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Mike Baird is the new MP for Manly, following his win in the NSW State Election on Saturday. I’ve known Mike for almost 20 years, from the time when we were both involved in the youth ministry at Christ Church St Ives Anglican, to the present. In fact, Kerryn Baird was one of Mandy’s bridesmaids 15 years ago.

Late last year, Mike generously offered his time (and the board room of HSBC Bank) for the Year 13 students when he talked about being a Christian in the corporate world.

I offer Mike my congratulations and prayers, knowing that parliament is not an easy gig for a Christian. However, I know that Mike is passionate about service, and parliament is a great opportunity to serve his constituents and colleagues as he follows the example of Jesus.

Year 13 has started for 2007 with a terrific weekend away, followed by two great weeks of lectures. The gang of 26 students and 4 staff have quickly settled in to what is shaping up to be a great year of service and growth.

Many of the changes for this year have been received well, including the new online learning and the introduction of the ‘Doctrine’ course.

Stay tuned for more updates, especially as we start to lock-down some of the new changes for 2007, including a local alternative to the Africa mission, plus other surprises!

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.

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?

Jodie has had a great year at work, launching and leading the new Youthworks ‘Year 13’ program. He keeps wishing it was around when he was 18, so that he could’ve avoided making his mistakes as a very young adult. He also keeps training people in youth ministry, organising the TWIST conference, and doing youth ministry and music at our church at Sylvania Anglican.  And last, but certainly not least, he loves relaxing with family and friends, usually with coffee in hand!

Mandy has been a busy mum, running a household of  three kids plus Hugo, our newborn (13 May 06.) She leads the ‘WOW’ (Women on Wednesday’) Bible study, and co-leads the youth with Jodie. As ‘Chief of Staff’ in the McNeill household, she continues to avidly watch ‘The West Wing’ for tips on how to keep the President in line.

Liana (9 in January) has entered the ‘Tweens,’ and seems only days away from adolescence. She loves to sing, dance and talk (frequently all at once) and would love a pony if she could somehow sneak one into her bedroom.

Jemimah (8 in February) is loving school, and continues to keep up with her older sister in many ways. She shares the family love of music, but has developed an uncharacteristic love of maths (drawing upon talents previously undiscovered in our DNA.)

Oscar (4 in January) loves anything with wheels. He plays with his cars 24/7, and only pauses when he stops to watch his favourite DVD…yes, ‘Cars!’ He loves preschool and continues to be a testament to the difference testosterone makes in a growing child.

Hugo (8 months) is a ‘mini-me’ version of Jodie…permanent smile, blonde hair, and an attention span that should keep the makers of Ritalin in business for years. Despite a few respiratory illnesses, he keeps smiling, and smiling… 

2006 has been a great year for the McNeills. We have settled in well to our new house in Sylvania (yes, ‘The Shire!’) and are continuing to love our church, job, and spending time with our friends and family, both new and old. We are thankful to God for our health, and for the ways in which he keeps sustaining us through the normal ups and downs of life. Overall, it has been a full-on year, with a new house, child, and job responsibilities for Jodie, which has made us feel a bit too frantic at times. But we look forward the opportunity to consolidate our roles and responsibilities in 2007 (i.e. less changes… yeah, right!)

To God be the glory!