The original question was: If you had an unlimited budget, and a talented team, what would you love to do to extend God's kingdom? It was only later on that it was discovered this question is easier to answer if you have actual budgets to think about (eg $100,000, $1 million or $10 million).

The following are some answers that other people gave. Maybe reading them might spark new dreams or rekindle old dreams in you. Perhaps you could be the Solomon that gets to put David's good ideas into action.

After talking with a Christian friend this morning, I am reminded that most of us are happy to take a somewhat passive approach with God, i.e. 'If God wants me to do something, He'll let me know about it.' Sure, there is truth in that. But this is the same God who often said, 'What do you want Me to do for you?' desirous of a concrete answer and not an underwhelming 'Whatever You want to do for me Lord' answer. This is the same God who asked Ahaz to ask Him for a sign, a sign coming from the depths of Sheol or from the heights above (Isaiah 7:11) and Ahaz refused to ask. If he had asked and received the sign, he would have had to take God more seriously in his life.

What if at this time in history God wants to do big things?

Unless there are people willing to dream big, to think big and to pray big, and to risk big, how are they going to happen?

Undoubtedly God can do these big things all by Himself, but He has shown time and time again that He prefers to work collaboratively with men, women and children who love Him.

The friend I spoke to today would spend the money on bibles and bible study materials, presumable to give them to those who cannot afford them and to encourage people to discover for themselves the Author who loves them.

Another friend would build a multi-storey building in a quadrangle shape (three sides, the fourth side open) to house all homeless people in.

My son would bring together a team to write and create decent and well-written television shows and movies for children and teens.

Another friend would like to build a village haven for the lost and the lonely. A place with village greens and swimming pools, where various lifestyles can be accommodated, and where everyone is respected and has a useful role to play in the community.

Another friend would send most of the funds off to charities and missions, and use the rest to reduce the debts of the local parish and local charities.

Another friend would devote resources to getting religious education in state high schools on a sure and sustainable footing.

Another friend would like to see a campaign to help people make more ethical decisions in their purchasing habits and to promote Fair Trade products. For example if I purchase a $3 T-shirt rather than a $40 T-shirt, it is very likely that the people making and producing the $3 T-shirt are getting ripped off. Some will say, it is because I have a low income that I need to purchase these cheap T-shirts. What gives us the right to say that our needs are greater than theirs?

A friend with lots of experience in giving real aid to those who are living on the margins would like to see programs for young people who fall through the cracks in the system, programs that will help them earn a living, show them that they are worthwhile and that they have a lot to contribute to society and to themselves; programs that would make employment achievable for all school leavers.

Another friend would like to see support systems created for vulnerable children.

But the big thing that came up as we were talking was mental health, spoken about by three people.

The first person mentioned it as a big need she could see, the mental health needs of children and teens that are woefully under resourced in our school systems eg How much good can a child psychologist achieve with funding for one morning a week for a whole school of 400 students or more?

The second person talked about how hard it is to obtain any long term treatment, even for adults. Help is often limited to a few days here and a few days there of hospital / institutional accommodation and treatment when a crisis occurs – which never gets to even scratch the surface of the underlying trauma/s contributing to the mental instability.

The third person talked about how most drug and alcohol rehabilitation programs were developed with the needs of middle-aged people in mind. The prevailing paradigm doesn't suit the needs of young people at all. Expecting young people to have the patience to sit still in a circle and listen and do group therapy is ludicrous. However, smaller group chats while gardening, tending to farm animals, wood working or playing sport would get much further with the youngsters. The critical ingredient for success is trust, and the trust needed to help effectively takes a long time to build. Consider this situation:

There is a young man in his late 20s. When he was a boy he suffered abuse at the hands of his mum's boyfriend, and from leaders at a sporting club. He is able to say he was abused, but is unable to talk about it and process it. To have a ghost of a chance of beginning the healing process he has to get to a point of trust where he feels comfortable about starting to open up about such things. For someone who has been betrayed so badly, so often, this is not going to be easy at all. Getting to that point may take years.

