It shouldn't happen to a Pastor?

I have just got off the phone from an irate man from Eastleigh wanting to speak to someone at the church about a pastoral matter. The phone call gets put through to me eventually and I endeavour to placate the very upset individual! "The music is too loud!" he says, having heard this complaint regularly, I start to apologise with the standard line that I use. Most Sundays there is someone who thinks the music is too loud and it is never the sound engineer or the drummer... I wonder if people ever complained about the volume of the pipe organ when it was first introduced into the local parish church? Still it is a part of modern church leadership that you can have the dead being raised, people overcoming addictions and new people discovering the way of Christ but somebody will ALWAYS complain about something unnecessary and mundane. It normally tends to be the ones who have been in the church for decades and feel they have the right to vent their frustrations about the change that has been imposed by all these new people that have recently joined the church.

So I am used to complaints, some I take in my stride and make all the right noises to encourage the complainant that I am listening and taking them seriously, but there are some that seem very personal about my style or my approach or my lack of this, that or the other and I always take them personally (funny that!) - my friend Jim says "you're a wee bit sensitive, Sim!" which always offends me!! :o)

So, I am on the phone to this guy upset about the volume being too loud trying to placate him with my normal grunts of encouragement when he says "and it was 3 O'Clock in the afternoon!" - what? oh, he's not talking about our Church worship band after all he is talking about his neighbour! He just wanted someone to talk to, to complain to, to have his say and for some reason went through the yellow pages and rang me at Central Hall. A strange phone call to start the week off, but if someone in desperation sees the church as a place of refuge and a place to be listened to then I am all up for helping out the needy for surely that is what Matthew 25 tells us.

So if you need help and you want someone to rant to about the stuff that life throws at you give me a call the confessional is open!!!

This week I am in a bunch of meetings with our Church Fun Day on Saturday in Victoria Country Park for a BBQ and games for about 300 people, then speaking on Sunday morning. Great day yesterday morning with an awesome response to the offering - God is good...

Dedication's what you need...

Yesterday we had our fourth child Jemimah dedicated at Central Hall. It was a perfect day! We had both sides of the family including Lottie's Nan who is 90 and and my Granny who is 93 - amazing! Theo did a great job of leading through the service and friends and family swarmed forward to pray for my beautiful little girl. Friends from our last Church, Arun Community Church had taken time out to come and join us and Rich Hubbard spoke on Faith it was a great time of celebration with the wider church family.

Then it was back to our house for a BBQ with over 50 people crowding our recently re-modelled garden - weather was perfect and the new half price BBQ from Asda passed the test and everyone was fed plenty. We still have loads of salad and pasta in the fridge!

But the thing was on Saturday night I was starting to get concerned that we were making too much effort on the food and tidying the house and garden that we were forgetting the real reason for the day of thanking God for the life of Jemimah. But as I reflected I realised I was just getting a bit religious and not recognising that hosting a party for my daughter, having friends and family all mixed and eating together is very important. The prayers of thanks need to go with the celebrations and so often we put one in a 'spiritual' box and one in a 'worldly' box.

I know God can cope with the complexities, I sometimes wonder if I can? I know that God is as interested in the church service as the party, food and conversation but sometimes I revert to a religious mindset... fortunately I have great friends and family who keep my thinking straight!

Thanks to all those who made the effort to come to Southampton for the day much appreciated...

This week I have several meetings, finalising budget for September, looking through applications for childrens worker post, preparing for speaking on Sunday looking at Values through a Father eyes (its Fathers Day in the UK) and trying to finish my final assignment.

Back from Holiday

Just got back from an excellent family holiday in France. We spent three days in Paris by ourselves visiting the Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomphe as well as getting the kids portraits drawn at Sacre Coeur (something Lottie and I did on our last visit 12 years ago before kids!). It was a brilliant family time with simple things like just getting around the City of Paris on the Metro with 4 kids and a buggy was great fun.

Then it was off to Brittany to join up with the rest of my family: Mum and Dad, four brother, one sister, three sisters in law, one brother in law, one brothers girlfriend, five nieces and three nephews - 26 of us in all (I think!). We hired five Gites on the same site with shared swimming pool and play area and we all had a great time. The kids loved playing with their cousins with Floella every morning up and dressed at some ridiculous hour asking to go and play. We managed to keep them in most mornings until 8 am...

Then during the day it was beaches, parks, rock climbing, eating ice creams, drinking coffee, great photo opportunities, sun cream, hats, sand in your shoes and all the normal stuff of holidays and then back in the evening for a BBQ. We all took turns cooking each night - which meant we only had to cook one night each - perfect...

Anyway we are back home now, rested and relaxed and I am more desperate than ever to get on with doing a great job leading my wonderful, beautiful family and serving the church and helping it to connect the world with Jesus. I pray for his presence to impact our church meetings and our every day lives so that the Power of God becomes a reality and not just a phrase.

This week I am giving a lot of thought to the future leadership team of New Community Central as well as preparing budgets for September and developing the teaching programme for our morning congregation. On Sunday we will be dedicating our fourth child Jemimah to God with family and friends for a BBQ at ours afterwards - it will be a great day I am sure...