Dreams Unlocked

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Check out Brian Collins. Brian is a freshman at Ball State, who got pulled in at the last minute to give sports high-lights on Ball State's local tv station. This is the worst sports commentary in all of history. He stumbles, mumbles, sighs loudly and at one point says "I'm so sorry" to someone off camera. I can not stop watching it - its like watching a car wreck. Props to Dilip for e-mailing it to me.

The water advisory was lifted. I celebrated by drinking a glass of tap water. Had all the pastors from FBC over for our monthly extended pastoral meeting. It was fun. I have been reading big chunks of the gospel of Luke. If you have never read large portions of the gospels in one sitting, I highly recommend it. Read it and see if you are not struck by the striking personality of Jesus - it is hard to say neutral about someone who causes such a reaction wherever he went. Was a little out of it this afternoon - don't know why. Spent most of the aft. doing some reading for various commitments I have coming up.

I have never seen weather like this in Vancouver before. It has been snowing like crazy and it is actually staying on the ground, instead of melting away. With the wind-chill we are seriously approaching Saskatchewan temps. We took Adam out to see snow for the first time. He walked around a bit and threw some snow in the air. But didn't seem too impressed. Saw Casino Royale tonight. It was the best Bond movie I have ever seen - but suffered by being too long - about 2 and a half hours. Some better editing is needed. Crank up your prayers for me again - I seem to be asking for it a lot lately. I guess that's ok, we all need prayer.

Through the generosity of a good friend I was given a free ticket to the Rolling Stones concert last night. I guess I could be considered a fan. I own the following Stones CD's: Let it Bleed Exile on Main Street 40 Licks (2 cd best of) Flashpoint - live CD from Japan Sticky Fingers I think Exile is the best Stones album and one of the greatest rock and blues album of all time. I am a fan of the 70's Stones. The albums in the 90's and 00's have been mainly disappointing. I've been to a few really big rock shows, but I have to say the sheer spectacle of this show was pretty staggering. The show opened with an animated video of a big screen of a plane going around the 7 wonders off the world, the faces of the 4 Stones morphed on to the screen in various places. The video ended with a huge explosion and a single spot-light shone down on Keith Richards at the front center of the massive stage as he tore into the opening riff of Jumping Jack Flash. BC Place exploded after...

I'm listening to a terrible song by Dylan and The Band called "Long Distance Operator" off The Basement Tapes . Good - its over. I usually listen to a random mix of music off of itunes. Since I've sat down at the computer tonight, I've heard Dido, Dylan, Massive Attack, Radiohead and U2. Went to Regent this morning for a chat with Jeremy Bell - the executive director of our denomination. He wanted to know how I was doing and what the denomination could do to help. He made a fw suggestions and said he could resource us by sending me and a few key leaders to some other places in western canada to see what's happening among missional churches. Then tonight I was somewhere near SFU for my Missional Traning Center meetings. I can not tell you how valuable these sessions have been - Cam Roxborough is a gift to the Canadian church - I wish I had done this before going on this church planting journey. Oh well - I'm just over a year into it, so I am still near the ...

I downloaded Thom Yorke doing a version of the Neil Young classic "AFter the Gold Rush" - it is sweet. Rolled out of bed. Went to staff prayer. Lots of people have cancer in the church community. I hate cancer. Had our lengthier pastor's meeting where we shared what was going on and did some planning. Had lunch with Josh the youth pastor - discussed our plan to conquer the world - things seem to be on schedule. Headed out to Kits to meet with Greg Laing of Point Grey Community Church . Greg is a fine fellow and good encourager in these tough times - the bottom line is that church planting and ministry in Vancouver is tough!!! As we talked I made the point that most traditional church plants are a 3 yr. process which includes a large # of people from a mother church to form the core of the new church. I think this model has to be seriously re-thought when we tackle church planting in secular urban settings like Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal. In these urban centers you a...

