Church of Perth Highlights

As you know, we have spent 7 months “shopping” for a new church. It’s actually a long time to be “homeless”; in a way, we felt like Abraham, setting out from the familiar places into unknown territory. Until 7 months ago, we had never really visited churches except for when we were overseas. Having now […]

The Irresistible Church

I’m reading Wayne Cordeiro’s book The Irresistible Church at the moment and he lists the traits of a church that is not only irresistible to people, but more importantly, irresistible to heaven. So here they are: You grow spiritually at this church. You witness a strong sense of mission. You long to go to this […]

Church (S)hopping

“Church hopping” is a phenomenon, particularly prevalent in the early Charismatic movement, when Christians would move from church to church, conference to conference, to chase down the best teachers and the most, well, charismatic speakers. As a result, many Christians became dislocated; whilst they heard great teaching, there was no space for them to apply […]

Keeping It in the Family

Today, we see another phase of our journey closing off as Ling and I visited one last church before settling in to our new church. And what a great way to end this chapter! We visited Churchlands Christian Fellowship and were really impressed by the worship: very Spirit-led and engaging with a “mosh pit” full […]

Coincidences

I love the story Dennis Bennett tells in his book Nine O’Clock in the Morning. As he was beginning to come to grips with this whole “being filled with the Spirit” thing, he goes on a picnic with his wife. Here’s the rest of the story (pp 127-128): “Well, we didn’t pick a very good day […]

Epochal Song 5: Ancient of Days (Jamie Harvill and Gary Sadler)

Today, I’m continuing the series on Epochal Songs of the Praise and Worship Movement. At number 5 is “Ancient of Days” which in my view, was the high watermark for musical excellence. Hosanna Music had been slowly building up its musical prowess before deftly unleashing some of the best, world-class Christian worship musicians onto the […]

9 O’Clock in the Morning

I am reading Dennis Bennett’s book Nine O’Clock in the Morning at the moment. I first came across the name of Dennis Bennett in 2006 when I was researching the “Charismatic Century”. He was known as one of the pioneers of the “third wave” or the “Charismatic renewal”. Even though Bennett documents his own personal journey […]

How to Choose Songs

Whenever I teach on worship leading, one of the most common questions I am invariably asked is: “how do you choose the songs?” I think a lot of people presume that the songs are found in a special room in my apartment called “the secret place” where I go “beyond the veil” to “download” the […]

Wineskins, Patches and Paradigm Shifts

I think Christianity has been one of the most enduring faiths because of its ability to reinvent itself within the parameters of its core tenets and beliefs. It is a revolutionary faith. One of the things I love doing is to look at paradigm shifts in the church, particularly in the context of worship. Certainly, […]

Epochal Song 4: As the Deer (Martin Nystrom, 1984)

I first came across “As the Deer” shortly I became a Christian. I was attending a family “care group” and one of the group members, who was a very seasoned worship leader in the church, led this song off the piano. I immediately fell in love with the song. Today, when people ask me if […]