Series 2 of the television show 'Unforgotten' brought home to me the long term effects that abused young people suffer. The three people whose stories we follow through the 6 episodes are all driven to help other people in challenging circumstances (legal cases, teen cancer ward, teens at high school in disadvantaged neighbourhoods). For all three, the long term relationships in their lives are not thriving because they have been unable to open up to the people who love them about the traumas they have suffered. Their spouses and partners know that they are holding back, and while they have been extraordinarily patient waiting for their loved ones to open up and trust them, the frustration is eating away at their relationships like slow release acid. Each of them carries inside them a huge reservoir of anger, a by-product of the abuse, and they are able to recognize other people who have been through abuse trauma by this anger. It takes an outside catalyst, and lots of detective work to bring evidence of the abuse to the spouses and partners, to tell what happened to their loved ones. For some it began this important  conversation, for others it was too late.

If these dreams for long-term effective help for young people with mental health issues speak to you, start talking about them with friends, and with religious, political, civil, and cultural leaders. Help them catch the vision, and the passion to do something about it.

So what's your dream?

Write it down.
Share it with those you trust.
Talk about it.
Dare to dream that it might be God's dream too, that He wants to help you bring into reality.

​There's a lot to like about Pat Keady's book 'Spearhead: Reshaping the Church to Engage the Word'. But there's a dangerous 10% which concerns me greatly. Let's focus on the good stuff first:

When I first heard about this book I was excited because there has been prophetic word over the last 6 months about God releasing anointing upon writers and songwriters, and this book began when Pat Keady woke very early one morning with an impetus to write from the Holy Spirit. So I really wanted to read it.

The font is easy to read, the paper has a lovely glossy feel and the graphic design layout is beautiful.

The first half of the book is particularly good. For anyone wanting an easy to digest synthesis of what God has been saying through Pope Francis and various parish renewal movements over the last 3 years, it is brilliant, particularly if you delight in Australian idioms. If you are deep in the trenches of parish renewal, in the first half you won't be reading anything new, but you might be reading it from a fresh perspective.

However, as a book to invite someone from the sidelines into the trenches, that's where its true value is to be found.

Two insights I found particularly helpful. The first is the story of Jonathan, son of Saul, and his armour-bearer from 1 Samuel 14 about how the two of them trusting in the help of God made a daring foray into enemy Philistine territory and began a battle that inspired traitors to turn back to allegiance to God's people and eventually involved the whole army of Israel in victory. A few committed people doing something brave and unusual, but filled with faith, can have a very big impact.

The second is an insight into the story of Pentecost, Acts 1, about how God met people where they were at by giving His Apostles and disciples the gift of the languages of the people. It wasn't about various languages now becoming a single language.

Pat uses this story to make his case that we have to learn the cultures of the groups we wish to evangelise, so that we can build a bridge – mainly through music – with which to present the Gospel. Now Pat is looking at the inculturation possibilities in the liturgy through music.

This is where my thoughts diverge from his. Pentecost didn't take place within the liturgy, it took place out in the streets, in the marketplace. I think we do the liturgy a disservice if we try to make it into a vehicle for evangelisation. Firstly, the liturgy only makes sense once a person has been evangelised and awakened by the Holy Spirit. Secondly, for the early church an invitation to the liturgy was the last thing you did with a newcomer, and not the first thing. Even today when I read modern stories of conversion the majority of people darken the doors of a church as one of the last steps on their journey home to Catholic faith.

Therefore we need intermediate steps between the secular world and the liturgy. In such intermediate steps lay preaching, testimonies and contemporary music that engages the culture of the groups you desire to evangelise find their natural home.

It is worth trusting the wisdom of Mother Church on this one, when she insists that ordained ministers preach during the liturgy. They have been anointed and set apart for this purpose and have a minimum of 7 years of study behind them. While it is true that many of them don't have an obvious gift of preaching, we have to allow God to be God, knowing that a homily that does not engage you and me at all might contain the very words that someone else needs to hear. Instead of the satisfaction of complaining, our energies are much better directed to praying that our priests do receive the charismatic gift of preaching and praying that they preach according to the mind and heart of Jesus, in full harmony with the teachings of His Church and to the maximum spiritual benefit of those that will be present when they preach.

