The year ahead and why

A new year has ensued and it's probably time that I started updating this blog a little more often than I do.  I find that at times I have much to say and at other times I cannot even face looking at the icon on the computer screen that taunts me and tells me that i have not written for ages.  I decided before Christmas that I would start again in the new year and so here I am.  Anyway on with the post!

I am currently looking at a few events that the community of RFC can enjoy together.  The idea of the events is to provide an environment where people can socialize together, get to know new people and feel free to invite others in. They are not outright evangelistic but do provide a chance to showcase the talent that is in the church and further afield.  We are looking at another acoustic night, a choirs evening and a comedy night, spread throughout the year.

There will be two Alpha courses this year; one starting in April off the back of Easter Sunday and one at the end of September.  Alpha has always been the prominent way in which God has moved amongst us in salvation power.  Being in a place where people can feel free to ask questions and disagree, knowing that no one is going to judge them, is a wonderful thing in our culture.  When we stop seeing fruit we will stop doing Alpha, but for now we continue.

We are inviting a couple of guest evangelists to some and be with us this year one in either half of the year.  They are yet to confirm availability but I will of course let you know when I do.

This year sees the diamond jubilee of the queens coronation.  The council have asked if the churches of South Reading can put on some sort of event to feed the local community. We would like to put on a street party down Northumberland Avenue if the council agree the road closures.  We will be working with the other churches of South Reading to cater for some 4000 people over a 3 hour window.  This is such a great opportunity to serve and get to know the people in whose community we meet.

We will also be looking to put on a couple of Saturday mornings this year to do some training in evangelism.  We will look at some basics on why and some practical things that we can do.  Dates for this are to be confirmed.

Why do we do all of these things?  Why do we want to help others know this Jesus that we love and follow?  Because he told us to, well yes he did, but who ever did anything because they were told to and did it with a good heart?  We do it because we know that it is only in Jesus that we found true acceptance, significance and love.  We do it because we, like God, should want none to perish.  We do it because someone once loved us enough to introduce us to Jesus.  We do it because we are loved and we love.

None of these things save anyone, Jesus does, but we need to bring them to places where they can first have their presuppositions of Christianity eroded and then introduce them to Jesus through Alpha, visiting speakers, baptism meetings, father's day and mother's day, Easter and Christmas meetings and of course our Sunday gatherings.

I am looking forward to a year where we see salvation and I am praying we will see it like we have never seen it before.  When the carol singing season starts again this year, i am trusting that many more will be singing Hark the Herald Angels Sing not because it is a twee song to sing at that time of year, but because they firmly believe in the one the song is about.  My prayer is simple - LORD, USE ME!  Is yours the same?

April opportunites

April sees three Sunday events to invite people along to:

1) On Mothers Day we will remember the important roles that mothers play in the lives of their children and therefore in the lives of those their children meet. Invite your mum along and then take her to dinner afterwards! Why not invite those mums that you know around you to come and hear how important their role really is?  If you are new parents you have a new pool of people to invite to this sort of thing!  It's just another opportunity to introduce people to Jesus in a fairly low key way.


2) If you're looking for a more full on affair then the following week is for you.  April 10th sees Paul Brown's visit with us.  We must invite people who don't yet know Jesus to this as Paul will preach a clear gospel message that will be simple but powerful.  We will also be praying for the sick and injured, expecting God to heal as he has in the past.  We trust that as people see the healing power of Jesus and hear  the gospel, that the greatest miracle of all will be in evidence - salvation.

3) Finally we have Easter Sunday, 24th April.  Both the morning and evening congregation will gather together as one in the morning at Reading Girls School and we will be baptizing people.  Baptisms are always a great way of introducing people to church because they don't just hear a preacher but they also hear individuals from the church give their personal story of faith.  It's also Easter Sunday when people are more likely to go to church anyway, so give it a go and invite someone along!

