Liverpool Connection!

Me and the team I am leading at the moment spent Friday June 8^th in Liverpool. We ended up making a random connection with another group from Youth With A Mission that had come over from Boston. When I first said Hi to them they were amazed, as they had met one of the other outreach teams that the current Discipleship Training School I am helping to lead sent out in Glasgow. So to meet us was crazy, especially as it was all unplanned, God is so funny like that. I met them because I had left the rest of the team to take a walk with God to encourage people as I went. Walking round the city centre, going left where he told me and right where he told me, talking to people as I went and eventually God lead me straight to this other team.

While I was talking to one of the guys two skater kids came past us and we got talking. I found out that the guy I was talking with (Matt) had been talking with them a bit yesterday. This conversation really broke my heart and challenged me greatly; it started off with the older of the two (who was around 16) saying that he would rather believe in science than God, which is where the conversation had ended the other day. The only problem with this is that I am a trained scientist (I did a marine Biology Degree) which meant that the defense he was trying to use about science fell down. Then I felt God tell me he does not feel loved, so I asked him if this was true and he just said yes, in an almost defeated way, and almost started crying. So I got to tell him how when I met God properly for the first time 5/6 years ago I was filled with an overwhelming sense of being fully loved, like I had never felt before. This brought back all the emotions for me too. We got to talk about this for a bit longer at which point his mate who had listened said he thought that maybe this was a good thing, maybe they should meet God themselves. I had to run at this point as my team were leaving, so I left them with Matt and another guy to talk about what this meant, saying yes to God, saying yes to Jesus.

The whole thing brought me back to that place of such thankfulness for the fact that God loves me, and everyone else for that matter, no matter how much we may have messed things up. And how much it breaks my heart to know that others do not feel loved at all, it makes me angry that people do not know this, that the world has lied to them, telling them that they are not loved, or valued, that they have no hope. It was one of those moments that brought into sharp focus the reason for why I do what I do, why I listen to God and follow what he is saying.

Spreading Hope in Stockport

I spent the day spreading hope in Stockport with my team and Stockport family church (www.stockportfamilychurch.org.uk) on Thursday (June7th).

We spent some time praying before we went and asking God for words of encouragement to put in a big box for people to come and take from. We also spent some time praying about the weather, as it was supposed to rain for the whole day, when we got into Stockport the rain stopped and did not start again until we left, which was amazing, God is so good.

When we arrived we started with worship (a guitar) and continued this for the whole time we were out. We also set up a question board for people to come and write on and headed out with a video camera to ask people what hope is.

It was such a fun day, the worship was very significant, as people would come and stop and then start asking us why we were around, as did the question board. It was a really great time of being able to answer questions about hope and God, and bless people, some of them even asked about coming to church to find out more. One of my favorite stories came from one of the guys on the team who had gone out with the encouragement box; they managed to stop a guy who travels around on a mobility scooter. This guy looks like a pirate with a bandana on his head and he asked if he could take three notes to which they said yes. After he read them he started asking about whom God is and about where the church was as all the notes had been very specific and significant to him. The funny thing about this is I had managed to give him a note the week before when we just came to pray round Stockport to see what God wanted to do.

The video camera was a lot fun, most people told us that hope was looking forward to better in the future. One woman even told us that hope was what she had found when she met Jesus the year before. It is amazing to see God at work in people, and to go and be apart of that is so exciting.

The Flame Passes...

As we all know, I hope, the Olympic flame is passing round the UK at the moment on a tour prior to the opening ceremony in July.

The team I am leading at the moment happened to be in Bolton when the flame was coming through. Since this DTS (Discipleship Training School) is a UK focused one due to this being the Olympic year, we thought it would be really cool to go and see the flame and pray for the place and the Olympics at the same time. So we headed down to Bolton town centre an hour or so before the flame was due to pass through the town centre and spent time praying and speaking out scripture to bless the people. It was a really big party atmosphere, and it was really amazing to be a presence of God in that place.

