In Swellendam at a Catholic convent

Today we drove drove to Swellendam to look at a piece of property that the Catholic Church is looking to get rid of. It would make a great community centre for economic empowerment and social development. It is a lovely sunny day!

Getting the best out of people - some advice from Desmond Tutu

'We all blossom in the presence of one who sees the good in us and who can coax the best out of us' - Archbishop Desmond Tutu

My back yard (well, sort of)...

It is a magnificent winter's day in Cape Town today! The sky is clear, there is now wind, and I drove past this view on my way to a meeting!

It doesn't get too much better than this!

A great bike in front of a great place

On my way home from my meeting in Franschhoek this morning I stopped on the Stellenbosch University campus to take this photograph. This is my BMW 650GS in front of the lovely faculty of theology (seminarium / 'kweek skool') building. I spent many, many, many happy hours here working on my doctorate.

It sure is great to be back in Cape Town!

An all weather biker, on a ride out to a meeting Franschhoek

I was back in Franschhoek today for the Global Day of Prayer international meeting on our friend Hanelli Rupert's wine farm, LaMotte.

When I woke up it was clear in Somerset West, so I decided to ride my BMW 650GS through Stellenbosch, the Pniel area and some incredible scenery on the way to Franschhoek. It was an incredible ride!

However, by the time I got to Stellenbosch the rain started. It was WET! But, I had my all weather gear and took it slowly. It was fantastic to ride through this wonderfal part of the Cape.

Great service from South African Home affairs at Paarl

This morning Graham and I stopped in at the Paarl department of home affairs in Castle street Paarl to get our passports renewed. I've been doing so much travelling that my current passport is full, so I have needed to get a new 'maxi' passport to have enough space for visas and stamps for the trips that I have ahead of me.

Many tell horror stories of a lack of service and poor treatment at Departments of Home Affairs in South Africa. My experience was so different! The atmosphere was pleasant, the civil servants were courteous and helpful, and I was in and out of there in under 30 minutes.

Wonderful!

It's wet and rainy in Franschhoek - LaMotte

This picture was taken at the farm, LaMotte in Franschhoek. It is wet, but lovely, here today!

It is great to be back in the Cape.

International Global Day of Prayer leaders' meeting at LaMotte in Franschhoek.

For the next three days we are meeting with a number of key international Global Day of Prayer leaders at the LaMotte estate in Franschhoek. There are persons from every continent - each one of them a mobilizer for prayer across the world.

It has been amazing for me to realise just how little time, energy, and effort I put into prayer (as a lifestyle) in my ministry. Sure, I pray, and I encouraged others to pray and lead groups in prayer - but these folks seem so committed to ongoing prayer for the needs and struggles of the people they are called to serve!

For some years now I have taken responsibility to pray for each of the student ministers of our denomination (the Methodist Church of Southern Africa) by name (both those that I know and those I have never met). But, I am learning to pray for so many more persons and issues with intention amd passion.

Wouldn't it be incredible if we could live in a world where every person and every need was prayed for?

In my last Radio Pulpit radio show I mentioned that I would love to pray for needs and persons and received so many requests! It was so encouraging! I have asked our intercessory group to assist with those.

Impact World Tour breakfast with Mark Anderson

The impact world tour is a move to seek to encounter the emerging generation with the Gospel in a focussed manner. Think about this 80% of all people who come to faith are under the age of 18, yet 93% of the Church's resources are spent on people over the age of 45! This is a scary indictment on the Church! So, the question is 'what does it take to reach this generation?', and 'what will be the Church models going forward'

The central idea is:

1. Engage young people in a 'life shift' with the Gospel. So the key is not to 'join' anything (although every person who comes to faith in Christ is followed up by pre-trained local Christians).

2. Do this in a very strategic manner. So the outreach methods are targetted by age, culture, context etc. (so extreme sports for kids, rock bands for teens etc.)

3. Ensure that the content of the presentation of the Gospel is engaging and relevant (not just experience based, but truly addressing the real needs of the individual and the community).

4. Train local Christians and Church communities to effectively disciple every person who comes to faith in Christ!

For more details please see http://www.impactworldtour.com

The intention is to start with the outreach in 2009.

Think of this analogy - the evangelistic movements (such as these) are like the lumberjacks who move into a forest with chainsaws and cut down the large trees. However, once those logs have been cut down they need to be shaped, formed, and made useful. So, someone needs to cut the trees into logs, get them to lumber yards, then further work them into planks for houses, wood for tables, chairs, and even some for 'toothpicks'!

One needs evangelists (lumberjacks), one needs transporters and lumber yard builders (Church planters and growers), and then disciplers (pulpit and marketplace ministers who equip and grow people for their God given ministry). Of course there are also some people like Mark Anderson (the tall guy in the beige sports coat) and Graham Power (to his right in a blue sweater) who are 'project managers'.

I would encourage you to pray about getting on board with this incredible work! It is a YWAM (Youth with a mission) project.

Have a blessed day!

Happy Father's day - I can still remember.

Tonight I have been pondering the paradox of parenthood - such great joy, but at times great sorrow.

I cannot imagine my life without my children Courtney and Liam. Their lives are a gift to me. I love them with an all consuming love that has the capacity to put every other experience on a pail and distant horizon. Not a day goes by where I do not pray for them. Yet sadly even this love is not perfect. I work too much, I am far too impatient, I sometimes struggle to respond appropriately with joy, and often react with undeserved anger because I am stressed and under pressure. But, they love me! And that is enough.

