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.

Enjoying fatherhood

Sean spoke today on fatherhood today at church. 6 months ago I would only have been looking forward to what it could be like to be a father. I would have been listening to Sean's talk and taking notes for the time that I would be a father.

Today I sat and drank up all that he had to say, knowing that I now have a little girl who is growing fast. It was great to hear about the fact that I need to love her and to think about the priorities afresh, however the most important thing I will take from this morning will be that I am my daughters priest. I am the one who needs to intercede for her before God. I am not her High Priest as that would be Jesus, but I am her priest. For her, as she grows up to see me reading the bible and praying, knowing that part of that is prayer for her alerted me once more to the great call of fatherhood.

There was so much other good stuff that Sean said this morning and I recommend listening to it here. I know that I have so much to learn but I know that I want to be the father that God is calling me to be and the one that my daughter needs me to be!

The week that was at conference

Last week saw a whole bunch of us going to Brighton for the annual leadership conference. Once again, I found myself in the realm of new experiences. For the first time B was there and for the first time I was also there as a father. No longer were my first thoughts as to what books to buy or where to go for dinner, but they were now, where is the skyline (the creche type room provided for those with babies and toddlers) and how do I make this week a great experience for my wife.

This meant it was different but just as inspiring and even more fun. The conference is always quite hard work in terms of the amount of information that you are trying to process in a small period of time. I resolved this year to try and take only one thing away from each of the preaches, but to be fair I am still trying to process what those things are!!!

Some of my thoughts of the week were these:

• Great to have the likes of Stuart, Mix and Dorothy and Becca with us, new faces from last year in our party;
• Great to worship with 5000 other people;
• Good to see new faces on the stage from within Newfrontiers;
• Good to be part of something so much bigger than Reading;
• Good to hear from Joel that being an armour bearer is really important;
• Good to sing old hymns with new rhythms;
• Great to hear what God is doing in nations that barely get any thought in my mind!
• Good to hear from Stef that childlikeness does not equal childishness!
• The call to be R.A.W. (take Risks, take Authority, be Wild) as Christians was refreshing from PJ.
• Great to see Mark, Gavin and Martin really going for it for Jesus in dance on the thursday evening.

Overall I enjoyed the week immensely and really appreciate the fact that we are together on a mission with people we will never meet, through the family of churches that are represented by the name Newfrontiers.

Thoughts from three weeks ago!

Going away on holiday is always good and a week down in North Devon enjoying the company of B, Rachel and my parents was no exception. Holidays have now taken a different turn, they will now feel very different as I have come to realise, but it was a break none-the-less. Spending time together and doing things that you would not normally be able to do in the course of a working week.

Since being back, there is the small matter of catching up on all the things that have accumulated over a week and there is also new things to be thinking about. The new Alpha course needs to be planned for September; the current Alpha course remains on track and still has a great turn out; the new interns for next year are coming in for a visit and the current interns are nearing the end of their time working in the office; there are weddings to be celebrated and people who are ill or struggling who need prayer and care. There are baptisms to be planned and a fun day to be implemented.

Life is busy and long be it so, but in the midst of all of this I hear the voice of God saying be still and know that I am God.

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!!!

Salvation and healing!!!

Necks, depression, knees, legs growing and back pain - all of these are healing stories that came out on Sunday evening at our prayer meeting to thank Gods for all he did on Sunday. They are an accumulation of stories from the past couple of weeks as well as an older one. What this shows is that God is at work amongst us.

Granted not everyone who is prayed for is healed but we are seeing people regularly healed of various ailments. The more we pray, the more God does through his people by the power of his Spirit. You would think that this would be enough to rejoice about. However the real rejoicing came when we rang the bell three times. There were at least three responses to the good news of Jesus on Sunday morning with three more still to be identified. Each time we rang the bell we put up a cheer to God not a short cheer, but a long sustained one, joining with the celebration of heaven over each of these three sinners saved.

Sunday night will sit in my memory for a long time. To hear testimony after testimony and to ring the bell three times felt like a glimpse of what God wants us to be as a church. A place where people can come to receive physical, emotional and spiritual healing.

Terry Hotchkiss spoke brilliantly on this on Sunday morning and would recommend you listen to it. If you were there on Sunday morning, then listen to it again and let the truth that he speaks change you and build your faith. (Link here)

Stories of healing keep coming

Last night there was a phone call to the church office as people were gathered here to pray. That phone call came from a lady prayed, for 6 months ago, regarding healing. When I visited her she found moving very painful due to osteoarthritis in her upper body, she would now say that all the tension from her neck, shoulders and arms has been released and the pain that she felt is no longer there. As a result of this she has now returned to church and is regularly reading her bible as she knows that God loves he and has compassion for her.

This is a remarkable story and is just one of a few from these last few weeks. Two Sunday's ago, one guy was instantly healed of a painful headache and another ladies thumb was pain free and back to full rotation in an instant - both spoke publicly of what God had done. Following that meeting I had an email to say that an 8 year old lad who was prayed for was significantly better and the healing seems to be continuing.

God is alive, He is interested and He is healing in our day. I know this has been the major theme of my blog for a while now, but it is so important to keep reporting what is happening. I know that the Holy Spirit is at work, pointing people towards Jesus by healing people. In our culture which is very much one of 'show me the proof', Jesus comes and, as he did in his day, he heals to show that he is alive and he continues to do what he said he would through us - that is heal the sick.

This Sunday we have Terry Hotchkiss with us. He is a guy who has a proven ministry in seeing miraculous things happen. He is also outstanding at preaching the good news of Jesus. My prayer for this Sunday is that many are healed and that people turn to Jesus as a result. If you have not invited friends, it's not too late - if you are looking in and are not part of our church but need healing and are in the Reading area, come and join us.