 

It was one of those ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ situations, I am probably never going to see the flame again like this, so it was really amazing to be able to join in the celebration, but also to be able to pray for it as well as I know prayer makes such a difference.

 

Invading Space!

The YWAM (Youth With A Mission) team that I am leading at the moment in Newcastle had an opportunity to partner with an organization that calls itself space invaders!

http://www.spaceinvadersgateshead.org.uk/

Over the last couple of weeks we have joined these guys for 4 days of renovation on a house. It is being used to give local youth, some of which have been excluded from school, a space to be creative. The youth do a mixture of helping to renovate the house and simply be creative, for example of the final day we were with them they were given a pile of wood and told to create something, they came out with things from bookshelves to a swing.

We spent the time helping the project to strip a number of rooms of the many layers of wallpaper, and then fill the holes ready for them to be re-painted.

The project is not run by Christians, one of the ladies who work on the project is and she told us that having us around made the atmosphere seem so much lighter. One of the other ladies was also very curious about why we had come to join them, and asked a bit about our faith, she also accepted being prayed for on our final day with her.

We had a lot of fun, and it was really nice to be able to see the progress as we come back each time.

Faith in Newcastle

I have recently been in Newcastle with a small team working alongside YWAM (Youth With A Mission) in Newcastle. The guys in Newcastle had put together a number of different activities for us. One of these was something called a faith day. An open day on our schedule in which we ask God what he wants us to do and follow his lead. The rules are no returning for 12 hours and you are not allowed to take any money, food etc, it is all done by faith, trusting God in everything.

I really enjoy being involved with these, especially with a group who have never done it before, as it really does teach you trust in God and hearing his voice.

 

So we headed into town and after praying as a group and asking God about what our morning should look like, we went around and spoke to everyone we found who was on crutches, asking if we could pray for them. We got mixed responses, but did get to pray for more than a dozen people. My favorite lady was an older woman who was waiting for her sister; she had arthritis in her knees. After talking for a while about the city and her memories of the place we prayed with her. We also stopped to talk with quite a few homeless people and got to pray with all of them.

At lunch we asked God what we should do, and felt like we should go to a local park and enjoy the sun. So we headed there and had a nap for about an hour before we had a time of intercession for the city. This was a really powerful time, with everyone hearing the same things from God.

We felt like we should then go and do some practical gardening work, so we eventually got connected with an asylum seeker from the Ivory Coast in Africa and helped him with his garden. This was great as when we finished he gave us tea/coffee, as much as we could drink, and as many biscuits as we could eat. We were told a couple of days later that our visit had helped to lift him out of his hopeless mood and get him fired up again for life.

We also got a call from the YWAM leader in Newcastle after we left him to let us know that someone had made us a curry and brought it round, so when we got back we got to enjoy that. We had more than enough for the next day also!

We ended our day down at the station, where I sat and had a long conversation with another homeless guy. I really enjoy just chatting and giving people time and an ear to listen. He told me as I left that I had made such a difference to his day, that by just stopping and giving him some company it had really helped him.

All in all we had an amazing day. We not only got to see God touch a few lives, but also provide for us. The comment from one of the guys was it was a great day for addressing attitudes he had, and to really confirm to him both that God is real and that there is a reason for him being here.

One of the craziest things I have ever done…

It is May 24^th and today I had a day off from the set ministries that my team and I are currently involved with here in Newcastle. Since the sun was out I thought I would enjoy it. So I asked God where He would recommend for my day off as I had a number of different ideas and He suggested I head to Whitley Bay. So I went and got myself a ticket for the metro and went to the platform to wait. A man followed me onto the platform and asked the guy I was standing next to a question. He then looked straight at me and turned and quickly moved to the other end of the platform.  I felt very strongly that I needed to ask the man if he had met Jesus. So I got on the train and went and sat next to him, again he looked right at me and before I could say anything he got up and moved to the other end of the carriage. So I sat there and prayed for him wandering what to do. I had heard him say to someone else that he was going to Whitley Bay, so I decided to be patient and wait till we got off to talk to him.

