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Tony Jones, the national coordinator of Emergent Village in the USA, is visiting Queensland in October in conjunction with his sessions at Black Stump in NSW.

Tony has a background in youth ministry, Christian spirituality, postmodernism and the emerging church and will be picking up some of these themes. Tony’s approach will be focused on conversation rather than lecturing. See more on his blog, tonyj.net.

See my posts on Tony’s most recent book, The New Christians, his On The Road video series, and on Left/Right polarisation in the USA church.

Here’s the program in its basic form. I’ll add details regarding times and places as they are finalized in the next week or so.

• Lunch & afternoon conversation, Sunshine Coast
  (contact Steve Turner, 0412 459 429)
• Dinner & evening conversation, Brisbane
  (contact me 0439 828 718)

• Dinner & evening conversation, Gold Coast
  (contact me 0439 828 718)

• Lunch & afternoon conversation with youth leaders, Brisbane
  Focus on spiritual practices and youth ministry
  (contact Michael Jeffrey, 0417 644 642)

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• Postmodern Youth Ministry (Youth Specialties/Zondervan, 2001)
• Soul Shaper (Youth Specialties/Zondervan, 2003)
• Read, Think, Pray, Live (NavPress, 2003)
• Pray (NavPress, 2003)
• The Sacred Way (Zondervan, 2005)
• Divine Intervention: Encountering God Through the Ancient Practice of Lectio Divina (Th1nk Books, 2006)
• Introduction to The Most Difficult Journey You’ll Ever Make: The Pilgrim’s Progress: a Modernized Christian Classic (Paraclete Press, 2006)
• Introduction to You Converted Me: The Confessions of St. Augustine (Paraclete Press, 2006)
• Introduction and commentary on Brother Lawrence Practicing the Presence of God (Paraclete Press, 2007)
• Co-editor of An Emergent Manifesto of Hope (Baker Books, 2007)
• The New Christians: Dispatches from the Emergent Frontier (Jossey Bass, 2008)

Mark Driscoll, known for his role as pastor at Mars Hill Church, Seattle, is visiting Brisbane in August. He’s speaking at Burn Your Plastic Jesus, a men-only event being run by 300 Men for Jesus. He’ll also be speaking on Biblical Theology of Mission at Queensland Theological College, the Presbyterian theological college in Brisbane.

Mark is described in the promotional material as a “theologically conservative and culturally liberal” pastor, holding Scripture firmly in two hands, while grounding two feet firmly in his culture.

Driscoll is disturbed by those who view Jesus as a “limp-wrist hippie in a dress with a lot of product in His hair, who drank decaf and made pithy Zen statements about life while shopping for the perfect pair of shoes.” Mark’s keen on cultural relevance and clearly has a commitment to reaching the “man’s man” culture by using strong language, wearing trousers (as do most men I know), using firm handshakes, using just shampoo, and drinking strong coffee.

“In Revelation, Jesus is a prize fighter with a tattoo down His leg, a sword in His hand and the commitment to make someone bleed. That is a guy I can worship. I cannot worship the hippie, diaper, halo Christ because I cannot worship a guy I can beat up. I fear some are becoming more cultural than Christian, and without a big Jesus who has authority and hates sin as revealed in the Bible, we will have less and less Christians, and more and more confused, spiritually self-righteous blogger critics of Christianity”. (Relevant Magazine)

The open agenda here is that Mark is distancing himself from his earlier emerging church days hanging around with the likes of Doug Pagitt and Brian McLaren in the Young Leader Network (now known as Emergent).

Mark is known for his complementarian views. He teaches that men should practice headship and women should practice submission. Mars Hill Church has a policy of having only men in positions of authority or leadership. That’s a policy consistent with the Presbyterian Church of Australia. What concerns me is that this view is presented as the norm for the Reformed tradition. Most denominations within that tradition have moved on in more recent times - as can be explored in the World Alliance of Reformed Churches site.

The Burn Your Plastic Jesus event is being run by Mitchelton Presbyterian Church on Thursday, 28 August at Northside Auditorium, 151 Flockton St, Everton Park. See the 300 Men For Jesus site for more details. See Mark’s Wikipedia article and Resurgence Blog.

