Footie and sneezes

I have been blogging... I'm not sure why Blogger isn't displaying July posts. Watch this space, they'll all appear in one go (probably including this one!).

The photograph above shows the highlight of the last few days. Friday evening was our RE:fresh footie night, when 20 lads from St Mikes Youth (mostly RE:fresh regulars) took on the comparitive might of the Friday evening footie crew from church - tentatively known as St Michaels Church FC.

To be quite honest, I did wonder whether their extra knowhow and experience may mean a whipping for our enthusastic but young squad. Not a bit of it, as you can probably tell from the trophy nestling in our captain James Gardiner's hands. We beat them 3-1 and, I think it's fair to say, deserved our win.

But, even though it's a cliche, I'm going to say it anyway: the real winner was football. And not just football, either. Christian football. Most of the lads that come to RE:fresh are by no means churchgoers. They're just a group of lads. But the game was played in a good, friendly-but-competitive spirit, and everyone involved really enjoyed it. I'd love to make it an annual event, at least, and am currently considering the possibility of a St Mikes Youth FC in the Bristol Churches League. Not next season, but maybe in the future. I may look at entering the cup next year. There are some very good players amongst the group and I think we could hold our own. We'll see.

One downside was that I was ill for the game. I still forced my aching body through a bit of the game, but I had a rotten cold and really didn't feel well at all. I'm still trying to shake the tail-end of it now, but I think I'm nearly there.

What else is going on at the moment? Well, I'm still desperately short of leaders for next year, so please keep praying. I have had one or two postive connversations with potential leaders this week, so let's see where they lead.

Jamie Rawlinson, Trevor's brother, is on "work experience" with us this week. It's a quiet week, to be honest, but I still think he's been surprised at what has to happen to make a busy youth ministry like this one function. I think people generally are. One teenager once said to me, "but you must get loads of time off ... almost every day?" Yeah, right.

But I don't mind. In fact, I like it busy because youth minister is more than my job ... it's a massive part of who I am. I'm at my happiest when I know that I'm serving God effectively amongst the young people. God's given me a heart for this, so I can do what I do and enjoy it.

This Sunday will be a highlight. Claire Mill (pictured) is getting baptised, and I couldn't be more thrilled. Claire has really benefitted from the start of Mettle two years ago. Reflect wasn't really her cup of tea, but this has been. She's grown so much. She leaves Mettle as a member this Summer (although she is making a swift comeback as a Mettle Sunday leader!) but I can't think of a more appropriate way for her to finish her time with us. A baptism sums up beautifully what God has done in her these two years. It should be a special night.

Anyway, I'd better go and sleep off the back-end of this cold. Lemsip. Bed. Busy day tomorrow.

God bless x

Ps. Remind me that I have something to say on "answered prayers" that would make this post too long if I wrote it now. Leave comments to nag me, and so I know people are reading!

Strange weekends and full weeks

That about sums it up really! The weekend was... odd. Not bad, just odd.

I was expecting to play cricket and then go to my friend Karen's birthday party in the evening, taping the Derby play-off match and watching it later.

Cricket was cancelled, which I was gutted about after last week, but at least it did allow me to go to another friend, Shelley's, birthday party in the afternoon.

So I basically hopped from one birthday to the other, and managed to squeeze in the Rams match beforehand too. It was good, it just felt slightly surreal. And birthday parties are really tiring, I think!

Sunday was strange as well. I led RS2 in the morning, and it went really well, but I left my mobile phone at home and didn't know where it was, so I felt really uncomfortable all morning... those who know me will know that I'm surgically attached to my phone and so will understand why! It felt... weird. And then I was in a really odd mood all afternoon. I'm not sure why! Mettle in the evening was great though, and lifted my spirits big-time.

This week has started with a band. Staff meeting, fhcu and a prayer-walk with a friend in the day yesterday, plus DCC (surprisingly interesting) then beer with my mate Murray in the evening.

Today has brought a mixture of despair and joy, stress and happiness and work and... well, just work actually. I'm feeling quite up and down. Do pray for me!