Invite people to hear about Jesus

It's been a couple of weeks now since we saw the bell rung for not just 2, but three sinners repenting and turning to Jesus.  The third was a guy who came to Alpha, heard about Jesus and gave his life to Him.  This is thrilling and should give us all courage and strength to be inviting people whether we think they will say yes or not.

In a months time on Sunday April 10th, my good friend Paul Brown will be with us at both the morning and evening meetings.  He is a seasoned evangelist who has seen many respond to the gospel and has stepped out and seen people healed.  I have learnt and am learning so much from him on what it is to love Jesus and love those who don't yet know him.

I am expecting to see God use Paul wonderfully at  both the morning and evening meetings and know that we should invite as many of our friends to hear him as possible.  This is not always the easiest thing to do when you yourself have not heard him speak. Here is a recording of one of his preaches recently - it'll take 25 mins but it's worth it! 

However if you don't have time to do that, I strongly urge that we gather as many together to be there  to hear the gospel preached and the sick healed.  I long for the day when we are ringing the bell regularly, however we will only see that when we bring people to hear about Jesus and to meet Him..

A great story of the Holy Spirit doing what he alone can do

A few weeks ago a lady accompanied a couple from RFC on a Sunday morning.  As we sung our songs of praise to Jesus and heard the preach something was happening and as the call for salvation came, she was in tears and unable to say why.  That morning the Spirit started a work in her that three week later, when the call for salvation came again, resulted in her raising her hand and giving her life to Jesus.

The following Tuesday, at  the prayer meeting, she came along with the couple she had originally come with and they rang the bell to celebrate what God had done in her.  It was glorious to see another woman pulled from the clutches of darkness and now walking in the light of Jesus.

This Sunday I looked around to see if she was there and sure enough just behind me I saw her beaming smile as we worshipped Jesus as brother and sister.  Her words to me afterwards were of how much brighter life seems and how much happier she feels in herself, even though none of here personal circumstances have actually changed.

I love our God and I love the fact that we have the great joy of seeing lives being transformed by the grace and mercy of a living loving Saviour, Jesus Christ, by the power of his Spirit.

My prayer is this, that we would see many more people like this, whereby the Spirit does his work, enabling people to see their condition of brokenness to a point where people can do nothing but turn to Jesus as he calls them to follow him.

As we approach Christmas, pray that you would be someone who God uses at the Christmas party or at drinks with the neighbours or around the Christmas dinner table, to be the peace bringer and to be the joy giver and to be the grace bearer.  And maybe you too could be celebrating with a friend or family member as the bell is rung again to mark yet another sinner repenting and turning to Jesus.

Books that have stirred me recently

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I had been reading a book called the 'New York City Noon Prayer Meeting' by Talbot Chambers, and I said i would do a precise of it when finished.  Well I finished it a while ago and have been also reading 'Revival Fire' by Wesley Duewel.

First published in 1858, Chambers' intent in writing the book was to chronicle the first year of the revival that all started because a man span up a noonday prayer meeting for business men.  It journeys through the very beginning when only a few gathered to when hundreds gathered in different parts of New York at the same time to pray for one thin - salvation.  For the outpouring of the Spirit in such a way that people fall to their knees and commit their lives to Jesus as they are confronted with the reality and are deeply convicted of their sin. Through out the book their are testimonies upon testimonies of how people raised up a person in prayer and within days if not minutes the person is giving their life to Jesus.  Tales of people who are not Christians, going to the prayer meetings so that people at the meeting would pray for them!  In our 'busy' world I loved what the book taught me.  We can have all the programmes in the world to help people find Jesus, but unless the Spirit comes and convicts people of sin then all our hardest efforts are fruitless.  We need to be a people who get on our knees and seek after Him who alone can grant the miraculous gift of salvation and then let him do the work as we live our lives like Christ and speak of his good news in our worlds.

The second book Revival Fire is a stirring account of times where the Spirit of prayer and intercession has gripped nations and has seen the Spirit poured out resulting in many being saved and added to the kingdom of God.  This coupled with the first book has left me with a desire to see these things in our time like never before.  That passion has always been there but now it is intensified and I long to see the day when many are bought to glory by the Spirit through the Son to bring glory to the Father.

