GlocalNet

While I was in Australia I met and hung out with some really awesome people.  You can see their pictures below.  Steve Addison and his son Locky - or Lucky as I call him.  Peter Botross - a young Egyptian church planter who absolutely rocks.  You can read “Defying Death” - by Zakaria Botross - Apostle to Islam - it is his Father.  He is a modern day Paul - I hope to get to meet him as well one day.  He’s in a category all his own.  Google him.  He practices some of what I write about and is a living example of it.  Philip Kua - a Chinese pastor - who’s grandfather built most of the churches in Malaysia - now leading in Melbourne.  Jossy Chacko - you can read his story in his book “Madness” - an Indian who has a ministry called Empart and has planted some 1100 churches in India in the past 10 years.  They will plant over 500 this year alone and are heading towards 100,000!  They have the same philosophy of church planting and community engagement as being the same - there was a lot of chemistry there.  You can see him with his church planters toolkit - not your typical Bob Logan kit but it works, bicycle and all! 

The church in Australia should come together because of it’s strategic location.  It has the benefit of being connected to the West thereby accessing her resources a lot easier.  But, because the people are closer to Asia than anywhere, there is a smaller gap in cultural awareness and global events and life there than anywhere in the West.  The people are also very multi-ethnic.  I’ve been told Sydney is the most multi-ethnic city in the world - don’t know if that’s true or not.  I was told Melbourne is one of the top cities in the world for that as well. 

Sooooo . . . . I threw it out to them when I spoke - what if we came together to tackle the suffering in Sudan . . . . and the response has been fascinating - we’ll see where this goes.  BUT immediately I found out the Chinese pastor is taking his church there - we then went around the room I asked them who knew someone, or had some unusual contact there - about half the people did.  Then I got an email from Ricky Bradshaw saying the brothers in Houston want to see about doing something with it.  Could it be . . . . .  .

If I was a young planter - and starting all over - I’d have to give Australia a serious serious look if I wanted to be a global church . . . . .