Here I stand...

The last week has been crazy, with my visit to Shotton, buying a car and starting a new job I still feel like I've got lost somewhere in the blur of it all. So today has been a welcome opportunity to stand back and reflect on everything that has happened. This was my third week attending CCC and as each week passes I'm feeling more and more at home there. The welcome we've received is staggering, people are so warm and friendly, and the leadership have shown a genuine concern for the spiritual well being of our family. It's so exciting to be part of a church that is truly missional, CCC really get what the gospel is all about, and as a church they are seeking to be missionaries in the South Wye area. These are exciting times at Challenge. A new elder is moving to join the leadership team and we are in the process of exchanging contracts for a new building. I couldn't find a picture of the building itself, so I decided that a Google Earth map would suffice ...

I'm not sure if anyone reads this, but if you are reading, then I apologise for my absence. All will be explained in this post. Firstly, Monday and Tuesday I was up in Deeside, visiting the Church that I'm going to be working for for the next 12 months. Monday evening I had my interview for the job, and after all my blathering on about nothing of any consequence they still offered my the job - so from the last week in August my new title will be 'Ministry Trainee' - I'm not sure if I have to wear L plates for the year or not, but more importantly, I don't know where I'm living yet, but Martin is onto it and is going to let me know. While travelling back from Shotton on Tuesday afternoon I occupied myself with reading the commentaries that Martin has loaned me for my sermon preparation on 1 Corinthians. However, it grew more and more difficult to concentrate on my reading as it became apparent that I was sat in to wrong carriage - I'd joined the multi...

Wow!! This has been an fantastic weekend - the best for a long time! As I explained yesterday, MJK have been here for the last three days, they went down really well at Wyebridge School on Friday and at 'The Big Event' yesterday,with quite a few local young people coming to hear their final set of the day. Today we had an open air service and the MJK guys performed. We had a couple of complaints about the noise - As an aside, I find it ironic how some people seek to defend their "quiet Sunday's" with a near religious fanaticism, one woman said; "Well you should've done it on Saturday really, because of the noise levels". She didn't seem to twig that traditionally Sundays are a day off  for people to go to Church and worship the one true God, not a time to indulge in the idolatry of sleeping in, vegging out and catching up on the 'Eastenders Omnibus'!! Anyway's, that's enough of me ranting as I have far better news to s...

Phew - what a day and what a way to launch my new blog! Today saw 'The Big Event' take place in Hereford. It's an opportunity for the residents from the south of the river Wye to get together, have a fun day out at the fairground and browse the stalls put on by local businesses and charities. My families new church, Challenge Community Church (CCC) , had a marquee full of cakes, children's face painting, a story time and a small bouncy castle. They'd asked Dad to take some sheep and piglets along for the kids to pet too. In the centre of the picture above you can see the huge portable stage that 'Make Jesus Known' brought with them. They're a Christian rap  group from Manchester who seek to, as the name would suggest, make Jesus known! Now most of you will probably have realised that rap music doesn't feature that heavily in my I-pod's 'most listened to' playlist. But despite my general lack of appreciation for the genre, in my ...