Last week we were fortunate enough to have Bill Johnson and Randy Clarke speaking at the Global Awakening Conference at Central Hall. Held over four days it was sold out with 800 delegates every day coming from all over Europe.
Over the four days there were hundreds of healings and some excellent teaching...
But in some eighteen sessions of teaching it was only two things that really grabbed me over the time that they were with us. Firstly it was good to see Central Hall full. I am completely believing that we will see Central Hall full again for our Sunday services. What was a City Centred Church of 500 people meeting at Central Hall has become a Network of Church Communities all around the city and region with almost 1000 people meeting in eight different gatherings.
God has been good and New Community is flourishing but Central Hall can seat 800 easily and on a Sunday morning we have around 220 - 240 attendees with 70-80 of those being under 11. I would love to see the building full once more and people queuing up to get in!
I was able to see a glimpse of the possibility last week. People were queuing from 8am to get the best seats for the 9am start, the building was full and God's Spirit was at work. Wouldn't that be great on a Sunday morning. I put myself in the middle of the Main Auditorium and looked at all the people and asked God to let it happen.
I already believed it, but now I've seen it...
The other thing I picked up was about our theology or understanding versus our expectation. Biblically we believe in healing but we don't expect it to happen every time we meet someone in need and we pray. That has to change. We need to increase our faith to see what we know is possible become a reality. I want physical healing to become a standard part of our Church Community, that as people go about their normal business that God's Spirit will invade their lives and healings will happen in our city on a regular basis.
I don't want to chase the manifestation of God (I get a little annoyed by those that do!), I want to chase God himself and as I worship him, put him in his rightful place, get my life working to his rhythm then there will be an outpouring of his Spirit at every level of our society.
So, I have seen the possibilities, and like Thomas, now I believe it more than ever...
Seeing may not be believing, in and of itself, but it helps!
Over the Easter Break some of my friends have gone to Cornwall, a team from the church went to South Africa to work in an orphanage and some of my friends spent 2 weeks touring around Scotland. A time to relax, take stock, breathe...
yeh, that would have been nice but instead I woke up on Easter Saturday and decided to build a new bedroom! What? Mad! I know!!
Lottie and I had been talking for a while about how we could increase our house size to match the increase in our family. We only had three bedrooms and four kids with the boys getting bigger and needing their own space. We had discussed building extensions and all sorts for thousands of pounds onto the mortgage (gulp!) but then came to the conclusion that we could probably get a similar result by splitting our pretty large bedroom into two. So I woke up on Easter Saturday and got on with it!
To be honest in the main it was easier than I thought, the stud walls and plasterboard took just over a day, but plastering the joins, cutting the coving at the right angle and hanging the door - not so easy! The door is still not right, but if you lift the handle and open it quickly it is fine, don't what all the fuss is about... So on Saturday night just gone, 1 week after starting the project Zak and Levi were tucked up in their own rooms and we had been downgraded to their old room.
But when I go to woke them up yesterday morning for Church, where do I find them? In bed together - because they were missing each other!! Maybe they will ask me to knock the wall down again!
Still a good job done and for less than £300 we have a four bedroom house instead of a 3 bed, I should be on one of those DIY shows that Lottie loves to watch.
Anyway back to normality today with kids back to school (found the uniforms, but not the PE kit or one of their lunch boxes!! might have plastered it into the new wall...), Central Coffee is open again and another busy week ahead.
Moorlands College tomorrow and Wednesday for the last Study Break of the year and then we have a huge conference at Central Hall with Randy Clarke and Bill Johnson. 4 days with 800 people packed into the building - it is going to be fun! Strategy day with Links International on Saturday and then Baptisms on Sunday morning. Really looking forward to the baptisms as it is the first that we have had on a Sunday morning for some time. Hope you have a great week, follow me on twitter for regular updates...
Yesterday at Church two seperate people came up to me, concerned that I was working too hard and that I should take a day off. Fortunately I had already planned to take today as a day off with the family as the kids are off school for Easter Holidays - and so I was able to appease them quickly! So apologies for the late blog for those who have been in touch exasperated by my slackness - I'm taking a day off alright!!!!!!! :o)
This morning I took my regular run out into Manor Country Park and then as I was enjoying it so much I pushed it a bit further and managed just under 5 miles. For the first part of the run I met a number of dog walkers in the park, mainly aged 50+, of which all greeted me and said "Good Morning!". At first I was surprised by the friendliness of the early morning walkers but soon got into the swing of smiling and greeting people that I came across. Until that it is I ran past a young girl on a bike, said "Good Morning!" and she looked at me as if I had come from another planet (I was pretty sweaty by this point, but still...) then I saw a teenage lad hiking into the woods and tried again, this time I was completely blanked!!
What a weird lot we are! Lottie is reading a book at the moment called "Watching the English", a book that explains our unique habits and the unsaid protocols of todays British culture. Foreigners have no chance to work out our nuances, we dont even know we have them, but they are there! you know "Habits, what habit?" or "We don't have an accent you do!" kind of thing. But as you read the book it points out hundreds of subtle behaviours of the everyday Briton - most of them not good - funny but also a little cringeworthy...
Last night we took the family up to Hillsong London at the invitation of a friend of mine to see how they do things which was some experience. Apart from arriving late due to a two hour traffic jam on Hammersmith Flyover and getting fined for parking in a residents bay on a Sunday, it was an awesome experience and the kids loved it!
But the thing that really got me, besides the incredible production of the worship service was the welcome that we recieved. When we realised we were going to be late I got a phone call from Lea, part of the 1200 strong voluntary team to see if we were ok. When we eventually arrived we had people opening doors,helping with buggies, offering support and generally making us feel incredibly welcome. It was the same through out the time with them, we took our kids to the kids programme and the team there learnt their names and included them and made them feel really special - brilliant. At the end of the night, my friend who had been involved in presenting the packed evening service for over 2500 people, came and found me and my family and insisted on walking us back to where we had parked our car (now with extra ticket on window!) - a great example and proves that it can be done, we can be friendly if we want to be, just need to break some of cultural barriers that we use as excuses!
On the way home, Levi announced that it had been the best day of his life! Some statement considering we had spent over 6 hours of it in the car. I feel challenged once again to ensure that when I meet people they know that their day has been that much better because of the way I spoke to them, treated them and cared for them - whoever they might be (Matt 25).
This week I am cramming all my work into Tuesday and Wednesday, taking Thursday off again and then hosting a Good Friday evening event and our joint Easter Sunday Service (more info at www.newcommunity.org.uk). Its Holy Week - a time to remember and a time to rejoice...
