Ive just got back from an event at my uni i work at which was meant to be a evangelistic look at worship music and it struck me just how people are being taught to worship with their feelings. The second worship group were more like a performance and the music was used to whip people up into a "worshipful mood". Ive seen this more and more in CU's and i find it distressing. Were moving away from worshipping in spirit and TRUTH! And we can only worship because of the truth. The truth that we are sinful and need a saviour. The truth that God sent Jesus to be that rescuer, to die on the cross and bear our shame. The truth that if we have trusted in Christ we are a new creation. The truth that because of Christ we will one day sing his praises in heaven.
Worship isnt a feeling its an obligation for any Christian which is a joyful obligation. Our lives are worship and a sacrifice. Not just whipping ourselves to worship in song. Worship is more than just a meeting and a guitar.
What also frustrates me is man focussed worship. Where has the holiness and wonder of God gone in our worship. Why do we always sing about us coming to God when the only way we can come is through Christ. Jesus isnt our homeboy!!! Hes our saviour, Lord and Judge! If we bring him down to our level all the time and start comparing him to one of our mates from uni then who are we saying God is! If we realise who God is, what he has done for us and what our response should be to him then we can only praise him!
"My sin oh the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin not in part but the whole
was nailed to the cross and i bear it no more
Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! Oh my soul!!!"
I apologise for this rant but i had to get it out of my head as it really frustrates me and gets me annoyed! If ive said anything which is unbiblical then please correct me. I pray that God will teach us what true worship is and how we should worship Him in spirit and in truth.
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
RELAY:3:DAY:5
So Here we are at the end of the relay conference and nearly (apart from another 3 weeks of students) the end of relay. It seems abit strange and for me anti climaxial on the 5th day of the conference. It will be sad to say goodbye to good friendships that build up but its also amazing to see how people havew grown over the year. Watching the 3 minute presentations over the week was amazing to see how everybody had gone through different things. Come good, some bad, some just plain ugly but at the end they all proclaimed how the Gospel was more true to them and they understood more of grace. Praise God for this as it shows again that this is what is needed! GRACE GRACE GRACE!!!
The Church that looks like Heaven (1 Corinthians 13)
Our last talk of the week went back to what we had missed out in chapter 13 looking at the "Love" passage. I have always loved this passage and said that i would probably have it at my wedding but after this talk it shone a new light on it. We can see first of all in the passage what the church shouldnt be to reflect heaven. So it is not the miraculous, knowledge or life living that distinguishes us as Christians. "Five gifts minus one love equals nothing". So what does love mean? Love is not a feeling but an attitude, Love puts up and endures all things. Paul is pointing out to them where they continually fall down not exactly what love is. So this is only a small picture of what love is not the definition. So why does love show heaven? in the ESV we see that it says "Love never ends". When heaven comes the church will be finished and we will know God perfectly. The spiritual gifts are a sign of our imperfection not our perfection. Love is the greatest gift which shows heaven. Because God is love we must grow up adn learn to love other christians.
We should know how hard this is in churches. When people dont really talk to us. When people ignore our ideas or throw them back in our faces. When we see gossiping or back biting. When we simply sit away from everyone else.
We need to show love above all things so that the church may be built up!
So there was the end of Relay 3 and almost the end of relay. Ill blog more generally about how ive found relay soon but Relay 3 was brilliant. Sitting having great conversations with people. Running around and getting exercise. Challenging talks and the presentations. GRACE GRACE GRACE. and so much more love.
The Church that looks like Heaven (1 Corinthians 13)
Our last talk of the week went back to what we had missed out in chapter 13 looking at the "Love" passage. I have always loved this passage and said that i would probably have it at my wedding but after this talk it shone a new light on it. We can see first of all in the passage what the church shouldnt be to reflect heaven. So it is not the miraculous, knowledge or life living that distinguishes us as Christians. "Five gifts minus one love equals nothing". So what does love mean? Love is not a feeling but an attitude, Love puts up and endures all things. Paul is pointing out to them where they continually fall down not exactly what love is. So this is only a small picture of what love is not the definition. So why does love show heaven? in the ESV we see that it says "Love never ends". When heaven comes the church will be finished and we will know God perfectly. The spiritual gifts are a sign of our imperfection not our perfection. Love is the greatest gift which shows heaven. Because God is love we must grow up adn learn to love other christians.
We should know how hard this is in churches. When people dont really talk to us. When people ignore our ideas or throw them back in our faces. When we see gossiping or back biting. When we simply sit away from everyone else.
We need to show love above all things so that the church may be built up!
So there was the end of Relay 3 and almost the end of relay. Ill blog more generally about how ive found relay soon but Relay 3 was brilliant. Sitting having great conversations with people. Running around and getting exercise. Challenging talks and the presentations. GRACE GRACE GRACE. and so much more love.
