This weekend just gone, I took the new Lab core team up to Mid Wales for a weekend away together. The seven of us stayed in two Yurts at the Yurt Farm, near Tregaron and about 30 mins drive from Aberystwyth.
The weekend was amazing and our accomodation was incredible – I’d really recommend Yurting is you’ve never done it before – they are beautiful and really comfortable. Here are some photos from the weekend:
Over the last couple of weeks, with some help from Cat, I’ve been in the process of redesigning The Lab’s website and updating it with new information for the new academic year, in particular about the Alway project – our work on the estate on the edge of Newport we live in.
Felt I should post some kind of reflection on this Advent with the big day tomorrow. Will try and do some review of some kind of this year in the next week leading up to 2008, but though it would be good to write something to mark Christmas itself.
For me, this Christmas has been a strange one – part of the transition involved in growing up and moving out I guess. Christmas has always been about family for me – time spent with my little brother and sister, and Mum and Dad. But looking back in this advent season and thinking about the things that have really hit me, it’s also been much more about time spent with friends than in previous years. Maybe this Christmas, God has been with us – in the time just spent being together.
Back in Newport, the run up to Christmas was about late night viewings of Home Alone 2, Love Actually, and other Christmas classics I can’t really remember at the House that Love Built with some of the guys from the Lab – the Christmas movie fest took off in a chaotic kind of way. Late night (there might be a theme here ;-) painting sessions at St Paul’s to get our Christmas boards ready to go up outside – as well as late night trips to Tesco’s looking for sheets. The unforgettable Christian Union Christmas party with a huge game of WarioWare, and the Space Hopper relay – but possibly more about the roadtrip afterwards to campus and back.
And in Aberystwyth, about a drink with old friends to catch up – and converse with eternal significance.
I thought that I might have lost that childhood warm feeling of being Christmassy – but looking back maybe it’s just been displaced a little.
Driving back to Aberystwyth tonight or tomorrow morning (but probably tonight). So looking forward to being home and seeing my family. Ever since our first Christmas service last weekend I’ve suddenly been pining to get back home.
Spent the last couple of weeks tying up loose ends and getting everything done so I can go home, and everything seems to be just about done now. Met with Bishop Dominic for the first time this morning, which seemed to go well. He’s a good bloke – sometimes I don’t think I give Bishops enough credit for the job they do – just think of them as old and crusty, but Dominic is anything but.
The CU put this together for the Uni Carol Service – Jack makes a very cool, if a little cheesy, Rob Bell – but the thought he puts across is very cool. He’s a little star – need to get him at the Lab speaking more in the new year. Anyway, enjoy…
Hey all. I know I promised this update yesterday, but I just didn’t get around to it so I’m squeezing it in today between being in Malpas Church Infants this morning and SMASH this afternoon, and then between SMASH and choir this evening. I can’t really think of much to say after being at home last week doing nothing, so I have a feeling this might be a shorter update.
Half-term
We had our half-term in Newport this last week, a week after most of the UK including Aberystwyth, which meant I had very little to do and got to go home for a week which was great. Jen and I (never know what to do here – “me and Jen” seems wrong, but “Jen and I” feels a little posh – oh well!) celebrated our own Valentine’s day last Monday, and she gave me the new Snow Patrol CD which I had also gotten for her and for Dad (whose birthday was a couple of weeks ago) which I’m currently listening to writing this, and the film “Accepted” on DVD which is amazing – I really wanted to see it because the trailers looked great and I missed it at the cinema.
I also got the chance to see everyone again at Cell on Wednesday night when I dropped in for a bit to see everyone, which was fantastic – I love hearing from you guys on myspace and stuff so keep sending me stuff.
I was sent home for Half-term with two things left to do that week for St. Mary’s, a drama and the talk, which I gave, for the Yout h Time for Praise this Sunday.