We have a Youth Service this Sunday and a torrent of practices for it tonight in Mettle groups. They're meeting altogether before splitting off to prepare stuff, and it's the first time we've done it like this. I'm in charge of music, which is shaping up quite nicely, but do pray it goes well. It's an attempt to get the three groups working together, so I really hope it works!

Later on tonight, Clare, Ruth, Tom and I are having a practice of our song(s?) for the Band Night. I'm already feeling nervous about it all, and I'm sure they are too.

Laura's bump is progressing quite well... she's very proud if it, which is really nice to see. She bought some maternity clothes the other day which are very practical and mildly amusing. I'll try to sneak a photo on here without her noticing!

That's a very bitty entry ... sorry! But it sort of sums up how I'm feeling at the moment... Not bad, not great, just "bitty".

Thanks for reading!

Preparing for goodbyes...

I spent Bank Holiday Monday with the five guys who are leaving St Mikes Youth in July.

That might not sound like such a big deal... but it was to me. Kelly, Laura, Rosie, Alistair and Claire have been a fundamental, massive, important part of the start of Mettle, and when they go off this Summer, I'm going to miss them terribly. I'm not good at endings, and this one's going to be hard. They're the first group that I've felt like I'm friends with as well... it's been such a pleasure.

So as I've been thinking about them going, I've been subconciously withdrawing from them emotionally. It's natural that my focus should be starting to shift towards those that will be with us next year, but I've been going further than that, and it's been too far. I think I've just not wanted to to get hurt.

So on Monday, I made a conscious descision to spend the day with them. Not working as such, just hanging out. And I'm so glad I did, because we all had a great day! We had a (large) lunch at Frankie and Benny's and then went ten-pin bowling. Nothing spectacular, just a good fun day that reminded me why I love these guys so much, and showed me that, while it will still hurt when they leave and no doubt there will be lots of tears, this is something I can do. And that I can enjoy them while they are still around.

By the way, I came sixth out of seven at bowling. The one person I beat? Trevor...

Mettle Group A

Well, it rocked, as usual! We were looking at forgiveness and despite the fact that I departed almost entirely from the prepared material, I think the point that "we are a forgiven people, and therefore need to be a forgiving people" really came across. You know when you have nights when you try things and they just take off? Yeah, good night for that!

In addition, the video for The Mix (I'll explain later!) went down a storm, AND we were treated to an impromptu concert by Emily Feltham aka the lost member of thebandwithnoname. All slightly bizzare... but that's why we love it!

Stupid Ant!

Yeah, I'm not too bright. And I don't listen.

So today wasn't a scan, it was just a regular appointment. So we have to wait on tenterhooks for another FOUR WEEKS to find out for definite that our baby is a girl. Which she is. We did get to hear the heartbeat today, which was very cool.

Mettle Group A tonight. Always good!

Keep praying for baby Zac!

Busy day ahead

Tuesday used to be my day off. How times have changed! Here's my day:

9.00am - Office, admin stuff
10.00am - One-to-One with Kelly
11.00am - Meeting with Dan Jones (Diocesan Youth Officer)
12.30pm - Lunch (hopefully!)
1.00pm - PBF (Lunchtime Club at Filton High)
2.00pm - Youth Alpha planning meeting with Cath Hetherington
3.30pm - Youth Alpha small group planning with Ruth Hepburn
4.30pm - Off for a couple of hours!
7.00pm - Mettle Youth Alpha + group
9.30pm - Home. Beer. Bed.

Little wonder I'm tired! Tomorrow will be almost as busy too... Day off Thursday - although I'm going over to Mark's to help him with the marketing for his Youth Ministry.

A young person the other day said, "but you must get loads of days off ... you've got nothing to do all day". If only they knew!

f h c u and more!

Today brought a better day... with f h c u the highlight!

The Christian Union is always something I look foward to, although there has been a sense that, while it's usually been good, we've never properly "cracked it".

Today, I felt like we were getting there. I led a session based on Saul's conversion and Ananias' role in it, showing that meeting Jesus can change our lives and that sometimes we will be called to talk about him to the most unexpected people. It went really well ... I think we might look at doing stuff like that again.

