Shaving with sissors...

I had twenty minutes before people came over for small group and figured i'd have Yvonne quickly shave my head as she always does. I should've noticed something was wrong when the clippers were rusty orange. We also ran out of the machine oil that the clippers came with so I told Yvonne to just use some canola oil. To my surprise the clipper blades didn't work at all. I decided I would just randomly hack away at it with sissors myself.




I wish I took more pictures. I got too excited and nothing else turned out. All I have is this 30 second video clip of me slicing and dicing.

Which reminds me, i've also put up a couple clips and pictures of our small group at our small group blog, life2gether.

Bruce ended up bringing me a new clipper, and i cleaned it up a bit this morning.


I think I'll use this in the cover of my next hip-hop album.

Church Planting Canada - National Congress

I just registered for Mosaic 2005. I think I'm the first one, judging by my reference number. Am I the only one excited about this? Must be because I'm a noobie.

Erwin McManus is doing the three plenary night sessions. Dr. Samuel Donkor, Ray Aldred (a keynote at Urbana 2003), and Joyce Heron are also speaking.

Its six-months from now and Im already excited about the networking sessions and workshops. I'll be taking a workshop with Erwin (of course), Neil Cole (Founder of Church Multiplication Associates and Life Transformation groups), Rick McKinley (Author of Jesus in the Margins), and Malcom Gladwell (Author of Tipping point, one of my favorites and Blink, which I'm reading now). Amazing. Anyone else out there interested in joining me?

I've also registered for my following 2 part time classes after I finish Greek I & II for the summer. I'll be taking Leadership Development in the Fall, and Learning and the art of teaching during the winter term. As if life wasn't exciting enough already!

Randoms...

A missionary was sharing about his experiences in China at our church yesterday. The one thing that got me was the heart of the Christian leaders there. Under daily oppression and persecution one of the Christian leaders he met there had been anticipating police raiding his home and taking him to jail that night. Unlike most of us, this leader's response was that "the people in jail must be praying for a good preacher!" Amazing. Who is this King of Glory, that makes people so bold and joyous while under such trials?

This reminds me of "Jesus Freaks". A collection of stories of Christian Martyrs I use to own. Someone broke into a friend's car and stole my bag with the book in it. I hope whoever stole it read it. Now that I think about it, I wonder if that's how God needs to work in North America. We hold on to the gospel so tightly, God needs to cause people to steal it from us. hrm.

I read two books this weekend. "The Alchemist", a long overdue fiction about a sheppard boy following his heart. Incredibly poetic and philosophical. I also read Joshua Harris' "Not even a hint" for some additional class material. I've also began Malcolm Gladwell's "Blink" which looks to be as good as "The Tipping Point", more on that later.

Other links,

There's a new book interviewing Bono

Alex McManus has been doing a leadership series on his blog
The Mosaic Alliance Site is up - Thanks Tony
For those of you who don't know yet, Vertias Forums - Exploring Truth and Life has been posting audio/video's of their sessions.

Passion & Purity

Our church will be beginning a new sunday school format this may. Four week, two hour sessions that include lunch. Yvonne and I will be leading a class on sexuality. I wanted to call it "Sex Ed. with the Wong's", but "Passion & Purity" is probably more appropriate. Here's a preview blurb of what's to come.

Sex. One of the greatest defining struggles of this generation. Sexuality proliferates our culture and infiltrates our hearts - often in a way far from God's great intentions. Join us as we discover God's perspective of sex and what it means to us. We will explore Biblical themes of personal, relational, and spiritual purity. Fighting fire with fire, this will be a journey of inviting Jesus to take our lesser desires and unleashing a greater passion within all of us.

Week 1 - Sex & the Soul
Week 2 - Lust, Legalism, and Love
Week 3 - Practice & Process
Week 4 - A Pure and Holy Passion

Hopefully there will be people brave enough to join us.

Now is the time...

Since birthing our small group into three separate groups in January, the one that Yvonne and I lead hit 15 people last night! It’s absolutely amazing how God has wired us all to long for life in community and yearn for truth in our lives.

We continued our study through the Scriptures in James. Our encouraging verse for the night was “What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishe" (James 4:14) We discussed how we devalue the time that God gives us. How from God’s perspective there are no unimportant moments in our life. Every moment must be treated as sacred. We all have dreams and visions, but the challenge is not letting the future cripple us and allowing the future to rob us of the God-ordained present moment that we do have.

Is it possible that some of us keep ourselves so busy with knowing more about what God’s will is in our lives – just to avoid doing what we already know is on God’s heart?

It is finished...

I’ve finally completed my last major paper. Here it is, on missiological ecclesiology. I have no idea what that really means either, but it sure sounds cool. I stumbled along two excellent books in my research. Spontaneous Expansion of the Church by Roland Allen (Which Alex McManus had also recommended reading) and Shaped by God’s Heart by Milfred Minatrea. Underneath all the boring systematic theology and research, the gist of the paper was arguing for the necessity of a missional church, anything less being unbiblical.

In other important news the pope passed away and I bought a playstation2. What a wretched person I am. I’m sure there’s enough commentary bombarding media and the web regarding the pope. But for the record, from the little that I do know of him, he rocked. His ecumenical push, continued boat-rocking in reforming the papacy, and humanitarian voice has been a blessing to this planet. We discussed in class last night, how he refused to relinquish the papacy, not out of pride, but to show the world an example of a life refusing to rest. That even in his frailty God could use him. This reminds me of when Augustine declared, “My heart will not rest until I rest in Thee’.

So the Lord led me to buy the ps2… yeah right. It was actually the completion of a long unfulfilled boyhood dream of owning a game system. Yvonne really wanted the “Karaoke Revolution” games, and that helped pushed the decision over. Now if only I could come up with a way to use this for ministry purposes…

Here’s a secret. I’ve never been a very special person. I was born as ordinary as it gets. Embarrassed even of the name that I was given. I lived with mediocrity by finding a way to be the best at it. But something changed along the way.

Today, I stand amazed at the things that I have accomplished, the risks that I have taken, and the dreams and passions that burn within me. They are a direct result of the love of God working through the people around me. Whatever hint of goodness and greatness that I’ve discovered within my soul is because people inspired it out of me. None of it was my own doing. I am so very thankful to the countless people who have prayed for me, encouraged me, and told me that 'with God I could do it', both people that have been close and those who have reached me from a distance. I’ve never lived a life deserving these gifts, wonders, and precious relationships, and now I find myself with them in abundance.

This morning I woke up with a single phrase echoing in my head. I'm awake! The Lord must want me to live today!