• Prayerlessness. I am saddened by how poor my prayer life has been: by how often I pray as an ‘add on’ rather than soaking everything I do in prayer; how quick I can be to criticise and how slow to pray; how shallow my prayers often seem. Please pray with me that I would become a man of prayer. I am seeking, with God’s help, to make changes both in my family life and in my ministry.
• Study-boundness. I have been surprised how easy I have found it to ‘hide away’ in the study. I am an extrovert and a people-lover – so I had expected to spend more time than I have actually managed out and about with people. I am convinced that the work in the study is vital – but I am also convinced that we need to be spending time with people to understand where they are coming from in order to apply the Bible more effectively. Please pray with me that I would get the balance right.
• Tendency to under/over-work. One of the greatest challenges as a pastor is that you manage your own time and that there are few ‘hard’ measurable outcomes (apart from a sermon here, and a talk there etc.). At the same time, the kind of tasks that we are involved in will all suck up as much time as is available – that goes for both study and for time with people. I seem to have oscillated between spending too much time working (and not enough time with family etc.) and not enough time working. Finding that middle path is challenging. Please pray with me both that I would understand my identity in Christ is not bound up in how much or how little I do, but also that I would have a godly desire to work hard as for the Lord.

I’m sure that I am not alone in these failings. Why not pray for your own pastor in each of these areas – that God would equip them and give them wisdom as they seek to shepherd His people.

The Trellis and the Vine: The Ministry Mind-Shift That Changes Everything

Others are far more able to give comprehensive reviews than I am, but a few summary observations:

• I love the focus on people and gospel growth (=maturity as well as conversion) rather than structures
• I love the emphasis on the ‘team’ nature of ministry – the role of the whole body of Christ to be involved in disciple-making – though using different gifts and with certain individuals particularly set apart for the work of teaching
• I am challenged by the changes which would need to take place in order to effectively disciple the few (and the reactions that might be provoked)
• I was helped to re-consider Matt 28:19-20 as a commission to disciple more than a commission to go (though the former may involved the latter in certain contexts – not least the context in which it was originally given)
• I was reminded of the need to be a ‘talent-spotter’ – in terms of those with the gifting and character to be fellow vine-workers

I was also profoundly thankful for the way in which some of these principles have been modelled and taught to me as I have worked in various churches. I can still hear a former colleague encouraging me to “Feed the hungry” which is a very T&V injunction. I am thankful for the gospel-heartedness of the church where I was an apprentice who not only invested in me for the 4 years I was with them, but were prepared to contribute towards the funding of my training even though I was heading into ministry in a different denomination. And of course, I am thankful for my current minister who encouraged me to read the book.

So the bottom line – definitely worth a read if you invovled in paid Christian ministry, and also worth a read if you aren’t!

But two of my friends have beaten me to it. Glen Scrivener highlights the importance of not being too earnest. He reckons the moralism is punctuated by fairly blunt sex gags and fails to deliver any real edge. He also makes a point which I heartily agree with – we must learn to take God very seriously, and ourselves not too seriously.

Stephen Watkinson in a Facebook Note (so you may not be able to read this link if you are not a friend? Not sure how FB works in this context) observes that the writer seems to know more about the Church of England than about God. He also bemoans the caricature of a ‘charismatic’ (in week 2) and the sub-Biblical virtue of doubt (by this I don’t think Stephen is advocating certainty on all things – but surely at the heart of Biblical Christianity are a number of very important things that we can be certain about.

All I would add to this, is that I love the title character’s prayers – which seem conversational and real and not ‘polished’ – which is surely how we should address our Heavenly Father. And there is also a degree of reality about the ‘on call 24/7′ nature of the ‘job’, and the variety of characters the church seems to attract – which is certainly true in every church I have been a part of. And there is some humour that arrives out of this truth.

A bit of a curate’s egg of comedy then?

What is the Gospel? from Southern Seminary on Vimeo.

(With thanks to Tim Chapman who brought it to my attention.)

