PernellGoodyear.com

Recent Worship Gathering Pics

2008-05-01T20:30:00.002-04:00

Want to see pictures (taken by Krista Jefferson) of a recent worship gathering at The Freeway? Click here.

Changing Rooms, Changing Habits

2008-04-17T08:53:00.003-04:00

Up until a couple days ago, I didn't have an office.

I used to have a home office. But it was taken over by the family for the computer and crafts, and whenever we have guests who need a place to stay (which is far more regularly than you might imagine), and for storage... and the room was re-named "spare room." I didn't mind at all. I am used to working wherever, finding wireless cafes, working in our living room, setting up shop at our coffee house (where I also don't have an office), etc. But that's the beauty of office to go.

But I had noticed my productivity and creativity were beginning to suffer lately. Especially since my role has become far more administrative as of late.

My daughter, Samantha - who will be ten in June and is growing up and becoming a young lady way faster than I'd like - wanted to switch rooms with the "spare room" because the "spare room" has a big closet (the biggest one in the house). "Why does a ten year old girl need a big closet?"... well, apparently that's a stupid question. So two days ago we switched the two rooms. She's growing up. We even had to buy her new bedding and accessories because her old stuff was for "little girls."

Samantha switching rooms is a move far bigger than switching rooms. It's allowing her space to grow up a little bit. Now, that's hard for a dad. Really hard. It seems like just yesterday that I held this little blonde baby in my arms and rocked her gently and thought "man, she looks like E.T." Now she needs a bigger closet?

Anyway, this meant that I had the opportunity to reclaim some office space (at the suggestion of my wifey... but I think she was just trying to soften the blow of my daughter growing up on me). So, I have set up shop in my new space. I am away all weekend, so I will paint it early next week because it's too "little girl" for me too.

Already, it has enhanced my productivity and comfort as I work. Hopefully, that will transfer into more creative thought. I'll try and post some pictures so you can all see where the magic happens.

Have Your Cake And Eat It Too... My Life In Music

2008-04-11T10:47:00.004-04:00

This video is of Cake... and it's delicious.

I was first introduced to Cake in 1996 when I lived in Barrie where I was a youth pastor. My friend, John-Mark, who has recently returned from Ghana where him, his wife and their two girls were missionaries for two years, played "Fashion Nugget" - a Cake CD - in the car one day and I instantly fell in love.

The funky drums, bass, and guitar, along with the catchy rhythms and unique vocal styling's won me over. I have been a big fan ever since. In fact, I have said on many occasions, when probed for such information, that they are one of my top five favourite bands of all time. I can often be seen and heard singing loudly to Cake tunes in my car. Cake makes me happy.

Music has always been huge in my life. From using music as therapy and escape from family feuds, to playing in several bands, to being a radio DJ for a while, to my church leadership experience, etc. I want to explore my life in music in some subsequent posts, bit by bit.

Missional Church? Be Prepared To Work Together

2008-04-06T10:22:00.002-04:00

Spring | Fun | Sun

2008-04-05T16:39:00.004-04:00

We spent the whole day outside today because it was beautiful out. We rode our bikes, did sidewalk chaulk art, played some sports, took a walk. Good times.

I snapped a few photos, if you're interested:
Link

Pictures From Our Recent Cultivate Gathering

2008-04-01T17:02:00.003-04:00

Podcasts and a review of our recent Cultivate Gathering will be online soon. For now, enjoy some pictures of the day: Link

He Is Risen!

2008-03-23T10:05:00.004-04:00

O happy day.

I found this on several blogs this weekend. It's the creed of the Massai [an indiginous African tribe]. Absolutely beautiful.

We believe in one high God, who out of love created the beautiful world. We believe that God made good His promise by sending His Son, Jesus Christ, a man in the flesh, a Jew by tribe, born poor in a little village, who left His home and was always on safari doing good, curing people by the power of God, teaching about God and [humanity], and showing that the meaning of religion is love. He was rejected by His people, tortured and nailed hands and feet to a cross, and died. He was buried in the grave, but the hyenas did not touch Him, and on the third day He rose from the grave. He ascended to the skies. He is the Lord.

