Year Out

The last few months

2008-04-28T10:50:00.001-07:00

Here's a long due update on what's been happening over the last few months.

We've had 5 services so far since Feb 6th. We started a new series on April 9th called Developing Your Relationship With God, after finishing our last series - Knowing God, the service before. During the first series, the number of new people were growing, most of the growth came from people who haven't ever been to church before, which is an amazing success. The last service however, was a disappointment - in terms of numbers anyway. There were various meetings running all over Crewe, which most of our congregation were involved in. In the end, the only people there were our Y-Zone youth group, plus a few other members of our church. Although that's not a bad thing, it made me realise a few things:

First, we're spending money on advertising. However, every new person who comes to Re:Generation, hears about it from word of mouth. Which means, that our advertising isn't working.

Secondly, the new people who now come to Re:Generation feel part of the youth as a whole, which means it's very unlikely that they'll stop taking part in various church activities anytime soon. Also, I'd like to guess that many of the people in our congregation are mature Christians anyway. So maybe at this point in time, a series called 'Developing Your Relationship With God' isn't the best series to run. Although this series should minister to many people there, especially our youth, I'm also looking at ways to attract people to Re:Generation and see it grow, and I don't think this series is the best for that either.

So in the last service, I took the decision to have a short break in the services, mainly to concentrate on advertising, so to 'relaunch' Re:Generation on May 14th. I imagine there's a fair few reasons why this is a bad idea, but I hope I've addressed them: Mainly, there's the chance of us losing people from our congregation. However, in our current position, our congregation now consists of our youth group, youth leaders, plus a few other people. All of which, I doubt would stop coming because of a break.

So there's a few ideas I'm playing with, all of which, if you'd like to give me some feedback/suggestions/etc, I'd appreciate.

The first, is about what I'd like our next series to be on. It's something I'd call the Untouchables, because it's the controversial subjects you never really hear talked about in church. They include hell, homosexuality, sin, etc. I've chosen this for two main reasons. First, we never hear about this in church, however, they are some of the most talked about subjects when it comes to church. I for one, have never heard of a service in my church which concentrates on subjects such as these. Secondly, controversial topics like this attract attention. Because these topics are so unheard of when it comes to church, many people are interested. So this in itself may be a way to draw people in, especially if it's promoted effectively.

Which comes to promotion and advertising. So far, we've been on the radio and in the local newspaper. The radio, as expected, was not effective in advertising Re:Generation. The paper did attract a lot of attention, and it brought two new people into church, however, that was only because those people knew a member of our band. So although it raised awareness, that in itself was not enough to bring people in. We also printed many flyers, which cost quite a bit. These were designed to raise awareness around Crewe's churches mainly. And although they were effective in raising awareness, they were not responsible for any of our growth.

So we've been thinking of ways of how to promote Re:Generation in a way that will actually bring people in. We've had a few ideas:

The first, is printing more flyers to post through people's doors. I'm looking at getting these professionally printed - around 1000 for £90, 2000 for £100. These are full colour on silk paper. There's the option of having black and white photocopies on normal paper, but again, 1500 will cost £75 to photocopy. Although cheaper, these will not look anywhere near as good as the colour printed version, and when we're targeting an age group where looks are everything, this is important.

Secondly, we've been thinking about how to raise awareness in our high schools, colleges, and also MMU university in Crewe. We've thought about going into schools and having our band play, along with a short talk/sermon. Although this is probably 'the' best way of promoting Re:Generation in high schools, it's very unlikely that we'll ever be able to do this, for various reasons. Our current thought is to hand out flyers outside the schools after the day ends. We'll also put up posters in South Cheshire College.

We've also been thinking about how to promote Re:Generation in Malbank 6th Form College. I've got a friend who studies there, who leads a growing Christian group during lunch times once a week, who may be able to help.

MMU is a problem - every person I've spoke to in the Christian Union there hasn't got us anywhere. I've been speaking to a guy who travels round unis in our area, who 'runs' / 'is involved with' the Christian Unions in the universities. I'm waiting to see where that takes us.

Other than that, we're out of ideas. So any suggestions or advice is welcome.

Please pray for us all over the next coming weeks.

Where things are heading

2008-03-03T04:57:00.000-08:00

We've had two services so far, one on Feb 6th, and the other on Feb 20th. The second service went really well, running a lot smoother than the first one. We also had 3 more people come, who again, had never been to church before. The overall size of the congregation also grew. So even though we've only had two services, it's growing in every way possible!

We're coming up to our third service, which will be on March 12th. Up to now, I'm still looking for guitarists who can play for this one, but I'm sure it'll all be good. The theme for the next service will be God's Heart, and writing the short introduction/talk, is proving to be the biggest challenge yet. But again, I've found with the last two services, that somehow, everything seems to fall into place 5 minutes before I'm due to talk. Maybe saying that is tempting fate though?

