Is there Space for you?

LIVE event

We had a great time at this LIVE event last night.

Around 20 11-14 year olds from West Brom, Tipton and Wolverhampton. Isaiah 40:6-8. A huge bonfire. Stacks of fireworks. Great hotdogs. And surprising fun doing gravestone rubbings in the dark. All in all an explosive mix!

What we did last night

Check out the 3D edible map of the Kingdom of Israel before the 'splitting'

ASDA was right out of 'cakes with maps of Israel on'. So we had to do our own.

All you need to make it are two children under 2, a thousand other things to be doing and large amount of roll out icing & food colouring.

Call My Bluff

At eXcel today we were in 1 Peter 4:1-6, which aside from anything else raised issues of vocab! 

So we devised a 'Call My Bluff' style game to make light of that. Join in if you want ... which definitions are right? 

debauchery

1. an Italian cherry, the favourite ingredient in Tuscan fruit cakes. 
2. Extreme indulgence in excessive drinking and wild sex
3. the enjoyment of shooting arrows for the first time 

lust

1. the residue left due to the oxidisation of lemons
2. a perfume made from lemons
3. intense or unrestrained sexual urge

orgies

1. a sexual encounter involving many people
2. a variety of high altitude pansy grown only in China
3. a disease of the gut common in highland cattle

carousing

1. the celebration held on buying your first car in Greenland
2. the drinking of alcoholic drinks to excess
3. an Indian water rat found in the Punjab

dissipation

1. the runoff after a tropical storm
2. a piece of degree level research
3. wasteful self-indulgence

At the Seaside

I've been 'off line' for a bit and one of the reasons has been our half-term holiday club 'Seaside Rock' which went really well and for which we thank God!

You can taste the salt air here: 

You can find out more here. 

If you are someone who works with children or are considering doing a Holiday Club then you might be interested in this (password: followthesun). We have put together some of the resources we used for the Club in the hope that they might be of help to others. This might be especially useful to those looking to do a three day club.

edgehill 2011 commercials: vote now!

So the Superbowl XLV had some great commercials.

But making these cost a couple of million, needed amazing CGI special effects, involved highly paid actors and took weeks or even months to make! 

At the recent edgehill reunion we had a budget of £5, 3 props we HAD to use and 2 hours to dream up, script, cast and then film an advert for edgehill 2011: space odyssey. 

Judge for yourselves how successful we have been (click here) & join in VOTING for the best one! Voting closes on 22nd February! 

1 Thessalonians 1:1-10

The apostle Paul gave thanks for his friends in Thessalonica

Even though, as far as we know, none of them could play the harmonica.

They accepted the gospel with joy and stayed keen

Even though some of the people around them were quite mean. 

p29 KEEP ON GOING (On the Way 14+ Junction Books)

Newly available

Our 11-14's youthgroup, eXcel, now has a blog like page that is public and starting to function. If you are nosey and inclined to you are very welcome to drop by any time! 

eXcel Summer Saturday

We had a great Summer Saturday yesterday for which we are very grateful to the Lord - pictures can be seen here

Dating: Problem # 6

Joshua Harris has a chapter titled 'The Seven Habits of Highly Defective Dating'. This is number 6:

 'dating creates an artificial environment that doesn't require a person to accurately portray his or her positive and negative characteristics. On a date, a person can charm his or her way into a date's heart. He drives a nice car and pays for everything; she looks great. But who cares? Being fun on a date doesn't say anything about a person's character or ability to be a good husband or wife.' ( I Kissed Dating Goodbye p45)

Face the Book

This seemed to be a good way to recap Ruth 1-3 after a few weeks 'off' ... the boys enjoyed making up e-mail addresses especially! Mmmm.

snow worries mate

We had to cancel our edgehill 09 reunion due to snow and ice as I mentioned the other day.

So, by way of some sort of 'compensation', we put together a little video which is both a lament and song of hope!  ;)

Looking forward to July!

I love snow.
But it has been a bit gutting not to be able to hold our camp reunion this weekend.
So watching this has been a nice tonic - reminders of last summer and an appetiser for going 'down under' this July and life to the full (we'll be looking at John's gospel together).

nothing is impossible

Well done eXcel.

Everyone had their hand in this production and 2 weeks work has come together nicely (I think).

kingdom come

Memory Verse:

Carol of the Week:

O come, all ye faithful,

Joyful and triumphant,
O Come ye, O come ye, to Bethlehem.
Come and behold Him, Born the King of angels;

Chorus
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
Christ the Lord.

God of God,
Light of Light,
Lo! he abhors not the Virgin’s womb;
Very God, Begotten not created.
Chorus

Sing, choirs of angels,
Sing in exultation;
Sing, all ye citizens of heaven above!
Glory to God, In the highest;
Chorus

Yea, Lord, we greet Thee,
Born this happy morning;
Jesu, to Thee be glory given;
Word of the Father, Now in flesh appearing.
Chorus

Child, for us sinners
Poor and in the manger,
We would embrace Thee, with love and awe;
Who would not love Thee, Loving us so dearly?
Chorus

less than 2 weeks to go

double click on image to enlarge & read

Carol of the Week - No More Disgrace!

no-one on youtube does the full version. And my 'Mission Praise' only has 5 verses.
Perhaps lung capacities have to be taken into account?

Oh, come, oh, come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to you, O Israel!

Oh, come, our Wisdom from on high,
Who ordered all things mightily;
To us the path of knowledge show,
and teach us in her ways to go.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to you, O Israel!

Oh, come, oh, come, our Lord of might,
Who to your tribes on Sinai's height
In ancient times gave holy law,
In cloud and majesty and awe.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to you, O Israel!

Oh, come O Rod of Jesse's stem,
From ev'ry foe deliver them
That trust your mighty pow'r to save;
Bring them in vict'ry through the grave.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to you, O Israel!

Oh, come, O Key of David, come,
And open wide our heav'nly home;
Make safe the way that leads on high,
And close the path to misery.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to you, O Israel!

Oh, come, our Dayspring from on high,
And cheer us by your drawing nigh,
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night,
And death's dark shadows put to flight.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to you, O Israel!

Oh, come, Desire of nations, bind
In one the hearts of all mankind;
Oh, bid our sad divisions cease,
And be yourself our King of Peace.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to you, O Israel!

Tune: Veni Emmanuel
1st Published in: 1854
Translated: John Neal, 1818-66

What I am preparing for this afternoon!

incarnate

Bit by bit we are getting ready for our eXcel weekend away.
Bookings have opened! John Young will be joining us and speaking on the incarnation.
We'll be having a Christmas theme and quite frankly, I can't wait! 

3 days to go...

Christmas Unwrapped - this Sunday at eXcel!