I'm 38 this week. As a 38 year old, I don't need much and my daughters are disappointed when I already went and bought new socks recently (so that crosses THAT off the list of possibilities!).
We are usually with my parents during my birthday which I love the best. Being with them. Watching my children enjoy them. Enjoying the Northern Hemisphere warmth of summer.
But this year, I'll settle for 2nd best. A missions conference in the morning where I'll get to share about my work and how local Presbyterians can be involved. Lunch with my family. And dinner with friends at the Emily's Voice Gala Dinner.
As students are studying for exams and then away over their winter break, I'm
fine-tuning my seminar for Mid Year Conference on "Politics and the Cross",
recruiting new student leaders to join my team for 2020,
coaching our faculty clusters through organising their evangelistic events for Semester 2,
thinking through leadership development for men and women in Christian organisations,
and preparing my talk for the August Women's Winter Festival.
Family
One of the great joys of my job is that it is flexible enough for me to take my girls to school in the morning and pick them up afterwards.
Olivia spends her time after school drawing and making up stories. Notebooks, pens and coloured pencils are her constant companions.
Ella spends a good hour+ in bed at night cracking up over another re-read of a Pheobe and Her Unicorn book. She's also recently developed a fascination with learning magic tricks.
In the above video, we had a go at the Mentos in Diet Coke challenge this past weekend. I feel we need to re-visit the Mythbusters episode where they get epic height out of the soda geyser.
Connecting and Investing
Over the winter season I will give you short weekly prompts to help you connect with the inner workings of University Fellowship of Christians, including stories about people and invite you to act in different ways to engage with our mission.
Engage with others who are taking action this season in the Facebook group.
If you'd like to invest in my work through regular, ongoing financial support, please click on the SUPPORT button below.
Giving Back to You
Sharing resources is my way of giving back to you and supporting your own relationship with Jesus and your church family and your own ministry. All links have been shared in Christine: Behind the Scenes. Join us in the group to discuss how the content might affect our lives and gospel work.
Thorny Questions: [VIDEO Series] Speak Life has a series of pithy videos where they respond to frequently asked questions by skeptics. This is a great resource for our Uni Faculty Clusters as they plan to put on evangelistic events during Semester 2.
Can We Finally Break the Silence Around Tamar? and Let Tamar Be Silenced No Longer: Two great articles about Tamar, daughter of David, who was raped by her half brother. This passage is often not handled well, if at all, from the pulpit.
Preparing Talks and Sermons: Rory Shiner: For those curious about what's involved and how long a preacher dedicates to preparing a sermon, this is insightful. I'm particularly drawn to the practice of meeting with the church staff on Monday morning to discuss the passage and how the team sees it directly affecting the local body of Christ.
Tim Keller's Top 10 Tips for Personal Evangelism: #4 Share your problems with others – testify to how your faith helps you
Have We Made Bible Study Too Simple?: "Theology isn’t meant to be done in a vacuum. It takes community and practice. I very much believe that theology is a public practice, where we can discern the Spirit together, and strengthen each other through what we have studied in the Word and how we live it out. It takes away the blind spots and personal biases we may lay on top of Scripture and helps to make clear what God is saying through His Word."
Upcoming Speaking Events:
15 June: Mission Possible (St. Johns Presbyterian Church) Event Missions Spot
10-13 July: Mid-Year Conference Workshop (Thinking Theologically about Politics)
29 July: Preachers Workshop (“Flair for the Dramatic”: helping preachers move beyond reading a script.)
11 August: Women's Winter Festival Sermon (Jesus Is ... Light of the World)
12 September: Engage Conference Workshop (Social Media, Part 2)
22 September: Summerleas Christian Church Missions Spot