Good Preacher

Danny Foulkes of Iconoblog fame ( when he used to update it that is !!) ...gave me a web site where you can find some excellent sermons from a very capable preacher ...he has a very grand name .......Dr. Arturo G. Azurdia III... we will just call him Art ...Download and enjoy.

Tearaway teenagers

When you leave them alone for a few hours look what you come home to !!

Countryside living

Every morning and sometimes in the evening Chester ( my dog ) takes me for a walk in the fields near to our house ...here are a few photos from our walk on Wednesday this week .

Just finished my sermon for tomorrow morn ...here's the text ..Luke 23 :39-43...the question for you is which criminal are you more like???? ..the one who didn't believe and just hurled insults at Christ or the one who did believe and now lives forever in Paradise ..... You can only be like one or the other ...there is no sitting on the fence ..there is no middle ground ....so which are you like ?

Alton towers

Becca deserves the hoody she actually went on the ride ....which is more than can be said for Anna !!

We had a great ( if not wet ) day at Alton towers the other day ..the new ride Rita in my opinion isn't a patch on Nemesis ...but your opinion may differ

Church In Luton

Whilst we were in luton for the party we came across this Church ... Stopsley Baptist Church and attended morning worship ....I was suprised at just how much the church was endeavouring to reach out into the community ..... Mark Scanlon the youth Pastor ...(who preached istead of the pastor who was away preaching in India ) gave a good word ...stand up christian ...stand out Christian ..and stand Firm Christian ..... Well done Mark if you should read this ...you have a gift..

EasyJet Party

We had a brilliant time in Luton at the Easyjet party . They had hired out a leisure centre for the afternoon and layed on all sorts of entertainment for the children . Laura managed to have her photo taken with Stelios the owner of the company .

Busy Few Days

Its going to be a bit hectic for the next few days ...here's the itinery...

Today ...

Already visited two folk this morning ...../many cups of tea
Sent a couple of Pastoral e-mails .
Going to West Felton Primary school for 1:15 to do an assembly ...its about 45 minutes away so I am casting the net a little wider with this one.
Tonight we are having a Film night with YP ..the idea being that we show a popular film and then Ifollow it up with a 10 minute straight Gospel talk

Tomorrow ...

Pick up one of the Young people from my old church in Wheelock , spend some time with him.

Then Drive down to Luton where we as a family are staying as guests of EasyJet.... Laura won a competition and managed to get an invite to their 10th Birthday party ...on the Sunday afternoon ...really exiting

Sunday

Find a church in Luton in the morning

Then onto the Party in the afternoon .....

Monday

Drive back up and then go to Birmingham to pick up one of Anna'a friends Becky P ..who will be staying with us for the week

Who said life drags :-)

Texan Bars are back

If like me you grew up in the 7o's and 80's you will remember the Texan bar ..... Chocolate covered nougat that made your taste buds dance ..... Well today I discovered whilst shopping for the youth club tuck shop that they are back ;-) and I bought a whole box of them ..so now I can convert the current generation of sweet eaters to the texan experience .......

Individual needs

There is never a dull moment in the role of a student pastor you constantly are thinking and praying on your feet..... We are blessed at Wem with a relatively large congregation approx 250 if you include our church Plant in Prees. Within that congregation there is a huge diversity of needs , needs that you have to respond to with perceived wisdom , patience , self -control and above all love ...

The text books don't teach you all that you need to know ( with the exception of the bible that is ) . the school of Pastoral care is a very hands on school ..... In this school you learn how to apply the message that you preach to the sick , the anxious , the dissatified , the rebellious , the grieving and the faithful ...... People are so diverse and that's what makes the job of pastoral care so interesting ...

Preparing for a couple of assemblies this week and then I'm of to Shewsbury hospital to visit some of our sick and then another session of Christianity explained tonight ....Focusing on the cross of Christ ... three Questions 1. Why did Jesus Die ? 2. What does it mean ? 3 How should I respond ?

Read how the 3000 responded when they heard about Jesus ... Acts 2:36-43

Not to be outdone

Katie ( a la middle daughter) and her friend Sarah, decided to bake a cake on saturday ...not wanting to be outdone by older sister ..and then she invited all of her mates around on Saturday night for a DVD night ....the rest of us were confined to my study ...not to be allowed out until they had all gone ....what is it about teenagers not wanting their parents around when they are with their friends :-)

On Saturday we travelled over to Stoke to the Beefeater restaurant for a meal with some of Gills family ....It was lovely but as usual I over indulged on the "Ultimate Beefeater Challenge" a huge icecream / brownie/marshmallow /malteaser pudding .

I must think about going to the Gym again :-(

Guitar Cake

Last night , my eldest daughter and her friend Becky baked a cake in our kitchen .... a momentous event for two fifteen year olds who most of the time struggle to find the kitchen.... anyway the cake baking was for their friend at school who is into guitars and who has a birthday tonight ...so they baked a fine guitar that I am sure even Eric Clapton would be proud to eat ....well done girls

This morning I did an assembly at St Peters Primary School in Wem ..... the children listened really well . Need to prepare for the youth meeting tonight and then get stuck into more study...

Children's Talk

I have decided to do a kids talk on John Huss on Sunday morning , after having read about him this week and being inspired by the mans conviction and his perseverance . I will start off by asking one of the congregation to tell a story in Latin ,part of Chapter one in Mark's Gospel and then I will go on to explain that John Huss thought that this was crazy preaching in a language that few understood and how he went on to preach to congregations upwards of 3000 in their own native language ....eventually the religious powers that be thought this was heretical, especially when he spoke out against them ..... they burnt him for it .... I look forward to shaking the mans hand in heaven .

