Christian Comic Books
In the May edition of Southern Cross, I had an article published on Christian comic books. If you missed the article or don’t go to an Anglican church in Sydney, you can now read the article online.
I’ve received some good feedback from this article but still keen to hear what you think.
From Formspring: The New Apostolic Church
I received this question over at Formspring and wanted to share the answer with you.
Love what you are doing mate. I was Bombarded by someone from the New Apostolic Church… They sort of believe the same thing only they think they are the only way, my insides turned as if rejecting an organ… What is right? Who are they?
I was unaware of the New Apostolic Church until this question was posted. There’s a New Apostolic Church not far from where I live, but I haven’t had any interaction with them. So I did some research. The following is based on my understanding of their beliefs published on their website (specifically in the document Faith in Life – A Life of Faith: Portrait of a Living Denomination ) with a little bit of Wikipedia to fill in the gaps. If I’ve misrepresented their beliefs, I would encourage correction and discussion.
Webcomics Monday: Our Valued Customers and Thought Balloons
I’ve done my time in the front lines of the retail industry. I’ve worked the cash register and answered phone calls. I’m sure it’s a common experience for retail employees to have experienced their fair share of… unusual customers. People who ask for all kinds of crazy, unrelated products. Or just say things that are widely inappropriate for the social situation. I can only begin to imagine how much worse it would be in the kingdom of the nerds. Our Valued Customers is a webcomic created by a comic book shop employee. He takes the things said to him or overheard in the shop and turns them into comics. And these comics are equal parts insightful and disturbing.
The comic that I’d like to discuss fulfills both those criteria. It gives a great insight into our lives. But of course it has a bit of a disturbing feel. And it all has to do with thought balloons in comic books.
Internet and Evangelism Part 1: The Internet is a Mission Field
I want you to picture the internet not as a place where you go to watch Youtube clips and play Farmville. I want you to picture the internet not as a place where you check the football scores, book airplane tickets or Google the answers to pub trivia questions. I want you to forget about how you use the internet as a tool in your day to day life.
Instead, I want you to think of the internet as a country. A country with billions of citizens who have their own culture, language, customs and currency. A country where people spend their waking hours interacting with each other, sometimes in strange and unusual ways. If you think of the internet as a country, the next logical step is to think of the internet as a mission field – a place where the opportunities to reach previously unreached people with the gospel of Jesus are rampant.
The internet is a mission field. And if you’re reading this, it’s a mission field that you already have access to. There are some countries in the world that won’t let you through the door because you want to tell people about Jesus. There are some countries you can’t get to because the expense of getting there and living there is beyond you. But the internet is a country where you already live. You know the culture and you know the language. So how are you going to approach your mission field?
Internet and Evangelism Part 0: Introduction
Last week I presented a lecture at Youthworks College for the Evangelism class on using the internet for evangelism. I had a great time, though it did take some time for the weirdness of going from student to lecturer wore off. The presentation used material that I’ve been working on and teaching for the last year or so. I thought that it might be good to get some of this stuff online for people to use. As always, this is a work in progress and I’m open to suggestions etc. I envisage this to be a 3 part series. The first part will be on viewing the internet not as a tool but as a mission field. In the second part I’ll discuss our online Christian identity. And in the third part I’ll look at how we use the internet and opportunities for growing God’s Kingdom online.
Part 1 should be posted next week. In the mean time, I’m keen to hear from you. How have you used the internet for evangelism? Is it appropriate to use the internet for these purposes? This is one of those online conversations we need to have!
Getting Ready For The End of The World
Have you seen one of those billboards yet? The ones that say the world is ending on May 21st? I talked about them a here. They’re popping up all over the world. I’ve personally seen them in Sydney and Brisbane, but I hear they’re everywhere. Well, the 2st is this Saturday. Are you prepared for the end of the world? If not, are you prepared to explain to people next week why the world didn’t end? Here are some useful resources.
Lady Gaga: Judas
I’m just a Holy fool, oh baby he’s so cruel
But I’m still in love with Judas, baby
Lady Gaga has a new song out called Judas. On first listen, it appears that there’s more than a passing connection between this song and Judas from the Bible, the guy who betrayed Jesus to the authorities. The film clip furthers these connections with images of Jesus and his crew riding around on motorcycles.
But is this song really about Judas from the Bible? Is Lady Gaga giving us her understanding of the message of the Gospels? Or is something else going on here?
Sermon: 1 Samuel 2
Sermon on 1 Samuel 2 – “Bad Leadership”
Preached at St Luke’s Liverpool on the 8th of May 2011
Sermon: 1 Samuel 1
Sermon on 1 Samuel 1 – “The God Who Listens To His People”
Preached at St Luke’s Liverpool on the 1st of May 2011
Pop Culture Christ 
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