Monthly Archives: June 2009

06/30/09

Packing…

So other than my beautiful Macbook (which I am as in love with today as the day I got it (wonder what Jo will say to that!)) everything is packed ready to be loaded into my car tomorrow although looking at the pile I feel like I need a tardis to fit it all in!

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Last night was my last Doodles and it was perhaps the worst of all the goodbyes…most of the young people at Doodles I’ve known since day 1 in Peterborough, I’ve seen them grow up, mature in their faith and been lucky to have been able to share in that and I hope they’ll go on doing so.

The final Doodles organised by Vicki wasn’t as bad as I was expecting, my visions of finishing off by dripping my way into the shower were a bit extreme but here were my tasks (mostly from games I’ve used in the last few years)

1 – Eat a baby-food covered piece of bread in under a minute (I failed)

2 – Drink coke through a used sock (I won, beating Chris who managed to pour half of it down himself and didn’t have a used sock)

3 – Eat custard and chocolate from a nappy (Vicki one)

4 – Not a task but get covered in flour!

During all of the above I was required to wear a large pair of ladies pants over my shorts which for one game young people had to spit jelly cubes in!

It’s been a awesome 4 years and packing up really is the final thing…other than a small group/close friends bbq tonight which I should prep for at some point soon!

06/28/09

Last Peterborough Weekend

There’s a lesson to learn for all youth workers….whatever games you do in your time at a place remember when you leave you will probably be subjected to them!

This weekend has been my last in Peterborough as the Youth Worker for Park Road Baptist Church and it’s been a weekend of send-offs….as far as youth work goes I still have one group left tomorrow night and have been told to wear clothes I don’t mind getting messy!

On Friday night we had a youth group BBQ where I was invited (or rather demanded) to be the only participant in the fishing sweets out of syrup and then out of corn flakes challenge… as the only contestant I won! (see left)

I was also subjected to the ‘make a banana split from a distance with the banana rested between someone’s teeth’ game resulting in a shower being required before going out in Peterborough on Friday night (see my picture of Joel dancing right!)

Last night was a church BBQ for my leaving and I think around 50 people from Park Road turned up which was lovely and the sun even came out at the end!

This morning I was greeted at church by a cake with a large photo of myself on looking rather camp to say the least (really shouldn’t be photographed in pink polo-shirts!) and during the service I was decommissioned (as Tim put it) by being presented with a series of suitable random gifts relating to my time here including a fire extinguisher, bottle of water and a t-shirt with a drum kit on that you can really drum (how awesome!)….I was prayed for by the deacons and spoke to so many people all of whom seemed grateful for everything that I’ve been involved in at Park Road in the last few years.

It’s strange to think on Wednesday I leave but it’s been a brilliant few years and a lovely weekend of send-offs…if I am still in a state to type tomorrow night I shall blog about my final youth group then!

06/25/09

Woolworths Returns?

The new Woolworths has launched today online (link) and for the last few months I’ve been following the progress on their blog and I have to say it’s a lot of hype about nothing!

The site splits itself into 3 mini-sites: the general store, Pick and Mix and Entertainment….looking at the entertainment site I suspect much like the new Zavvi.co.uk and the entertainment section of ASDA’s website that it is subcontracted out to thehut.com to run which means there’s a good range of things at the same price you can easily find elsewhere!

Perhaps the most talked about section on the Woolies blog has been the return of Pick and Mix…a quick trip to the pick and mix section shows a price of 99p per 100 grams (compared to Wilkinsons 69p!) and it’s less pick and mix and more buy a bag as the small selection of sweets come in 100 gram dumps to your virtual sweet bag and with an added delivery cost of £1-50 for just 100 grams of sweets I think when I get the urge I shall drive to Wilkinsons!

Although there’s probably thousands of people who are happy to know the Woolworths name won’t die I can’t help but feel in a few months they’ll be dissappointed as it does….unless of course the pick and mix gets cheaper with more sweets, postage drops and the site becomes a bit more user friendly!

06/23/09

Busy Busy Busy!

There is a serious post somewhere inside me but life has become crazy…so much for the quiet wind-down here in Peterborough. I’m currently thinking of all the things I need to do to hand over to the next student Youth Worker, the things I need to hand to others for other projects and generally clearing up 4 years of stuff.

On a side project I’m building a new website for St Andrew’s Church in Gorleston which is nearing completion too!

This week is becoming a week of lasts…at the weekend I led my final youth camp for Park Road with a very funny, inspiring and sunny weekend in Trimmingham, tonight was my last band practice and the next few days see things like last church services, youth groups and all sorts of other send-offs….it’s bizarre with 4 years in Peterborough coming to an end but I’m looking forward to some time off and the challenges South Cave has to offer.

Last night Clive and Florence came over for dinner and in july Jo and myself head off to their villa in Italy…driving to Italy through lots of places, spending 2 weeks in their villa in the Umbertide region before driving back again, sitting around last night talking about Italy over a lasagne whilst drinking red wine really makes it all sound seem that little bit closer….it’ll be my first break in years and I’m looking forward to exploring and chilling and perhaps finally getting around to reading some books!

I suppose that’s all I have to blog on this evening, I’m hoping to blog on a Christian-type subject later this week….especially as I’m at some kind of bible thing tomorrow daytime!