Alpha@CoffeeRepublic week 2+3 summary.

Over the past two weeks we have gathered again at Coffee Republic.  Many of the guests have returned and we have been joined by a couple more.  The talks have looked at the death and resurrection of Jesus.  Looking at the different arguments that have been put about as an alternative reason for the empty to and then we looked a the reasons why these things do not hold water.  We then saw this week that Jesus died on the cross because this was and is the only way that man can once again have a relationship with the living God.  It's was and is the only way that we can be forgiven of the sin that controls us, the sin the condemns us and the sin that ultimately keeps us from knowing the Father.

It is fantastic to engage with peoples questions and objections and to show that being a follower of Jesus stands up to intense scrutiny.  Please keep praying for the course and that people would progress further in their journeys of discovering Jesus for themselves.

Leafleting

We are now 4000 in to getting the flyers out for the general advertising of the church.  Inspiring RFCers such as Kinga, Sam, Darren, Beka C, Dave, Elli, Silke, Lozi and Becca H have all come in and pounded the streets around South Street Arts Centre in faith that we will see new people coming along to progress in their journey with Jesus.  On top of that the office crew have also come alongside these guys and done a few of those 4000.  There are still 6000 still to get out - 6000 homes still to be reached, 6000 letterboxes still to open and close.  We would love you to have the joy of leafleting.  If you have a spare hour (alright, if you can find a spare hour!) it would be great to have you come in, collect a couple of hundred and then get them out.

We have also just received the flyers for the healing meeting.  I mentioned yesterday that we will be doing this in life groups and next Tuesday evening the life group leaders of RFC will be collecting their leafleting packs.  A map, several hundred flyers and a list of roads to conquer.

Both of these endeavours are about inviting people to come and meet Jesus.  To  encounter His power, His glory and His majesty.  When the people in Acts came into contact with the church, when they got in the midst of the people and saw Jesus at work they saw something that inspired them, they saw something that changed them, they saw something that brought them to Jesus.  that's why we are putting leaflets out, to invite people to come and see for themselves the community of Jesus enjoying Him and meeting him in a school hall and an arts centre.

Healing Meeting - Sunday May 23rd

It's now only 6 weeks till we have our healing meeting on Sunday 23rd May.  We have got a guy called Chris Kilby coming to us from Southampton.  He leads the Newfrontiers Church there called Life Church.  I always find Chris to be an inspiring guy to be around - he always has a story of kebab shops where he has just shared the gospel or people he has seen healed recently.  He has a great gift of connecting and communicating with people and explaining Jesus to them in stories.  He also has a growing healing ministry.  I am hoping that RFCers will get to meet Chris before the event as we have invited him to come and meet midweek with us in a couple of weeks time.

This is definitely a date to put in the diary.  For ourselves we need to be full of faith and expect that God will do amazing things through Chris' ministry.  We also need to be inviting as many people to come as possible - I know that they will find themselves in the presence of God on the morning.  We shall also be flyering the area around the school again as lifegroups. 

RFCers on the street

Over the past few weeks three RFCers, Lozi, Sam and Edd, have been going out with people from two other churches and have been using the 'Treasure Hunt' framework of evangelism which entails asking God for clues and words which are then written down under headings such as Name, Appearance, Location, Unusual and Ailment/What they need prayer for.


This Sunday Lozi and Edd came and shared some stories with me.  This is a fairly long post but stick with it because the stories are worth it and should help build our faith:


The 8 of us got clues such as 'black railings', 'statue', 'questions', 'Christine', 'museum', 'clock', 'brick floor', 'left ankle', 'black longs and a top with blue & white', the colour 'green' and 'garden'. Based on these and other clues we got, we decided to head for the area around the museum and Forbury Gardens.

