 |
|
Search |
|
|
 |
.: BLOG ARCHIVES :.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Thursday, March 27, 2003 |
|
|
|
 I am in trouble and it is Bea's fault. Bea Marshall, the same Bea who had a birthday last night in 80's prom gear, the same Bea who painted butterflies on the Giant Peach windows last year, the same Bea pictured on the left with her red hair, the one and the same Bea of the now infamous Andy and Bea's World of Umbrellas, has got me into trouble.
A few days ago I put a link to a particular Chrisitan site using 3 x's and a word starting with "p". You can scroll back a few days and see it. The people behind this site have a ministry to people addicted to P.*O>R_N and go to sex-related conventions around the country to bring the freedom of Jesus over addiction to people in the industry and affected by it. But because I mentioned the name of their web site, many Christians with a certain FILTER can no longer come to my blog site.
Are you blocked out of my site right now? Are you having to access Tall Skinny Kiwi through a pagan's computer at work because it is blacklisted by Christian filtering systems? Are you having to disable your filter just to view my blog?
This is what to do.
1. Be patient. I will leave the guilty link in its present form today because I want everyone to see the effectiveness of these filtering programs that are so successfully blocking out people from viewing my site, all because of the use of one word and some X's.
2. Come back tomorrow and you will not see those words in their present form.
3. As for those who cannot access my blog site today, pray that they might strike up some redemptive relationships among those that lend their computers or the people they meet at the internet cafe's that do not have such peculiar software installed on their computers.
4. Put up with me for one day of silliness as I relieve some tension and go crazy here - hey - if i am blocked out of Ned Fanders household for one day and can say what i like without having the filtered households read my blog, then I might as well put the link to XXXChurch.com on my blog exactly as they name it, as the Number 1 CHRISTIAN ***** SITE, it all its XXX glory, for all those people addicted to PORN, yes, I said PORN, as in short for PORNOGRAPHY. And here, ladies and gentlemen, is the link:
X X X c h u r c h . c o m.
Is that enough X's for you? Here are some more:
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXD(ooops)XXXXX
Thats right, click on this HOT LINK and you will find yourself face to face with a Xhristian ministry that is reaching out to people addicted to the images of HOT BABES on the PORNO sites, and an invitation to CUM and see how Jesus has delivered people from life addicting habits and has set them free, washed them clean, forgiven their sins, made them feel like spiritual VIRGINS, and helps them walk down a road of victorious living.
 May I also say a big welcome to those of you chasing down some HOT images of NAKED BABES, and are initally disappointed because Google sent you here and all the people in my PICTURES have clothes on them and no one is NAKED [except for this picture of my friend Bryce, who actually only looks NAKED but is really has pants on] and you are now on the web log of a wierd Baptist missionary who appears to be out of control but actually is quite sane, well, mostly sane, sane enough, at least to tell you that you can be clean on the inside, released from your dark habits and set free to follow the One who made you and loves you, yes, still loves you, the One who created SEX to be good and fun and intimate and protected inside the sancturary of a beautiful marriage. And if you want to talk to some people that have been were you are and know how to get you out and into the light, then go to x x x c h u r c h . c o m and start your new way of living.
Thanks for visiting my blog. This blog posting will not be here very long because many of the people who come here, some of them daily, have filtering software that is keeping them out today and I need to respect them. But, for the moment, it was good to have you here. Come back again sometime.
UPDATE: I havent removed this yet. I kinda like it being here. Let me know if it offends you so that I can remove it. (2 or 3 of you)
Andrew Jones at 5:51 AM
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Wednesday, March 26, 2003 |
|
|
|
 (image from Jen's back)wabiSABI is the event that we are all arriving for here in Austin Texas. Thanks to a generous gift from the Baptist General Convention of Texas, the team is offering an incredible conference and experience to 150 artists and young ministry people who could not afford to attend most other conferences. And yes, some of them will be older, institutional Mentor-type people who we want involved in the conversation.
Here is the deal. wabiSABI are charging $35 for everyone to attend. We know that no one is getting paid to help or speak or, in my case, to be a pretty face. Artists have brought their own equipment to cut down costs - I can vouch for this, having to lug my video projector, camera and computer half-way across the world to be one of the video jockeys. (The other guy is Travis from Highway Video who I have not met yet, but if he is better than me then I will pull the plug on his computer during his set. [he he he]
But the question still lingers, what do I get for my $35?