Time for Praise
Sunday went really well. I decided to step back from playing guitar (Sarah led worship) to focus on the talk and just get the chance to worship from the back. I know some people like to maintain that they can worship just as well from the back as at the front but I will always be of the opinion that worshipping is always more about the back than the front and so ideally, we should be spending more time at the back than we do at the front. Playing every week it’s so easy to just burn out, which is something I really don’t want to do, so it was refreshing to be able to just worship, no strings attached. Also, I think it was John or Charles Wesley who said about his preaching, “God sets me on fire, and people come to watch me burn” so it’s always good to give God the chance to set you on fire before you speak.
So anyway (I think I’ve ranted a bit), it went really well. All of the other guys from 24-7 were fantastic as well. We had about 80 I think, which was the roughly the same as the 9:45 and the church is getting fuller and fuller week-by-week.
SMASH
At Smash today we were looking at Jesus raising Lazarus, and it went really well. We were maybe a little low on numbers but that’s probably because of it being the first day back from Half-term so they should pick up next week.
Youth Club (Trip)
Just realised I haven’t actually talked about the Youth Club Trip last weekend. It was amazing. We did loads of fun activities, played some football, basketball and hockey, and got to talk a fair amount too. The Amelia Trust Farm turned out to be quite nice, although the accomodation was a little basic. We had the whole of this lodge kindof place to ourselves with a common room, boys and girls dorms, leader’s rooms and a kitchen, with access to a slightly bigger meeting room in a different building.
At first it was a little bit difficult to get everyone involved in everything, but eventually over the weekend I think we managed to win people over. On the first night we played a lot of circle games and had a big game of Sardines around the farmyard, and took everyone out to explore the farm and into the woods so G could tell a scary story.
Saturday, we gave everyone a lot of free time during the day, but had a couple of sessions booked in the farm sports hall (sounds weird to right that – but actually the sports hall was top-notch) for the sportier guys… so I ended up doing a lot of running around. Then, in the evening, we went over to the meeting room and had a little evening meeting where we talked about the things that worry us, and Frieda talked a bit about Jesus saying “Do not worry” from the Sermon on the Mount. It was a really good evening, and everyone got involved and seemed to get a lot out of it.
We also did a midnight walk on Saturday night that I can’t remember much of at all except for having to pick frogs off the path so that people wouldn’t step on them.
Then Sunday morning I was whisked away back to Malpas, had a quick shower and then led worship at Time for Praise – which went really well as well. It was just a really good weekend all-in-all, even though with travelling back to Aber on Monday morning as well I was absolutely exhausted.
Well, thats about it, really. I was hoping to tell you I’d written a new song, but its not quite there yet. I get the feeling it might take a while, because I really want to get the lyrics exactly right because musically I think it sounds really good, so I want the lyrics to be up to scratch too. So, I might find something to do another update on sometime during the rest of this week, otherwise I’ll try and write alot more next Monday.
God bless,
J.
I thought it was about time for another big update. I was hoping to sandwich this in between SMASH and choir, but it ran over so I had to save it and then come back to it afterwards (now). So here’s what I’ve been up to this week and last week, as well as what I’m doing this week and next week (if that makes sense).
The Refresher Course
I was away last week at the second Careforce Conference in the Quinta in Oswestry last week from Monday til Thursday, and it was really good. It was great to see people again, and to really get to talk with lots of people – much more than last time. Had great fun staying up til the early hours playing silly circle games with everyone.
On Wednesday morning (I think), we woke up to a small amount of snow on the ground which we carefully re-distributed (using airbourne propulsion techniques) before it all melted away around lunchtime. Then that afternoon we had the muddiest game of football ever – I could barely stand up let alone run around and keep control of the ball – which ended as an 11-1 massacre by the internationals against the UK volunteers (but if we had played on the hardcourt instead of in the mud our superior skill levels would obviously have meant that we’d have won ;-).
I had quite a reflective Tuesday all-in-all, which ended with me leading worship in the evening meeting. I spent a couple of hours in the prayer room at the conference in the afternoon, just really challenging myself and being critical of what my motivation was to lead worship, and I kindof realised that my prayer for most of that morning had been “Lord, please come tonight in power when we worship…” which seems pretty okay, “…so that I look like a really good worship leader” – which was the bad part. So I just really spent some time asking God to give me a passion for His name, rather than for mine – and that he’d give me a real passion for the guys I was going to lead in worship, so that I’d want them to encounter Him and to really be filled up to overflowing than for them to think that I was really good. It was a real release when I left the prayer room knowing in my heart that it wasn’t about me and that I didn’t matter – because then all the responsibility was lifted off my shoulders; it was all up to God.
That night there was just a real, tangible sense of God’s presence in the worship – it was phenominal. We sang:
Over all the earth (Also known as “James’ generic go-to praise song to begin a meeting with”)
Above all
Jesus, lover of my soul (All about You)
Halfway through All About You, I just felt it was right to stop at the end of the chorus and take a moment – I had a couple of lines in my head to speak out – so I turned around with a couple of lines to go and gave the instruction to the guy behind me playing keys to hold the D chord at the end of the chorus. As I began to speak out “It’s all about You, tonight, this week, this year, for our whole lives…” etc. a huge wage of voices hit me and nearly sent me flying backwards as this huge new song to God was rising up. So I did what any worship leader should do when God hijacks their worship block and stood back and just began to worship myself. That few minutes, coupled with the amazing sense of God’s presense and the sense of intimacy when we were singing “I will offer up my life” as a response to the talk.
The best thing is that musically I made so many mistakes in that worship time – God just really showed how much it’s not about me or what I do, but all about Him. I fumbled with plectrums, hit the wrong chords, forgot the chords halfway through that third song and had to stop playing to quickly switch around the chord sheets in front of me to the right song – but God came, and it was amazing.
Time for Praise
I arrived back on Thursday afternoon with a couple of hours to settle back home before Worship Group and then Youth Club, so this is the list of songs we prepared for Time for Praise on Sunday, which I led worship for.
Worship Block (I chose these):
- Come, now is the time to worship
- Blessed be Your name
- Friend of Sinners
and (chosen by the Time for Praise team):
- As the deer pants for the water (1983)
- Make me a channel of Your peace (1967)
Interesting… The service went well. One things of note was that this sunday there were more people in Time for Praise than in the formal 9.45 communion service so it will be interesting to see what numbers are like next week.
Youth Club
Youth Club was good last Thursday. This weekend is our Youth Club Trip to a random converted farm somewhere near Barry (The Amelia Trust Farm) so this week we’ve been busy preparing material for that as well as games and activities. It going to be a really good weekend. Then on Sunday, I’m flying back by helicopter (well, G’s car) to lead worship at Time for Praise since Sarah’s away before heading back for the end of camp.
24-7
24-7 was last night and we planned for our Youth Time for Praise service which will be a week on Sunday, and David has asked me to do the talk for. The service is going to be based around Jesus healing the man at the pool and finishes off our series looking at Jesus the friend. So basically the main point of the service is going to be that Jesus has God’s power to do the impossible and that he identifies our needs and responds to them in a way that’s best for us. But somehow, in between all that, two girls gave their lives to Jesus and made a commitment, which was awesome. That’s part of the reason I’m really looking forward to this weekend because we’re taking both of them away with us as well as a couple of others who could be quite close to making a commitment so it’s going to be great to have more time to talk to them and see where they are with God. The angels were having a mega-party last night.
SMASH
We were back at SMASH this afternoon continuing our series about how God is “Awesome!”, looking at how he healed the blind man.
Home
Half term in Newport is next week, so I’m coming home to Aberystwyth for a few days on Monday, then hading back to Newport on Saturday – so get in touch if you want to meet or anything, anyone.
So that’s about everything. I’m hoping to get the chance to put together a paper prayer newsletter for St. Mike’s whilst I’m at home, so watch out for that (if I get around to it). I might post again before the weekend but otherwise my next blog will probably be from home sometime during next week.
God bless,
J.
Prayer
Thankyous
- For a great time for everyone at the Refresher Course
- For the two girls who gave their lives to Christ
- For increased numbers (at least last week) at Time for Praise
Pray for
- The Youth Club Trip this weekend
- Time for Praise this weekend and for me leading worship
- The Youth Team’s Time for Praise and for me doing the talky bit
- A good week’s rest at home for me!
Time for a quick update! This is as much as I can manage to write before I have to go and catch my train to Shrewsbury!
Careforce Refresher Course
That’s where I’m headed in about 40 minutes. Its the second of the two Careforce conferences over the course of my year out, and this time I’m really looking forward to it. Before the first one last September I was kind of skeptical, I’d decided that I would be doing much more good if I was actually working in Malpas than out in the middle of nowhere at The Quinta (those of you who know me well are probably, well hopefully, thinking that that’s a typical James attitude) and so wasn’t particularly looking forward to it. I was also quite nervous which probably redirected itself to reinforce my skepticism. So, anyway, it was a real suprise and was great fun, and I met some really cool people. So, this time round I’m starting to get quite excited.
Time for Praise / The Lab / Sunday
Everything went really well yesterday, even with David still on holiday, which was good. I was phoned up on Saturday and asked if I could rap by one of the Time for Praise team who organised it this week – my reply was a very definite no – but in spite of that everything went really well, including the “rap” – which turned into more of a thoughtful monologue/recitation delivered by one of the team – much more cultured IMO.
At the Lab, we looked at the history of mission, specifically looking at the life of Hudson Taylor, who founded the China Inland Mission (is that right?) which later was rebranded as OMF. So, I thought I’d just throw in a few points that hit me about his life:
1. He thought BIG – When he founded CIM, he asked God for 24 missionaries to take back to China with him – on the first swoop CIM would make up over 25% of the missionaries in China at the time – two for each of the 11 provinces or regions in China and two more to go to Mongolia (imagine God calling you to be a missionary in Mongolia!). He achieved this number, and then on two more occasions went back to Britain and set about recruiting even larger numbers. He wasn’t looking to just cruise along and maybe make a few disciples – God gave him the vision to convert the whole of China and he responded by trusting God to provide the numbers and by giving everything of himself.
2. He connected with the people he was seeking to make disciples of. Taylor was criticised by his comtempories because he made his missionaries dress and grow their hair as Chinese fashion. He became part of the community – whilst he was in China, he also served as a doctor and saw 200 patients a day.
3. He wasn’t perfect – he had weaknesses. Taylor wasn’t a people person – he fell out with his missionaries, constantly demanding more and more of them and questioning their zeal and their determination. But God used him – he took someone who couldn’t connect easily with those who worked for him and used him to connect others with God.
Okay, I may have gone into a little more detail than I intended there… Oh well… Onwards…
Youth Club Trip – 16th-18th
We have a Youth Club Trip planned for the first weekend of our half term (in Newport), which is the second weekend in Ceredigion for those in Aberystwyth. We’re taking about 16 young people away to a converted farm run by the Amelia Trust, who are a local Christian group grounded in the Methodist movement. It’s down near Cowbridge, close to Barry Island, and is basically a complex with dorms, a kitchen and a meeting room, surrounded by some woods, farm animals of all shapes and sizes and a few fields – Oh, and a sports hall. The plan is to just have a lot of fun and hopefully to talk a bit about God as well. It’s going to be for two nights, Friday afternoon through til Sunday afternoon, except that I have to come back to Newport for a few hours to lead worship at Time for Praise on the Sunday morning.
God Songs
Now on about page 195 out of about 280… Not bad going… Aim is to finish it in my free time this week. The next chapter is “Words and Music, Happy Together”.
Half Term
Just thought I’d mention that I’m planning to get home for a few days during half term – sometime between the 19th and the 24th February.
Okay, I think that’s all. I’m pretty much out of time. Next update will possibly be sometime between Thursday and Saturday, but if not I’ll try and do a complete update of absolutely everything I can think of next Monday.
God Bless,
J.
Welcome to the blog of James Henley. I'm a young church leader / youth worker and student based in Newport, South Wales.
Read more about me.
