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...
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!
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...
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
Today we have hosted a morning conference for the accountancy firm Ernst & Young in Central Hall. Interestingly in the afternoon they went out in teams taking part in a number of community projects such as litter picking and washing the cars of a rival accountancy firm!
At the same time we had a team from IBM, Southampton redecorating and clearing one of our Life Centres, Aster House as part of their programme of giving staff the opportunity to give back to the community. Around 20 people spent the day painting over the graffiti, clearing the garden, filling a skip with enough rubbish for two and generally tidying up - excellent!
I did my bit and painted one of the storerooms in tasty magnolia, which was better than the bright green that was on the walls already! It's great that all these companies realise the benefits to both their employees, the community and their company - it's a challenge to us in the church to keep us sharp and stay involved.
Community Projects are great but we as a church can offer more than just a re-paint...
Ok, ok, I know it's been a long time...
