Pharoah & Moses come to Wem

That Beard Takes Years off Phil !! ..

HBC is going extremely well ....fatigue however is beginning to set in and it's only Tuesday .

So far this year we have had 170 kids and along with the 54 team members it is turning into a lovely atmosphere for the Gospel to be preached to so many young hearts...

Some pics ..more to follow later ..I think I make a very dashing Pharoah ...not sure about the little geezer with the beard though ....

The Singing Has been Great

The Silver Fox and the Burning Bush

Moses And Bob The Snake Charmer

Poor Old Andy has to wear the shorts of Shame ...all day and all night !

Sorry for not blogging

Just a quick post to say that I am still alive and have lots to report but very little time to report it in !!

Its holiday Bible Club all this week " Walk like An Egyptian" .I'm dressing up as pharoah as we do the story of Moses ... pics will follow as the week progresses

Anyway must dash I have a pyramid to build :-)

Too Hot To Blog

Wow it's hot .....never known it this hot ... 34 degrees today ..If it gets much hotter I am sure the fat around my stomach is going to melt :-) ... here's hoping !!

Best place at the moment is the seaside

Wonderful Sunshine

The weather continues to be superb , this weekend was filled with outdoor activities . The pictures show us all walking around one of the local lakes on Saturday evening . Laura had her friend natasha with her ..

I preached at Crowmoor Baptist Church in Shrewsbury on Sunday morning . The Lord was good to us all as we lifted Him up in worship .

Sunday afternoon we had an open air service in the local recreation park . Wem every year holds its annual sweet pea weekend and to mark the event we hold an open air service . The weather was glorious ..in fact it was a bit too hot .

Later on we went back with a number of other folk to Norman and Idi's who entertained us in their immaculate Garden ...it was a very relaxing weekend

Where has the week gone?

time has a funny way of racing past you sometimes . It probably has everything to do with my age ;-)

Nothing out of the ordinary to report this week ..

On Monday the ABQ course was great ..The big question being "Did Jesus really rise from the grave?" ....The conclusion was .. YES Yes and Yes ...You cannot argue with the facts .

On Wednesday Laura was officially welcomed to her new schools open evening ...All the girls are now in senior school .... I am now officially really old .

On Thursday night Gill and I had a real chill out evening in the garden ,the weather is fantastic at the moment so out came the BBQ again along with Iceland's best burgers washed down with a glass or two of Chardonnay ... Marvelous


Better watch out that I don't overdose on the burgers !!


Friday night was a treasure hunt round town with the YPF or rather they went a hunting and I went a drinking tea ...The rigours of being a YPF leader are harsh sometimes :-)

We''ll keep a welcome in the Hillside

Brian
Pat
Staceys cake ..it was lovely

On Sunday we all travelled to Blackmill in South Wales . Home of my first real church experience . Gill and I where there for 6 years in the eighties and early nineties and its always good to go back and meet with special friends .

I preached morning and evening from Psalm 61 .. "Dealing with a Crisis" part one in the morning with the second installment in the evening.

It was an excellent day ..if not very tiring with an early start ( 3hr dirve) and a late finish ..but worth it

Back to the 70's

Last night at the youth group we went back to the 7o's ...oh the nostalgia of it all ...Starsky &Hutch, Kojak, "Watch out watch out there's a humphrey about", hotpants ...Pan's people !! ,
Mud with Tiger feet '...all the memories came flooding back as we played the tunes of the era

It's a disgrace ;-(

There are lots of things I love about my eldest daughter ..Especially her poetry ..check out her blog here ..

There are some things that irritate me ...Like her room ...This is actually a good shot because today you can see bits of the carpet ;-)

Jacob got paddling pooled

Jacob got chucked in tonight ..poor old Jacob ..that's what you get for being a Sweden supporter !

Billy Bob & the Fish

Question for you ...which one do you think is my Nephew "Billy Bob" and which on ethe fish ?