First of all, DANG!, you have to be really stingy to ask that question. But some of you are . . .so . . . You are basically getting a free conference, an all expense-paid training and networking encounter that is being given to you as a GIFT . . . because . . . there are some older and more institutional folk in Texas who love you and are deeply committed to see new expressions of God's church for the future. And they believe you ARE the future.
They also know that you are poor struggling artists, or that the churches you have started are more organic and do not give you a salary and that coming to Austin will take a big chunk out of your budget. In fact, some of you sold the farm to pay for your plane ticket and they want to honor you and bless you . . .
RUDE INTERRUPTION:
Shannon: Andrew, this is Grace, Robbie's fiance.
Grace: (Half-asleep but waking) Good morning (she crashed in Shannon's living room last night, next to another unidentified girl)
Me: Hi Grace. Did you come down from Cincinatti? Grace: Yes
Me: Cool!
(Robbie, who was at Emergent in Prague last year, lives in Cincinatti. Thats how I knew)
See, thats what I am talking about. Its not cheap for young people to fly around and we need to honor them. But the team also has to charge them some money. $35 to be exact. And where does that money go???????????????
Well, basically, the money goes to pay your 4 huge (TEXAS SIZED) meals:
Meal 1. Texas BBQ at the electronic worship event on Friday.
Meal 2. Breakfast and
Meal 3. lunch at the teaching conference on Saturday morning.
Meal 4. Gospel Brunch at Threadgills Club on Sunday.
The English Afternoon Tea on Saturday afternoon is free.
Do I hear any complaints?
Andrew Jones at 6:07 AM
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Caught up with Derek and Amy Chapman and we all (including English blogger Jen Andrews of Odd Shaped House, and Jessica and Kathryn) went to San Antonio. Why San Antonio? Because it was here that I tried to end an 18 month administrative pilgrimage to get my replacement permanent resident card for USA. Unfortunately they had lost it and we started the process over again. I now have a temporary card and have to wait another year, but at least I have something to show when I go back to USA. My plans have me coming back to USA in early June (Colorado and maybe California) and early November (Dallas). It will be much easier now with my card replaced.
San Antonio rocked. We walked on the Riverwalk - a delightful, healing, quiet water canal that snakes throught the inner city.
Today we will put up the huge revival tent for Friday nights event.
Speaking of English, there are already 8 of them here and they will host an English Afternoon Tea on Saturday as part of the wabiSABI event. The Master of All Tea Ceremonies, Neil Lambert, emailed me this morning. Here it is:
"Dear Andrew I was at the gathering in Prague last year and am a big fan of your site.l really wish l could be with you all in Austin for wabi-sabi. l thought ld make some art works for the conference here in Cambridge uk instead.Beginning on friday at 12am (6pm your time) with a tea ceremony and prayer.One art work a day ending on sunday at3.30am with a closing tea and prayer.( 9.30am your time,I think) What you are doing and the way its being done is really important and gives hope to so many! me included. love and peace Neil Lambert. "
Hey Neil, send me images so we can track with you in real time. And send me any tea bags you use so that I can support God's missionaries around the world with a reminder that we are thinking of them. (Neil doesn't use tea bags, but you already know that).
Andrew Jones at 5:26 AM
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Tuesday, March 25, 2003 |
|
|
|
Kiwi Steve Taylor, who was trying to fly to USA for the conference this week, regrets that he cannot come. But he has posted last weekends OUTDOOR PEACE SERVICE from his church in New Zealand. That "Peace On Earth" song from U2 has also been rattling and humming in my mind this week. Here are some prayers from that service:
 "God of all peace, who wills for every child, every person, wholeness and justice; in the midst of war and violence, we pray for peace.
Grant, O God, to those we name and those we cannot, an out pouring of your spirit of peace; and a new vision of your loving purpose for political and delegated authority.
Grant, O God, an outpouring of your spirit of courage; and a new vision of your loving purpose for our fragile world.
We pray for the people of Iraq, the United States and its allies; that children may be valued, that the oppressed may be freed, that the voiceless will be heard.
Grant, O God, an outpouring of your spirit of love, a new vision of your loving purpose for every human life.
