[Kid Inspiration]

A little background for you ‘Oh treasured reader…

The Hillsong London offices are located in the Fulham Broadway district in the South-ish middle kinda area of London… and the studio is a rather little room with lots of electronic equipment that make it very hot. This is the room we are living in at the moment mixing the kids album…

Dave (not me) hard at work mixing.

The air-conditioner that saved my life; the studio would be a little ‘sauna’ like without my good friend ‘Delonghi’ here.

I am just figuring out how to post these photos online, and get them off the camera… so if these work well, will post many more.

Rule Brittania!

Arrived without incident… even managed to get a non-squeaky seat this time.

Seem to be awake and fully functioning… we will see what happens when mother jetlag raises its ugly head tonight.

Post photos soon.

Well, it’s some time really early in the morning, the kind of time that normal human beings should not be awake at. The kind of time that makes your eyes red just to think about it.

They send you off the plane for 30 mins, and pretend to clean it. I had the most annoyingly creaky airline chair I have ever had. Even blinking made the thing emit noises that would have woken a sleeping baby in business class.

Well, one more leg to go… London here I come.

About to board Flight QF31 on my way to London, England.

Its not a holiday, but a very short intense few days in which we mix our latest kids album with the insanely talented and phenomenal man of God that is Gio Galanti from Hillsong London.

Yes that’s true, there exists no one in the entire continent of Australia that we would entrust the mixing of our kids album and we have to go to Europe… OK not quite true. Gio just happens to produce the ‘sound’ we are looking for, you will have heard his skills on ‘Jesus is my Superhero’…

So, have prepared myself with a novel and two magazines for the mammoth journey around the world… not sure they will last, but I can always pad the time with some music and a movie or 4!

Will write some updates and photos during the week. Stay tuned.

Not wanting to wade in on the Potter Debate — but here is some more on the Potter Project.

Nearly 200 children twitched with excitement at the church the other day as they watched the Sorting Hat of the Harry Potter books come to life onstage for the first day of the series. But when the hat announced that all the children, mostly second through fifth graders, had been assigned to the Slytherin House, the home of young Harry’s archenemy, Draco Malfoy, one of them shouted from the middle of the theater, “I don’t want to be evil!”

Adults dressed up as Harry’s professors had to stifle laughs.

Read On:
religionsnewsblog.com

I love seeing kids captivated and engaged!! So how brilliant is this church in Colorado Springs… by embracing popular culture and creating the “Potter Project” they have captured the hears and minds of kids who may otherwise never have heard the gospel!

One of the best ways of reaching my kids and getting their attention is to talk about what is happening in their world right now. WHATEVER that happens to be… if it’s Harry Potter or Star Wars… i’ll use it.

Here is a report from christianitytoday.com:

“After five record-breaking books and three successful movies, Harry Potter has secured his seat among the most beloved heroes of youth pop culture. But with the recent release of author J.K. Rowling’s sixth book, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, some in the church are still unsure what to make of the winsome wizard. Many church leaders, including Pope Benedict, have condemned Harry Potter, but at least one church, in a controversial move, embraced him. Their example raises a larger question: To what extent should the church embrace popular culture in order to reach lost people?

Kelly and Tosha Williams started Vanguard Church in Colorado Springs eight years ago with the goal of using popular culture to attract people to Christ. But when the church created a vacation Bible school based on the Harry Potter books in 2003, they attracted a lot of media attention and criticism. With the release of the newest Pottter book, their VBS story was told again on national television. So we spoke with Tosha Williams, creator of the “Potter Project” at Vanguard, about the issue of using popular culture to accomplish the church’s mission.”

Read On Here

Did you hear about the Texas Teacher who was helping one of her kindergarten students put on his cowboy boots? He asked for help and she could see why. Even with her pulling and him pushing, the little boots still didn’t want to go on. Finally, when the second boot was on, she had worked up a sweat.

She almost cried when the little boy said, “Teacher, they’re on the wrong feet.” She looked and sure enough, they were. It wasn’t any easier pulling the boots off than it was putting them on. She managed to keep her cool as together they worked to get the boots back on – this time on the right feet.

He then announced, “These aren’t my boots.” She bit her tongue rather than get right in his face and scream, “Why didn’t you say so?” like she wanted to. And, once again she struggled to help him pull the ill-fitting boots off his little feet. No sooner they got the boots off and he said, “They’re my brother’s boots. My Mom made me wear ‘em.”

Now she didn’t know if she should laugh or cry. But, she mustered up the grace and courage she had left to wrestle the boots on his feet again. Helping him into his coat, she asked, “Now, where are your mittens?” He said, “I stuffed ‘em in the toes of my boots.”

Her trial starts next month.

(Thanks to Phil Baker for this).

KidsRUs is the national childrens ministry movement of the AoG in Australia. Led by the incredibly profound and the profoundly incredible Rob Bradbury, children’s pastor at Planet Shakers church in Melbourne. He and wife Assunta are committed to training up leaders of passion who will reach and disciple this generation to be all they can be. They have three children Amy, Timothy and Peter who are already a testimony to Rob & Assunta’s gifting with children.

Their yearly children’s Ministry Leadership Conference is on from the 31st Aug to Sept 3 2005. If you are in Aussie, or even NZ… make thy way down south. It promises to be an awesome few days of training and connection… find out more at:

www.kidshaper.com

Hop on over to the newest edition of Statler and Waldorf “From the Balcony” on Movies.com

Man, there is nothing like watching the Swedish Chef cook up a storm on a Tuesday morning.

http://movies.go.com/muppets/index

Find out what their latest Balconism is:
COUGH-in – What is it, and will it kill you? Watch the video to find out!

Hilarious!

Dave.

A picture says a thousand words…

America watch out! The boisterous wings of debate are sure to be flapped with this associated press report:

President Bush said Monday he believes schools should discuss “intelligent design” alongside evolution when teaching students about the creation of life.
During a round-table interview with reporters from five Texas newspapers, Bush declined to go into detail on his personal views of the origin of life. But he said students should learn about both theories, Knight Ridder Newspapers reported.

“I think that part of education is to expose people to different schools of thought,” Bush said. “You’re asking me whether or not people ought to be exposed to different ideas, the answer is yes.”

What a wee champion.

Dave.

Feeding Enthusiasm

“One man has enthusiasm for 30 minutes, another for 30 days, but it is the man who has it for 30 years who makes a success of his life.” - Edward B. Butler

“Like the chicken and the egg, enthusiasm and success seem to go together. We suspect, however, that enthusiasm comes first. If you hope to succeed at anything in this world, polish up your enthusiasm and hang on to it. - John Luther

“No one keeps up his enthusiasm automatically. Enthusiasm must be nourished with new actions, new aspirations, new efforts, new vision. It is one’s own fault if his enthusiasm is gone; he has failed to feed it. - Papyrus