http://www.sydneyanglicans.net/news/insight/moore_courses_go_part_time/

Well we’ve hit #4 of the Pilgrim’s Podcast!

This episode was a world first for Steve and me! We had the first ever woman join the Pilgrim’s Podcast (and many more to come!).  Ruth Lee came and shared all about the RICE movement: Revolution, Events, Regenerate, and upcoming conferences!  She’s awesome – and a great pilgrim who loves Jesus! We also heard all about the great work with the EQUIP women’s conferences – in fact, we signed up to get a Pilgrim’s Podcast team down there next year!

We also: had an awesome start to the podcast, launched our SMBC lovespot, gave shnouncements, talked about how to balance our work and play for Jesus, and Ruthy identified with an amazing movie! Get into it!

RICE: www.riceevent.org.au
RICE REGENERATE: www.riceregenerate.org
EQUIP: www.equip.org.au (next event: Saturday 8th May, 2010)

Can I put a serious plug in here for the RICE movement.  Sam Mak, Steve Chong, Ruthy and others are wonderful servants of our Lord and He is blessing this ministry in great ways.  If you haven’t (or your church hasn’t) yet gotten involved, do it! Hit up the site above and get in touch – great things are happening now, and there are great plans for the future too!

Listen here:

Here’s the current website: http://moore.edu.au/and here’s 5 of my thoughts.  I’m going no-holds-barred, so I want your raw thoughts too.

1) The website looks awful.  Design-wise it’s outdated and looks completely piecemeal.
2) The video excerpts lack production.  Compare this with http://www.wts.edu/resources/media.html and http://www.marshillchurch.org/media/sermons.  We need to step it up.
3) No course material is offered online.  Compare this to http://www.rts.edu/ who offer excellent reformed courses online via iTunes http://www.covenantseminary.edu/ 
4) We have recorded (audio/visual) lectures and sermons just doing nothing.  Just like http://www.wts.edu/ who opened up over 50 years of lectures (John Murray, Van Til, Gaffin, Bahsen, Clowney, Beale), we should too! 
5) The enrolment info is extensive and easy to get.  This is my positive point.  If you want to come, it’s pretty easy to work out what to do.

But what else needs to be done to get in touch with the current generation? iTunes, FB, Podcasts, Twitter? …. Google Wave? People I speak to are more and more just learning from listening – and that’s not a bad thing in itself – but how can we get there?

A bunch of bloggers in Sydney got together for dinner tonight at the Nag’s Head Hotel in Glebe.  It was a great time.  Good banter, good fellowship and especially great to meet in person those who we’ve had cyber-contact with!

Justin organised it, and it was great to meet him and share a few laughs.  A great guy who is thinking and working passionately to see people come to love Jesus in Sydney.  Doug and I rocked up together and met a bunch of lovely people: Michael Canaris who posts regularly on his blog and on Sydney Anglicans, Karen who’s got a great blog (with a great name!), Georgina who’s a friend of Doug’s from Wildside days, and Craig Schwarze who’s got a cracking blog and who writes a column on Sydney Anglicans.

We chatted about many things – from blogs (could we avoid it?) to Moore college, to St. Phillip’s York Street, to Boxing and UFC!

Thanks for a great time guys – look forward to doing it again!

What a great thing! Let’s pray it’s the start of something good for the Kingdom of our Lord.

“Over two days, on 16–17 September, guests from around the world and all over Australia will come together at Moore College to engage afresh with the great Genevan Reformer and his theological legacy. Paul Helm of Regent College, Vancouver will speak about Calvin and philosophy. Oliver Crisp of the University of Bristol will explore Calvin’s understanding of Prayer. Ashley Null, world expert in the the theology of the English Reformation, will uncover Calvin’s impact on Tudor Anglicanism. Peter Adam, Principal of Ridley College, Melbourne will address the subject of Calvin and preaching. And Peter Jensen, Archbishop of Sydney, will speak about the role of Calvin’s theology in theological education today.

Martin Foord from Trinity College in Perth will locate Calvin’s treatment of 1 Timothy 2:4 against the exegetical tradition he inherited. John Maclean from the Presbyterian Theological Centre in Sydney will engage with Calvin’s treatment of the sacraments.”

Looks awesome – be there! I hear there’s 2 streams: 1) aimed more at the upper theological level, and 2) one aimed more at the layperson’s level.  Both streams look fantastic, and I hope it’ll be a privilege to hear from these great Calvin scholars.  Having recently read Paul Helm‘s Calvin and the Calvinists, I’m looking forward to hearing him on Calvin!