[Kid Inspiration]

Have you ever dropped some dreams?

Maybe you realised that you didn’t want them as bad as you thought?

I started dropping a few as I approached 30. Albeit they were things that I had wanted since I was young enough to watch Fraggle Rock and Macgyver on TV… like being an international spy or living in a tree house.

But a few of them I consiously let go.

Like becoming a world renowned Jazz musician (I have a Diploma in Jazz performance from Christchurch Institute of Technology). It just would be too much of a departure from where my life has headed and even though I get to use my musical gifts a LOT, it just ain’t gonna happen. And to tell the truth I don’t want it that bad any more.

But I hope that in your life that there are NO dreams that you have simply given up on because they look out of reach and impossible. If you still want it deep down then never give up on it!

So as I hit 31 years old today <nudge nudge — 4 Jan –> and feel slightly reflective and a little disturbed at the grey in my rather scraggly beard here is David Wakerley signing off and tremendously blessed that God has given me so many of the dreams in my heart I had to get new ones!

Happy Birthday.

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Merry Christmas.

So I am at the second Christmas service on Christmas day.

There is one firm way I know my son is really my son - We couldn’t wake him this morning to open his Santa gifts!

He refused to get up and cried when we got him out of bed. What’s with that!! It all changed when he realized there were presents.

I totally scored with some Wii gear!

Merry Ho, Ho, Ho!

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So I took a day today and stayed home… wasn’t sick just had to take a day to get a bite into the new scripts for our next series of BIG. It’s now dinner time and I though I might post something up online because: 1. I haven’t done that in a while, and 2. The software I am using to write the scripts.

I am using celtx, which is free media pre-production software. It has everything you need to take your story from concept to production. Celtx replaces ‘paper, pen & binder’ pre-production with a digital approach that’s more complete, simpler to work with, and easier to share (I pasted that from the website in case you think I am that articulate :))

If you need to write a script for anything, especially if you are going to film it then check out Celtx!

Dave out!

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This will be short but possibly powerful!

Let’s say you felt that God was calling you to be trained for ministry… and you were waiting for the voice of God to audibly talk to you from the sky… here is that voice

Thus saith the Lord… “You should seriously check out Hillsong International Leadership College“.

If you want to study ministry to children, then as part of the Pastoral Ministry Stream you can ‘intern’ with Hillsong Kids!

Anyway, check it out… you and a couple thousand of your closest friends from all over the world. (Something like 50% of students are from U.S.)

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YouTube is a site that creates nothing.

All the creators did (before Google bought the site) was put up a way for people to create content and share it with the world.

I mean its not like a news site where people create meaningful content at the employ of the almighty Goog… it’s just a way to put lame videos that SHOULD have been sent to the funniest home video show of your choosing!

And therein lies the crux.

Millions of people have made YouTube what it is today by creating all the content FOR Google (then they make millions from advertising, which is a whole other rant).

This culture, and the culture of our kids growing up is shifting from ‘consumers’ to ‘contributors’.

I watched Macgyver diffuse bombs using a matchbox and three hairpins growing up, I never really considered it possible to make my own episode… even if I wanted to, film was expensive and forget about editing it!

Today’s culture honours the contributors, the creators, those brave enough to put something out there and they disregard the leechers, the whiners, the critics who have never created anything.

You want to have an opinion that is valued, a voice that commands respect…

CONTRIBUTE!

Networking is not so much just about meeting other like minded people, it’s about the bringing value.

The little community of Children’s Ministry bloggers that has grown and developed in the last four years is full of people that CREATE content.

Are you serious about connecting?

Do you really want to build relationships that sharpen you?

Do you want the generation rising to listen to anything you have to say?

Then WRITE something, FILM something, RECORD something… and put it out there for every person in the known universe to read!

(btw: There are at least 900,000 blog posts every day online.)

Please, for your sake: Move from consumer to contributor!

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So Perry Noble from Newspring Church in the US of A was here speaking at our men’s conference a few weeks ago.

I was pumped to see him speak as I have been reading his blog for a couple of years. He did not disappoint… really connected with the men on a redneck level

Threatened to punch someone in the throat and just generally gave some straight talk to the men there!

He also bought along a bunch of his team from Anderson including Cherie Duffy, the children’s pastor there!

So I spent a bit of time with Cherie getting the inside scoop on Pudge an awesome blogger… no a seriously awesome blogger from Cherie’s team… you know… just embarrassing stuff I can use against him.

If I ever lived in Anderson, SC I would totally go there. I love their spirit and attitude for the kingdom!

So action points:

1. Read Pudge’s Blog

2. Follow Cherie on twitter

3. Watch the following video from Tony Morgan (on staff at Newspring)… interview with Cherie.

Video Link

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Love reading Erwin Macmanus.

Read Uprising: A Revolution of the Soul a while ago and wrote down this quote (Paperback pg. 63):

If anonymity was the price you would have to pay for significance, would it be too great a price?

Would it be?

Peer recognition is one of the most powerful forces in the human psyche. Learning to serve without it is one of the greatest skills this culture/generation schooled in the allure of instant fame needs!

Teach your kids that God is the only one they need recognition from!

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So one of the awesome things about having a network of Hillsong Churches around the world is that our Hillsong Kiev church records every Hillsong Kids album in Russian live in Kiev!!

So check out the link and see a short clip of their live recording of Supernatural.

Cover of Supernatural (Hillsong Kiev)

Supernatural at Hillsong.com.ua

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Cover of K Mag.

Earlier this year I was invited to be a part of a fantastic new venture… K!

K! Magazine is sweeping children’s ministries around the globe. Each issue is jam-packed with practical articles, great ideas, and the best tips for ministering to 21st century kids and their families.

There are very few magazines of this calibre about ministry to kids in the world!!

So here is what you should do…

Go to www.thekmagazine.com and then click on the “Bulk Subscription” link to learn more about bulk subscriptions and rates… buy some for your whole team!!

In this months edition you can read what I wrote about Private Devotion and Public Passion - Training kids to worship God Monday through Saturday.

And in the next - The Air They Breathe.

I write with my wife Beci about the journey of Hillsong Kids Praise and Worship!

Check it out now.

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Follow You.

Album release is coming soon… due before Christmas in Australia, and in April 2009 in the US/UK…

But of course you could order direct from hillsongmusic.com even if you do live somewhere else in the world!

I really am excited about this album, some very different tracks and also my first vocal ever… with Dan Lee-Archer (aka Funny Man Dan), a hip-hop groove called ‘Love Never Fails’.

Album cover for Follow You

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