Saturday, June 17, 2006
Frisbee memories
Frisbee - The beautiful game! Well football is too! But ive come to love frisbee over these past few years and its a game thats enjoyable and good for fellowship as you can talk whilst playing. Many memories could return when thinking about frisbee but theres too many (Post CU asda car park game - a dream come true!, Bridge beating Christ "the frisbee" church! Brilliant! Getting engaged and then going to the beach and playing frisbee with friends but not being able to tell them etc etc etc) Has anyone else had any frisbee memories? Oh and if your wondering about the picture i've always tried to egt people to do this but never thought that catching a frisbee in the mouth could actually be done!
RELAY:3:DAY:4
Once again Day 4 started with glorious weather and after the last few days i was wary of getting eevn more burnt before breakfast!! But it didnt happen and we again sat down for breakfast. If you have never heard of relay conferences never go without warning people of one thing. Dont get your mum to send soppy letters! Tradition has it that the relay co-ordinator reads out your post in front of everyone. This means that no matter what letters you get on relay they get read out and since this is a tradition people do send some embarrasing things in!! Be warned
The Church that shows God (1 Cor 14:20-40)
Our next session on these passages looked at the last part of chapter 14, again some more contreversial things but again Maurice dealt with them brilliantly. Maurice began with a quote from Dave Bish which said "Being spiritual is about being gospel". We saw how the passage states that what we do in church, including gifts should help people to see the gospel. The passage implies that there will be non-christians in the meeting and therefore they must look at what they do and evaluate it according to Gods word. Its a challenge to think how many non-christians we see in our meetings and so many times when we have an "evangelistic" service we change the way its done. Should it be like that all the time?
Then we saw also how all things should be done in order and how there is a self control to using the gifts. Confusion and chaos is not a sign of God. It was interesting to apply the bit where it says "29Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said. 30And if a revelation comes to someone who is sitting down, the first speaker should stop" This shows how we should use our gifts BUT they are not the most important thing to be used. Its about building up the church and encouraging them to live in love. And also church shows the trinity - Spirit brings variety, Jesus is shown in the body and the father is shown in order.
Final Challenges
During the afternoon we did alot of finishing relay type stuff. Questionaires, feedback forms and the like but we also had a visit from Richard Cunningham (Director of UCCF). Richard is a great guy and has a real passion for the gospel even if he does have a very posh accent!!! He talked to us about perseverence again and it was encouraging to me to hear a similar challenge to what we've heard before about encouragement and who God is. We were challenged to hold onto the gospel and continue to hear and live the word. A great challenge as we were leaving relay. Then we were whisked away for a posh nosh served by the Staffworkers in full waiter/waitress dress! It was a great time of fun and our table even nearly set Quinta on fire during one of the thankyou speeches. Ask me for more details! After we had a bonfire and sang some terrible pop songs and i managed to burn my hand on the bonfire so missed most of it!!! Not good!
The Church that shows God (1 Cor 14:20-40)
Our next session on these passages looked at the last part of chapter 14, again some more contreversial things but again Maurice dealt with them brilliantly. Maurice began with a quote from Dave Bish which said "Being spiritual is about being gospel". We saw how the passage states that what we do in church, including gifts should help people to see the gospel. The passage implies that there will be non-christians in the meeting and therefore they must look at what they do and evaluate it according to Gods word. Its a challenge to think how many non-christians we see in our meetings and so many times when we have an "evangelistic" service we change the way its done. Should it be like that all the time?
Then we saw also how all things should be done in order and how there is a self control to using the gifts. Confusion and chaos is not a sign of God. It was interesting to apply the bit where it says "29Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said. 30And if a revelation comes to someone who is sitting down, the first speaker should stop" This shows how we should use our gifts BUT they are not the most important thing to be used. Its about building up the church and encouraging them to live in love. And also church shows the trinity - Spirit brings variety, Jesus is shown in the body and the father is shown in order.
Final Challenges
During the afternoon we did alot of finishing relay type stuff. Questionaires, feedback forms and the like but we also had a visit from Richard Cunningham (Director of UCCF). Richard is a great guy and has a real passion for the gospel even if he does have a very posh accent!!! He talked to us about perseverence again and it was encouraging to me to hear a similar challenge to what we've heard before about encouragement and who God is. We were challenged to hold onto the gospel and continue to hear and live the word. A great challenge as we were leaving relay. Then we were whisked away for a posh nosh served by the Staffworkers in full waiter/waitress dress! It was a great time of fun and our table even nearly set Quinta on fire during one of the thankyou speeches. Ask me for more details! After we had a bonfire and sang some terrible pop songs and i managed to burn my hand on the bonfire so missed most of it!!! Not good!
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
RELAY:3:DAY:3
Again Day 3 started with a glorious morning outside. I always find it so much easier to learn from God in a place such as that as the surroundings just speak who God is so clearly. It was the same when i was in America and doing Bible School in the middle of the Colorado Rockies. How could you not believe that God really existed when all creation cries out!
