Archive for January, 2007


Kite Live from Sydney

Filed Under: Music, Theology by Jodie — Leave a comment
21 January, 2007

As I sit at my desk, early on Sunday morning, putting the final touches on today’s sermon, I have just been taken back to an amazing night in November of last year. I just noticed on iTunes a new U2 track ‘Kite Live from Sydney’, and I immediately bought it because (amongst other reasons) it was recorded in Sydney on 11 November–the very night I heard it live with Mandy.

It brings memories back to me of an amazing night… an amazing experience! I’ve been a crazy U2 fan since my mate Dave Maegraith dragged me along to the movies to see ‘Rattle and Hum’ in 1988. I saw them live in the ‘Love comes to Town’ tour that followed in 1989.

Without taking anything away from the talent of Bono, The Edge, Larry and Adam, it reminds me that the euphoria many people experience in religious contexts is not necessarily of divine origin. I’m not ruling it out, but I’m not saying that a powerful sense of emotion is guaranteed to be from God. I felt amazing that night in Nov 11, but it was from U2, not God. Although, God certainly did create Bono’s amazing voice and The Edge’s incredible guitar interpretation, and the driving bass of Adam, and the solid and powerful drums of Larry.

What a night! What a single. Grab it for yourselves from iTunes. And listen out for the tribute to Cate Blanchett… and the amazing digeridoo in the background…

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Year 13 Growing and Growing!

Filed Under: Year 13 by Jodie — 4 Comments
19 January, 2007

 

When people ask me how Year 13 is going, I nearly always try and talk about the amazing growth in the course.

The greatest growth was seen in lives of the sixteen 2006 students. I’ve witnessed the ways in which they have grown in their knowledge of God and of his word. I’ve been astounded in the ways they have grown in their maturity, both as young adults and as Christian men and women. I’ve rejoiced in the growth of the Gospel as the students have proclaimed Christ as they served God in their many contexts, both locally and in Africa. And I’ve marvelled at the way in which the group has grown together in love and unity.

But 2007 is also about growth. We have grown in our number of students. At the time of writing, we expect to double in the number of students, with an estimated 30 enrolments. We have also grown in our number of staff. We welcome Trinette Armitt and Pete Gunning to our team, bringing our number to four.

Please pray that Year 13 2007 is a great year of growth in the lives of the students and staff, as together we serve God and grow in love for him and each other.

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KYLC Training

Filed Under: KCC, Youth Ministry by Jodie — Leave a comment
15 January, 2007

Training Workshop at KYLC

Today I trekked up the mountain again to Katoomba for another big afternoon of youth ministry training at KYLC.

As has been the pattern of my Januaries since 2001, I took the 200 plus first-time delegates through a 90 minute summary of my ‘Dual Action’ material, under the headings of Foundations, Fun, Focus and Fishing. And as always, I found it difficult to squeeze it down to 90 mins…but I came close!

It is exciting to know that the content of my material is now starting to stabilise. Although there have been a few tweaks, the heart of the training is very similar to that of last year, and to a large extent, the year before. Hopefully this means I should be able to finally start writing that book on youth ministry in 2007.

More training will happen next week with a repeat performance at KYLC, and then down to LiT the next day for more workshops on Youth Ministry.

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Sylvania Slice Summer Camp 2007

Filed Under: Sylvania Anglican, Youth Ministry by Jodie — Leave a comment
14 January, 2007

It’s days like today when I remember why I love youth ministry so much.

I have just got back from a great weekend away with Slice, the junior youth group at Sylvania Anglican. And I can confidently say that it has been an amazing weekend.

Part of the challenge of the youth ministry at this church has been getting the kids from church families to connect with kids outside the church. Despite our plans, the Friday afternoon timeslot didn’t work well for our junior high group, as, amongst other reasons, many of our church kids couldn’t make it. So we ended up with two mainly distinct groups. So, we have decided to merge the two groups and run Slice at 10am on Sundays.

This weekend was the first time we brought the two groups together, and it was a real success. Because no one group dominated the weekend, we were able, in the power of the Spirit of God, to create a new identity for the group. God has done a great work in our midst, and we now have a great year 5 to 8 group with a healthy mix of boys and girls, and kids from church and non-church backgrounds. The 12 kids on the weekend, plus our great team of 5 leaders, forms something new and very exciting.

Stay tuned to find out how the first group goes when we get back in February!

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Year 13 ready to Moodle

Filed Under: Education, Internet, Year 13 by Jodie — 1 Comment
12 January, 2007

I’ve been sussing out a CMS (course management system) called Moodle. I was first introduced to this open source package during my recent study of a distance education M.A. (Theology) subject through Moore College. It looks to be a very promising tool for the Year 13 program this year, and it opens up many possibilities.

Basically, it is like a MySpace/ Yahoo Group for students, but also includes online quizzes, wikis, discussion boards, and full marking and administration capabilities.

What is most exciting is the potential to use this package to provide students with the opportunity to bring their Year 13 studies into the rest of their week in an even more structured way. Rather than ask students to just read a chapter before they come to class, we could give them a short quiz to enhance their comprehension and track their progress. Even the journals that we required students to complete last year could be done online through this package.

The biggest difficulty I see is making sure that we keep the value of our face-to-face contact. We need to be able to love/serve/cry/sing/listen/pray together in a real place at a real time. However, this tool may even prove as an enhancement for that very objective, since some of the course delivery could happen online from home, leaving more time for discussion and community of the real type when we meet each Thursday and Friday.

Perhaps Moodle is the ideal learning tool for Gen Y?

Have you had any experience with online/distance learning? Have you used Moodle before? Do you have any suggestions about how it might be best implemented?

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