06/14/09

Preaching Surprises…

One thing I’ve learnt over the last few years is that God has a funny habit of using the things that you feel least prepared in and least confident to speak on the most. The youth groups that feels most unprepared and unready become the most annointed and the same with sermons.

This morning I was asked to speak on Psalm 139 at church which is a cracking Psalm but for a over 18 plus congregation it’s not an easy topic to talk on. Psalm 139 is fantastic for young people because you can talk about body image however when your congregation is mainly above 40 the desire to look like Britney Spears is perhaps a little alien to them (although I’m sure some of the women’s husbands wish their wives looked like Britney!).

So standing up to preach I knew I had a sermon which I had struggled to prepare, which I felt probably wasn’t my best work but that I knew I couldn’t have added anything else too (it was just one of those sermons!) however after I don’t think I’ve ever received such positive/useful feedback.

When you preach you usually get ‘that was good’ and ‘I enjoyed that’ which although are lovely bits of feedback to have they don’t really explain a lot…this mornings was much more helpful.

This blog isn’t about me blowing my trumpet but God’s and it just goes to show that as so often happens God uses the things we feel less confident in for His good!

06/9/09

Fair Chance?

So last Thursday voters went out and expressed their displeasure at the Labour Party who lost 5 European seats and now have 13 which is bizarrely the same number as UKIP (who’s surprising number of votes is probably a good thing).

The other surprise winner were the BNP who managed to gain their first ever 2 seats in Europe much to the outrage of everyone I know who’s Facebook status’ expressed anger and disappointment in the British voters and lets face it the BNP getting 2 seats is pretty bad news for the country however the fact remains that we are in a democracy and so enough people obviously support the BNP.

The biggest problem with the BNP’s success in these elections is probably the reaction of the public, leader Nick Griffin was egged today and mobbed by protesters as he tried to hold a press conference. The question in my mind is really whether having BNP’s in Europe will work, the amount of people against them will surely make any kind of productivity involving them difficult, perhaps rather than protesting all the time and stopping them get on with it we’d be better off in re-educating the public to their real policies? The public have voted and until the next ellections that’s what we’re stuck with so for now let’s make sure it doesn’t happen again!

06/7/09

Church This Morning

Church this morning was different and for once it wasn’t my fault!

I was invited a while ago to lead the June all age as it would be my last all age…the same day the young people of one of our groups said they’d like to lead a service and so the power was handed over.

A few weeks ago we sat down at a youth group and asked the question ‘what do you think church is?’ and of course the standard answers were there but more so the idea of community emerged, it seems that for the young people at Park Road Baptist Church community is a key thing about church and so with the aim of people experiencing community and breaking down the age barriers the young people planned a community themed Cafe style service based on ideas from the early church in Acts….one young person even remarked ‘we’re not trying to change things, we’re just trying to get things back to how they used to be’.

So I spent yesterday re-arranging the church to a more cafe-style look and one young person took the sermon on board and others took other aspects of leading, we asked Graham and Carolyn to lead some laid back acoustic worship and with the help of so many people at Park Road the young people pulled off an amazing service.

Challenges

Of course the biggest challenge in all of this as a youth worker is letting go of the power and empowering the young people to lead and it has been scary but encouraging…all my worries were washed away by a fantastic sermon and a confidentially led service.

The second challenge for me came during the table discussions, one man in our group recently lost his wife and shared how in the two months she was ill every lunchtime his neighbours provided him with a meal (they are Christians) and just hearing about his story and the difference the simple act of a meal has made to him was amazing. As Christians we need to work on community if church is just about a sunday morning service then Christianity is a waste of space and worthless but if Christianity is as Christ described it when he talked about us feeding the hungry and clothing the naked then it’s the most important thing anyone could ever become part of…we just need to accept the challenge of investing in community and showing Christ’s love.

Anyway here’s a photo of the re-arranged Park Road!

Church re-arranged

06/1/09

South Cave – Life Update

I’ve just got back today from a week off which has been great. I spent a few days relaxing and catching up with people in Yarmouth and then Saturday and Sunday went to South Cave with Jo (South Cave is where I shall be working from September).

During the beautiful weekend a lot has happened…firstly in the beautiful sunshine I took some photos of the village which are in my photos section and scattered through this post.

Secondly on Sunday we went to All Saints Church in South Cave (where I shall work part time with the other half in the local secondary school) which was a lovely church with the most comfortable pews ever! It was great to be there and I know it’s gonna be a fantastic church to be a part of. We had lunch with the Rev from the church and met around 20 people who joined us for lunch and then had tea with another family, met a lot of people from other churches involved in the Hunsley Christian Youth Trust (who will employ me from September). This was followed by meeting around 20 (or more) young people at the youth club which was great and it appears they have all been on my blog…so hello South Cave readers (feel free to comment my blog).

Finally and perhaps the most exciting news from the weekend is I have a house!

Originally I’d planned to look at a few South Cave houses however all but one cancelled within the week before so there was one place to look at and one place outside the village…I have to say too that I didn’t really expect to be able to let a place this weekend with it being so soon before I want to move in however God is good!

The house I looked at in the village was ideal, just the right size, 6 minutes walk from the church and in the heart of the village…plus as a bonus a huge ideal-for-youth-work size garden…so 15th August is the date…I move to South Cave…how exciting…here’s some house photos.


As I’ve been saying for the last few blog posts I will do a more serious post soon when my brain begins to function again!