Things on my plate
Friday, 19 September, 2003
Today we had an AIM (Australian Institute of Ministry) half-day down at Dapto Anglican Church. AIM is the part of MTS (Ministry Training Strategy) that is responsible for training the people who are training others. They run activities throughout the year all over the country to encourage ministers of the gospel in the work they're doing. This morning's topic was on lay ministry and it was very interesting. I want to blog about it sometime but I haven't thought about it properly yet so maybe that's not a good idea.
This afternoon we drove to Sydney to meet Tony Payne of Matthias Media halfway at Heathcote McDonald's. Now that Greg Clarke has left to work for CASE (Centre for Apologetic Scholarship and Education), Tony is looking at different options for hiring new staff. He was keen to work with us somehow and we were keen to work with him somehow so we talked a bit about it over hot chocolate and cake from McCafé. Nothing concrete has been decided yet but it's quite exciting—especially for me because I've decided that one of the things I'd really like to do is to go into writing ministry long-term somehow, even if I get paid next to nothing for it. It makes me sad that I have had less time for reading and writing this year, even though I still have all these writing projects bubbling away in the back of my brain—like:
- In the Halls of the Beast: A retelling of the Beauty and the Beast story;
- A science fiction story about the church in the future;
- An article on Satan;
- Something on evangelists and whether every Christian is to be one;
- A brief article on denominations—what's the difference? (this is for Issue 8);
- An article on why people don't go to church (this is for Issue 8);
- An article about how Christianity is a full-time job;
- Thinking about writing as a ministry and how to encourage people in it;
- Thinking about social justice vs. evangelism;
- A project associated with Bridget that Matthias Media wanted me to try.
Tony pointed out that, out of all the people who are doing MTS or studying in college, the majority of them could go on to do pastoral ministry in some sort of capacity but very few of them are writers who would be able to do the valuable work of writing ministry. I hadn't thought about that before. It puts a whole new spin on what Ben and I might possibly do in the future.
Before he had to go, I asked him to sign our copy of Islam In Our Backyard and he did. I like getting things signed—not because it increases the value of the book but because it's a memento that I've met the author.
I've spent the bulk of the evening working on the Introducing God site. All their materials will be available in early October, in case you were wondering. I have to fix up their online store before then which will be very interesting because I've never worked with the Yahoo! interface before (yuck!)
Tomorrow we are taking the Arts/Creative Arts students to yum cha. We have no idea how many people are going to show and I'm worried we won't have enough cars but hopefully God will provide ...
Blinks:
A way of funding writing in the future: pitch and idea and get people to support it.
Place where you can hire play equipment for parties, etc.
How to recalibrate the home button on your iPhone.
Unsolicited manuscripts accepted by Pan Macmillan with certain conditions.
Thought Balloon is a group blog in which the writers tackle a new theme every week? month? with one-page scripts. This URL is for their Phonogram ones.
How to sew a zipper on a knitted garment.
Issues organised by tale.
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From one Karen to another - I’m glad that God might be showing you an outlet for your love of writing.
Peace,
Karen
Wow. I love writing. It’s so encouraging to hear of other writers tell the gospel through this particular gift.
How do people get involved?
Hi Karen darling,
I think that you really have a great gift for writing. I think it would be fantastic to utilise this gift further in your life. I would be very supportive of such a decision!!!
Many hugs,
George
PS Maybe I don’t have many other blogging friends, but there’s no one’s blog I would rather read than yours. It’s so interesting!!
re: georgina’s msg to karen in above comment.
awww that’s so sweet
Group hug?
Hello, Karen. For two of your ideas, as below….
Something on evangelists and whether every Christian is to be one;
An article about how Christianity is a full-time job
See http://www.mawamfc.org (okay, I admit it, I run the site)
Hi Karen,
I read your ‘Matrix: Reloaded’ review in the AFES newsletter thing (yes, I’m slow). I thought it was tops!
>> I sometimes forget how public the web is
It may be gushy, but it’s the way I feel.
>>>
G
So if your going to write an article on why people don’t go to Church will you be asking those people why? Those people who don’t go to Church, such as me?
I’m quite happy to give my reasons.
Philip: I might be. I haven’t quite decided what form the article will take but I wanted to build on some of the stuff that Rachel Cunliffe did in her survey. Might post something on that later.
Thanks for the link, Alan! Finally had time to check it out.