The Church that works (1 Cor 14:1-19)
Supposedly Maurice was telling us that alot of people were very shocked when he was telling them that he was going to speak on these passages. And looking at this section you wouldn't disagree in a CU context but Maurice tackled it by simply preaching what the passage said. He remarked "We shouldn't come to the passages asking questions which it simply doesnt answer". A challenge to me when im preparing talks and bible studies. But we saw as we looked at this passage is that the biggest principle of all gifts is to pursue love for the building up of the church. So the reason that the passages says prophecy is better than tongues is because it builds up the church. Tongues is only for one person and God whereas Prophecy should edify the whole church. Unless we can hear and understand what is being said whats the good. So when were praying out loud we shouldn't pray in tongues as some cant understand. PURSUE LOVE=BUILD THE CHURCH. Practically this means alot of things - Dont go to 2 churches, one for worship and one for teaching! We must pray intelligebly so that people can say "AMEN" at the end of it! And again we must pursue love which sometimes may mean that we dont use our gifts! More on this tommorow.
On the evening we have a prayer and praise session. It is something which in some ways i dread as i sometimes find them abit funny. Usually because people come to the front and say soemthing like "were going to do a deal with God" Not sure about that. But this prayer and praise was great and encouraging and challenging too. We prayed for our 121's which was cool. We prayed for those on Homestart (Jools, Chris O and Alison going to Chile/Argentina, Japan and Brussels respectively) It was great to do this and see their heart for their countries. Especially encouraging as always was Chris Oldfield as he has such a passion for Gods word that its infectious! He sets a big example to me about being passionate about God. We also prayed for Thailand and the desperate state there and then i think for UCCF. It was a good night this time and people really prayed and cried out to God for his mercy and grace not for a "bargain deal"!
The Church that works (1 Cor 14:1-19)
Supposedly Maurice was telling us that alot of people were very shocked when he was telling them that he was going to speak on these passages. And looking at this section you wouldn't disagree in a CU context but Maurice tackled it by simply preaching what the passage said. He remarked "We shouldn't come to the passages asking questions which it simply doesnt answer". A challenge to me when im preparing talks and bible studies. But we saw as we looked at this passage is that the biggest principle of all gifts is to pursue love for the building up of the church. So the reason that the passages says prophecy is better than tongues is because it builds up the church. Tongues is only for one person and God whereas Prophecy should edify the whole church. Unless we can hear and understand what is being said whats the good. So when were praying out loud we shouldn't pray in tongues as some cant understand. PURSUE LOVE=BUILD THE CHURCH. Practically this means alot of things - Dont go to 2 churches, one for worship and one for teaching! We must pray intelligebly so that people can say "AMEN" at the end of it! And again we must pursue love which sometimes may mean that we dont use our gifts! More on this tommorow.
On the evening we have a prayer and praise session. It is something which in some ways i dread as i sometimes find them abit funny. Usually because people come to the front and say soemthing like "were going to do a deal with God" Not sure about that. But this prayer and praise was great and encouraging and challenging too. We prayed for our 121's which was cool. We prayed for those on Homestart (Jools, Chris O and Alison going to Chile/Argentina, Japan and Brussels respectively) It was great to do this and see their heart for their countries. Especially encouraging as always was Chris Oldfield as he has such a passion for Gods word that its infectious! He sets a big example to me about being passionate about God. We also prayed for Thailand and the desperate state there and then i think for UCCF. It was a good night this time and people really prayed and cried out to God for his mercy and grace not for a "bargain deal"!
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
Monday, June 12, 2006
Sunsets! I do love em
Heres a break from the relay ramblings! On Sunday night me and sarah went to Bempton Cliffs after church as the weather was awesome and we wanted to see the Sunset and the Puffins. Stupidly i didnt nick my dads camera whilst mine is still broken but i did capture some of it on camera. It was an amazing night and the sunset looked awesome setting over the cliffs! These pictures cant even capture a quarter of how good it was! And here i am the next morning so Christs love for me is more certain again!!
RELAY:3:DAY:2
Day two started early with a dribble under the shower but the most amazing thing for me was sitting outside each morning to do my quiet time. At 7.20 i would sit on the lawn and just look out over shropshire as the day woke up and the birds woke up! It was amazingly hot at that point in the morning but really quiet too and was a great chance to hear what was happening in the world.
The Church that shows Jesus (1 Cor 12:12-30)
For me this was one of the most challenging talks as we looked at the body of Christ. In Church we all aim at the same thing but as we saw yesterday we can aim at it in slightly different ways. The passage starts off with the statement that Christ is the church and the church is the body of Christ. So as a church we are meant to be reflecting who Christ is. But we then moved on to look at how we can act like we are inferior or superior. We saw how no part of the church is weaker and we need each part of the church to survive. When it says i cannot survive as an ear by ourselves it is eactly that. We cannot survive as Christians unless we are part of a church. Therefore we should rejoice again in the variety of church and how we are all different. But the challenge for me came to think about how i can sometimes act like im superior and above people. We are all important in the church and therefore each gift id just as valid as any other. This is vital to a church and being part of the church and living as a church! This is only a brief overview so do ask me if you want any more info!