We offer our prayer in great hope that peace with justice will be achieved because it is your will. In doing so, (leaving self behind and taking up our cross), we make our decision to love others better than ourselves, to give others life and hope whatever the cost.
All: Your Kingdom come, Your will be done"
Andrew Jones at 5:08 AM
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Sunday, March 23, 2003 |
|
|
|
Books I am reading on the plane to Austin:
- The Poisonwood Bible, by Barbara Kingsolver - a must read for any Post-colonial missionary or minister in a cross-cultural setting.
- From the Renaissance to Romanitcism: Trends in style in art, literature and music, 1300-1830, by Frederick Artz (published 1962). I have been absolutely hooked on this book and have been reading it on every bus trip around Prague. There are so many similarities between the world of today and other eras. Early postmodernity is similar to the Age of Mannerism (extremism, edges, remixing old - no wonder that MTV has been referred to as neo-mannerist), and our present age bears striking similarities to the early Renassaince (experimentation based on re-estimation of Roman architechure) Anyway, I wont bore you with details. Not yet, anyway.
Andrew Jones at 8:40 PM
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 DAWN News of Global Christian Trends (2003 #7)
30. Each year,180 million Bibles and New Testaments are wasted - lost, destroyed or disintegrated - due to incompetence, hostility, bad planning, or inadequate manufacture.
31. Each year, 600,000 full-time ordained workers (clergy, ministers, missionaries) reach retiring age; 150,000 then discover that their employers provide no old-age pensions.
32. Some 250 of the 300 largest international Christian organizations regularly mislead the Christian public by publishing demonstrably incorrect or falsified progress statistics.
33. Despite predictions of the collapse of religion, long-term trends indicate that Christians and members of other religions are likely to number over 87% of the world's population in AD 2200. . . . Read the others
Andrew Jones at 9:41 PM
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Blogger's Prayer 1.1 by Andrew Jones (June, 2002)
Our Father
who lives above and beyond the dimension of the internet
Give us this day a life worth blogging,
The access to words and images that express our journey with passion and integrity,
And a secure connection to publish your daily mercies.
Your Kingdom come into new spaces today,
As we make known your mysteries,
Posting by posting,
Blog by blog.
Give this day,
The same ability to those less privileged,
Whose lives speak louder than ours,
Whose sacrifice is greater,
Whose stories will last longer.
Forgive us our sins,
For blog-rolling strangers and pretending they are friends,
For counting unique visitors but not noticing unique people,
For delighting in the thousands of hits but ignoring the ONE who returns,
For luring viewers but sending them away empty handed,
For updating daily but repenting weekly.
As we forgive those who trespass on our sites to appropriate our thoughts without reference,
Our images without approval,
Our ideas without linking back to us.
Lead us not into the temptation to sell out our congregation,
To see people as links and not as lives,
To make our blogs look better than our actual story.
But deliver us from the evil of pimping ourselves instead of pointing to you,
From turning our guests into consumers of someone else's products,
From infatuation over the toys of technology,
From idolatry over techology
From fame before our time has come.
For Yours is the power to guide the destinies behind the web logs,
To bring hurting people into the sanctuaries of our sites,
To give us the stickiness to follow you, no matter who is watching or reading.
Yours is the glory that makes people second look our sites and our lives,
Yours is the heavy ambience,
For ever and ever,
Amen
Andrew Jones at 7:25 AM
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Hey Andrew, I'm blogging to my student ministry website.... What advice or pointers would you give someone starting out. I know, technically you aren't bound to tell me anything, since I missed the conference in Budapest. :) What about posting pics, changing colors (or is it colours?), etc...How do you include comments from others? Any other ideas? Thanks. And glad to hear that conference went well for you. I travelled, too. Last weekend, I was speaking at a Pure Freedom.
Stacy C. Sublett from Xstream
 Hi Stacey, I am assuming you can post images to another site and can link to them. I have emailed you the necessary HTML and will email to others who need it. Dang, you can take my whole site if you want, or at least hear how i have created it.
As for starting out, here are 10 thoughts and pointers that may be of assistance:
1. Get an extra blog site, make it private (not public) and use it for roadtesting new ideas and new template html. Make all your mistakes in private. Costs no money but saves lots of frustration when you screw up the html.
2. You really have to learn a little html if you are to have a decent site - Buy a book on it. Its not as complicated as you think. I bought "Introducing Web Design" by Rob Young. Print off the template html and figure it all out.
