Organic Church

September 20, 2012
by Rodney Olsen
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Together with his wife Mary, author and speaker Milt Rodriguez has been involved with a number churches and ministries from the Jesus People, to the charismatic movement, denominational, non-denominational, pentecostal, fundamental, and evangelical movements and churches.

For the last couple of decades Milt and Mary have been working in what some people call the “house church movement”.

In 1990 they moved to Northern California and started a few “house churches”. These are groups where all the believers are encouraged and taught to function as the Body of Christ in the gatherings. The meetings are very informal and casual and anyone and everyone can share what the Lord has been teaching them.

We are experiencing a steady decline in traditional church attendance.

Christians are “church-hopping”, hoping to find the reality of Christ’s headship and the vitality of Body Life. We are discovering His leadership and Body vitality in our living rooms as we gather to worship, encourage, and build each other up. Are we perfect? Are we always right? Of course not! But we are in process.

Together we are discovering freedom in Christ and a unity that supports a practical life of expressing Him.

Our fellowship extends beyond our gathering times and spills over into daily events. We are a community, not a weekly meeting.

He’s currently in Perth for Infusion 2012, a free conference at ECU Joondalup on Saturday the 6th of October.

Milt has written a number of books looking at organic churches and developing a deeper experience of Jesus Christ.

I recently had the opportunity to chat to Milt about organic churches and his passion to see small house churches develop around the world. I conducted a radio interview with him which you can hear by clicking the play button on the audio player at the bottom of this post.



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Milestones

September 19, 2012
by Rodney Olsen
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What is it about certain time periods that add extra significance to remembering our life history? Why do we celebrate milestones differently to anniversaries of events in other years?

I clocked up another year of life a couple of months ago but it wasn’t a milestone birthday. Next year, however, I’ll be hitting the half century so I’m already starting to think about what I need to do in the coming months to reach that occasion in better than reasonable shape.

While my birthday this year wasn’t a milestone, 2012 is a significant milestone year for other reasons.

Next month it’ll be 25 years since I first cycled across Australia, riding about four and a half thousand kilometres in five weeks to make my way from Perth to Canberra. I’ve cycled across the Nullarbor another four times since then but that first trip was obviously a significant life event. Each of those rides was part of Australia’s Bike for Bibles program which began in 1984, and that first ride in 1987 was the first ever crossing of Australia by a Bike for Bibles team.

It was 20 years ago last month that I flew out from Perth to go cycling amongst the Rocky Mountains in Canada. It was a short trip but I was there for the first ever Canadian Bike for Bibles ride. I was part of a small group of Aussies who made the journey to commence something wonderful in an amazing country.

While those milestones are significant, they don’t even begin to compare with three other events that changed my world irrevocably for the better back in 1992.

Event One: Twenty years ago, at the beginning of 1992, I met the most amazing woman I have ever known.

Event Two: Later in 1992 she agreed to marry me.

Event Three: In December of that year we were married, which means that this year we’ll be celebrating our 20th Wedding Anniversary. 1992 was a big year.

Are you someone who takes note of milestone occasions? What milestones are you looking forward to celebrating?



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Distracted to Death

September 15, 2012
by Rodney Olsen
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I’m conflicted. I use Apple products every day but there’s something about the inevitable fanfare of their new product launches that concerns me. I’ll admit that it’s clever marketing but it always leaves me feeling quite unsettled.

The iPhone 5 has been launched and according to their marketing chief, Phil Schiller, shipments will start in about a week in the United States, Canada, Britain, France, Germany, Australia and Japan, and the latest must have device will be in 100 countries by the end of the year. There have been forecasts of sales of up to 12 million new iPhones by the end of September.

I have certainly embraced new technology but I do worry about the relentless pursuit of the newest and latest. I read somewhere recently of a young woman who loves Apple so much that she says she’s had about eight iPhones over the last couple of years. For the life of me I can’t understand why anyone needs to be buying that many phones.

Apple is not the issue.

Just in case you think this is a rant against Apple, it’s not. I love music so I love the iPod that I received as a gift some years ago. My wife won one of the original iPads and gave it to me. I use it every day and find it very handy for a variety of purposes. I currently have the use of an iPhone for work and I find it both fun and functional. Apple isn’t the issue. The relentless push to have more and more of the very latest is what causes me to feel uneasy.

My ‘old’ iPad didn’t cease to be functional when the next generation and the one after that were released. My iPod is several years old and several models out of date but interestingly enough, it still plays my favourite music. With a change in positions at work I’m about to swap my phone for an older model and it really doesn’t concern me.