We believe that all our sins are forgiven through him. All who have faith in him must be sorry for their sins, be baptized in the Holy Spirit of God, live the rules of love, and share the bread together in love, to announce the good news to others until Jesus comes again. We are waiting for him. He is alive. He lives. This we believe. Amen.

Cultivate Gathering: Spring '08

2008-03-22T00:58:00.007-04:00

Cultivate Gathering: Spring '08 [a learning party for those interested in creating mission-shaped churches] is coming up at The Freeway next Saturday, March 29th. There are still a few spots left if you want to register.

We have split the day into three segments which have been selected to create dialogue in the area of leading [and planting] missional communities that move back into the neighbourhood:

planting [grassroots storytelling]
neighbourhood [living incarnationally]
leading [forming community]

In each segment we will hear the story of some folks who have been asked ahead of time, then we will have an open mic time for anyone in the room to add their two cents to the segment, and then we split into discussion pods - open space style - to create conversations with one another on various topics with each segment.

Some pretty cool people are already registered for Cultivate this time around. I look forward to spending the day swapping stories and inspiring each other. Why don't you come?

www.cultivategathering.com

Speaking Engagements | Listening & Interaction Opportunities

2008-03-18T18:39:00.007-04:00

Last week I spoke six times in seven days. Tiring. I spoke at The Freeway twice, at SCD twice, and at Innovare [a gathering for Canadian Salvation Army youth workers] twice. All of these events were fantastic, but I was tired at the end of it all.
Cultivate Gathering is coming up quickly... it's happening on Saturday, March 29th at The Freeway. If you haven't already done so, you should register. It's a good time, for sure. Cultivate is a learning party meant to inspire church planters and those interested in creating mission-shaped churches.
In April I will be speaking at a big youth event in St. John's, NFLD. I am excited because I get to travel with one of my good buddies and visit a place I have never been. Hopefully, I will find something challenging and inspiring to say to the youth gathered.
In May I want to go out to Vancouver, and I am looking for places to speak in order to help pay my way. I don't have any dates nailed down yet, but if you know of a venue that would possibly be interested in having me, please drop me a line: pernell@frwy.ca
This summer we will be launching an Allelon Training Centre in Hamilton which I am directing. We are hosting a Summer Institute from July 7-11. The two courses we are offering are "missional church: it's nature and purpose" which I will instruct, and "mission-shaped groups: structures for missional formation" which Alan Roxburgh will instruct. You can register for the Summer Institute courses here.

Office To Go

2008-03-12T23:02:00.004-04:00

Since moving to Hamilton in 2001 to start The Freeway, I have not really had an office space. There is a room in the basement of the coffee house which I could use as an office, but it's in the basement [no windows], it's not wheelchair accessible [important for me to be accessible to all members of our community], and it's too quiet [I have grown used to being in community to work and be creative... I enjoy collaboration and synergy].

I work on the go a lot... in cafes, restaurants, my house, etc. Our staff meetings and cohort meetings [and any other meetings or appointments I have] are usually in public places such as our coffee house.

In order to accomplish the work I need to do, being mobile is super-imperative. The following are pieces of technological genius that help make me more productive in my transient state:

My Sony VAIO FE series notebook. I've had it for almost a year now, and I still love it. It's still in great shape, works well, has never crashed [knock on wood].

My only complaint is that the video card is not the best in the world... I may upgrade that.

I have never been a big fan of Macs [and my tribe The Salvation Army won't approve of purchasing Macs as we have a national IT department, so standardization is important - they only allow certain brands of PCs, etc.]. And I have thoroughly enjoyed using PCs. I have blogged before about my feelings about Macs... I haven't changed my mind.

Sony gets mixed reviews about its notebooks, but I have been pretty impressed with mine. In fact, it is highly likely that my next computer will be a VAIO.