The music side of things is great, so people say, and as each service goes by, I'm learning how to lead worship more effectively. The band, although we've got a core group of musicians who play every service, I'm still looking for a few other people who are able to play each service.

I've received a lot of good comments about my 'talk' after the worship, people have told me they learn a lot from it, which is great. The group discussions however, haven't really had anything positive said about them from many people. There's about two people who have said they learn things from the discussion, however, they both said they enjoy the talk more. Many other people say they don't learn anything at all from them, and some people who come actually feel uncomfortable sitting through them. I've talked to many people who have said they won't come if they have to sit in groups, even if they know they're not expected to talk. So in that respect, the group discussions are keeping many people away.

In an ideal situation, I'd like to see my 'talk' last a few minutes longer. During that time I'll be able to go into more detail about the theme. Additionally, I'd like to use the media - e.g, I'd use a short film clip, and then talk about how the clip relates to the theme. This is one of the ways I'll be able to relate the theme to modern life. This would also allow the talk to run for a few minutes more. Doing all of this, without the group discussions, will probably not last as long, so the service will either finish sooner, or we'll see what else would be worthwhile having. At the end however, I'd still like people to have the opportunity to discuss their ideas/thoughts in groups, just like we do now, however, it will be optional, and will probably take place in another room. This way, people are free to join the group if they wish, but people who feel uncomfortable in groups will not need to join. Like I said though - this is an ideal situation, there's probably many problems with me doing that, so a lot of prayer is needed to see whether God wants me to lead this in a slightly different direction, or whether He wants it to stay the same.

First Re:Generation Service!

2008-02-06T16:15:00.000-08:00

Well, I've just came back from the first Re:Generation service, and in my eyes, it was more than a success.

We had about 20 people here, partly due to the football match (England's playing), but the small number of people turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

We opened with our band playing four worship songs - Lord I lift your name on high, Better than life, Here I am to worship, and Light of the world. After this, our prayer leader lead us in prayer, where our congregation had the opportuniy to ask for people or situations to be prayed for. After this I introduced the series of services, which I've called Knowing God, and then went on to talk about tonight's theme - Knowing God's Nature.

What we planned to do after that, was split into smaller groups, of around 6-8 people, and have a group leader to lead and direct the conversation in each group. Because of the small number of people who turned up however, I thought it would be best to have one large group for the first service. This went well, and the discussion actually went on for longer than the allocated 20 minutes! We then closed with a song by Casting Crowns - Who am I?.

There were a few things which went wrong, including the lyrics not being displayed through the projector, me not being able to memorise what I was going to say, due to lack of time, and also underestimating the time needed to set up. However, two people who had never set foot in a church before came, and from what I saw and heard, enjoyed the service, and will come back next time, so in my eyes, it was more than a success!

Because I know the people who mainly read this, thank you to everybody who has prayed for either Re:Generation, or me, God was really in this, and I'm sure will continue to be.

I'll be adding a sound clip to this post tomorrow, after I've had time to edit and post it.

The last few weeks...

2008-01-25T10:35:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since I last posted, but here's what's happened during the last 5 weeks:

I got back home in the afternoon, a big difference between Franklinville and Crewe, but good to be home anyway.

My plans for the new service at Coppenhall have come a long way during the two months I've been in America, and also the five weeks I've been back in Crewe, and also through two more meetings with David during the time back in Crewe also.

First of all, the new service will be called Re:Generation, it will run every other Wednesday between 7:30 and 8:30, starting on 6th February, at Coppenhall North Street Methodist Church. The first part of the service will be worship, led by our worship team, which includes the Re:Generation worship band, and a person who leads us in prayer. The worship will be made up of a group of worship songs, and also a congregational prayer, where the congregation has the opportunity to ask for something specific to be prayed for.

Afterwards, there will be a short 'opening' talk, lasting between 5 and 10 minutes, which will introduce the theme for the evening's service, and also the main biblical ideas relating to the theme. The congregation will then split into smaller groups, around 6 people, to discuss what has been said, lead by a group leader. The main idea the 'group discussion' is based upon, is the success of the Alpha Course, which uses the same approach, and also the idea that if through Re:Generation, we are hoping to bring people to faith, what better way to do this than to allow people to openly ask questions and discuss their ideas with people who are already Christians.

The themes will be grouped into series, each lasting about 3 or 4 services. At the end of each series, we will have a sermon, rather than a group discussion session, to 'wrap up' what's been discusses during the previous weeks. This will normally be lead by a local preacher.

We are still discussing what the best way to end the service is; up to now, the two ideas are to either have the Re:Generation band play another worship song at the end, or to have a short spoken ending followed by some quiet music played through the speakers.

Promoting the service has gone really well, I'm talking with the leader of the C.U at MMU in Crewe, hoping she will help promote Re:Generation at MMU, we've been on page 38 of the Crewe Chronicle (23rd Jan), and also page 2 of the Crewe Mail (23 Jan). I also had the opportunity to give every church leader in Crewe a promotion pack during a joint service for all churches in Crewe a few days ago.

So Re:Generation starts in less than two weeks time, I'm sure that with so many people praying about this, everything will go fine. Depending on the success of recording the service (since it's failed to record everytime so far), I'll upload a clip of the band playing, and the main spoken parts too.

Leading worship with the youth band

2007-12-09T20:01:00.000-08:00

Well, the day which the youth band has been preparing for 6 weeks actually came today. And depending on how you look at it, it was either a distaster, or an interesting time of worship.

Our other guitarist and bassist never showed up, and so we went through the soundcheck sounding a bit different to how we liked, but still sounding good. We ran through the four songs we were playing, and they sounded pretty good!

Then I took the band into a side room, and eacham member of the band prayed seperately. By the time we had finished praying, it was 10:45, and so we got into the band area just as the service started. The notices were read, and I stood up to play the opening chord, and no sound came out. In fact the only sound that came about was the sound of people laughing (since it was probably quite a funny sight)! I can remember laughing, and just saying "the Lord will provide". And he did, he provided me with an accoustic guitarist who was willing to give me his guitar. Although I think by the way I took it from him, he probably didn't think he had too much of a choice! Dave Johnson is one of the youth leaders here, and he's pretty new to playing accoustic guitar, and he practiced hard for this service, so I'm really thankful he took it all in a good way. So the whole worship was done with me playing accoustic, and the rest of the band did great, since everythin else went perfectly.

I looked out at the congegration a couple of times, and they were all worshiping God. And the job of a worship band is to draw people closer to God in worship, and so however it was done, (and it wasn't how I expected), we still did that, and so it all worked out great, and even though we had to do things a bit differently to how we planned, it was an amazing service, and everybody enjoyed it!

Below are some audio clips of how the worship went. (And for all you silver surfers out there, if you can't hear it, turn on your speakers!). And the start's pretty quiet, so you might need to turn your speakers up.

Skiing

2007-12-02T19:14:00.001-08:00

I really recommend working in the US, you go to concerts, beaches, and now even skiing! Makes me wonder what people do for fun...

Bob Chaney and Christian, one of the guys from the youth group took me to West Virginia on Friday, to do some work on a printer again and then to go skiing. We got to the ski resort at about 5pm, half an hour after the slopes closed, so we checked into a hotel and decided to spend the whole next day skiing.

That night we got some dinner, checked out some of the shops, (the shopping wasn't my idea this time!), and then we went for a swim in some of the outdoor pools! Christian and I decided to jump in one of the pools, and then jump out, and see who could stand out of the pool the longest. The first person to jump into the hot tub which was next to the pool (or the first person to die) lost. The loser got to sleep on the floor. Bob called it off though not long after we jumped out for fear of us catching hypothermia. So we went in the pool for a bit, and then in the hot tub for quite a while as well. Then we found out there was another two pools around the side of the hotel, so we decided to walk around to check them out. We probably stayed in the pools for around 2 hours.

After breakfast at Starbucks the next day, we hired out skis and boots, and then went on the slopes. Bob decided it would be best if he didn't ski, just in case something happened to him, and so it was just me and Christian skiing. I only fell over once as well! But that was to avoid two snowboarders who decided it was a good idea to sit in the middle of a blind corner and have a chat. In fact, there were many snowboarders who just decided to sit in the middle of the slopes for a rest. Maybe it's a snowboarder thing, because it appeared all the people with skis on had more sense, and sat on the side of the slopes if they needed a rest. We probably got on the slopes at 10, and I came off around 4.

Here are some of the photos we took:

I wasn't really cold...

When we walked from the first swimmig pool, round the hotel
to the other one, I thought it would be quicker if I didn't put
my shoes on. And I was right, I've never run so fast in my
whole life! I didn't have any feeling up to my knees though after.

The towel was frozen solid

Outside one of the pools

West Virginia Mountains

The evening on the first day

Christian was so tired after the trip, he said he didn't care where he slept

Me in my ski gear

In the pool. My hair was actually frozen!

Mini Christian!

Normality has once again ascended upon Grays Chapel...

2007-11-27T13:23:00.000-08:00

My mum and Pat left last night. I went with Doug to the airport and watched as they checked in, just to make sure they were actually going, and I wasn't going to be woken up this morning with them shouting "surprise!"

Here's a few photos I found of them taken during their stay:

Visiting prison

2007-11-25T19:44:00.000-08:00

On Wednesday, Doug took my mum, Pat and I to Asheboro jail, for a Thanksgiving meal for the bible study group there. We met loads of great people, many of who were totally committed Christians. Many of the people I talked to said they became a Christian whilst in prison. The majority of the people were in prison because of drug offences.

One guy I talked to said he had a good, stable, and well paid job working in business, and he thought a few small drug deals could bring in more money, and he just got greedy. We also met a guy called Harrison who had a multi-million dollar estate, a thriving funeral business, and a slightly odd view of the world around him. He said he wanted my mum to find a music studio and a wife for him... So I gave him her number. After the thanksgiving meal, a guy called Theodor led us in singing some praise songs. He made an impression, because this Sunday, he was in Grays Chapel leading the call to worship! While we were there, we also managed to orgaise the next exchange - I hope David likes prison food...

My mum trying to negotiate with Harrison about finding
him a wife - she really didn't want to!

Serving up the meal

Harrison again

The bible study group

Last day of the miner's strike

2007-11-25T16:42:00.000-08:00

The day after Thanksgiving is when people get up at 4 in the morning to be lining up outside shops at 5, so they can make the most of the sale. And so since my mum and Pat liked shopping so much, I thought we'd do that... Well I met them halfway with the times, and we got up at 5 instead!

So at about 7:15, we were in Burlington mall, we had breakfast in Starbucks, and then spent maybe 2 and a half hours in the mall before driving to Durham, to a shop called Guitar Centre, and then to another mall in Durham (we 'stumbled across this one, honest...). After lunch in Subway, we drove to Raleigh, where we went to another mall and another Guitar Centre! And so at about 7:00, we drove back to Amber and Kenneth's house. The only problem we didn't foresee was how we were to transport all the things we bought back to Franklinville (my truck has no boot). And so with barely enough room for my mum in the back as it is, we piled what seemed like an ever increasing amount of bags around and on top of her. After everything was in the truck, all you could see of my mum was her head!

And so for a person who doesn't really 'do' shopping, that's my year's worth done, and in the process, I made two women vow they would never enter another shop with me again...

Result!

Thanksgiving

2007-11-25T16:29:00.000-08:00

On Thursday, the we had about 20 people staying at the parsonage to celebrate thanksgiving together. There was Doug's 3 brothers and his sister, and their families! From Wednesday night through Friday night, my mum, Pat and I stayed at Amber and Kenneth Ward's house (there wasn't enough beds, airbeds, sofas, caravans or trailers to fit us in the parsonage!). We had 'loads' of fun with their two boys (4 and 2), they showed me every one of their toys, and then played for hours!

On Thursday, we went over to the church for Thanksgiving lunch (there wasn't enough chairs in the house for us all, and we had to use an industrial sized kitchen!). We had a 'huge' turkey lunch, and then after, we went back to the parsonage to sleep, watch football, and look in the papers for what's in the sales on Friday.

Looking at what's in the sales

Making smores - toasted marshmallows, with
chocolate, in between two crackers

Second youth band practice

2007-11-18T19:08:00.001-08:00

We had the second youth band practice tonight, and compared to where we were last time, it's sounding great! We had another guitarist come, and a bassist. Out of the four songs we're doing - Better than life, Blessed be your name, Shine for you and From the inside out, we practiced all but shine for you. Below are the photos...

The British Invasion

2007-11-18T07:06:00.000-08:00

I woke up this morning to my mum and pat in my bedroom! I don't know what it is about those two, but I travel 3000 miles, half way across the world, and they still manage to find me! A nice surprise though. I think for the next 10 days, things are gonna get interesting...

Yeah, I don't know what Pat's doing either...

Over the mountains and the sea

2007-11-17T07:16:00.000-08:00

Well not so much as the sea, but a river. On Friday, I went over the mountains of Virginia, to West Virginia, so help Bob install some printers for the US Forestry organisation. and surprisingly, after a whole day with Bob, I live to tell the story! I took some photos on Bob's camera, and so I'll upload photos as soon as I can get them.

The Subway Experiment

2007-11-13T17:21:00.000-08:00

I arrived in Miami two days ago, at around 7:00pm, then got a taxi to my hotel on Miami Beach. The weather here, even at night is hotter than what it is most summer days, and then in the day, it's even better!

Yesterday I went to the beach, then caught a bus up to the north part of the island I'm on, up to a 'huge' shopping mall. After that I took a walk around the area I'm staying in. It's full of shops, and so I did a bit of Christmas shopping.

Today, I went to the beach again, this time though for a few hours. Didn't really want to do much as it's so hot. After that, I took a walk around the shops again (I never 'go shopping' at home, but I've got the excuse of being on holiday).