It's tough I know ;-)

Email problems ....I have had problems with my email over the last three/four days , so if you have sent any mails please be aware that I may not be getting them on the day you sent them ...thanks

32,000 tuning in to Wem Baptist Church

Last night as a church we recorded the Sunday morning Act of Worship for BBC Radio Shropshire . It goes out this Sunday morning at 7am (bst) .

So if you are out of bed at that time then listen in and join the other 32,000 regular listeners . It has to be our biggest Sunday morning congregation ever !!

I was asked during the service to comment on "What my faith means to me " . If you want to know the answer then tune in on Sunday .

BBQ & Bathing

It's been a very bright sunny weekend , darkened a little by Englands poor showing against Portugal . So another 4 yeas to wait !!

Anyway enough of that . On Sat night we had about 60 folk back to the house for a Barbeque . It was great just to chill out on a warm summer evening with friends and neighbours . We will have to repeat it soon . Also by all accounts I didn't manage to poison anyone with my burgers !

On Sunday Anne came over with baby Dillon for a paddle in our new paddling pool ( which has taken over the garden . it's massive and all for £19.99. Anne is off to Cyprus with her husband ( who is in the army) in a few weeks time . We will miss her .

The YPF had a camp feedback worship service on Sunday night and I preached . It was like preaching in a Sauna ...I must have lost 10lbs ( I wish :-) )

Today I had a bad case of post sermon blues , those who preach will know what I mean . I need to pick myself up and speak about the greatest event that mankinf has ever known , the crucifixtion at the ABQ course tonight .

Pics from the paddling pool

Busy week & Brasso

Its been a busy week of meetings, prep for talks and pastoral conversations so the poor old blog has suffered .

Finished reading a very challenging book on prayer "Power through Prayer " by EM Bounds ...if you want your prayer life challenged then this is the book to read . the online version is found by clicking here .

Also this week picked up a great tip for cleaning scratched CD's and DVD's ... Brasso .... try it it works a treat . Old Cd's that I thought were destined for the knackers yard have been resurrected ..Brilliant .

If evolution were true...

If evolution were true then your average guy would probably be walking around looking a little like this ..

I am probably tempting one or true wise cracks with this one :-)

Daughter has a blog

Anna my eldest , has been writing a blog for a couple of months now . She rights in tandem with her mate Becca .

Being the dutiful dad that I am, I promised to give it a plug ...so here is the link ... click here

Well I survived another wife free weekend !

Yes I made it through the weekend . Left to the marauding pack of daughters , I cooked , I hung the washing out , I delivered many words of timely wisdom ;-( ..and we all came through it relatively unscathed

Gill ( my wife ) returned blessed from her weekend with the 'Women of Wheelock '. Dot Bygroves was the speaker , forgiveness the subject... It must have been good because she hasn't stopped smiling and telling me and the kids that she loves us ..... I wonder when the real wife will return !! ..I'll keep you posted :-)

You can read more about Gill's weekend away by clicking here and going over the adventures of Mrs Mellish

Preached over at Bradley road evangelical church in Wrexham on Sunday . It was good to renew fellowship over there with some of the folk .

Abandoned Again !!

She has gone again !! this weekend Gill has taken herself off to the Wheelock Heath ladies weekend over in Bala ( Wales) . That's two weekends running that I have been left to deal with the marauding daughters ;-(

Things are getting desperate , I was even spotted hanging washing out on the line yesterday !!

Preaching at Bradley Road Baptist Church in Wrexham tomorrow so today is about prep for that as well as serving my daughters of course ...

Pessimistic Snowman

This snowman just couldn't look on the bright side could he :-)

"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity

An optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty!"

Winston Churchill

Senior citizens day out and 12th Night

Action packed day yesterday . In the morning I traveled with 50 of our senior citizens over to Port Sunlight for a day out . It was great . Lord Lever was a very rich man and he certainly knew how to look after his workers . He even advocated a 6hr working day , very unusual in an era that expected 12 hr days .




