Youth Fast Part 3

What an awesome time we had on Tuesday night! The Youth fast was a HUGE success, I would even go so far as to say it is one of the best things we have ever done in my 12 years of leading ENERGY. Here are 5 reasons why it was so good:
1) The fasting take up rate was about 99%! Nearly ALL of the 27 young people there on Tuesday had been fasting for 2 days. They missed one meal, drank only water, watched NO TV/listened to no secular music and gave up one other thing they really liked eg PSP, Text etc. Some did a complete food fast.
2) The Youth were full of life. Despite being tired and hungry, there was a real spiritual buzz in the group. Again, because they had not been watching any television or listening to any secular music, they were so much sharper and much quicker to focus on Jesus and get into His agenda for the night.
3) The Prayer Zone was a huge success with four dedicated zones aimed at getting the young people praying in much more creative ways. We had BBC News 24 streaming live in the World Zone, Dead Poets Society playing in the School Zone and all sorts of candles and stuff in the Personal Zone. I nearly cried on one occasion (not sickness-related!) as I looked around and saw these awesome young people praying, meeting with Jesus and really getting down to business. I was so impressed with the brave souls who had gone to talk to their Head Teachers asking for prayer requests. One of the Year 7s who is the only member of ENERGY in her school went and spoke to her Head Teacher all by herself. Good work!
4) There was a strong sense of the Holy Spirit. It wasn't the multi-media that had an impact on me (althouh it did look really cool) it was the strong weight of God's presence throughout the whole of the evening. I could feel His presence and His peace and having been knocked out with flu for 4 days, it was a most welcome relief.
5) It took 3 hours to put up but 20 minutes to take down! At the end, the Young People and Leaders made quick work of sorting and tidying it all up. This meant I could get home and break my media fast; settling down to an episode of the West Wing before bed. Yay!
Thanks to everyone who helped bring it together especially the Young People who got behind it so wholeheartedly. Thanks also to those of you in the Church who prayed and supported the young people involved. We had an awesome time.

Youth Fast Part 2

What a weekend! I spent most of it in bed fighting flu, sweating, sleeping and taking paracetamol. "So what?" you may say, "We all get ill!". Well I rarely get ill. I can't remember the last time I felt as rough as I did last weekend and even now I'm still not 100%. I was really disappointed to miss Church on Sunday. I heard it was an excellent and Dennis Bowman's preach is well worth a listen (available now on itunes and our website). Today we enter the home stretch of our first ever 2-Day Youth Fast. Yesterday, Sue, Alison and I spent a couple of hours setting up the 'Prayer Zone' which will be used when we gather tonight. Split into four sections; World, Personal, School and Church, it will help give an informal structure and creative turbo charge to our prayer time. I know a lot of families have been getting behind our fast and are supporting their young people. I've recommended that everyone give up one meal per day, drink only water and (the big one!) NO television/secular music plus they pick one other activity which they want to fast from (eg MSN, Texting, PSP etc). After a bit of a
slow start, alot of the youth seem to have caught hold of the vision for this (see previous blog entry for notes and eventually my preach will be on the energy website). I'm really believing God will do something fresh tonight and meet these fantastic young people in dynamic new ways. Please pray for us (and me - I'm returning to my Lemsip now). Catch you later on this week.

Youth Fast Part 1

The Countdown begins to the first EVER Youth Fast. I was thinking of fasting from the youth and having an evening off. Only joking, love them all really. Starting at 9pm this Sunday 25 January, going through to 9pm on Tuesday 27 January we're going to be doing a focused fast for the youth ministry of Bristol Community Church. As we learned in the Church last year, fasting and prayer are powerful weapons in the hands of devoted believers and I'm believing God is going to do something fresh, powerful and exciting in and through us. The benefits will be felt for weeks, indeed months down the line. I won't bore you with the practical details, if you want to find out more then click on the links below. We met on Tuesday of this week and I spoke to ENERGY about the forthcoming fast. I know some of them are totally behind it, others are going to do what they can while others are lukewarm at best! My goal is to see God do a fresh, new thing and speak prophetically to us as we pray through four different areas: School (I've asked the Youth to approach their Head Teachers to ask for prayer requests), Personal (attitudes that need to change, direction for important decisions etc), World (Prayer for non-Christian friends and family, world issues) and Church (Leadership, different Church ministries). If you are a Parent then I encourage you to encourage them by joining in if at all possible. Other members of the Church, why not do your own two day fast for the youth and stand with us as we seek God? Whatever happens, it is going to be an excellent, faith-filled, God-encountering, group-joining, -prayer-sparking time!
FastingNotes.doc
FastingWorksheet.doc