It also calls into question the wisdom of seeking to ‘buy peace’ with the Taliban. President Karzai appears to be pursuing a policy designed to produce a ‘Taliban-friendly’ society. When International forces withdraw, what kind of state will be left? Why does this aspect of the situation in Afghanistan never make the headlines?

Please pray for persecuted Christians in Afghanistan – and for those Afghan Christians who have been forced to flee the country due to the threats against them. And pray against such an oppressive regime establishing itself more firmly.

Anyway, for anyone unfamiliar with HP, a boggart is a shape-shifting nasty that takes on the form of its intended victim’s worst fear. For our purposes, the key thing to know is that in order to defend oneself against a boggart, you need to use the spell “Riddikulus” and at the same time think of something very funny or ridiculous.

Now, in a sense, we become fearful of our idols – because we feel trapped by their power – we can feel there is nothing we can do to overcome their hold on us. But a very helpful strategy is to carefully examine that idol and to uncover the lie that it is promoting. As soon as we see how ridulous that lie is – the idol begins to lose something of its power over us.

Of course, we need to confront the lie with the corresponding truth of God’s word. And we cannot do any of this in our own strength or wisdom, but only in the Lord’s. But I think there may be a helpful tool in the armoury here.

I should note that these reflections arose out of a discussion of part of Tim Chester’s extremely helpful book You can change.

Here is a beautiful song from Sovereign Grace Music with a very moving animation to illustrate the parable.

Some years ago I remember someone (John Piper?) speaking on this subject at the EMA and they made a helpful comparison to music lessons. The aim of a music lesson is not that a week later you can remember you need to press this finger in order to get that note. You actually want the knowledge to have become internalised – you don’t remember the process of learning it necessarily, but you will forever know that pressing this finger has that result.

Of course, there is nothing new under the sun. I have just finished reading, and thoroughly enjoyed Marsden’s awesome biography of Jonathan Edwards. Edwards, famously, is known for the rigour and ruthless logic of his preaching. But here is one of his comments on the subject:

The main benefit that is obtained by preaching is by impression made upon the mind at the time of it, and not by the effect that arises afterwards by a remembrance of what was delivered.

As Marsden comments – “Preaching, in other words, must first of all touch the affections.”

We must never lose sight of the fact that more is going on when we preach than just the transfer of information. We trust and pray that God is at work, by His Holy Spirit, who will be at work in our mind, our hearts and our will.

Just occasionally the author of this site has to reveal his geeky tendencies. And although this is comprehensively off the main topic, when I have tracked down a reliable solution to an annoying technical problem, I like to post it for the benefit of fellow-frustrated-travellers.
On the arrival of our first child, my wife and I splashed out on one of these:

It’s brilliant!  It is so simple even I can use it – you just turn it on and press the big red button to record and then the big red button to stop.  Picture quality is pretty impressive – especially given the size of the unit (barely larger than my mobile phone).  And you can pump it out on an HDMI enabled TV (if you are lucky enough to own one) for glorious results.  But enough of the plug.

My problem was trying to upgrade the bundled FlipShare Software to the latest version (which it kept on asking me to do).  Every time I tried to do it, I got a ‘2738′ error and it didn’t install properly (NB this was running under Vista Home Premium 32 bit version, SP2).  I finally tracked down the following solution:

1. On the Start menu, click All Programs.
2. Click Accessories.
3. Right-click Command Prompt and choose Run as administrator from the shortcut menu.
4. When the User Account Control dialog appears, click Continue.
5. At the command prompt type the following: regsvr32 vbscript.dll
6. Press Enter on your keyboard.
7. A message should appear stating “DllRegisterServer in vbscript.dll succeeded.”
8. Click OK and then install FlipShare again.

Hope it helps anyone in the same boat.

I’ve just had a wonderful reminder of the way humility and assurance are rooted in the Cross of Jesus. Particularly good to be reminded that Jesus wasn’t in some kind of ‘pacifier’ role – making up with God the Father – but that it was God the Father’s eternal plan to send Jesus. It was our Heavenly Father’s love which resulted in our salvation. And that as we are in Jesus he delights in us. Wonderful!