Work- See Sean Clokeys Blog
Keeping Spiritually Alive
For our final session of the day we looked at how as men we should keep alive as christians. It reminded me of a set of books ive read and found very challenging by a guy called Stu Weber and especially a book called "All the kings men". This session reflected alot of what was in this book and the need to be encouragers of one another as men to live the Christian Life. Some practical tips and verses were given shown below.
Strive for Godliness (Titus 2:11-14), Church (Hebrews 10:24-25), Bible (1 Thess 5:17, 1 Pet 2:2), Evangelism (Col 4:1-6, 1 Pet 3:15, Philemon 6), Christian Worldview (Romans 12:1-2), Gospel (2 Pt 1:12, 3:1), Accountability (2 Pt 3:10)
The Church that shows Jesus (1 Cor 12:12-30)
For me this was one of the most challenging talks as we looked at the body of Christ. In Church we all aim at the same thing but as we saw yesterday we can aim at it in slightly different ways. The passage starts off with the statement that Christ is the church and the church is the body of Christ. So as a church we are meant to be reflecting who Christ is. But we then moved on to look at how we can act like we are inferior or superior. We saw how no part of the church is weaker and we need each part of the church to survive. When it says i cannot survive as an ear by ourselves it is eactly that. We cannot survive as Christians unless we are part of a church. Therefore we should rejoice again in the variety of church and how we are all different. But the challenge for me came to think about how i can sometimes act like im superior and above people. We are all important in the church and therefore each gift id just as valid as any other. This is vital to a church and being part of the church and living as a church! This is only a brief overview so do ask me if you want any more info!
Work- See Sean Clokeys Blog
Keeping Spiritually Alive
For our final session of the day we looked at how as men we should keep alive as christians. It reminded me of a set of books ive read and found very challenging by a guy called Stu Weber and especially a book called "All the kings men". This session reflected alot of what was in this book and the need to be encouragers of one another as men to live the Christian Life. Some practical tips and verses were given shown below.
Strive for Godliness (Titus 2:11-14), Church (Hebrews 10:24-25), Bible (1 Thess 5:17, 1 Pet 2:2), Evangelism (Col 4:1-6, 1 Pet 3:15, Philemon 6), Christian Worldview (Romans 12:1-2), Gospel (2 Pt 1:12, 3:1), Accountability (2 Pt 3:10)
RELAY:3:DAY:1
So on Monday we set off for our last relay conference down to Quinta in the glorious sunshine. I guess for me i was looking forward to it although monday morning was a big rush trying to finish off presentations and applying for jobs. But we arrived and as usual for me i felt abit out of place but after a short while soon got back into normal conversations again.
Where have you come from?
We had our first session led by Anna Mackenzie on Psalm 129-131 remiding ourselves just how delicious the peas are aka how amazing the gospel is! We looked at the passages and saw how our hearts can decieve us but we must turn back to the gospel and trust in his promises. W were reminded too just of the certainty of the promise! Christs love for his people is more certain than the sun rising in the morning. Therefore whenever we see the new day come we should rejoice at Christs sacrifice for us being more certain!
The Church that has the Spirit (1 Cor 12:1-11)
Our Second Session was the first in a series by Maurice on 1 Corinthians 12-14 (the passages about the body, love and gifts!) We were challenged to look at these passages as a whole and i was reminded again about Paulas wisdom from pure "Dont bring your experience to the bible but stick to the truth!" So the fist session made many challeneges. First of all we saw how the spirit acts on us to bring the Lordship of Christ. We should use our gifts not for our own gain but to show that Jesus is Lord and that should be able to be seen. Then we saw how the spirit acts to bring variety in the Church. We shouldn't be in churches of a certain type but should see variety expressed across the church and this again should show the work of the spirit. For an interesting argument on this see Maurices blog on homogenous Church.
I was really excited after this talk and what was going to come next! This is something ive been thinking on for a while and in my elective study so it was great to hear some great bible exposition on the topic!
Relay 3 - The Report!
Well heres the start of a big blogging session! Its like waiting for a bus. None come along and then a few appear at the same time. My inspiration is a great week at Relay 3 Conference. For me this was easily the best of the three simply because i felt like some of my friendships developed and i had some great encouragements. The weather was glorious! It was 30 degrees all week and this in itself made it a brilliant week with plenty of outdoor fun had by all! But the talks were very challenging on 1 Corinthians 12-14 about church and listening to everyones 3 minute presentations it was great to hear how everyone had been challenged in different ways but they all came back to the gospel. Also it was great to catch up with my fellowship group again. We learnt loads of different things about the passages but especially not trying to be artistic with photos when you have to look into the sun!!! Evidence of this to follow!
Thursday, May 18, 2006
Genius ideas from Burley
Its official! Nathan Burley is a genius or spends too much time on the net. He's provided me with two new insights. Firstly as you will see ive now got a 24 stylie clock on my blog! brilliant! (If you've never watched 24 then you've never lived! pretty much!)
And also you have to look at this link if you like neighbours and want a laugh. (disclaimer: i dont really watch neighbours anymore although i watched it an awful lot in my first year!) Keep them coming nathan!
Monday, May 08, 2006
Thursday, May 04, 2006
Have you got a crayola Jesus?
