Yadda Yadda Yadda

In case you needed further proof of the fact that my brother & I are insane, here you go:



This is Luke (aka Guru) & I on the way to his 21st last year singing in the car. It's recorded on my phone, so that's why it looks a bit dodgy.



This is us in the kitched just after I got my new phone. Don't ask. And I'm not sure what noise I made at the end of that video...

And just because I thought this was fun! I stole it off Howie's blog.



I'm going to go with MORE scared!

Happy birthday to you!
Happy birthday to you!
Happy birthday dear Rob!
Happy birthday to you!

Hope you have a fantastic day!

Time for the weekly Triple J update. This week my ratings went up AGAIN and I now hold places 52 & 69 overall!!! I am stoked, but baffled as to how this is happening! I also now hold places 1 & 2 for my genre (electronic). NUMBER 1!!!! Thank you so much for voting for me! And if you haven't voted for me yet, please do! Keep passing the word around!

I just realised I haven't posted wedding photos yet! Aaron (aka Soldier) & Jen tied the knot on Feb 10th. It was such a great day! We all had stacks of fun and it was great to celebrate their new life together. I was honoured to be a part of it, I sang & played the piano during the ceremony. This is a shot during the ceremony.


Signing the register. Aren't they a good looking bunch? Jen wore a green dress which was stunning and the boys got top hats! How fun! The groomsmen are Glenn & Ben (Left to Right), and the bridesmaids are Emily & Anne (Left to Right). Everyone just looked so pretty!



This is Anna & I as the reception was starting. You can see the photos get sillier as the night goes on...




This is the amazing cake that Ben made. What a clever boy he is. And he sacrificed an awful lot of sleep to make it. Yay for Ben!













Simone & I














The happy couple cutting the happy cake.










Matt (aka KK) & I looking incredibly attractive. Control yourself people. You know you want us!











Revvy & I. The beard has been significantly chopped since then. Revvy is now no longer a terror suspect.









This is Jo & Brent (aka Wire). Aren't they a good looking couple? Everyone sigh. Awwww!








Cazz & I.









Neale & Jess, yet another good looking couple!








Sam & Mike (from left to right). Not a couple, but still good looking!










First dance as husband & wife. Awwww!















The lovely Cazz just after she caught the bouquet. Yes, for once, I did NOT catch the bouquet!














Brent & I with Mike popping his head up in the background, he did that in quite a few photos!











Brent, Jo & I with Mike, once again, in the background!










Chrystal (aka Mrs Dboy) & I.









Once again (as per other wedding photos) Ben has decided to try to eat people, specifically me. Something different for him...









Glenn & I. Doesn't he scrub up nicely!









The groom & I. Yay for Aaron!








Anna & Rob. Awwww! It was their 1 year wedding anniversary the next day. Which was a month and a half ago now. I am so slack.... Sorry!










Brent, Mike & I (from left to right)







Hugh, Amy & I with lollypops. How fun! They were on every table. The lollypops that is, not Hugh & Amy. Another good looking couple! Hugh & Amy, not the lollypops.








Isn't Emily pretty? She was one of Jen's bridesmaids.








Lots of people in this one. From left to right we have Danny, Kate, Jo, Cazz & I.






Anna, Rob & I looking gorgeous. And oh so normal.










Like I said, Ben likes to eat people, and I think Rob just wanted to be in the photo. And there is someone's head sticking up at the back. Not Mike this time, but Anna.











From left to right, Chrystal, Carolyn & I.













Simone with someone's top hat, probably Ben's, and a glass of champagne, that I don't think was hers either. THEIF!











Paul (aka Billy) and Andrew having lots of fun. I have so many photos of those two. What posers!






Group shot! From left to right we have Andrew, Debbie, Rachael & I. And we have Paul popping his head up in the front. Fun times! Man do I look creepy in that photo!! What's up with my freaky eyes?!






Tim, Rob & I in a very serious shot.









And last, but not least, this is Kate & I. I think she stole Ben's hat too. That hat certainly did the rounds that night!






So as you can see we certainly had an amazing time. It was a wonderful day and I'm really happy for Aaron & Jen. They are really happy together and I know they will have a great life as husband and wife. Congrats guys. Love you heaps!

I just drove a friend back to Sunbury (for those Melbournites) where he is staying. He's from Sydney. I got sooooo unbelievably lost! I'm a moron. It's official. It took us almost 2 hours to get there, and took me 45 minutes to get home. I suck at reading maps. Now I'm tired and have uni @ 9am. Damn.

More exciting news! Thanks again to everyone who has been voting for me in Triple J's unearthed comp! This week my ratings went up again and I now hold places 81 & 91 overall!!! That's unbelievable! I am so excited!!!! I also hold places 6 & 7 for my genre (electronic). Thank you so much to everyone who has voted for me! You may be confused as to why I only have 2 songs in the charts this week coz I had 3 last week, well I took 1 of my songs down to upload a different one, and that hasn't been approved yet. I'll let you know when it is. Keep passing the word around! Love,

Meags

This is an article written by the new national director of FORGE, Andrew Hamilton. I thought it was really interesting. I'd be interested in getting your thoughts.




ARE WE THERE YET?


A few Forge intensives ago I listened to Mark Sayers provide an excellent overview of how the 'emerging church' has emerged so far... Its been an interesting journey with some signficant shifts in thinking having happened very rapidly already.

Here's my plagiarised, summarised and modified adaption of Mark's presentation.

