It has been the most incredible year, I have travelled around the world meeting lots of you in far away places. It has been so encouraging to meet people whose lives have been impacted by my mad mumblings on this blog. On the Red front things have been growing and we now are looking for a couple of great people to join our team. If you know of anyone who would be interested please send them the link to this post or check out the positions descriptions yourself.
We are looking for an Operations Manager. Click on this link to read the position description Operations Manager-1
and a Children’s worker. Download Position Description by clicking on this link children’s worker-2
Well I am off now and will be taking a break from work and blogging till mid January.
If you cannot think of a Christmas present for that super insightful culture vulture in your life try this, it is the greatest thing since the pyramids.
Attending religious services regularly and having close friends in the congregation are key to having a happier, more satisfying life, a study finds.
Even attending services irregularly — just several times a year — increases a sense of well-being, so long as there is a circle of friendships within the community and a strong, shared religious identity.
That’s the key finding of a study released today in the December issue of the American Sociological Review.
If you are like me and love to learn, but find yourself accumulating a mess of underlined quotes in books, articles hidden away under magazines, forgotten websites and scribbled notes on napkins. This tool is the biz. Get into and it will change your life…ok not really but it will help you collate and easily retrieve your research.
Illuminating paper from Pew detailing our moves towards becoming a post marriage culture. It is a fairly lengthy paper, but if you want just the findings read the executive summary. Check it out here. (h/t Sam)
Christmas offers us a reminder that as believers we are called to incarnate into our world. This has a powerful meaning in a culture obsessed with words and not so keen to enflesh them.
(p.s. This video angle looks like I am speaking down to a rodent, please take no offence)
Two questions I often get asked are “Can I work with young adults If am middle aged or older?” and “Can I have a ministry with Young Adults if I am not cool?”
Well let me answer those questions by introducing you to one David Rodigan. Rodigan is English, bald, white and middle aged. He looks like cross between George Costanza and your high school geography teacher. He is bascially one of the dorkiest looking men you could encounter. Of course there is nothing wrong with that…but there could be when you take into account what Rodigan loves to do.
Soundclashes are competitions that began in the ghettos of Jamaica between rival DJ’s, and their respective sound-systems. The DJ’s play their best tunes, and the crowd declares a winner. It is not a competition for the faint hearted. In the brutally competive world of Jamaican Dancehall reggae soundclashes David Rodigan is a legend, due to the fact that he is almost unbeatable. Rodigan regularily defeats DJ’s and selecta’s half his age.
Here Mr Rodigan anihilates rival DJ Poison Dart on his own turf. Skip to the 5:30min mark for the real madness to begin.
Here is Rodigan in action in Jamaica
To the uninitiated Rodigan’s antics look like the dancing drunk uncle that you wish had never shown up to your wedding. Yet in the whole Jamaican soundclash scene despite being an outsider he garners massive respect. So how on earth does someone who is so obviously not cool gain such respect in a world where coolness is essential?
LONGEVITY: Rodigan has been travelling to Jamaica for years to hone his craft. His respect has been built on years of being on the ground and testing his skills and building up support. I remember someone telling me that ministry is spelt T.I.M.E . Rapport cannot be built with young adults overnight. Instead respect it built over time. Stick around long enough and people will start listening to you.
KNOWLEDGE: Rodigan know his stuff. His encyclopaedic knowledge of dancehall and reggae is what gets props from the people in the know. Ministry is the same, people will listen to you if you have something to say, something interesting, relevant and important to their lives.
PASSION: At the end of the day Rodigan jumps around like an embarrassing nut, but after watching him for a while his sheer passion, lostness in the music that he loves is what is infectious. If you have passion for God, passion for ministry and a passion for young adults, it will cut through what is cool, hip and ephemeral.
RELATIONSHIP: Rodigan was friends with Bob Marley and just about every reggae luminary you can name. At the end of the day young adults like all people are desperate for genuine relationship. In ministry like in life relationship trumps age.
And besides somehow Rodigan’s total uncoolness ironically makes him so much cooler, authentic and engaging than the sight of pastors trying to fit into skinny jeans.
