CPROD continues... at Hope Street with power but no power

The God's gang gathers in the car park and jumps into the parents various vehicles and head east for Boksburg. Home away from home for us, a tour of note to the northern suburbers! Arriving at a smarter looking Hope Street, Calvin runs out to say there is no electricity! So how does one do a musical production without music? You download MP3 to an external harddrive that fits into some contraption that plays thru the car? Well that didn't work but then found one of our parents who had a CD! Still played thru the car, parked as close to the door as poss. The production had more life than Saturday despite this, and the Hope Streeters also treated us to a great performance. Gifts given to our precious kids and then party packs for all. It was precious. Emily preached, so needed only to share a few words. Really what kids can bring to Jesus for His birthday is their hearts and their talents. That came thru loud and clear. Very proud of the team and so good to see kids reaching out!!!

The 17th Tom Jenkins Challenge

Get the kit ready, and crash for some sleep only to wake up at 4am with an excitement for the race... Creep thru the house and quietly as possible head out by ten past and head north East to Tswane. Arrived at the Union Buildings in Pretoria with the beautiful Jackaranda trees in bloom and the sounds of the PA system calling runners to register. Facinating to see the many different types of people arriving and we all share the love of road running. Bang... and we are off... thousands of what I used to think were crazy people, now I am one of them. At 6km I pass two 75 year old men running, and that always amazes me that runners can run long into life. No arm chairs and walking sticks for these dudes. For 6km they have been in front of me! Flat and downhills till 7km and there in front looms Tom Jenkins Drive! 800m of serious uphill which I manage to run up whilst most walk. Then dash down to the half way mark where most people turn in to complete the 10km race, but the tough continue for another loop. I am running well and my time is looking great but then alas at 18km Tom Jenkins Drive appears again! This time the body is not feeling as strong and although I run most of it, the time ticks away, leaving me very little time to dash down the hill to the finish line. My goal of beating my best of 1:55 changes to can I do a sub 2 hour, but I come in on 2:01. Still very pleasing and greatly enjoyable. I head home to my family with another medal and feel so blessed to be healthy enough to do this.

Next Generation heads up the stairs

This morning we said goodbye to a whole bunch of our kids who have turned 13. The Ignite Youth team came and fetched them from our party downstairs and took them up to a great family welcome. Was so proud of them and almost all of them were Diz Workers, our leadership development track! They will leave a hole at Jozi Kidz for a while and that is half of our Diz Worker team. They all have their own amazing personalities and character. These were the core kids that we inherited when we took over Jozi Kidz in 2006, and it is hard to think of things without them. Yet this is fruit of our labour. I looked around the Ignite room and saw so many familiar faces of kids we had discipled. They were praying for these new kids, sharing God's Word, and I felt blessed. Now to raise up more disciples and leaders, now to see who steps up to fill the gaps, now to intensify our discipleship in 2011. So thrilled to have a great youth ministry to take our kids on in God.

CPROD hits Soweto

Must waffle about our Christmas Production and Party yesterday. We all piled into the many vehicles and loaded up huge amounts of presents. After a prayer we headed out and all got to the school in Soweto safely. The kids were waiting. After looking for the Hall and discovering it didn't exist we set up in the courtyard while most of our team interacted with the Soweto kids and teens. Then 1, 2, 3 and the production started. Went well. Yes, we could see mistakes, but the crowd enjoyed it. I shared the gospel afterwards and although it didn't feel that great I know from experience that there are always those who respond in their hearts. Then came the presents for the children, a mix of the church kids and Soccer club kids. There were some very happy faces. The best sight was a group of little girls who as we were packing up were lost in a game of dolls and tea party under the tree. They looked so cute and happy. So it was worth all the work and endless wrapping. Joanne did an amazing job of co ordinating this project, and of course it continues tomorrow at Hope Street.

Discipleship thoughts and skinny Jeans!

Yesterday I was asked to share with our church staff on DISCIPLESHIP, and I enjoyed it very much and so did some of the people listening to me in my urple skinny jeans and yellow tackies. Why do I mention this? Well one of my Disciplers called me up on the weekend to tell me that his son had just walked in from shopping with skinny jeans and yellow tackies. He asked what cult I was discipling his boy into?
See discipleship is what Jesus was into and I saw a few things from scripture and from my own life. One is drawn to follow someone who is themself a Disciple. You can't make one till you are one. Then the Discipler calls you out to follow them- not always directly but they are intentional about this relationship. The Disciple then invests time into you and this means home time not just work time or church meeting time. There must be an element of intentionality taking disciple from point A to point B. This is with the Word and other possible tools or books. There is often words of encouragement, endorsement and rebuke from the Discipler. They have to challenge you and get you moving. Then there are shared experiences... doing stuff together, doing ministry together. See Jesus did this with his disciples. Joanne and I have had people like Iain and Lisa and others do this with us, and we are doing this with as many children and young people as we can. Discipleship is fundamentally Relationship! So Be one and Make one. At Jozi Kidz this is our biggest priority and HP Jozi is prioritising it more and more too. Great programs and big meetings certainly have their place but nothing makes disciples like discipleship Jesus way!

