Paul Long's Ramblings

I Imagination. This is an incredible blessing from God. Of course I should add that we need "sanctified imagination". I first heard this term mentioned by my church's former pastor in one of his sermons on the book of Revelation. The term has stuck and has struck a chord in me ... though I must say that my definition of " sanctified imagination" may probably be wider than his. :-) Basically by this term I generally mean "imagination within the boundaries of a Christian worldview" . So is comic book based science fiction and fantasy within this boundary? Hehehe . Perhaps that's an interesting topic for another time. I can't imagine what my life would be like without imagination (lousy play with words but .... my blog! hahahaha !). Imagination sure does make my life more interesting. Examples of imagination spicing up my life? Well, cooking is one. Experimenting with food flavours and styles and recipes. There's working on a magic routi...

Just posted up my Pastor's Notes. Click here.

Hmmm... Interesting! I am so glad to be in NZ. This report is too close for comfort (but in Malaysia I had 2 children, and had no mortgage ...) To any Malaysian church leaders of urban churches who might be reading this, I hope that this report finds you doing what is fair in regards to how you pay your pastors / full time workers. 1 Corinthians 9:9-11 9 For it is written in the Law of Moses: "Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain." Is it about oxen that God is concerned? 10 Surely he says this for us, doesn't he? Yes, this was written for us, because when the plowman plows and the thresher threshes, they ought to do so in the hope of sharing in the harvest. 11 If we have sown spiritual seed among you, is it too much if we reap a material harvest from you? RM3,000 is poverty line for the urban poor By LESTER KONG and IZATUN SHAARI PETALING JAYA: The Government has decided to set RM3,000 as the poverty line for the urban poor based on feedback from peop...

I like this article by William Willimon's (from his e-list). It gives me a lot of encouragement in the light of our church moving closer to confirming our building project. Encouragement despite the fact that members are not only "not rich" but quite a number are on limited fixed income and some are even poor and struggling financially. Encouragement because even a non Christian community worker from the local council is excited and enthusiastic about our very modest proposed building project because she shares our church leadership's vision of having an extra building to provide better (which is actually pretty basic) facilities for community work. Encouragement because more and more members are excited about reaching our community for Christ and being a blessing to those in need. Encouragement because I have seen how generous and sacrificial church members can be in responses to doing their part in meeting practical needs for Christ's sake. I think back of past ...

I found this so funny ... MIKE'S GIRLFRIEND After directory assistance gave me my boyfriend's new telephone number, I dialed him -- and got a woman. "Is Mike there?" I asked. "He's in the shower," she responded. "Please tell him his girlfriend called," I said and hung up. When he didn't return the call, I dialed again. This time a man answered. "This is Mike," he said. "You're not my boyfriend!" I exclaimed. "I know," he replied. "That's what I've been trying to tell my wife for the past half-hour."

I have finished this Sunday's sermon ... and I will not look at it again till Saturday night! :-) G GIFTS (Spiritual). This is a blessing that comes with the gift of eternal life and is experienced daily. I cannot help but be in awe every time I see the gifts at work - both in my life and in the lives of others (but especially in my life as I am often pretty aware that something out of the ordinary is happening). For example, I led a Bible study the other night and as we wrestled with a tough question, I gave an illustration (through a testimony- story) and it was a holy moment for me to see some "eyes light up" with comprehension and appreciation (and an audio exclamation as well!). God's gift to me at work again! This was not an illustration that I had prepared (I had others I had prepared as I suspected the question would come up!) I do not think I am exaggerating or over spiritualizing. I have listened to my own sermons and I find some of my speaking "idios...

Taken from Out of Ur ... I love this line from his opening paragraph ... :-) So, I offer to you a list of my top ten books for leaders, and none of the titles of these books have the word “leader” or “leadership” in it. I think some of his choice of books are "out of my league" ... at least hopefully for my current stage in life. I am comforted that I at least have read some of the books on his list. :-) p/s Am celebrating by blogging a bit because I got a lot of work done this morning!! :-) October 20, 2009 Scot McKnight's Top 10 Leadership Books The best books for leaders you won't find at your next ministry conference. by Scot McKnight What makes a leader? Ideas. Courage. Contact with great thinkers. What makes a Christian leader? Great ideas, courage, and contact with great thinkers shaped by the gospel. So, I offer to you a list of my top ten books for leaders, and none of the titles of these books have the word “leader” or “leadership” in it. Some of these are ...

Okay, here's part 2. And yes it is going to take a LONG time to finish. But I am in no hurry and it's a nice exercise for me. Of course I have to stretch my imagination a bit to make things fit but it's no big deal. It's a nice platform to leap into blogging. D Delicious Dishes . Oh yeah! While we eat pretty simply for most meals, every now and then I try to take over cooking a meal or two so I get to eat something deliciously different that is way within the budget. It's really a nice break to do some cooking and experimenting and it is a joy when a dish turns out well and is appreciated. I am still experimenting with my roast pork (not Chinese style "siew yok") and the whole family thinks it is mouth watering delicious. On Sunday for a lunch "business" meeting I did my Hokkien Mee for a new crowd. Was not easy as I had to do four batches on Saturday and then put them in the fridge as Sunday is so busy. Four batches due to the larger group and ...

Just posted up my latest Pastor's Notes. Click here .

Am super busy this week. A few additional tasks to take care of. But need to quickly post this up. Here's a link that is worth viewing. Warning: It is a sad documentary.

