Saying boo !!!

Came across this today ... very funny ...but please do not try at home :-)

Click Here

For all those who are follicley challenged :-)

And before the comments start flying in this is not a family photo !!

For those who preach or are contemplating preaching...

If you preach , or if you are contemplating preaching then let me recommend to you this message from Art Azurdia . I found it extremely helpful and uplifting .

It runs for about an hour so you will need at least two cups of coffee for this one .

You can find many of his sermons by going to this site . A truly gifted man ...Enjoy .

FA Cup Triumph and a female invasion !

Well , what can I say ..yet another final for the intrepid Reds ...nail biting stuff at the end but that's what makes football the best game in the world .

On Sunday I was surrounded by a tribe of women folk again when Anne and Jules came to visit ..it's a good job baby Dillon was there to share football stories with me ...even though he is only coming up for one ...he alone understood the importance of our FA cup semi-final victory :-)

The Experience of Life

I visited and elderly lady yesterday born in 1914 ..So she is 92 years young . I shared a cup of tea and to my shame a slice of cake with her . I was fascinated by some of her experiences , paricularly during the second world war years .

In the space of one year in 1940 her mum and dad were killed in the Birmingham blitz ( she had had lunch with them on the day they were killed and during the night their flat took a direct hit ) . Within a few months her brother who had caught a kidney infection from being stranded on the beaches of Dunkirk died in a Birmingham hospital and then to cap it all off her sisters husband murdered her sister with a knife and at the same time finished off a one of the deacons wives in the church that she attended.

This particular lady struggled to cope with all of this , especially when you think that her husband was away fighting and she wouldn't see him for nearly 3 years ... Who can blame her for struggling . One thing she said though is that it was her faith in Jesus that kept her sane during this horrific period in her life ..

What a story ..Next time I have a few insignificant problems I will remember the courage of this particular lady who had to battle through such devastating losses . And she wasn't alone , thousands of people suffered this way in WW2 ...In fact the final death toll was over 59 million worldwide , a sad indictment of mans inhumanity to man .

Stickability

I attended a funeral yesterday at Wheelock Heath Baptist . Mary Green a 93 year old lady who died of old age a couple of weeks ago. I often used to go and visit Mary for a cup of tea and a chat . She was a lovely lady with a steadfast faith and strong opinions . I loved chatting with her . She had been part of the congregtion at the church since 1914 .Over 90 years of church attendance at the same church ...now that is stickability for you. Now she attends a different church in the heavenly realms of eternal joy and peace with her Lord.

Last night we had dinner at my sisters house . Jane and Nick you will be pleased to know have collectively lost 19lbs between them since we last saw them . I think it was the photo on the sofa that finally spured them on to weight watchers :-)

Today I have four of five pastoral visits to make so I had best get a move on ...

Head Splitting ..for Katie :-(

Cartoon courtesy of Cartoonstock .com

I forgot to mention yesterday that Katie ( Middle Cherub) managed to split her head open on the wall on Sunday whilst having a bit of a wrestling match with her dad ...Oops ...and yes I was in trouble .... Thankfully she is recovering nicely and I am not being allowed to forget it ...oh the joys of being a playful father :-)

Watch this Video .....
If you like sermons on revival ...then have a listen to this , its a compilation of sermons with some inspiring backing music ......grab a coffee and watch , listen and ponder your own Christian witness ..click here

Great Easter Sunday

Started off with the sunrise service , 7am start up Grinshill and then Breakfast at church ...a local Beauty spot ...

Then Sunday morning family service that I led .... "Seeing is believing or is it ?" was the title of the sermon ...taken from John 20 , themed around the resurrection.

In the evening Phil led a Baptismal service , 4 people baptised and once again the church was packed full ...

We are starting to think that we may need a new building ...now that's a nice problem to have ..

Fat Boy preaching in Wem

Here I am with my 90 seconds of BBC Fame ..click here ..

I need to stop eating the eggs ;-)

Wem Baptist Church Website

The Long awaited Web site for Church has finally arrived ...And Ben has added a link to my blog ..Well done Ben

This is the first iteration ...Lots more to go on it ...Like MP3 files of sermons etc and latest breaking news ..

But for a first pass its great ...Well done Ben

Check it out for yourself ...Click here ..

Also if you are around on Sunday and have Sky ...Go to BBC 1 ..Press the red button ...Scroll down to local TV and every hour at twenty to the hour you will see yours truly delivering a short 90 second Easter message ..... Its Hollywood next for me:-)

If you haven't got sky ...then click here ...And you should find the broadcast.