I've got no troubles with lay preachers if they exercise their ministry before or after the liturgy, but not during it.

My definition of culture is different too. Again we do a disservice if we only think about culture in terms of liturgical elements, eg architecture, music (eg African drums), decorative motifs on vestments and liturgical vessels, artwork (eg Our Lady of China).

For me culture is expressed primarily in public, private and family devotional practices. That's the fiestas, the processions, pilgrimages, special food for feast days, grace before meals, traditions passed down in families and nations, preferred spiritualities of prayer (people from exuberant cultures will prefer loud praise and dance, people from reserved cultures will prefer reflective silence and Eucharistic adoration) etc.

A cultural group votes with their feet about what is important to them. In Australia we seem to like setting off fireworks at major celebrations, gathering friends and family around a barbecue, Anzac Day touches us deeply, we like singing Christmas carols in big groups, and 'don't interrupt me if the footy, tennis or cricket is on'. These are the areas where creativity and Holy Spirit inspired ingenuity can take something naturally wholesome and elevate it to something supernaturally good.

On the very vexed subject of liturgical music, here's my two cents worth. While hip contemporary music for all songs at all Masses might seem like the answer, it isn't. Let me count the ways. Firstly if your average congregation is aged 70+, you are going to alienate them. Secondly, from my studies of conversion stories it is experiences of the historicity of the Church that make a difference. Thirdly, when people decide to come home to the Church (eg cradle Catholics returning after an absence), a familiar song really helps. Be a wise musical scribe and bring out from the liturgical music storehouse music that is both old and new. We need to sing new songs to the Lord, no question about that, but we need a mix; hymns that have stood the test of centuries of time, hymns that have stood the test of decades of time, hymns that have become favourites during the past decade and the new stuff. In other words we need to show our Catholicity (universality) in our musical selections and not narrow it down to one genre and era. The new is good, and the old is good; use both.

I was so hoping to read about fresh new ideas for spreading the good news of Jesus. That's what I was hungering for. So I'll contribute my own weird and wacky idea instead. Many Australians love going to live sporting events. There's plenty of God-loving-Catholics who rush home after Mass to watch the footy on TV. So if you have a youth group, a Cursillo group, a covenant community group etc, that has lots of sports loving members, consider this:

Make a group booking at a sporting event. Get yourselves matching T-shirts to wear (a slogan like 'Ask me about Jesus' on them or similar would be good). Sit together. Be clued up before you go as to how to act if unusual things transpire. For example, if a fight starts on the field, you all drop to your knees and pray for peace and reconciliation; if a player gets injured, you drop to your knees and collectively pray for the injured player, his/her family and the medical people assisting them; if the crowd starts boo-ing, you sit silently and pray for conversion of hearts; as you go from your seat to the toilets, to purchase merchandise or food and drink, silently beg God's blessing on every person on your path there and back, and if someone stops you and asks you the reason for the hope that you have (1 Peter 3:15), give it to them.

One thing Pat Keady does well is underline how all renewal has to start with us, with us taking God more seriously than we have ever taken Him before. Surrendering to His will; seeking the grace and power of the Holy Spirit; spending quality time in prayer and listening to Him; spending quality time reading from the Bible and studying His ways; making daily Mass and regular recourse to the sacrament of Penance a priority.

Another thing Pat Keady does well is talk about the difficulties faced by anyone who wants to try something new to further the kingdom of God. None of us like change, none of us are real keen on being challenged, so there's both this natural battle and the supernatural battle to contend with. Kick-back comes with the territory. This is true, but some kick-back is natural/supernatural resistance and some kick-back is 'hey, you are truly going the wrong way', and you need to pray for the wisdom and humility to know the difference.

He also speaks well about the times when everything just flows and the times when it is a test of grit and endurance through manifold difficulties. Lots of people in ministry need to hear his encouragement to keep on going.

