Building Fun...

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...

BLOGGING IS DANGEROUS!!!

Ok, ok, I know it's been a long time...

but I have an excuse - honest!

you see I've discovered that blogging is dangerous. I know I thought it was a safe way to spend some free time in the safety of your home but it's not - it can get you into trouble...

I thought only my Mum read my blogs (Hi Mum!) but apparently the whole world can access your random thoughts for the day. After my last blog which mentioned the leader of Fathers 4 Justice I get an email from him within 2 hours of posting wanting to get together over coffee! Crazy!

I then got a further email from a local church leader who was concerned about a post I had written last September about a city centre church leaders meeting I had attended (don't look for it I already changed it!). So I guess I got a little nervous about writing my little blog in case I upset someone again...

and I've been pretty busy...

so to keep you updated here are a few things that I could have (maybe should have) blogged about:

Flo turned three, Zak turned nine (how did that happen!), Lottie is pregnant with number four (and pretty sick with it), New Coffee Shop "Central Coffee" is now open at Central Hall and looks amazing, Lottie and I have started to take responsibility for the Sunday morning meetings at New Community, Loads of meetings with load of great people, bought a new chair from ebay, rolled out a community audit across the church network, engaged 27 churches in balloon release on Easter Sunday, ran a mens weekend at Dalesdown for 65 men aged 16 to 61 and I've taken up golf again as essential stress release...

Hopefully I will blog again before Christmas! Thanks for reading...

CENTRAL Coffee Shop UPDATE

Here are some photos of the coffee shop development at Central Hall as well as a concept image of the potential exterior signage, although this might be a little bit tooooo much - it looks great!

CENTRAL COFFEE SHOP

Building work has at last begun on the new coffee shop at Central Hall. As with most projects it has taken a long time to get started but now it is moving hopefully I will be able to keep the momentum going so we can open in January.

The plan is to create a new entrance to Central Hall off the pavement with a ramp to allow easy access for wheelchairs and buggy's. The coffee shop, which we are planning to call CENTRAL, will become the main day entrance into the fantastic newly refurbished facility with plans to provide a number of services to the local community.

When Central Hall was opened in 1925 it declared that it was a centre for the community of Southampton. They regularly opened up the building as a cinema for the dockyard children, a rickets health clinic and a poor lawyer. Unfortunately the church numbers dwindled and the premises were sold to Hampshire Education Authority to be used for lectures and exams. Fortunately in 1989 New Community Church bought the property and mentioned to the local newspaper that Central Hall would become a 7 day a week church. Well almost 20 years later on God's purposes and plans are becoming a reality and I am so pleased just to be part of what he is doing here in Southampton.

Watch this space and I will try and keep you updated as the building work progresses...

KINGDOM COFFEE?

Here's a dilemma for you. On Monday I visited Kingdom Coffee in Reading - a christian coffee company that promotes fair trade coffee and actively support overseas needs through the purchasing and sale of the coffee. In many ways a very similar ethos to what we did in Littlehampton with Refresh Coffee Shop and Links International.

Here's the snag although it is a great christian company and the coffee was very good - I'm a little unsure of the title Kingdom Coffee or the religious logo. It's not that I am ashamed of my faith, I just want to promote a christianity that is relevant and does not put people off before they come through the doors (which many churches do).

Central Hall is very intimidating as a building and we need to pull all the stops out to make it accessible to all, having a coffee shop called Kingdom Coffee would not (in my opinion) be a good starting point. I also am very keen to work with the local community to create this coffee shop and we have an excellent coffee supplier right around the corner who I would like to use.

Kingdom Coffee supplied me with a range of top quality coffee mugs and cups which are on display in my office all embossed with the green and gold foil logo. The range of comments I have received have gone from "that is the best thing ever" to "you are kidding me!".

So here is the dilemma - Do I work with and support the christian company or develop relationship with the local supplier? Answers on a postcard please..

p.s. if you haven't filled in your standing order for £20 a month for 6 months get it in quick! (10 free coffees for all who sign up...) Building work starts Monday 15th October