Norman & Joan had a letter from the Queen

This afternoon we celebrated in church Norman and Joan's 60th wedding anniversary . Great occasion . They brought the letter they had had from the Queen who writes to all couples who make it to this marriage milestone .

After the meal we had a Baptismal service which was a great blessing . Mark , Gayle and Sam where baptised . All members of the same family , husband and wife and son . We also dedicated little effervescent Sally their daughter in the same service .

Good Day .

Sweet Pea weekend hits Wem

It's that time of year again . The Sweet Pea Celebration weekend in Wem . This is the towns big day and as a church we have opened up the building in orderto displaythe Henry Eckford stained glass windows .

Amazingly Sweet Pea lovers from all over Britain and indeed the world come to Wem to celebrate and enter their sweet peas in a competition ....

Laura as usual has grown some in our back garden and she kindly presented Nathan with a bunch tonight .... Don't think he has ever been given flowers before . he looked a bit worried :-)

Mums & Tots BBQ ..singin in the rain

John Taylor & I cooked up some very wet burgers for the mums & tots BBQ today ;-)

Lots going on ...

Sorry for not blogging lately. Mum has been critically ill so I have been back and forward to her in Arrowe Park Hospital. At one stage (yesterday) it appeared to be touch and go but thankfully today she has started to show signs of recovering .

Anna is having a very interesting time in South Africa . She has been placed in an Indian community that are predominantly Muslim and they don't take to Christians very well.She is staying at a Indian Pastors house whose brother was murdered the day before she arrived !! Also one of her team was arrested in the week and to cap it off the Pastors wife was rushed into hospital with a strange sickness bug on Thursday . We have been much in prayer for them all . It doesn't help that Anna doesn't like curry either ;-)

Much going on in the Whiteway household at the moment , never a dull moment ,praise God ;-)

At The Bridge ....

Way back in 1985 I started going to a church in Garston , Liverpool . Garston Bridge Chapel as it was known then was to be the birthplace of my Christian faith . Yesterday 24 years later I preached at that same church . It was a privilege to be able to minister in the place of my spiritual birth .

These days it has changed its location and is called Bridge Chapel but there are still many of the old familiar faces from years gone by .

Les Stamper is one of those ancient faces :-) ( sorry Les ) who runs a wonderful ministry for adults with special needs and last night the "Thursday Club" as the work is known took the evening meeting at the chapel . What a blessing that was , what a joy to see the faith that these people have . It not only brought a tear to Les's eye but to the majority of the 400 or so folk who were also privileged to be part of the service .

Keep up the good work Les and Co ..fantastic job that the Lord has clearly gifted you to do .

Bye to Anna & Abi...

The South African tour of duty began for Anna & Abi today . We dropped them of at the OM headquarters in Oswestry amidst lots of tears ;-) . Have a great time girls , see you in a month xx

Mens Northern Seminar on line

A few weeks back you may recall that Phil and I spoke at the Mens Northern convention ...some of you have requested a copy of the seminar . Well if you CLICK HERE and then scroll down to Seminar 4 you will be able to hear the chuckle brothers in full flight :-)

Wem Baptist Church Family Day at Adcote School

Great day today . Lots of folk turned out for a day of fun and games . Adcote School is a perfect venue for a family day . Everyone had a great day together . Thanks to those who helped organise it all ...well done guys ..

All the photos can be found by CLICKING HERE

Pastors Day out

A couple of times a year Phil , Alistair and myself get together to chat , listen to ministry and pray . The venue yesterday was Llandudno and the weather was very kind . We walked up the Great Orme which got my fat encrusted heart racing :-)

Great day and a great place to sit on the rocks and pray ...it was good to get some sea air in my lungs again .

We Bought five of these for this years holiday Bible Club "Bible by the Beach"

Great spot to sit and pray

Humpty Dumpty and his mate

I got my legs out ..

The three amigos

Thanks to all At Emmanuel ...

Gill and I enjoyed a great day over at Northwich yesterday . I was preaching at Emmanuel Church in Northwich .

Thanks to Gill ( Alistair's Gill) for her hospitality and for being sympathetic when I broke one of their chairs . I really must lose weight :-)

Bargain Hunt ...filming is Oswestry

Phil and I spent the day filming Bargain Hunt today over at Oswestry showground . It was a great day and everyone was interested in talking about our faith . Great day , great opportunity ..here are some pics .

It's all for Him ......

FOR HIM - Paul Washer from I'll Be Honest on Vimeo.

Tiring week..

Don't seem to have stopped still this week , busy days . Chester is also a little tired of the studies :-)

Bargain Hunt look out

Unbeknown to me Phil applied to go on the BBC show Bargain Hunt a few months ago ...anyway to cut a long story short we have been accepted and will begin filming the show on the 13th June . :-)

It should be fun and we are hoping to drive lots of folk to our church web site as a result .

I best go and brush up on my antiques :-)

Anna & Abi South Africa 09 ..sponsored ride

Anna & Abi are off to South Africa in a few weeks to do some work for various missionary organisations . In order to raise funds they are doing a 90 mile sponsored bike ride .The first leg was today and they have just arrived home shattered after doing 30 miles .