3. When you start a new blog site with Blogger, choose the "Currency" template. It is by far the easiest to use and it already has a place to add your own links. The only things you may want to change are:
a)the color of the header is not great - they are using color number #CCCC99 (find it on the template html). You can change that to another color by chaning the 6 digits. White is #FFFFFF, black is #OOOOOO, dark grey is #999999, the light grey I am using on mine is #d5d5d5, orange is #FFA500. Your book will tell you all of them or you can go to this color table.
b) The two tables should extend all the way across but they dont on "Currency" so you should change the numerical value to a percentage. When the html mentions 375, (as in width="375" which occurs twice), change it to "70%". The other table says width="175" change that one to width="30%". You could also go 60/40 or 80/20 if you choose.
4. Comments. Find the comments you like on someone's blog and find out how to get the same for your own. At present i am not using comments but I may use them soon.
5. I havethe html for images and links come up automatically on each blog entry so I dont have to type it out each time. You can get this feature with Blogger Pro along with the ability to blog to the past or future and other advantages. It is now blogger courtesy to link to each other or to things when you mention them.
6. The tallskinnykiwi template used to be based on "Currency" but is now a re-mix of blogger's "Interblued" template. It looks good but is complicated and lengthy. I dont recommend it.
7. Get a life and publish the good news daily. This should be the first one.
8. Get storage. I post my images to a free site at www.volny.cz and then link to them. its cheap and it works.
10. Optimize your photos to jpegs of 10k or less and your text images to gifs. My little ones are 3k and my big ones are always less than 20k. Photoshop Elements or Fireworks does the trick.
Andrew Jones at 7:03 AM
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Response from you on Bro. Thom:
"Please send extend my greetings to Thom and Linda
Wolf. They were my mentors as well at the Church on Brady."
Bill Risinger
"Andrew, I want to echo your statements about Bro. Thom. . . He and Linda
came to our little church in Montgomery, AL the weekend before he left for
Thailand a year and a half ago. . . He spoke something of a prophetic word over us that we would be
like the dandelion - the tooth of the Lion of the Tribe of Judah and that
we would spread all over the world. Well, we're trying and God really
seems to bless our international work.
We are starting a church in a housing project in our city and I plan to use the Universal Disciple as our
basis for teaching. . . I am also teaching a class in my church called Philosophy and
Worldviews. I am using Bro. Thom's Global History Chart as an outline to
share the history of the world, the emergence and development of every
major faith system, explain the history of the West, modenism and resulting
postmodernism, and also forecast a path for the future pointing out
implications for ministry and Christian living. Whew, that's a lot of
stuff for a 14 week class! But, it is remarkably easy when you have a
framework for seeing the world. Bro. Thom helped me develop that. We have
about 50 people in this class, including several high school and college
students and it is being received really well. I talked about Animism last
week and I'll be sharing on Hinduism next week. I'd like to formalize this
stuff sometime and I even talked with Thom about helping him get some of
his stuff on this into print, as many people before me have. You need to
write too. It would be a blessing to many.
Grace and Peace,Alan Cross"
AJ - Thom is working on a web site for his stuff and I am using it in training, although not much of it is in writing - thanks for the encouragement.
Andrew Jones at 12:26 AM
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Steve Taylor "I've been doing a bit of reading and writing around pilgrimage - and its something you've been talking about on your blog I notice - and the need to refind pilgrimage. There are physical dimensions eg go to visit chruches around the world. I wonder if there are cyber-dimensions - reading blogs, seasonal spiritual journeys etc.
Interesting few articles by some sociologists on how people adopt a range of stances toward pilgrimage; from a interested comparative sampling through to seeking through to genunine conversion. So the way we configure church and promote our spirituality needs to honour these wide range of searchers - to be accessible, journey orientated, hospitable, generous, authentic."
Steve, one of the dimensions that I have been looking at is our experience of MOTION in worship and spirituality. This is something that I have not heard a Christian mention in writing or speech, so I dont know what response I will get if I throw out some thoughts here, but let me give it a shot.
The postmodern shift has to do with differing experiences of time, space and MOTION. We normally deal with time and space (moment and ground, history and geogpraphy) but rarely with motion. But motion is important and we are using words like Journey, Quest, Pilgrimage, more and more.
