Day 3 was another good day.

Karen started us off by getting us to think of the Kingdom and gave us all a mustard seed. Strikes me that each of the three days, my whisper, Mark’s salt grain, and now Karen’s mustard seed all talk of God being present in the small, the minute, the seemingly insignificant. As I held the mustard seed in my hand I was struck with my insignificance on the wider scheme of things – it’s really easy to think the universe revolves around us and our needs sometimes.

The day 3 pics are up in Flickr. You can see that the art project has taken a major leap forward. The river has been fixed to the wall and so have some of the ‘coats of arms’ which may be seen in the pics towards the end of the album.

Throughout the project we have been inviting passers by to contribute to the art project by painting a coat of arms with the only stipulation from Serpentina being that there was a cross central to the design as in the Gillingham Coat of Arms. People have been really grabbed by this and we have seen people of all ages contribute with their design.

Even better that this has been the chance to chat with people – this has been the real privilege of Love Gillingham.

Tomorrow is a lighter day with a Love Gillingham service in the local park which will be a first and interesting and see.

Today I heard from the candidates panel of the CofE that I am to be designated as a Pioneer Minister. They have also made some recommendations for my training which I am looking forward to hearing about.

I have been waiting for this decision for a few weeks and it has been greeted with a great sigh of relief. I’m not entirely sure what this is going to mean in practice yet, other than a recognition that my skills would not best be used in a normal church setting – but we sort of knew that already!

Watch this space …but for now I am just going to enjoy th feeling of feeling that I have been listened to.

Thanks for your prayers – you know who you are.

The day 2 photos from Love Gillingham are in the Flickr album.

Today was another great day and loads of people in the team had some great conversations with people passing by. We even got a few to paint their coat of arms for the mural. Tomorrow we will start to put some of this stuff on the walls.

Today we were reminded that we are masterpieces of God (Ephesians 2:10) and that we called to be salt of the earth; two thoughts that I have been carrying around with me all day.

I have been struck again today by the way we have met God, been struck by God, and challenged by God in the normal everyday stuff that we do. Too often, I think, we look for God in the extraordinary, in the extravagant. It’s not a bad thing to look for God there, but if our search for God is exclusively in the miraculous we miss God in the normal everyday experiences of which he is a part.

God in the ordinary, God in the lives of normal people, transforming and whispering in lives in gentle almost inaudible ways, but whispering none the less.

I have just uploaded my most recent prayer letter which, if you do not receive a paper copy, you may access on the right bar.

Currently this goes to around 60 people which is cool, but if you would like to receive a copy too, and support me working for YFC, then please ask – I won’t be offended or be too proud!

On the page with the prayer letter are 2 pdfs which explain about personal (financial) support and how to give to YFC to support my salary. All British YFC staff need to rise 50% of their salary. I could do with few more supporters to help me get back to this figure, so if you feel inclined, please feel free to get in touch. I’d love to chat with you about it.

Today was day one of Love Gillingham 2006! It was an excellent day with over 100 people from 7 local churches working together in the community by simply being part of their town and getting alongside people. This is something we do far too little of. This is, in my opinion, real mission, the heart of what we are about!

The photos for day one can be found in the Flickr album which you can access through the Flickr badge on the right hand bar.

Days like today are so exciting. Not just because we had over 100 people involved, but more so because those 100 are across the age ranges, with different life stories, different backgrounds and would not normally work on a project together. It was quite an amazing thing to feel part of.

The team I am involved in is working on an art installation outside of Somerfield in Gillingham carefully guided and encouraged by Serpentina our community artists. As we work we get a great opportunity to speak with passers by and invite them to contribute to the art we are developing. The team today have been working on a long river which will form a key part of the finished work, some of which is up on the wall already.

It was a real privilege to be a part of my team today, they are all great people united in our love of God which inspires us to want to show we love Gillingham!

Roll on day 2!

Received this today from Christian Aid. Please take the 30 seconds or so to fill in the postcode requesting Tony Blair to do the decent thing and ask for a ceasefire – how difficult can that be!!!

Dear supporter,

Civilians are bearing the brunt of the latest crisis in the Middle East. More than 400 Lebanese, 40 Israelis and 80 Palestinians have died since the current violence began. Hundreds of thousands more have lost their homes and had their livelihoods destroyed.

The UK government has failed to use its influence to bring about an immediate ceasefire, an end to hostilities and full compliance with international humanitarian law by all sides.

We need your help to put pressure on Prime Minister Tony Blair to call for an immediate ceasefire. Write to him today.

> Email Tony Blair now

Christian Aid’s Middle East crisis appeal

Christian Aid has launched an appeal for the crisis in the Middle East. With your help our partners in the region will be able to provide water tanks to affected areas, distribute food or medicines to the poorest families and rebuild communities.

Please give generously.

> Donate online here

Thank you.

Go email, write, and get others to – you can make a difference!

Tomorrow we are going to be involved in Love Gillingham for the second year running.

Last year’s event was excellent (the photos are in one of those many Flickr albums)and you can read about it here and the days following. This years event looks like it will be bigger and better with more churches involved and over 100 people from the churches involved in practical projects around the town to show, in a real way, the unconditional and ‘no strings attached’ love of God to the community.

The projects this year include rubbish clearing at Queen Elizabeth fields at the Vineries estate, youth drop in run by Gillingham YFC, children’s activities in Balmoral Park, activities in the retirement homes and an art project near Somerfield with local artist Serpentina. I’m involved in the art project this year.

As with last year each morning consists of worship and teaching before we have lunch together and then go to our various projects. Tomorrow I am kicking the teaching off by looking at ‘the image of God’ and what that all means.

I’m really looking forward to chatting with people, learning more about people and seeing where God is working in our community. This was one of the highlights of my year last year and I’m sure it will be so this year too.

I have slowly been adding photos to my Flickr account over the last few days and am shocked to see I have taken over 1400 photos in the last 2 years.

The wonders of digital photography!

Met up with 2 great people today.

First I was able to catch up very good friend Leesa who is the assistant minister at Buckhurst Baptist Church (nice new car!)Leesa and I have known each other for years from YFC days back to when she was director at Epping Forest YFC.

It was cool to catch up, laugh, eat good food, and hopefully we can do that again sometime in the not too distant future.

Next I caught up with Dave, director of Aylesbury Vale YFC, who is involved in some pretty exciting stuff such as being involved in getting all practitioners together after some good quality research. The 2 hours or so zipped by, and I look forward to spending more time chatting to Dave in the future.

Saw this in the Church Times on Friday and Rich has posted it on his blog here.