We recently had our first guys retreat for the students here in Auckland. (In the past we’ve had a leader’s retreat for the guys, this year we opened it up to all). The retreat was three days, and a great opportunity to connect with those who have got involved more recently. Specifically we:

• Had four talks given. I spoke on “What it Means to be a Hero”, a study on the character of Daniel.
• Spent time getting to know others over meals (we ate plenty) and games.
• Challenged the guys to grow in their walk with the Lord, and build good community to support each other in doing so.

The retreat was a success, and looks like it’ll be something we’ll do again in the future.

After many hours of coding in my spare time, I’m pleased to announce the public launch of inConversation!

inConversation is an aggregation of blog posts related to Campus Crusade for Christ International. It’s a place where:

• You can keep up to date on what’s happening around the world in CCC.
• Get in contact with others who share the same passions as you.
• Add your own blog to those that are aggregated.

We’ve just finished setting everything up on the new server, but you can expect more blogs to be added to the site very soon! Word has it that there may be some influential CCC bloggers signing up, why not join them?!

The site is user-drivern. Check out the wiki for documentation and upcoming features, etc!

I’d like to say a special thank-you to Keith Seabourn and his team at the Global Technology Office for encouragement and resourcing to make this happen!

Canon 24-105 F4L IS, with hood, pouch and filter (Marumi DHG). Filter on since day 1.

This is only 4 months old, was part of a kit. I have the original receipt (this is NZ new) and will provide a copy to the buyer. A few small marks on the lens hood (you probably know it’s very easy to mark the Canon lens hoods). The lens itself is in excellent condition, no scratches, fungus or mold. Selling because I decided to buy a different lens.

Date code is UX.

See photos taken by this lens.

Inspection welcome. Asking price is $1500!

Update: Sold!

An important part of what we do in ministry both on and off campus is evaluation. Last week we took three days as a staff team to do just this. Specifically:

• We looked at what activities do we do each year, and how important they are to the ministry (If we stopped them, what effect would that have on our mission?)
• We rated how much energy is required for these activities. Mostly the energy required was in line with how important each activity was, but we identified a few areas in which we’ll change things.
• We spent some time in personal evaluation, thinking about things like our walk with God, how we feel we’re doing in our roles, etc. I found this very helpful in identifying a few things to tweak in my own life.
• We were able to spend some time having fun and relaxing with each other as a team, something we don’t always get a lot of time for.

These are all helpful things as we go into the last term of the year, and into the year ahead.