 - On the high street we spotted a lady collecting for a charity and saw she had 'black longs with a blue & white top', so we went up to her. We asked if she wanted to prayer for anything and she said to pray for her charity. We asked how her ankle was, and she said that her right ankle was in pain. We asked if we could pray for her and she said yes. We asked if we could pray for her right there and then and she said yes! So, asking if we could lay hands on her foot (she said yes), we knelt down in the street and prayed for her foot. After prayer she said it felt "comfortable". We told her that God loves her and we left her to her charity-collecting.

-Soon afterwards Matthew, Kathy from Vineyard and myself went to Forbury Gardens to see if we could find anyone else. Entering the Gardens we saw the big lion statue, the green grass, the brick floor...location-wise we hitting alot of our clues basically! Kathy felt that the Holy Spirit wanted us to go and talk to a woman who was sat on a bench wrapping presents. So we did. She was a lovely, friendly woman from New Zealand who we soon got into conversation with and was so friendly. (It turns out her mum is called Christine.) We felt the presence of God around her and really saw that God loves her heart for the "down and outs". She had a lot of questions about the bible and stuff, and we got the opportunity to read Psalm 139 to her, shared the testimonies of how we came to know Jesus and how he changed us, told her a bit about his grace and how much he loves her and how she's fearfully and wonderfully made. She let us pray for her as well, and she said that she felt heat. We shared how people react in different ways to God; some cry, some fall over, some don't feel anything but see the later effects, some feel heat and tingles. Her eyes kind of widened when we said about the tingles. She got those too. She also said that she was looking for a fun church, so we gave her a flyer of the 3 churches we were from with our contact details on and invited her along to Reading Family Church. It was so clear that were meant to meet her and it was such a priviledge as well.

-On the way back to the church offices Kathy and I stopped to speak to a homeless guy called Paul to see how was doing and if he needed anything. We didn't have any information on us about shelters or places to eat so we asked God to provide, and within 30 seconds after praying, 2 ladies came up beside us with a piece of paper on with contacts for shelters and places to eat & practical advice. God is good.


These guys are doing a great job of attempting to live out the Gospel and see people introduced to Jesus.  I am planning to go out with them sometime to experience the thrill of hearing from God and then seeing it through.  maybe you too would like to join them.  If so then just comment and I will give you more details.


God is good and He is working in our town through His church.

Cards out... at Verizon!

Over the past few weeks I have had the privilege of going to Verizon at junction 11 to spend time with a small group of people. They are warm, welcoming and  find the time to fit me in amongst the business of a working day.  They come from different departments and indeed companies within the same building, but they all have one thing in common: they are asking questions about Jesus.  We are talking around subjects like suffering, the cross and heaven and hell.

We spend just an hour asking questions, discovering answers together and focussing on Jesus.  Today I was able to give away four venue cards!!!  I am hoping that we will see each of these people who took one at some point in the future, but I hope more than anything that they become followers of Jesus for His glory and His fame.

If you took venue cards away with you on Sunday, have you managed to get one out yet?  If you need some cards then please let us know at the office.

Front Edge 2010

For the first time this year, the Home Counties region that we are part of as Newfrontiers, will be hosting Front Edge. This is a conference that sees excellent faith-filling evangelistic equipping coupled with evangelists going into churches to preach the gospel and pray for the sick.  I have had the pleasure of being involved in many of these around the country and am so excited that we will be doing one here in our region. 

As I have said there are two elements - the first is on Saturday May 22nd. This will be a day that I will be calling as many RFCers to be at as possible. The two main speakers will be Lex Loizides and Adrian Holloway. The blurb below comes from the conference leaflet:

Lex was born again in Brighton and is now based in Jubilee Community Church , Cape Town.  He has a wonderful combination of outrageous zeal and mature theology.  His remarkable evangelistic gift has taken him all over the world.  in recent years he has also been seeing an increased number of healings, both in Africa, and on his many visits to the UK.

Adrian is the author of two best-selling evangelistic books, The Shock of Your Life, and Aftershock, which tackles the most common objections to the Christian faith in the form of a novel.  He is based at Christchurch, London where he serves alongside David Stroud, who leads the Newfrontiers UK team.