My BlackBerry Curve smartphone. I picked this up in January in hopes of having easier access to my e-mail while in transit. I wasn't sure I'd like it because the keys are pretty small [I am not much of a texter], but I got used to it and now I am really happy.

The GPS feature is pretty cool, and having access to the internet while on the road is handy... maps and information about places are good when travelling places you have never been before.

The camera in the Blackberry is really good too. In fact, the pictures are as good as any digital camera I have owned [not that any of my camera's have been very good].

It's funny, I always thought Blackberry's were kind of dumb, but the busier I get, the more I appreciate accomplishing more while I'm on the go.

My iPod Classic. All my tunes, a bunch of my photos, and a whole whack of videos, and still room to expand. Nice.

I love listening to music [especially ambient] while I am working and creating. And recently I have started downloading some podcasts, something I never thought I'd enjoy.

I find it handy to take presentations with me wherever I go, store files and photos, and share my videos and stuff with people while I am in conversation with them... don't worry, I still doodle on napkins while talking.

I just purchased my iPod a few weeks ago. Now I wonder how I ever lived so long without an iPod... OK, that's an exaggeration, but still.

In a future post I will tell you about all the software I use on my computer [most of it is free]. Jordon Cooper recently did that and I found it so interesting how similar our lists of software are.

Bits & Bites

2008-03-12T16:25:00.002-04:00

We have been hosting a March Break mission experience called "something completely different" for high school students this week at The Freeway. Twenty students have slept in our basement, engaged in missional/kingdom teaching, worked on neighbourhood projects, created some artwork representing what they saw in our urban neighbourhood, and had some fun bowling, etc.
We have had one of my blogging hero's from the UK staying at our house this week (while speaking at "something completely different"), Gordon Cotterill. Gordon happens to be a Salvation Army pastor who until very recently pastored the oldest SA congregation in the world located in Poplar, UK. He is a great guy... and a bit of a soul mate. We have had some very inspiring conversations... especially late night... while enjoying tea.
Tomorrow is my birthday. I will be thirty-five years old. Holy smokes! I generally don't like my birthdays at all, but I am looking forward to tomorrow because I get to spend the morning speaking on Luke 10:1-12 to the high school students staying at The Freeway, the afternoon getting some work done on a new tattoo (I am getting a coy fish and some background work done on my right arm - yes, the arm that already has 10 tattoos on it), and the evening hanging out with some buddies. Good times.

Conversation With My Five Year Old

2008-03-10T17:46:00.002-04:00

Tonight at dinner... out of nowhere... leaning on his elbow on the table... our youngest son, Jacob, said "Dad, I have bad news. I can't fart. I have a clog in my bum."

Priceless.

Daily Bible Reading?

2008-03-06T14:50:00.005-05:00

My friend, Steve Taylor, has a great post about daily Bible reading:

I was listening to someone rant this week. Discipleship was poor in the church. The evidence? Well, only 21% of people said they read their Bibles daily.

I thought back to the early Jews. They had hand-copied scrolls in the Synagogue. They never had a Bible to read daily.

I thought back to the first disciples. They never had a book. Although they did have the stories of Jesus to tell to each other.

I thought back to the church before the printing press. They had hand-copied scrolls in the church. They never had a Bible to read daily.

So isn't daily Bible reading as a mark of discipleship simply a contemporary phenomenon, based on the fact that due to the printing press and internet, we now have Bibles we can read daily?

I thought back to Jesus. When asked about eternal life in Luke 10. He quotes the Bible, mixing two Bible texts from different contexts. Then he creates a story from contemporary culture (the one about robbers and Samaritans and religious leaders). Then he says go and do likewise. That is discipleship for Jesus. Nothing to do with reading the Bible daily. Simply the ability to relate the Bible to everyday contemporary life in a way that changes behaviour.