It seems that we keep trying to fill every moment of every day with distractions that really don’t add anything to our quality of life and they certainly don’t answer the bigger life questions. We feel that we need something new simply because it’s available and the thought of not have the latest causes some people to break out in cold sweats. And don’t tell me it’s about functionality. It’s about feeling that we’re missing out if we don’t have the latest. We imagine that it’s better whether it is or not. This video proves that point.

It’s like the Emperor’s New Clothes all over again. We’ve let ourselves be duped into believing that satisfaction in life is just one more purchase away. The strange thing is that when then next new and shiny item is offered for sale we jump for it, demonstrating that the last item we thought would satisfy didn’t really improve our quality of life at all. If it did we wouldn’t need the latest version. Strangely enough we refuse to learn the clearly obvious lesson and so we just repeat the cycle.

I’ve got news for you. It doesn’t stop and it will never satisfy.

All the latest gadgets, useful or not, are just distractions. They all cause us to take our eyes off what’s really important in life. They distract us from relationships, contemplation, relaxation and spirituality. We know that all the distractions don’t bring lasting happiness or joy but we keep pursuing them, refusing to learn that they’ll never satisfy. We keep chasing the distractions. We’re being distracted to death.



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A Conversation Could Save a Life

September 13, 2012
by Rodney Olsen
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Losing someone to suicide is such a devastating experience. There’s no chance to talk things through and work towards a solution. It’s an event that fills the rest of your life with so many ‘what if’ questions.

It’s heart breaking to think that some people believe that death by their own hand is a better alternative than continuing to live.

R U OK? is doing something about the tragedy of suicide. They believe that something as simple as a conversation can make a world of difference. That means that you and I can do something that may save someone’s life.

R U OK?Day is a national day of action on the second Thursday of September (13 September 2012), dedicated to inspiring all people of all backgrounds to regularly ask each other ‘Are you ok?’

By raising awareness about the importance of connection and providing resources throughout the year, the R U OK? Foundation aims to prevent isolation by empowering people to support each other through life’s ups and downs.

More than 2,100 Australians suicide each year and men are around four times more likely to die by suicide than females. For each person that dies in this way, another 30 attempt to end their life (Lifeline).

R U OK? aims to inspire all Australians to help reduce our suicide rate by reaching out and making contact with others.

Most people don’t openly share their feelings, particularly when they’re struggling so don’t wait for a sign and trust your instincts. A conversation could change a life.

The best thing we can all do is regularly ask the people we care about: “Are you OK?” regardless of whether they are at risk because connection is good for us all.

Today has been named R U OK?Day. It’s a day that reminds us to stay connected to those around us and to make sure that those we love are doing OK in the journey of life.

We want to stop little problems becoming bigger by encouraging all people to help each other through life’s ups and downs. We all experience relationship problems, financial difficulties, stress, illness and death and we can all benefit from the support of those around us.

While we do deliberately target specific groups (including youth, older males, regional and rural communities, Indigenous Australians, people with mental illness and people who are bereaved), we are a universal suicide prevention intervention. This means we invite all people, of all ages, of all backgrounds to take part and to help one another access support before problems escalate to a crisis.

While R U OK?Day is an Australian initiative, suicide is a world wide tragedy. Who will you reconnect with today? Who needs you to ask if they’re OK today?



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Morning Cafe Cancer Ride 2012

September 12, 2012
by Rodney Olsen
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From the 13th to the 20th of October I’ll once again be taking part in the Morning Cafe Cancer Ride for Cancer Council Western Australia. I’ll be cycling over 500 kilometres from Albany to Perth.

The ride follows the success of rides held over the last few years. This will be our fourth ride highlighting the cancer journey of a number of people and raising money to fight cancer.

If you’re in Australia your donation is tax deductible. Even if you’re not, the work that Cancer Council WA is doing is making a difference throughout the world through some highly regarded research projects. Just head to the webpage and click donate. My aim is to raise $1000 for Cancer Council WA.

Along the way I’ll be broadcasting my Morning Cafe radio program from a different town each morning.

Monday 15th October 2012:
Broadcasting from Albany 9 – 12
Albany to Cranbrook 91 km

Tuesday 16th October 2012:
Broadcasting from Cranbrook 9 – 12
Cranbrook to Katanning 80 km

Wednesday 17th October 2012:
Broadcasting from Katanning 9 – 12
Katanning to Wagin 55 km

Thursday 18th October 2012:
Broadcasting from Wagin 9 – 12
Wagin to Pingelly 100 km

Friday 19th October 2012:
Broadcasting from Pingelly 9 – 12
Pingelly to York 87 km

Saturday 20th October 2012:
York to Perth 97 km

TOTAL: 510 km

Please help spread the word.

I’d like to ask you to share the link to this post through your blog or whatever other means you have available. At the bottom of this post are buttons for sharing the details on a range of social networks or even emailing the post to others. Just click your preferred button (or all of them) to get the word out.



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