I’ve just set up a new YouTube channel for the Queensland Synod, Uniting Church in Australia. Journey TV is an extension of Journey the magazine and Journey Online.

The first video is a video I produced for the 2006 General Assembly to explain a new approach to commissioning and training lay pastors in the Uniting Church. Helen (Ennis) and Gary (myself) talk about what it’s like to be a pastor in 2012, looking back over four years of support, recognition and training.

The phrase, “From time to time and place to place” comes from the Uniting Church’s Basis of Union. It was the inspiration (you could sing it) for the brief musical piece I wrote for the beginning, middle and end of the video.

“The Uniting Church recognises that the type and duration of ministries to which women and men are called vary from time to time and place to place, and that in particular it comes into being in a period of reconsideration of traditional forms of the ministry, and of renewed participation of all the people of God in the preaching of the Word, the administration of the sacraments, the building up of the fellowship in mutual love, in commitment to Christ’s mission, and in service of the world for which he died.”

The second video is a sample from Enhance, a collection of Flash-based videos put together by Michael Jeffery and his team at Digistry. This clip retells Jesus’ Parable of the Vineyard (Matthew 21:33-46, Mark 12:1-12, Luke 20:9-19) through the lens of The Godfather. The script and music are by Joh Knijnenburg. I’m now working on a YouTube channel for Digistry.

TEAR Australia is calling for applications for the position of National Director, based in Melbourne.

TEAR Australia is a Christian development, relief and advocacy organisation responding to global poverty and injustice. Their motivation comes from their conviction that God loves all people, and desires a just and compassionate world in which all people have adequate resources and the opportunity to live meaningful and dignified lives.

With the retirement of Steve Bradbury, their long-serving National Director, TEAR Australia is seeking a suitably qualified person to lead TEAR Australia. The Director is supported by a dedicated, professional team of four direct reports and 50 staff. The role involves strategic and operational leadership of the organisation, and representation of TEAR Australia in the public sphere - including relationships with Australian churches and with international development partners and alliances.

TEAR Australia is looking for someone that has a passion for justice, success in leadership and management, and is familiar with key aid and community development issues. The new director will need to be comfortable in cross-cultural contexts, understand the Australian church environment and be able to articulate the biblical foundations of TEAR Australia’s mission.

Enquiries are welcome to TEAR Australia’s lead consultant, Judy Wong-See at Credence International, Level 14, 309 Kent Street, Sydney NSW 2000 on (02) 9994 8044 or email judy.ws at credenceintl.com
Applications close Monday 16th June 2008.

Sydney is hosting the Reel Dialogue Conference 2008: Reel Faith in Action, a two day conference designed for creative dialogue between the church and culture, with Christians discovering how common theological ground can be forged with story tellers, image shapers, and culture makers.

This year, Friday August 29 & Saturday, August 30, the two-day Reel Dialogue Conference will bring together internationally renowned speakers, authors and theologians to explore the theological dimensions of film and pop culture, including:

Robert K. Johnston and Catherine Barsotti (Reel Spirituality, Useless Beauty: Ecclesiastes through the Lens of Contemporary Film, Reframing Theology and Film: New Focus for an Emerging Discipline, Finding God in the Movies: 33 Films of Reel Faith)

Mark Seton, University of Sydney, (CineDialogue, Screenvision)

Sandy Boyce (National Faith Development Consultant for the Uniting Church in Australia)

Charlie Brammall (Chaplain the entertainment industry and head of ENTER - The Entertainment Bible ministry);

Grenville Kent
(filmmaker and lecturer at Wesley Institute).

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The conference will be held over two full days (9am - 5.30pm) with an optional dinner on Friday August 29 to talk and network with the speakers and a film and group discussion held on Saturday afternoon.

Partnering with The ELM Centre, Uniting Church NSW Synod Youth Unit and Communications Unit and media partners Sydney’s 103.2 Radio Station and Insights magazine, the conference is designed for ministers, ministry agents and interested film enthusiasts.

Register securely online here using your credit card. Early bird prices close July 17, 2008, so book now! For accommodation details click here.