Lev Manovich, a new media expert, distinguishes between objective space and navigable space. Much of the internet experience happens in navigable space - one screen leads to another screen, an image is a link to something else, etc. Cyberspace is a forward and sideward moving experience and not a static reading of texts.
I believe it would be helpful if we recognised worship as happening in objective space or navigable space. At present, "worship" in the modern church means something happening on a stage while people remain stationary (objective space). But there are many worship experiences that happen in navigable space:
Labyrinth, prayer walking, stations of the cross, pilgrimage, are all examples of worship in navigable space. An internet experience like your Lenten Pilgrimage is more of a journey in navigable space - it leads us somewhere.
You could even find navigable space in the festival worship of the Hebrews in the Old Testament - Feast of Tabernacles, for example, where people would move from one experience to another in different physical spaces.
Andrew Jones at 9:53 PM
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Saturday, March 08, 2003 |
|
|
|
We got back from a trip to Germany last night and have started the day off well. In the bathtub this morning I read the Letters of Saint Francis and "No Turning Back" by George Verwer, a book that I have'nt read for 15 years. It was refreshing to read. I had a dream about George Verwer a few nights ago. I was with him in Malaysia 2 years ago and, while standing in the swimming pool with him (it was not a contest to see who was the skinniest), I asked a few questions about Operation Mobilization in a postmodern world. But my attitude did not carry respect for the great mission that he leads (and which my wife and I spent 2 wonderful years of our lives) and that conversation has haunted me since then.
But it was good to read of his challenge to die to self and live to Christ, something that I have tried to practise. It was also refreshing to hear another voice about material possessions, saying it was OK not to give up possessions and potential to make money in order to follow God. This was encouraging. We have given what we have away to God over and over again. I am now approaching 40, I drive a 19 year old car, do not own any property, do not have any life insurance or retirement, have no savings. But I do have a story and I place my hope in God who never lets me down. He is faithful to carry me and my huge family. And he will.
As for the people that are currently criticizing Emergent for making lots of money on the postmodern subject, well, they are welcome to look at my assets and ask the question, "Are you raping the Body of Christ for her money?"
They can also look at my schedule. Next week I teach in Budapest (for free) and I have to pay to get myself there. It costs money to teach on this subject, and the new organic churches that are popping up do not have money to pay me. Honestly, I will not be getting rich doing this. Really.
BTW - I am not against ownership of property - I have owned a few houses in the past. We sold one to get our family to Australia and sold the next house to get us back to USA. It has been 3 years now since we left USA and my family would like to have a furlough but they know that we dont have another house to sell, and that following Jesus costs everything. Just as George Verwer said and has lived. Like George, we are content and delighted that God has chosen us for his purposes. It is worth the sacrifice and more. Thanks George. You rock!
Andrew Jones at 11:47 PM
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 WHERE DO YOU GO TO CHURCH? THOUGHT 1.1 MOBILITY
From Scot Mathis. "Maybe a better model is that road-warrior of the modern era, the mobile professional? He is constantly in communication with his coworkers and clients. He takes his own resources with him where ever he goes. He's seldom in the office, but he's always in touch. Meetings can happen anywhere, anytime. He lives and dies by his cell phone and laptop computer but his entire purpose is to be able to interact with real people at their own locations.
My church isn't what you'd call organic, but if it was and if people asked where I went to church, I might answer, "we're on the road a lot."" SM
AJ - Scot, I think the idea of mobility helps us think more about what we call church. For example, the Apostle Paul, who has influenced much of what we do as church. WHERE DID PAUL GO TO CHURCH? PAY HIS TITHE? TAKE OUT MEMBERSHIP?
Was his band of people any less church than those that met in Lydia's house?
 Operation World's Patrick Johnstone has some great thoughts in his book, "The Church is Bigger Than You Think". He argues that the church has always existed in three distinct forms - Ecclesiastic (gathering structure) Monastic (training structure - he uses a different word than I) and Apostolic (sending, mobile structure). He also believes that we have got ourselves into trouble by allowing the Ecclesiastic to take over and move the others to the lesser status of non-church or para-church. Patrick suggests that what is really needed today is the emergence of NEW FLUID APOSTOLIC STRUCTURES.
