Saturday 28th July 2012 @ 3:19 pm / 0 comments

How to process 2012 in Ibiza? Not sure yet … really, not sure yet. The older I get the longer it takes to wade through the experiences, emotions, kingdom connections and spiritual learnings gleaned from this island. It hasn’t been easy. But it probably shouldn’t be. On the other hand, the stuff that has been hard has not been the streets. The streets have been amazing. Maybe it’s best if I just relate some of the stories, and then you can sense the spirit of God moving in these places too. Because that’s what’s in the centre of it all. ...

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Hope–filled farewell …
Wednesday 11th July 2012 @ 12:17 am / 0 comments

Farewell to the Heasleys … There is no doubt it was always going to be a night that produced tears and laughter. Brian and Tracy Heasley who developed 24–7 prayer as it is recognized now in Ibiza, and their two very cool teenager sons, Ellis & Dan, had a surprise party to help them on their way from these sandy rhythm–soaked shores. They are moving back to the UK in a week’s time, and they leave a behind not only an incredible story of how God gives dreams and answers prayers, they also leave behind a narrative of ‘church’ ...

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Back …
Saturday 7th July 2012 @ 12:56 pm / 0 comments

So – I’m back. Back on the blog, and back on Ibiza. It was strange to come back here & discover that it felt like home. Just like I’d never left. Comforting and familiar. That’s good. A strong sense of the familiarity with a good sense of place really helps to get back into the work – you need all the advantage you can get! Take my first night back out for example. I think I wanted a nice roll in. A nice easy familiar night back on the street. And for a while that is what it was. I was ...

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Bart on M. Scott Peck
Wednesday 6th June 2012 @ 9:24 am / 0 comments

For a long time I have been influenced by ‘The Road Less Difficult’ – as you can read below, so has Bart Campolo – who’s observations are worth a wide audience. Currently living in the middle of an American inner city, in order to try & live the Kingdom, he keeps us all in touch with this reality …     Since M. Scott Peck’s The Road Less Traveled has been on the NY Times bestseller list for more than 25 years, chances are slim that I can get away with stealing his opening line. So then, I’m going with ...

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JK Rowling on Failure
Saturday 12th May 2012 @ 11:48 am / 0 comments

In 2008 JK Rowling gave the commencement address at Harvard. One of her themes was failure … it’s an inspiring speech … below is part of it:     What I feared most for myself at your age was not poverty, but failure. At your age, in spite of a distinct lack of motivation at university, where I had spent far too long in the coffee bar writing stories, and far too little time at lectures, I had a knack for passing examinations, and that, for years, had been the measure of success in my life and that of my ...

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more stuff for mates
Thursday 10th May 2012 @ 4:28 pm / 0 comments

 Maybe it’s best if I just link here to some of the best blogs n’such that I’m reading … last week there was old Bart (actually, he’s not old at all) … this week, here is a brilliant piece from Vicki Beeching …   Enjoy & pass it on.  

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more stuff from mates
Thursday 10th May 2012 @ 4:28 pm / 0 comments

 Maybe it’s best if I just link here to some of the best blogs n’such that I’m reading … last week there was old Bart (actually, he’s not old at all) … this week, here is a brilliant piece from Vicki Beeching …   Enjoy & pass it on.  

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Back again
Tuesday 1st May 2012 @ 11:18 am / 0 comments

It’s May.   I might as well write something.   Or even better, I might as well put on here a writer who never fails to inspire me. Here is the latest ‘letter’ from Bart Campolo …     I was on the third floor of our house a few weeks ago, talking on the phone, when I noticed a small hole in the wall over my desk. I didn’t think much of it until a few hours later, when I opened the drapes and found matching holes in the double–paned window behind me. I connected the dots, of course; ...

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