[Kid Inspiration]

It’s new music Tuesday! Which didn’t exist at this blog until I just wrote those words.

My Bro Nick is a brilliant graphic designer who works for a Church in Christchurch NZ called Majestic… (quick trivia, I was dedicated there in 1978, although it was in a different location).

I would link to his twitter here, but he seemingly likes to read more that tweet!

Anyway, with the help of Nathan Phillips (now back in NZ) who was with us in Hillsong for a couple of albums, notably Tell The World (2007) they have produced their first album- In The Future, and you can download it for FREE.

I love it!

It’s really cool, so you need to download it right now.

Love this video from the womens ministry here at Hillsong.

Why Knitting? See Here!

A while ago I posted about the United Film – We’re All in this Together.

Here’s what’s happening – click your country to find out when the film is screening!

Click here for USA

Click here for Canada

Click here for Australia
- AMC Brisbane

Click here for NZ

Click here for South Africa

THIS NOVEMBER is the global premiere of The I Heart Revolution; We’re All in this Together. Airing in cinemas all around the world, we’ll be cramming this special one-off event with surprises, including the launch of some of Hillsong UNITED’s new songs, hosted LIVE by us, VIA SATELLITE.
The I Heart Revolution; We’re All in this Together isn’t about Hillsong UNITED. Rather, part apologetic, part documentary, part call to action, it’s a story of social justice… of love lived out and the potential of cooperation. Showing in Australia, the USA, Canada, NZ, South Africa and soon to be announced nations in South America, Asia and around Europe….
To find out all about the film + screening details + to watch the trailer, visit: www.theiheartfilm.com.  Our prayer is that people everywhere – Churches, Colleges, Musicians, Youth Groups, everyONE – across the earth would rally and do whatever it takes to gather at the same time to be stirred and inspired by the message of Christ and help to ultimately work closer together in seeing the real needs of humanity collide with a love that can only be found in God. We are also confident that this is a great event to bring those away from church to connect with the message of Christ’s love for them.

Go see it!

Hey you need to do this!

I pasted some text from the Kiva website below, I love this concept!

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I just made a loan to someone in Benin using a revolutionary new website called Kiva (www.kiva.org).

You can go to Kiva’s website and lend to someone across the globe who needs a loan for their business – like raising goats, selling vegetables at market or making bricks.  Each loan has a picture of the entrepreneur, a description of their business and how they plan to use the loan so you know exactly how your money is being spent – and you get updates letting you know how the entrepreneur is going.

The best part is, when the entrepreneur pays back their loan you get your money back – and Kiva’s loans are managed by microfinance institutions on the ground who have a lot of experience doing this, so you can trust that your money is being handled responsibly.

I just made a loan to an entrepreneur named Cyriane in Benin.  They still need another $250.00 to complete their loan request of $475.00 (you can loan as little as $25.00!).  Help me get this entrepreneur off the ground by clicking on the link below to make a loan to Cyriane too:

http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=148474

It’s finally easy to actually do something about poverty – using Kiva I know exactly who my money is loaned to and what they’re using it for.  And most of all, I know that I’m helping them build a
sustainable business that will provide income to feed, clothe, house and educate their family long after my loan is paid back.

Join me in changing the world – one loan at a time.

Thanks!

———————————————————
What others are saying about www.Kiva.org:

‘Revolutionising how donors and lenders in the US are connecting with small entrepreneurs in developing countries.’
– BBC

‘If you’ve got 25 bucks, a PC and a PayPal account, you’ve now got the wherewithal to be an international financier.’
– CNN Money

‘Smaller investors can make loans of as little as $25 to specific individual entrepreneurs through a service launched last fall by Kiva.org.’
– The Wall Street Journal

‘An inexpensive feel-good investment opportunity…All loaned funds go directly to the applicants, and most loans are repaid in full.’
– Entrepreneur Magazine

Helen Burns from Relate Church in Vancouver came with her husband recently and spoke at our annual relationship seminar here at Hillsong.

We captured her talking about Kidsong World at Hillsong Conference, you can check it out below or visit the Hillsong Church Youtube channel here.

Thanks Helen, you can come back any time!

I am pretty pumped about this becuase for the first time ever Hillsong Church has created an official online forum!

