NEW HOUSE (possibly...)

We have had an offer accepted on a lovely 1920's cottage in the village of West End just outside Southampton. It has been quite a stressful week with Estate Agents telling us different stories on different days. They keep making promises and then pretty much never deliver!

If they say "I will ring you in 10 minutes" you would like to think that you wouldn't have to ring them over an hour later to chase!!!! Aaaaaaaargh!!!

I am reading the Little Red Book of Wisdom by Mark DeMoss at the moment - excellent, great reading and very practical advice. Need a bit of wisdom right now...

Please pray as we try and sort out this move, getting to know new people and get our kids into the right schools, etc.

I am also now on Facebook - not sure how it works, but I seem to have gathered 24 friends in only a couple of days - so it can't be all bad. Join in the fun via the link and come and find me!

MOVING ON...

Ok, the rumours are true - the Dendy's are moving! From 1st September I will be starting a new job working for New Community Church in Southampton as their Project Development Manager. It's a big move for us as Lottie has lived in Rustington all her life (I have been here for the last 11 years while we have been married) and we thought we would be here for the rest of our lives - but it looks like God has other plans!

My work at Arun Community Church and Wickbourne Centre finishes here at the end of July with the month of August as an opportunity to have some family time as well as (hopefully) moving house and discovering Southampton.

Some people have said to me things like "you're moving for the money" or "for a bigger church". I guess people don't always know what to say and try and make light of things. Truth is we are moving because God has opened a door and other ones have closed - one thing I am learning to do is "Trust in God with all our hearts and lean not on our own understanding".

God knows his plan for our lives, which is incredibly comforting as I haven't got a clue anymore and I thought I had it all lined up - oh well...

Watch this space and we will try and keep you up to date with all the changes.

I hope you enjoy the picture, yes Graham Butt is an estate agent in our local area - if you like funny signs then check out this link here. You can see more details on our present house on rightmove.co.uk - a website we spend most evenings trawling through at the moment!

VISTA COMMUNITY

Just got back from a 2 day conference for UK Church Leaders entitled Vista Community. Based at The Oast Houses in Kent, which is a christian conference centre with a difference - the difference being great food, sauna, swimming pool and tennis court! Definitely reccomend the venue it is excellent.

Anyway Vista Community is nothing to do with Microsoft, it is just a bunch of friends who connect together through various friendships and want to spend time networking with each other and learning together.

Co-ordinated by Billy Kennedy amongst others we had an excellent time eating, drinking and chatting together with a couple of sessions to get us all thinking.

Roger Ellis ran a session on Monday evening looking at the history of the New Church movement since the 60's and asking the question of what next? It got me thinking about about church and the value I place on meeting together, which is really important - but how could and should it look in the future? Is there anything wrong in structure? To be a New Church do we have to be weird to ensure we are distinctive or can we just be brave enough to allow God's Spirit to work through us and see what direction he takes us in. Anyway, some food for thought!

Then we had the honour of the Bishop of Maidstone, Graham Cray this morning looking at the whole issue of Ministry (work?) / Life balance and how it is so important to "attend to ourselves". We talked about character and some practical tips on how to keep developing our character through long obedience and yielding ourselves to Christ. He also talked about having monthly quiet days and 3 month sabbaticals - sounds good to me!

It was great to be with friends and meet new ones, be challenged in our thinking and all in a great location with great food and a bottle of wine or two - God is good!