Using that story, yes discipleship will include using the Bible. Although not necessarily daily and privately. And it must also include the number of contemporary stories told in church. And it also must include the way lives are lived.

I couldn't agree more.

Growing Missional Leaders

2008-03-05T18:00:00.005-05:00

I previously mentioned that I was co-leading a session with Alan Roxburgh of Allelon at the TrueCity conference at the end of February.

Part one of the video of our session is up at Allelon now, and you can view it here if you are interested. Part two will be up soon... I'll keep you posted.

There Is This Guy...

2008-03-05T11:12:00.005-05:00

His name is Mike, and every day he sets out to a new public venue (restaurants, churches, offices, City Hall, etc.) in Hamilton and surrounding area, sets up his video camera, dances by himself and posts his video on YouTube. He has been doing this for nearly a year now... every single day.

365 days. 365 songs. 365 spots in Hamilton.

I love this guy. He is quirky and very cool.

I wanted to share two of his videos below. The first video is of Mike dancing at The Freeway (near the beginning of his year-long dancing journey), and the second is of him dancing at the tattoo shop where I get tattooed, while I am being tattooed (watch closely at the beginning and you will see me).

Breathe: Justice | Creativity | Community

2008-03-04T17:30:00.003-05:00

The Freeway is hosting a concert, art show, and silent auction to raise awareness and support for our community work at our coffee house on March 14 at 7:00pm, called "Breathe: Justice | Creativity | Community".

The spectacularly fun event will feature live music performances by: Trevor Howard , Cecilia Rose & Christopher Clause; and the artwork of: Candace Osborne Bell (mixed media), The Rhythm Factory (art therapy), Jarrod Hogeterp (metal work), Krista Jefferson (photography), Anne Paul Dickens (quantum doodles), Susan Ewert (acrylic), Michael Irvine (metal masks), Anne Mark (photography), and Randell Neudorf (abstract paintings).

See a PDF poster of the event here... and please spread the word.

Heading Out

2008-02-29T08:58:00.002-05:00

I am heading out today with my family and our church community for a spiritual retreat weekend. We will be studying the book of Haggai, preparing our minds and hearts for Easter by doing stations of the cross, and having a great time together in community.

Larry Norman

2008-02-27T10:41:00.004-05:00

One of my musical and spiritual hero's died on Sunday. Larry Norman had a profoundly significant impact on my life. His music meant something. I saw him in concert three times. My brother and I own all his albums. I will miss him.

I Heart Tests

2008-02-26T20:32:00.003-05:00

I mentioned recently that I have been experiencing some health issues for the last few months. Well, actually I am basically falling apart physically. The old body ain't what it used to be.

Anyway, "they" are still doing some tests on my heart, etc. and today [for 24 hours] I have to be hooked up to a heart monitor.

Nothing makes you feel forty years older than being hooked up to wires and a heart device [except for getting up to pee twenty times a night maybe].

I thought, under the circumstances, I would have some fun with it, so I have been: seeing how long I could hold my breath, running fast, submerging my whole body in water, yelling into it, and pushing the "please note this in the print-out" button attached to the device, which they specifically told me not to push unless I was experiencing dizziness or weakness... well, I was... because I was spinning around in circles very, very fast.

Yeah, I'm a bit of a trouble maker, I guess. Oh well.

Bear

2008-02-20T23:41:00.002-05:00

At Christmas this year, we got our kids a puppy. She's a 12 week old miniature schnauzer named "Bear." She is absolutely adorable. The kids love her... and franky, so do Margie and I. Anyway, Bear just got her first haircut this week. So cute.

Pisseth Against The Wall

2008-02-20T23:12:00.004-05:00

Well, I have to make an embarrassing admission to the blogosphere. I… ahhh… I… err... prefer… to piss sitting down. There, I feel so much better now that I've said it. I’m just tired of constantly missing the mark and having to clean up after myself. And after watching this video, I’ve learned that God is not pleased with me at all.

Ridiculous.