I love the fact that my daughter is still proud of her dad (although the other day when I was invited to speak at her school assembly she did gently ask me if I could do my best to 'walk properly' - I suppose my limp embarrasses her! Ha ha! I could not walk properly, so I asked the headmaster to mention that Courtney's dad had recently had a motorbike accident. She smiled.) As for Liam, I cannot say how thankful I am that he is alive. His short life almost ended a number of times in those early days. I have never prayed so much in all my life! Megan and I still fast every Friday for all children and parents in need. It is a joy.

So, I thank God that I am a father.

Today, however, I also thank God that I am a son. I was born to Donald Ian Forster and Karyn Forster way back in 1972 (the picture shows my dad a few months before his death). This year is the first year in which I shall celebrate Father's day without my dad - he died on the 31st of December 2007. Today I thank God for his love, patience, guidance and nurture.

Happy Father's day dad. I miss you.

Would you like to be a published author? This might just be your opportunity to get your thoughts into print!

I like to initiate new projects, and I like it even more when these projects help to develop the people who participate in getting them going! That's how I first got my break in publishing.

So, here's the idea. I would like to put together a new book in which I gather some pressing questions and answers to issues that the Church is facing at present.

You don't need to be trained as a theologian, a pastor, minister, or priest, to participate in the project! Heck, you don't even have to be a Christian or belong to a Church, to get involved! If you think about faith, and have some questions about the Church then consider making a contribution.

Here's what I envision:

1. What are the 10 most pressing, urgent, and difficult questions that the Church is currently facing? If you can think of a few, then drop me an email!

2. Once I have gathered responses and ranked the questions (based on how many people asked a particular question) I am going to ask for answers or responses to these questions from as many people as possible. The answers need only be a paragraph or so in length. All contributors will be referenced and properly acknowledged. We're not looking for rocket science contributions, just honest, challenging, thought provoking, questions and answers!

3. When I have gathered sufficient feedback I will write a few comments on both the questions and answers that were supplied, as well as some introductory and concluding comments. Having done this the book will be prepared for publication and put into print!

So, if you're interested in participating please drop me a line at digitaldion@gmail.com.

Please could I ask my 'blogging friends' to give this idea some thought and consider giving it a bit of exposure on your blogs (Wes, Pete, Gus, Sivin, Barry, Mike Stopforth
Wessel (wesselsplace), Pete (rock in the grass), Gus (gruntleblog), Barry (seethrough), Sifiso (sifiso's world), Sivin (sivinkit), Emily (Christ Church), David (skypilot), Aiden (aidencholes), John (sacredise), Andre (Sharky), Murray (Murray & Gina), Stephen Murray (daylight...), Steve Hayes (Khanya), Jenny (Carpenters shoes), Greg (Dassies Bounce), Kevin (memoirs of an ex Christian), David (naked pastor), Mike Stopforth, Graeme Codrington, Scott McKnight... and whoever else I can think of!

If there are any of you have a few contacts, or ideas of persons that I could contact directly, please let me know!

I think this could be an incredible opportunity to get some magnificent ideas out there, to stimulate thought and discussion, but also to give some newer writers an opportunity to get something published alongside more experienced scholars, writers, and [Christian] thinkers - that's how I got my first break in publishing! This is an ubuntu project - let's discover a deeper identity and greater collective insight into the Church and the Christian faith by learning from and with one another.

The neuroscience of selling your stuff... Here's why it hurts!

Before getting to the interesting 'brain' stuff story, the good news is that I have completed the text for the next book that Dr. Wessel Bentley and I are working on! The working title of the book (that is being published by the Methodist Publishing House) is 'What are we thinking: Reflections on Church and Society by Southern African Methodists' We intend launching this fantastic book at the Methodist Church of Southern Africa's annual Conference in Bloemfontein (September 2008). So, keep an eye on this space!

Now that I have done with that project I am returning to a perennial project that seems to have been a part of my thinking for some years now... A book that considers and discusses some elements of the relationship between neuroscience and Christian theology. I have not yet decided on the final title for the book, the working title is 'Why you're not who you think you are! Adventures in neuroscience and theology'.

Whenever I am working on a project I tend to notice posts and publications that relate to my topic much more frequently. So, my 'neurons' have become quite sensitive to just about everything I can find about... well, neurons!

I came across this interesting post on Boingboing late last night and thought it was quite informative. As my wife (and friends) will tell you, I tend to like gadgets, and I tend to be quite fond of holding on to them! I still have my tiny little Libretto 100CT computer (with a 486DX 233Mhz processor and 32MB of ram...)

Well, this may explain why we struggle to sell things that we own (and like):

We sometimes say that it "hurts" to part with our stuff even if it's junk, and we know it's junk. Behavioral scientists call it the endowment effect, a theory that people put higher values on things once they own them. Turns out though that it actually does hurt to sell something you own, and it has nothing to do with overvaluing. Stanford University and University of Pennsylvania psychologists recreated the endowment effect in volunteers while scanning their brains with MRI. From Nature News:

If the reason for the endowment effect came from the products being overvalued by their owners, (professor Brian) Knutson’s team expected to see a part of the brain called the nucleus accumbus change during the test. It didn’t, “whether buying or selling, the activation in the nucleus accumbus looked the same”, says (co-author professor Scott) Rick.

But others part of the brain, the insula, which has a role in the experience of pain, and the greater mesial prefrontal cortex became activated when the subjects contemplated selling one of their items. If they had ranked that item as one they particularly liked, the change in the insula was greater.

According to this research, this is because of loss aversion, says Rick. “It is not because people are overplaying the positive [aspects of a possession].” Rather, we just become attached to objects we own — so much so that it takes a lot to convince us to part with them.

Link