Re-cap of the Year So Far... (2 of 2)

Dear All,

As promised, here is part 2 of my substantial recap of the year so far. Again, apologies for the wait, but as you can see, the work here is ongoing and there’s been no shortage of things to do!

After the Soul Net weekend (hosted by Soul Survivor at Center Parcs in Nottingham) the leadership team took a week out to pray, plan and reflect on the past few and the next few months of church life. We made use of John Ortberg’s book “Everybody’s Normal ‘Till You Get To Know Them,” a fascinating read and an excellent piece on interpersonal relationships within the church. The week went remarkably quickly and the setting amongst the Welsh hills was just magnificent. I even got a bit of time to do my own arrangements of some Christian songs, whether they’ll see the light of day is another question though!

At the end of February, re:generation and other local Churches were involved in hosting another school prayer week at Cooper’s Company and Coburn school, Upminster. This was an amazing time where we saw lots of young people engaging with God and prayer in a way that was new for many of them. Since then, Ben Poch has begun chaplaincy with the school, which is yet more good news and answers to prayer!

During the 2nd weekend of March, some members of the church got the opportunity to visit the Worship Central event at Westminster Central Hall. This was an incredible event where God’s presence was tangible and in abundance. Aside from the worship, and keynote speeches (which were genuinely excellent) there were also workshops for those in the different disciplines involved in worship, from leaders, to drummers and bassists, songwriters, technicians, singers etc. They seemed to have most, if not all of the bases covered for the event. I attended the seminars for drummers and bassists and for songwriters. Both were pretty good, although my song writing question went unanswered, which disappointed me a little, but I wasn’t entirely surprised in this case.

As the time for some of us as a church to go to Romania on mission this year draws nearer, we’ve taken the initiative to raise money for the trip. Several events, such as a series of very successful bake sales, a boot sale (which proved slightly less successful) and various other events of a similar ilk. At the time of writing, we’re looking to do some bag packing at a supermarket on a couple of occasions in the near future, so please be praying for us!

One of the major fundraisers for our trip was the RTS (re:generation Thespian Society) production “OTT” (Old Testament Tales) which was written and directed by Rob Masters and Chris Poch and took place during the last week of March. The production ran for 2 nights to almost sold out audiences, with a lot of laughing, it was enjoyed by all. For a more in depth and detailed look into the event, see Rob or Chris! Thanks to everyone who supported us by coming to see it and gave up time and energy to make it happen!

As April rolled around, this year’s efforts for the Impact Project kicked into gear, and as the newly appointed HOD (head of department) for this ministry, I set about organising the various events and activities for this year’s and delegating the responsibility to various others too. The weekend kicked off (9th) with worship and a short devotion, before prayer for each other and a safety briefing. Once this was done, we split into various teams to do first contact (talking to people and giving out information about the team and the church) and gardening on the estate (Delta TMO/Durham Ave.) We had a number of interesting conversations with residents, including complete turnarounds in people’s approach and opinions of “church” which was a massive encouragement! After lunch we continued the aforementioned jobs to completion before setting up for the evening event: Experience the Supernatural at The Drill Pub. This was the creation of a prayer space within the pub’s bookable suite with a prayer tent, candles, walls of prayer and prophecy and various volunteers on hand to pray with people. Simultaneously, for those volunteers not old enough to attend the event a “boiler room” of prayer was held at the church to support those at the event. On the night, we saw a relatively small number of people come into the room, (although one man came in precisely at the point noted on a prophecy on the wall!) it became apparent that as we went out and spoke to people, there were plenty of conversations to be had about God, Jesus and prayer on account of the room (and we’ve since been asked when the next one will be!) Day 2 took a similar format, with landscaping work being done on the field at the back of the estate, and Scorpion football being run at the cage by Ben Poch and Katy Haywood. We made relatively short work of the field (albeit with some interesting encounters with brambles!) finishing a clear hour early. Saturday evening’s event “Come Dine With Us” was a sit-down 3 4?) course meal for local people we’d met during the course of the mission. Although the event was struck by an administrative error, it still came off. Sadly, I wasn’t there on the account of losing my wallet on the bus home to change.

Speaking of meals, I was re-introduced to the joy and pain of cooking a meal for 30 people with Katy Haywood for the Newcomers’ on the 21st of April. At a stretch, we covered the demand, (just!) and the night was enjoyed by all who attended (as far as I’m aware.)

Earlier on this month (May) the worship and tech departments met for a morning of worship and seminars led by Sam Parker (from Soul Survivor, Watford). We had a wonderful time and got the opportunity to get some insight on how a different church runs the front-of-house for worship meetings, and got an opportunity to do some songwriting too!

Finally, I must thank everyone who prayed with us for our youth worker, Mark Crawford. He is now back in the UK after his mission trip (and car accident in) Zambia, and gave an amazing testimony of God’s faithfulness and protection during his time out there a few weeks ago on Sunday. Again, if you want the full story on all that happened, I’d encourage you to get in touch with him!

Prayer requests:

Jamie and Ruth celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary tomorrow evening (30th May) at re:generation, please join us in praying for and with them!
Continued wisdom for vision and the future of the church
Romania fundraising
Weddings (this summer and the beginning of next year!)

Thanks for reading and God bless,

Jason.

Re-cap of the Year So Far... (1 of 2)

Good evening all,


The last time I posted was just before I left for New York for a family holiday. I won’t bore you with the details, but I had an amazing time and was suitably impressed with the city (and the phone bill that came with data roaming out there!)

Upon my return (20th December, and by upon my return, I mean literally 2-3 hours after we landed) I rushed to church with my gear and music in tow to play a set for the church’s Christmas Party/Club Night! It was a success as far as I could gather, Claire Foreman provided the UV glow paint to add to the ravey atmosphere and everyone got dancing to the funk, soul, hip-hop and drum & bass, even if it was a bit short lived!

On Christmas Eve, the interns hosted a guest service on the theme of “Gift” with a focus on Jesus being God’s greatest gift to mankind. All in all, the service ran well, but was not without its struggles and challenges for all involved – Emma, another of the interns fell ill during her talk and I had to cover for her.

Given the nature of my course, there is the (ongoing) requirement of journals, directed tasks (etc. for fieldwork) and essays related to my modules. During January, this occupied the majority of my time (as the word limit was 5000) and so a lot of time and effort went into it. Incidentally, it was on the topic of work with 9 – 13s in the church and how it could be developed. I’m still yet to receive a mark for it, so I’m not going to share any details, lest I’ve been royally rebuked by the markers! Towards the end of this time, Ben Poch organised another prayer room in St. Edward’s C of E School, which was yet another amazing time where young people really engaged with prayer and God!

The first weekend in February saw Jamie, Ruth, Mark, Ben Poch, Stephen Poch, Sam Tagg, Richard Shaw, Andy Stannard and the interns head up to Nottingham Center Parcs for Soul Survivor’s Soul Net conference. It was an incredibly powerful time of worship, prayer, teaching and fun (there’s a massive water park – I was never going to pass that up now was I?) The most memorable bit of teaching came from Mike Pillavacci on the nature of the prophet and the need for them to identify and share agony with those who they lead.

In Part 2:

Leadership retreat in Wales, Romania Fundraisers: Bake sales & OTT (RTS dramatic production), Coopers’ School Prayer Week, Worship Central, the Impact Project and the Newcomers’ meal.

Thanks and God bless,

Jason.