I will be getting more info out to people as  the weeks go by, but I do think that this will be an important time for us as a church to come and listen to evangelists that are seeing great things in the name of Jesus and who are coming to equip us.

On the Sunday we will have an evangelist coming to visit us and before that Sunday we will have an opportunity hopefully to meet him.  I too will be going to another church to preach and so as a church we will be extremely involved in all that is happening.

Put the 22nd and 23rd May in your diaries now and let's start praying and asking for God to move powerfully with us over that weekend, both in equipping and healings and salvation.

Alpha@CoffeeRepublic: the countdown begins!

There is only 11 weeks to go until the start of the next Alpha course. We are looking to build on the success of the last course and see even more people come along to Coffee Republic to enjoy coffee, chat and the gospel.

On the last course we saw two people commit to following Jesus, others come and join us on a Sunday morning to serve and be part of the family; others are still searching but we will remain available to them in order to help them continue on the journey.

Alpha is not the only way that souls are won, but in our culture it seems to have an anointing on it and I for one will continue to promote and be part of these courses whilst people are still being saved. Who will I invite on the next course and who will you invite.

For more details on the course click here.

A company of bell ringers

Since the turn of the year I have had the joy of reporting of 5 people turning to Jesus. I have the joy of telling of at least two others.

On May 21st I had coffee with a young Lithuanian guy in our church. For 2 hours we discussed Jesus and what it meant to commit to following him. After 2 hours we returned to the church offices where he did commit his life to Jesus and he was wonderfully baptised in the Holy Spirit. To see him ringing the bell then and at the prayer meeting was immense. There was so much genuine joy that I couldn't help but worship God!

The second story came only yesterday. As I was getting ready to go to Alpha last night I had a phone call from Elli, a student in our church. She was extremely excited and it soon became evident why. A friend of hers who had been asking Elli questions deckared to Elli yesterday that she wanted to follow Jesus. Following a conversation Elli had the privilege of leading her friend to Jesus

God us doing a work amongst the people of Reading Family Church and I for one am looking forward to more bell ringing escapades!!!

Jesus: Saviour, Healer and Deliverer

Preaching the gospel, laying hands on the sick and casting out demons - this is the work of the Christian. When Jesus sent the 12 he sent them to do these things in the villages that they came to. When he sent out the 72 he got them to do the same. He now also sends us, how do we know - because of the great commission found in Matthew 28. We also read this in John 14:12-14:

"I tell you the truth, anyone who who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. They will see even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it."

When he says these things he is saying, I preached the good news, laid hands on the sick and I cast out demons - go and do these things - yes do this with love and compassion, without compromising or watering anything down, but go and do what I have been doing. Why? So he can continue doing what he has been doing, but all over the place by the power of his Holy Spirit as we step out in faith.

This weekend, I had the privilege of speaking at Sutton Family Church. On the morning there were 5 responses to the good news - 3 recommitments and two unsure whether it was the first time or not. Whatever the details were, 5 people stood and aligned themselves with Jesus asking them to be Lord of their lives and to relinquish the hold they have on their own lives.

On that same morning several people were prayed for for healing. One lady's neck was healed even before hands were laid on or a prayer was answered. Another lady sent this testimony to the leader of the church in Sutton on Monday morning:

"I felt very strongly that I was going to be healed on Sunday morning. In fact I quickly realised that I could stand with very little pain during the worship. I was leading the Whiz kids class so I’d asked Colin and Mary to come and collect me when the time came. I went to the front and Mary, Pete and Scott all prayed for me. At the time I cannot say that I felt totally pain free but immediately I walked away I realised that for the first time in months I wasn’t limping or dragging my foot.

During the rest of the day I was fine – I was climbing stairs without relying heavily on the banister rail and even ran up the top flight of four. By bedtime I made a deliberate decision not to take my nightly dose of painkillers. I did not wake up in pain during the night and when I got up this morning I was pain free and mobile! I still am! I have told three people at work so far.