Last night I did my first ever baby dedication of Olivia Marie Welch. It was really nice with lots of the Welch's family and freinds present. I also preached on the importance of family, using the reconciliation of Joseph and his brothers as the biblical example. A nice surprise was 5 people from Saskatchewan who all now live in downtown Vancouver. They were all connected with the Connection . The connection is a church that Felicia and I were both attending when we lived in Saskatoon. It was started by my friend Sam Chaise. It was started 10 years ago, and has recently exploded in size and ministry. first@night is in a lot of ways in the same position that the connection was 10 years ago - small, finding its way. I am currently reading the biography of johnny Cash, written by Steve Turner. It's really good. It's interesting - there's a story of Cash meeting Don Freed - a singer/songwriter from Saskatoon. He was a long time boyfriend of Joni Mitchells. Freed played a so...

First off - apologies to Asha for the pic. i thought it was quite a nice pic, with the sweep of the beach extending behind her. She thought it was awful, but everyone here thinks its nice. Today we had Norm and Jeanette over. They are dear friends. I got to know them through their daughter Erin who was in InterVarsity when I worked at the UBC campus back in 96. Wow - 10 years ago!!!! Sheesh, time flies when you're living. Norm is on the psychology faculty at UBC. He is sort of an expert in career counselling and is now a global consultant for governments, companies and universities. He still carries with him a lot of humility and humour, despite the impressive accomplishments. Jeanette has been a mentor to me in many ways. She is a very kind, wise woman who I have felt has been a big support to me - kind of a second mom in many ways. Jeanette read scripture at our wedding. She is the pastor of a cool church in Richmond. Had a nice brunch with them and got caught up in our respectiv...

Due to the recent storm, a bunch of our water reservoirs got dirty. Now, we have brown water and are under a boiled water advisory. We are supossed to bring our water to a boil for a minute and then we can drink it. Or, buy bottled water. We have chosen the latter route as Felicia is pregnant, Adam is small and I thought I was getting sick. We bought some bottled water last night. This morning bottled water was sold out throughout most of Vancouver. There were fights at Costco over water. This afternoon our local yuppie retailer Urban Fare was selling 24 bottles for $50!!!! Talk about extorting the masses!!! Since this was the closest place for us and we don't have a car, we had to buy some there. At first I was going to buy 4 cases of 24 and then I saw the outrageous price and just bought one. When you shower, the water just stinks of dirt. On another note, I am not a gamer so I cannot understand the frenzy surrounding Playstation 3. I saw some clips on the net of people getting...

My review can be found on Relevant magazine. Use the link on the left. feels good to get something published by them again. I was writing quite regularly for Relevant - about once every couple of months. But since Adam was born and I have started working at first@night, I just haven't had the time to pop out some good srticles. Now, it's just the rare film review. I am trying to read through 8 C.S. Lewis books. I finished Mere Christianity - which I think is the 5th time I have read it. Now I am reading Miracles , which I have never read before. Man, this guy's reasoning is so tight. No wonder his books keep being rediscovered by new generations. The first chapter differentiates between 2 types of people: Naturalists and Super-naturalists. The first group believe that matter is all there is. The second group believe that there is more then just matter - there is another world - a spiritual world. A Miracle thus occurs when the supernatural world intersects with the natural ...

Asha at Lake Napashee (or something like that) in Saskatchewan - August 2006. Check out Andy Lambkin. Andy is one cool cat. We have known of each other for years and met a couple of times. Today we finally had a sit-down at the Starbucks at the Lonsdale Quay in North Van. Andy was the young adults pastor and had a ministry that most young pastors would kill for. He had several hundred young adults coming out every week for a worship and teaching time. This past year they have transitioned to something called " SImple Church ." This is a concept that seems to be catching on across North America. Sick of consumer driven church services, simple churches seek to simplify into home groups which have all the elements of church but on a smaller scale. This is an idea we have toyed with at first@night for some time. But meeting Andy today may have re-booted the whole idea for us (well, for me anyway). We'll see how the leadership team reacts. Maybe being in a setting like Bar Non...