In conclusion, yes it is a worthwhile book to read, however I personally would only invite someone to read it after first sharing the concerns I have about that 10% of content with them.

Here's the question: If God gave you access to $100,000 to spend on advancing His kingdom, what would you spend it on? How would your answer change if the amount were $1 million or $10 million? Assume that these budgets come with an administrative assistant, access to people with skilled talents and that diocesan approval is going to be easily given.

The $100,000 dreams

Pragmatically our parish hall, and our diocesan meeting facility in a rural locale, are both lacking air conditioning. They would both get far more use if they were air-conditioned. $100,000 would go a long way to getting both properties done. The parish hall already has the infrastructure for air-conditioning, it only needs the machines to be installed.

Get a StrengthsFinder based enterprise up and running. At least for a year's trial. $20,000 for office space rent, $40,000 to get 4 counsellors trained up ($8000 each plus airfares and accommodation), $30,000 for computers (6) and software, $5,000 for office fit-out (tables, chairs etc), $5,000 for StrengthsFinder books and questionnaires. However it really should be more like $55,000 for this last one to be able to offer the StrengthsFinder information free. So that's a $150,000 budget. Three pronged approach, business leadership, job placement and help for parishioners to find where God has gifted them and which teams they would be best suited to. Business leadership would be helping small business owners understand their natural leadership style and what gifts and talents they need on their teams. First consult free, second and third consults by donation, fourth consult negotiate a regular fee. Job placement, having worked out what is needed, if we know a person with those talents we ask the business owners to give them a go. Build up using the same free, donation, negotiate regular fee process. All parishioner consults for free, for both individuals and groups.

The parishioner based StrengthsFinder work could morph into a Monday-Friday training hub. Day 1 a modified Life in the Spirit Seminar, Day 2 doing the StrengthsFinder questionnaire and learning how the themes and talents fit together. Day 3 a silent retreat and writing in a journal; sorting it all out and praying day. Day 4 sharing the fruits of the retreat day with counsellors and in the group, with lots of brainstorming. Day 5 writing out a plan of action, sharing it, group prayer, celebration and sending time. Then 4-5 weeks later a single day of follow up, maybe on a weekend, with the group, to share experiences, to pray and plan some more.

Making 100 grants of $1000 available for young adults in our diocese to be able to go on week long silent retreats where they could take time away from the world to be with God and with the help of good holy experienced spiritual directors to be able to listen to what God is calling them to be, and work out how to discern that further and act upon it. Most young adults are unemployed and without the funds (personal or family) to be able to afford what such retreats normally cost. Do the legwork to find out where the most Holy Spirit led silent retreats are happening, and book regular places for the grants to be used at that place.

The $1 million dreams

Put an extension on our diocesan meeting facility in a rural locale: add a proper dining room with tables and chairs, add at least 2 additional smaller meeting rooms, upgrade the internet access, add on a full bank of easily accessed toilets (4 women's, 3 gent's, 1 disabled/baby change table). (To access the current toilet facilities you either have to negotiate a flight of stairs or take a walk to another building on the property).

Purchase a commercial property in one of the business hubs within the parish, and transform it into an interdenominational chapel, and invite faith communities from within the parish to man prayer for our parish and region on a 24/7 basis. We could keep the lights on and the rates paid with a small piety shop / information desk at the front and a donations box.

The $10 million dreams

Purchase several run-down properties in the same area, within the parish boundaries, and build a 12-20 bed Catholic hospice with a chapel and quarters for a live-in priest-chaplain. Currently you have to drive at least an hour away from our parish to get any form of Catholic aged care.

