Life

It was encouraging today to receive another commendation for the book from a man I admire very much, Tom Hallas. I will be posting another reflection shortly about what it means to be where I am in life and some of the interesting feelings that are evoked by stepping into new territory and away from [...]

We are in Orford having a week away as a family and this morning I received what felt like a little present from God. Two more Christian leaders have reviewed the manuscript for my book and wrote commendations that were very encouraging. Dr. Joel C. Hunter is the Senior Pastor of one of America’s biggest [...]

I’ve been thinking a bit about legacy. I’m at a point where I am looking back at 20 years in ministry and looking forward at maybe another 25 years and I am asking myself where do I want to be in 2037? Even writing that date seems ridiculous, as thinking about 2012 must have to [...]

Leeanne and I finished painting my shed yesterday and as I sit inside it writing this I realise that it’s hard to communicate the importance of a shed. This shed was a gift from my wife for my 30th birthday. I was away for a long weekend and she worked with my parents in law [...]

It was Leeanne’s birthday yesterday. I tried to find the words to describe to her what she meant to me in a birthday card but I didn’t do a very good job. At my 40th, a month ago, Leeanne spoke briefly but her words had a profound impact on me. She said that as we [...]

I love this time of year. I love it for two reasons, the first is that it’s not a normal time, it’s kind of a twilight zone time where no one is really working (apart from everyone in the hospitality industry) and there is the chance to reflect. I also love it because there is [...]

Its Christmas evening and we are relaxing in front of National Lampoons Christmas Vacation. it’s a very deep movie…. (not!) Today has been a special day. Last night we stayed up and watched the carols, and then did the obligatory late shift getting organised for the morning. There was the normal moment of disorientation for [...]

I’ve got into the habit of listening to podcasts while I shower and this afternoon after cutting a trailer load of wood, I was listening to N.T. Wright explaining the historical context of the Kingdom of God. He pointed out how all Jews believed that the Kingdom of God was a divine, political Kingdom. He [...]

The sun is streaming through my window in my shed and the noise of a lawnmower next door is reminding me that at some point I need to take a look at the grass in our back yard which seems to grow a centimeter a minute at the moment. I’m enjoying having a bit more [...]

I’m feeling a little weary.. As I write I am sitting in the dining room of a campsite in Geraldton. It is a privilege to be here, I have heard so much about this place since Fusion first started work here in the early 80′s. I am here for Fusion Western Australia’s State Conference. It [...]

We have just come back from a wonderful holiday. Each year we try to get a couple of weeks away in the middle of the year which makes a big difference in how we manage the second half. This holiday featured a lot of fishing, watching season two of ‘the Mentalist’ and lots of reading. [...]

I had a great day today. We took the day off and went for a family day. We went for a walk on a boardwalk to a pretty Island and then visited a place called Grindewald where I gave the boys a game of mini golf while Leeanne took Sophie and our visitor to the [...]

I’ve just finished reading Bill Hybels’ Just walk across the room, a book about evangelism. The book was set reading for my leadership course and was not one I would normally read. I had to face some of my prejudice against the mega churches as I read it, and I found it generally to be [...]

Well here I am, on Delta Airlines flight 16 to Los Angeles, then to Minneapolis and finally to my destination, Edmonton. I am looking forward to connecting with our team in Canada, but I’m not looking forward to the weather. Anywhere that gets to a maximum of -14 should not be habitable! I was watching [...]

Marshmallow doesn’t sharpen Iron I just got off the phone from an interview by my friend Dave Hammond, host of the Conversation. (www.conversation.org.au) and I figured I was thinking so much there was no way I would get to sleep, so I would write a blog. He was talking to me about my new book [...]

This is an excerpt from my upcoming book, “Kingdom Cells”. Tell me what you think. You’ve gotta stand for something Books are dangerous. They are full of ideas, and ideas by themselves do nothing. The Pharisees had lots of good ideas, and Jesus counselled his disciples to listen to their teaching, but to be careful [...]

As I have said earlier, I am working on a book about Kingdom Cells and through it I have a number of case studies. This week I will share a couple of them with you for your feedback. Please remember I am still refining the book and a bit more editing is needed, so any [...]

As I said yesterday, I am posting some bits of the book I have been working on for you to have a look at . This is the first chapter that describes the process of coming up with the Kingdom Cells. Remember it is a work in progress but I would love your feedback. Discovering [...]

Kingdom Cells For the last year I have actually had three books on the go. Faith Reflections was the simplest one to finish, so I did and its kind of fun to see it on sale at the Poatina Gift shop alongside other great books! I have been working over the Christmas/New Year period to [...]

How to make this year different I am coming to the end of my week of reflection on the year ahead and there is certainly a theme emerging. One of the things I will be doing differently this year is going back to school.. well kind of.. I have been selected to participate in the [...]

