Shock, Horror, No Preachers Meeting

Here I am Local Preachers secretary and I didn't make the preachers meeting tonight - perhaps they will have sacked me while I was missing!! I had come from work with a severe case of wind and did eat a little tea but felt quite 'iffy'. About 7p.m. I went to the toilet and became involved in projectile vomiting and another problem I can't spell! (I can really but you don't want to hear it hear. In between projections I asked my wife to ring a few people to see if she could let them know I wouldn't be going but no one was at home - hope they got the message!
My wife says I have the bug that is going round and I am not going to work tomorrow - trust me if I feel as rough as I do now there is no chance of that.

Moving Methodism

I had an email yesterday from one of our church members who had read an item in our church newsletter about Moving Methodism and wanted to know more about it. I sent them the link and said they may want to share it with their brother who is a local preacher, especially as there is a piece on the website about making local preachers meetings more exciting (21 ways).
I did think then that perhaps I should mention Moving Methodism here as some of my readers may not have come across it, but may be keen to get on the move without moving out of Methodism.
The website is in its early stages but is worth checking out and adding to your favourites to check out on a regular basis as it grows and develops.
The website can be found at www.moving-methodism.org.uk

Great Day

It's been an interesting day today! we started off by going to coffee morning at our church and then returning home mid morning to start preparing a buffet for 70 people. We then took the buffet to the church at Smethwick where there was a meeting of the Gospel Ministries Trust and as I was unloading the food my friend Alan came up and said 'by the way you are playing the piano this afternoon as well as tonight. The meeting this afternoon was about the work of gospel ministries trust and their chairman Haden Wood spoke and encouraged us to think about the moment we gave our hearts to Jesus and also to think about some different ways of doing evangelism. The tea went down very well although there were not the number we had catered for present so it didn't all get eaten.
This evening the speaker was David Kelso and again his message was very much about evangelism and sharing with our neighbours.
I then cam home and looked at 42's blog to find 21 ways to liven up a local preachers meeting - well worth a look at and I may even be tempted to take it to our meeting this week!!

Early Warning - Easter Sunday

Anybody near enough to the Walsall/Birmingham border might be interested to know that a Dawn Communion Service will take place at 6 a.m. On Easter Sunday 12th April 2009 at Barr Beacon where we normally gather at the monument and share in Holy Communion. Last year we gathered in a snow storm but it was a really enjoyable time as we remembered the rising of our Lord.

Wikipedia says the following:
Barr Beacon is a hill on the edge of Walsall, West Midlands, England, very near the border with Birmingham. It gives its name to nearby Great Barr and to the local school Barr Beacon Language College. It is historically the site of a beacon where fires were lit in times of impending attack or on celebratory occasions.[1] Barr Beacon is the highest point between itself and the Ural mountains. The site is on green belt land and is of local importance for nature conservation, as defined by Walsall Borough Council. During both 2002 and 2003 the site attracted an estimated 200,000 visitors.


On the summit is a Peace Memorial consisting of a raised dais, covered by a dome supported by eight columns.[1]

Disappointed

I note that there are a number of places where global warming and climate change and the recession are being discussed , but I am surprised and a little disappointed that no one has made mention of Fair Trade Fortnight.
We are just past the middle of Fair trade Fortnight and there is some really interesting stuff over on the Fair Trade website.
I was quite interested to see Big Circumstance (Dave Faulkner) has a link to a company who supply Fair Trade ministerial shirts.

New Look

In case anyone is wondering - just fancied a change hope you like it

Whats all the fuss?

I am beginning to think I am missing something, as I fail to understand the great interest being expressed by the media and others in relation to Jade Goody and her current medical situation.
While I have every sympathy with the fact that she is terminally ill I am conscious that there are many other people in a similar position who get on with life in a very quite unassuming way and do not parade themselves and their illness in front of the world.
I suppose too that I have never rated her as a celebrity and can not see how her appearances on Big brother have given her or any of the other people appearing on this type of show a celebrity status. It must be some of the worst television programming around and is I believe to some degree a measure of the dreadful state that society is in these days.
Not sure if anyone will comment on this but perhaps there may be a reader who can give me a clue to why people are so interested and why the press are giving it so much coverage.