Back to that diocesan meeting facility in a rural locale: it has extensive grounds. Build a new accommodation block, with comfortable quarters for singles, married couples and families. By comfortable I mean pleasant, roomy, more home-like than motel-style, with air-conditioning, stable internet access, undercover parking, ensuites, and 2 or 3 communal laundry rooms. Set it up as retreat accommodation that is attractive, and set up an associated trust fund so that donations can keep the cost of accessing the retreat facilities possible to people and families on low incomes/pensions. Each parish in the diocese would then be allocated a number of rooms and days each year that were free, so that the parish priest could send those in need of retreat time as needs arose (to pray and seek God about a new project, to write new books or songs/music, to take time to pray about a big life decision, to find solace after a traumatic event, etc)

Purchase property, either to rebuild or to renovate, in order to establish a Study Centre for Christian Art. Run courses in Christian Art history (art, music, vestments, tapestry/embroidery, metalwork, sculpture, architecture etc). Have studio space. Have Gallery spaces. Have a coffee shop and book shop. Have accommodation for artists in residence and/or visiting national/international artists/experts. Run courses in developing Christian Art careers. Develop a reference library on Christian Art, where people can come and research (but not borrow). Have facilities for hands-on workshop spaces. It also needs to contain a Chapel, because true Christian art is founded on prayer, and leads back to prayer. Host and encourage travelling exhibitions. Once a year run a conference on Christian Art, with an associated Modern Christian Art exhibition with decent prize money. (Modern as is art made by living artists whose art practice helps people connect more deeply with God through the depiction of Christian images and themes). Have a minibus to assist transporting people to and from transport hubs to the Study Centre. Now what are the chances such a property could be sourced close to the diocesan meeting facility?

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Do I have more ideas? Of course I have. It is just that these ones are front and centre in my mind just now. Find the blog category 'Ideas', and read through the blog-posts associated with that category to locate more of them.

May the Holy Spirit blow and bring into being those ideas that are inspired by Him, and let all the others wither and decay. Amen.

The impetus for this blog-post is 3-fold, a confluence of a prophetic blog-post, a dove-tailing episode of The Journey Home, and the frustration of an opportunity lost to talk out these ideas with a local social media apostle.

For this one you need to do a little homework.

Firstly read Patricia King talking about the connection between cyber evangelism and the long awaited great harvest of souls. An excerpt: "I feel the Spirit of God inviting every Believer and ministry who has access to the internet to use this tool with intentionality for reaching the lost. Every effort small or large can make impact!"

Secondly watch the Kandice Longsteth episode of The Journey Home, and pay particular attention to how much of her journey was done online before ever talking to a Catholic or going to a Catholic Mass. Pay attention too, to the questions she gets towards the end of the episode.

There was another Journey Home episode, a repeat episode, which aired recently, Kelly Nieto's maybe, that also contained internet browsing as the first step where her journey home to the Catholic church began to accelerate.

There are a multitude of good Catholic resources available online, but there's also plenty of less useful stuff.

Many Catholic parishes have reasonable websites, but few of them are user friendly for outsiders wondering about what life is like on the inside. It would take so little to have an extra web-page entitled, 'Investigating Catholicism?' or similar and to then have curated lists of good resources for topics like Who is Jesus?, Mary, Authority, Sacraments, Salvation, Church History, the Mass, the Rosary etc. Lists with links to video, podcasts, books, articles etc that provide useful answers.

Making those curated lists should be easy. Chat to those who have been through the RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults) over the past 5 years, and their team members and ask them which resources helped them the most. Write down their answers, make sure the links still work, and prepare lists and put them online.

But every path must intersect at some point with a person with skin on, a Catholic who can be the interface between the outsider and the local community of faith. This is where your Social Media Apostles come in.

Many outsiders don't know someone who is visibly Catholic. How will they find one? If they are already investigating the doctrines of the Church through online means, chances are they will either look for or stumble across someone online through a blog, an article, a comment, or a social media posting.

The primary way outsiders will find a local Catholic to connect with is through Facebook, because Facebook is the most locally connected of the social media sites. We need more Catholics who are willing to be visible Catholics to be online, particularly through Facebook.

What does that mean? It means posting and liking and sharing content that is more than holidays, pets and family gatherings. It means getting some Catholic content coming into your social media feed, eg from the Vatican, your local diocese, your local Catholic news service (eg The Catholic Weekly, The Catholic Leader) and international Catholic news services (eg Catholic News Agency, ChurchPOP), and then liking and sharing anything with quality.