Stage 1 - What Shall We Sing? - As trivial as it may seem now, I have a sense that the whole hymns / choruses, 'worship wars' saga was actually the start of something. It was a recognition that there just may be a different way to do things. It wasn't necessarily missional in its philosophy - rather it was often just Christians who were sick of singing the same songs over and over - who decided to sing different songs over and over…

But ouch - the pain of such a vicious debate over what we now see as such simple things! At least it began the process of thought. Can we do things even a little differently? Is there a 'right' way?... Or could there be other ways?...

Stage 2 - Everybody Gets a Drum Kit - Otherwise known as 'contemporary worship'. Some churches bit the bullet, took the hit and went and bought a drum kit, a keyboard and a decent sound system.

We began to sing songs that sounded a bit more like what you would hear on the radio, even if the musicians were average and the singers below par. We had drama as part of the service, practical sermons with 'fill in the blank' handouts and music practices took on a whole new look - because 'excellence' was the goal.

Some variety came into the worship service - but funnily enough it soon developed into a different but fairly predictable routine - 4 fast songs, (which we called praise) 4 slow (which we called worship) the usual offering and annoucments followed by the sermon.

There was no fundamental change in the DNA of the beast, and sadly for many modern churches this has been the end of the road.

Stage 3 - Gen X Worship - As above but with dim lights and candles.

I don't think I'm overstating it? Perhaps the only other real change was funkier and/or louder music, but in a more ambient environment. There was at least talk of the fact that an emerging generation were seeking some different things. We read books like "Inside the Mind of a New Generation" and realised that community was a priority, process was more important than product and so on... you know the drill.

It actually felt like we were on the cutting edge - but my guess is that it was only edgy for the church - not for those in our local communities who didn't know Jesus. They remained relatively underwhelmed with our great leaps forward.

Stage 4 - Hmmmm Crunchy! - The alt worship crowd recognised that we do not all learn, worship and experience God in the same ways.

They reminded us that there were five senses and it was ok to smell, touch, taste things in church. They looked way back and recovered some valuable ancient practices. As a result some very creative expressions of worship emerged. But my experience was that it was mostly about creating a better more engaging experience for the already Christian and often it was a highly labour intensive process with huge amounts of effort going into the co-ordination of each 'worship event'..

Something was mutating but by and large it was the same animal.

-

Perhaps the most signifcant commonality to all of the stages mentioned above is that they primarily use an attractional or 'come to us' approach. Mission occurs as more people join the gathering and the more attractive the gathering the more likely people will come.

There has been some 'success' in each of these stages, but I have a sense that they are each fundamentally flawed in that they seem to suggest that if we get the worship gathering happening right then the people will come.

It suggests that missiology follows ecclesiology. The fifth stage takes a radically different approach.

-

Stage 5 - Incarnational Faith Communities - Also known as the Emerging Missional Church. I sense this is where many of us are at today. The key difference between this arrangement and its predecessors is that IFCs seek to understand the culture first, then do mission and from there create worshiping communities. It is a go to them approach rather than a come to us - a fundamental reconfiguration of the DNA.

It recognises that getting the meeting right is not the answer to the missional woes of the church, but that what we need to do is incarnate the gospel in our communities and then grow churches - in whatever form they may take - from there. Having been part of all of the above - and at each stage feeling like I had 'arrived' or 'found the secret' I think I am now savvy enough to know that we are not there yet. As much as I resonate strongly with the IFC conceptualisation of the church I'd like to see where we are in 10 years time…

Are we there yet?...

I went to a public lecture this evening in the city on non-violence activism. It was really interesting. It was run by an organisation called Pace Bene. Very thought provoking stuff. The speakers were John Dear & Tim Costello. I'll talk more about it later. I'm tired now.

Exciting news! Thanks to everyone who voted for me! In my first week I've taken out places 14, 15 & 16 on the electronic charts in Triple J's unearthed comp! And places 185, 187 & 188 all up! Whoo!!! I have no idea how many songs are up there, but I do know that there are thousands of bands overall. Thank you so much to everyone who has voted for me! Keep passing the word around!

Hey. I need some help. As I've said, I've entered myself in Triple J's unearthed comp



I am trying to decide which tracks would be best up there, so I'd love it if you could go to my myspace and let me know out of those 4, which 3 are the best ones. Thanks!

I got a hair cut yesterday. I bet nobody notices. No one ever notices when I get my hair cut.

I'm hitting the big 25 today. Happy Birthday to me!

It's time for a Triple J unearthed updated! I've got new versions of tracks up now and I need all the help I can get, so please rate my tunes! Thanks! And do lots of shameless promotion on my behalf!!!

We had so much fun last night! My family & I headed off to the ABC studios and were in the studio audience for 'Spicks & Specks'. They filmed 2 shows last night and one of them was the Mother's Day special. It was such a fun night. So much laughing! We had such a great time. Afterwards we got to meet Adam, Alan & Myf. They were so nice! They signed stuff for us and I got photos. Here they come!


This is Adam, Alan & me from left to right. They were very cool guys.











And here is Myf & I. She's so short! And she's a crazy woman. She shoots S&S twice a week late at night, then does Breakfast Radio! Crazy!!! I'm impressed.









This is a set shot from where I was sitting. Sweet right?


It was such a fun night, everyone was so nice and in such a good mood. Can't wait to go again in April! The tickets are free if you check out the website and call the number. It's so worth it!

Tonight my family & I are going to be in the studio audience for 'Spicks & Specks'. It's one of our favourite shows! We usually watch it together. For those of you who don't know, check it out here. It's a musical game show with famous musos and comedians. It's so funny! I'm really looking forward to it! They are taping 2 shows. Should be a great night!