A talk at my home church on Sunday made this challenge part way through. Looking at Revelation 1 and who Jesus is we were challenged by Gary Aston, Our guest speaker from Pontefract to think about who Jesus really is not just who we want him to be. In revelation 1 it describes "Christs face shining like the sun in all its brilliance". He started to make the anaology that if you ask a kid to draw a sun they will pick up a yellow crayon and make a circle and maybe a few lines coming from it. But if you ask a scientist to describe the sun they will tell you that its a ball of chemical reactions so hot that nothing natural could survive in it. Its the centre of the universe and the planets around it are in perfect balance because of it. If it wasnt there neither would we be.
So have you got a crayola Jesus or do we really realise who he really is?
Lets get posting again!!!!
Until just now i didnt realise how bad i had got at posting! I knew that i hadnt posted for a while but when your last post is march 21st then thats terrible! Shame on me and after a rebuke by Helen Lockwood ive decided to wipe the last few months clean and start again hopefully back to my regular posts!!! so here goes oh and a pic of where i went at easter. mayeb more to come!
Tuesday, March 21, 2006
If God exists why doesnt he prove it?
Ive just been doing some preperation for my lunchbar at Liverpool in just over a weeks time. Ive been thinking through how to approach the subject recently and trying to get my head round this question. So as you do i started to draw a spider diagram to put my ideas down about how people think God would appear if he did. It was an amazing experience as i sat down and brainstormed and all the reasons i gave had biblical answers and came down to Jesus!! So i thought id scan it in and attatch it to my blog.
It would be great if people could add to this diagram by adding comments on the same question or anyways in which my thoughts have been wrong. Hope it all makes sense too!
It would be great if people could add to this diagram by adding comments on the same question or anyways in which my thoughts have been wrong. Hope it all makes sense too!
Re:Vision
Last weekend we had a CityCU Exec reunion which was great. We had a vision weekend before our time on exec and a devision weekend after and a year on we decided to have a revision weekend. It was a great time to catch up with all the old exec who i hadnt actually seen for ages and also to have fun with those guys again. We had a strong sense of unity and friendship whilst on exec and it was great to come back after a year and see that friendship continuing between us even a year on. Mr Gates (Pres) sent an email out with this verse on afterwards as a prayer which is an encouragement and a challenge:
"...that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God...."
"...that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God...."
Anyway ive posted some pics of the weekdend below! Derbyshire is gorgeous countryside i just wish i had more chance to investigate it without falling down hills! (Ask me if you want to know more) Hopefully a video of the guys race up a hill will be coming soon - wait for it as its classic! Men running up and down muddy hills in trainers - bound to be some problems!
Monday, March 06, 2006
Cars are great until someone crashes into you
Well Saturday night was an interesting night as i was involved in my first car accident. A Ford Mondeo driver went into me on a roundabout after dropping someone off after CU. Im fine but my car isnt so ill let the pictures below show you that! Will update you more about the cars future when i hear as im waiting to hear from the Insurance company. Please pray for wisdom and grace with the insurance companys and that i will be able to get it all sorted out!! Pictures Speak louder than words sometimes!! 
Saturday, March 04, 2006
Finally some snow!!
As you will all know i spent my first gap year in America in the middle fo the rockies. So one thing i loved was having snow for six months! Now see my disgust when the rest of the country has been getting snow for the past few days and here in York its been bright clear blue skies and ive been able to walk around in a tshirt just about. But i was overjoyed yesterday afternoon to finally look out my window and see the snow coming down in big snowflakes and after an hour and half about 2 inches on the ground!! So to celebrate i thought id take some pictures with my phone since my good camera has given up the ghost!! The First is out fo my window and the second is from York Uni campus
Friday, March 03, 2006
Hanging in the balance
Ive recently been lent a copy of Mark Stones (UCCF SW - NE) album "the view from here" and one of the songs i have found really powerful and challenging. Brilliant words with a strong message and makes you think! Heres the lyrics (copyright mark stone 2001)(No copying!)
