Recently a bunch of dudes and dudettes from Living Waters Church invaded the Ipanema restaurant in Gibraltar. I am amazed at how important it is, for your movement to eat together! There is something about shared meals that is at the centre of life together. In our culture, a lot of important business is conducted over a shared meal (Of course, we call them " business lunches", just to give it that sense of importance, or maybe even a sense of grown-up-ness) - In other cultures, shared meals form the backbone of much of civic life, commerce and polity. If you want to foster common bonds, a shared sense of purpose, and a sense of belonging, then eat out.... a lot. Please tell me that you heard this. It is so simple that it runs the risk of seeming trivial. Simple stuff is usually overlooked. Simple stuff is often powerful. Mankind has a innate craving for belonging, especially for belonging to a mission that has a cause. When people feel that they truly belong, and form an important part of, something greater than themselves, then watch-out, you have in your hands the genesis of a world-changing and paradigm-destroying phenomenon. In other words, you have in your hands the basic ingredients that can change the rules of the game. Your movement needs that fellow-ship. It all begins happens around some good food and a healthy appetite for your mission. Ribs anyone? For the record: The obligatory evidence: [flickr-gallery mode="photoset" photoset="72157622763171440"]

I was finally doing a bit of housekeeping on my Flickr account (Which I had abandoned for a while in favour of just using FB) and managed to organize some of the photos that I had of Living Waters Church going back to 2003. Although it is by no means a chronicle of the church's history - and although there are glaring gaps when a lot was happening and no photographs were taken - it neverhteless felt good to see a photographic timeline since 2003 - the various stages of our development and growth. I am a grateful man today to have been allowed to experience these baby steps and this growth. Click here to view photographs MORE LORD!

We have just finished our first conference! We trust this will be the first of many. For three days, people who were hungry for the Fire of Revival and Transformation gathered in the Ince's Hall theatre in Gibraltar to press-in for more of the Lord's presence. Our three nights saw different expressions of worship, from local sensation U-Turn leading the first night, to the awesome Jaydan Gomila (Associate Pastor and worship leader at Living Waters Church) together with Martin Hosken, leading the second night, and Dutch group "Syncopate" bringing a fresh and wild sound the third night! Wow!! Our speaker for this conference was Mattheus Van der Steen, a Revivalist who is being used mightily to release God's glory over the nations. His ministry, Touch, Reach and Impact the Nations (TRIN) is instrumental in bringing Revival in Holland and other nations as well as in the care of widows and orphans in third world countries. With a most powerful anointing He exhorted us to go "lower still" and keep a heart of a child before God. That is the only way to keeping the anointing of the Holy Spirit. We saw many catching this fire and being powerfully touched by God. After the final impartation service, I believe a fire has been ignited in men's lives, a fire that cannot be put out, a fire that will spread and change a whole city, a region, nations and continents. If you were blessed in any way during this conference, please email your testimonies to Jaydan at jaydan@livingwatersgib.com.

 

I wrote the following letter to the Gibraltar Chronicle after they published a story that a man who was caught in Gibraltar distributing thousands of the most extreme images of child pronography was sentenced to only 18 months in prison, due to a "glaring gap in Gibraltar law" (!) :

Dear Sir,

NOTHING SHORT OF OUTRAGEOUS

It is nothing short of outrageous that in a society like ours a man convicted of a gross crime against the weakest of all should be sentenced to only 18 months in prison.

I am not well read in the intricacies of law, but common sense surely dictates that aiding and abetting a crime must carry the same degree of guilt as the crime itself. So for example, if I purchase and supply the gun that is subsequently used to commit murder, I must be as guilty as the person who pressed the trigger.

Most readers will agree that this man has been an accomplice to the kidnapping, prostitution, physical and sexual abuse of minors, and the human trafficking otherwise known as the sex slave trade. He must be as guilty as the perpetrators of these crimes. For this catalogue of offences, Mr. Klinkiewicz will spend 18 months behind bars.

In sentencing, Mr. Justice Dudley said that "unfortunately" it was not an offence to process these images in Gibraltar. I would not call this unfortunate, I would call it scandalous. That our judges do not already have the tools in place to deal decisively with these heinous crimes constitutes negligence at best. At worst it sends a signal that we are soft on a perversion of the darkest genre, and we send out an open invitation for the breeding, cultivation and perpetuation of this deviant exploitation of minors. Somebody, it seems, has been asleep at the switch. The legislation in question must be fast-tracked into law now.

I also propose, that after this man has enjoyed the comfort of Her Majesty's hospitality for 18 months Government buy him a one-way ticket to a dubious destination far away from our shores.

Yours faithfully,

John K. Baw.

"The People on the Rock" (2009) from Garrett Wesley Gibbons on Vimeo.

The above video is a 45-minute documentary on the people of Gibraltar that very effectively describes Gibraltarians as a people and our very unique cultural and linguistic quirks and also tries to some extent to look into part of the political journey that Gibraltar has been through in its recent history. So when I start speaking gibberish with you and tell you that something is "Kicks por si pega" or "stay here a licquin doi" you may understand some of what I'm saying. hahaha! Enjoy.

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This evening the pastors of seven churches in Gibraltar met for a discussion with Dr Derek Copley of the European Evangelical Alliance to explore various issues related with the setting up of an evangelical alliance of Gibraltar. The meeting went really well and we have decided to go ahead with the formation of this. Initially five churches will set this up as founding members, and the other two will join subsequently when they go through the formality/protocol of consulting their leadership councils and/or denominational representatives. This is a huge step forward for the Gospel here in Gibraltar as the evangelical movement has never had one unified and recognized voice either in society nor in Government. We hope to raise the profile of evangelicalism in both these spheres. In the photo you can see Dr. Copley seated on the bottom row - on the top row from left to right: Pastor Michael Mifsud (Bethel Christian Fellowship); Pastor Paco Baldachino (Evangelical Church of Gibraltar); Rev. Fidel Patron (Gibraltar Methodist Church); Pastor Sergio Revelli (The Cityline Church); Pastor Michael Aguilera (Newlife Church); Yours truly (Living Waters). Missing from the photo is Pastor Jose (Iglesia Evangelica Filadelfia) who had to leave prematurely for a meeting.

Photo by Speedy2 Had a planning session with a few other pastors today for an event that a Gibraltar student wants to organize next summer. This girl got saved in her university and she is definitely going for it! She is organizing a fully-fledged evangelistic campaign for next summer, intending to bring over a bus load of students from the United Kingdom. It is going to be awesome! On the cards are a service at the beach (!), together with a BBQ, a DVD night, outreaches at the local bars, concerts and lots more. C'mon Jesus!

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