In the evening Katie had a staring role in "12th night"playing Olivia .So we all went along to watch the performance . Shakespeare for me is hard to follow but I managed to pick up that this was a comedy so I'm learning . Katie was nervous about the closing scene when she had to kiss a bloke !!

Grannie's 70th

Last night ( instead of watching the football!) we all celebrated Grannie's 70th birthday . Now I had the choice , football or my mother in law :-) . Now admittedly I was helped in making my choice by my wife standing rather threateningly with the rolling pin !! So I chose wisely for the sake of a happy marriage and enjoyed a very pleasant meal at a local restaurant .

Radio Shropshire broadcast live from the church last night as we screened the game . A number of folk were interviewed live on air ...and I missed it ...but I'm not bitter about it :-(

May the force be with you

The star wars craze is everywhere :-)

Celebration

Anna finished her GCSE's yesterday so we celebrated at mealtime with a bottle of bucks fizz ...well done Anna , only the small matter of the results now :-)

The ABQ course was well attended last night " What's wrong with the world ?" was the big question . We explored the topic by looking how the world was ( ie when it was perfect ..right at the beginning of time). How the world is ( ie how it became corrupted and imperfect) and then finally how it will be ( when God decides that this world is over and he creates a new perfect heaven and earth )

If you want to know more and have questions then drop me an e-mail .

Father's day

Dad or Pops as he is known to the kids

Church was packed Sunday morning for our Father's Day service .Phil in preaching the sermon caused me to reflect on my own inadequacies as a father . Something that I must put right . I must endeavour to mirror my heavenly Father's sacrificial love for me with my own kids .

After the service it was off to the homeland ..Liverpool . To have a meal with Dad and Mum . my sister Jane and her family should have been there but she managed to split her head open in the morning and spent the afternoon in casualty !!!


In the evening we visited the Bridge . Bill Bygroves preached from Romans 14 . "How not to be an ugly Christian" . It was a superb message and when they upload it onto their site I will link to it here so that you can all hear it .

The big question in the ABQ course tonight is " What's gone wrong with the World ? "..so today is about preparation for tonight .

Abandoned

How Am I going to cope without a wife this weekend ...she's leaving me ...off to the "Long Mind" with a load of teenagers for the Duke of Edinburgh award scheme

Will I be able to cope with three marauding daughters on my own ???

The telly is mine ...footy ..footy footy

England Vs Trinidad & Tobago

Another big world come game tonight ...wild horses couldn't stop me from being at the church to watch it ....unless of course God in his providence decided otherwise.

Actually the picture reminds me of the Osmonds hit in the 70's Crazy Horses ...only a few of you will remember that song...go on own up to it in the comments if you do...Mrs Mellish ..I bet you were a Donny fan ...

American & Scouse Friends

Busy yesterday ... In the morning I did act of worship at the local secondary school . "Facing Fear " was the title given . ( More to follow on that in later posts)

Then off to 'mums and tots' promoting our fathers day family service on Sunday morning .

I then took a call from a new found American friend Mark McClean , a Christian (going to this 6000 strong church) who has just decided to start his own eBay business . It was great to talk to him . He thought I sounded like Paul McArtney .

In the afternoon Phil and I along with some of our cake baking church folk welcomed 30 or so "Widow & Widowers" from the Bridge Chapel in Liverpool . It was the scouse invasion of Wem ...brilliant

Holiday Bible Club ..Planning

Most of today will be spent planning for this years Holiday Bible Club with Phil ( Pastor).



This year we are calling it " Walk like an Egyptian" which if you are old enough will remind you of the 80's hit for the Bangles with the same title ..

My mate Paul :-)

He is preaching his first sermon this coming Sunday over in Ashbourne ( Derbyshire) . I know he will be hard at work in the study all week :-)