Just back from a mini Break

Had a couple of days away at Paul & Al's ..as usual , very chilled , very relaxed ..great time .

On the Sunday evening we went along to the church plant at Belper . Dr Gareth Crossley preached with power and passion( here a sample of his preaching by clicking here) ..I said to him at the end that I would be interested in seeing how his notes matched up to what he preached ...he didn't need his notes once ... maybe one day I'll have the courage to do that ... but I will probably have to forget my notes first :-)

Anway I have a sermon to write and an essay to complete ..soI need to knuckle down

Back Home Again

Arrived back home 1:30am this morning , so I am feeling a little weary this morning .

The Conference at Pwellheli was good , although for most of it I was rooted to the laptops and TV Monitors busily playing DVD's and tapping out the words to the songs that we sang for the worship sessions & the seminars . I can honestly say that I was more nervous doing that than preaching a sermon ...Technology and me don't normally mix that well so when faced with the prospect of operating the presentation equipment in front of 1500 people you can understand my trepidation ...but I survived

Incidentally message for Andy Helsby ...I met Warren Barlow at the conference , he was with the sound guys & he send his regards .

If you ever get a chance to hear Paul Mallard or John Gillespie or Dr Steve Brady you won't be disappointed . They expounded the bible with wisdom and power

Anyway back to the day job again ...

Off to the FIEC conference

Ben
Guess Who ?
The Go Lightlies Sorry Cath .... Left to right Nick , Jane ,Cath, Les ..we had no pies left :-)
The Girls ...Laura /Naomi/Anna


I'm helping out at the conference this year ...part of the Media group ... pressing the buttons for the powerepoint presentations ...I know my place ...here to serve :-)

We had visitors this weekend ....Must admit the Photo Couch was creaking a little under the extra weight ...but its o k because our Jane is on a diet ...so the couch shouldn't have to be reinforced for the next visit :-)

Will be back Friday

Bye For Now

Rob

Rice Crispie Cakes ....

Have you ever made Rice Krispie cakes .... Gill is making 100 of them tonight with her Dynamites group .... The 35 or so 3-7 year olds who attend on a Friday night at Church are in for a treat tonight ... not only will they be baking the chocholate covered rice crispie cakes but they will also be putting Cadbury's mini eggs in them ...

Now that is what I call a real treat ...I do hope there a few left over :-)

For me though ..if I was to reflect on my favourite cakes of all time I would struggle to separate the delicious Vanilla slice from the delectable Eccles cake ...





What about you ...regular readers do you have a favourite cake ...let the world know in the comments underneath .... go on confess to your indulgences ... What is your favourite cake ..lets have a hot cake poll .

Fair Trade For Wem Town

A couple of weeks ago I was asked to sit on the committee for "Fair Trade In Wem" and duly obliging I attended the inaugural meeting tonight .

I am now a fully converted fair trade man and part of the community team whose role it is to give Wem town a Fair Trade town status ..

For me it serves the dual purpose of helping the poor and underprivileged ( a command in Scripture) and secondly it builds community bridges , presenting opportunities for a gospel witness ... So I'm off out tomorrow to buy a jar of Fair trade coffee ...

Militant Family

Gill ( my wife ) is on strike ...shame , power to the people an all that . As a member of unison she has been prevented from working today

Anna and Katie (my eldest two daughters) have also benefitted from the militants . Their school is closed as a result of the aforementioned strike

Laura my youngest left for school in tears this morning because her little school had no militants and remained open ....she was not happy

I however am not on strike and am busily preparing for various messages to be preached this week ...

Remember the old song "They dont get me I'm part of the union"

Tired ...feeling my age :-(

These youth weekends take their toll ..sleep deprivation is not good .I have much to do today and very little energy to do it . Like write a 4000 word essay for college!

What makes it worse is that we have run out of coffee ...... I'm doomed to failure :-)

Green worms are good for you ...

Great camp this weekend with the crew from Dewsbury and Mirfield , wonderful fellowship . Thanks to all who came and made it special ...You can all have a good nights kip tonight :-)

Death is part of eternal life

I have taken part in a funeral today, reading from Revelation 21:1-7.

Funerals are times when people think on their own mortality ...somber reflective moments .

