re:wind

Hey All,

Apologies for the sporadic nature of our posts, there really is so much going on, it's a constant battle to make the time to write about it all. I intend to use this rare Sunday night off from the band to share a little bit of my experience from over the past few weeks.

Last month finished in style with the Pinkery Bunkhouse residential in Exmoor national park (the South-West of England.) Running from the 26th to the 30th of October, it featured a variety of visits to places of interest for walks, beach games, devotions, food, worship, Land Rover, canoe and, err, a "weasel." Getting time away from home is a really useful and perhaps essential part of the Christian life as a body of believers. It provides time to reflect - something I find really difficult to grasp within our constantly hectic lives, it gives us opportunities to meet with God for longer, to "soak" in His presence and actually spend time with our Maker, Saviour and Friend. No good relationship exists if those in relationship don't spend time with each other, and I really believe that times like these are really priceless and shouldn't be taken for granted.

I suppose as we are all seeking to write about our experiences from the time away, we could end up repeating ourselves, so I'll endeavour to be brief and as unique as possible! On Monday night, Mark shared succinctly and powerfully on what it means for God to be "Mighty to save" and the challenge that this lays down before us as people who trust this God. I was able to go on one of the walks on the Tuesday (27th) and a climb up a ridiculously steep hill, for which I was rewarded with a fantastic view (and a cracked pumpkin to carry back down the treacherous slope.) After dinner that evening, Ruth shared on the topic of "saving yourself", which raised the issue of living like a member of God's family and understanding God's discipline as part and parcel of His love. Wednesday was my "study day" so I spent the day at the centre studying for an essay (which I have since handed in) and then doing a bit of impromptu cooking before giving the third talk in the series on "Savers" entitled "Saving Others" and I looked at the themes of the preciousness of life to God and the sense of urgency we should have in pulling others "out of the fire." Happy times :o) The final days of our time away were spent on a beach trip to Minehead (home of Spring Harvest) and Jamie's enigmatically titled talk (but extraordinarily useful) "Whobewhatee?" on the topic of listening and doing it well.
Ultimately I missed the final session (Friday morning) on account of needing to leave early, but I'm sure that the others will be able to fill you in!

On Saturday 7th November, the church hosted "MPower" by Mercy Ministries, a day of teaching and training about the work of Mercy Ministries and addressing issues such as self-harm and eating disorders in young women. This was a great day, with a lot of quality material delivered by the staff of Mercy Ministries and a lot to consider as leaders within the church. Although I was present at the training, Kate has opted to talk about this at greater length.

From the 9th - 13th, re:gen, in partnership with UK 24-7 prayer and other local churches and initiatives ran a prayer week in Frances Bardsley school. This involved the setting up of a room within the sixth form centre with resources (such as lights, cardboard for writing prayers, a gazebo, bean bags, lots of coloured pens, paper etc.) to enable the girls to make use of the space to engage with God. Again, this was a fantastic time where many were able to pray for the first time and perhaps express themselves in a way they may never have done before!

From last Friday (20th) until this very morning (22nd) Mark and the interns were at the 2009 Youth Work Conference in Eastbourne. Details will almost certainly have to wait for another post, but it's definitely worth mentioning the exceptional standard of the talks (in my personal opinion Pete Greig on Friday night was immense) in their depth and boldness in asking the pertinent questions we need to be asking of ourselves. Aside from this, I believe that having time to rest (i.e. not going to absolutely every seminar) did me a world of good in being able to recharge and reflect on the things God has been challenging me with over the past month or so. Similarly, finding out that friends from Durham, Basingstoke, Cromer, Sheringham, Cambridge, Bristol, Southampton and South London (to name a few) were at the conference and getting some time to catch up was truly wonderful. Anyway - this is probably far too long already!

God bless,

Jason.