Christian Carnival 229

carnival.jpgThe carnival’s in town.

The weekly Christian Carnival is an opportunity for Christian blog writers to share their best posts from the previous week. The topic of the post doesn’t necessarily have to focus on Christianity but it must reflect a Christian worldview, and the writer must be Christian to qualify.

I’ve taken part in the carnival many times over the years but this is the first time I’ve hosted the carnival. I must say that it’s a real honour to be able to present such a diverse range of great posts.

If I was clever, like many carnival hosts, I’d create categories and do all kinds of tricky things, but instead, I’ll just present this remarkable body of work in the order that each submission arrived in my inbox.

Please take the time to read through each post … it’s worth it. You might also like to link to this week’s carnival so that your blog readers can enjoy the variety of styles and thought.

There seems to be something about money that makes many Christians squirm. Unfortunately that prevents many from taking a serious look at their finances to find God’s heart on the matter. Free Money Finance wades into the topic with Putting God First.

Michael Snyder gets political when he presents The Picture Of The Hindu God That Barack Obama Carries For Good LuckShattered Paradigm at .

The way that many live, you’d be forgiven for thinking that Christianity is just a set of beliefs that’ll keep us busy until we make it to eternity, but David Gushee’s post The market economy’s moral influence posted at CounterCulture explores our responsibility for stewardship of the world’s resources.

Another wonderful contribution to the carnival this week comes from Weekend Fisher who remembers the advice she never gave a friend … and what her silence cost her friend in her post Do Christians sell the faith short? Part 3: sexual integrity and abortion. She issues a call to stand up for integrity not as a set of intrusive Thou Shalt Nots, but as a blessing of a more livable life.

Ken Brown is looking at Art, Nudity and Sex and the City. Well … that didn’t come out quite right. Ken’s not really looking at that stuff, he’s writing about it and you should check out what he has to say at his blog C. Orthodoxy.

A blogger I’m pleased to have recently started reading is Kathie M. Thomas. She presents Between a Rock and a Hard Place at workplace-ministry.com. It’s a lovely post that brings out a life lesson from the things around us.

Dean’s another favourite on my ‘must read’ list. This week he presents Certain Location… posted at My Jarrol Spot. He talks about old places bringing back old memories.

Annette has been thinking about The Mandate for a Pastor at her blog Fish and Cans. Her post is well worth reading and I encourage you to spend some time considering what Annette has to say.

Us Christians talk a lot about faith, but what is it really all about? Elementaryhistoryteacher presents Oh Ye of Little Faith at Got Bible?.

Richard H. Anderson is Reading Schweitzer Again for the 1st Time. Richard’s post at dokeo kago grapho soi kratistos Theophilos is a great one to get you thinking.

Fathers’ Day is a joyous time for many, but for others it can be a reminder of how our earthly fathers have failed us. Jennifer’s post Revisiting Father’s Day posted at Diary of 1 is a wonderful exploration of what we should do if our memories of dad aren’t all happy memories.

What is the real reason that communication and organization is so bad in so many churches? Diane R has written about The Church “In” Group? at Crossroads: Where Faith and Inquiry Meet.

Jeremy Pierce says that while A.W. Pink takes an outdated and unwarranted view on the so-called Curse of Ham passage in Genesis 9, he believes that Daniel Hays goes a little too far to call his comments racist. Jeremy asks is A.W. Pink, Racist? over at Parableman.

Walking is an oft-used metaphor for our life’s journey. But what does it really mean to walk with God?  This week John at Light Along the Journey has a few thoughts in his post What Does It Mean to Walk with God?

Tom Gilson reckons that everyone wants to claim Jesus as their own, in one way or another and he thoughtfully explains what he means in his post Jesus: Who Was He, Really? posted at Thinking Christian.

There are so many varied thoughts on what the scriptures are saying to us. ChrisB asks if theological differences between Christian groups prove our beliefs are inconsistent in his post Do Denominations Disprove Christianity? at his blog Homeward Bound.

One notion about gender and church, especially regarding woman priests, is that woman and men are “interchangeable.” Mark Olson examines that notion in his post On Men and Women with a little History Thrown In at his blog Pseudo-Polymath.

To round of this week’s Christian Carnival I’ll point you to some people who are taking their faith in Christ to a massive audience around the world through their music. Earlier this week I saw the Soweto Gospel Choir in concert and was thrilled at how overt their spiritual message was. They have an amazing ministry of shining God’s light into darkened corners. Here’s my post, Soweto Gospel Choir in Perth, complete with a radio interview (including a wonderful live performance) that I conducted with them yesterday.

Thanks to everyone who contributed this week to the Christian Carnival. Get posting and get your submissions in for next week’s carnival over at Thinking Christian.



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Soweto Gospel Choir in Perth

sgc.jpgMany people consider South Africa’s Soweto Gospel Choir to be the most exciting group to emerge in world music in recent years. That claim is backed up by the fact they’ve won two Grammies.

The Choir’s repertoire reflects their faith and spiritual journey. Their latest show, African Spirit, is sung in six different languages.

Since the choir’s first international performances in Australia in 2003, Soweto Gospel Choir has become a worldwide phenomenon, performing sell-out concerts across the world and singing alongside superstars including Bono, Queen, Annie Lennox, Diana Ross, Jimmy Cliff and Celine Dion, Red Hot Chilli Peppers and others.

They’re in Perth for four concerts. Pauline and I were privileged to be in the audience for the first of those concerts last night at His Majesty’s Theatre.

It was a real pleasure to welcome a number of representatives from the choir to the studio this morning during my morning radio programme on 98.5 Sonshine FM. I had opportunity to talk to a couple of members and enjoy a live performance in the studio.