A strange feeling Quite unexpectedly the first box of my new books arrived in the mail today. There is something both exciting and a little scary as I hold my thoughts in my hand. It is exciting because I have finally published my first book, which has been something I had hoped I might do [...]

I don’t want to get washed away Sometimes it feels I start with plans and those plans are washed away by the tidal wave of the unresolved. As I was sharing, I am spending this week thinking about the coming year and in what ways I want it to be different from last year. As [...]

Happy New Year I love this time of year. It’s a time to stop and breathe, to reflect and to plan. It’s a time to try to make sense of all that has been and all that will be. New Year for me is a kind of structural grace. The promise that the past can [...]

A friend emailed me this devotional thought, I am not sure where he got it from but I found it helpful so thought I’d pass it on to you. ‘…I have walked in…integrity…’ (Psalm 26:1 NKJV) To protect themselves from the barbaric hordes from the north, the people of China built the Great Wall. It [...]

Making the choice to play I am sitting in my rather warm office/shed as the sun streams through the huge window that overlooks my backyard. Today I mowed our backyard. Now that’s really not that big a deal, in fact at the moment it seems to need to be mown every 7 days! It’s just [...]

It was a big night I am sitting at the kitchen table while my daughter entertains a bunch of girls who I am told are having a sleepover tonight. After last night that thought takes a bit of getting used to. I had a big week. It wasn’t helped by the fact that Thursday night [...]

One life Have you ever noticed how somehow we have ended up seperating our lives into the stuff we do with or for God, and the rest? In Australian politics we have formalised this arrangement constitutionally in the separation of church and state. For most of my life the duality of “sacred” and “secular” has annoyed the [...]

Fighting for peace Peace doesn’t accidentally happen, and it’s not what is normal. Turmoil and conflict are what is normal. It’s also normal for us all to do everything we can do avoid that turmoil and conflict. Most of us live in a world of superficial peace, with a deep undercurrent of pain that comes from that turmoil [...]

How faith matures I am continuing to be challenged and inspired by Eugene Peterson’s “The Jesus Way”. One section that particularly spoke to me was the way Peterson unpacked the story of Abraham. He particularly focussed on the story of Abraham on Mount Moriah, the moment where God asks him to sacrifice his son and [...]

They are my temptations too.. As I mentioned yesterday, I have been really enjoying “the Jesus way” by Eugene Peterson. I spoke in church this morning using some insights from the book I found helpful about the three temptations of Jesus. Hebrews 4:15 says: For we do not have a high priest who is unable [...]

A person not a program My faith started as a 3-year-old as I prayed with my mother, and then really became mine when as an 18-year-old when I left home and moved to Broken Hill. In Broken Hill I chose to be baptized (by my Dad who was visiting) and began my adult journey of [...]

For whom the bell tolls Today I come to the end of my series of posts about my journey with Colossians 3. The chapter ends with what looks like a change of pace.. and this morning I found myself tempted to skip over what simply looks like some practical advice. I lived with it a [...]

The battle with myself One of my biggest battles in life has been the battle with myself. Sometimes it feels like everything in me wants to run away from the horrible feelings that are inside me. Sometimes it is so tempting to look for a shortcut to happiness. The challenge we all face is that [...]

How big is your vision? It was great to spend time with our Advanced Diploma students wrestling with ‘the 8th Habit’. One of the things that struck me was a truth that Covey first communicated in his book, “7 Habits of highly effective people”. As we look at the world there are two boundaries that [...]

Ten challenges for your life I wrote yesterday about Richard Foster’s Celebration of Discipline, and in particular the discipline of simplicity. At the end of the chapter, Foster gives a list of ten principles for the outward expression of simplicity. I found myself affronted and confronted, so I thought perhaps I might pass them on. [...]

It doesn’t have to be complicated Bruce Dutton is one of Fusion’s bible teachers. He has studied Biblical hebrew and often seems to have a “right word” for me either when I am chatting to him one on one, or when he is giving a devotion or delivering training. Bruce does a regular devotion at [...]

Understanding takes work A few weeks ago I wrote a series of posts about conflict resolution. At the moment I am really enjoying leading a workshop on Stephen Covey’s “the 8th Habit”, and I came across a part that seemed to both enforce what I was writing earlier and develop it further. One sentence seemed [...]

A charter for a paradoxical life I have noticed how so many of the deep truths in life are actually a paradox. In preparing for our Advanced Diploma students to arrive this week I came again across the following list of “paradoxical commandments”, which basically give a template for effective leadership. Each one spoke to [...]

