The Xmas Factor - Another Great Weekend
We're now three weeks into our Christmas Programme - The Xmas Factor - and so far it seems to have gone really well.
This weekend saw "The Battle of the Bands" on Friday night. The turnout of bands (4 bands plus Ethos) was a bit disappointing but the feel of the night was excellent. I was upstairs for quite a bit of it and chatted to a number of parents who were very impressed by both the quality of the event and that we would do something like this as a church for their youngsters. Lee and all of our youth did a great job of organising it and the technical team took things to another level with the lights, live video mixing from multiple cameras and audio teams, plus all the car parkers, security etc who make it all possible. A big thank you to everyone involved and certainly something to repeat again later in the year with all the lessons we've learnt from doing it this first time.
Then on Sunday evening we had "Christmas Unwrapped" with J John. He is such a fabulous communicator - makes me feel like giving up! - and it was such a privilege to have him with us. I've already heard of four first time commitments which is fantastic - I'll post more when I get to hear the full stories in the office tomorrow. That's added to one person who responded to the appeal I made on Sunday morning - God is on the move. Let's be asking God to break in at the other events, plus in the conversations we have with people outside of the building.
I'll try and post up some photos of all that has gone already when I get a free moment - some time in 2009 the way things are going currently!
I mentioned on Sunday morning the idea of reading a chapter of Luke every day through Christmas starting today, as a way to make sure we don't lose our connection with God over what can be any incredibly busy time. I was reading it from The Message translation this morning (which I often find helpful as I can get over familiar with the NIV text) so thought I'd post a link to it here so you can read it from The Message if you don't have a copy. Why not stop right now and read chapter 1, and then add a comment if what you read speaks to you.
Finally to say I came through my Radio Berkshire interview, which you can listen to here if you're really interested! Just follow the listen again link and go about an hour into the Clare Catford show.
Off to Alice's school show tonight - she's an American tourist which I don't remember from my school nativities :-) Should be fun.
Simon.
This weekend saw "The Battle of the Bands" on Friday night. The turnout of bands (4 bands plus Ethos) was a bit disappointing but the feel of the night was excellent. I was upstairs for quite a bit of it and chatted to a number of parents who were very impressed by both the quality of the event and that we would do something like this as a church for their youngsters. Lee and all of our youth did a great job of organising it and the technical team took things to another level with the lights, live video mixing from multiple cameras and audio teams, plus all the car parkers, security etc who make it all possible. A big thank you to everyone involved and certainly something to repeat again later in the year with all the lessons we've learnt from doing it this first time.
Then on Sunday evening we had "Christmas Unwrapped" with J John. He is such a fabulous communicator - makes me feel like giving up! - and it was such a privilege to have him with us. I've already heard of four first time commitments which is fantastic - I'll post more when I get to hear the full stories in the office tomorrow. That's added to one person who responded to the appeal I made on Sunday morning - God is on the move. Let's be asking God to break in at the other events, plus in the conversations we have with people outside of the building.
I'll try and post up some photos of all that has gone already when I get a free moment - some time in 2009 the way things are going currently!
I mentioned on Sunday morning the idea of reading a chapter of Luke every day through Christmas starting today, as a way to make sure we don't lose our connection with God over what can be any incredibly busy time. I was reading it from The Message translation this morning (which I often find helpful as I can get over familiar with the NIV text) so thought I'd post a link to it here so you can read it from The Message if you don't have a copy. Why not stop right now and read chapter 1, and then add a comment if what you read speaks to you.
Finally to say I came through my Radio Berkshire interview, which you can listen to here if you're really interested! Just follow the listen again link and go about an hour into the Clare Catford show.
Off to Alice's school show tonight - she's an American tourist which I don't remember from my school nativities :-) Should be fun.
Simon.