Will you get negative feedback if you do? Sometimes. It is part of the cost of being a disciple of the One who died on the Cross for us.

Part 1 is get some curated Catholic content on parish websites for inquirers to find. Part 2 is getting parishioners active on social media. However, a part 3 is also needed, and that's a combination of regular training and encouragement: Training in helping people through the Catholic maze and encouragement to withstand the negative feedback: and encouragement to be patient and welcoming with any inquirers who make contact with them.

A monthly get together of parish Social Media Apostles would be enough.

At that monthly meeting you could pray for each other, and for all the inquirers who have made contact, (past and present) and you could also pray and ask God's blessing over your devices (phones, iPads, computers etc). At such a meeting you could also share any good content you found and discuss whether it should get added to the parish's 'Investigating Catholicism?' page. Obviously if the answer is 'Yes', waste no time in getting it added!

These three Parts can be begun now, and should be begun now, and with urgency, so as to get people positioned to welcome and handle influxes of inquirers as they begin to increase.

I'll finish with Patricia King's challenge…

'If 500 or maybe 1000 new believers were to come to the Lord in your church or area overnight, how would they be discipled? Your church might not be ready for this yet. In the coming harvest it is probable that hundreds of thousands and even millions will come to the Lord in one sweep of the sickle. Through the internet we can be assured that they can have access to all they need for foundational teaching, and through social media we can reach them relationally with pastoral mentoring and input.'
​
St Maximillian Kolbe, pioneer of mass media evangelisation, pray for us
Blessed Titus Brandsma, patron of Catholic bloggers, pray for us
Our Lady, Help of Christians, Star of the New Evangelisation, pray for us

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PS. When you curate your resources for inquirers, and find that there's a hole you can't fill - that's your cue to write some new resources or to commission some.

PPS. You are likely to have a lot of links to books on your inquirer's page, so investigate Amazon Associates. (links below). Small referral fees for promoted books could add up to a tidy income stream for your parish.
Beginner's Guide
Affiliate Link Tutorial​
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PPPS. I have added two new webpages, 'Could God be real?' and 'Could Catholicism be true?', and have begun to create lists of resources. You are welcome to use them as templates or starting points for your own personal and parish websites.

Sadly this is something I am well qualified to write about. Maybe you are feeling the same way. Where is God? Why doesn't He take action?

Of all years, 2017 with the 100th anniversary of Fatima and all the other special anniversaries, was filled with expectation of the triumph of Mary's Immaculate Heart. Yet here we are, still waiting for this promise to be fulfilled. What do we cling onto and work towards now?

First we hoped for the year 2000, then we hoped that the Year of the Rosary 2003 would be it, then it was 2008 with the 150 years since Lourdes. Finally we pinned our hopes on 2017, and now renewed deflation is all we have.

It is all feeling more than hopeless. We are told that God knows what He is doing, and that His plans are perfect, and His timing is perfect. That may well indeed be the case, but it sure doesn't feel like it today and it didn't feel like it yesterday either.

Surely the 100 years of our world being the enemy's plaything as disclosed to Pope Leo XIII must be over by now.

There are all kinds of hopes and expectations for 2018 to be the year the enemy gets kicked out from power and God's power starts to visibly reign again.

But by golly, it is hard to believe that we will see this happen when all around us is lacklustre and filled with decay and abandonment. Can God do it? He sure can, but only He can.

But when? When?

I am so very tired of hearing amazing promises after amazing promises and seeing no fulfillment of them, not even a faint flicker of fulfillment of them in my back yard, although I've seen faint flickers in the lives of others.

It is so hard to believe in God's goodness, in His loving tenderness, and in His all-powerful providence when our greatest longings and deepest needs remain unfulfilled – especially when you know He has the power to change our circumstances for the better and to do it in an instant. It is so hard to believe that this delay is the kindest, most loving thing, He can do for us right now.

Will we still seek to serve Him? Probably, there's still no one else who holds out the promise of eternal life.

But will there be anything of us left to resurrect when He decides to act? That's the question.
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May we live to see His answers, His recompense and His power in full. Amen.