Andrew Jones at 9:19 PM
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
WHERE DO YOU GO TO CHURCH? and other tricky questions that organic church people dont know how to answer. I have a few of you on the email waiting to hear me on this, so let me start with my first thought, and then keep adding thoughts as
I get them.
THOUGHT 1.0 - BANKING
Lets talk about banking. A similar question “Which bank do you belong to?” used to be approprite but is now redundant. You probably have an account in one bank and a loan from another. Your kids may choose a different bank altogether. Your consultant is from a non-related organization. The financial management software on your computer is from somewhere else, and yet it manages to bring all those numbers together on one page.
BUT YOU STILL BANK!
The question “Where do you bank?” still does not solve the problem.. You may initiate transactions from your phone, the internet, or by handing your visa card to the shopkeeper. And the most accurate database of all those transactions is probably your home computer, rather than the computer at the bank.
In a way, you are now the banker. The empowerment of banking is in your hands. The financial institutions are now your servants, your advisors, your consultants, your administrators. That is, of course, unless you owe them money, in which case they are no longer your servants but your masters.
YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH THE BANK.
As your advisors, you view the Bank with suspicion. They say they want to help you but really they want to make money from you. They gave your father piggy banks when he was young because they wanted him to develop healthy spending and saving practices, thus protecting him from the curse of debt. But now, in this post-piggybank era, they want you to borrow and not to save, since they rely on interest from your debt to survive.
WHO DO YOU TRUST?
You find advice from a consultant who is not a puppet of the banking system, but who nonetheless knows the system well enough to navigate its system and use it for your benefit. Because, even though the system may be flawed, you know that it can still work for you and you don’t intend to leave it entirely
BANKING NOT ABOUT JOINING A BRANCH BUT ABOUT MANAGING YOUR FINANCIAL ASSETS. A BANK IS NO LONGER A PLACE.
RESPONSE: (Scot Mathis) "True enough, but this implies an intensely individualistic financial experience. I don't stand in line and chat. I don't identify with other people who use my bank branch. I manage my accounts from my computer. When I need cash, I go to an ATM. I don't like the idea of a spirituality that exists in isolation from the community (actually, I do like it, but that's my weakness, not my strength!). It's not enough to sit alone in a darkened room checking your spiritual balance, or to stop by the automatic dispenser for a bit of bread and wine." SM
AJ - Thanks Scot. Maybe homeschooling/unschooling is a better analogy. Homeschool kids dont go to school, as ours didnt when we were full-time RVers, but they were educated nonetheless.
Follow the Thread to 1.1 Mobility
Andrew Jones at 3:27 AM
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Ministry of the Month: Tree sitting for Jesus.
LEILAH’S STORY
“This past week has been filled with some of the most amazing ministry opportunities of my Christian life. I was able to spend one week sitting 120 feet up in a redwood tree with a small crew of "forest defenders", sharing with them the good news about Jesus.”
THE PRODIGAL PROJECT:
It seems that many people in the The Prodigal Project have been sensing it to be the right time to begin reaching out to this community. 2 weeks ago Christy, Rachel, Candace and I went to watch a video at Humboldt State about the whole movement. We were brought to tears watching the kids we have been ministering to for years passionately fighting for a cause, though righteous as it may seem, wins them no eternal salvation. The video included clips of kids getting arrested, pepper sprayed by the police, and dragged off to jail. We prayed after seeing the video, to be used by the Lord to turn these kids into radical disciples for Jesus.
HISTORY:
The "forest defence movement", otherwise known as "tree-sitting", started getting publicity about 6 years ago. Around this time, Julia Butterfly began her protest of the logging of old growth redwood trees. She lived up in a platform in a redwood tree alone for 2 years
TREE SITTING FOR JESUS?:
Tree-sits consist of building a platform about 120-150 feet up in a redwood tree, and getting a bunch of motivated forest defenders to sit up in the platform to prevent that particular tree from getting cut down.
TOOLS YOU WILL NEED:
Rock-climbing equipment, such as harnesses, prussic ropes, carabeaners and climbing ropes are utilized for climbing trees and setting traverses between inhabited trees.
AJ - The Prodigal Project has been sharing Jesus with hippies, deadheads, Phish fans, Rainbow kids in many countries. Our family has spent much time with them in California. Two of them stayed with us in Prague last year, before heading out to Europe’s Rainbow Festival. They are the only ministry in the world that I know of that focuses exclusively on this people group.