Life declares, 'I'm in control, it's my life to own, its my soul to sell'
My time and future, i'm looking in my hands at my command
While time, it whispers every mistake, all my past regrets and forgotten ways
Paths that trace the easy road i've chose along the way
But hanging there, in the balance of history
He chose the path of sacrifice
Hanging there, between justice and mercy
Between the choice to live or die
The world declares, 'we only love the rich', while the beautiful, have friends to spare
While love despairs, as precious souls are overlooked each day
But truth it steps in not letting go of eternity written on our hearts
A life is sent to give us back a hope we turned away
But hanging there, in the balance of history
He chose the path of sacrifice
Hanging there, between justice and mercy
He chose for us to pay the price
And if you dont think you need saved from anything
And if you dont think you need a hand
Take a good look around at the world you're living in
What would you change if you had the chance
But hanging there, in the balance of history
He chose the path of sacrifice
Hanging there, in between justice and mercy
Provides the choice to live or die
But hanging there, in the balance of history
Here lies the chance to save your life
Hanging there, in the balance of a mystery
Mabye now its time to realise
Thursday, March 02, 2006
Know Truth - Know Freedom
Well after a long time of not replying about this i thought id better blog my thoughts on leeds mission week otherwise i wouldnt remember what actually went on. After a week at York mission week i was prepared for another week of missions and felt more comfortable as i didnt have that "start of mission" nervousness! I was looking forward to leeds mission as in many ways due to the nature of the University it would be set out similar to Liverpools in that it was a seperate campus. The week went really well and improved as the week went on (as happens at most missions). Praise God for a key few who were committed from the start of the week and spent the whole week working their socks off! In set up it was very similar to York in that we had Lunchbars every day apart from Friday which on the whole were well attended and again numbers went well as the week was going on. The evenings saw three main events with tuesday being a band night with two leeds uni bands, the Highflyers who were brilliant and also a band called "the steels" who were good although our definition of them had co come down to being "christian version of busted"! But they were actually good! Wednesday saw a Jazz cafe which was once gain played by "Vertigo" from leeds music college and the room was packed. It was amazing to see so many people at the event and in some ways the most ideal to give a talk at. Thursday saw a packed room again for Question of Sport and a testimony from Leeds Rhino and New Zealand Star Ali Lauitiiti which was brilliant and he got a great reception from the people there. I guess the highlight of the week had to be the fact that we were able to have a stall all week in the students union from which we did World view Surveys. This was a great opportunity to talk to people as they were going around and i had loads of good but hard conversations. On the friday we had a Grill a Christian event which was tough as there were many difficult questions but i had a great conversation for about 1 1/2 hrs with a guy called Ed. He was very confused about alot of things but obviously was very interested and i again met him when i went to speak at the follow up course in leeds this monday.
Be praying for the guys at leeds that they may continue to be enthused about evangelism and that the passion wouldnt dwindle over time but would grow. Pray that more first year students would get involved in what is going on and that they would learn a continuing desire to live for Jesus and Speak for Jesus. Pray for the ongoing Bitesize course which is happening in Leeds every monday that the people coming would commit their lives to Christ
Be praying for the guys at leeds that they may continue to be enthused about evangelism and that the passion wouldnt dwindle over time but would grow. Pray that more first year students would get involved in what is going on and that they would learn a continuing desire to live for Jesus and Speak for Jesus. Pray for the ongoing Bitesize course which is happening in Leeds every monday that the people coming would commit their lives to Christ
Thursday, February 23, 2006
York Mission Week
Well since ive got time now i thought that id update people with whats been going on in the silence of the last few weeks. So to make it easier i thought id go one step at a time and do York Mission week first
"Truth" week began on the 6th February in some ways with excitement but also trepedation as this would be my first mission week outside of Liverpool and also outside fo actually being a student. We had a Mission CU the saturday before where loads of people had been praying for the CU and after meeting the rest of the mission team on the sunday night (from uccf, york and st helens) i was encouraged that people were passionate about the gospel. Unfortunately the week was tough on that side as we found alot of opposition in the CU to people actually wanting to proclaim the gospel to their friends. It was very disheartening at points to the whole team and especially i guess to me and Paula (CUSW) (aka CU staffworker) as we realised just how bad the problem was at the moment. But although there were many problems during the week with that the events which we had organised before went really well. We had "hot potatoes" every day on various "what would jesus say to..." topics which where better and better attended eacg day. By friday there must have been around 40 non-christians present which was brilliant and many people who came were challenged by the gospel content in the talks. On Wednesday night we had a Jazz Cafe with a band called "vertigo" from leeds college of music coming to play. They are one of the best jazz bands ive heard in a while and they are all really talented guys. The evening even started with 30 odd rugby players in the venue dressed as women and taking it far too seriously for my liking. They eventually left and the event went again really well and Paul Hinton, our speaker for the week spoke powerfully on what is truth and freedom. On Saturday night we had the last event of the week on the saturday night with a more straight down the line evangelistic meeting with music from my york relay collegue Toria who has one of the most amazing voices. Other college events included dinner parties, Uber Dinner Parties and grill a christian events which again alot of good conversations were had.
During the days we did alot of cold contact evangelism and met with alot people across campus. I had some brilliant but really hard conversations with various people including one with a group of third year students which went over just about every topic imaginable.
Praise God though that a guy who had come to the hungry follow up course all of the last term and that i had had alot of good converstations with became a Christian on the saturday night. It was great to see as we'd been praying for him a long time and he just came to realise that he needed to make a commitment.
Please continue to pray for the students at York University CU that they would see that they need to tell their friends the gospel in order to truly love them!