We had a great turn-out, too. We now have a regular crowd of ten, and four of those are from other churches, which is really encouraging, because f h c u is not really supposed to be another Mettle meeting in Filton High ... it's supposed to be a group for ANY Christians in the school.

One thing you can pray for though: all ten of the regulars are girls! And when you add Liz into that, it means an 11:1 female/male ratio - I feel a bit outnumbered! It would be great if some of the guys (St Mikes Youth folk or otherwise!) would start coming. I know of quite a few Christian lads in the school, but for some reason, they've never some along. I would feel far less outnumbered if they would!

Just a quick word too for Mettle Sunday. Louise led a reflection on "Garbage In Garbage Out", about what we fill our lives with and how it is bound to come out. It was great! There were only about 12 young people there, and it would be nice ot have a few more even though it is optional, but it was a bit chattier than normal and that made a nice change.

Next Sunday is The Mix, and I'm sure numbers will pick up for then! I'm speaking at it, and nowhere near ready! I'm sure I'll get there by Sunday...?

On the up...?

Still feeling a bit on the low side, but things seem to be a little on the up emotionally.

I don't know what it is about Term 5, but I always struggle at this time of year. I think part of it is the climb-down from the Spring Harvest mountain-top, added to being surrounded by people who have exam pressure and a lot on their plates. When you care so much about these young people, their problems become your problems a little bit. I want to share lives with them, and I wouldn't have it any other way ... but it can still be hard.

Small mercies ... Term 5 is pretty short this year - only another four weeks to go! Then we start the countdown to the Summer and September next year. Lots to do!

Work-wise, things have been pretty positive. Youth Alpha on Friday evening was 100 per cent better than last week, and there seems to be a sense that the group is starting to bond.

RE:fresh was also good on Friday ... a nice atmopshere and two really good conversations. I love unstructured work when it goes well! A lot of non-churched young people are choosing RE:fresh over drinking at the Poplar Rooms on Friday evenings, which is really encouraging!

Today has brought a good RS2 session, a Derby defeat live on Sky which means we now have to settle for a play-off place (which I would have taken at the start of the season) and tonight's Mettle session, which is looking promising.

So in all, mixed. Struggling, but feeling a bit more positive. Please don't stop praying though!

Spring Harvest!

So we're back from our annual Butlins adventure... sorry it's taken so long to write about it, but a) I'm PROPER tired, b) I've really hit the ground running and c) I've been all depressed because I miss it, particularly hanging out with the young people all day, every day... a good sign in a Youth Minister, I reckon! But here I am with the big Spring Harvest update.

The short version, for those with a limited attention span, is that it was AWESOME!

We had an absolutely fantastic time, and the young people were excellent... many of them had big experiences of God, which they were so willing to share. And they have come back buzzing!

And I feel as though I've got to know them so much better, which I've really enjoyed. There are loads of photos of Spring Harvest, which you will be able to see via the St Mikes Youth website, but since this is my blog, here are a some of me with various different young people:

There are loads more (these are just the ones of me with the girls Laura and I shared a caravan with!), but I have to draw the line somewhere! Do check out the rest on the website.

As usual, the teaching was good, the worship excellent, but my highlights were all about hanging out with the young people... at the fairground, on the beach, in the caravan, at thebandwithnoname concert... and it feels like we packed so much into just a few days, and we all ended up so tired but happy - check these two out:

There will be more reflections to follow (they tend to dribble out over a few days!) but there's a start for you. If you want to know more, and live in Bristol, come along to our Spring Harvest feedback service in church this Sunday evening. There'll be more photos and reports from the young people themselves. I'd love to see you!

Update

It's been a few days since my last proper post, so I thought I'd do a bit of an update.

Wednesday was a quiet-ish day, although we did have the Mettle planning meeting in the evening. We're on the lookout for some new small group leaders to take over in September, but we have an exciting programme lined up between now and then, it looks good. Also, we're planning a BIG DAY OUT in July, which I'm already really looking forward to. Watch this space!

Thursday was a pretty dull office-based day, to be honest, followed by an unexpected evening off. Also, I went to Chaos Remains' latest practice... those guys are getting really good, seriously. Record contract? I think there's a chance.