Praise God - I am so elated I can’t stop smiling! "

There were other stories of an older lady who could march on the spot where before Arthritis had subdued her movement. Another lady was overwhelmed by the Spirit and we are awaiting news as to whether her thyroid problem has been rectified.

I tell these stories because Jesus is still doing his work through his people by the power of his Holy Spirit. At his name, people are saved, they are healed and at his name demons do flee. We truly have an amazing God and as we build up now for Alpha starting next week and our healing meeting on May 17th, let's be praying that our God will do extraordinary things here in Reading.

A week of stories!!!

One of the things that is important in life is to be inspired. There are many things that can inspire us, but I am someone who becomes particularly inspired by others. This week I have been totally motivated by the stories I have been sent on facebook, text and email. I shall outline a few of them below. If you are anything like me you will hopefully read this and hopefully feel that speaking to people about our faith or inviting people to meet Jesus is quite a natural thing to do.

Stuart works in a multi national company. He speaks to people around the world in the course of a day. He has acquaintances as a result in India. One of those got into an instant message conversation. The upshot of which gave Stuart the opportunity to share the reason for the hope that he has. He pointed the lady toward passages in the bible which surprised her but also enabled her to say that she had been to church when she was younger but had 'drifted away'. He writes this to conclude his mail:

"We have since prayed for her in our Life Group that she would find calm, patience, and peacefulness and although she had a very difficult weekend (28th/29th March), she was able to find strength through praying which is something she never would have done before."

Carol and Mike are a couple who have just joined our church. They are a fantastic pair and have really started to get their sleeves rolled up. At the end of last week, Carol sent me this:

"This is just to tell you that this morning I have had a long talk with someone who has some extremely complex and difficult circumstances in which she lives. I have invited her to Alpha. At present she's not sure she could really even fit Alpha into life (as she has lots of responsibility for others). I talked about her needs being met and that she needs God to take on her burden and see her through!

I know her well and we have had talks over a couple of years ... but today's was the most direct, with reference to God in my life! "

What a great email to receive!!! Carol is also going to be serving on the Alpha course!

Lawrence has been prolific this week. I have had three texts from him telling me of his exploits. The first of which was inspired by Karen's story that I told during my preach on Sunday morning (link here). He was sitting in the barbers chair and was able to tell his story to her. His second opportunity was to tell his geography admin lady (he's a student) what his mission trip to Poland was all about. He wrote this:

"The opportunities are there even though we think we don't make the most of them!"

Since those first two texts, he has also been able to share his story with a waitress and a ceroc dance instructor. He's on the front foot and loving it!!!

I share these with you as they have encouraged me to action this week. I made my first invite to Alpha in years on Monday night. There was no resounding "yes" but my good friend did say he would think about it. I am praying that he will come.

A quote from Spurgeon

As I have read through this biography of Charles Hadden Spurgeon I have been so encouraged challenged and wowed by a man who truly lived his life to bring glory to Gods name by seeing people saved. At the beginning of chapter 16 there was this quote from 'The Early Years':

"In Spurgeon's time London's streetlights burned gas but still had to be lit individually. It is to this practice that Spurgeon is referring in the following note:

Coming one Thursday in the late autumn from an engagement beyond Dulwich, my way led up to the top of Herne Hill ridge. I came along the level out of which rises the steep hill I had to ascend.

While I was on the lower ground, riding in the hansom cab, I saw a light before me, and when I came near the hill, I marked that light gradually go up the hill, leaving a train of stars behind it. This line of new-born stars remained in the form of one lamp, and then another and another. It reached from the foot of the hill to its summit.

I did not see the lamplighter. I do not know his name, his age, nor his residence; but I saw the lights which he had kindled, and these remained when he himself had gone his way.

As I rode I thought to myself, "How earnestly do I wish that my life may be spent in lighting one soul after another with the sacred flame of eternal life! I would myself be as much as possible unseen while at my work, and would vanish into eternal brilliance above when my work is done."

