Sowing the Seed

Was at Worldwide05 last night, the Bangor worldwide missionary convention. Speaker was a guy John Woodside from Drogheda Presbyterian; spoke on the sowing of the seed, and how Jesus parables relate more than ever to today’s culture in a post-Christian, post-modern largely apathetic society.
He used Mark 4, and started out painting a pretty grim picture of so much seed sown, with sometimes so little evidence of growth and new life.  And sometimes that’s how we can feel about the “mission” were involved in wherever we are be it Boardmills, Raffery or further afield.  Week by week we faithfully sow the seed, but rarely do we see the results.  And that’s where the problem is, not with the seed (Gods word), or the method of sowing, but when we think we have anything to do with the process.  It’s all about God, it’s seeds of his Gospel we are sowing, and it’s in his timing and according to his purpose that the seed will take root and grow.  
And when the seed starts to grow, the results are beyond our wildest dreams, as the seed takes root it multiples and the result is a mighty harvest.  So as we sow the seed week by week, even if it seems like a waste at times, we have to remember the Lord of the harvest, who will enable that seed to take root and bear a mighty crop in his perfect timing.  The gospel is compared to the mustard seed, the smallest seed, yet when it takes root it grows into the largest of garden plants.  And this is the gospel we proclaim, and it still has the same power to transform lives.  I know it does because it has transformed mine, so keep sowing the seed faithfully, bringing it before the Lord of the harvest, and trust him to one day reap a mighty harvest.

New Starts

Good to see Alex and Ali are the latest addition to the reach-out leaders blogs, has been truly amazing to see God at work in the lives of each of the leaders, and there was us thinking it was a week to help the kids live out their faith!!  Anyway good job Alex and Ali, I look forward to hearing how God is at work in your lives through your blogs.

Crash

Went to the cinema last night to see Crash, well worth the watch if you haven’t seen it, and the website is pretty good also.  One of those film’s that makes you think while watching the various stories unfold, and leaves you thinking on some of it’s themes.  The tagline of the film is “Moving at the speed of life, we are bound to collide with each other”, and without spoiling it for anyone who hasn’t seen it, it explores how we act and react to situations and people we encounter.  Based in LA, but many of the main lines of thought we can relate to and apply in any situation.  One of the underlying themes that came out was how experiences or situations beyond our control can bring about a change in our attitudes and prejudices toward others.  As a Christian I believe God brings certain situations into our lives in order for us to learn from them and grow in our faith.  Am I learning from the things going on in my life now, or just complaining about how things don’t always work out the way I want them to?  
If any of you’s have seen it and had any thoughts on it, add your opinion through the comments below, would be interested to hear if it impacted you.

Awesome Testiony

The story of Anthony Walker, the young Christian guy murdered in a race hate attack with an axe, has challenged me greatly over the past weeks, showing me how in simple acts we can impact lives. These are the words of a classmate at his funeral service:
"I always felt honoured that he chose me as a friend because Anthony was popular with everyone, nobody had a bad word to say for him - yet he chose to be friends with me, the geek of the year."
What an awesome testimony, showing how a simple act of kindness impacted this guys life from a young Christian who simply did what Jesus would have done.

Radical Living

How do we represent Christ today? How do I represent the one who gave his all for me? If Christ was to come and live my life for a day how would my attitudes, priorities, values and actions change?  These are all thoughts that are on my mind at present, as I continue my walk with God, seeking to better represent his grace in how I live my life.  Many of these thoughts were considered towards the end of the week at Reach Out, and, as is often the case, they said as much to me as they did to the kids in my small group.  That’s one thing that amazes me about Gods word, how it challenges you right where it matters in your life.  As I have considered the life of Christ recently, much of this brought about as a result of my reading Philip Yancey’s book The Jesus I Never Knew, I have been immensely challenged.  
A section I was reading today dealing with how Gods kingdom is in complete contrast to worldly kingdoms in its values, and how in Christ we see a radical way of living.  A couple of comments that struck a note with me were the following:

“To Jesus, the person was more important than any category or label.”
What a challenge this is to society today, and if we lived out this godly principle as Christians, how massive an impact would we not have for the right reasons…….

“ A political movement by nature draws lines, makes distinctions, pronounces judgement; in contrast Jesus’ love cuts across lines, transcends distinctions, and dispenses grace”

What a challenge to those of us who bear the name of Christian, are we living grace filled lives.  As I walk past the homeless guy, the drunkard, the glue sniffer, barely giving them the time of day, not even looking up to give a simple smile.  How am I representing the one whose grace has saved me from despair?


Father I pray that you would help me look on others with grace filled eyes, to have the courage to act when I see someone needing your grace in their lives, taking the time because ultimately you took the time for me when I was running away from your arms of grace.  Forgive me father, help me to be a better witness of your Son to those I come into contact with, change my heart Dear Lord I pray, in His precious name

Tracking blogs and newsfeeds

Following the recent surge in bloggers, you may be wondering what the best way of keeping track of them all is.  Well one suggestion is bloglines, which is a browser-based RSS feedtracker.  Basically it can keep track of news sites or blogs that you specify it to keep track of.  You login to it through your browser wherever you are, and it will display an outline of updates made to the blogs or news sites you specify it to track.  You can then click on the links and read the associated pages.
It supports feeds from bloger, which is handy since its what we all use for our blogs, and also tracks feeds from news sites.  Some news sites you might want to try out are the BBC, The Guardian, Belfast Telegraph, Google News, and there are hundreds more.
Give it a try and see how you find it, I find it’s real handy for me, especially in a short lunch hour, saves trawling through lots of web pages and keeps you informed and up to date

And then there were 6........

This blogging craze is really snowballing now, get in quick or your missing out!! Ally G and Callum are the latest recruits to the blogging scene, good job guys.
Lets hope we can all keep up the momentum and contiue to ride the crest of the wave that reach-out gave us all. I really believe God used ReachOut to change all our lives, bringing us closer to him, and I pray that he will use these blogs to enable us to share together our spiritual journeys, encouraging one another along the way. Anyways i'm on my lunchbreak so better shoot, hopefully record a few thoughts later if I get the chance.

And another one

Karen's the latest ReachOut leader to start up a blog, good job Kaz!! Who will be the next one to join the craze?

Another one bites the dust

The blogging craze is really taking off now, Rosi is the latest Reach Out leader to start up her own blog, drop by and check it out. Good job Ros, keep shining bright!!

Shane Lynch @ Bangor Elim

Was at Bangor Elim last night hearing Shane Lynch (formerly Boyzone) sharing his testimony. Really interesting and refreshing to hear him share in such an open and honest manner how the celebrity lifestyle wasn’t all it cracked up to, and left him ultimately in a state of depression having tried everything to find that high, being saved ultimately from the world of the occult. He didn’t go into a lot of detail of his experiences, but his conversion ultimately came about as the result of a Christian friend who stood firmly to his beliefs and “was Jesus” to him. He explained how the power of Almighty God that was now available to him was greater than any of the evil powers at work in this world, and how the joy he now experienced in Christ was greater than anything he had experienced. He is now living life to the full, having experienced the greatest love of all, and the transformation in his life is evident for all to see.
He has recently released an album, and is now touring venues throughout the UK sharing his newfound faith.
Local press gave him a good write-up as well which is nice to see

Its Taking Off

The blogging craze has taken off with my sis starting up her own blog.  Drop by and check it out, now we’re all wondering who will be next to enter the world of blogging?

Blogger for Word

This is my first post using this tool, which is an add-in for MSWord; it will hopefully make posting easier, and hopefully more regular.  Check it out if you’re a blogger and see how you find it.  Handy for me since I aint got broadband yet!!

Great to see a fellow Reach Out leader Justy has stepped into the world of blogging, check it out if you get a chance. Maybe some fellow leaders will follow the trend and set up a blog...........

REACHOUT

The past week was an awesome week where God really moved in the lives of the young people that attended and through them into the wider community. He totally blew our mind, answering our every prayer beyond anything we could have comprehended. What was merely a thought a number of months ago he nurtured, developed and grew into something that impacted many young lives and through them impacted the wider community. So what went on?
Weeklong actvities, with 40 teens attending from a couple of local churches, and many with only loose church connections. There was fun and fellowship, we grappled with the Big Questions of our faith, we served the local community in practical ways and finished the week off with a celebratory social event.
Was the community impacted through the young people - yes. The one question that we were constantly asked was why, why are you doing these things expecting nothing in returned. As we washed cars for members of the community in a local golf club, as we cleared the roads of litter, as we made and delivered hampers to elderly folk in the community we were constantly asked why. And this gave us the opportunity to share that, having experienced God's grace in our lives, we wanted to share God's love in practical ways, and this was our way of showing them that God loved them. And when you have an army of young people, full of energy and enthusiasm, then God can make great things happen in and through them.
It's our prayer that this will have been a life changing for the young people involved, and those in the community whose lives they impacted. That the seeds planted will one day reep a mighty harvest, and that a generation of young people prepared to passionately follow their Saviour no matter what the cost will rise up again. God impacted each of the leaders lives as he blew our mind with what he done through the week as we simply gave ourselves in humble service to our master, and we pray that every life touched will be impacted in equally as powerful a way

Blogs been quiet for a while, largely due to the above event that we have been running for youth in our area. More details to follow