Friday, my Mum and Dad came to visit, so I had the day off(-ish). We went to Almondsbury Garden Centre for lunch, and a look-round (dull) and I ran a few work errands. Then it was off to Pirates of Penzance in the evening (see below!).

Today has actually been busy for a Saturday ... a mixture of work and personal. We started by moving some furniture with some of the lads for a lady in the church, then shopping at Sainsbury's and then some admin stuff. Now I just have to stop myself getting too excited about DOCTOR WHO!!!! Doctor Woot!

Off to play with my action figures...

A decent start!

Our week long "Mission Week" has begun... and it's begun well!

We are spending the whole of this week looking at the Stop the Traffik campaign ahead of the international Freedom Day this Sunday.

In practice this means lessons, youth groups, lunchtime clubs, assemblies... you name it, we're doing it, with a Stop the Traffik twist!

We started with Mettle Sunday last night, which meant a slight departure from our usual Sunday mixture of toast, prayer and worship. We played Stuck in the Mud (it's about keeping our eyes open and freeing those who are trapped - tenuous, yes, but a good excuse for a playground flashback!) and I led a look at what God says about captivity in the Bible, as well as a candle-based response (always popular)!

We are teaching every lesson bar three at Filton High this week. We started last week, so we've now done eight (four today) and they've gone so much better than expected (even the one that was disrupted by a fire drill today!).

Also, we did our first assembly today, for Year 8, which was also a success, as well as fhcu, during which we looked at what WE can become slaves to.

It's a busy week, but a massive opportunity. It's not just about telling young people about the issue of people trafficking, it's also about being a full-time presence in the school ... the staff room, the sixth form common room... just being seen around is a real opening.

So do pray for us... Trevor, Liz and I will need a lot of energy and patience this week. But I believe firmly that it will be well worth it!

A night off, slave trafficking at school and ... well ... sex!

I'm starting to feel a little less tired after the weekend, which is good news because we're quite busy this week.

Part of the reason for that is my unexpected evening off today. Youth Alpha was cancelled because there is drama stuff going on at Filton High, which loads of the Alpha-ites are involved in. So instead of being at Youth Alpha, I'm sat watching Liverpool v Barcelona on the telly (having popped in to see Mettle Group B for half-an-hour). It's a real blessing, to be honest, and unexpected bonus which I'm very grateful to God for.

Work-wise, I said we were busy and I meant it! Trevor's away on training, which always means a little more to do, and on top of that we have a VERY early start tomorrow. We have an assembly at St Mary Redcliffe School in Bristol, which means catching a train just after 7.30am. I don't do much at Redcliffe any more, because I feel that we should focus on Filton High, but I do do the odd assembly and tomorrow is that day. Must get an early night!

We're also planning for our Stop the Traffik Mission Week, a lot of which will take place at Filton High School. We're teaching RE lessons all day, every day (with just TWO free periods) over that week, with a few the week before too. It's going to be hectic and tiring, but I'm so grateful to God that the teachers have been keen to have us in and do the lessons. The Christian RE teacher has always been keen, but this time the other two have been so pleased to have us in to teach. It's mostly because Stop the Traffik is not a specifically Christian topic, so they don't have to worry that we'll "cross the line" (which we wouldn't anyway!). But do pray that this will be a watershed moment in our relationship with the RE department as a whole ... if we do a good job, I really hope we'll be able to go in more.

The rest of Mission Week will be spent doing youth groups almost every night, and the Freedom Day on the Sunday (church lunch, promise auction, Youth Service and 24-hour prayer room). I'm not going to bang on about it too much tonight, but it should be a great day. 25 March, at the end of the Mission Week, in case you're wondering...!

Finally, work-wise, we're doing Sex and Sexuality teaching with Mettle at the moment, so please do pray that the leaders would be wise and say the right things, and that the young people would be brave enough to share their thoughts. There's a good conversation going on on the forum, about sex before marriage, and people are being really honest. I'm so encouraged by that ... please pray that it continues!

Liverpool are just starting to struggle without my full attention, so I'm going to give it back...