Will you let yourself care? I was teaching our students the book of Nehemiah today and came across the part where Nehemiah discovers that some Jews are ripping off their neighbours, forcing them to sell their children into slavery. Nehemiah also realises that he too has been doing the same thing. His response to the [...]

Having the courage to question current assumptions Mental illness is reaching epidemic proportions in my country and whatever approaches we have been taking simply are not working. As I mentioned in the post “Remember the days of the old school yard“, our young people are coping with the worst of it: Just over a quarter (26%) of [...]

The myth of self-determination We are telling our young people they have to do it on their own..  and its a lie. As I mentioned yesterday, in preparing for the Australian Religious Press Association conference I came across very enlightening research from the Australia 21 foundation, and in particular from a team led by Professor [...]

Can someone tell our young people the truth? As I prepared over the last week for the Australian Religion Press Association’s conference, I came across a fascinating paper. It is called “Success & wellbeing: A preview of the Australia 21 report on young people’s wellbeing” and I think gets to some of the root causes of the [...]

Telling stories As I mentioned yesterday I had the opportunity to address the Australian Religious Press association about communicating with youth in the 21st century. In preparing for the conference I came across a lot of research that helped clarify my thinking and really increased my commitment to the work I do with Fusion. One of the [...]

Being a young person today is different. Today I gave an address to the Australian Religious Press Association about communicating with young people in the 21st Century. I have been working with young people since I was a young person. I started youthwork in 1992 at the age of 20. I must admit that it [...]

Re-think success and failure At one point in my Christian journey I hit a bit of a crisis. (Actually at a lot of points but I’m only talking about one of them now) I became exposed to people who wore suits, drove B.M.W.s and espoused a gospel that told me faithful people get rich and [...]

Being o.k. with broken bones Poatina Morning tea devotion given yesterday We have had a wonderful holiday.  With unexpected changes to my job description I had some space and it was  12 months since we had a break, so it was very special. I’m still questioning my parenting decision – the boys were restless – [...]

A creative process The time away really has been very productive. I am pleased to be able to share with you that my first book is on its way! After a number of discussions with different people, I have compiled 57 of the  posts from this blog that received the most positive reaction. It has [...]

Prayer means shutting up I continue to be challenged and inspired by Ecclesiastes. I am also really interested to be seeing the parallels between the Apostle Paul’s writing and this book. I have a sense that Paul read Ecclesiastes regularly as a source of inspiration for dealing with all the foibles of the early church. [...]

“Stop helping God across the road like a little old lady.” That is currently my favourite line from a U2 song. Its from ‘Stand up Comedy’ off  the album ‘No line on the horizon’. What I love about the lyric is how clearly it speaks to the part of me that wants to ‘help’ God. [...]

Looking from different angles As I was saying yesterday, the organisation I work with, Fusion, is on a journey to name what is needed in leadership. About a week ago I mentioned the passage from 1 Peter that I have been challenged by since discovering it about 15 years ago: 1 Peter 5:2-3 Be shepherds of [...]

Which definition is true? The organisation I work with, Fusion, is in the middle of a healthy identity crisis. For 48 years, my father was the dominant personality as the founder and leader. Last year that changed and we are in the process of coming to terms with a different reality. Part of the challenge [...]

My friend Di writes a regular blog and she has been reflecting on my Tasmazia experience in the light of a book she has been reading. Follow this link to have a look at her post regards Matt

Food for thought One of the little houses at Tasmazia’s “Lower Crackpot” was the dissident’s society.. It was covered with quotes. I really liked a few of them. I took a few pictures and rather than my normal blog, I have included some in this post:

Home Sweet home As I stumbled off the plane after what seemed like an eternity I saw Sophie’s face pressed up against the glass. As I walked through the doors I was almost bowled over by a hug from Daniel and Josh. After hugging the kids, I embraced my wife and remembered just how much [...]

Invictus Out of the night that covers me, Black as the Pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever gods may be For my unconquerable soul. In the fell clutch of circumstance I have not winced nor cried aloud. Under the bludgeonings of chance My head is bloody, but unbowed. Beyond this place of wrath [...]

Meeting God in the moment I was on washing up duty the other day at the Poatina motel. One of the unique things about living in this village are the rosters. I regularly find myself doing things that I wouldn’t ordinarily do. As I washed up I had strong feelings of incompetence.. I feel so [...]

I believe in an interventionist God I am sitting in the Launceston airport departure lounge. The fact I am sitting here feels like a bit of a miracle. I remember a line in a Crash test Dummies song where the lead singer droned “I don’t believe in an interventionist God” in the way that only [...]

Coming to terms with the person of Jesus. A few weeks ago I had the privilege of teaching our Certificate IV students about the life of John Wesley. As I researched Wesley’s life I came across an article that explained his journey of faith in his own words, I came across one sentence that has been going [...]