If you want to sponsor them then send me an email with your pledge ... whiteway@supanet.com

Anyway they have both collapsed now ...another update to follow tomorrow .

Not wishing to rub it in in any way ..

Just a quick note to Phil . Didn't want to let the day go without mentioning again that I actually beat you at Racquetball this morning .

Not that I am one to boast or anything :-)

The Laundry Girls .....

Katie and the rest of the Wem Stage Door players competed in the semi-final of the all England Theatre club competition over in Burton on Trent .
They were all brilliant and we who went to see them were all very proud of their achievement on the day .. Sadly they didn't make it to the final coming runners up but that doesn't matter . They were a credit to all the people who put the production together . Well done guys .

BBQ at shells

BBQ at shells
Originally uploaded by whiteway

Tonight I spoke at the YPF BBQ at shells house . Being an Australian she is an expert at this kind of cooking ...

I talked about those Christians in days gone by who became their own barbeque . Burnt at the stake in our country just 500 years ago for believing what I and many others believe about Jesus Christ .

It's a challange to all those who profess faith in Jesus Christ to stand up and be counted and not to be afraid of the consequences ..

Read Daniel 3 :16-18 ..

Anyway I managed to follow up the sausages with a jammy doughnut ... can't be beaten ;-)

Mans best friends,dog&iPod :-)

Mans best friends,dog&iPod :-)
Originally uploaded by whiteway

Chester and I and our Katie went for a walk in the rain .Chester went looking for rabbits whilst I listened to a sermon :-)

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Sponsored Event Ideas ?

Anna is going to South Africa at the end of June with OM for two weeks and then onto an Aids orphanage called Morning Star for a further two weeks ..She is travelling with Abi .

We are trying to think of an appropriate sponsored event that would raise funds for the trip . I suggested they both shave their hair off ...but for some reason she didn't like that idea :-)

If you have any bright ideas then send me an email of add a comment to this post ...

Great Day in Bury St Edmunds ..Suffolk

Preached all the way down in Suffolk this weekend . Stephen and Lou kindly put me up for the night on Saturday at Lawshall and then on the Sunday I preached at Westgate Chapel in Bury St Edmunds .

It was a great day and I was made to feel very welcome . Thanks to Ken & Daphne for lunch and the whistlestop tour of the town . I hope to return again next year :-)

Great Song ....

A slipped disc .....

Well Gill has finally succumbed to her bad back . She has been in agony for over a week now and finally gave in and went to the Doc ... the diagnosis was a slipped disc . So she will be out of action for a while . The big question on every ones lips is will I be able to cope ? Now can anyone tell me where the thing called the washing machine is ;-).

People just don't believe me when I tell them that I really am quite domesticated . Need to go now and order the takeaway :-)

Heart wrenching story ...

Rachel Barkey is a mother who is dying ...watch and listen to her moving story..

CLICK HERE

Dreaming the dream .....

Thanks to Joel for this .... Realistic dont you think ..especially the biceps ;-)

Back Pain ...

Gill (alias cinderella) was scrubbing the kitchen floor yesterday morning when I heard a loud scream ... Her back had gone . Now for those of you who have had back trouble you know the pain .

So yesterday she spent most of the day lying on the bedroom floor popping Ibuprofen :-) . I of course have been the best nurse possible . Full of sympathy and kind words ;-) . I even emptied the washing machine and put the clothes on the line yesterday as well as doing her boiled egg on toast for lunch :-)

Anyway I do hope she recovers quickly as the kitchen floor didn't get finished .... Oh I will be in so much trouble for this post :-)

Birthdays & BBQ

Good couple of days with family and friends . On Saturday night we celebrated three birthdays in the family by dining out at a Greek restaurant . Jane , Anna & Naomi all celebrated and about 18 of us gathered to help them ... Great night .Great Friends ,Great Family ;-)

All the photos from the night are on facebook HERE

Yesterday was another blessed day at Wem . Both services morning and evening were special . We seem to be seeing more and more new people each week . Which shouldn't be a surprise as we have been praying for this every Saturday morning for the last 3 years ....

The evening ended well with our first BBQ this year accompanied of course by the chimenea (I love my chimenea) ...Beefburgers a glass of wine and music from Ludovico Einaudi . Great way to end the Lord's day .

Again more Photo's over on Facebook ..HERE

My little girl is 19 tomorrow ;-)

How the days fly by ...Anna is 19 tomorrow ...Happy Birthday Anna ...Love you loads and loads ..dad xx

Visit to Doris & time in Cambridge

Went to see Doris today in Brampton ( near Cambridge) . Doris is an elderly lady who used to live in Wem and was a regular at the church coffee mornings . Phil & Tee & I took a car load of her friends to go and see her .
We also took the opportunity to have a look around Cambridge ...great city . I would recommend it for a weekend break . Not sure about the nutter in the goggles though ..

Facebook photos here ...