Pray for the chinese guy who became a christian at the end of the week that he may continue to learn more about Christianity and have a desire to serve God more in his life
"Truth" week began on the 6th February in some ways with excitement but also trepedation as this would be my first mission week outside of Liverpool and also outside fo actually being a student. We had a Mission CU the saturday before where loads of people had been praying for the CU and after meeting the rest of the mission team on the sunday night (from uccf, york and st helens) i was encouraged that people were passionate about the gospel. Unfortunately the week was tough on that side as we found alot of opposition in the CU to people actually wanting to proclaim the gospel to their friends. It was very disheartening at points to the whole team and especially i guess to me and Paula (CUSW) (aka CU staffworker) as we realised just how bad the problem was at the moment. But although there were many problems during the week with that the events which we had organised before went really well. We had "hot potatoes" every day on various "what would jesus say to..." topics which where better and better attended eacg day. By friday there must have been around 40 non-christians present which was brilliant and many people who came were challenged by the gospel content in the talks. On Wednesday night we had a Jazz Cafe with a band called "vertigo" from leeds college of music coming to play. They are one of the best jazz bands ive heard in a while and they are all really talented guys. The evening even started with 30 odd rugby players in the venue dressed as women and taking it far too seriously for my liking. They eventually left and the event went again really well and Paul Hinton, our speaker for the week spoke powerfully on what is truth and freedom. On Saturday night we had the last event of the week on the saturday night with a more straight down the line evangelistic meeting with music from my york relay collegue Toria who has one of the most amazing voices. Other college events included dinner parties, Uber Dinner Parties and grill a christian events which again alot of good conversations were had.
During the days we did alot of cold contact evangelism and met with alot people across campus. I had some brilliant but really hard conversations with various people including one with a group of third year students which went over just about every topic imaginable.
Praise God though that a guy who had come to the hungry follow up course all of the last term and that i had had alot of good converstations with became a Christian on the saturday night. It was great to see as we'd been praying for him a long time and he just came to realise that he needed to make a commitment.
Please continue to pray for the students at York University CU that they would see that they need to tell their friends the gospel in order to truly love them!
Pray for the chinese guy who became a christian at the end of the week that he may continue to learn more about Christianity and have a desire to serve God more in his life
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
Leeds Mission Week
Its been a long time since i had a chance to update the blog so i thought i would explain why. Im currently helping out for the week at Leeds University CU Mission week entitled "Know truth, know freedom" Last week i was part of the mission team at york. Further updates about the week will come soon. But please pray for the mission week in Leeds. Its been hard as the SU has messed up alot of the room bookings and therefore venue's have been changed. But in every circumstance the new venues are better than before so praise God for that. Please pray that more and more CU members would be involved in all that goes on and would bring their friends and more importantly be sharing the Gospel with their friends. Please pray for boldness and for wisdom when talking to people that people may hear the gospel and respond to it. I will update soon abotu what went on at both missions
Sunday, February 05, 2006
Genius!!!
I found this website whilst stumbling sround the internet yesterday and its pure genius! Ever struggled to fold a t-shirt well? Then this website is for you. and it actually works!! Test it out and your life will never be the same again
How to fold a shirt
How to fold a shirt
Friday, February 03, 2006
Minster Ball
As i was doing my monthly reports this morning it reminded me about the Minster Ball which was two weeks ago. It was an amazing event organised by York CU and i was privileged enough to have a part in organising it. Around 440 people came to the event of which probably over half were non-christians which was brilliant. Around 8 of themk sat around our speaker, Andrew Sach for the rest of the night asking him Questions. It was an amazing event and i just wanted to make people aware of it. I want to meet the person who came up with the idea in the first place but just think : Can you do anything similar in your area? God is bigger than all our plans and can use any circumstance. Could a minster ball be for you? check out the website for more details and more pics
Thursday, February 02, 2006
My Life
Well i thought since im at the start of my blogging career i would share abit about where ive come from to this point. Some of you may know this and some of you may not so i hope this interests some of you at least.
Growing up
I've grown up in a strong Christian home and have been going to church since i was at my youngest days. Growing up in a christian home is a great privilege because you not only learn about God and Christ's love at church but you see it lived out in the home too and my parents set a great example for me. Church life was really good and i had a good group of christian friends growing up who i would spend all my time with. At the age of 10 a guy called Jem Hudson came to speak at our church and although the service was not aimed at children what he said challenged me to make a commitment to Christ that very night after the service. I know i became a Christian then but going through into secondary school i came under peer pressure and began living in many ways a double life. On a Sunday i was a good christian kid who knew the answers to the questions and was there every sunday getting involved but monday to friday at school i was just the same as everyone else. I was never the worst kid in the world but as the years went on my life became more different to what i seemed on a Sunday.
Choices
it was in sixth form that i realised that the two lives were not right. I would go to parties and pretend that i was at sleep overs and would drink just like everyone else. But when i was about 17 i went to a youth event we used to run in our town and the guy spoke on Hebrews 4:12 which is at the top of my blog. I felt convicted that i knew that Gods word was true and that i wasnt living like it. What challenged me most was the phrase "everything is uncovered and laid bare before Him to whom we must give account". Even though my parents didnt know what i was doing God did and that mattered more. That night i gave my life to Christ and committed my walk to him and to learn and live for him
From then to now
So at the age of 18 i decided, since i was fed up with eduaction, to spend a year out and ended up in the Colorado Rockies in America. Its a long story about how i got there and what happened during the year but basically i spent 3 months doing a bible school and the 6 months on a discipleship program in the same place as it turned into a guest retreat lodge. To say that i grew and changed in that year is an understatement as god taught me so much about His word and who he is. Studying Gods word in a place such as Colorado just focuses your mind on a glorious and almighty God. After Colorado i went to Liverpool Uni for three years to study Civil Engineering which was again a big growth point. I learnt so much about myself and leadership whilst in the CU (although not as much as i should about civil engineering). CU's are great places to meet other Christians but more importantly learn about God and Evangelism which i had never really done before. Being a small group leader, then Evangelism Secretary and even being captain of the football team helped me to learn about leadership and about how its all about God. During the summer between my 2nd and last years i got to know a girl from Church very well (even though we'd known each other all my life - check the wording!) and to cut a long story short we grew to be the best of friends in a short space of time and then after a few months of praying about it started going out and after 7 months of going out got engaged!
The present
And here i am in the present time, working as a UCCf Relay worker with York Uni CU. Its been a great year so far and ive still got 5 months left. Im just looking forward to see how Gods going to teach me and challenge me and even use me during these next 5 months. Then me and Sarah are getting married on August 12th and ill be getting a "proper job" as my mum and dad call it! This year seems to be about new challenges and new opportunities for God to work in and through me. How exciting!
Below are some pics which are from the last few years to help you get the idea of what ive been up to! Hope you enjoy
Growing up
I've grown up in a strong Christian home and have been going to church since i was at my youngest days. Growing up in a christian home is a great privilege because you not only learn about God and Christ's love at church but you see it lived out in the home too and my parents set a great example for me. Church life was really good and i had a good group of christian friends growing up who i would spend all my time with. At the age of 10 a guy called Jem Hudson came to speak at our church and although the service was not aimed at children what he said challenged me to make a commitment to Christ that very night after the service. I know i became a Christian then but going through into secondary school i came under peer pressure and began living in many ways a double life. On a Sunday i was a good christian kid who knew the answers to the questions and was there every sunday getting involved but monday to friday at school i was just the same as everyone else. I was never the worst kid in the world but as the years went on my life became more different to what i seemed on a Sunday.
Choices
it was in sixth form that i realised that the two lives were not right. I would go to parties and pretend that i was at sleep overs and would drink just like everyone else. But when i was about 17 i went to a youth event we used to run in our town and the guy spoke on Hebrews 4:12 which is at the top of my blog. I felt convicted that i knew that Gods word was true and that i wasnt living like it. What challenged me most was the phrase "everything is uncovered and laid bare before Him to whom we must give account". Even though my parents didnt know what i was doing God did and that mattered more. That night i gave my life to Christ and committed my walk to him and to learn and live for him
From then to now
So at the age of 18 i decided, since i was fed up with eduaction, to spend a year out and ended up in the Colorado Rockies in America. Its a long story about how i got there and what happened during the year but basically i spent 3 months doing a bible school and the 6 months on a discipleship program in the same place as it turned into a guest retreat lodge. To say that i grew and changed in that year is an understatement as god taught me so much about His word and who he is. Studying Gods word in a place such as Colorado just focuses your mind on a glorious and almighty God. After Colorado i went to Liverpool Uni for three years to study Civil Engineering which was again a big growth point. I learnt so much about myself and leadership whilst in the CU (although not as much as i should about civil engineering). CU's are great places to meet other Christians but more importantly learn about God and Evangelism which i had never really done before. Being a small group leader, then Evangelism Secretary and even being captain of the football team helped me to learn about leadership and about how its all about God. During the summer between my 2nd and last years i got to know a girl from Church very well (even though we'd known each other all my life - check the wording!) and to cut a long story short we grew to be the best of friends in a short space of time and then after a few months of praying about it started going out and after 7 months of going out got engaged!
The present
And here i am in the present time, working as a UCCf Relay worker with York Uni CU. Its been a great year so far and ive still got 5 months left. Im just looking forward to see how Gods going to teach me and challenge me and even use me during these next 5 months. Then me and Sarah are getting married on August 12th and ill be getting a "proper job" as my mum and dad call it! This year seems to be about new challenges and new opportunities for God to work in and through me. How exciting!
Below are some pics which are from the last few years to help you get the idea of what ive been up to! Hope you enjoy
If you cant beat them - Join Them
Well ive given into teh modern trend of setting up a blog and adding things to it! I thought to myself "Now that i dont have a racing frog i need something to keep me sain!" So a blog it was. I guess ive always been wary of setting up a blog but have seen some of the great ones that fellow relay workers have set up and see that it can be put to good use. I really want this blog to be useful for people but also a place for some fun aswell since its meant to help me to stop working for 10 minutes! Its going to include alsorts of stuff i hope including links to great websites, jokes from the legends of Tim Vine and Peter Kay and of course some great pearls of wisdom from some great writers or links to great talks. I hope this can be of use to somebody and maybe abit of amusement too.
"Have you ever eaten half a horse and decided you weren't as hungry as you thought you were?"
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