All of us are called to live our lives in the light of our deaths , all of us are called to be ready to face the Lord when we close our eyes for the last time ..all of us are called in this life to "Love the Lord your God with all your heart , soul , mind and strength" ...so are you doing that ?

"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." Matthew 22:37-40

He knew Jesus

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life.

The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us.

We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.
1 John1:1-3

John Knew him ..Do You ?

Eternal thoughts

I came across this picture today ... I was very struck by it ...Man hates the fact that he is constrained by time ...He wants to be eternal ...he likes to think that he is eternal ..In fact God has set a desire for eternity in his heart ....but man thinks that time constrains him ....But He is wrong ..

The fact is we are eternal beings ...there is a Heaven and there is a Hell ...And God has told us that we will spend an eternity in either or ....

Reflections on time

Time does fly ...the old saying is so true . I have been looking at my "To Do " list today... a bad move .... I prayed Lord 28 hour days would be good ...I'd have four more hours ...but then again I would only fill them with more to do's and then be asking for four more !!

Anyway I must go ...I havn't got time for this :-)...

In times like this I am often comforted by the words of this wonderful hymn ...click here , chill and reflect on the words.... or click this link and hear it played on the guitar

A Passion For Christ

Yesterday ( the Lord's day ) was very restful ..as it should be ... In the morning I preached the passion account from John's Gospel " Here they crucified Him"...and at least for me ( I can't vouch for everyone else ) there was a real sense of being at the foot of the cross whilst preaching .

In the evening Wem welcomed a chap called Tony Anthony an ex world Kung Fu champion who gave his life to Christ in a Cypriot prison cell in 1990 . He too had a passion for Christ which was more than evident . Read his story here .

This week ...like most weeks there is much to do ...I Have tried to organise myself a little differently this week ...with all of my tasks neatly organised in one central A4 planner ...what was it that Robbie Burns said " The best laid plans of mice and men " ... The only problem is I can't find where I put it :-)

I have the face for Radio :-)

I was invited back to BBC Radio Shropshire( surprisingly) last night. On their early evening current affairs show . The topics as usual were varied and I was asked my opinion on such things as :- Drugs testing on adults ( in the light of the recent almost fatal testing that went wrong).Also asked about the ethics associated with life support machines ...when is it right to switch them off ..and another topic was whether or not I agreed with the concept of the commonwealth games ..... So that lot managed to test my grey matter last night ....I needed to lie down when I got home :-)

Anyway ....still havn't prepared a sermon for Sunday ...preaching on this text ... Anyone got any inspiration they would like to share ....

Be Thou my Vision

Be Though my vision, O Lord of my heart,

Nought be all else to me , save that thou art

Thou my best thought , by day or by night

Waking or sleeping , thy presence my light .

I love this hymn ...every time I read it it challenges my soul ..

The First line sums it up " Be Thou my vision , O Lord of my heart " . Is the Lord central to my vision and do I allow him to be Lord of all my heart .... ?

I'll be pondering that thought today ...will you ponder with me ?

World record AGM

We had our church AGM tonight and completed all 16 items on the agenda in a world record breaking time of 0ne hour and 10 minutes .... hows that for unity of purpose :-)

Great day Yesterday

The sledging was great but the finale to the day was even better ...We baptised three of our YPFers ( Young Peoples Fellowship)

Sarah , Amy and Paul ... well done guys you were brilliant last night .

It Snowed again ..Sledging with The Towers & The Mintons

Chris,Jacob,Helen&Gill
The Old Boys Sledging ! Edward, Chris & Yours Truly
Lynne , Gill & Helen ....Lynne used the hairspray!!
Anna , Issy, Rebecca
From Left to right .. Jed, Henry, Jacob, Sam ,Edward, Oliver,Lynne,Gill,Katie,Helen,Chris,
Front Row... Grace, Laura, Gareth, Anna, Rebecca & Issy.

Laura's Birthday Party

Yet another birthday in the Whiteway household this week ...Laura has reached the grand old age of 11..... some Photo's of the day

Cluedo ...Great game ..if played properly..

I have been playing cluedo since I was knee high to a grasshopper .... but tonight when playing with the Family we had a first ..

We had been playing happily for half an hour when Anna decided to have a guess ... she opened the pack in the middle ... the lead piping ...in the kitchen ... AND IN THE HALL .....

Some bright spark had picked two rooms instead of picking a murderer .... ( here is a clue as to the identity of the bright spark who chose the cards ...her name spelt backwards is ANNA :-)