Breakfast Banter

Most Tuesday mornings, Neil, John and I meet for breakfast to catch up and pray together. This morning we met and had a really positive time. Although I am not always at my best in the mornings, I come away from these sessions feeling much more awake, encouraged and usually very challenged! In the last couple of meetings alot of the focus has been on the importance of Neil and I developing as Leaders. John is both apostolic and prophetic and this combination of gift means he is extremely accurate in putting his finger on the 'real issue' and discerning what is lurking underneath. Sometimes it is hard to take a direct challenge over character issues (usually flaws!) and realise that you think you know so much when actually you know very little. This refining process is essential for all of us, not just those in Leadership positions in the Church (e.g. Homegroup Leaders, Ministry Leaders etc). It never ceases to amaze me that God consistently and constantly steps into our characters to make us more like Jesus. Nobody would dispute this, but what can be harder to take is when that process involves another person. We will all take a rebuke from the Lord, it's when He chooses to use someone else to do it that a problem can arise. I know how easy it is for me to get defensive and self-righteous; sometimes even judgmental. This is all sin and inhibits God's sanctifying work in my life. I was reading about Moses this morning and how the Israelites were so good at moaning! (Exodus 15:24, Exodus 16:2). I think God used these moaning people to test Moses' character and faith. We must graciously accept correction, challenge and rebuke. God does not work in a vacuum, He works in and through people. Make sure you don't miss out on the sanctifying work of God because you think you know better.

Love in Action

Morning! Welcome back to the Blog. One of the things I love about The Church is that it is a family. Jesus said, "All men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another" (John 13:35). This love should be visibly demonstrated in and through the body of believers towards one another. Yesterday's meeting was a classic example of this love in action. At the end of last year, we organised a collection for John and Linda which would combine a Christmas present and gift for Linda's birthday in January. This culminated with yesterday's presentation during the Church Service when we presented them with some excellent presents including some new cases for their forthcoming trip to New Zealand, a digitial camera, some beautiful flowers and a birthday cake (complete with rousing chorus of 'Happy Birthday'). Thank you to all of you who so generously contributed to this gift; we were thrilled with the total amount raised. We spend our money on that which we love. No amount of money can really express just how much we value and love John and Linda but I was so encouraged to see we can 'put our money where our mouth is.' There was also a really family atmosphere throughout the whole meeting and the buffet food went down very well at the end (loved those mini raspberry pavlovas - good work Chef!). I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did!

In The Beginning There Was The Blog...

HALLLOOOO! Here is my first ever blog entry on my first ever blog for the Bristol Community Church's first ever venture into Blog Land. I'm currently sat in the Office, pecking away at the keyboard wondering where to begin, what I hope, will be an interesting read for those of you out there in webworld. Over the coming weeks I want to bring a personal view into the life of B.C.C., a church for whom I have worked for over 14 years. So let's begin. I will simply begin by highlighting what a truly AWESOME couple of Sundays we've had in 2009 (and I use thatmuch over-used, misunderstood word advisedly). Last Sunday (11 Jan) was one of the most powerful times of worship we've ever had. We spent the best part of 2 hours in God's presence but it only felt like 30 minutes. The worship team began to move prophetically in song, something we have been seeking to develop in the last year or so, but in this meeting it just flooded out like a river. The air was thick with His Presence. Wow! What a great way to begin 2009.