Collaborative Garden

2008-02-20T21:48:00.003-05:00

The Freeway is starting a collaborative gardening project this spring. Basically we will harvest and share vegetables together, learn from one another about gardening properly, and work together on a project that makes a difference... and tastes delicious.

We created a community blog to publish our journey, offer tips and advice, and tell the story of a community learning how to share in an amazing project together: http://afewlittlegreenspots.blogspot.com

If you want to be part of the action, drop us a line.

TrueCity Conference

2008-02-20T11:47:00.004-05:00

This weekend is the TrueCity conference in Hamilton, ON. TrueCity is a network of churches in town who collaborate together and encourage and inspire each other to become more and more present in our respective neighbourhoods. The Freeway has been part of TrueCity for about a year now and have thoroughly enjoyed learning with the other fine folks in the network who are also trying to figure out what bringing God's shalom into a neighbourhood looks like.

I am leading two sessions at the conference this year:

The first one, I am excited to be co-leading with Alan Roxburgh - my buddy and one of my mentors - called "growing missional leaders." Alan is a Canadian guru when it comes to developing missional leaders and congregations and is one of the key voices at Allelon. It is an honour to be "sharing the mic" with him.
The second one, I am leading on my own and it is called "the gospel in our urban context."

I will try and make podcasts and notes of the two sessions available after the conference... although I have a funny feeling that Bill Kinnon will be there shooting video for Allelon.

I am spending the day tomorrow with Alan and his wife Jane working on developing our Allelon Training Centre which we are opening soon in Hamilton... and working out how we will lead our session together at TrueCity. Good times.

Missional Journey

2008-02-19T17:05:00.004-05:00

I am a contributor to a brand spankin' new missional community blog facilitated by Allelon called "Missional Journey", which focuses on:

mission-shaped leadership
re-connecting and engaging the “worlds” in which we live
stories of engaging and listening to our context(s)
the gospel and our modern Western culture
Allelon initiatives

Other contributors to the blog include people from all over the world like: Andrew Jones, Len Hjalmarson, and Paul Fromont. Check it out... and add it to your blog feed reader.

OK, I'm Back

2008-02-18T10:52:00.004-05:00

My blog break was really good. But I think I am ready to return to the land of blogging. So much has happened, I couldn't possibly tell you everything. However, here's a few nuggets of what I've been up to for the past few months:

We had a terrific Christmas and New Year's. Lots of time with family and friends.
We booked a cottage for our vacation this summer. Yeah, we're totally excited already. Every couple days I look at pictures of the cottage and daydream about wearing my flip flops down to the dock and sipping a lemonade before diving into the lake and having a swim with my kids. Mmmmm summer.
I have been experiencing some health problems for a few months. After test after test after test, I have been diagnosed with diabetes, B12 deficiency, a stomach ulcer, and... they are still doing some tests on my heart. I am now on a diet and exercise plan and I take some medication and get regular injections. Good times. It could be worse, I guess.
I am over halfway finished writing my book. It should be about as interesting to read my story as reading a bathroom stall wall at a gas station.
We are now in the process of looking for a new full-time staff member at The Freeway: a "community pastor". Let me know if you're interested and I'll drop you a line with more details.
We hired a church planting intern, Jason Dockeray, as of the beginning of January. I have been coaching him for about a year, and now he will work and learn and train full-time at The Freeway for a whole year. If he survives, he will be sent out [in January 2009] to plant a church community in another neighbourhood in downtown Hamilton. Very exciting. I have been thoroughly enjoying coaching Jason, and I look forward to seeing what this brilliant young leader does in the future.
The cohort [the leadership team at The Freeway] is really starting to gel as a team. We have had several great get-together's and meetings in 2008 and I am excited about how things are shaping up for us as a community.
We have been actively trying to raise financial support for our ever-expanding community work in one of Canada's poorest neighbourhood's [particularly our work with children]. Click here and support us [or send us a cheque] if you are able to.

Well, it's good to be back.