BGT/North Korea goes nuclear SAB

Susan Boyle Kim Jong Il

You're the only one that I could live for

Awesome week this week, Under the Sea Holiday Club at Stebbing. Around 45 kids for four mornings. Your basic crafts games gunge jokes type set up, but, led by the team from Pulse Ministries, with the added extra of some serious prayer, worship, preaching, evangelism and fun!
I counted all the holiday clubs I'd ever done the other day, and reflected back on some of the ones I'd led. We'd be rushing around at the last minute sorting things out, whereas Pulse have us all praying and sharing and reading the Bible together for an hour every morning before we start. It's amazing; people are actually getting there early!

I know its sometimes a touchy subject but I cannot think of a better way to get children interested in Jesus than to actually give them the opportunity to spend time with him. Today we had a church full of kids lying on the floor, with quiet music playing, listening to God. It wasn't just for a few seconds, but for like 5 or 10 minutes there was a peaceful and holy atmosphere. Never seen that before, but want to see it again!

If you're thinking of running a holiday club, I highly recommend Pulse. They are consummate professionals (even though technically they are amateurs as they are not salaried but live by faith) with immense insight and wisdom, yet a gracious way of including what is already on the ground. Their aim is to grow the faith of the whole church, not just the kids, and that is happening here this week. I'm most impressed though that they do not see their role as a hit and run thing, but are committed to relationship with us for the future, and to seeing good follow up from the contacts made this week in the future.

I'm sure I'll be posting about them again!

aww, go on ...

A marvellous Friday night camp out in a secret location near Stebbing led to a wonderful encounter with these swans this morning. The cygnets don't look to be much more than a couple of days old. When we first met this family the pastoral idyll was somewhat undermined by the arrival of a family of geese with goslings, leading to a turf war which the geese lost.

Come Together, Right Now ...

Thanks, Rev O - and a much better Beatles lyric

Separated at Birth MPs expenses special edition

Nick Clegg

David Cameron