Fear of what's coming.

This picture perfectly sums up how the Christian life feels sometimes!

IQ

I did an IQ test yesterday which took about 25 minutes...and apparently I've got an IQ of 125. According to one website that is classed as: Gifted Borderline Genius: 125 - 135

Wonders will never cease. I guess eating all that fish has paid off. Of course I still can't wallpaper, tile a bathroom, play football and about a million other things but hey, today I feel clever.

Bandname generator

A nifty little thing I found on the net. Here's the name it came up with for me.

Your Band Name is:

The Playdough Police

Band Name Generator

Back to Basics

I lead worship at Almond Vineyard this morning. After having a sore throat all week and losing an hours sleep because of the clock going forward I wasn't expecting great things. Also with all that's been going on I hadn't lead on a Sunday morning for a month or so, I was feeling very rusty. Add to that it was a baby dedication with lots of vistors (some elderly), I was a wee bit tense. This morning I decided to go back to basics. My Rickenbacker was plugged into my Vox amp, turned up so that there was just the right amount of overdrive...no pedals, just riding the volume to get clean or dirty tones. I shut my eyes, and just sang the songs, pouring my heart out to the Father. All my petty hang ups and problems disappeared and I felt again the honour and priveledge of serving God and the church that comes with this job of being a lead worshipper.

The Road Ahead

Well, it's been a weird week. Both Deb and I have been ill with varying degrees of colds, sore throats and general naffness. On Sunday night at our gathering service I did a message on Spritual warfare and opposition (based on Nehemiah). The talk was as much for myself as anyone else.
Debbie and I have had a lot of time together this week as she's been off sick, so we've been chatting about the future, where we're at, where we're going etc. We've not come to many conclusions except that we need to carry on what God has started here in this area. In fact my feeling is that we need to get more partisan about it. If we're going to get our backsides kicked as hard as we have this year so far then God has something big around the corner. To be honest I'm more at home in the role of guerilla fighter than part of something big, comfortable and organised. I feel a call back to the edge...maybe I'm just being nostalgic, maybe I'm just realising who I am.

Tough Times

After such a powerful conference, I guess the kickback was inevitable. I found out last Thursday that my mother has been diagnosed with breast cancer. That phone call came just before I walked into the last evening session at Bournemouth. I couldn't find a way to tell anyone as I think I would have lost it. Worship almost broke me and then I experienced the tenderness of God in the ministry time. The next few weeks and months will be tough for the family. You assume, as a son that a mother is eternal and will always be there, and she may be but this kind of illness has you fearing the worst. It's situations like this that remind you that you are a grown man and now it's time to step up to the plate as the roles reverse. Those of you that pray.....you know what to do.

National Leader's Conference

I was away in Bournemouth last week for our National Conference. This year God really seemed to be doing something within the movement. The impression I got was that if God wasn't in this then we need to go do something else. Thankfully God was and is in it as he really moved powerfully.Another thing that stood out, especially for me when Wendy O'Connell spoke, was that we as the Vineyard are called to be a particular slice of the pie. We should never forget our heritage or our inheritance, especially considering winning the lost or in worship. There was some great teaching during the week, but it was that simple testimony that affected me most.

If our movement had ever been derailed in the past it was as if God was putting us back on track...."the main and the plain". I must admit I do worry about the fact that we Christians seem to spend more time wittering on about post-modernism and the latest sociological theory, or seeker technique than actually praying for the sick, casting out demons, feeding the hungry or just being useful. I'm not anti-intellectual, but I like things simple, it was how I was brought up since I fell into this thing in the late 80s. I don't think that a struggling single mum with three kids and no money really cares about post-Christendom or whether the church is emerging, she just wants someone to love her and reveal Jesus to her. That said, all I'm talking about is doing what we're called to and I've been convicted this week of that very issue myself.

The same thing seemed to be happening in worship. I've noticed a trend at conferences where when a bunch of leaders get together (me included) we sit and critique the worship or winge about the song choice / worship leader / volume..etc. The Lord really spoke to me about this during the week as I had been guilty of it. As a movement we need to get behind our worship leaders and ministries like vineyard records. Although we should be free to air our opinions it needs to be done with love and in a constructive, prayerful way. I did have a rant at some people who were talking about the worship as if they had been to a battle of the bands contest, I just couldn't hold it in much longer. All I was hearing was negative, there were no solutions offered and often the comments/ questions (in other forums) often came from pride or the desire for a stage.

Anyway, as I said, I've been guilty of this myself, but I really came away this week with a renewed passion and vigour for our calling and for the Vineyard family. The Lord has given us something very precious for the lost and the broken, we should never be ashamed of that.

Springtime in Scotland

So much for global warming then. Our Church Service was cancelled today as Scotland was hit by 6 - 10 inches of Snow. (Any Canadians reading this will probably laugh at how pathetic we are).

We've been dry all winter and now it's March my area looks like Norway!!