You can hear the interview by clicking on the play button of the audio player at the bottom of this post.

It was fantastic to hear them talk about their faith and the opportunities they have to talk about spirituality to such diverse audiences.



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Christian Carnival Coming Soon

I’m having some friends drop in tomorrow. They’ll be visiting from all over the world and you’re invited to join us. This week’s Christian Carnival is being hosted here at RodneyOlsen.net.

The weekly Christian Carnival is an opportunity for Christian blog writers to share their best posts from the previous week. The topic of the post doesn’t necessarily have to focus on Christianity but it must reflect a Christian worldview, and the writer must be Christian to qualify. You may wish to consider that the readership of the Christian Carnival will be more varied than your usual readership, and you might do better contributing a post with broad appeal.

I’ve taken part in the carnival many times over the years but this is the first time I’ve hosted the carnival. I’ve already received a number of contributions and I’m looking forward to offering readers of this blog some great links when the carnival is published.

If you’re a Christian and you’ve never contributed before, or if it’s been a while since you have, how about having a look through your posts for the past week and choosing something to contribute. It doesn’t have to be a masterpiece, just a post that outlines your point of view or is designed to get others thinking. Being part of the carnival could be a great way to gain a little extra traffic at your blog.

The easiest way to get involved is to submit your article through the Blog Carnival Submission Form. Otherwise, you can email the submission address.

The deadline for submissions is Tuesday evening at midnight, Eastern (US) Standard Time. (EST is GMT minus five hours.) That means it’s midday Wednesday here in Perth, Western Australia.



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Shhh! You can’t say that.

shutmouth.jpgI stumbled upon a very interesting blog post recently. It was at Anne Jackson’s blog, FlowerDust.net.

The post, Keeping Your Mouth Shut, simply asked people to share some of the things that they don’t feel they can say in church or to other Christians.

At last check there’s around 180 responses from people with everything from plain old whinging to some revealing comments about the fear of being vulnerable.

I think it’s essential reading for anyone in church leadership. I don’t care how wonderful you think your church is, there will always be people who feel they just don’t measure up and they feel powerless to express their doubts. Anyone who thinks that no one in their pews is thinking some of these things is kidding themselves.

Surely the church should be a place where we can be open and honest in sharing the highs and lows of our journey.

There are humorous comments like this:

That comb-over really does need to go. Someone might lose an eye on a windy day!

And this:

That sometimes when there is a dramatic pause in my message, and I look like I’m waiting on God to give me something really powerful to say, I’m not. In reality I’m just wondering if I zipped up my zipper before I went up on stage.

To heartfelt messages like this:

I currently feel NO connection to God when I pray or read the Bible.

And this:

When I say “I’ll pray for you.” I don’t usually mean it. I have been a Christian for 27 years and I still don’t understand the point of praying.

My regular Wednesday morning guest on 98.5 Sonshine FM is Ross Clifford who is the Principal of Morling College in New South Wales and current President of the Baptist Union of Australia. Each week we chat about a range of issues relating to spirituality and belief.

Today we took a closer look at the things we don’t say in church and discussed some of the reasons we’re not as open as we should be.

You can hear our discussion by clicking the play button on the audio player at the bottom of this post.

Are there things you feel you can’t say in church or to other Christians?



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The New Conspirators

the_new_conspirators_cover.jpgThere’s an old book on my bookshelf that was second hand when I bought it many years ago. The cover was already beginning to part company with the pages when I snapped it up for the bargain price of just three dollars. It was an early catalyst in helping me to see faith in a different light to the understanding I’d developed while being brought up in a conservative, traditional church.

That book is The Mustard Seed Conspiracy by Tome Sine.

Tom Sine has worked as a social worker, educator and headed up a community development project in Haiti for World Concern. These days he spends a lot of time trying to learn what God is doing through a new generation of innovators.

His interest in new innovations in expressions of faith have led him to write his latest book, The New Conspirators.

Tom also teaches at Fuller Theological Seminary in Seattle, and is part of Mustard Seed Associates.

Tom Sine joined me on my morning radio programme on 98.5 Sonshine FM along with Jarrod McKenna from Peace Tree Community. While Tom’s book talks about the many ways that people are re-imagining church, Jarrod is part of a community that is living out faith in simple ways in the Perth suburb of Lockridge.

You can hear our discussion by clicking on the audio player at the bottom of this post.

If you’re in the Perth area you have a couple of opportunities to hear Tom Sine speaking at Vose Seminary in Bentley tomorrow.

Living on Purpose in Uncertain Times

1:00pm-3:30pm

Aimed at Christian leaders

Cost: $20

Join Tom Sine for some eye-opening excursions into our new global neighbourhood. You will identify the growing pressures on time and money facing people in your church. They will also show you how you can enable people to live on purpose, creating less stressed, more festive lives; and discovering imaginative ways God can use their lives to make a difference in their communities and God’s world.

Confronting the Powers: The New Conspirators

7:00pm-9:30pm

Aimed at all Christians

Cost: $10

God is doing something new through a new generation of innovators, risk takers and entrepreneurs. These new conspirato rs can be found in at least four streams: emerging, missional, mosaic and monastic.

Some are creating innovative missional expressions of church, some are creating sustainable communities that work with the poor. Others are using the arts to create imaginative forms of environmental advocacy. Still others are creating new ways to celebrate the in-breaking of God’s new order. These young conspirators are all imagining new ways, in these uncertain times, to give creative expression to that new world the Jesus told us is already here.

You can find out more about Tom Sine and the rest of the team at Mustard Seed Associates at the Mustard Seed Associates Website.



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