Good day today driving (in Sarah’s car as mine needs to go to the garage tomorrow) around the the Norfolk countryside meeting up with Cle in Mid Norfolk and Beckie in Haverhill.
Two very exciting times listening to peoples dreams. I love spending tome with people and hearing about their vision. It’s a privilege to be able to share either what I have found useful in the past or what I see other people using skillfully in other places. This is the family of YFC supporting each other.
I’ve met up with some special people today, all of whom are important to me in their various roles, but more importantly as friends.
Lunch in the noodle bar with Malcolm to hear dreams for Gillingham YFC. It does not seem like we started this over 10 years ago, and its exciting to see Mal taking this off in a fresh direction. I have the pleasure of speaking at their 10 year AGM later this week.
Drinking tea with Jean Kerr while talking about where I am and dream some more about my pioneering future. It’s always good to touch base with Jean as she always has a knack of bringing me back to earth!
Drinking more tea with John Saunders and talking about funerals and baptisms to fulfill the final bits of requirement to tick certain boxes …. or do I mean for my ministerial formation?! Time hearing and learning from John’s wisdom is always valuable.
The low of the day was finding out I need to spend £150+ to stop the weird noise the car is making, but at least it is nothing too serious. I was hoping to get a major service this month and replace some tyres before the MOT at the start of April … guess the service will have to wait! I hate cars – but annoyingly I can’t do this job without mine.
Tomorrow, however, I can use the train as I am honoured to be invited to the service to commemorate the bicentennary of the abolition of the slave trade act in Westminster Abbey. I’m representing YFC and not been inside the Abbey before so quite looking forward to it. Apparantly it’s broadcast live on the BBC, so if you look closely…
I had a great day today.
A good sunny drive to Tenterden and back.
There I met my good and very valued friend Dennis, who is director of Weald YFC, and heard about exciting plans he has. Den is a man of great vision and ability and I always feel refreshed after coming away after a time of sharing dreams with each other.
It’s great to have such good friends.
A great night in Ivybridge last night!
Cold, wet, dark and yet still around 120 people turn out to see this exciting ministry launched in Devon.
The meeting had energy, excitement, passion, unity and a desire to see lives of young people transformed. It was great to see how much Elis and theteam hav achieved in such a short apace of time.
It was great being there and we now have 64 centres in the UK. The fact that we have launched 3 new centres this month alone at a time when the church statistics show a message of decline is surely miraculous in itself.
All our centres are fantastic as they are staffed by a diverse bunch of dedicated people,united only in their love of God and desire for God’s mission amongst young people.
On the way home I was able to catch up with Lucy, who became Director of Taunton YFC in November. It was exciting to hear of her plans and to see again the energy and drive that this woman of God is already bringing to the centre in just how the team operates and office is set up.
Spending time with people like Elis and Lucy is both a pleasure and privilege.
Two centres.
Two sets of people sold out for mission.
Two key times in history for them both.
I’m going to be away for a couple of days.
Wednesday night we are launching Ivybridge YFC down near Plymouth which should be a good event. If you are in the area why not pop along and say ‘hi’.
Ivybridge is too far to drive there and back in a day, so Richard and I will be camping in a Travelodge for the night. I’m then looking forward to catching up with Lucy at Taunton YFC before I drive back home along the A303 sometime on Thursday.
The last few days have been a good few days covered my dream, vision and mission. I’ve been on a mission journey to various parts of the country.
We met to think more about Love Gillingam 2007 with some exciting developments, particularly a new partnership with another church joining the mission.
Meeting with Jim at Cambridge YFC, an incredibly gifted guy, to hear about his great dreams to develop mission with young people in that area.
I caught up with Jerry at Newmarket YFC who travels at light speed sharing his love of God with young people through a massive schools work.
Taking time to reflect on my experiences of the last few weeks with Jean Kerr, my spiritual director, was liberating and forced me to think how these experiences could affect my future life.
I had coffee with Paul at Wycombe YFC and got excited with his vision for co-ordinated work with people across the town.
Meeting with Ian from Moot, is always invluable to reflect on my placement and talk more on how this community has grown through a model of engaging contextual theology. Being a member of the Moot community has left me with a beautiful picture of what community can be like and this has profoundly affected my dreams for my future ministry.
An exciting few journies.
Today it snowed.
I love snow and it looked great.
It snowed quite a bit and I scraped over 6 inches off the top of my car. There was a lot of fuss on the radio, Tom’s school was closed for the day, but the drive into East London was easy. I think it was the first time I have never had to queue to drive through the Blackwall Tunnel. I guess a lot of people took the excuse not to work leaving the roads fairly calm and empty.
I met up with Ruth from Waltham Forest YFC and we spent a good 3 or 4 hours looking at her vision for the area and supporting her as she put this into some form of strategy. I love this part of my job. It is a real privilege to hear the vision of someone like Ruth and then just act as a catalyst that helps them get their ideas down in some form that both they and others can understand. It’s quite an easy part of the job, but a special part.
I was excited at hearing the vision, and Ruth is excited at having developed her own strategy and feeling confident of where to go next. Brilliant! I wish every day was as easy!
The drive back was quick too … the only slight down was that most of the snow had melted when I got home!
It was great to meet up with Bernie at Camberley YF today and learn of all the excting things he is getting up to there. One idea that particularly grabbed me is ‘Sniggers’ a comedy club devloped between YFC and the local churches as an event for those on the fringe. A great example of what can be achieved by having the courage to work together.
Met with Pauline today at Scooter Cafe. Others have said good coffee here – it’s one of the best I’ve tasted in the city and the atmosphere is cool so shall be returning! Great to talk with Pauline about plans for the future of YFC in Wandsworth and decide on a way forward.
Then met up with friends at the Moot Community meeting to chat about the service we are putting together for Lent amongst other things.I’m really learning a lot from this placement and it’s a real privilege to be part of this.
It’s really exciting to hear that Luella has accepted the role we interviewed for on Tuesday at Basingstoke as outlined in this advert last year. This is a very exciting role with a very gifted and passionate person by God to do it.
Peninsula YFC are also looking for a pioneering youth worker. Peninsula is in Medway if you didn’t know! Check out the advert here.
Teenbridge, a YFC centre in Devon, are also looking for 2 full time youth workers.
Lots of opportunities … where are the pioneer workers?
The Shiny Headed Prophet 