Andrew Jones at 1:00 AM
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
  WE DID IT ! The wedding went off ok - they went through with it - I must be getting old but I thought the whole thing was a little rushed. A week ago, we didnt even know they liked each other!! Young people these days! Ay! Who can understand them?
For our part, we basically catered the event, cooking a large turkey, stuffing, etc. Apparently the Czechs wanted an American Thanksgiving meal and who better to cook it than a tall skinny kiwi.
Right now they are singing some songs and doing some religious sounding activities. The pastor is Pentecostal. I like the Pentecostals - they keep me on my toes when I preach in their churches. My greatest challenge with them is keeping my money in my wallet at their meetings - there is always a desperate need for money and I am pretty gullible - I just hand it over - thats why Debbie and I no longer have our wedding rings. Chalk it up to one too many Pentecostal meeting. I've found that its a lot cheaper to hang out with Baptists.
But back to the wedding. The more normal people have escaped into the patio for a smoke while the pastor does his thing. And where am I? Hiding out in my study, talking to you, of course. But now I must go and do a coffee/tea check. Oh yeah - Alice looked great in her orange dress and Martin borrowed my vintage coat and tails to go with his Doc Martin boots. They looked great!
RESPONSE:
Ummmm…. Could we have you come and speak at our church in Frankfurt? Real soon?
Marc [Shaw, Foursquare]
AJ - Marc, you Foursquare people are cool and pose NO threat to my wallet. The problem is the pastors who are trusting God for their new Mercedes without telling their people that they are actually trusting in them to take out the loan for it. And also, since you were mentioning postmodernity, I believe that Pentecostals are a significant response to the overly rational, anti-supernatural Christianity of the Enlightenment and are therefore a part of the postmodern correction.
Andrew Jones at 6:26 AM
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Tuesday, March 04, 2003 |
|
|
|
NY TIMES" . . . the world, not just America, is turning to fundamentalism and evangelism. . . Not only Christians but Islamists and Jews, too, are reaching for the certainties of ancient dictums and beliefs."
AJ - A few months ago I read an excellent book on fundamentalism, The Battle For God by Karen Armstrong, where she compares the three groups, side by side, or "synchronically", if you like.
Andrew Jones at 10:00 PM
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Monday, March 03, 2003 |
|
|
|
Emergent Convention is over. Let the response begin.
 Charlie Porteous of DAWN Ministries to start:
"It is evident that God is stirring up a Generation who’s heart is after him, the sessions represented at the conference are indicative to the complexities within the emerging church. Worship, forms of worship.. The message, how it is delivered, community and relationship, spiritual and mystic, authentic and real, are all terms that seem to be lived out within the emerging church." CP
 "Hi, Andrew:
What I loved about Emergent:
* the many great conversations I had with people. Face to face, you hear the stories and capture the heart.
* the diversity of expressions, ranging from "Gen-Y-style service inside large traditional megachurch" to "skater group that hardly resembles anyone's idea of church"
* the passion to touch the emerging culture(s)
* the desire to listen, really listen, to folks outside the church
Best--Kevin [Kevin Miller from Christianity Today]
 "High points for me were the stations of the cross, followed by "When! I Survey the Wondrous Cross" ... hearing Yaconelli speak in the last session, telling the story of his daughter choosing God when she chose dance, and feeling the truth of that ... fielding one incredibly insightful question after another during my sessions ... meeting people who have read my books and been helped by God through them ... watching Ted and Lee (Peter and Andrew) as their feet were being washed by Christ ... seeing my staff members jumping around while Crowder played some extraordinarily good music ... feeling John Perkins' vitality and power ... Mark Scandrette's poetry/invocation/welcoming/carnival-barker-raps ... and then, dozens and dozens of personal conversations (I had 3 breakfast meetings before 8:30 one morning)."
Brian MacLaren, Emergent.
Enough emails on this. You can go to Emergent's bulletin board to post your own comments.
Andrew Jones at 11:57 PM
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 The poetry may not be flowing out of this Kiwi BUT I have managed to write three articles this week. The first was really lame and you will not see it, although the emergent team saw it and liked it. The second, on Wabi Sabi, will come out on Beliefnet.com in a few days, and the third, written yesterday morning in two hours flat, is sitting here, waiting to be published somewhere else. It is called Gospel Brunch: Love it or Ignore it. Let me know your comments before its too late.