Real apprenticeship Today I finish my series of posts on Matthew chapter 10, and its fitting that Jesus finishes the chapter with the passage that I found most confronting. I spent much of my life and ministry looking for the big things, the silver bullets, that would make the world a better place. Turns out [...]

Freeing young people to fly In my last post, I included an excerpt from Jean Vanier’s “Community and Growth”. Vanier’s L’Arche communities are focussed on caring for the disabled, in a similar way that Fusion’s communities are focussed on caring for “at risk” young people. I remember a conversation with George Savvides who said to me “In [...]

Sometimes there needs to be a stepping stone between family and the world. A month or so ago I was talking to Colin Piper, of International Youth Works, in Germany, about Poatina, and he was fascinated by our assumption that the only way you can build a healthy community is if that community exists for something [...]

Having someone to blame Every few days I have been including excerpts from Jean Vanier’s “Community and Growth” that I have found helpful. This passage talks about what happens when one person is singled out as the scapegoat. As I reflect on the many groups I have been part of, I find this challenging because [...]

Sometimes I skip and dance I don’t tell a lot of people about the skipping and dancing. When I think no-one is watching, or if I’m feeling fairly comfortable, or beyond caring, my feet start to move. A friend in Victoria who I used to work with, Fiona, used to say “Matt must be tired” [...]

Walk the talk If you have read other entries on this blog, you will probably already becoming aware that I am a bit suspicious of ideology.  What I mean by ideology is the arrogant assumption that the way you see the world is the way the world is, and the way you see God is [...]

Community can hurt A few days ago I shared a little bit from Jean Vanier’s Community and Growth. I intend to put a few excerpts up over the next little while because it is a book that has really helped me understand more of the reality of community. As I have said before, the dream [...]

Small groups of friends that changed the world Last week I published a list of John Wesley’s small group questions.. they were pretty amazing and it was easy to see why the church grew if people were courageous enough to face questions like that each week. This week I want to introduce you to another smaller list [...]

The journey towards understanding I know saying that people are different is like saying the sky is blue.. obvious (unless of course you are English in which case the sky is rarely blue : ) ). But it is this fundamental observation which I think I am only slowly starting to understand. I began my [...]

I live in a community. It is a village in central Tasmania called Poatina. The dream behind Fusion is that a little community can make a difference in the big community. Community isn’t easy though and I thought I would share some of the insights from a book I have found very helpful called “Community [...]

I am sitting on the couch and watching my tired wife enjoy some time in front of the television. She has been quite tired lately. Marriage is complicated. We thought that it wouldn’t be. We did pre-marriage counselling and sailed through (or so we thought) but on the honeymoon came the shock that answering the right [...]

I have been doing a lot of chatting with people about leadership and how they build teams. One of the things that is getting clearer and clearer for me is that a central missing ingredient when a team isn’t growing, is a vision or a story. I came across a story about Pixar and Disney [...]

As I have said, this blog is about the journey of living faith and certainly isn’t written by someone who has it all together. I actually think the idea that you must have it “all together” is the enemy of true faith. Somehow we develop a picture of what a good Christian looks like and [...]

A friend sent me a quote a couple of days ago about burnout: Burn out comes not primarily from doing too much, but from doing what we don’t really want to do – so that one foot is moving forward and the other foot is trying to run away’. – (from a book: sleeping with [...]

It must just be the circles I have been moving in but I seem to be coming across a lot of people who are spending a lot of time and energy trying to work themselves out. The journey of individuation is a very important one, but its one that the bible takes a counter-intuitive approach [...]

The wrestle with faith has an Irish soundtrack. I realised this morning as I donned my concert t-shirt sent to me by my sister and brother-in-law, that I would need to explain my love for the band U2. Not only that, I would have to create a new category on the blog, because for me [...]

I first heard this poem/story when Bob Adams read it to me in 1992. Tim Strange re-introduced me to it a few years ago, and I love reading it. I often use it when teaching about faith. The Road of Life At first I saw God as my observer, my judge, keeping track of the [...]

Last night I heard an interview about information overload. Starting the journey with blogging has introduced me to the fact that there are thousands and thousands of people writing all kinds of things. Information overload is getting ridiculous. It brought to mind something I had read from 300 A.D.. Basil the great was one of [...]

A friend printed this out on a piece of paper for me this week: Never judge. The heart of man is so delicate, so complex, only its Maker can know it. Each heart is so different, actuated by different motives, controlled by different circumstances, influenced by different sufferings. How can one judge of another? Leave [...]

I taught our students some of the story of John Wesley and came across a number of the questions he asked his small groups to engage with. Imagine asking these questions in a group of 6-12 people every week! 1. Am I consciously or unconsciously creating the impression that I am better than I am? [...]