Coffee morning today , visits this afternoon as well as prep for an assembly tomorrow and a youth talk tomorrow night ...and hopefully I will have time to fit in a romantic meal with my wife this evening at the Acropolis ...the local Greek restaurant ( hightly recommended ...if you live in or near Wem ).

Martyr's

I've been studying the early period of the Reformation today ....it is heartbreaking to read of so many men and women put to death simply because they wanted to preach and teach the bible in their native languages .... One such man was John Huss of Prague , who was burnt to death after he wouldn't recant of his so called heresy in 1415 ..

An ordinary man who had a strong conviction that the common man should have access to God's word ..and like many others of that period he paid for this conviction with his life .

Nowadays we take the English bible for granted .... go back 500 years and that certainly wasn't the case . ....

Recommended Listening

If you are a pastor or student of theology ...or if you are considering doing some study in theology then can I recommend this series by Alistair Begg called " The Pastors Study " you will find it on his web site click this link to get there . ...Alistair's approach is always very practical and down to earth ....enjoy

Tired

I'm shattered this morning ...it probably has a lot to do with my advancing years ! Yeterday was a good day . I preached on a difficult text in the morning fully expecting to be attacked by marauding women wielding their handbags but thankfully that wasn't the case and they were all very gracious .

We had Lunch at Paul and Ali's in the afternoon ........ Ali's version of big soup :-) and banoffee pie ..fantastic .

Belper in the evening was good , a small ( but growing ) group of people who have a heart to see God's word proclaimed faithfully in that town . One of my old work colleages Rod and his wife Michelle came along to worship with us . ( if you are reading this Rod it was brilliant to see you again ..and we will sort out a date to get together in the near future )

Anyway ...I must do some studying today ...I have fallen behind ..so its catch up time :-)

Youth & Ice

Last night we took our youth club along to Telford Ice Rink . A good time was had by all , especially me ,who chickened out of this leg breaking ritual and settled into a cheeseburger and a nice cup of coffee ....I always go for the healthy option ;-)

This morning I have spent the sunrise hours finishing off my sermon prep for tomorrow . In the morning I will be in Prees ( Shropshire) ...preaching on the awkward text in 1 Timothy 2:8-15 and then in the evening I will be over at our friends Paul and Ali's church in Belper( Derbyshire) and this time I will be taking a passage from 1 Thessalonians 4 and 2 Thessalonians 2:1 ... its entitled " The Ultimate Gathering " ... I will try with God's help to give a glimpse of what it will be like when Christ comes again ..

This afternoon , we have an elders and deacons event at Cloverley Hall .... followed by food ..now there's an incentive !!!

Been a wee bit Busy

The last couple of days have been hectic . Many meetings and much sermon prep , unfortunately little time to study . Next week looks a little less frenetic so I should be able to catch up ....

We had good news the other day Laura ( my 10 year old ) has won a competition with EasyJet and as a result we have all been invited down to London at the end of October for a huge EasyJet 10th Birthday celebration .... We are all really exited .....they are going to try and fly us down for the party ....how cool is that ...the only problem is that all four of the women in this household are wanting new clothes for the party ... :-((

Christianity Explained

On a Tuesday night I am running a short course on the basics of the Christian faith . Last night we looked at Jesus the Son of God ...His power , his authority , his purity and the claims he made about himself ... The ladies who have been coming along are really getting to grips with the subject matter and because its informal and relaxed people feel that they can ask questions quite openly ..... So if you are in or around Wem and you would like to come along then get in touch with me, you will be more than welcome .

This morning I had a time of prayer and bible study with Michael Holmes one of our elders ( whose birthday it is today ...a young 66 year old ) . Mike is a wonderful man with a real heart for people , both he and he wife Christine work tirelessly in visiting and caring for people within the fellowship ..I admire them both .

Later on I went along to our mums and tots group ....manic ...tons of women ...lots of Children ..one or two dads looking bewildered ...its great .

The rest of the day will be spent contemplating my sermon for Sunday morning at our church plant in Prees ...its a tough text that I have been given to preach on ...one that in our days of political correctness will need careful thought and much prayer before I get my mouth into gear..

Not according to Plan

Yesterday , things didn't quite go according to plan . My preaching engagement at Bethel had to be cancelled because I managed to get stuck in a mega traffic jam in Stoke on Trent . They seem to be renewing all of the roads at the same time ,which was a little frustrating ..

The evening went better , with Gloria and Peter from church popping round to share a roast chicken with us ......the only problem for me was that I then shared it with the toilet at 2:30 am ..... So my stomach isn't top of my list of favourite body parts today :-( ... I was the only one who had this adverse reaction so it looks like the chicken is not to blame ...

It was Robbie Burns who said " the best laid plans of mice and men oft go astray " ...that man knew what he was talking about ...

Conkers are back

On Saturday we had some friends of ours over for Lunch ...Bev , Rhid , Rhys and Bryn ..it was great to see them again . After our chicken casserole and apple struddle we needed a walk, so we took ourselves off to Colemere .

It was a wonderful early autumn afternoon and very peaceful . We came across a number of Conker trees that hadn't been raided ....marvelous ...conkers galore ...there is something very alluring about a conker ...even 41 year olds get a buzz from rummaging around under the trees looking for the big one !!

Yesterday afternoon we went over to Liverpool and did the the rounds with the Family ..Lunch with granny and Gramps then a cup of Coffee with my Sister Jane and then finally another cup of tea with my mum and dad ..

Busy week ahead ...I am speaking at Bethel Evangelical Church Ladies fellowship today over in Stoke ..they are a lovely bunch of ladies who have been gathering together every Monday afternoon since time began ...