Link Love

It’s time for another jig of the johnnylaird blogroll.

Some folks have very kindly added me to their blogroll, so it would be churlish not to reciprocate:

In comes….

Dan Rous
Mel Cooke
Vicki Adams
Victor Estrada
Yucan Chiu

Thanks guys!

Some have become blogs I read, on the basis of knowing the bloggers personally:

So, in comes….

• Craig’s blog was one of the first I started to read, but he had not been posting for quire a time. He’s started again, so he’s going on the blogroll.

• Jon-Mark used to play in the Sally Army Band with me, and is currently working as a sound engineer on cruise ships in the Med.

• Richard & Ann are married Salvation Army Officers (Pastors), running a Church in Romford, England.

One comes in on the basis of having a great blog, and the blogger being courteous enough to respond each & every time I post. Welcome Eric Bryant…an elder, speaker, and navigator overseeing the leadership team at the innovative Mosaic community in Los Angeles, CA.

On top of that I’ve added a few mags I read, which you might enjoy too… Dwell, Fast Company, Leadership & WIRED.

Check out the links – they’re invariably more interesting than the stuff I post here!

Eco Campervan

Huge hat-tip to the wonderful Dwell mag for pointing me in the direction of this funky & eco-friendly update of the classic campervan.

It’s worth a few seconds of download time to watch the super cool animation trailer for this object of desire, with hard-core green credentials.

For more eco-friendly stuff why not check out Worldchanging.com

Mr & Mrs Headphonaught

When I blogged about Headphonaught & Olly’s visit, I knew we were going to have a good time on their visit to Croydon, but I’m not sure I really expected to hook up with such a really great couple. Thomas & I have so much in common it’s scary, and Olly is just a darling, with a voice that far exceeds all the expectations I had based on various posts on the nanolog.

My little girl Mia sobbed uncontrollably when they left, so they made an impact there.

Good to spend time with you, my friends.

Here’s to the next time!

J

R U ready to start blogging again, Olly?

ALOVE

...looks like ALOVE have had a nice update job done on their site.

I'm a little late in discovering it, but it's a really nice one. Well done to whoever's been behind it.

I've been searching the web for some Salvation Army Corps sites that are effective, elegant and up to speed with todays web standards. Anybody seen one that falls into that bracket?

J

On Tour! ;-)

This weekend is going to be good!

I’m hooking up for the first time with my blogging buddy, Thomas AKA Headphonaught, and his lady Olly, when their Sally Army Band from Bellshill, Scotland visits our Church down in Croydon. It’s gonna be good to spend some time together, and sink a cup of joe, or three!

(If you haven’t already clicked on the link to Bellshill Band, I’d suggest you put on some suitable protective eyewear. Spinning bells & whistles abound! ;-)

I’ve been avidly reading Thomas’ blog for over a year now, and it’s full of good stuff. I highly recommend it.

My buddies

...just thought I'd share this pic of me & some of my closest buddies in the world...

Happy days!

Peace & Blessings

J :-)

Rob Bell

Rob Bell was excellent at his Calling All Peacemakers night at church.co.uk in Waterloo on Tuesday night.

It was entirely Jesus focused, stripped down, and intimate, much like the venue itself.

There was so much good clear teaching that I don’t feel equipped to unpack on this blog, but the evening just really confirmed to me that Rob is a very smart guy with the gift of teaching the stories of Jesus in a way that make them fresh & accessible in the 21st Century. On top of that, he comes across as a top geezer who appears not to play upon the almost celebrity status we have convened on him…..and I emphasize the we. He seems pretty down to earth in himself, and his message was straight ahead & challenging.

Catch him if you can!

A big shout out to the guys & girls of church.co.uk’s Hub Cafe, who provided great Fairtrade Latte & chocolate muffins, and were ideal hosts.

Good to see a fair smattering of Sally Army people there too, so it was good to hook up with a few familiar faces.

Energized church...

With Headphonaught's permission I wanted to share his synopsis of Chick Yuill's preach at a recent conference in Glasgow, Scotland. Chick opened the conference by reading from Acts 1:4 - 2:5 and describing four attributes of an energized church...

1) The church learns to wait on God - the reference here is not hanging about aimlessly killing time... but focussed attention - like expert waiters in a good restaurant. Watching for the time they will be required. We need to learn to wait and watch for God.

