just the rev

been a busy old half term...seen loads of people. James and Katy from Gloucester stayed last night - excellent to see them. trying to get me weekends and Sunday duties fixed. Off to the Methodists tomorrow! oh yes Phil's interview went well and he is waiting to see if he got the job...if so he can move straight away! Also waiting to see if the Diocese is going to stump up the cash for the equipment we need to get our new informal service off the ground. L and I are having the weekend before Christmas as an anniversary celebration...rather chuffed that I have managed to book tickets for Billy Elliot in London.

Came across an article on the shawshank redemption by a phil wilson. found it encouraging. here's a snippet:

Now though, in the closing moments of the movie, as Red is walking up the beach at Zhuatenejo, his shoes tied together over his shoulder, carrying his coat, he sees Andy working on his boat, and he narrates to us: "I find I'm so excited I can barely sit still or hold a thought in my head. I imagine it's the excitement only a free man can feel. A free man at the start of a long journey, whose conclusion is uncertain. I hope I can make it across the border... I hope to see my friend and shake his hand... I hope the pacific is a blue as it has been in my dreams... I hope... "

Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope gives us freedom to dare for something more. Hope allows us to look beyond where we are and believe that there is something better. Hope makes me look at the church and say, "Yes, it's screwed up, but Jesus chose this to be His body and the representative of Him until He returns. If Jesus could have hope for what we could be, so can I." Hope allows me to look at myself and think, "I'm not what I once was, but I'm not what I will be either."

God is at work. I don't always know how; I don't always know why; but I know He is. My life is evidence. My wife's life, my daughter's life. God gives me hope.


Right now I have a lot of hope - fear has kept me a prisoner over the lst few years - hope is setting me free.

So a great weekend with Si and Amanda and their kids. saw the new Wallace and Gromit - excellent. Went to church with Si yesterday - a good sermon from Del (Methodist minister) who I am meeting tomorrow and hope to work with in the very near future. Today I am going to hang out with the family. Off to cardiff soon even if it continues to pour down!

Prayer walking on Friday came across another sign:



what are the seven principles????

ah yes my first chapter here in Newport.....well overall good and interesting. didn't wear my dog collar....i'm soooo radical!!...but kept my mouth shut and just listened (yes I know quite an achievement!)

family night on Thursday was great - a really chocolate fondue and game of pictionary.

yesterday went to see my bro to talk about sound systems. very useful as we need one in order to start our informal evening worship at St. Paul's.

Good prayer walk yesterday.

Last night Rev Catharine Morris came for a meal. Felt slighty guilty that she was she so busy and I am not.....but got over that quite quickly!

And today my mate Si from Gloucester is coming with the family for the weekend. Si saw me thru my last bit of work for Glos diocese at their conference in Swanick. We helped organised the important stuff - pub quiz and footie!

had an encouraging morning on my prayer walk listening to some Mark Stibbe bible teaching from New wine 2003 and some Graham Cray stuff on community and then some worship. Took some pics as I prayed, thought, listened and sung worship songs (no, not outloud!)...

prayed for the students and how to reach them



prayed for the homeless and how to support those who work with them (what a great name for an Estate Agent!)



prayed for the police and the chief inspector who is a Christian. (Good to see a police present near the shops....only prob was that there was no one in or near the trailer)



prayed for people to have a reason to visit church as well as the shops...prayed for the church to be a people and a place that would interest, excite and bless others



off to meet the other clergy. Let you know about that later or tomorrow. Having a family night with the kids.....make your own pizzas and a chocolate fondue. Yummy!

getting nowhere fast with my new ps2 game (pilot down) - "a unique adventure experience, fusing stealth, tactics and action."

off to my first chapter tomorrow here in Newport....will proabably need some stealth and not to sure on my tactics at present!

In world war 2 over 180,000 allied airmen were shot down over occupied territory. Only 300 made it to freedom. Will I be one of them.....

God help me to fuse stealth, tactics and action here in Newport.

Lucy and I had a very good lunch with Caroline from Teen Challenge. Going to try and get a little video made of their great work so we can give the churches a taste of what is going on and how they can be part of it. A new mobile Coffee bus will be launched next year but urgently needs volunteers to man it! Anyway for more info check out: www.teenchallengenewport.co.uk

IN THE SH**?

Saw this sign on my morning prayer walk. So prayed for relationships in Newport...

the pic is of the whole groves gang at my mum's ordination. well so what's been happening in Newport? Main news as follows:
1. Phil a young worship leader is moving to Newport to work with us. Waiting for an interview with a bank. please pray for him that things go well.
2. Lucy and I are looking to start an informal worship service on Sunday afternoons at our church and from that we hope to launch a youth church sometime next year.
3. have committed myself to prayer walking every day till the end of the year.
4. still meeting loads of interesting people - some of whom I really look forward to working with and some of whom I look forward to getting to know as friends.
5. please pray for the work of teen challenge here in Newport - the only people who seem to be out there on the streets with the large gangs of young people who r into binge drinking and not much else. going to see their main person, Caroline on Wednesday. She's a newcomer too......only been here 13 years!!
6. Bish of Monmouth seems to have come thru his heart op really well. please pray for his full recovery......top bloke/bishop.
7. thinking of calling our informal service "The Lab" - cos i hope its going to be very experiential.
anyway that gives a flavour hopefully of whats going on. will try to post some newport pics sometime soon.

what country would Jesus bomb?

not always done our best as christians in presenting the real Jesus, let alone living the real Jesus. was impressed today with my visit to the Salvation Army HQ in Newport, just round the corner from our church. Met the captain there. top bloke called Gerald. hope we might do some youth stuff together in the future. no ghetto mentality there but plenty of signs of the coming of the kingdom....care for the marginalised and poor.

My bro came over today which was wonderful.

have no plans. no strategy. no vision. however there are plenty of ideas charging around my little mind and I have not felt this happy for a long time.

back on line at last. here's just a taste of what's been going on with us since we left Gloucester. New house is great - the only real disaster zone is my office (what's new) where I am waiting for shelving. kids are getting stuck into school. Toby is already on the school council - and today is election day for the leader of the school council. (I sent him off reeking of lynx and with plenty of gel on his hair) Zoe is finding the transition harder but is coping amazingly well. weekend before last was my mate Mike's wedding and was rushed off my feet as best man. This last weekend was my Mum's ordination!! absolutely fantastic day. then last week was away with Glos diocese one more time at Swanick for their conference. Good time doing worship and leisure stuff there....made special by seeing and being with mark, Felecity, Simon and kathyrn.....(miss u guys a lot). So I'm just dipping my feet in the water as far as my new job is concerned and will tell u more about that soon. Off to get the kids in a minute.