He decided that he would get off 5 stops later, only halfway to Whitley, So I quickly asked God and felt I should follow him. So I jumped up and got off the train just as the warning tones started to tell people the doors were closing. He was already off the station at this point, so I ran after him and when I caught up with him asked him straight up if he had met Jesus. He looked shocked and then told me no he had not. Then he told me all about everything he was suffering from and about his painful past. He had a number of mental instabilities such as bi-polar, paranoid schizophrenia, learning difficulties etc (I will not put it all down, it was quite a lot). When he finished I told him that Jesus could heal him and take that pain away, so he started to list it all again, and ramble. I simply said in the name of Jesus and he fell silent, at which point I was able to ask him his name and if I could pray with him, to which he said yes.

After I had prayed with him he managed to role up a cigarette and get his third match to light it. As he managed to get it lit he suddenly stopped and dropped it on the floor and simply said I need to go. In that moment something in his face changed and he walked off. I headed back to the station and continued onto the beach and had an amazing relaxing day in the sun.

I realised today that being open and obedient, even if it seems crazy, releases so much of the blessings of the kingdom. When I stepped out in faith I had no idea what was going to happen, I was expecting him to tell me to get lost, but God showed up and blessed both him and me. God is pretty amazing, I did not see radical things change on the spot, but I am ok with that. As long as I am trying to live my life in obedience to what God is asking that is enough. At the end of the day my responsibility is to do what God is asking of me, what happens after that is his.

Healings in Walker

As a Christian I know that God is able to heal, I know this to be true, as God has healed me. However, I still struggle to actual believe that God will heal when I take a step of faith and pray for someone. So I often argue with myself when I am out to actually talk to people and offer to pray for healing.

On Saturday (19^th May) the team I am leading at the moment were helping some of the local churches in Walker, which is in Newcastle, to run a marquee and football cage in the Walker Festival. The festival is not actually a Christian run event, but the churches in Walker come together to do things in the festival to connect more with the local community.

 Our time was going to finish with worship in the marquee, and so we spent the hour before hand walking round the festival praying. God has been challenging me recently to be offering the blessings of the kingdom to all I meet. So after a bit of time walking round and praying, and noticing lots of people on crutches. I went to find one of the other people we are working with to come and speak to people and offer prayer. I had done my normal arguing, but got to the point where I did not want to argue with myself any more. I do not want to be afraid of blessing others.

 The first lady we spoke to had injured her foot the night before, and was in quite a lot of pain. She said we could pray for her after a bit of hesitation, but she told us nothing had changed when we finished. We were not to be discouraged, and headed for another small group of people, one of whom was using a crutch. This group were very eager for us to pray. Not only the older woman who was using the crutch but others also, they were a family. The older woman suffered from arthritis of the hips, which she needed an operation for, but had been told that due to her epilepsy an operation would be too dangerous. So we prayed for her and the change was immediate. She told us that the severe pain that had been in her hips had gone. She then walked away toward a bench but quickly came back to tell us that she was no longer limping! Her daughter then told us she had bad knee pain, and swollen ankles. So we prayed for her and she told us that she felt really light as we prayed, and that the pain, which she had described as heavy before, was lifted. She wandered off to join her mother and a couple of other members of the family. The woman’s son stayed with us longer and told us about losing his father and how hard he had found it since. He also wanted prayer so we prayed a blessing over him, and the change in him was incredible, when he wandered away he almost floated. He was at a complete lose for words after we prayed, which he had not had any problem with before.

After this we headed back to join the others for the worship that the churches wanted to finish with. It was really encouraging for me to see God do amazing things when I take that tiny step of faith and reach out with the blessings of his kingdom.