TallSkinnyKiwi

Highlights of BWA World Congress

There are probably 13,000 Baptists today in Birmingham for the Baptist World Alliance Congress. Thats a lot of people. I left yesterday but was there for most of it. My mate Greg Warner will probably give the skinny on the conference for the Associated Press, but I thought it was a huge success - great location, great spirit, lots of friends, good weather (apart from that tornado and a few spots of rain), good emphasis on missional thinking.

I am glad to say that these 2 nerds were dressing that way on purpose, although some people probably didn't see anything wrong with their fashion sense. I thought they looked cool. I gave the guy on the right a big hug.
More highlights:

Connecting This Week

It would be great to connect with some of you this week during my travels. Let me know is something is going on in your city also.

Manchester: Tuesday 26th. Blah, Manchester. "Aggregation: The Emerging Church According to Manchester"
Birmingham: Wednesday to Saturday I will be in Birmingham at the Baptist World Alliance Congress. You will find me in the Young Adults program (2-4pm Thursday and Friday, and maybe also on Saturday) Look for the tall skinny VJ behind the computer.
London: Sunday morning - dodging bombs in London on the way to the airport.
Aberdeen: 31st, Sunday afternoon waiting for the ferry.

Preaching at the Last Day of the Festival

Dangitt - i just lost my long blog post on my message today - (i am preaching at the Baptist church in Stromness. - 11:15 in the Town Hall)
Ecto crashed and i had not saved it. Danggitt!!!! And i dont have time to repeat myself. But the similarities between the visual and motion aspects of the Feast of Tabernacles and many emerging church/alt. worship events are striking.
Images of branches, fruit, water, wine. Processions to the Pool of Siloam and through the Water Gate, with background ambience of flutes and chanting of Pslam 118 - all very familiar.

Anyway, I will tell the story about when Jesus went to the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot) and on the last day, spoke about water. There is a weird parallel - our largest festival has just finished, people are packing up, and I get to speak at the Town Hall to the religious folk. I thought John 7 would be timely and appropriate.
Helpful links are Bible History, Jews For Jesus and TedM adds a nice thought - that Jesus was born in a stable ("sukkah" in Hebrew) which is the singular form of Sukkot. Jesus enters the Sukkot in the same way he enters the world.

We will finish off with Isaiah 12:2-3, which was read out when the water and wine were poured out during the Feast.
"Surely God is my salvation
I will trust and not be afraid
The LORD, the LORD, is my strength and my song
he has become my salvation
With joy you will draw water
from the wells of salvation"

Have a great Sunday everyone. Appreciate prayer for this morning.

Stromness Shopping Week

Thats me standing next to Big Rory . . . Big Rory is the taller one. . . on the right . . . with the kilt.
Yesterday was the biggest day of the year in Stromness. The final day of shopping week and there have been people everywhere from a full week of parades and events. The circus was also here, just over the road from our house. Fireworks last night.
But the biggest event will be this morning when I preach at Stromness Baptist Church. Although . . . no one really knows about it.

Roundtable Postponed in Germany

Die Gefahrten, The Roundtable for Emerging Church in Germany will now be held in 2006. Quite a few leaders from around Europe could not make it to Germany and having it in 2006 will ensure that all the right people can make it. Thanks to Freakstock Festival for their flexibility.

An Exploration of the Emerging Church

Aaron Flores' study is really worth reading over the weekend. Its a well researched 194 page document title with a title long enough to make William Carey proud: "An Exploration of the Emerging Church of the United States: The Missiological Intent and Potential Implications for the Future." .PDF
Aaron - thanks for making it available - tremendous resource!!!

Emerging Scene in USA

- Charisma has a big article in August's issue - See Jeremy Del Rio, who was selected for the magazine.

- Aaron from thevoiz.com has released a Study on the American Emerging Church that i hope to download and read soon.
- And Ken Archer's Review of Carsons "Becoming Conversant with the Emerging Church" is available as a PDF.

Aggregation: The Emerging Church According to Manchester

Blah Manchester is next Tuesday (26th) - I will be speaking on "Aggregation: The Emerging Church According to Manchester."
Ben says "We’re fully booked which is encouraging, about 60 people from across the North West ranging from practicioners to bishops!"
That's cool that we have a full house - but for those that cannot come, I would like to podcast it. Is anyone coming who can record it? Let me know.

D.A. Carson and the Australians

Mike Frost and Alan Hirsch have written a statement of where they stand on the whole D.A. Carson VS. EmergentVillage saga and Carson's book "Becoming Conversant With Emergent. They explain why they think Carson's assessment of Emergent is "irrelevant for the missional church in Australia." They also claim to be more theologically conservative and mission focused than Emergent Village in USA. HT: Hamo
UPDATE: I have removed the link to the PDF Statement at the request of Hamo - who asks that others do likewise.

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

We waited at Borders Books in Inverness until 12:01am on Friday night so that Samuel could buy the latest installment - Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince". Haven't done anything that silly since we waited for Star Wars (1999) outside a Chicago movie theatre in our Winnebago until it opened just after midnight. Sometimes you just have to BE THE FIRST!
Scott Moore of Baylor University told everyone why he was looking forward to Harry Potter and recommended that parents read the series with their children. Well . . . I am looking forward to get the book off my kids so that I can finish reading it. We discussed the first Harry Potter book alongside Moses and his stick (Exodus). When the second Harry Potter book came out, I had him read the Book of Daniel and we drew comparisons. Now this one is in the house and I am trying to find the time to read it - Anyone else read Number 7 yet?