I'm doing my best to save as much money as possible, and so since I've been here, I've gone to Subway for every meal, hence the name 'The Subway Experiment'. A diet of 'turkey and ham, on Italian herbs and cheese, with cheddar and salad, with ranch dressing' (any subway fans will know that that's the second best sub they do), really isn't bad at all! Can't wait to get back to NC though to eat some proper food!

I'm catching the train at 8 in the morning, and 21 hours later, I'll be in NC. So 'please' pray that I'll get a window seat! (Photos will come when I get back to NC).

Signing off from Zed's Internet Cafe...

Miami Beach

Opposite Miami Beach

Ocean Drive!

Hillsong United Conference

2007-11-11T17:44:00.000-08:00

This message is brought to you by Zed's Cyber Cafe in Miami...

I got into Miami about an hour ago, and for some reason, the first thing I did was trail the streets to find a computer. Strange, especially when you're in Miami, but then again, who am I to comment on being strange?

The last two days have been eventful. I say eventful, because I don't know of a word to describe how things have been over the weekend without jumping up and down. And I might get weird looks if I do that.

For those who don't know what I've been up to over the weekend, I've been to a conference in Orlando, hosted by Hillsong United - the people who run the youth ministry in Hillsong Church in Australia.

I arrived in my hotel in Orlando at around midday on Friday. After a quick shower, I went to to church where the conference was being held. This was around 1 o clock. The doors opened at 5, so I was just going to have a look at the church. I took the bus there, and upon arrival, I realised I had forgotten my receipt for the ticket, which I needed to get through the doors. So I tried to get into reception to ask if I could use a computer to print it off there, but all the doors were locked.

There were two ladies who saw me trying to get in, and told me there was a door round the back open, so I went through there. Once inside, I found somebody who looked like they worked there, and asked whether I could use a computer. She said yes, and took me to the Hillsong United VIP lounge to wait! About 5 minutes later, she took me into a room, and said to one of the people there "I've got a guy here from Hills, he needs to print off something, can he use your computer please?" At that point I realised, that lady just said I was from Hillsong United! And so I printed off the receipt, and walked out. As I walked past, Joel Houston, the lead singer in the Hillsong United band walked past me! And he actually said hi to me as well. God is good...

After that, I decided to make the most of the time I've got here before they realise, and so I found an entrance to the sanctuary, where the stage was. I got up on the balcony seating area, right at the back, and waited to see what happened. For the next hour and a half, I saw them setting the equipment up, the band sound checking every instrument, and then a preview of some of the songs they would be doing!

Around an hour before the doors opened, I left. I managed to find my way outside again, and queue up with all the other people.

Over the next two days, there was hours of worship with the worship band, many different sessions with different speakers, and plenty of time to socialise with other people.

The conference mainly dealt with youth ministry, worship bands, and worship leaders, and so all the different talks / sessions dealt with things like: leading worship, how to develop a worship band to actually 'lead' worship, developing an effective youth ministry, and other things. The talks were inspiring, and relevant to the church today. I learnt so much there, and there's so much I'll be able to take back home with me and put into practice.

During the worship sessions, I noticed a few things I think would be good to mention:

First of all, maybe a bit of background on Hillsong United would be useful. The worship band has written many many songs, and because they're so popular, they put on occasional concerts. These concerts aren't about leading worship, they're about playing the songs so many people enjoy. I don't think there's anything wrong with playing songs people would call 'worship songs', just to entertain, unless you call it worship. I think if you call it worship, but you're out to entertain, then it becomes wrong.

This however, was called worship. The band wasn't putting on a performance. They were leading people in worship. The congregation (if I can call it that), wasn't fixated on the band the whole time, they were concentrating on worshiping God. Half the time they weren't even looking at the stage! During praise songs, they were going crazy, but crazy because they were praising God, and because they enjoy praising him. And during the worship songs, the people had their eyes closed, hands raised, and their heads lifted. It was almost as if the band wasn't there. Yet, it was so loud, a passer by would probably think it's another concert.

Another thing I noticed, was that during the longest worship session, over half the songs were new. Never been heard before. Now I love Hillsong United's music, and because of that, I know most of their songs. But when these new songs were played, instead of just singing words you've memorised through singing them time and time again, you were reading the words, thinking and understanding what they mean, and then singing, them. And it didn't matter that what you were singing probably wasn't entirely the same tune as what was being sang from the stage, because you were singing those words because you were worshiping God. And throughout the whole conference, I found that the times I felt as though I was worshiping God the most, was when I was singing songs I didn't know. Because instead of thinking about the tune, or the cool guitar riff that's coming up, all I could think about was what I'm actually singing.

There are my thoughts from the conference. I was there for two days, and so I can't go into detail about 'everything' that happened, but I'm sure you'll see most of what I experienced coming out and being put to use when I get back home. I didn't take any still photos, I took videos instead, so won't be able to put any on here.

And so I'm in Miami now. No big spiritual reason, I just though it would be fun! I'll probably do some Christmas shopping here, and see what else there is. Signing out from Zed's Cyber Cafe...

Photos

2007-11-07T13:56:00.000-08:00

After a short delay of 3 weeks, I've added photos to some of the posts. Below are some of the photos which don't fit with any of the existing posts.

I'll probably keep on adding photos onto this post if they don't fit into any of the other posts, so keep checking back!

Tell me what you think! (and please be nice if you're commenting on the trunk or treat photos...)

Dinner one night

The two photos show me making dinner with Jordan one night

Dinner again one night in the dining room

First Youth Band Practice

2007-11-05T05:37:00.001-08:00

Yesterday we had the first youth band practice. I decided on four songs to do - Blessed be your name, Better than life, Shine for you, and From the inside out. Four singers came, a drummer, and an acoustic guitarist. We practiced 'better than life' and 'blessed be your name', which went pretty well.

I'm hoping to get a bassist, keyboard player, and another guitarist here next week, so we can work on the music part of it more.

Trunk or Treat

2007-10-31T17:40:00.000-07:00

Today was Haloween, and the church put on an even called 'Trunk or Treat', where people take their cars, and 'dress them up', and have sweets in the boot, where the children can come and 'trunk or treat'.

The Millers and I decided to go as the Flintstones, and so I became Barney Rubble for the night! We took some cardboard boxes, and made the side of their van into the Flintstones' house.

Last year, the church got around 400 children 'trunk or treating', and judging by the numbers this year, i don't think we were too far behind that number (if at all)!

Beauty and the Beast? Or Lady and the Tramp? Can't
remember which one.They were called both many times
during the night. The tramp is Alanda, the Associate Pastor.

Chaney... Gangster, hitman and comedian all rolled into one

Bob. Watch out for him.

The Fantastic Four...

Scarecrows...

A professor, General, maid and girl with nice dress.
The professor is the guitarist in the praise band

Erm, coconut boy...?

The Flintstones family!

Mary cut Doug's dress a bit too short...

Contrary to popular belief, I was Barney Rubble,
not Barney the fluffy purple dinosaur

Going to Hell and back

2007-10-31T17:39:00.000-07:00

On Sunday night, the youth from Grays Chapel went to 'Trip TO Hell' - a place where people try to show you what it's like to go to hell.

We started off by getting introduced to a girl, who would lead us through her life by taking us to different places in the field where the 'Trip TO Hell' was based. We started with the girl introducing us to a sketch where her parents were having an argument which turns violent. This was to show how in a lot of cases, young people decide to go the wrong direction in life because of situations in their family.

She then took us to a sketch where her best friend was having an abortion. Her friend didn't want to go through with it, but she was persuaded otherwise. Because of this, her best friend never talked to her again.

She then took us to a sketch where she had found some new friends, and they decided to use an Ouija board. This then followed with a 'demon' appearing, which stuck by her in all future sketches.

Next was a sketch where she was at a party, and one of her friends got raped - despite her being able to stop it.

She then took us to a sketch where one of her ex boyfriends decided to commit suicide because of something she said to him.

After this, she comes to some crossroads, where down the path she took, she saw Jesus walking with the cross past her, and as he passes her, he says 'this is for you'. She decides this is the wrong path, and heads down the other one, where she boards a plane. The plane gets into trouble and crashes, killing everybody.

The next scene was of her being judged by God. He says because of her decisions in life, she's going to hell. We then follow her into a small room. This sketch, although very little happened in it, was very powerful, as it goes back through her life, showing us all the places where Satan influenced her. After this, the creator of 'Trip TO Hell' came in and prayed with us.

What happened in these sketches was performed brilliantly, and was very powerful at the time - it's just very hard to write down what happened, but at least you have an idea.

After this, we split into groups, where someone prayed with us and asked us a few questions about our faith. Turned out the guy who was leading my group lives about 2 hours away from me!

The whole night was great, and from the impression I got from everybody, it gave people a lot to think about regarding the choices they make in their life and the consequences because of them.

Mission in Mississippi

2007-10-28T19:56:00.000-07:00

From October 23 to October 26, I went to Biloxi in Mississippi with a Mission team to help rebuild homes which were destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. There were 8 people including me who went, and I suffered 4 days of what I can only call 'cultural abuse'! I've never heard so many (bad) jokes about the English accent before!

After a 12 hour bus trip, we arrived in the adjacent town, where a church there had been converted into a 'volunteers hostel', with a kitchen, 7 dorm rooms, and a large communal/eating area. There were several other mission teams from around the USA which were living with us. We arrived there at around 7pm, just in time to share some of the food another church had cooked.

One of the men who was staying in the church decided
to cook shrimp for dinner one night. He bought 30 pounds
of fresh shrimp, and the photo shows them cooking outside.

The next morning we drove down to the place where our team would be working - a house in a fairly run down area. As we looked through the front window, we could see right through 5 rooms, and straight through the back window. All the house had left was it's supporting structure.

During the next 3 days of work, we managed to put insulation up throughout the house, put walls and ceilings up, and also plaster many of the walls too. We also befriended a rottweiler there, which I found to be the only thing which never once made a bad joke about the English! During the first evening, one of the people there found some jigsaws. And for the remaining nights the jigsaws became 'the thing to do' for our group and a few others. Below are two 500pc ones we completed (each within 1 day).

The two 500pc jigsaws we completed

We also got to meet the lady who owns the house, and was amazing to see how thankful she was for the help she received. It turned out that her and her two brothers would end up living there. One of the brothers was living in a trailer next to the house, and had been for over two years.

On the last day, we drove by the coastline, and the devastation we saw was unbelievable. Nearly 3 years on, there are still houses and buildings destroyed. There was huge plots of land where houses once were, but now there's just grass. All along the beach, I was told there were restaurants and small businesses there, but now, there's no trace of them - everything was completely wiped out. What was great though, was even though we came home with a few more aches and bruises than when we came, everyone still felt as though it was a privilege to be able to help these people. It reminded me of the passage from the bible (Matt 25:35-40) where it says "For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me'. Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?' The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me' ". And for 3 days, we really were living that passage, and it really was a privilege to do so.

The first week

2007-10-21T19:06:00.000-07:00

Since my last post, quite a few things have happened.

On Friday and Saturday I went on a men's retreat up on top of a hill on one of the farms. We came on Friday afternoon, and after we set up the trailer, Doug and I went to an American football game in the local high school. Even though Doug was giving me a running explanation of what's happening, I still left more confused than when I came. A nice touch to the experience though was when Jordan went up to the commentator's box and told the guy there was an British person here so could we all welcome him. So the commentator read this out over the PA, and Doug told me to stand up and wave in front of the stadium - a bit scary, but still a nice touch from Jordan.

The two photos show the marching band which came on after
the game had finished. They played the theme tune to James Bond.

After the game we went back to the campsite. We camped out for a night there (Doug cheated and took his trailer to sleep in, and of course, I didn't object). There was about 12 of us I think, and we went clay pigeon shooting, quad biking through the woods, horse riding, and a few other things.

This is a photo of the quad bike I was riding.
The guy who owned the field where we camped out had
built loads of trails in the surrounding woods,
and it was great to go through them on it.

Doug and I cheated and set up this camper to sleep in instead of tents.
Even better, it had 2 double beds!

The two above photos show an old cattle trailer that
had been converted into a mobile kitchen and bedroom.

On Sunday morning I decided to go to both services to see what they're both like - which meant I had to get up at half 6 in the morning! I met many people there, including the youth group=, and I played with the worship band during offertory, which i really enjoyed doing, and something that I'll probably be doing a lot of over the coming weeks.

Tuesday to Saturday, I'll be going up to Biloxi in Mississippi with a missions team to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina rebuild their homes.

This is a photo of me outside Grays Chapel.
This was the only day in the first week where it was cloudy!

Arrival In North Carolina

2007-10-17T09:51:00.000-07:00

Arrival In North Carolina

Today's the first day here in NC, and it's 85 degrees over here!

The journey went without any problems, I stopped over in New York for a connection flight, and since it was my first flight where I've had to change planes, I got a bit stuck with some of the things I had to do. Thankfully though, the New Yorkers were very patient and were always eager to help... :S

I arrived at the airport at around 7:30pm, and Mary, Jordan and Christian were there with banner saying "The British Are Coming"! We went for something to eat at Taco Bell on the way home (Yes, my first experience of America was a fast food restaurant!). We got to the house at around 8:30, where I was introduced to Sarah the dog and Dumbledore the cat, and shown around the house. If it looks big on the outside, it's huge on the inside! After unpacking, I went to bed to sleep off the jet lag.

Today, I took a trip up to the church with Doug to help put up some posters advertising the Truck Or Treat event (an alternative to Trick or Treat). It's 11:10 here now, and so for the rest of the day, we'll be at a fellowship dinner at an event called Wednesday Night Revolution, and I'll be going to a band practice later on to see what's happening there.

Trip to America

2007-10-10T13:44:00.000-07:00

I've been speaking to Doug Miller quite a bit lately, and the trip to the USA is just about fully organised.

He's told me there's 3 things he would like me to do whilst over there.