FIRST RESPONSE:
"andrew, excellent. not only a good commentary but a great dream-starter.
thanks, aaron. " - Aaron Norwood of The Bridge Website
Aaron, your comment is so good I think I will put it on my blog. And read it daily for my devotions!
Andrew Jones at 11:27 PM
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Derek Chapman just Fed Exed me a NEW PEN!. Thanks Derek. It is my only. My precious. It came to me and I love it. Very Retro indeed. Derek and his wife Amy are supposed to be living in Prague, in their apartment around the corner and down the road. But they have been in Austin helping to set up the arts side of wabiSABI and generally causing trouble. Derek has been behind all our successful (and lame) art installations and events over the past 6 years (Jesus Rave 1997, Spirit Candy 1998, Ecclesia 1999, Epicenter 2000, Epicentrum 2002. We are proud to be associated with him, even though he is not usually around, for someone who is supposed to be really committed to the team. Well, he is committed, we just DONT SEE HIM VERY MUCH, or his wife for that matter. Derek has a famous dad, Gary, who wrote a book called "The Three Languages of , no wait, "Four ways of love", no, thats not it. . . ahhh, doesnt matter!
Derek - its been 6 years and we still love you man. No. we really LOVE YOU, man! No . . your not hearing me . . .
Andrew Jones at 7:40 PM
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
As the final event of wabiSABI, Drew Rice was ordained, as requested by the Harley riding congregation that adopted him as their spiritual leader. I met Drew on the streets of Austin 5 years ago. He is a good man of character. Image from 
For the teaching on Saturday morning, Brad Sargent, Mark Thames and I had a two hour intensive. I will post my notes here soon.
Arrived in Austin and picked up by Shannon Hopkins (can you see by her picture that she is really pleased to see me again!) and Jessica my PA (Prodigal Assistant) who now has to repent face to face for being away from Prague so long and leaving me to administrate my messy life.
My PA and part family member, 
Off to bed now, but I am thinking about the impending war, as I am sure you are also. Bro. Thom encouraged us to pray for Saddam's dream life tonight, for a restless night of prophetic images (my words). I need up put up the satelite antenna to get CNN. It has not been working for 3 months but now I need to prepare myself for the war - which means erecting the antenna again. My prayer is that of Bono's:
Two weeks ago I wrote an article on Gospel Brunches as an alternative to worship services, and everyone is ignoring it. It is located on the 
Speaking of Bro Thom, the movement called 
Thom and Linda Wolf are coming for lunch today and we will have an informal worship time. Bro. Thom has been my key mentor for nearly 10 years but I haven't seen him since he moved to Thailand. Tell you more later.
Off to Hungary on a train in an hour. I will be gone until Friday at a conference - CECEE - The theme this year is "Evangelism in a Post-Modern Eastern Europe" and I will be speaking on new expressions of church. The last time I was in Budapest, I spoke on something similar and created the 
I decided to do some blog surfing and found that people are complaining about me.
New Zealanders are among the first in the world to see the rising son on a new day. And Stevedownunder wants to take you on a 
The music we play a lot here lately:
Good news for 
Snowing this morning in Prague, which is very unexpected. This is how the Giant Peach looks right now.
Quotes from my girls in the last week;'
We have a wedding tomorrow at our house, the Giant Peach. Alice and Martin decided last week to get married, giving everyone plenty of time to prepare for such an event. Actually, it is all very quick for us - Martin only came off heroin 2 years ago and decided to follow Jesus 18 months ago while in prison. We like Martin and he is a regular at our Pizza Parties on Fridays, but are used to thinking of him as the "street guy'. But the Holy Spirit often moves faster than us, and Martin is now "Working Martin with his own apartment" and we need to catch up again to what God might be up to.
Found on the English 
"When Steve Papineau [of 
BIG FAMILY NEWS:
Its March already. How'd that happen? Welcome everyone to a new month. Another early morning for me.
Family work day on the Giant Peach today. I am cannibalizing my blue 84 Volvo sedan to get parts for my grey 84 volvo station wagon which will be the Keeper. I hate wasting money and I have all these great parts that i bought for my blue volvo, which , btw, cost me £200 in England a few years ago. The grey wagon was a gift from the pilgrimaging Aussies. 18 years old but still lots of life in it.