Normality has once again ascended upon Grays Chapel...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.