2 Big Projects on the go

Just thought I'd waffle about these two big things taking my head space today. Saturday sees us starting the first of a string of Christmas Parties with needy but totally awesome kids. We have been blessed with generosity this year and have been able to buy great gifts for around 260 kids. Our Jozi Kidz rooms and office look like Santa's factory again. We have written notes till late at night, wrapped until we can't wrap no more, and Joanne has spent hours shopping and talking with suppliers. All worth it to drop a Jesus Love Bomb on places like Soweto, Hope Street and our Havens. Two of the parties also include our Christmas Production 2010 and hopefully some wonderful Jesus moments with kids. My compassion levels are up and ready. The big production is at church on 5th December so anyone wanting to see great kids trying their best on stage should be at HP at 9am. Seriously!
The second big project is taking Joanne's Xtreme Makeover Of Me booklet to the next level. We are going to film intro's, a room makeover section, and a challenge onto high quality DVD to go with a 13 week curriculum. There is nothing like it and we need it for our own ministry but also to get it out to other churches. It is a scarey project and one that will tax us, but so important. We have a producer who is putting loads of work into what it will take and budget. So now we just need the funding! If there are any people reading this waffle who are feeling like they want to invest some money into a project like this then please chat to us. We know God will provide as He did for us to go to EN2010 in June. We still have no clue who was our biggest giver back then, and frankly we don't want to. So enough waffling and we will keep you up to date with progress.

Waffling about grub

You asked for waffles so I am waffling, but not about waffles. Joanne and i do a weekly at Fish Aways in Bergbron and it rocks. It is very clean, the staff are very polite and friendly and their food tastes great, and at reasonable prices. It gets the thumbs up! But if you want really fine service try Amamus in Parktown North. Fatima is the owner and she is out there with the public making her business humm. I asked for a salad and she made me this heavenly cooked vegetable dish with Halomi Cheese and lots of good stuff. Mark and I meet there every second week and we are slowly building her clientelle. Mug and Bean Parkhurst just hasn't seen me for a long while. Ok enough about food...

God reveals Himself creatively thru us

This weekend is the Bless the City campaign where christians from all churches were challenged to do something to bless the city. Last night as part of Jozi Lights we took our kids on a prayer walk around the church block. Each leader had to stop the kids at a place that popped out to them and then for one minute the whole bunch had to pray out loud. Worked so well and the high light was praying outside Vida e Cafe with the staff. They were touched and even blessed the kids with complimentary chocs! People so enjoyed seeing the kids out and about. Then an hour ago we did our family contribution. We bought helium balloons at Cresta and then wrote notes and tied them to the balloons. We walked up the Westcliff steps and after a prayer, each one of us let ours go... They went up and over the electric fence, travelled south for a moment and then took an easternly wind over the Zoo towards Houghton. Now at some point they will either pop and drop their letters, and in a couple money, or in 7 hours when the helium loses strength they will glide down. Now just imagine someone receiving the money or the message?
God will have directed these flying message bringers to the exact person! Nothing fluke with God. As I sat on the grandstand at Craighall Primary talking about Coca Cola and Jesus to two boys yesterday, it wasn't fluke either. Neither was it fluke being with the Parkhurst Primary Staff this morning. God orchestrates His message and just uses different bearers. Balloons, talks, people...

Rape, justice and grace.

Another one of those days when I despair in what the world has become. Three teens rape a girl at school in front of a crowd and video tape it. Then everyone starts to call into the radio about what should be done for these boys! They are minors, they have issues, they need therapy... What about the victim? What about morality and justice and what about Biblical laws. Because we are so sinful humans need the law and need definate punishment for crimes. I love people and I know there are circumstances but the Bible taught the Israelites to punish crimes like murder and rape with the death sentence. If God didn't deal with sin that way it would have just spread and the people of God would have been wiped out. God's grace and forgiveness is there for all of us sinners and indeed for these three teens, but there must also be justice. If they were removed from society it would only be right having destroyed this young girls life. It would also send the message to every other young boy, that you can't control your lust and your violence then you will pay! If I was God I know what I would do... but He is always more merciful and Jesus paid the price for this. But that is spiritual grace, there must still be consequences for heinous crimes like this in our city this week. Wonder where the teachers were... or is that another waffle?

Lakeside Magic

We ended our 12th year at Lakeside Primary today with a thanksgiving service that was just for us. As I sat watching great kids perform and as I got a lump in my throat as teachers spoke of the impact we have had, I thought of all the preaching we have done there. The very first time was back in 99 when our sound system fell and smashed on the floor! That didn't stop us and hundreds of messages later we are still there. Why? Cos we love those kiddies and we love Jesus. There little eyes just watch us and they are so cute. The gospel is preached and the truth is that some have accepted Jesus as Lord and Saviour. So many teachers still there and faithful Mrs J who this year was made principal. So great to see the changes already and as Joanne said, there is a magic at Lakeside than we have seen no where else. They know how to be hospitable. They know how to develop the right tone, and most of all the favour of God is all over the place.
2011 ... we will be back!

Hope Street growing

Trust the Lord with His ministry and believe in the next gen of leaders. We have trusted our young Hope Street leaders with this ministry when we only go every second week, sometimes every third. This year they have been so faithful and it is growing. The kids just kept coming today and then we still walked the streets and brought in more, icluding Sifiso and Lerato who accepted Christ on the curb. Took the leaders out for ice cream tonight and for the first time I heard them talking about our kids and they refused a suggestion to scale down next year! They are leading this thing now. They want to see growth and are committing themselves. After a great evening they insisted on praying in the car. Really encouraging!!! Making two more leaders too taking the team to 7 without us.