Every6 now and then I come across one of those "A to Z lists" (tag someone stuff) where you have an A to Z list on something about yourself etc. Thought it would be a nice distraction to make my own - an A to Z list of regular blessings in my life. God doesn't count as He is the one behind all the blessings :-) It's a regular exercise of mine to "count my blessings, naming them one by one" as the old hymn reminds us but I thought it would be a fun thing to do A to Z style and so over the weekend as I went about my regular day, I worked on this list in my mind .... and here's my list and my reasons why... (Oh, three each as it is hard to pick just one!!) A 1. ANDREW (my eldest son). He's growing up so fast and well in the LORD! I'm very proud of him and grateful to God for giving him to me. 2. AIR (as in fresh air). While Auckland is probably the most polluted region of NZ, the air is still so fresh compared to the Klang Valley. It's actu...

I have a sermon preparation dilemma.... and I was wondering, "Is it just me or do other preachers have a similar struggle? It's simply this: I can never seem to finish or be satisfied with my sermon preparation!! Take this coming Sunday's sermon as a very typical example. After many months of long term preparation (fellow preachers will know what I mean), I started writing / typing out my sermon early last week and after a number of drafts, I finished my sermon and printed it out. Oh joy! It felt good to be ahead of schedule (at least in the sermon department) especially since there is so many other things to do and other sermons and Bible studies to prepare and other ministry matters crying out for attention! But early this week as I reviewed my sermon (a good habit I think or is it?) to prepare my power point outline, I felt the need to do a major revision (trimming down the length among other things). So I spent most of Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning it last w...

Determine your ministry age? Interesting and helpful article from Christianity Today. No matter what "age" I am, it is still very helpful to understand the different perspectives of what issues are important for each "generation". Determine Your Ministry Age Do your assumptions about leadership reflect the values of your generation? Jimmy Long Monday, October 12, 2009 I n recent years we have entered into lengthy discussions about how worship, spiritual formation, and evangelism are transitioning in the church. However, the most crucial area of transition, leadership, has received minimal attention. For more than 35 years, I have been overseeing the ministry of young InterVarsity staff and college student leaders. In that time I have seen a significant swing in how these young leaders view leadership. The emerging generation of leaders desires a context that fosters community, trust, journey, vision, and empowerment. If we are going to transition the church to the n...

Just posted up my latest Pastor's Notes . This Eric Clapton song has nothing to do with the Pastor's notes devotion. It's just a random song that came to my mind because of the title of my devotion :-) Its late in the evening Shes wondering what clothes to wear She puts on her make up And brushes her long blonde hair And then she asks me Do I look alright And I say yes, you look wonderful tonight We go a party And everyone turns to see This beautiful lady Thats walking around with me And then she asks me Do you feel alright And I say yes, I feel wonderful tonight I feel wonderful Because I see the love light in your eyes And the wonder of it all Is that you just dont realize How much I love you Its time to go home now And Ive got an aching head So I give her the car keys She helps me to bed And then I tell her As I turn out the light I say my darling, you were wonderful tonight Oh my darling, you were wonderful tonight

Have not really been blogging for a while as I have been busy. Of course some of you might comment "What's new!?" :-) But it has not necessarily been a negative "busy". On church building project ... Our church building committee made their presentation on Sunday and I think most if not all of us are excited about the progress and the possibility we may see our building come to fruition in a year's time! Our building committee has been simply incredible in terms of their commitment and hard work and they way they have managed to reduce the cost of the building project. Still, it is going to stretch us to the limit if we go for it but at least it looks possible. Faith is needed especially in the light of our high commitment to missions, having to pay my salary ( LOL !), having an youth pastor intern next year (one of our member's will be taking a a year off to study at a Bible cum ministry training institute), and our expanding community outreach. All th...

If youth can "mainly" be reached this way, I wonder what changes will "have to" occur in how Sunday worship services are conducted. ASSIST News Service (ANS) - PO Box 609, Lake Forest, CA 92609-0609 USA Visit our web site at: www.assistnews.net -- E-mail: assistnews@aol.com Thursday, October 8, 2009 BGEA Today - A Ministry Grows Young By Erik Orgen, Billy Graham Evangelistic Association Special to ASSIST News Service MINNEAPOLIS, MN (ANS) -- Billy Graham Crusades: we can all picture them in our minds. Large stadiums filled with people singing Just As I Am, streaming forward at the evangelist's heartfelt appeal to place their faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior. More than 315 million people around the world witnessed this in person. Countless millions more were moved by it through the electric glow of their living room television sets, first in black-and-white and then in color. For years, one could say that Billy Graham Crusades WERE the Billy Graham Evangel...

This has been a really scary month with so many "natural disasters". A church member is missing a sister and her children in Samoa ... Now just in ... God have mercy! Tsunami warning after 7.8 quake off Vanuatu BREAKING 11:43AM Thursday Oct 08, 2009 The figure 1 shows where the latest earthquake struck. Map / Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre Are you in the area? Send us information, photos and video New Zealanders are being warned to stay off beaches and out of boats after a tsunami warning was triggered by a large earthquake off Vanuatu. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre has issued a warning for Pacific Islands and Papua New Guinea after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck off Vanuatu. New Zealand, Samoa and Australia are among places on tsunami watch. The centre says it is not known whether a tsunami has been generated but an earthquake of this size has the potential to generate a destructive wave that can strike coastlines near the epicentre within minutes and more distant c...

Just posted up my latest Pastor's Notes. Click here if interested.