The first is the work in Gray's Chapel. I'll be working with the worship team, seeing how they organise practices and how they work leading worship. And because I'm staying with the Millers, I'll be able to see how the services are written and also delivered.

The second is setting up and leading a youth band, something which I can't wait to do! Doug has said he would like me to get together a youth band, and lead them so they can lead worship in late November/early December.

The third is just to see a bit of America. There's a few things I'd like to do; the first, is to go to a Hillsong United conference in Orlando, in early November. Hillsong United are one of my favourite bands, and they're putting together a first ever conference, lasting two days. I'd also like to go to a Casting Crowns concert, in Greensboro, which is about 20 minutes away from where I'll be staying. I've heard that Gray's Chapel uses some of Casting Crowns' songs in their worship, and so I'm hoping I can get some other people to go to the concert with me.

Doug's also asked whether I could go with him to Mississippi to help rebuild homes which were destoyed by Hurricane Katrina. This will be a 6 day task, and I'm really looking forward to being able to help the people there.

I'm leaving on Tuesday 16th Oct, and so there's less than a week to go!

Second meeting with David

2007-10-10T13:30:00.000-07:00

I met up with David again to discuss my plan for next year, and we discussed several ideas.

The first being when to have the service. Sunday is not the best time to hold a service like this, and Tuesday, Friday and Saturday are also bad days to hold a service aimed mainly at the younger generation. We decided that Thursday evening will probably be the best time.

David also told me there's currently nothing specifically aimed at university students at MMU Crewe, and so we talked about making the service more student orientated.

David also told me how hard it is to organise a weekly modern service by myself, even with a worship team to help. He suggested having a fortnightly service instead of a weekly one. We decided that this would be best, for the first few months. I'd still like to see a weekly service happen, and so if the time's right after a few months, we may think of changing it to weekly.

We also decided this would be best if it was run as a housegroup, rather than public worship.

Chapter One

2007-09-12T12:09:00.000-07:00

The first post on a blog is always the hardest, you never know what to say...

Back in May, I started thinking about my life in the church I attend. I thought about the reasons why people go to church, and I realised the two main reasons people go to church are to worship God, and to hear the message.

I thought about how it happens at Coppenhall North Street Methodist Church. The style of worship is quite traditional - hymns and an organ. Too often when I sing hymns at church I feel I'm not worshiping God, mainly because the language used is very poetic, and so when I'm trying to fix my mind on worshiping God, I'm actually trying to work out what the hymn's on about! There are many people in church who love this style of worship, and feel they can give God the most through this style. However, I think there's a large age range who don't like this style of worship, and don't think they're able to give God the most through worshiping in this way.

I started praying about this, and I felt God was telling me to do something about it. After spending some more time in prayer, I had in mind some ideas:

I thought of having a new church service, on a Sunday afternoon.
The new service will add to what we have already - we have two services on a Sunday at Coppenhall North Street, which I think cater more for the older generations, and how they prefer to worship God, and so this service will be aimed at the younger generations.
The service will be split into two parts - worship and the message.
The worship will be lead by a worship team, and will consist of worship songs lead by a worship band, and prayers.
The Message will be based on something from everyday life, e.g, loyalty, and then using the Bible to preach about how it applies to our daily lives. I've heard sermons which do it this way, and I feel I get more out of this style of sermon than a sermon based on a bible passage.

By the time I was ready to talk about this, our Minister was on an exchange with a minister in America (acrossthepond-anexchange.blogspot.com), and so I made an appointment with Doug, the American minister to talk about this idea.

Doug gave me some great advice on how to start everything off, and we prayed after. He also invited me over to America to work in his church for a while! We talked about this in another meeting, and we both decided this was a great idea, and an opportunity not to be missed. Whilst over there, I would be getting some real experience with working in a worship team, and seeing how 'modern' services are prepared and delivered.

A few months later, I talked to our associate minister, and from that meeting, several issues were raised:

Sunday afternoon is not the best time to hold a service like this
The service could not be called 'public worship' unless a local preacher or minister is responsible for the service

We talked about how to 'get around' these problems, and for the 'public worship' problem, we could hold the service as a 'house group'. This however would mean changing some of the ideas I had - mainly how we would worship God in the service. Another way, is to have a local preacher to be responsible for each service - however, since local preachers are very busy people, this would be a difficult thing to ask.

About a month later, I managed to talk to our minister. Below are the issues which were raised:

Again, Sunday afternoon is not the best time.
The same issue about public worship was raised.
My own lack of experience is a problem in itself!
I was told that preparing a 'modern' service every week is a difficult task for any preacher, let alone for someone who has 'very' little experience in preaching or preparing services.

We decided to have another meeting this coming Tuesday. I will be bringing a plan, detailing all my ideas for the service, and we will discuss them, hopefully coming away knowing exactly what is happening.