A-Z of thanks and praise to God!

Check it out!

Spinnaker Tower

We have been up the Spinnaker Tower today, great fun! Brilliant views. I was the only one brave enough to walk over the glass floor tho!

Small but effective!

That is how i am describing the Youth Alpha away day. Numbers were very down on what i would have liked them to be but God worked in the lives of those who went. They were the ones that God wanted to be there. I went through every emotion on Friday evening. From anger, to tears, to disappointment to detirmination to make the day as brilliant as i could for those who would commit to what we are doing.
We had 3 lovely girls and 2 brill young leaders, and then Alison, Richard and myself leading. There are some pictures from our day on here as well as our amazing A-Z of thanks and praise to God! (coming soon!)
Im off to Holy Smoke soon, we are still currently testing our cell structure - it seems to be going well! Its then going to be a busy week, with the awayday out of the way i need to be thinking about Christmas! I have Children's Christmas praise to think about too, and the social. Term plans for next year need doing too and this week's talk for Alpha is going to be a tough one! 'How can I resist evil?' Hmmm that will be interesting considering most of them didnt go on the away day and so wont really know what im talking about! Need to do some small group juggling!
Right...off i go then!

Youth Alpha

We have just done our recap week. It has been good to have a free week to catch up on ourselves. I love it when illustrations work and dont need explaining as the speak for themselves. The Crucifixion backed by Bryan Adams - Everything i do i do it for you. Flash paper sin, wiped out, gone. It's no more. Jesus has conquered it.
I do the job i do because i am passionate about making sure young people hear the gospel. They heard it again this evening.
The away day is a chance for them to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Please pray for each one of them. And the leaders! We are going to need it!

Staff team vision

I have just returned from our Church staff vision evening... A long hard look at growth and how we are planning for it. We are going to re-jig the office and do a bit of building work!
God has put small groups (cell structure) on my heart. I think it is what he is calling us to within the youth ministry. We are moving towards small groups facing towards a bigger picture ministry. As a result we are looking at a large youth event in july 07, run by St Andrew's youth Ministry (so, yeah, me!). I need to find a band...
Day off tomo, Physio and shopping - an interesting combo!

Soul Sista

A very long and tiring day. Really good worship and teaching tho. Great to spend time all together, small groups are great for things like that. It was very very relevant, scarily so, therefore it was tough and challenging!
Needs acting on... but the next thing is on the horizon - Youth Alpha away day!! Exciting!

God's amazing answer!

God completely came through! The away day disaster is completely solved! There is so much good stuff going on that the devil is trying to attack it. It's so important that we don't give him the focus he wants. Just recognise his attempts and turn to God's power.
Amen!

Under Attack

Everything seems to be under attack at the moment! Please pray! Alpha away day is a huge one!!

I need...

Sleep! I didn't get to sleep until 3am! Gar...then I woke up at 6. How is that fair?!
I also need help! I have 7 talks to write in the next week and an away day to sort out! I don't think I can do it!
Therefore as gutted as I am not to be going on the Youth Work Conference this weekend, I can't afford the time. We are going to Soul Sista instead. Me and Ali are taking 2 of our youth group. I've seen the line up and proposed topics... having read it, I'm a little concerned it may hit a little too close to home... its not about me, its about the kids. Besides... I'm a coward and too busy to deal with things right now.
On a more positive note Love Came Down, the Soul Survivor live 2006 album is out....its great! A fab reminder of what was an amazing but challenging week!

Day off!

Have had today off. Decided to start finding more things to fill my time off with... its a good thing! So I have booked my gym induction (yep, you may laugh!). I'm currently also trying to find a 'cell group' to go to, somewhere I can be stretched in my faith and study the Bible alongside others of a similar age, where i dont have to lead, like I have to all the time in my job. Hmmm, still searching currently!
Please pray about that, as being spiritually fed when you're giving out as much as I am in my job is really important.

Long time no blog...

Apologies for the delay in blog... slight 'censoring' issue... dont ask! Just irritated me slightly!
Things are pretty hectic right now! Having to work 'hand to mouth' as my rector would put it... its not the most helpful or productive way to work. I must see my employment group about this... One of 3 things that if i can just do them will benefit me in the long run... for those of you who are on my back over it all - I have done one out of 3 so far!
Work is church, church is work... i am dealing with that atm. Do i do my job because of my faith or is my faith my job? Well i know the answer but i have to fight to find it at the moment... not the way it should be.
Soul Sista next weekend! Yay! Alpha away day the following week, I am looking forward to both... the amount of work involved in the away day worries me tho!
Prayers appreciated!
PS: Finally my picture on the church website has been updated to something vaguely human!

Busy...

I've just returned from Youth Alpha... it's a tough group! Hmmm... It's going well, i think, but hard to tell if anything is going in. Just have to wait and see I guess!
It's all very busy right now... i have sooo much to do tomo it's actually insane! Ahhh well, that's life i suppose.
I've been to the dentist today... my face hurts so much now :(
Generally things are feeling a bit much right now, not work... that i can deal with... its other things.