Adam saw his first movie today - Deep Sea 3D. It's an Imax film with stunning cinematography of life at the bottom of the ocean. Adam was a bit scared when all the lights went off and didn't put his 3D glasses until the end. The movie was only an hour long, so he managed to sit through the whole thing without flipping out. The movie was really cool. After, I headed to another theatre to see Stranger Then Fiction , starring Will Ferrell. I highly recommend it. Ferrell leaves behind his frat boy antics from previous roles for a subdued everyman whose life is actually the creation of an author. If I have time this week I might try pounding out a review for Relevant Magazine (see links at side). Read the comment on yesterday's post by Joel. "There's always next year" , is sort of a mantra for Rider fans. As we walked out of the stadium we heard it half a dozen fans from other beleagured fans. I think this puts the nail in Danny Barret's coffin as coach of the ...

Losers - The Riders got kicked bad bad bad. I went to the game with Courtney who had his face painted green. It was brutal - the Riders never really had it together - The Lion's QB was hot - great arm and some decent runs himself as well. So anyways, I am still smarting from this humiliation. A few "lurkers" have left comments or have e-mailed me - so hiya lurkers - nice to hear from ya. Especially from Julianne - although my sources tell me that mama Broten and Nancy are also faitful readers - so hiya Brotens, haven't seen you in awhile. Also - Warren reminded me that you need a membership to enter costco, so that solves the homeless coming in for freebies.

A Costco opened up 2 blocks from our apt. It is the first Costco to open up in a downtown core in Vancouver. This no doubt helps us to hold on to the image of having a livable downtown. I wonder if this costco will have to deal with all the poor and homeless who will drift in for the free samples. I mean if the middle class will stand in line for a meatball on a toothpick - don't you think the poor will to? Costco is always such a wierd experience. After lving in India I occaisonaly get shocked by the choice and abundance of products we have here. Places like Costco or Walmart magnify it. Just rows and rows of every imaginable consumer products. They have a 72" tv in there - that is the biggest tv I have ever seen. Been reading the E-Myth by Michael Gerber. This is quite a helpful book for anyone starting a small business or planting a church. Gerber puts forward the franchise model as the ideal model for small business. Everything you do should be easily transferable in orde...

We were at the Banff Pastors Conference at the incredible Banff Springs Hotel. This is whithout a doubt the nicest hotel I have ever stayed in in the world. The conference was good. Rod Wilson and Reg Bibby were featured speakers. This is the best I have ever heard Rod speak. Rod is the president of Regent College and a truly fantastic guy. He opened up about the heartbreak in raising his adopted problem who has been difficult to raise. Bibby said that the tide was changing - Canadians are now more open then ever to good ministry. This does not seem to ring true in secular Yaletown. This Ted haggard thing still boggles my mind. But I guess it is a good warning to all of us. We all have the capability to fall. I may not be tempted by male escorts, but there is enough temptation all around me, that I could fall in a million different ways everyday. Along with Ted Haggard, there has been a lot of talk about a Seattle pastor's comments on the Haggard scandal. Mark Driscoll is the pasto...

Ted haggard was the pastor of a 14 000 member church. He was the president of the National association of Evangelicals - representing 50 000 churches and 30 million Americans. He chatted with George Bush once a week. I am using the past tense, because Haggard has admitted to buying meth-amphetmaine from a male prostitute who gave him a massage. As a result, Haggard has been let go from his church and has stepped down from all other of his public duties. I felt sick to my stomach as the sordid tale unfolded in the media. I felt so bad for Haggard and his family and his church. For some reason, Haggard sought out solace from the most unlikely places. I hope and pray for the next days and weeks for Haggard - I am sure they are going to be tough as he begins to unravel the factors that led to such risky behaviour. I suspect it will be a long long time before Haggard ever assumes a public role again, and when he does it will be in a much more diminshed role then what he had before. And I th...

That is one busy frog. the article in the Globe and Mail got into Workopolis : I am under the marketting section. Yep - that's me pedaling the gospel to the marketplace! so here are the much awaited pictures of adam in his haloween costume. He was pretty much miserable the whole time he was wearing it.