I can add nothing to what he has said other than to say what wonderful imagery and a reminder to me that this should be my desire. To see as many lights lit in my life time for Jesus as I can and to say with John the Baptist - Less of me and more of Him!!!

The countdown is on...

It is only 38 days to go (April 28th) until Alpha@CoffeeRepublic starts. I have already had 6 people tell me that they are coming. Three of those are people who are not yet connected with the church, three are from Sunday mornings. Out of those numbers 4 of them are on a journey of discovery concerning the Christian faith.

It has been a very exciting start considering it is only this Sunday coming that will see us publicly advertise the course. The following week there will be a flier available that members of the church will be able to place in peoples hands. I am trusting God and praying that this course will literally be a life changing course for many people, more than those who are already signed up. Lives that could be changed are the lives of our own friends, neighbours, housemates, gym buddies, course or work colleagues.

The onus is on us to invite and introduce people to Jesus just as Andrew did in bringing Peter to Jesus and as the woman at the well did when she went back to her village and said come and meet the man that told me all that ever did.

Alpha@CoffeeRepublic

One of my favourite places in Reading is Coffee Republic. Their hot chocolate with marshmallows is excellent, in my humble opinion! This week I met the guy who run the place and he has agreed to let us use Coffee Republic as our Alpha venue. (Click here for more on Alpha)

Alpha@CoffeeRepublic starts on Tuesday 28th April at 8pm. It is now time to start inviting friends to come and hear what Christians believe, in an environment where they can also ask their questions without fear of upsetting anyone or having any pressure placed upon them.

This course is for your friends if they have been asking you questions about your faith, it's for them if they have some objections to what you believe and you haven't got the answers. This course may also be for you. If you are not sure if you are a Christian or not or you know you aren't but you are looking in here today; then please contact me by posting a comment. I will get back to you.

Last Wednesdays quiz night

As some of you may have read in an earlier post (click here to read), we were challenged by another life group to a quiz night. This took place last Wednesday evening. It was a great night of fun, friendship and facts!!! Keith and Leslie had done a great job in organising everything and their life group had also been busy inviting guests. (As had ours I hasten to add!)

The evening saw 45 of us gather with over half of those being guests. I have been told by members of our life group that the evening was greatly appreciated by their friends and that just the fact that people saw that Christians can have fun and can enjoy life was valuable. The other positive thing from the night was that a few have also shown an interest in coming to other events as and when they come along.

In short, the evening was a fantastic success and would be something I would recommend to any other life groups who wanted to use the idea.

Back and raring to go...

I have now returned from paternity leave and am looking forward to posting more regularly again. Over the past few weeks I have been slowly working through the Fruitful Life by Jerry Bridges and Spurgeon: a New Biography by Arnold Dallimore. I have enjoyed both immensely and would highly recommend both as encouraging and challenging in living as a follower of Jesus.

However more encouraging still has been the fact that although only back in the chair for two days, I have already heard a couple of stories of conversations and opportunities people have had. I have just finished an informal chat with a student in our church. He was telling me about a housemate who is changing in her view of Christianity: she has come to realise that the philosophical questions that are often raised are nonsense when searching for a serious answer as to whether there is or is not a God. She is currently looking into the whole notion of Christianity because she doesn't just want to make broad weeping statements that cannot be backed up when sitting in a discussion arena, but she has also seen through this lad and others that Christianity is not a Sunday thing and is not a judgemental thing but is a lifestyle of love, acceptance and family, worked out through the loving parameters of the teaching of the bible.

Although this young lady is not yet a Christian, I greatly admire her for taking it seriously enough to at least explore what it actually means to live for Jesus and believe and trust in God. What ever the outcome, I know that this young lady will have good friends in the church who will love her and be part of her life for as long as she wants them to be.

I have also been invited to chat to another young lady on Friday morning with another student in our church. She has some questions around denominations and grace and law. I am so looking forward to this as I can talk about my favourite subject... Jesus, him crucified and resurrected!!!