Going to Greenbelt - Please Help!

Hey

I am about to book Greenbelt tickets for a small group of young people and I am v excited! Just trying to work out what the guidelines for the groups are and wondered whetehr anyone had and (serious or humorous) advice for taking away a youth group. Do you set a curfew (I probably will)? Do you stipulate how many times they must wash over the weekend? Can I demand that it doesn't rain? Can I add some kind of rule about limits to silly headwear? Also, we have got hardly any space in the cars so we don't have much space for food or equipment and I am used to camping with loads of stuff! Any menu suggestions? Although we are camping with a group that apparently has a shower and flush toilet...

Happy Hols

So I am back from hols and Daniel has used the time wisely to master the right leg shuffle - a commando crawl which involves leading with his right foot and dragging his left leg as an appendage. We had a lovely time as a family, despite going to hols in Gloucestershire when some of the county was being flooded... we came home a little damp and a day or 2 early, but it was great. Daniel has seen loads of horses in his time away, which is great as he loves them. We've no idea where this fixation has come from but he is obsessed. Bless.

Looking forward to getting stuck into work things and am especially excited about soem work I am doing on discipleship. A busy time though, as I am trying to get things ready for 2 new gap years. I also find it hard goign back to work after spending so much time with my lovely boys and am grateful for God to provide me with some focus and a teensy weensy bit of pressure!

Sex God - Rob Bell

I feel that I have recovered a bit from the course now and have begun reading for fun again. I thought that I would write up a few reviews of the books that I have been reading.

I finished Sex God a while ago, so to be honest I can't remember some of the details. Perhaps this is a good thing as it will show me what parts have made an impression. I was looking forward to it a lot, as I think Velvet Elvis is superb. I quoted it so much during my course (along with Postmodern Ministry by Tony Jones and Mark Yac's Contemplative Youth Ministry)and often recommend it to, well, anyone who is listening, really.

The new book began excellently and I love the way he talks about humans carrying the divine spark, and having great value. I loved the way he talked about spirituality being tied up with sexuality. And some of his endnotes are hilarious... yeah, it WAS good. The problem is, I lost the thread somewhere in the middle and I obviously wasn't fully focussed as he seemed to be saying at the end that heaven was a mass orgy. I am 99% sure that Rob Bell didn't intend to leave his readers with this impression, so I am thinking that I took a wrong turn somewhere. It was possibly because he argues that we won't be married in heaven, and I'm not sure what I think of this.

My overall impression was that Bell has lived with Velvet Elvis for longer, and it therefore made a greater impact on me. However, perhaps it is just that I agreed more with his other book and my head was a bit fuzzy as I was reading Sex God! Rob Bell is a wonderful writer full of wisdom as well as being v accessible. I will recommend the book to the young people that I serve, but will continue to rave more about his first book.