Mele Kalikimaka!

When Jan and I got married in December 2001, we were fortunate enough to honeymoon in Maui, which gave us the awesome chance to spend Christmas in Hawaii.

As an added bonus for about 3 of the following years, we had family living there, so we visited as often as time and the Bank Manager would allow, so we had a couple of Hawaiian Christmases.

Clearly, we fell in love with the place, and there’s barely a day goes by when we don’t make some kind of reference to it in Casa Laird.

One of the huge hi-lights we always enjoyed was a visit to New Hope, the Church our family attended. The guys at New Hope always make Christmas so special, and their Christmas productions were just a joy!

Get a feel for the way they do things on their site.

Mahalo, New Hope, and Mele Kalikimaka!

Thanks for the wonderful memories.

Communitas New Orleans

Isn’t the web a wonderful thing?


A few clicks – a comment here and there – a polite acknowledgement, and a budding relationship forms.


Thanks, Mike, for passing by, and if anyone else is reading, check out Communitas New Orleans’ site.

Heavy Frost

I have to say a huge "thanks" to fellow Salvationist blogger Craig Gaudion, who tipped me off about this staggeringly powerful and challenging preach from Morling College professor, Pastor of smallboatbigsea, and writer of (amongst other things) EXILES:Living Missionally in a Post-Christian Culture, Michael Frost.

The vid is a couple of mammoth 45 minute slots - 2 preaches from one conference.. but if you can make the time they are well worth hearing....whatever your perspective on life, or wherever you are in your faith journey.

Highly recommended.

Rob Bell In TIME

Good to see Rob Bell getting some props in TIME Magazine:

Read the piece here:

HT to the Headphonaught for the gratuitous “me and my buddy” pic with Rob.

Chick on TV

Chick Yuill is getting some air time on the BBC this weekend:

• He is a guest on BBC Radio 2 ‘Good Morning Sunday’ show with Aled Jones – where he will share a thought for the day and take part in discussions between 7.30am-8am.

• On the same day he also guests on BBC1 TV ‘Christmas Voices’ with Soprano Lesley Garrett 10am-11am. He’s not singing(which is a great shame! – but will be discussing topical issues including alcohol.

Check it out if you are able!

Hope08 is an initiative supporting the work of Churches in the UK, by facilitating intensified, united, focused prayer and driving a year of activities, communicating the Gospel through words and actions, creating a lasting legacy of both physical and spiritual change in the lives of communities and individuals.


Supporting Local Churches
across the UK in their commitment to serve and witness to their communities


Encouraging Collaboration
between churches and agencies in reaching out to their communities


Resourcing and Training
local churches to develop their ability to engage with their communities on a long term basis


Impacting Individuals and Communities
with the Gospel through words and actions during 2008.

Chick is Chair of the Hope in Greater Manchester core group. He brings a wealth of experience from 35-years in ministry, including 7-years as head of The Salvation Army in the North West.

His role is to support and encourage churches and ministries across Greater Manchester to work together, discern God's will, and plan and prepare for the amazing opportunities offered by Hope 2008.

Britain

A random response of mine to a portion of Lard’s debut Relevant Podcast has started a train of thought that might be worth exploring.

The podcast, which was introducing Lloyd as a new staff member at Relevant, included quite a lot of banter about Britain and Britishness. It was all very light hearted and funny, but did seem to indicate a bit of a blind spot about what the US-based podcast hosts understood about the UK. One of the guys said most of what he knew about Britain was based on TV reruns of Mr Bean.

I gently suggested that Lloyd was going to have to educate his American colleagues (dontcha just love ‘em?)about what constitutes British culture….beyond Mr Bean. It did make me think, though. What is British culture…I mean what is it, really?

Ruby Murray?
Match of the Day on the telly?

Who knows?

….and is London a country all of it’s own, with it’s own culture, which is distinct from the rest of the UK?

Top fellah, Phil Hoyle offered the following comment:

I mean, living in London, the culture is largely multi-culture. Is that an acceptable summation?
In generic terms, I guess the pub would have to feature. Tea, of course. Roast dinners? Fish and Chips? Reality TV? Binge Drinking? Cynicism? Sarcasm? Irony? Love of the underdog?

What’s your take on it?

Badger!

So cool to hear my good buddy Lloyd Kinsley's first podcast for Relevant.

Check it out here.