Saturday 21 June 2008

A few late night thoughts

1. Can't wait for Sunday (Tomorrow) as we continue in the One Prayer series. I know Perry Noble will challenge our church to live Dangerously. Get ready for a good shake up!

2. Last Sunday Craig Groschell preached on video and boy was is awesome. check out www.billyritchie.org for a great take on our a survey we took the following week.

3. I am excited about the children's ministry in our church and tomorrow afternoon we have an awards ceremony as children complete 1, 2 and 3 years of study in our mid-week discipleship programme for kids. Our staff are amazing - well done guys.

4. I am thrilled our ladies 2 1/2 day retreat has gone so well. I spoke to Alison earlier today who said that it was really amazing and God powerfully showed up. Fantastic!! Well done to all the girls who made it happen.

5. I fly tomorrow evening to Uganda until 4th July with my colleague Ian Baird to assist George Ridley (LFI Director) in any way we can and to look at some of the wrok and projects he is actively developing. George has has done an outstanding job in helping 100,000's of people in Uganda in desperate situations. I look forward to serving him in any way I can whist there.

6. I am excited about our next series at MKCC called Simply Jesus. We will be teaching this series throughout July and August. I am pumped about us talking about Jesus for two months and look forward to helping people see more clearly who Jesus really is.

7. I am excited about the developments of our building projects and am looking forward to the start of the extension and refurbishment of our Day Nursery facility this summer. This has been long awaited and finally we are ready! Only need to get our planning permission granted on our main auditorium, coffee shop and foyer now. Let's pray for this as we should here something by early July.

8. Not sure wether I will blog over the next 10 days whist in Uganda as I am not taking my computer and I am not sure about the connection from there. However, we will see what happens when we get there.

Keep fired up!!

Wednesday 18 June 2008

One Prayer comments

As I scrolled through the list of names requesting miracles to take place in their lives, I was deeply moved. It is amazing that people are reaching out to other believers around the world asking them to stand with them in asking God for a breakthrough in their situations. This is truly awesome!

Seeing all these requests reminded me a little of the Bruce Almighty movie where all the prayer requests were coming in and Bruce just couldn't cope with all the requests. Thank God we have a God who is well able to cope and who tells us that all things are possible!

Throughout the day I have been asking God to bring salvation, healing, financial provision, peace of mind and heart, increased faith, wisdom, divine strategy and vision for others. I prayed for Pastors around the world to lead and to live like Jesus full of compassion, grace and truth. Man at one point I thought I was going to explode!! Just felt like my prayer had collided with the Holy Spirit in the fast lane.

Today I have asked God to answer some big prayers for others and I am expectant.
I can't wait to hear and see what God will do through One Prayer campaign.

Get involved, look at the lists of people with all their needs and ask God to move you and he will.

Tuesday 17 June 2008

Sharing the load

My wife is a superstar! She works so hard and is always active in the home with never ending chores, caring for my two boys and me, busy with church activities and also in her many responsibilities in her work at the hospital. I often admire all that she does and often wonder how she keeps it all together. She is selfless in her approach to life and enjoys serving and helping others in any way she can. She is busy from dawn to dusk and I have to say I appreciate and love her so much.

This weekend sees her running an annual ladies retreat which is a great blessing to the ladies who go on it. This year I know will be no exception. However, she arrived home today totally shattered and frustrated. I knew she was under pressure with lots to do.

Seeing she needed me, I stepped in to rescue my girl as she has done for me on many occasions. Together we worked through all the issues and conquered the mountains that seemed overwhelming to her. Sometimes as a guy you need to take control and let your girl know you are there for her. I helped her make important decisions and prioritise her work and told her to work things through and I would take care of things tonight. I sorted the boys out for their dinner, took my youngest to his youth club, cooked us a nice dinner, washed up, cleaned up, got the washing in from off the line and collected my youngest. All this gave her the space to do what she needed to do.

Tackling life and ministry is all about team work and you have got to be sensitive to each other and at times share the load and support each other.

Sunday 15 June 2008

Week two of One Prayer

The weather was awesome this morning so I decided to ride to church on my bike and shed a few ounces!! On the way, I found myself crying out to God asking, him to impact all of the people in our services. It is week two of the 'One Prayer' series and I was passionate for our church to take to heart the message from from Pastor Craig Groschell 'Lord make us one'. At one point on the journey, I almost fell off my bike as I became so fired up talking to God and became less aware that I was on a bike going downhill!

We had three amazing services, the worship was brilliant and set the scene for the preaching. Craig was excellent and our people responded well to the teaching on the big screen. It was a powerful message that demands thought and application from us. After the second service I felt God challenging me to think about the incredible potential that there is in our city to meet needs and make a difference if Christians were truly united. I found myself asking God, what do you want me to do? I will let you know what he says as our journey unfolds. I have no doubt that during this series, God is seeking to take us to a place of greater effectiveness and impact.

I do not think you can hear stuff like this and allow it get lost in the business of life. It is demanding our full attention.

As I spoke with others at the end of the services, I knew my prayer earlier that morning had been answered.

By the way, my bike ride home was amazing - Think I sang all the way!

Out for a Nandos feast later this evening with my family to celebrate Father's Day.

Saturday 14 June 2008

Great friends doing great things together

We had a Leadership breakfast today with our team, we do this 4 times a year and I love it. What an amazing group of guys I work with and I genuinely love you all. Throughout the morning I watched our children play together, our wives sharing and laughing together and the guys as usual were exchanging funny stories and inspiring each other as we continue our God journey together. I thought our relationships are absolutely brilliant and it is a joy to have them all in my home. I am so thankful to God for great great leaders but most of all for great friends.

God has brought us together for such a time as this. There is so much for us to do in our city for Jesus and I am excited about the future. Love you guys!