2) The church concentrates on worship - the reference here is to our lives being acts of worship. We are not solely talking about Graham Kendrick style music... but lives that act and in doing so worship God. Their good work comes from the wellspring of worship.

3) The church works out the things that need to be worked out - In the verses... we see the nomination and appointment of Matthias. They worked out what needed worked out... they sought God's blessing and guidance... and made decisions. An energized church is about the King's business and should be run (at times) as a business. To this end, we need to bring the skills we have from our various workplaces to the church... and use them.

4) The church is focussed on witness - We need to continually focus on bringing the Gospel out of the church and into the streets... just as the church in Acts did. And we need to do it in the language of the people we meet. No point speaking if we are not understood.

Thomas comments....(at least I think this bit is a Thomas quote, and not a Chick one.)

The(Salvation) Army has a longstanding tradition of taking the gospel to the streets - we were relevant in our day... Uniforms relate to the British Empire's fondness for Militarism... and our music comes from the Music Hall. To honour the Army (and ultimately God) we need to learn new things and not just repeat the past.

Some cracking stuff from both Chick & Thomas (AKA Headphonaught)

Tag Team Double Whammy

There's been a tagging thing bouncing around the web, and Daniel Rous at Rous Ramblings and Brian at Brian's Blog hit me within a day or two of each other.

Here are the rules: grab the book closest to you. Turn to page 161. Print the 5th complete sentence on your blog. Tag 5 others.

I tried the tagging thing, but remarkably Page 161 of the nearest book to me is a Chapter Heading, so no 5th Sentence.

However , here's what it says: (It's from Rob Bell's new book, Sex God - Exploring the Endless Connections between Sexuality and Spirituality.

"9 SEX GOD CHAPTER NINE - WHOOPEE FOREVER"..."

Rest assured...it's not as profane as you might imagine.

I'm going to tag:

Ubertech
Lard
Matt
Thomas
Anita

Zechariah 10:

There's a verse of Scripture that's been rolling around my head for a few days now:

God-of-the-Angel-Armies will step in and take care of his flock, the people of Judah.

He'll revive their spirits, make them proud to be on God's side.

God will use them in his work of rebuilding,use them as foundations and pillars,
Use them as tools and instruments, use them to oversee his work.

They'll be a workforce to be proud of, working as one, their heads held high, striding through swamps and mud,courageous and vigorous because God is with them, undeterred by the world's thugs.

Zechariah 10:3-11 The Message

You’re havin’ a laugh!

Jan just chillin’…she’s my love.

Little Matt Little

Matt’s Metabolic Catalyst makes the johnnylaird.blogspot.com blogroll, on the basis of him being a top fellah, and a long standing & highly prolific commenter on Lard’s blog.
I’m positive that Matt will have lots of interesting things to say. My guess would be that it would be occasionally hard hitting, sharp & once in a while very silly indeed…..straight outta Openshaw, Manchester, England, via The Message.

Anyone who’s living out their faith & calling in a place called Ambush Street has got to be worth a read!

As an added bonus, if you want to get a feel for the Ministry Mattoid is involved in, check out his buddy Gary Bishop’s “Darkest England and the Way Back In”. I read it in a single sitting a couple of weeks ago, on a Tuesday when I was unwell, between bouts of heavy duty snoozing. It’s a hugely challenging read, which makes me feel quite uncomfortable about my lifestyle & surroundings in leafy semi-rural Surrey.

These guys are on the frontline.

Get Out of Church

Graeme Smith has posted a really interesting piece called The Great Escape at TheRubicon this week.

And I quote....

We need to throw off the shackles of the mindset that sees Church as a specific place, towards a mindset that sees the Church as a community of believers. We must turn aside from evaluating our missional effectiveness in terms of numbers through the doors of our buildings, and instead look at the way lives are being touched. Most important, we must begin to see that each of us who claims to be a Christian is part of the Church, and we must start acting like it.

Check out the full article to get the skinny.

J

Succombed

I finally succombed to hooking up with Facebook.

I haven't figured out everything it can so for me, and at some point I'll get round to posting a pic on the profile!

Lard's Leg

All ground graphic/arty creative fellah, and soon to be Relevant employee , Lard has recently had some work done on his knee. My pic shows Lard reclining, with a hugely impressive leg brace, and incidently flanked by his Big Sis and Ali.

For less palatable pics, head to Lard's blog post, here: