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Much of Australia is now mourning the deaths of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, the two Australian nationals executed in Indonesia this week. There is much to be said about ethics surrounding the death penalty, but that has already been covered by others. These men and their story have impacted me deeply, and remind me so much of the gospel. Like ...

I’m sitting here watching the Aussies thump New Zealand in the One Day Cricket World Cup Final, and thinking about lucky I am to be an Australian. And in less than a week’s time we celebrate Easter, the most holy day in the Christian calendar, the time when I think how lucky I am to be a Christian. You could say ...

Why should you do the right thing?  Have you ever stopped to think about it? Even if you aren’t a practicing Christian, the vast majority of us will have a fairly similar moral compass – we know WHAT we ought not to do, even if we’re a bit hazy on the why. We know that we shouldn’t steal, murder, rape, cheat, bad mouth, ...

Recently, I got sued. It’s something very uncomfortable to admit. I had a third party supplier fail to deliver for a project for which I was responsible. It didn’t go to court, but lawyers got involved and we eventually agreed to a figure. It was a big figure, and it’s going to affect my family financially for years to come. So ...

Not only are we SAVED by grace and through faith in Christ, but we also SERVE by grace and through faith in Christ! That means that there will be times (many) when you’re having a “bad spiritual hair day” and an opportunity presents itself to minister in some way or another and you will be tempted to back out as ...

Muslims. Extremists. ISIS. Terrorists. Our news sites are filled with stories about the latest terrorist news; atrocities, and the comments filled with anxiety about what might happen to us in Australia and Muslims not integrating into our communities. Recently, our Prime Minister coined the phrase ; “Team Australia” (reference) and said that new migrants are welcome as long as they are ...

I was reflecting on a great discussion that we had one night at one of our GC’s (Gospel Communities) and thought I would share my thoughts with you all, hopefully for your joy and progress in the faith today! One of the main points of discussion that we had was around this section of “The Gospel Centred Life” study material ...

When I was in seminary, we had a great unit called “Foundations of Ministry”. In it, we reflected on how others have have embraced their distinctiveness to minister, and how “who we are” impacts on our ministry. We were once asked what were the qualities of a good pastor. In our groups we discussed and brought our responses together. We ...

If you keep tabs on what is happening in the worldwide church, then you’ve probably heard about the increasing controversy surrounding Pastor Mark Driscoll, from Mars Hill Church in Seattle (Update, Pastor Mark has stepped down as of Sunday 24/08/14). It’s even made the front page of the New York Times. Claims of his creating a culture of fear to ...

Let us apply the gospel lens to a most famous Bible story: David and Goliath. (Credit to Tim Keller whose sermons at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York have informed most of these reflections as well as Graeme Goldsworthys’ writings, esp. ‘Gospel and Kingdom’) If you are not familiar with the basic plot line of the story it will be ...