MAke Poverty History

After a chat with Lewis earlier (http://www.lewispearson.blogspot.com/) I have managed to post my white band on the website. On that note, these websites have got some cool reports and video from the All Night Demonstration

http://www.tjm.org.uk/

http://www.christianaid.org.uk/video/504gwa_uk/index.htm

Chilling Out

Just had a great night with some of the youth group. Following on from Spring Harvest, I had arranged a get together to see how everyone was getting on and what impact it had. There was only a few of us but we had a good chat about the joys of Spring Harvest. However, we also concentrated on how God wants to be in a relationship with us and use us the rest of the year as well. It is about our whole life...

We prayed together and it was incredibly powerful. It was just cool to be together in God's presence and be ourselves. I walked home with some of the group afterwards and that was good as well. It was raining slightly but it felt really fresh and summer felt just around the corner.

It was an evening where nothing extraordinary happened but it was still pretty special. As I have been fairly worn out recently, it was just the kind of refreshment I needed.

Athlete and Nostalgia...

The Athlete gig was superb last night - the only down side was that we had seats upstairs and we couldn't blag our way in downstairs. Athlete were great though and played a good selection from both albums. Cat and I were reminiscing about the good old days of gigging, especially when a lot of the crowd seemed to know the song after the first bar and sing along to every single song perfectly. Also, previously we would have been following the support acts for months in NME whereas last night we didn't even see them let alone know them.

I just don't seem to know music to that degree of intensity anymore. I once read an album review by Nick Hornby of Radiohead's Kid A. One of the things that he said was that he was sure that the album was brilliant but it wasn't very accesible. In fact, the main people that would enjoy it were 17 year old males who would probably play the album on repeat in their bedrooms. I think that is a great comment. Although I still love music, I don't listen to albums in the same way that I did as a teenager. Far too often I find that I know the first half much better than the 2nd half because something comes up and I have to switch it off. I remember vividly the music that I was listening to during GCSEs and ALevels and don't think that music will mark my life in the same way in the future. I am wondering whether this matters or not.

A Busy Wednesday...

I am v excited because lots of fun things are happening today. Firstly, I am off to see Athlete tonight at Brixton Academy. This is extra special because I am going with my mate Cat from back home in Norfolk. When we were teenagers we went to loads of gigs at Norwich Waterfront and UEA and sometimes managed to blag our way back stage. So tonight we are reliving our youth at the grand old age of 25. Except my back has been a bit sore lately so I don't think that I will be moshing at the front... sign of the times. (I think I found my first grey hair the other day. Hhhmm)

Anyway, I am really looking forward to the gig and expect Athlete to put on a good show. Will review tomorrow....

Also, Norwich have an important match today as they are playing Newcastle at home. Southampton drew last night so I am praying for a win. If we can beat Manchester United, anything is possible!

On another note, Neil and I went to see Bullet Boy yesterday. I thought it was a brilliant film looking at gun culture in inner city London. Asher D (I think) from So Solid Crew plays the main character and I thought he was very convincing. It is definitely worth having a look at. It isn't a perfect film but I thought it was realistic and thought provoking and definitely something youth workers should watch and get an opinion on. Let me know what you think....

Who Should You Vote For?

Who should I vote for?

I was briefly worried that I would end up to be secretly Conservative, but it seems not... the question is in a marginal constituency between Labour and Conservative, do i vote tactically or with my heart??

Your expected outcome:

Liberal Democrat

Your actual outcome:

Labour -8
Conservative -47
	Liberal Democrat 54
UK Independence Party -14
	Green 44

You should vote: Liberal Democrat

The LibDems take a strong stand against tax cuts and a strong one in favour of public services: they would make long-term residential care for the elderly free across the UK, and scrap university tuition fees. They are in favour of a ban on smoking in public places, but would relax laws on cannabis. They propose to change vehicle taxation to be based on usage rather than ownership.

Take the test at Who Should You Vote For

Busy Times

hhmm... lots of things have been happening recently and I have neglected the blog! I'll try to do a quick recap:

• Spring Harvest was great! Loads of people from Enfield Baptist Church went, including 6 chalets of young people. It was a really fun time with some great speakers. Louis Giglio was speaking in Student. Evolution and he always makes lots of sense. A lot of the young people got really fired up and I am praying and working hard to help them remain fixed on God away from the joys of Skeggie!
• On that note, we had a great prayer day at church last week. One lad turned up at 7.30 am in his Easter holiday. Now that is dedication. In the evening we ran an event where young people cooked for their parents. We then got everyone together and looked at the importance of families praying together and creative ways to make it happen. We then sent families off to pray! There was some great feedback afterwards and I think it has helped some families to focus on prayer, which is fantastic and very encouraging. Has anyone else done anything like this??
• On Friday night, I went to the All Night Demo for Trade Justice in Central London. There were 15 of us from church, including 5 young people. It was a great night and it felt that we were really making our voices heard, in some cases literally with rugby horns and noisy pans. One of the highlights was an impromptu giant Hokey Cokey on Parliament Square with loads of other demonstrators. The only drawback was that everywhere was very full so we didn't get to any workshops or services. Ironically, we ended up in McDonalds at 1 in the morning cos everywhere else was full! Considering my huge dislike of the place, this was a huge sacrifice on my part. The candlelight vigils at Whitehall were pretty spectacular. It was also great to see people from different backgrounds and varying ages coming together for the same cause. There were lots of people from within the group that I was with that had never done anything like this before (myself included). Yet we all felt moved to sacrifice our sleep to make a stand. I think this is the sort of stuff that Christians should be getting in the middle of, and it was great to see Christian Aid and Tearfund (amongst others) having a prominent role.
• Passion[fruit] happened last night and that too was superb. It is the monthly youth service at Enfield Baptist Church and it has been running in its present format since September. It was great to see everything coming together and young people truthfully worshipping God. the creative ideas that come out of the planning are always cool as well. Neil spoke last night (very well - tee hee) and lots of young people responded to a challenge to live the best life possible by reading the Bible, praying, meeting with other Christians and telling others about God. Neil spoke about the importance of discipleship and being accountable to someone else and lots of people said that they wanted to get involved in this. It was really encouraging cos it is easy to respond when you are at Spring Harvest or away from home but tons harder when all your mates and even your parents are around at your home church. But to their credit, lots if young people made a public stand. Wahey!
• I am getting more volunteers! A real answer to prayer.

So, lots of good things have been happening which is great... but I am exhausted. It is good timing cos we go to New York in 3 weeks... roll on the hols!!!!