So if you have been to Hillsong Conference in the last two years or a member of our network then you should have a login for the new online community all based around Conference.

Check it out!

A few #kidmin people have done Top Ten lists in the past few weeks.

I wanna do one too.

Not sure what kind of list to do though…

Thinks to himself… ‘if I want reader participation I should offer them an incentive’…

Okay, if you write a comment/suggestion of the top ten list I should do and I do it. Then you will win a copy of our new, yet to be released kids album. Hillsong Kids Ultimate Collection.

Of course it hasn’t been released yet so I of course be sending it to you after that takes place.

So last week I started this post in my drafts folder all about how I thought we were starting to see some real traction in the social media/internet world with relation to the non-geeks starting to use technology tools to communicate. But then Sat night happened… I cut back on the amount of blogs I read dramatically. I have done this once before, but didn’t touch the Children’s Ministry ones because I kinda felt I wanted to keep up with all of them… those days are over.

I made some tough (well not really compared to fighting in world war 1), decisions and just stopped following about half the CM blogs I used to (I follow them in Google Reader).

Having blogged for many moons now I have seen the landscape change and shift; in obvious ways like the rise of twitter, and in watching blogging grow, plateau and maintain.

But blogging still seems to be the way that great leaders can communicate, converse and contribute to a wider conversation – and spreading it through twitter.

So I wonder if the little niche of ministry to Children has reached its peak with blogging contributors and time will soon present a much more mainstream option?

The bottom line is that we should have FAR more people involved in contributing! Too many leaders doubt their experience and feel like they have nothing to say. Everyone has something to contribute.

Leader: Don’t waste your experience. Grow your influence.

You are already giving out to your team, just make that content go further, find a way to share! Believe me, as you give you will receive, pressed down, shaken together… you know the rest.

Here is part two of my little series on using media with kids. Part one is here.

I have seen many moments of beauty and love often perpetrated by apparent pre-followers of Jesus (‘pre’ as in God desires that all should receive salvation).

Now how can someone show compassion and love but yet not be a ‘Christian’. The truth is that love is not exclusively the domain of the follower of Jesus, BUT God IS love and so all acts of love emanate from God.

All beauty comes from God. There is no beauty that does not come from the Father through Christ, Himself the embodiment of all beauty. St Augustine, Confessions

I firmly believe that all beauty comes from God. There is no second source for kindness and goodness, so no matter who is doing the act they are, and can only be inspired by God. That goes for the depiction of the loving sacrifice of a father for a son, the compassion of a warrior for an enemy, the integrity of a businessman in the face of corruption.

But no matter how brilliant movies are and how beautiful the moment, it is often in the context of a lifestyle contrary to the word of God — opposite to His Kingdom.

So the sacrifice of a father is surrounded by revenge, or unfaithfulness. The love of a couple results in immorality and adultery. No matter how moving the story lines and how teachable the moments the world view of the story teller is important and affects the story.

As a parent you would most likely be wary of movies promoting a Hindu or Muslim view of the world, but we are used to watching media that represents the family unit as dysfunctional and completely incompetent. Or enjoying with our family a movie about High School Students obsessed with relationships and being ‘fabulous’.

Could you imagine a world where the media we watch reinforces the teachings of Jesus and sets up ideals that our kids aspire to… and… doesn’t… suck.

It is a rare movie that accomplishes this without being preachy and cringe-worthy.

Find the song, the movie, the media that does this well and show your kids!

P.S. One of the most important skills the 21st Century kid needs is to be able to recognise and filter out this media (I did enjoy High School Musical), so I am not saying get rid of the TV and move into an Amish community, but what a blessing it is to consume media that doesn’t give you heartburn and indigestion on the way down.

P.P.S. The Church stopped creating culture and started consuming culture many decades/centuries ago. I have great hope this is the generation that will reverse this!

Earlier in this year of our LORD two thousand and nine we ran a competition and you can read about that here.

Well after many lots and dozens of the people variety voted the results are in and I am happy to announce that the winner of the Bad Ministry Acronym (or #BMA) with 22% of the vote goes to:

Funny Man Dan

Disciples In Spirit Practicing Patience, Eagerly Awaiting Rapture! I wish they would just DISAPPEAR! (@funnymandan)

Congrats Dan!