New Year, new job, new challenges...

Yep! New Year, new job! As from the end of January, I'll be working a half-time post for The Beacon Church and am tremendously excited. The ambulance service have provided the means for me to work half a working week (= an average of one to two 12 hour shifts per week), freeing me to serve the church and community on other weekdays, plus Sundays (the ambulance service have agreed that I'll never have to work a Sunday. Hoo-ha! Thank You, Lord!). This is something that has been discussed for many a month/year and it feels strange now that it's finally come to fruition.

So, what is it I'll be doing for Beacon? Well, my responsibilities for overseeing our small group system and for website admin will continue, albeit now with more time to invest in them (particularly the former - the site ticks over nicely for now and needs little tweaking other than updates). The changes mean I'm now also available as often as required for preaching and leading worship in our Sunday services. Most regional leaders' meetings shouldn't be such a challenge to make it to anymore either, while on top I'll be focusing on supporting and motivating our ground troops: discipling the young guys, encouraging the rest, something that will take time to build momentum but that sort of investment clearly reaps huge rewards years down the line. We still need more leaders, we still need to see folks rise up and take hold of "that" (ESV reads as "it") for which Christ has taken hold of them (Phil 3.12). We ALL have a specific and significant purpose in this life for Christ (see my sermon on Ezra recently), and sometimes guys and girls just need the extra nudge to help them see that for themselves. I firmly believe we all have a part to play and, amazingly, I now have the privilege of helping folk in that direction.

God has BIG plans for Beacon Church, of that I'm convinced. For the church in Herne Bay in general, in fact (we're making great headway into joint initiatives with the local evangelical churches for A Passion For Life already). I can't wait to see what God unfolds for us here in Beacon Church over the next few years. To have this opportunity to get so stuck in to such an adventure is both humbling and mind-blowing. It's not without its difficulties and challenges - pray for me, my family and for Beacon themselves - but God's desire is to see His name glorified in Herne Bay and beyond, and He WILL see his plans come to fruition. Can't wait. Read more!

Matt Chandler: Advice for Preachers

Matt Chandler is a guy I've very much come to trust through his advice on preaching and, more significantly, through listening to many of his sermons via Village Church. For all you preachers and those aspiring, here's a taste of what it means to LIVE preaching...

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Healing captured on video...

My Jennie has been experiencing healing in stages for her back - numerous problems due to curvature of the spine and a spinal fracture have been touched supernaturally by God already (for more details, I explain in depth during my review of last June's Church on the Farm), and here is yet another example of God doing exactly the same thing - lengthening a shortened leg - for a BBC reporter (see the original article here). God is real. And neither is He an absentee landlord; He cares about us enough to get involved in the details too:



(thanks to Phil Williams over at Worship the Rock for the heads-up) Read more!

"I refuse to believe that I am part of a lost generation..."

While my faith doesn't wholly align with the beliefs of Romancing Your Soul, this short video of theirs certainly strikes home. There IS hope. It's just that the answer doesn't lie within ourselves, but Someone else (let me give you a clue: His name begins with a 'J' and ends in an 'S'). Watch, and be inspired to pray and act for change:

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The country life...

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The internet: boon or bane?

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